A30370	----	A letter, containing some reflections on His Majesties Declaration for liberty of conscience dated the fourth of April, 1687 Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. 1689 Approx. 31 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A30370 Wing B5815 ESTC R22971 12622972 ocm 12622972 64574 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A30370) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 64574) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 709:9) A letter, containing some reflections on His Majesties Declaration for liberty of conscience dated the fourth of April, 1687 Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 8 p. s.n., [London : 1689] Caption title. Attributed also to Daniel Defoe. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng England and Wales. -- Sovereign (1685-1688 : James II). -- His Majesties gracious declaration to all his loving subjects for liberty of conscience. Liberty of conscience. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-08 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER , Containing some REFLECTIONS On His MAJESTIES DECLARATION For LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE . Dated the Fourth of April , 1687. SIR , I. I Thank you for the Favour of sending me the late Declaration that His Majesty has granted for Liberty of Conscience . I confess , I longed for it with great Impatience , and was surprised to find it so different from the Scotch Pattern ; for I imagined , that it was to be set to the second part of the same tune : nor can I see why the Penners of this have sunk so much in their stile ; for I suppose the same men penned both . I expected to have seen the Imperial Language of Absolute Power , to which all the Subjects are to obey without reserve ; and of the cassing , annulling , the stopping , and disabling of Laws set forth in the Preamble and body of this Declaration ; whereas those dreadful words are not to be found here : for instead of repealing the Laws , His Majesty pretends by this only to suspend them ; and tho in effect this amounts to a repeal , yet it must be confessed that the words are softer . Now since the Absolute Power , to which His Majesty pretends in Scotland , is not founded on such poor things as Law ; for that would look as if it were the gift of the people ; but on the Divine Authority , which is supposed to be delegated to His Majesty , this may be as well claimed in England as it was in Scotland : and the pretention to Absolute Power is so great a thing , that since His Majesty thought fit once to claim it , he is little beholding to those that make him fall so much in his Language ; especially since both these Declarations have appeared in our Gazettes ; so that as we see what is done in Scotland , we know from hence what is in some peoples hearts , and what we may expect in England . II. His Majesty tells his people , that the perfect Injoyment of their Property has never been in any Case invaded by him since his coming to the Crown . This is indeed matter of great Incouragement to all good Subjects ; for it lets them see , that such Invasions , as have been made on Property , have been done without His Majesties knowledge : so that no doubt the continuing to levy the Customes and the Additional Excise ( which had been granted only during the late Kings Life , ) before the Parliament could meet to renew the Grant , was done without His Majesties knowledge ; the many Violences committed not only by Soldiers , but Officers , in all the Parts of England , which are severe Invasions on Property , have been all without His Majesties knowledge ; and since the first Branch of Property is the Right that a man has to his Life , the strange Essay of Mahometan Government , that was shewed at Taunton ; and the no less strange proceedings of the present Lord Chancellour , in his Circuit after the Rebellion ( which are very justly called His Campagne , for it was an open Act of Hostility to all Law ) and for which and other Services of the like nature , it is believed he has had the reward of the Great Seal , and the Executions of those who have left their Colours , which being founded on no Law , are no othet than so many Murders ; all these , I say , are as we are sure , Invasions on Property ; but since the King tells us , that no such Invasions have been made since he came to the Crown , we must conclude that all these things have fallen out without his Privity . And if a standing Army , in time of Peace , has been ever lookt on by this Na●ion as an Attempt upon the whole Property of the Nation in gross , one must conclude , that even this is done without His Majesties knowledge . III. His Majesty expresses his Charity for us in a kind wish , that we were all Members of the Catholick Church ; in return to which we offer up daily our most earnest prayers for him , that he may become a Member of the truly Catholick Church : for Wishes and Prayers do no hurt on no side : but His Majesty adds , that it has ever been his Opinion , that Conscience ought not to be constrained , nor people forced in matters of meer Religion . We are very happy if this continues to be always his sense : but we are sure in this he is no obedient Member of that which he means by the Catholick Church : for it has over and over again decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks . It encourages Princes to it , by the Offer of the Pardon of their Sins ; it threatens them to it , by denouncing to them not only the Judgments of God , but that which is more sensible , the loss of their Dominions : and it seems they intend to make us know that part of their Doctrine even before we come to feel it , since tho some of that Communion would take away the Horror which the Fourth Council of the Lateran gives us , in which these things were decreed , by denying it to be a General Council , and rejecting the Authority of those Canons , yet the most learned of all the Apostates that has fallen to them from our Church , has so lately given up this Plea , and has so formally acknowledged the Authority of that Council , and of its Canons , that it seems they think they are bound to this piece of fair dealing , of warning us before hand of our Danger . It is true Bellarmin sayes , The Church does not always execute her Power of deposing Heretical Princes , tho she always retains it : one reason that he assigns , is , because she is not at all times able to put it in execution : so the same reason may perhaps make it appear unadviseable to extirpate Hereticks , because that at present it cannot be done ; but the Right remains entire ; and is put in execution in such an unrelenting manner in all places where that Religion prevails , that it has a very ill Grace , to see any Member of that Church speak in this strain : and when neither the Policy of France , nor the Greatness of their Monarch , nor yet the Interests of the Emperour joyned to the Gentleness of his own temper , could withstand these Bloody Councils , that are indeed parts of that Religion , we can see no reason to induce us to believe , that a Toleration of Religion is proposed with any other design but either to divide us , or to lay us asleep , till it is time to give the Alarm for destroying us . IV. If all the Endeavours , that have been used in the last four Reigns , for bringing the Subjects of this Kingdom to a Unity in Religion have been ineffectual , as His Maj. says ; we know to whom we owe both the first beginnings and the progress of the Divisions among our selves ; the Gentleness of Q. Elisabeth's Government , and the numbers of those that adhered to the Church of Rome , made it scarce possible to put an end to that Party during her Reign , which has been ever since restless , and has had credit enough at Court during the three last Reigns , not only to support it self , but to distract us , and to divert us from apprehending the danger of being swallowed up by them , by fomenting our own Differences , and by setting on either a Toleration , or a Persecution , as it has hapned to serve their Interests . It is not so very long since , that nothing was to be heard at Court but the supporting the Church of England , and the Extirpating all the Nonconformists : and it were easy to name the persons , if it were decent , that had this ever in their Mouths ; but now all is turned round again , the Church of England is in Disgrace ; and now the Encouragment of Trade , the Quiet of the Nation , and the Freedom of Conscience are again in Vogue , that were such odious things but a few years ago , that the very mentioning them was enough to load any man with Suspitions as backward in the King's Service , while such Methods are used , and the Government is as in an Ague , divided between hot and cold fits , no wonder if Laws so unsteadily executed have failed of their effect . V. There is a good reserve here left for Severity when the proper Opportunity to set it on presents it self : for his Majesty Declares himself only against the forcing of men in matters of meer Religion : so that whensoever Religion and Policy come to be so interwoven , that meer Religion is not the case , and that Publick Safety may be pretended , then this Declaration is to be no more claimed : so that the fastning any thing upon the Protestant Religion , that is inconsistent with the Publick Peace , will be pretended to shew that they are not persecuted for meer Religion . In France , when it was resolved to extirpate the Protestants , all the Discourses that were written on that Subject were full of the Wars occasioned by those of the Religion in the last Age , tho as these were the happy Occasions of bringing the House of Bourbon to the Crown , they had been ended above 80. years ago , and there had not been so much as the least Tumult raised by them these 50. years past : so that the French , who have smarted under this Severity , could not be charged with the least Infraction of the Law : yet Stories of a hundred years old were raised up to inspire into the King those Apprehensions of them , which have produced the terrible effects that are visible to all the World. There is another Expression in this Declaration , which lets us likewise see with what Caution the Offers of Favour are now worded , that so there may be an Occasion given when the Time and Conjuncture shall be favourable to break thro them all : it is in these words , So that they take especial Care that nothing be preached or taught amongst them , which may any ways tend to alienate the Hearts of our People from us or our Government . This in it self is very reasonable , and could admit of no Exception , if we had not to do with a set of men , who to our great Misfortune have so much Credit with His Majesty , and who will be no sooner lodged in the Power to which they pretend , than they will make every thing that is preached against Popery pass for that which may in some manner alienate the Subjects from the King. VI. His Majesty makes no doubt of the Concurrence of his Two Houses of Parliament , when he shall think it convenient for them to meet . The Hearts of Kings are unsearchable ; so that it is a little too presumptuous to look into His Majesties Secret Thoughts : but according to the Judgments that we would make of other mens Thoughts by their Actions , one would be tempted to think , that His Majesty made some doubt of it , since his Affairs both at home and abroad could not go the worse , if it appeared that there were a perfect understanding between Him and his Parliament , and that his People were supporting him with fresh Supplies ; and this House of Commons is so much at his Devotion , that all the world saw how ready they were to grant every thing that he could desire of them , till he began to lay off the Mask with relation to the Test , and since that time the frequent Prorogations , the Closetting , and the Pains that has been taken to gain Members , by Promises made to some , and the Disgraces of others , would make one a little Inclined to think , that some doubt was made of their Concurrence . But we must confess , that the depth of His Majesties Judgment is such , that we cannot fathom it , and therefore we cannot guess what his Doubts or his Assurances are . It is true , the words that come after unriddle the Mystery a little , which are , when His Majesty shall think it convenient for them to meet : for the meaning of this seems plain , that his Maj. is resolved , that they shall never meet , till he receives such Assurances , in a new round of Closetting , that he ●hall be put out of doubt concerning it . VII . I will not enter into the dispute concerning Liberty of Conscience , and the Reasons that may be offered for it to a Session of Parliament ; for there is scarce any one point , that either with relation to Religion , or Politicks , affords a greater variety of matter for Reflection : and I make no doubt to say , that there is abundance of Reason to oblige a Parliament to review all the Penal Laws , either with relation to Papists , or to Dissenters : but I will take the boldness to add one thing , that the Kings's suspending of Laws strikes at the root of this whole Government , and subverts it quite : for if there is any thing certain with relation to the English Government , it is this , that the Executive Power of the Law is entirely in the King ; and the Law to fortisy him in the Management of it has clothed him with a vast Prerogative , and made it unlawful upon any pretence whatsoever to resist him : whereas on the other hand , the Legislative Power is not so entirely in the King , but that the Lords and Commons have such a share in it , that no Law can be either made , repealed , or which is all one suspended , but by their consent : so that the placing this Legislative Power singly in the King , is a subversion of this whole Government ; since the Essence of all Governments consists in the Subjects of the Legislative Authority ; Acts of Violence or Injustice , committed in the Executive part , are such things that all Princes being subject to them , the peace of mankind were very ill secured if it were not unlawful to resist upon any pretence taken from any ill Administrations , in which as the Law may be doubtful , so the Facts may be uncertain , and at worst the publick Peace must alwayes be more valued than any private Oppressions or Injuries whatsoever . But the total Subversion of a Government , being so contrary to the Trust that is given to the Prince who ought to execute it , will put men upon uneasy and dangerous Inquiries : which will turn little to the Advantage of those who are driving matters to such a doubtful and desperate issue . VIII . If there is any thing in which the Exercise of the Legislative Power seems Indispensable , it is in those Oaths of Allegeance and Tests , that are thought necessary to Qualify men either to be admitted to enjoy the Protection of the Law , or to bear a share in the Government ; for in these the Security of the Government is chiefly concerned ; and therefore the total extinction of these , as it is not only a Suspension of them , but a plain repealing of them , so it is a Subverting of the whole Foundation of our Government : For the Regulation that King and Parliament had set both for the Subjects having the Protection of the State by the Oath of Allegeance , and for a share in places of trust by the Tests , is now pluckt up by the roots , when it is declared , that these shall not at any time hereafter be required to be taken , or subscribed by any persons whatsoever : for it is plain , that this is no Suspension of the Law , but a formal Repeal of it , in as plain Words as can be conceived . IX . His Majesty says , that the Benefit of the Service of all his Subjects is by the Law of Nature Inseparably annexed to and inherent in his Sacred Person . It is somewhat strange , that when so many Laws , that we all know are suspended , the Law of Nature , which is so hard to be found out , should be cited ; but the Penners of this Declaration had b●st let that Law lie forgotten among the rest ; for there is a scurvy Paragraph in it , concerning self Preservation , that is capable of very unacceptable Glosses . It is hard to tell what Section of the Law of Nature has markt out either such a Form of Government , or such a Family for it . And if His Majesty renounces his Pretensions to our Allegeance as founded on the Laws of England ; and betakes himself to this Law of Nature , he will perhaps find the Counsel was a little too rash ; but to make the most of this that can be , the Law of Nations or Nature does indeed allow the Governours of all Societies a Power to serve themselves of every Member of it in the cases of extream Danger ; but no Law of Nature that has been yet heard of will conclude , that if by special Laws , a sort of men have been disabled from all Imployments , that a Prince who at his Coronation Swore to maintain those Laws , may at his pleasure extinguish all these Disabilities . X. At the end of the Declaration , as in a Postscript , His Majesty assures his Subjects , that he will maintain them in their Properties , as well in Church and Abbey-Lands , as other Lands : but the Chief of all their Properties being the share that they have by their Representatives in the Legislative Power ; this Declaration , which breaks thro that , is no great Evidence that the rest will be maintained : and to speak plainly , when a Coronation Oath is so little remembred , other Promises must have a proportioned degree of Credit given to them : as for the Abbey Lands , the keeping them from the Church is according to the Principles of that Religion Sacriledge ; and that is a Mortal Sin , and there can no Absolution be given to any who continue in it : and so this Promise being an Obligation to maintain men in a Mortal Sin , is null and void of it self : Church-Lands are also according to the Doctrine of their Canonists , so immediatly Gods Right , that the Pope himself is only the Administrator and Dispencer , but is not the Master of them ; he can indeed make a truck for God , or let them so low , that God shall be an easy Landlord : but he cannot alter Gods Property , nor translate the Right that is in him to Sacrilegious Laymen and Hereticks . XI . One of the Effects of this Declaration , will be the setting on foot a new run of Addresses over the Nation : for there is nothing how Impudent and base soever , of which the abject flattery of a Slavish Spirit is not capable . It must be confest , to the reproach of the Age , that all those strains of flattery among the Romans , that Tacitus sets forth with so much just Scorn , are modest things , compared to what this Nation has produced within these seven years : only if our Flattery has come short of the Refinedness of the Romans , it has exceeded theirs as much in its loathed Fulsomness . The late King set out a Declaration , in which he gave the most solemn Assurances possible of his adhering to the Church of England , and to the Religion established by Law , and of his Resolution to have Frequent Parliaments ; upon which the whole Nation fell as it were into Raptures of Joy and Flattery : but tho he lived four Years after that , he called no Parliament , notwithstanding the Law for Triennial Parliaments : and the manner of his Death , and the Papers printed after his Death in his Name , have sufficiently shewed , that he was equally sincere in both those Assurances that he gave , as well in that Relating to Religion , as in that other Relating to Frequent Parliaments ; yet upon his Death a new set of Addresses appeared , in which , all that Flattery could Invent was brought forth , in the Commendations of a Prince , to whose Memory the greatest kindness can be done , is to forget him : and because his present Majesty upon his coming to the Throne gave some very general Promise of Maintaining the Church of England , this was magnified in so Extravagant a strain , as if it had been a Security greater than any that the Law could give : tho by the regard that the King has both to it and to the Laws , it appears that he is resolved to maintain both equally : since then the Nation has already made it self sufficiently ridiculous both to the present and to all succeeding Ages ; it is time that at last men should grow weary , and become ashamed of their Folly. XII . The Nonconformists are now invited to set an Example to the rest : and they who have valued themselves hitherto upon their Opposition to Popery , and that have quarrelled with the Church of England , for some small Approaches to it , in a few Ceremonies , are now solicited to rejoyce , because the Laws that secure us against it , are all plucked up : since they enjoy at present and during pleasure leave to meet together . It is natural for all men to love to be set at ease , especially in the matters of their Consciences ; but it is visible , that those who allow them this favour , do it with no other design , but that under a pretence of a General Toleration , they may Introduce a Religion which must persecute all equally : it is likewise apparent how much they are hated , and how much they have been persecuted by the Instigation of those who now Court them , and who have now no game that is more promising , than the engaging them and the Church of England into new Quarrels : and as for the Promises now made to them , it cannot be supposed that they will be more lasting than those that were made some time ago to the Church of England , who had both a better Title in Law and greater Merit upon the Crown to assure them that they should be well used than these can pretend to . The Nation has scarce forgiven some of the Church of England the Persecution into which they have suffered themselves to be cosened : tho now that they see Popery barefaced , the Stand that they have made , and the vigorous Opposition that they have given to it , is that which makes all men willing to forget what is past , and raises again the Glory of a Church that was not a little stained by the Indiscretion and Weakness of those , that were too apt to believe and hope , and so suffered themselves to be made a Property to those who would now make them a Sacrifice . The Sufferings of the Nonconformists , and the Fury that the Popish Party expressed against them , had recommended them so much to the Compassions of the Nation , and had given them so just a pretension to favour in a better time , that it will look like a curse of God upon them , if a few men , whom the Court has gained to betray them , can have such an ill Influence upon them as to make them throw away all that Merit , and those Compassions which their Sufferings have procured them ; and to go and court those who are only seemingly kind to them , that they may destroy both them and us . They must remember that as the Church of England is the only Establishment that our Religion has by Law ; so it is the main body of the Nation , and all the Sects are but small and stragling parties : and if the Legal Settlement of the Church is dissolved , and that body is once broken , these lesser bodies will be all at Mercy : and it is an easy thing to define what the Mercies of the Church of Rome are . XIII . But tho it must be confessed , that the Nonconformists are still under some Temptations , to receive every thing that gives them present ease , with a little too much kindness ; since they lie exposed to many severe Laws , of which they have of late felt the weight very heavily , and as they are men , and some of them as ill Natured men as other people , so it is no wonder if upon the first surprises of the Declaration , they are a little delighted , to see the Church of England , after all its Services and Submissions to the Court , so much mortified by it ; so that taking all together it will not be strange if they commit some Follies upon this occasion . Yet on the other hand , it passes all imagination , to see some of the Church of England , especially those whose Natures we know are so particularly sharpned in the point of Persecution , chiefly when it is levelled against the Dissenters , rejoyce at this Declaration , and make Addresses upon it . It is hard to think that they have attained to so high a pitch of Christian Charity , as to thank those who do now despitefully use them , and that as an earnest that within a little while they will persecute them . This will be an Original , and a Master piece in Flattery , which must needs draw the last degrees of Contempt on such as are capable of so abject and sordid a Compliance , and that not only from all the true Members of the Church of England , but likewise from those of the Church of Rome it self ; for every man is apt to esteem an Enemy that is brave even in his Misfortunes , as much as he despises those whose minds sink with their Condition . For what is it that these men would thank the King ? Is it because he breaks those Laws that are made in their Favour , and for their Protection : and is now striking at the Root of all the Legal Settlement that they have for their Religion ? Or is it because that at the same time that the King professes a Religion that condemns his Supremacy , yet he is not contented with the Exercise of it as it is warranted by Law , but carries it so far as to erect a Court contrary to the express words of a Law that was so lately made : That Court takes care to maintain a due proportion between their Constitution and all their proceedings , that so all may be of a piece , and all equally contrary to Law. They have suspended one Bishop , only because he would not do that which was not in his Power to do : for since there is no Extrajudiciary Authority in England , a Bishop can no more proceed to a Sentence of Suspension against a Clergy-man without a Tryal , and the hearing of Parties , than a Judge can give a Sentence in his Chamber without an Indictment , a Tryal , or a Iury : and because one of the Greatest Bodies of England would not break their Oaths , and obey a Mandate that plainly contradicted them , we see to what a pitch this is like to be carried . I will not Anticipate upon this illegal Court , to tell what Iudgments are coming ; but without carrying our Iealousies too far , one may safely conclude , that they will never depart so far from their first Institution , as to have any regard , either to our Religion , or our Laws , or Liberties , in any thing they do . If all this were acted by avowed Papists , as we are sure it is projected by such , there were nothing Extraordinary in it : but that which carries our Indignation a little too far to be easily governed , is to see some Pretended Protestants , and a few Bishops , among those that are the fatal Instruments of pulling down the Church of England , and that those Mercenaries Sacrifice their Religion and their Church to their Ambition and Interests ; this has such peculiar Characters of Misfortune upon it , that it seems it is not enough if we perish without pity , since we fall by that hand that we have so much supported and fortifyed , but we must become the Scorn of all the world , since we have produced such an unnatural Brood , that even while they are pretending to be the Sons of the Church of England , are cutting their Mother's Throat : and not content with Judas's Crime , of saying , Hail Master , and kissing him , while they are betraying him into the hands of others ; these carry their Wickedness further , and say , Hail Mother , and then they themselves Murther her . If after all this we were called on to bear this as Christians ; and to suffer it as Subjects ; if we were required in Patience to possess our own Souls , ând to be in Charity with our Enemies ; and which is more , to forgive our False Brethren , who add Treachery to their Hatred ; the Exhortation were seasonable , and indeed a little necessary ; for humane Nature cannot easily take down things of such a hard digestion : but to tell us that we must make Addresses , and offer Thanks for all this , is to Insult a little too much upon us in our Sufferings : and he that can believe that a dry and cautiously worded promise of maintaining the Church of England , will be Religiously observed after all that we have seen , and is upon that carried so far out of his Wits as to Address and give Thanks , and will believe still , such a man has nothing to excuse him from believing Transubstantiation it self ; for it is plain that he can bring himself to believe even when the thing is contrary to the clearest Evidence that his senses can give him . Si populus hic vult decipi decipiatur . POSTSCRIPT . THese reflections were writ soon after the Declaration came to my hands , but the Matter of them was so tender , and the Conveyance of them to the Press was so uneasy , that they appear now too late to have one effect that was Designed by them , which was , the diverting men from making Addresses upon it ; yet if what is here proposed makes men become so far wise as to be ashamed of what they have done , and is a means to keep them from carrying their Courtship further than good words , this Paper will not come too late . FINIS . 
A37422	----	A brief reply to the History of standing armies in England with some account of the authors. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1698 Approx. 42 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37422 Wing D829 ESTC R9669 11987922 ocm 11987922 51973 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37422) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 51973) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 63:10) A brief reply to the History of standing armies in England with some account of the authors. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 25 p. [s.n.], London : 1698. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. BM. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Trenchard, John, 1662-1723. -- Short history of standing armies in England. England and Wales. -- Army -- History. Great Britain -- History, Military. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-07 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-08 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2002-08 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A BRIEF REPLY TO THE HISTORY OF Standing Armies In ENGLAND . With some Account of the Authors . LONDON : Printed in the Year 1698. THE PREFACE . IN all Ages of the World , and under the Best of Governments , there were always some Persons to be found , who either for Envy at the Prosperity of some ; Ambition , Popular Vanity , or Private Ends , took Occasion to appear as Male-contents , and set themselves to Explose and Consure the Actions of Their Governors : History is so full of Instances of this Nature , that 't would be an affront to the Gentlemen I am dealing with , to suppose them ignorant of ' em . In Our Age , where Nick-Names are so much in fashion , we have call'd them Murmurers , Grumbletonians and the like , of whom one of our Poets has said not improperly . And should King Jesus Reign , they 'd Murmur too . 'T would not ha' been foreign to the Purpose , as an Answer to the History of Standing Armies , to have Entertain'd the World with a History of these Dissenters to Government , the Murmurers of the World ; who always look with sowre Faces upon the Magistrates , and cry out of so much as the little Fingers of their Superiors . But we have not room for it here ; nor to descend too far into the General Character of them ; but 't is necessary to observe , that these sort of People have one inseparable Adjunct , as an Essential and Chief Prop both of their Nature and Design ; They always Cry Wo , Wo , and fright themselves and the World with sad Tidings . Religion , or Liberty , or both , are infallibly the Ensigns of their Order . And I wonder we have not Ribbands in their Hats , with No Popery , No Slavery , or No Standing Armies , No Lords of the Treasury , &c. If the Bottom of this Case was to be Examined , and the Authors dealt with in their own way , Preferment always lists them on the t'other side : And tho' I do not say these Gentlemen who write so strenuously for Liberty , would do so ; yet they have told us plainly who did , Viz. The Lord Strafford , and Noy , and I could name them some more . King Charles the First , say they , began the Custom of making an Opposition to himself in the House of Commons , the Road to Preferment ; and how came it about ? Truly , because he found they were Mercenary , and made a Noise that their Mouths might be stopp'd ; this has been too much a Method since , no doubt . " For Parliament-Men to rail at the Court , " And get a Preferment immediately for 't . But how comes it to pass , because private Ends lie so generally at the bottom of such Clamour , that we never found them proof against the Offer ? And here I could give innumerable Instances of great Ones , on the other hand , who as soon as ever the Court-Favour has fail'd them , and they found themselves not Rewarded according to their Merit , turn'd Popular , Champions for the Peoples Liberties , and Railers at the Court. I do not say , I mean by this , the Lords S — D — Mr. H — Mr. H — or any body else in particular ; but whoever the Coat fits , let them wear it . This Evil Spirit of Discontent is now at Work under the best Reign , and the mildest Government that ever England knew ; particularly so , in suffering the Affairs of the Government to be thus disputed in Print , by , not an Author or Single Person , but a whole Club of Mistaken Politicians , who in any Reign but this would have been us'd as they deserv'd . Had such a Cabal of the best Men in the Nation attempted the like in Queen Eliabeth's Reign , who we must all acknowledge was a true English Queen , and Govern'd the Nation with a Matchless Prudence , they would have been very severely bandled ; but full Liberty is given them now to say almost any thing ; and truly they take the Extent of it , even to Indecency and Ill Manners . For they Treat the King himself with Jeers and Banter , and make Ridiculous Encomiums on him , to expose His Mijesty to very Scurrilous Reflections . This is so mean a Way of Writing , that I shall not descend to Returns in kind , but shall use them like Gentlemen , whether they behave themselves so or no , and leave that to themselves . A BRIEF REPLY TO THE History of Standing Armies . THE Outcry against an Army in England is carried on with so high a hand , that nothing can be said to it with any hope of Effect on the Complainants . They go on with their own Arguments , never thinking any thing that is or can be said to them , worth while to take notice of : For it seems to be more their Design to render the Government suspected , than to argue fairly whether it be really true or not , That an Army must be our ruine . I have considered their former Books according to their Desire , and to which they refer in this , and the several Answers to them ; some of which seem to me to carry a great Weight with them ; but to them are of so small a Consequence , that they do not think them worth a notice . They have now given the World what they call a History of Standing Armies , in which they have been guilty of some Mistakes , some Omissions , and some Contradictions ; and tho' the Historical part might very well have been omitted , as being nothing at all to the purpose ; yet 't is very proper to tell them , First , 'T is a Mistake that the Spaniards did any thing to purpose in the Seventeen Provinces with 9000 Men , which they call a Standing Army ; and if they please to review Strada and Bentivoglio , their own Author , they will find that the Duke D' Alva and Don Lewis de Requescens had very great Armies at the Bittle near Groningen , against Count Lodowick of Nassau , and at the Sieges of Harlem and Mons ; the Duke D' Alva brought Fourteen thousand Men with him at first ; raised Twenty-four thousand more at another time against the Siege of Mons ; and when the Count D'Egmont presented the Petition against the Foreign Forces , they alledg'd the Spaniards had Thirty thousand Men in Pay , besides the Troops of the Country . As to other Armies , I wonder the Authors did not instance the small Forces with which the Spaniards conquer'd the Mighty Empires of Mexico and Peru ; in all which Work , I never yet read that they had above 800 Horse and 5750 Foot. Armies , as well as every thing else , are great or small in proportion ; and 4000 Archers in Cheshire rais'd by Richard the Second , though they only made way to their Master's Ruin , were really a more formidable Force than Twenty thousand men in Arms can be now . The Authors ( for I am inform'd their Name is Legion ) have carri'd on their History to Queen Mary , and there break off , and tell us , the Standing Forces were then 1200 men , in Queen Elizabeth's Reign 3500 ; where , by the way , 't is to be noted , they grant , that it has all along been allowed to have a Standing Force in England for above 140 Years past ; for we are not now arguing the Quantity , but the Thing , A Standing Army : And they have often in former Papers asserted , That any Standing Forces are destructive of our Constitution , and inconsistent with the English Liberty ; and yet our Constitution consisted very well in Queen Elizabeth's time . — Nor have these Gentlemen given their Quotations faithfully ; for they have been told , and are not ignorant , That , First , whereas Queen Mary had but 1200 men , she shamefully lost Calais to the French , for want of Strength to relieve it . Indeed if she had rais'd the Militia , they might ha' kept the French from coming on to take Dover , but if she had had 10000 men in Pay , Calais , which had been ours for some Ages before , had been ours still ; and if it had , the Loss of Dunkirk had not been so much to our disadvantage . Then , as to Queen Elizabeth , they omit that she always had a very good Army in the Low-Countries , which to her was a Nursery of Soldiers : And in the time of her apprehension of an Invasion , I would ask how many she transported hither for her own Defence ; for the Armies she prepar'd , at Tilbury Camp 44000 , and 20000 at Plimouth , were not all Militia , but Soldiers disciplin'd and train'd in the Wars in Ireland and Holland . What the Authors say Queen Elizabeth did , and with what Glory she reign'd , and how she left us when she died , is all true , and much more ; and what her Revenue was , and what Taxes she had , for ought we know may be so : But I hope these Gentlemen will excuse me for saying they very much misrepresent the Cise , when they would tell us what Revenues she had ; as if those Revenues perform'd all the Great Things she did : They ought to have told us also what Taxes she had , and how she took from the Spaniard above 60 Millions of Pieces of Eight at several times , at the West Indies . at Cadiz , and at Sea ; which together with what Subsidies , Customs of Towns , and Interests the Dutch paid her , were Infinite : And with this she did all those great things , and with this she always kept an Army on foot , and left them so after the Peace ; by the same token that King James let 3000 of them starve and desert for want of Subsistence , on the Dutch refusing to pay the Garisons of the Brill , Ramekins , and Flushing . I shall not enter into the History of King James the First , King Charles the First , or his Sons ; the Historical part does not argue either way in this Case , as I understand the Point : The Question before us is not so much what has been , or has not been , but what is now needful to be done ; and I wish these Gentlemen would admit a calm Argument ; in which Case I offer to prove , First , That 't is absolutely necessary to have some Standing Force ; and then , That with Consent of Parliament 't is not Illegal . I remember one Reply to the former Argument entred into the Historical part of the matter , and underlook to prove , That every Government in England had for many Years maintain'd some Standing Force ; and 't is too true to be denied . Then they descend to examine the Reign of King James the First , and of K. Charles the First ; and tho' they grant they had no Armies , yet they reckon up all the Tyrannies and Oppressions they were guilty of ; how they Enslav'd the Nation , Bussoon'd the Parliament , Oppress'd the Subjects , Levied Taxes ; but all without a Standing Army : Nay , when King Charles the First affronted the House of Commons , he was fain , as these Authors themselves say , to Rifle the Taverns , Gaming-houses , and Brothel-houses , to pick out 3 or 400 Men ; which if true , tho' I do not fee it deserves any credit ; yet 't is plain he could have no Army , no , not so much as any Guards . Now if all this can be done by a King without an Army , why then the having an Army can do no more ; the Mischief does not lie in an Army , but in the Tyrant . The Authors conclude of King Charles the First having No Army to support him , his Tyranny was precarious , and at last his ruin . And may we not say so of his Son , who had a great Army , and as Mercenary as any English Army ever was ? And yet tho' he had an Army to support him , his Tyranny was precarious , and at last his ruin : So that Tyranny is a Weed that never throve in England ; it always poison'd the Planter ; and an Army , or no Army , it is all one . This is only toucht at , to let the World know , that these Gentlemen have not been faithful Historians ; for that they have not fairly stated the Case , but left out such things as are really true , because against their purpose ; which is not a fair way of Arguing . But if the Case must be debated , I think 't is very proper to reduce it to Two Heads : First , Whether a Standing Army , in time of Peace , may not be Lawful ? Secondly , Whether it be not Expedient ? As to the first Question , it has really been prov'd in a small Discourse formerly published , entituled , An Argument , shewing that a Standing Army is not inconsistent , &c. which these Gentlemen never thought fit to Answer , and now do tacitly acknowledge to be true , but say 't is nevertheless dangerous : However , if it may be Legal then , it cannot be true that 't is destructive of our Liberty and Constitution ; for that can never be destructive of our Constitution which can be Legal ; That were to make a thing Lawful and Unlawful at the same time . A Standing Army , with Consent of Parliament , is a Legal Army ; and if the Legislative Power erect an Army , 't is as much a Qualification to the Army , as a Charter is to a Corporation ; for what else do these Gentlemen call an Establishment ? that cannot be Illegal which is done by Parliament . The Titles of a Bankrupt House of Lords , a Pensioner House of Commons , a flattering Clergy , and a prostituted Ministry , are virulent Phrases , and savour both of Passion and Ill Manners . We have them not now , nor am I convinc'd we ever had , nor hope we ever shall . And yet if they were so , they are the Parliament of England ; and what they do , is the Act of the whole Kingdom , and cannot be Illegal . I shall not spend time to prove what the Authors own , and cannot deny . I therefore lay down the first Head as proved before , and granted by our Adversaries ; That a Standing Army in time of Peace with Consent of Parliament , is not inconsistent with a Free Government , and is a Legal Army . The Second main Argument is , Whether it be necessary for all things that are lawful , are not expedient . Whether there be so much need of an Army , as that we should run the hazards that we are told we shall be expos'd to , from them . That we have very great Reason to be always in a Posture fit to maintain the Peace purchased now with so much Blood and Treasure , I believe no Body will dispute . Whether with or without an Army , I don't yet debate . That an Army was the procuring Cause of this Peace , I hope it will be allow'd me ; and that had we not appear'd in a very powerful Figure , the Terms had not been so good , and Lewis the 14th would not have parted with so many Vast Countries , Impregnable Fortifications , and Sovereign Titles ; our Army in Conjunction with our Allies have under God's Providence obtain'd this . Now , whether it be proper to let go this Lyon upon Parole , and tying the French King by his Honour only , which he has not formerly valued at much in such Cases ; Disband our Forces , and rely upon the League ? This is the direct Question . If the King of France were so much to be depended upon , the Spaniard and the Emperor need not have strain'd so hard for the strong Towns of Brisac , Friburg , Philipsburgh , Mons , Aeth , Luxemburgh , and Charleroy , which are very chargeable to keep , and no real Profit to them ; and the King of France would readily have given up Franche-Compte , Burgundy , and vast Territories of Land instead of them , with large Revenues and Advantages ; but these are given as Pledges of the Peace , and are maintain'd by the Confederates at a vast Charge , that they might have a sufficient Strength to oblige the French King to perform the Stipulation of the League . Now I do not know what vast Securities these Gentlemen may flatter themselves with ; but to me it seems one of the most ridiculous things in the World to be wholly Disarm'd at such a time , when all the Nations in the World have Forces in Pay. I am willing to give the Gentlemen of the Club all the Latitude in Argument they can desire , and therefore I 'll grant that the French King has surrendred all the Towns and Countries he was to surrender , though he really has not . That King James is neither in Power nor Person at all formidable , nor indeed worth mentioning in the Case . That the King of Spain is not Dead , nor like to be so . That these are not , nor ever were Arguments for a Standing Force , at least not singly considered . But notwithstanding all this , I cannot but say that some competent Standing Force is absolutely necessary to preserve that Peace which has cost the Nation so dear ; and it would seem a most unaccountable Weakness to run the hazard of it , and expose us to the uncertainty of it : We say , Temptation makes a Thief . There is nothing in the World will be so likely to make the Peace precarious , and allure the French to break it , as to find us Naked and Defenceless . If it be true , that an Army may be dangerous at Home , 't is as true , that having no Army must be fatal Abroad : The danger of an Army is uncertain , and may be none ; the damage of the contrary is infallible . 'T is not saying we have formerly Conquer'd France , and therefore ought not to be so frighted with Apprehensrons of it now all the French Fools they say are Dead . France now , without Reflection upon England , is much too strong a Match for any single Nation in Europe , and the only means to keep her within bounds , is by Confederacies , and Leagues Offensive ; how these can be maintain'd without Quota's of Forces ready to unite , is a Mystery too dark for my Understanding . Indeed the King may say to his Confederates , Truly my Subjects won't trust me with any Soldiers , and therefore I must pay my proportion in Money . But other Countries may refuse to keep up Forces as well as we , and so a League would be to small purpose indeed . These things have been offer'd before now , and in better Terms , and the Gentlemen with whom we argue have thought sit to forget to speak to them . But now we are Banter'd about a Fleet and a Militia , and these are the Equivalents with which all the pretences of a Standing Army are to be Answer'd . Indeed a Fleet well ordered is a good thing ; and a Militia well regulated , That Black Swan , that unheard-of thing , if ever it could be had would be a good thing too . But pray , Gentlemen , give some people leave to understand things in the World as well as you : Suppose this Fleet and this Militia to be all that you can pretend , what would this be to a War in Flanders ? 'T is the carrying the War into Flanders , that is our great Interest ; the Barrier of Strong Towns there is our best Security against France in the World : Now suppose the French King should with 80000 men fall into those Countries like a Tempest , as he did in 1672 , without declaring War , would our Militia go over with the King to help our Confederates ? Or could our Fleet relieve Charleroy ? Would raising an Army , though it could be done in forty days , as you say King Charles did , be quick enough ? 'T is strange these things are not worth while to consider : Why does the French King keep up an Army ? 'T is not for fear , but to increase his Glory ; and for that very reason it would be preposterous for us to be naked . England has always gone hand in hand with the Times ; and Arm'd or not Arm'd , as her Neighbours did , and must always do so : in the Days when we kept no Forces at home , our Neighbous kept none abroad , and then there was no need of it , we were as well provided as they ; but now they are all strong in Men , and shall we be naked ! that is certainly to be exposed ? 'T is Argued , an Army may soon be raised ; King Charles the Second raised an Army in Forty Days , and the present King very speedily . I would but desire these Gentlemen to Examine , how it fared with both those Armies ? I saw them both and they were composed of as jolly , brave , young Fellows as ever were seen ; but being raw , and not us'd to hardship , the first Army lay , and rotted in Flanders , with Agues and Fluxes , the very first Campaign ; and the last did the like at Dundalk ; and so 't will always fare with any Army of English Men , 'till they have been abroad , and inur'd to the Service . I appeal to any Man , who knows the Nature of our Men ; they are the worst raw Men in the World , and the best when once got over it . But to return to the Point : If 't is necessary to preserve our Peace , and maintain the Leagues and Confederacies , which are the Bands and Barrs of it ; if 't is necessary to be always ready to prevent an Affront of an Enemy ? if 't is necessary to support the Reputation of our English Power ? 't is necessary then to be , not only in a posture to Defend our selves at home , but to Defend our Confederates abroad , and to assist them in any sudden Insult from the Enemy ; and this can be done neither by a Fleet , nor a Mililitia . But to come further : We have been Invaded in England , notwithstanding our Fleet ; and that many times . Henry the Seventh Landed with an Army in spight of Richard the Third and his Fleet. The Duke of Monmouth Landed in the West , tho' King James had a very good Fleet : And had not King James's standing Army , tho' that was but Two Thousand Men , there routed them ; I appeal to all Men to judge , what could the Militia have done to him ? Now I 'le suppose the Duke of Monmouth had been a French Man , or any thing , he had time to Land and Invade us , and unlade his Arms , and might have sent his Ships away again , and never have been hindred by our Fleet ; and had he been but 5000 Regular Men , he had beat King James out of his Kingdom . Again , his Men were raw , a meer Militia , and you see what came of it , they were Defeated by a quarter of their Number , tho' I must say , they were better than any of our Militia too , by much . Again , the Prince of Orange Landed his whole Army quickly , notwithstanding a Fleet , and had leisure enough to have sent away all his Ships again : So that'tis a mistake , to say we cannot be Invaded if we have a Fleet , for we have been Invaded tho' we have had a good Fleet ; and Demonstration is beyond Argument . And I would undertake , without Vanity , to Invade England , from any part beyond Sea , without any fear of the Fleet , unless you will have a Fleet able to block up your Neighbours Ports ; and when you hear of any Ships fitting out any where , send and forbid them , as Queen Elizabeth did to Henry the 4th of France . Now if I could come safe on Shore , notwithstanding the Fleet , then , if you have no Army to oppose me with , but your Country Militia , I would but ask any understanding Soldier , how many Men he would require to Conquer the whole Nation ? Truly , not a great many ; for , I dare say , 40000 of the best Militia we have , back'd with no disciplin'd Troops , would not Fight 8000 old Soldiers : The Instance of the Iniskilling Men in Ireland will not bear here ; for , on the one hand , they were Men made desperate by the ruin of their Families and Estates , and exasperated to the highest degree , and had no recourse for their Lives but to their Arms ; and on the other hand , the Irish were the most despicable scandalous Fellows the World ever saw ; Fellows that shut their Eyes when they shot off their Musquets , and tied Strings about their right Hands to know them from their left : These are wretched Instances , and only prove what we knew before , that the Militia are always brave Soldiers when they have to do with Children or Fools ; but what could our Militia have done to the P. of O. old Veteran Troops , had they been willing to have opposed him ; truly just as much as King James did , run away . The Story of making them useful has been much talk'd of , and a Book was printed to that purpose ; it were a good Project , if practicable , but I think the Attempt will never be made by any wise Man , because no such will go upon Impossibilities . War is no longer an Accident , but a Trade , and they that will be any thing in it , must serve a long Apprenticeship to it : Human Wit and Industry has rais'd it to such a Perfection ; and it is grown such a piece of Manage , that it requires People to make it their whole Employment ; the War is now like the Gospel , Men must be set apart for it ; the Gentlemen of the Club may say what they please , and talk fine things at home of the natural Courage of the English , but I must tell them , Courage is now grown less a Qualification of a Soldier than formerly ; not but that 't is necessary too , but Mannagement is the principle Art of War. An Instance of this may be had no farther off than Ireland ; what a pitiful piece of Work the Irish made of a War all Men know : now 't is plain the Irish do not want Courage , for the very same Men , when sent abroad , well Train'd , and put under exact Discipline , how have they behav'd themselves in Piemont and Hungary , they are allow'd to be as good Troops as any in the Armies . And if the state of Things alter , we must alter our Posture too , and what then comes of the History of Standing Armies ? Tho' there had never been any in the World , they may be necessary now , and so absolutely necessary , as that we cannot be safe without them . We must now examine a little the Danger of a Standing Army at home ; in which it will appear , whether the Gentlemen of the Club are in the right , when they turn all the Stream of the Government into one Channel , as if they all drove but one Wh●el , and as if the whole Design of the King and his Ministers were to obtain the despotick Power , and to Govern by an Army . They do indeed Caress the King sometimes with large Encomiums ; but on the other hand , they speak it as directly as English can express , They intimate to us , that he design'd the Government by an Army , even before he came over ; and therefore in his Declaration omited to promise the Disbanding it . I wish these Gentlemen would leave out their Raillery , as a thing that never helps an Argument , — as Mr. Dryden says . — For Disputants , when Reasons fail , Have one sure Refuge left , and that 's to rail . However , we shall not treat them in the same manner . I cannot think all those Artifices of the Court , ( for a Standing Army ) are true , and some of them are plain Forgories . To tell us the Parliament thought , they might have mannaged their part of the War by Sea. That the word Authority of Parliament was urg'd to that Article of the Declaration of Right , about Standing Armies , by such as design'd so early to play the Game of a Standing Army : That the Kingdom of Ireland was neglected , and London . Derry not Reliev'd ; that a pretence for a greater Army might be fram'd . These are horrid suggessions , and favour only of ill Nature ; and it may be very easy , had I leisure to examine , to prove to those Gentlemen , that the Parliament had as great a Sense of the necessity of Force to reduce Ireland , as the King had , and were as forward to grant Supplies for it . When the King told the House , that 't was not advisable to attempt it without 20000 Men. If these Gentlemen had ask'd who advised his Majesty to say so , I could ha' told them , Duke Schomberge himself did it . ; a Man who was much a Soldier , and as honest as ever Commanded an Army ; a General of the greatest Experience of any of his Age , who no Man could despise without our Reproach to his Judgment ; a Man us'd to Conquering of Kingdoms and Armies ; and yet he thought it very unsafe to Fight with that Army at Dundalk . And we were beholding to his Conduct for the saving the whole Nation by that Caution , tho' Thousands lost their Lives by it , and some foolishly reflected on him for want of Courage ; which 't was thought , cost him his Life at the Boyne . King James had 50000 Men in Ireland , furnished with every thing necessary but a General ; and can any body say , that to attempt reducing them with less than 20000 , was a pretence to get an Army . This is straining a Text , a Trade , ( without reflection ) which our Adversaries are very ready at ; but which is more useful for them , in their Socinian Principles , than in their Politicks . By this , I must beg leave to tell the Gentlemen , it most plainly appears , that they drive at Villifying the present Establishment , rather than at the Liberty they talk so much of . The next absurdity I find , is Page 23. Where , tho' they do not affirm , because like cunning Disputants , they won't hamper themselves in Argument , yet they plainly intimate , that all the omissions of our Fleet were design'd to produce this Argument from it , that a Fleet is no Security to us . As if his Majesty , or his Ministers , should Order our Fleet to do nothing Considerable , and spend Six or Seven Years , and as many Millions of Mony , only to be able to say to the Parliament , that a Fleet is no Security to us . This is such a thing , that I cannot pass over , without desiring these Gentlemen to Examine a little , whether his Majesty has not , on the contrary , more improv'd our Fleet and Shipping , than any King before him ever did ? Whether he has not built more Ships , and by his own Fancy , peculiar in that way , better Ships than any of his Predecessors ? Whether the Docks , the Yards , the Stores , the Saylors , and the Ships , are not in the best Condition that ever England knew ? Whether the King has not in all his Speeches to the Parliament , and in all the state of the Navy laid before them , put forward , to his utmost , the greatness of the Navy ? Whether the Decoration of the Navy and Stores , are not regulated by him , to a degree never before put in practice ; and whether , now the war is over , he has not taken care to have the greatest Fleet in the World , and in the best posture for Action ? And is all this to let us know that a Fleet is no Security to us ? I blush for these Gentlemen , when I think they should thus fly in the Faces of their own Arguments ; and abuse the Care his Majesty has taken for that Security , which they ought to look on , with as much satisfaction , as our Enemies do with Concern . Besides , I do not remember that ever the King , or any of his Ministers , offered to lessen the value of a good Fleet in any of their Speeches , or Discourses ; if so , to what end have they been so careful of it , and why have we a Registring Act to secure Men for it , and a Royal Foundation at Greenwich Hospital to incourage them ? why so many Bounties given to the Sea-men , and such vast Stores laid in to increase and continue them ? But must we not distinguish things ? Our Defence is of two sorts , and so must be our Strength . Our Fleet is an undeniable defence and security for us ; and we will grant , to oblige them , whether so or no , that both the Fleet and our Militia , which they are so fond of , are as great a Security at home as they can desire ; but 't is plain , and they cannot pretend to deny it , they are neither of them any thing to Fianders ; which all the World will own must be the Scene of a War when ever it begins . To say we may assist with Mony , is to say nothing ; for Men may be wanting as much as Mony ; and are so too , and have been so this War at an unusual rate . These Arguments might be inlarg'd , even to a Twelve-penny Book , like the Author's , if the Printer desir'd it ; but short as they are , they cannot be rationally confuted . The Gentlemen who argue thus against Force , have taken upon them to lay down a Method , how to assist Spain , in case of a War , by bringing Soldiers from Final ; not leting us know , if we did not enquire , that those Forces must Sail by Thoulon , and that we must have a great Fleet in the Straights for that Service , or they will be prevented ; nor not enquiring which Montferrat , way those Troops shall come at Final , while the Duke of Savoy possesses and all the higher part of Italy for the French : If they could argue no better than they can guide a War , if their Logic was not better than their Geography , they would make poor work of their Argument . But because they seem to understand such things , I would fain ask these Gentlemen , if a War should break out now in the Empire , between the Papists and the Protestants , which a Man , without the Spirit of Prophesie , may say is very likely ; pray which way would these Gentlemen have the King aid the Protestants in the Palatinate , what Service could our Fleet and Militia do in this Case . Why , say our Gentlemen , we may aid them with Mony. So did King James the First , after a most wretched manner , tho' his own Daughter was to lose her Patrimony by it ; and the Protestant Interest in Germany , which now is in more hazard than ever it was since Gustavus Adolphus his time , must be supported by the Leagues and Confederacies , which our King must make , and our Forces uphold , or 't is a great question whether it will be supported at all . England is to be considered in several Capacities , though these Gentlemen seem to confine themselves to England ; within it self England is , at this time , the Head of two Leagues , both which are essentially necessary to the preservation of our Welfare : One a League of Property , and the other of Religion . One a League against French Slavery , and the other a League against German Popery ; and we can maintain neither of these without some Strength . I could tell these Gentlemen , That while they would disarm us to protect our Liberties , they strike a fatal Stroke at our Religion , which , I confess , I ought not to expect they should value , because I know their Principles to be both Irreligious and Blasphemous . After all that has been said , 't were not amiss to examine what this Army is we speak of , and how to be maintain'd ; for these Gentlemen argue all along upon a great Army , enough to subject a Kingdom ; and to raise it up to a magnitude , they have gone into Ireland and Scotland , and rak'd into the Settlement of those Kingdoms to muster up a great Army ; though after all , their Calculations are wrong , almost a third part . In short , they have reckon'd up small and great to make up the number . To which it is conveninient to reply . First , What Forces are maintain'd in Scotland and Ireland , is nothing to the purpose ; for both the Parliaments of those Kingdoms have concurr'd ; and found it necessary , though these Gentlemen think otherwise . Secondly , If the King does see it proper to have some Forces ready on such Occasions as we have discours'd , but , to ease us of our Jealousies and Fears , keeps them in other Kingdoms , and with consent of those Kingdoms ; is not the English Nation so much the more oblig'd to him for his tenderness of their Safety and Satisfaction ? Thirdly , Why do not the Gentlemen as well argue against his having the Stad-holdership of Holland , by virtue of which he can , when ever he pleases , command over Ten or Twenty Thousand Men from thence , to enslave us when there is no War abroad . For it seems the Distance of the Army is no safety to us . To go on , we have the War at an end , the King has dismiss'd the foreign Troops , disbanded Ten Regiments at home , besides Horse and Dragroons ; most of the Scots abroad , sent Twelve Regiments to Ireland , and broke them there , and reduced the Army to so small a degree , as that much cannot be fear'd from them , nor fewer can hardly consist with our Safety ; and yet these are the Grievances we are to be so terrify'd at , that nothing but Slavery must be the consequence . Neither has any attempt been made to make this Army perpetual , nor has any number been prescrib'd . But such an Army , so proportioned , so qualified , and such a regulation as the Parliament shall see needful , may be legal , must be necessary , and cannot be dangerous : And to the King and Parliament we may with Satisfaction refer it . The Parliament will consent to no Force , but such as they shall judge safe and necessary ; and the King will insist on no other Army than the Parliament consents to ; and while they agree to it , why should `we be concern'd . For while the King allows the disposal of the Army to the Vote of the Parliament , by which they may be either continued or dismissed , no future danger can appear ; unless a Parliament shall part with that Power , which in this Reign is not likely to be desir'd of them . The CONCLUSION . I Cannot pass over this Matter without a short Reflection upon the Persons and Designs of the Authors of this , and the like Pamphlets against the Government , and to enter a little into the History of their Practices for some years past . His Majesty has found the influence of their more secret Actions , during the War , in their Delaying and Disappointing of Funds and Supplies , which , two Years together , prolong'd the War , and had like to have been fatal to the Army in Flanders , who went without Pay longer than any Army in the World ( but themselves ) would have done ; and let his Majesty know , that they would not only Fight for him , but Starve for him , if there was occasion ; and which his Majesty took great notice of in his Speeches at the opening of the next Parliament . After this , they set up for Male-Contents , and always went about Town , complaining of mis-management , ill Officers , State Ministers , and the like : Angry that they were not preferr'd , and envying all that were ; crying out , we must have Peace , and we should be ruin'd by the War ; magnifying the Power of the French , which now they Undervalue so much ; and saying , we should be subdued by the Power of France , if we did not save our selves by a Peace ; and the like . At last , the King , contrary to their Expectations , and false ` Prophesies , brought the French to Terms safe and honourable ; and a Peace has been obtain'd as good as was not only expected , but desired . This was no sooner done , but they strike at the Root ; and now for fear of his hurting us , we must disarm the King , and leave him no more Weapons than should be trusted to a Child , or a ` Mad Man : And in order to secure us from a Tyrant , the whole Nation must be disarm'd , our Confederates deserted , and all the Leagues and Treaties ( made for mutual Defence and Security ) be broken , and the King left unable to perform the Postulata's of his own part . In order to this , they appear in Print ; and setting up as Champions of the Peoples Liberty , form'd themselves into a Club , and appear openly both in Print , and publick Discourses ; and being all of them maintainers of the most infamous Heresie of Socinus , they bid defiance to the Son of God on one hand , and to the King and Government on the other . And that their Blasphemy might go hand in hand with their Politicks , they Publish'd two Socinian Books , and two Books against the Army , almost together . Much about the same time , from the same people , came out into the World , two Volumes of Ludlow's Memoires ; in all which , the Conduct of the Parliament against the King is exceedingly magnified ; the Government of a single Person opposed covertly , under the Person of O. C. but in general , of any single Person whatever ; and all the Common-Wealth-Principles advanced and defended . And having much Work of this sort to do , and being under some Fears of a restraint , from an Act for Regulating the Press , they endeavoured to ward off that Blow by publishing a Book for the Liberty of the Press , which they mannaged with such Artifice , that the Bill was not past , and so their Fears vanisht . This was a Victory they knew how to make use of , and it was immediately followed by a publication of Coll. Sidney's Maxims of Government , writ against Filmer ; for which the Author dyed a Martyr , and of which one of the Publishers had the impudence to say it was the best Book , the Bible excepted , that ever came abroad in the World. And now from the same Forge is hammer'd out the History of the Standing Armies , in which all the Artifice in the World is made use of , to set things in a false light , to raise the Cry of Tyranny and Despotick Government , which has been so long abdicated ; to decry state Ministers , ridicule our Settlement , banter the King , and terrifie the People . And that it might have its due force , to sow Dissention and Disagreement between the King and his People , both these attacks made against the Army were tim'd to appear just at the opening of the Parliament , and so industriously handed about , that they have been seen in the remotest Countries of England before they were published in London . 'T is hoped these Circumstances will a little open the Eyes of the World , and teach us to mark such as sow Divisions among us , and not to meddle with those who are given to Change. But to leave the matter to the Parliament , who are proper Judges of the Fact , and have always been very careful both of our Liberty and our Safety . FINIS . 
A37421	----	An argument shewing, that a standing army, with consent of Parliament, is not inconsistent with a free government, &c. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1698 Approx. 46 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37421 Wing D828 ESTC R20142 11768890 ocm 11768890 48807 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37421) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 48807) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 488:3) An argument shewing, that a standing army, with consent of Parliament, is not inconsistent with a free government, &c. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [4], 26 p. Printed for E. Whitlock, London : 1698. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. BM. A reply to: An argument shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government by John Trenchard and Walter Moyle. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Trenchard, John, 1662-1723. -- Argument shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government. England and Wales. -- Army. Standing army. Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1689-1702. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-08 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion AN ARGUMENT Shewing , That a Standing Army , With Consent of PARLIAMENT , Is not Inconsistent with a Free Government , &c. 2 Chron. 9. 25. And King Solomon had four thousand Stalls for Horses and Chariots , and twelve thousand Horsemen ; whom he bestowed in the Chariot-Cities , and with the King at Jerusalem . LONDON : Printed for E. Whitlock near Stationers . 1698. THE PREFACE . THE Present Pen and Ink War rais'd against a Standing Army , has more ill Consequences in it , than are at first Sight to be Discern'd . The Pretence is specious , and the cry of Liberty is very pleasing ; but the Principle is Mortally Contagious and Destructive of the Essential Safety of the Kingdom ; Liberty and Property , are the Glorious Attributes of the English Nation ; and the dearer they are to us , the less Danger we are in of Loosing them ; but I cou'd never yet see it prov'd , that the danger of loosing them by a small Army was such as we shou'd expose our selves to all the World for it . Some People talk so big of our own Strength , that they think England able to Defend it self against all the World. I presume such talk without Book ; I think the prudentest Course is to prevent the Trial , and that is only to hold the Ballance of Europe as the King now does ; and if there be a War to keep it abroad . How these Gentlemen will do that with a Militia , I shou'd be glad to see Proposed ; 't is not the King of England alone , but the Sword of England in the Hand of the King , that gives Laws of Peace and War now to Europe ; And those who would thus write the Sword out of his Hand in time of Peace , bid the fairest of any Men in the World to renew the War. The Arguments against an Army have been strongly urg'd ; and the Authors with an unusual Assurance , Boast already of their Conquest , tho' their Armour is not yet put off . I think their Triumph goes before their Victory ; and if Books and Writing will not , God be thanked the Parliament will Confute them , by taking care to maintain such Forces , and no more , as they think needful for our safety abroad , without danger at home , and leaving it to time to make it appear , that such an Army , with Consent of Parliament , is not inconsistent with a Free Government , &c. An ARGUMENT , shewing , that a Standing Army , with Consent of Parliament , is not Inconsistent with a Free Government , &c. IN the Great Debates about a Standing Army ; and in all the Arguments us'd on one side and 'tother , in the Case it seems to me , that both Parties are Guilty of running into the Extreams of the Controversie . Some have taken up such terrible Notions of an Army , that take it how you will , call it what you will ; be it Rais'd , Paid or Commanded by whom you will , and let the Circumstances be alter'd never so much , the Term is synonimous , an Army is an Army ; and if they don't Enslave us , the Thanks is not to our good Conduct ; for so many Soldiers , so many Masters : They may do it if they will ; and if they do not do it now , they may do it in another Reign , when a King shall arise who knows not Ioseph , and therefore the Risque is not to be run by any means : From hence they draw the Consequence , That a Standing Army is Inconsistent with a Free Government , &c. which is the Title to the Argument . This we find back'd by a Discourse of Militia's , and by a Second part of the Argument , &c. and all these Three , which seem to me to be wrote be the same Hand , agree in this Point in General ▪ That the War being at an end , no Forces at all are to be kept in Pay , no Men to be Maintained whose Profession is bearing Arms , whose Commission is to Kill and Slay , as he has it in the Second Part ; but they must be Dismist , as Men for whom there is no more Occasion against an Enemy , and are dangerous to be kept up , least they find Occasion against our selves . The Advocates for the Necessity of a Standing Army , seem to make light of all these Fears and Jealousies ; and Plead the Circumstances of the Kingdom , with Relation to our Leagues and Confederacys abroad , the Strength of our Neighbours , a Pretender to the Crown in Being , the Uncertainties of Leagues , and the like , as Arguments to prove an Army necessary . I must own these are no Arguments any longer than those Circumstances continue , and therefore can amount to no more than to argue the necessity of an Army for a time , which time none of them has ventured to Assign , nor to say how , being once Establish'd , we shall be sure to be rid of them , in case a new King shou'd succeed before the time be expir'd , who may not value our Liberty at the rate his present Majesty has done . I desire calmly to consider both these Extreams , and if it be possible , to find out the safe Medium which may please us all . If there be any Person who has an ill Design in pushing thus against the Soldery . I am not to expect , that less than a Disbanding the whole Army will satisfie him ; but such who have no other End than preserving our Liberties entire , and leaving them so to Posterity , will be satisfied with what they know is sufficient to that End ; for he who is not content with what will fully answer the End he proposes , has some other End than that which he proposes . I make no Reflections upon any Party , but I propose to direct this Discourse to the Honest well meaning English ▪ Freeholder , who has a share in the Terra firma , and therefore is concern'd to preserve Freedom to the Inhabitant that loves his Liberty better than his Life , and won't sell it for Money ; and this is the Man who has the most reason to fear a Standing Army , for he has something to loose ; as he is most concern'd for the the Safety of a Ship , who has a Cargo on her Botom . This Man is the hardest to be made believe that he cannot be safe without an Army , because he finds he is not easie with one . To this Man all the sad Instances of the Slavery of Nations , by Standing Armies , stand as so many Buoys to warn him of the Rocks which other Free Nations have split upon ; and therefore 't is to this Man we are to speak . And in order to state the Case right , we are to distinguish first between England formerly , and England now ; between a Standing Army able to enslave the Nation , and a certain Body of Forces enough to make us safe . England now is in sundry Circumstances , different from England formerly , with respect to the Manner of Fighting , the Circumstances of our Neighbours , and of our Selves ; and there are some Reasons why a Militia are not , and perhaps I might make it out cannot be made fit for the Uses of the present Wars . In the Ancient Times of England's Power , we were for many years the Invaders of our Neighbours , and quite out of fear of Invasions at home ; but before we arriv'd to that Magnitude in the World , 't is to be observed we were hardly ever invaded , but we were conquer'd , William the Conqueror was the last ; and if the Spaniard did not do the same , 't was because God set the Elements in Battel array against them , and they were prevented bringing over the Prince of Parma's Army ; which if they had done , 't would have gone very hard with us ; but we owe it wholly to Providence . I believe it may be said , that from that Time to this Day , the Kingdom has never been without some Standing Troops of Souldiers entertain'd in pay , and always either kept at Home or employ'd Abroad ; and yet no evil Consequence follow'd , nor do I meet with any Votes of the Parliament against them as Grievances , or Motions made to Disband them , till the Days of King Charles the First . Queen Elizabeth , tho' she had no Guard du Corps , yet she had her Guards du Terres . She had even to her last hour several Armies , I may call them , in Pay among Forreign States and Princes , which upon any visible Occasion were ready to be call'd Home . King Iames the First had the same in Holland , in the Service of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden , and in the Unfortunate Service of the King of Bohemia ; and that Scotch Regiment , known by the name of Douglass's Regiment , have been , ( they say ) a Regiment Two hundred and fifty Years . King Charles the First had the same in the several Expeditions for the Relief of Rochel , and that fatal Descent upon the Isle of Rhe , and in his Expeditions into Scotland ; and they would do well to reconcile their Discourse to it self , who say in one place , If King Charles had had Five thousand Men , the Nation had never struct one stroak for their Liberties ; and in another , That the Parliament were like to have been petitioned out of doors by an Army a hundred and fifty Miles off , tho there was a Scotch Army at the Heels of them : for to me it appears that King Charles the First had an Army then , and would have kept it , but that he had not the Purse to pay them , of which more may be said hereafter . But England now stands in another Posture , our Peace at Home seems secure , and I believe it is so ▪ but to maintain our Peace abroad , 't is necessary to enter into Leagues and Confederacies : Here is one Neighbour grown too great for all the rest ; as they are single States or Kingdoms , and therefore to mate him , several must joyn for mutual Assistance , according to the Scotch Law of Duelling , that if one can't beat you ten shall . These Alliances are under certain Stipulations and Agreements , with what Strength and in what Places , to aid and assist one another ; and to perform these Stipulations , something of Force must be at hand if occasion require . That these Confederacies are of absolute and indispensible necessity , to preserve the Peace of a weaker against a stronger Prince , past Experience has taught us too plainly to need an Argument . There is another constant Maxim of the present State of the War ; and that is , carry the War into your Enemies Country , and always keep it out of your own . This is an Article has been very much opposed 't is true ; and some , who knew no better , would talk much of the fruitless Expence of a War abroad ; as if it was not worth while to defend your Confederates Country , to make it a Barrier to your own . This is too weak an Argument also to need any trouble about ; but this again makes it absolutely necessary to have always some Troops ready to send to the assistance of those Confederates if they are invaded . Thus at the Peace of Nimeguen , six Regiments were left in Holland , to continue there in time of Peace , to be ready in case of a Rupture . To say , that instead of this we will raise them for their assistance when wanted , would be something , if this potent Neighbour , were not the French King , whose Velocity of Motion the Dutch well remember in 1672. But then , say they , we may send our Militia . First , The King can't command them to go ; and Secondly , if he could , no body wou'd accept them ; and if they would go , and would be accepted of , they would be good for nothing : Is we have no Forces to assist a Confederate , who will value our Friendship , or assist us if we wanted it ? To say we are Self-dependent , and shall never need the Assistance of our Neighbour , is to say what we are not sure of , and this is certain it is as needful to maintain the Reputation of England in the Esteem of our Neighbours , as 't is to defend our Coasts in case of an Invasion ; for keep up the Reputation of our Power , and we shall never be Invaded . If our Defence from Insurrections or Invasions , were the only necessary part of a future War , I shou'd be the readier to grant the Point , and to think our Militia might be made useful ; but our business is Principiis Obsta , to beat the Enemy before he comes to our own door . Our Business in case of a Rupture , is to aid our Confederate Princes , that they may be able to stand between us and Danger : Our Business is to preserve Flanders , to Garrison the Frontier Towns , and be in the Field in Conjunction with the Confederate Armies : This is the way to prevent Invasions , and Descents : And when they can tell us that our Militia is proper for this work , then we will say something to it . I 'll suppose for once what I hope may never fall out , That a Rupture of this Peace shou'd happen , and the French , according to Custom , break suddenly into Flanders , and over-run it , and after that Holland , what Condition wou'd such a Neighbourhood of such a Prince , reduce us to ? If it be answer'd again , Soldiers may be raised to assist them . I answer , as before , let those who say so , read the History of the French King's Irruption into Holland in the year 1672. where he conquer'd Sixty strong fortified Towns in six Weeks time : And tell me what it will be to the purpose to raise Men , to fight an Enemy after the Conquest is made ? 'T will not be amiss to observe here that the Reputation and Influence the English Nation has had abroad among the Princes of Christendom , has been always more or less according as the Power of the Prince , to aid and assist , or to injure and offend , was Esteem'd . Thus Queen Rlizabeth carried her Reputation abroad by the Courage of her English Souldiers and Seamen ; and on the contrary , what a ridiculous Figure did King Iames , with his Beati Pacifici , make in all the Courts of Christendom ? How did the Spaniard and the Emperor banter and buffoon him ? How was his Ambassador asham'd to treat for him , while Count Colocedo told Count Mansfield , That his New Master ( meaning King Iames ) knew neither how to make Peace or War ? King Charles the First far'd much in the same manner : And how was it altered in the Case of Oliver ? Tho' his Government did a Tyrant resemble , He made England Great , and her Enemies tremble . Dialogue of the Houses . And what is it places the present King at the Helm of the Confederacies ? Why do they commit ▪ their Armies to his Charge , and appoint the Congress of their Plenipotentiaries at his Court ? Why do Distressed Princes seek his Mediation , as the Dukes of Holstien , Savoy , and the like ? Why did the Emperor and the King of Spain leave the whole Management of the Peace to him ? 'T is all the Reputation of his Conduct and the English Valour under him ; and 't is absolutely necessary to support this Character which England now bears in the World , for the great Advantages which may and will be made from it ; and this Character can never Live , nor these Allyances be supported with no Force at Hand to perform the Conditions . These are some Reasons why a Force is necessary , but the Question is , What Force ? For I Grant , it does not follow from hence , that a great Army must be kept on Foot in time of Peace , as the Author of the Second Part of the Argument says is pleaded for . Since then no Army , and a great Army , are Extreams equally dangerous , the one to our Liberty at Home , and the other to our Reputation Abroad , and the Safety of our Confederates ; it remains to Inquire what Medium is to be found out ; or in plain English , what Army may , with Safety to our Liberties , be Maintained in England , or what Means may be found out to make such an Army serviceable for the Defence of us and our Allies , and yet not dangerous to our Constitution . That any Army at all can be Safe , the Argument denies , but that cannot be made out ; a Thousand Men is an Army as much as 100000 ; as the Spanish Armado is call'd , An Armado , tho' they seldom fit out above Four Men of War ; and on this Account I must crave leave to say , I do Confute the Assertion in the Title of the Argument , that a Standing Army is Inconsistent with a Free Government , and I shall further do it by the Authority of Parliament . In the Claim of Right , presented to the present King ▪ and which he Swore to observe , as the Pacta Conventa of the Kingdom , it is declar'd , in hac verba , That the Raising or Keeping a Standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace , unless it be by Consent of Parliament , is against Law. This plainly lays the whole stress of the thing , not against the thing it self , A Standing Army , nor against the Season , in time of Peace , but against the Circumstance , Consent of Parliament ; and I think nothing is more Rational than to Conclude from thence , that a Standing Army in time of Peace , with Consent of Parliament , is not against Law , and I may go on , nor is not Inconsistent with a Free Government , nor Destructive of the English Monarchy . There are Two Distinctions necessary therefore in the present Debate , to bring the Question to a narrow Compass . First , I distinguish between a Great Army and a small Army . And Secondly , I distinguish between an Army kept on Foot without Consent of Parliament , and an Army with Consent of Parliament . And whereas we are told , an Army of Soldiers is an Army of Masters , and the Consent of Parliament don't alter it , but they may turn them out of doors who Rais'd them , as they did the Long Parliament . The First distinction answers that ; for if a great Army may do it , a small Army can't ; and then the Second Distinction regulates the First . For it cannot be supposed , but the Parliament when they give that Consent which can only make an Army Lawful , will not Consent to a larger Army then they can so Master , as that the Liberties or People of England , shall never be in danger from them . No Man will say this cannot be , because the Number may be supposed as small as you please ; but to avoid the Sophistry of an Argument , I 'll suppose the very Troops which we see the Parliament have not Voted to be Disbanded ; that is , those which were on Foot before the Year 1680. No Man will deny them to be a Standing Army , and yet sure no Man will imagine any danger to our Liberties from them . We are ask'd , if you establish an Army , and a Revenue to pay them , How shall we be sure they will not continue themselves ? But will any Man ask that Question of such an Army as this ? Can Six Thousand Men tell the Nation they won't Disband , but will continue themselves , and then Raise Money to do it ? Can they Exact it by Military Execution ? If they can , our Militia must be very despicable . The keeping such a Remnant of an Army does not hinder but the Militia may be made as useful as you please ; and the more useful you make it , the less danger from this Army : And however it may have been the Business of our Kings to make the Militia as useless as they could , the present King never shew'd any Tokens of such a Design . Nor is it more than will be needful , for 6000 Men by themselves won't do , if the Invasion we speak of should ever be attempted . What has been said of the Appearance of the People on the Purbeck fancied Invasion , was very true ; but I must say , had it been a true One of Forty Thousand Regular Troops , all that Appearance cou'd have done nothing , but have drove the Country in order to starve them , and then have run away : I am apt enough to grant what has been said of the Impracticableness of any Invasion upon us , while we are Masters at Sea ; but I am sure the Defence of England's Peace , lies in making War in Flanders . Queen Elizabeth found it so , her way to beat the Spaniards , was by helping the Dutch to do it . And she as much Defended England in aiding Prince Maurice , to win the Great Battel of Newport , as she did in Defeating their Invincible Armado . Oliver Cromwel took the same Course ; for he no sooner declared Wat against Spain , but he Embark'd his Army for Flanders : The late King Charles did the same against the French , when after the Peace of Nimeguen , Six Regiments of English and Scots were always left in the Service of the Dutch , and the present War is a further Testimony : For where has it been Fought , not in England , God be thanked , but in Flanders ? And what are the Terms of the Peace , but more Frontier Towns in Flanders ? And what is the Great Barrier of this Peace , but Flanders ; the Consequence of this may be guess'd by the Answer King William gave when Prince of Orange , in the late Treaty of Nimeguen ; when , to make the Terms the easier , 't was offered , That a Satisfaction shou'd be made to him by the French , for his Lands in Luxemburgh ; to which the Prince reply'd . He would part with all his Lands in Luxemburgh to get the Spaniards one good Frontier Town in Flanders . The reason is plain ; for every one of those Towns , tho' they were immediately the Spaniards , were really Bulwarks to keep the French the further off from his own Country ; and thus it is now : And how our Militia can have any share in this part of the War , I cannot imagine . It seems strange to me to reconcile the Arguments made use of to magnifie the Serviceableness of the Militia , and the Arguments to enforce the Dread of a Standing Army ; for they stand like two Batteries one against another , where the Shot from one dismounts the Cannon of the other : If a small Army may enslave us , our Militia are good for nothing ; if good for nothing , they cannot defend us , and then an Army is necessary : If they are good , and are able to defend us , then a small Army can never hurt us , for what may defend us Abroad , may defend us at Home ; and I wonder this is not consider'd . And what is plainer in the World than that the Parliament of England have all along agreed to this Point . That a Standing Army in time of Peace , with Consent of Parliament , is not against Law. The Establishment of the Forces in the time of K. Charles II. was not as I remember ever objected against in Parliament , at least we may say the Parliament permitted them if they did not establish them : And the Present Parliament seems enclin'd to continue the Army on the same foot , so far as may be suppos'd from their Vote to disband all the Forces raised since 1680. To affirm then , That a Standing Army , ( without any of the former Distinctions ) is Inconsistent , &c. is to argue against the General Sense of the Nation , the Permission of the Parliament for 50 years past , and the Present apparent Resolutions of the best Composed House that perhaps ever entred within those Walls . To this House the whole Nation has left the Case , to act as they see cause ; to them we have committed the Charge of our Liberties , nay the King himself has only told them His Opinion , with the Reasons for it , without leading them at all ; and the Article of the Claim of Right is left in full force : For this Consent of Parliament is now left the whole and sole Judge . Whether an Army or no Army ; and if it Votes an Army , 't is left still the sole Judge of the Quantity , how many , or how few . Here it remains to enquire the direct Meaning of those words , Vnless it be by Consent of Parliament ▪ and I humbly suppose they may , among other things , include these Particulars . 1. That they be rais'd and continued not by a Tacit , but Explicite Consent of Parliament ; or , to speak directly , by an Act of Parliament . 2. That they be continued no longer than such Explicite Consent shall limit and appoint . If these two Heads are granted in the word Consent , I am bold to affirm ▪ Such an Army is not Inconsistent with a Free Government , &c. I am as positively assur'd of the Safety of our Liberties under the Conduct of King and Parliament , while they concur , as I am of the Salvation of Believers by the Passion of our Saviour ; and I hardly think 't is fit for a private Man to impose his positive Rules on them for Method , any more than 't is to limit the Holy Spirit , whose free Agency is beyond his Power : For the King , Lords and Commons , can never err while they agree ; nor is an Army of 20 or 40000 Men either a Scarcrow enough to enslave us , while under that Union . If this be allow'd , then the Question before us is , What may conduce to make the Harmony between the King , Lords and Commons eteernal ? And so the Debate about an Army ceases . But to leave that Question , since Frailty attends the best of Persons , and Kings have their faux Pas , as well as other Men , we cannot expect the Harmony to be immortal ; and therefore to provide for the worst , our Parliaments have made their own Consent the only Clause that can make an Army Legitimate : But to say that an Army directly as an Army , without these Distinctions , is destructive of the English Monarchy , and Inconsistent with a Free Government , &c. is to say then that the Parliament can destroy the English Monarchy , and can Establish that which is Inconsistent with a Free Government ; which is ridiculous . But then we are told , that the Power of the Sword was first placed in the Lords er Barons , and how they serv'd the King in his Wars with themselves and their Vassals , and that the King had no Power to Invade the Priviledges of the Barons , having no other Forces than the Vassals of his own Demeasnes to follow him : And this Form is applauded as an extraodinary Constitution , because there is no other Limitation of a Monarchy of any Signification than such as places the Sword in the hand of the Subject : And all such Government where the Prince has the Power of the Sword , tho' the People have the Power of the Purse , are no more Monarchies but Tyrannies : For not only that Government is tyrannical which is tyrannically exercis'd , but all Governments are tyrannical which have not in their Constitution sufficient Security against the Arbitrary Power of their Prince ; that is , which have not the Power of the Sword to Imploy against him if need be . Thus we come to the Argument : Which is not how many Troops may by allow'd , or how long ; but in short , No Mercenary-Troops at all can be maintain'd without Destroying our Constitution , and Metamorphizing our Government into a Tyranny . I admire how the Maintainer of this Basis came to omit giving us an Account of another Part of History very needful to examine , in handing down the True Notion of Government in this Nation , viz. of Parliaments . To supply which , and to make way for what follows , I must take leave to tell the Reader , that about the time , when this Service by Villenage and Vassalage began to be resented by the People , and by Peace and Trade they grew rich , and the Power of the Barons being too great , frequent Commotions , Civil Wars , and Battels , were the Consequence , nay sometimes without concerning the King in the Quarrel : One Nobleman would Invade another , in which the weakest suffered most , and the poor Man's Blood was the Price of all ; the People obtain'd Priviledges of their own , and oblig'd the King and the Barons to accept of an Equilibrium ; this we call a Parliament : And from this the Due Ballance , we have so much heard of is deduced . I need not lead my Reader to the Times and Circumstances of this , but this Due Ballance is the Foundation on which we now stand , and which the Author of the Argument so highly applaudes as the best in the World ; and I appeal to all Men to judge if this Ballance be not a much nobler Constitution in all its Points , than the old Gothick Model of Government . In that the Tyranny of the Barons was intollerable , the Misery and Slavery of the Common People insupportable , their Blood and Labour was at the absolute Will of the Lord , and often sacrifice to their private Quarrels : They were as much at his beck as his Pack of Hounds were at the Sound of his Horne ; whether it was to march against a Forreign Enemy , or against their own Natural Prince ▪ So that this was but exchanging one Tyrant for Three hundred , for so many the Barons of England were accounted at least . And this was the Effect of the Security vested in the People , against the Arbitrary Power of the King ; which was to say the Barons took care to maintain their own Tyranny , and to prevent the Kings Tyrahnizing over them . But 't is said , the Barons growing poor by the Luxury of the Times , and the Common People growing rich , they exchang'd their Vassalage for Leases , Rents , Fines , and the like . They did so , and thereby became entituled to the Service of themselves ; and so overthrew the Settlement , and from hence came a House of Commons : And I hope England has reason to value the Alteration . Let them that think not reflect on the Freedoms the Commons enjoy in Poland , where the Gothick Institution remains , and they will be satisfied . In this Establishment of a Parliament , the Sword is indeed trusted in the Hands of the King , and the Purse in the Hands of the People ; the People cannot make Peace or War without the King , no● the King cannot raise or maintain an Army without the People ; and this is the True Ballance . But we are told , The Power of the Purse is not a sufficient Security without the Power of the Sword : What! not against Ten thousand Men ? To answer this , 't is necessary to examine how far the Power of the Sword is in the Hands of the People already , and next whether the Matter of Fact be true . I say the Sword is in part in the Hands of the People already , by the Militia , who , as the Argument says are the People themselves . And how are they Ballanc'd ? 'T is true , they are Commissioned by the King , but they may refuse to meet twice , till the first Pay is reimburst to the Countrey : And where shall the King Raise it without a Parliament ? that very Militia would prevent him . So that our Law therein Authorizing the Militia to refuse the Command of the King , tacitly puts the Sword into the Hands of the People . I come now to Examine the Matter of Fact , That the Purse is not an Equivalent to the Sword , which I deny to be true ; and here 't will be necessary to Examine ▪ How often our Kings of England have Raised Armies on their own Heads , but have been forced to Disband them for want of Moneys , nay , have been forced to call a Parliament to Raise Money to Disband them . King Charles the First is an Instance of both these ; for his First Army against the Scots he was forced to Dismiss for want of Pay ; and then was forced to call a Parliament to Pay and Dismiss the Scots ; and tho' he had an Army in the Field at the Pacification , and a Church Army too , yet he durst not attempt to Raise Money by them . I am therefore to affirm , that the Power of the Purse is an Equivalent to the Power of the Sword ; and I believe I can make it appear , if I may be allowed to instance in those numerous Armies which Gaspar Coligny , Admiral of France , and Henry the Fourth King of Navar , and William the First P. of Orange brought of Germany into France , and into the Low Countries , which all vanished , and could attempt nothing for want of a Purse to maintain them : But to come nearer , what made the Efforts of King Charles all Abortive , but Want of the Purse ? Time was he had the Sword in his Hand , when the Duke of Buckingham went on those Fruitless Voyages to Rochell , and himself afterwards to Scotland , he had Forces on Foot , a great many more than Five Thousand , which the Argument mentions , but he had not the Purse , at last he attempted to take it without a Parliament , and that Ruin'd him . King Charles the Second found the Power of the Purse , so much out-ballanced the Power of the Sword , that he sat still , and let the Parliament Disband his Army for him , almost whether he would or no. Besides the Power of the Purse in England , differs from what the same thing is in other Countries , because 't is so Sacred a thing , that no King ever touch'd at it but he found his Ruine in it . Nay , 't is so odious to the Nation , that whoever attempts it , must at the same time be able to make an Entire Conquest or nothing . If then neither the Consent of Parliament , nor the smalness of an Army proposed , nor the Power of the Sword in the Hands of the Milia , which are the People themselves , nor the Power of the Purse , are not a sufficient Ballance against the Arbitrary Power of the King , what shall we say ? Are Ten Thousand Men in Arms , without Money , without Parliament Authority , hem'd in with the whole Militia of England , and Dam'd by the Laws ? Are they of such Force as to break our Constitution ? I cannot see any reason for such a Thought . The Parliament of England is a Body of whom we may say , That no Weapon Formed against them cou'd ever Prosper ; and they know their own Strength , and they know what Force is needful , and what hurtful , and they will certainly maintain the First and Disband the Last . It may be said here , 'T is not the fear of Ten Thousand Men , 't is not the matter of an Army , but 't is not the Thing it self ; grant a Revenue for Life , and the next King will call it , My Revenue , and so grant an Army for this King , and the next will say , Give Me my Army . To which I Answer , That these things have been no oftner ask'd in Parliament than deny'd ; and we have so many Instances in our late Times of the Power of the Purse , that it seems strange to me , that it should not be allowed to be a sufficient Ballance . King Charles the Second , as I hinted before , was very loath to part with his Army Rais'd in 1676. but he was forced to it for want of Money to pay them ; he durst not try whether when Money had Raised an Army , an Army cou'd not Raise Money . 'T is true , his Revenues were large , but Frugality was not his Talent , and that ruin'd the Design . King Iames the Second was a good Husband , and that very Husbandry had almost Ruin'd the Nation ; for his Revenues being well managed , he maintain'd an Army out of it . For 't is well known , the Parliament never gave him a Penny towards it ; but he never attempted to make his Army Raise any Money ; if he had ; 't is probable his Work had been sooner done than it was . But pray let us Examine abroad , if the Purse has not Governed all the Wars of Europe . The Spaniards were once the most powerful People in Europe ; their Infantry were in the Days of the Prince of Parma , the most Invincible Troops in the World. The Dutch , who were then his Subjects , and on whom he had Levied immense Sums of Money , had the 10th Penny demanded of them , and the Demand back'd by a great Army of these very Spaniards , which , among many other Reasons caused them to Revolt . The Duke D'Alva afterwards attempted for his Master to raise this Tax by his Army , by which he lost the whole Netherlands , who are now the Richest People in the World ; and the Spaniard is now become the meanest and most despicable People in Europe , and that only because they are the Poorest . The present War is another Instance , which having lasted Eight Years , is at last brought to this Conclusion ▪ That he who had the longest Sword has yielded to them who had the longest Purse . The late King Charles the First , is another most lively Instance of this Matter , to what lamentable Shifts did he drive himself ? and how many despicable Steps did he take , rather than call a Parliament , which he hated to think of . And yet , tho' he had an Army on Foot , he was forced to do it , or starve all his Men ; had it been to be done , he wou'd have done it . 'T is true , 't was said the Earl of Strofford propos'd a Scheme , to bring over an Army out of Ireland , to force England to his Terms ; but the Experiment was thought too desperate to be attempted , and the very Project Ruin'd the Projector ; such an ill Fate attends every Contrivance against the Parliament of England . But I think I need go no further on that Head : The Power of Raising Money is wholly in the Parliament , as a Ballance to the Power of Raising Men , which is in the King ; and all the Reply I can meet with is , That this Ballance signifies nothing , for an Army can Raise Money , as well as Money Raise an Army ; to which I Answer , besides what has been said already ; I do not think it practicable in England : The greatest Armies , in the Hands of the greatest Tyrants we ever had in England , never durst attempt it . We find several Kings in England have attempted to Raise Money without a Parliament , and have tryed all the means they could to bring it to pass ; and they need not go back to Richard the Second , to Edward the Second , to Edward the Fourth , to Henry the Eighth , or to Charles the First , to remind the Reader of what all Men who know any thing of History are acquainted with : But not a King ever yet attempted to Raise Money , by Military Execution , or Billetting Soldiers upon the Country . King Iames the Second had the greatest Army and the best , as to Discipline , that any King ever had ; and his desperate Attempts on our Liberties show'd his good Will , yet he never came to that Point . I won't deny , but that our Kings have been willing to have Armies at Hand , to back them in their Arbitrary Proceedings , and the Subjects may have been aw'd by them from a more early Resentment ; but I must observe , that all the Invasion of our Rights , and all the Arbitrary Methods of our Governors , has been under pretences of Law. King Charles the First Levy'd Ship-Money as his due , and the Proclamations for that purpose cite the pretended Law , that in Case of Danger from a Foreign Enemy , Ships shou'd be fitted out to Defend us , and all Men were bound to contribute to the Charge ; Coat and Conduct Money had the like Pretences ; Charters were subverted by Quo Warrantoes , and Proceedings at Law ; Patriots were Murther'd under Formal Prosecutions , and all was pretended to be done legally . I know but one Instance in all our English Story , where the Souldery were employ'd as Souldiers , in open Defyance of Law , to destroy the Peoples Liberties by a Military Absolute Power , and that stands as an Everlasting Brand of Infamy upon our Militia ; and is an Instance to prove , beyond the Power of a Reply , That even our Militia , under a bad Government , let them be our selves , and the People , and all those fine things never so much are under ill Officers and ill Management , as dangerous as any Souldery whatever , will be as Insolent , and do the Drudgery of a Tyrant as effectually . In the Year when Mr. Dubois and Mr. Papillon , a Member of the Present Parliament , were chosen Sheriffs of London , and Sir Iohn Moor , under pretence of the Authority of the Chair , pretended to nominate one Sheriff himself , and leave the City to choose but one , and confirm the Choice of the Mayor , the Citizens struggled for their Right , and stood firm to their Choice , and several Adjournments were made to bring over the Majority of the Livery , but in vain : At length the Day came when the Sheriffs were to be sworn , and when the Livery-men assembled at Guild-hall to swear their Sheriffs , they found the Hall Garrison'd with a Company of Trained-Bands under Lieutenant Coll. Quiney , a Citizen himself , and most of the Soldiers , Citizens and Inhabitants ; and by this Force the Ancient Livery-men were shut out , and several of them thrown down , and insolently used , and the Sheriffs thrust away from the Hustings , and who the Lord Mayor pleased was Sworn in an open Defiance of the Laws of the Kingdom , and Priviledges of the City . This was done by the Militia to their Everlasting Glory , and I do not remember the like done by a Standing Army of Mercenaries , in this Age at least . Nor is a Military Tyranny practicable in England , if we consider the power the Laws have given to the Civil Magistrate , unless you at the same time imagine that Army large enough to subdue the whole English Nation at once , which if it can be effected by such an Army as the Parliament now seem enclined to permit , we are in a very mean Condition . I know it may be objected here , that the Forces which were on Foot before 1680. are not the Army in Debate , and that the Design of the Court was to have a much greater Force . I do not know that , but this I know , that those Forces were an Army , and the Design of all these Oponents of an Army is in so many words , against any Army at all , small as well as great ; a Tenet absolutely destructive of the present Interest of England , and of the Treaties and Alliances made by His Majesty with the Princes and States of Europe , who depend so much on his Aid in Guard of the present Peace . The Power of making Peace or War is vested in the King : 'T is part of his Prerogative , but 't is implicitly in the People , because their Negative as to Payment , does really Influence all those Actions . Now If when the King makes War , the Subject shou'd refuse to assist him , the whole Nation would be ruin'd : Suppose in the Leagues and Confederacies His Present Majesty is engag'd in for the Maintenance of the present Peace , all the Confederates are bound in case of a Breach to assist one another with so many Men , say Ten thousand for the English Quota , more or less , where shall they be found ? Must they stay till they are Rais'd ? To what purpose would it be then for any Confederate to depend upon England for Assistance ? It may be said indeed , if you are so engag'd by Leagues or Treaties , you may hire Foreign Troops to assist till you can raise them . This Answer leads to several things which would take up too much room here . Foreign Troops require Two things to procure them ; Time to Negotiate for them , which may not be to be spar'd , for they may be almost as soon rais'd ; Time for their March from Germany , for there are none nearer to be hir'd , and Money to Hire them , which must be had by Parliament , or the King must have it ready : If by Parliament , that is a longer way still ; if without , that opens a worse Gate to Slavery than t'other : For if a King have Money , he can raise Men or hire Men when he will ; and you are in as much danger then , and more than you can be in now from a Standing Army : So that since giving Money is the same thing as giving Men , as it appear'd in the late K. Iames's Reign , both must be prevented , or both may be allow'd . But the Parliament we see needs no Instructions in this Matter , and therefore are providing to reduce the Forces to the same Quota they were in before 1680. by which means all the fear of Invading our Liberties will be at an end , the Army being so very small that 't is impossible , and yet the King will have always a Force at hand to assist his Neighbours , or defend himself till more can be Raised . The Forces before 1680. were an Army , and if they were an Army by Consent of Parliament , they were a Legal Army ; and if they were Legal , then they were not inconsistent with a Free Government , &c. for nothing can be Inconsistent with a Free Government , which is done according to the Laws of that Government : And if a Standing Army has been in England Legally , then I have proved , That a Standing Army is not Inconsistent with a Free Government , &c. FINIS . Advertisement . Lately Published . SOme Reflections on a Pamphlet lately Published , Entituled , An Argument shewing that a Standing Army is Inconsistent with a Free Government , and absolutely Destructive to the Constitution of the English Monarchy . 2d . Edit . Printed for , and Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall . 1697. 
A37428	----	An enquiry into the occasional conformity of dissenters in cases of preferment with a preface to the lord mayor, occasioned by his carrying the sword to a conventicle. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1698 Approx. 40 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37428 Wing D835 ESTC R36086 15601621 ocm 15601621 104057 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37428) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 104057) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1590:13) An enquiry into the occasional conformity of dissenters in cases of preferment with a preface to the lord mayor, occasioned by his carrying the sword to a conventicle. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 15 p. Reprinted by J.B. and S.P. ... for Jacob Milner ..., Dublin : MDCXCVIII [1698] Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.) A different work from the author's An enquiry into occasional conformity. 1702. Cf. BM. Preface signed: One, Two, Three, Four. Imperfect: pages faded and stained with slight loss of print. Reproduction of original in the Cambridge University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Dissenters, Religious -- England. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-08 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-09 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2002-09 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion AN ENQUIRY INTO THE Occasional Conformity OF DISSENTERS , IN Cases of Preferment , WITH A Preface to the Lord Mayor , Occasioned by his carrying the Sword to a Conventicle . If the Lord be God , follow him : but if Baal , then follow him . 1 Kings 18. 21. DUBLIN : Reprinted by J. B. and S. P. at the Back of Dick's Coffee-House in Skinner Row , for Jacob Milner , Bookseller in Essex-street , M DC XC VIII . THE PREFACE . My LORD , I Know not that the following Sheets will at all affect Your Lordship , for I cannot say , That Your Lordship did Communicate with the Dissenters before , or does with the Church now ; nor does it Import much whether you did either . The Discourse is not meant for a Satyr on , Your Lordship , nor upon any Man else ; neither has it any Double Aspect , but directly Points at the Fact , which whether it be a Crime or not , let their Consciences judge , who know themselves Guilty . My Lord , the Step Your Lordship made into the Chair , had something in it of Surprize , and Your Management of it has more . The Figure Your Lordship made , when You were the Man whom the King delighted to Honour , was very Magnificent ; and we find , that since that , Your Lordship does not bear the Sword in vain . I bear Your Lordship Testimony , That I never heard any Man reflect , either on Your Lordship's Morals or Management , ( since Your being Lord Mayor ) save only in the Matter of Pinners-Hall : And since no body has opened their Mouths on Your Lordship 's Behalf , I humbly crave leave to be Your Lordship 's Advocate in one Point . One Principal Allegation against Your Lordship , is , That you forced the Pious Conscientious Mr. M — to the Meeting-house , and there enclos'd him , nolens volens , contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of an Act of Parliament , in that Case made and Provided ; Entituled , An Act for Liberty of Conscience , &c. And that at the same time , Your Lordship caused the Sword ( that very Individual Sword , that had the Honour to be carried so far before the King ) even the City Sword of State , to be carried to a Conventicle or Meeting-house , call'd Pinners-Hall . My Lord , I own the Fact in Your Lordship 's behalf , that Your Lordship 's Sword and Sword-Bearer was there ; and I can find out but two Clauses in which Your Lordship can be charg'd with a Mistake . One is in forcing that Good Man against his Conscience . Liberty of Conscience is a thing , that Gentleman , I confess , never was fond of . But since 't is now become every Subjects right , 't is hard Your Lordship should refuse it Mr. M — . But now , My Lord , I must crave the freedom to inform Your Lordship , That Mr. M — , and Your Lordship , are exactly under the same Predicaments as to Liberty ; for if Your Lordship has , against his Will , oblig'd him to go to Pinners-Hall ; Your Lordship seems in as large a measure to be impos'd upon , in being oblig'd to go to the Cathedral Worship of St. Paul's . Till Your Lordship arriv'd at the Magnitude You now sit in , You never suffer'd Your self to be abridg'd of Your Liberty ; and shall Your Power be Great in every thing , but in the Management of Your self . My Lord , either Your Profession before was Bad or Good : If it was Bad , Your Lordship does well to alter it , and would do better to do so wholly . If 't was Good , why does Your Lordship alter it at all ? But I beg leave of Your Lordship to consider how 't was possible to be both Good and Bad too ? That Your Lordship should Worship God one way in the Morning , and another in the Afternoon . My Lord , Your Elevated Station places You above the Fear of Man , and he that is above Fear , is above Shame . If Your former Profession was Good , Your Lordship need never be asham'd of it : If 't was Bad , You need not be asham'd to mend it , for no wise Man is asham'd of growing wiser . Humane Politicks seldom agree with Nice Consciences ; and if I could entertain such base Thoughts , as to believe Your Lordship designs by this to gain Parties , and make both Your Friends ; I would think it also needful to assure Your Lordship , that by it You will most effectually lose both Parties ; but Your Lordship is wiser than to need that Admonition . Your Lordship never was a Trimmer in Your Life , and certainly You won't Trim it with Your Maker . I neither press Your Lordship to go to Church or Meeting , but to use the Authority Man has given you to procure Your self the freedom of using the Judgment God has given You ; That honest Mr. Sword-bearer may have his Liberty , and Your Lordship Your own . We were in hopes when Your Lordship first appear'd in the Quire at Paul's , that you were effectually convinced of your former Error , as a Dissenter ; and that Noble Quire should have been grac'd at its first Opening with so Noble a Convert , as Your Lordship ; but since we find Your Lordship is pleased to practice such Latitudinarian Principles , as to be a Conformist in the Morning , and a Nonconformist before Night ; it puts us upon considering what this new sort of a Religion that looks two ways at once , means . The following Sheets , if Your Lordship should give Your self the trouble of reading them , will directly point out to Your Lordship what is meant by this blunt Preface . In short , That the Church or the Meeting-house , is the Placewhere Your Lordship may Worship , but that both Church and Meeting-house , at the same time , is preposterous , Derogatory to the Character of Your Lordship 's Wisdom , a Scandal upon the Grandeur of the Principal Magistrate of the City ; and a slight put upon God himself , as if Your Lordship were very indifferent which way You did it , and consequently , whether you did it at all , or not . Your Lordship sits in a Chair of Great Authority , and the Respect due to You is Great , and your Example is very significant . Wherefore 't is the Author's humble Request to Your Lordship , That you will be pleas'd to consider , whether the Example Your Lordship now sets us , is such as You would really advise any body to follow , and if not , I have no more to say to the Matter ; But that I am , Your Lordship 's Most Humble Servant , One , Two , Three , Four. A DISCOURSE UPON Occasional Conformity . WHEN I review the Past Times , and look back upon the various Scenes , which they present us , as to Ecclesiastical Transactions within this Kingdom , there seems nothing more strange than the Turns we have had from Popish to Regal Supremacy , from the Romish Religion to Reform'd , from Reform'd back again to Romish , and then to Reform'd again , and so on through several Degrees of Reformation , and back again from those Degrees to the first Steps of Reformation , and then forward again . King Henry the 8th , a Prince of a haughty Spirit , disdaining the Insolence with which his Predecessors were treated by the Popes , gave the first shock to the Roman Power in these Kingdoms . I won't say he acted from any Principles of Conscience , whatever his Ambition and Interest led him to pretend , but that , as it is in most Cases of Publick Revolutions , was the Gloss ; however it was , having satisfy'd his Pride by subduing the Supremacy of the Pop and Establishing his own ; his Interest next guided him to the Suppression Abbies and Monasteries ; the horrible Vices which were protected , as were as practised in those Nests of Superstition , giving his pretence of Piety a larger Scope ; and I 'll for once be so free with the Character of that Prince as to suppose what to me seems plain , that neither This Religion , or That , 〈◊〉 of much moment in his thoughts , but his Interest , as the Sequel made plain , by Seizure he made of the Revenues of the Church . And yet the Justice Providence seem'd very conspicuous in that point , That those Houses who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the specious pretences of Religion and extraordinary Devotion , have massed to themselves vast Revenues to the Impoverishing many 〈◊〉 and in the mean time practised secretly most unheard-of Wickedness , 〈◊〉 under the same pretence of Zeal and Piety be suppressed and impoverished by a Person , who meerly to serve his own Glory , triumph'd over them , tending , Jehu like , to shew his Zeal for the Lord. Some do assure us , That the Eyes of this Prince were really open'd as to the Point of Religion ; and that had he liv'd longer , he wou'd most effectually have establish'd the Reformation in his time ; but God , who gave him that light , if he had it , however he might accept his Intention , as he did that of David's building his House , yet he reserv'd the Glory of the Performance to his Son. King Edward the 6th , of whom wondrous things are spoken in all our English Writers , and more than we need suppose should be literally true ; yet was , without doubt , a Prince of the strictest Piety , not only that ever reign'd , but that ever liv'd , perhaps , since the Days of Josiah , whose Parallel our Writers say he was . The Reformation began in his hand ; not but that the Protestant Religion had been receiv'd in England many years before , by the preaching of John Wickliff , William Tindall , and others , and had many Professors , and those such , who gailantly offered their Lives in defence of the Truth . But it got but little ground ; for Religion has but few Votaries , while all its Professors must also be Confessors , and while Exile or Martyrdom is all the present prospect of Advantage to be got by it . None will dare to be Dissenters in times of Danger , but such whose Consciences are so awaken'd that they dare not be otherwise . But in the Hands of this young Prince , the great work was begun , and in a shorter time than could be imagin'd , was finish'd and establish'd ; the Romanists fled or conform'd ; for we find but very few had any Inclination to Martyrdom if it had been put upon them . Some indeed to show the Nature of their Religion , Pleaded for Baal , and rebell'd , stirring up the Ignorant People to Murther their Gideon for throwing down the Altars of Baal ; but like the Ephramites of old , their Shiboleth was their undoing . God , who thought fit to discover the Levity of those who had only Conform'd , and not Reform'd , who , in exemplum Regis , had took up this as they wou'd have done any Religion , and also for the Tryal and Glory of his Church , suffer'd all this great Fabrick , however of his own Working , to be overthrown at the Death of this good King and a Deluge of Cruelty and Popery overwheim'd the People in the Reign of the Queen , his Sister . But Popery found more Dissenters than the Reformation had done , and the Impression Religion had made on the Minds of those who had sincerely Embrac'd it , was not so easily Defac'd as the pretended Reformation of Others ; for the Glosses Men had put on their Actions , only as a Cover from common Observation , was soon discover'd , when the Safety of owning their Old Principles render'd those Outsides no longer needful ; but where the True Religion had got footing in the Mind , it was still the same , whatever Alterations of Times might make it Dangerous ; and yet all People did not burn ; but some being persecuted in one City , fled to another ; and Germany especially was a Sanctuary for the Distressed English Protestants , that Country having been before-hand with us in the Reformation . 'T was here that our Exil'd Clergy having Convers'd with the Learned Reformers abroad , and particularly with John Calvin , found , that tho' they were Reform'd indeed from the Gross Errors of Popery and Superstition , there was yet several things which might be further and further Reform'd ; and being willing to arrive to the greatest Perfection they were capable of in Religion , ( that as near as possible they might pursue the Great Example of Christ Jesus , whose Name they profess'd , and for whom they cou'd most gloriously die ) , they corrected in themselves those things which they saw needful , and by Letters to their Brethren in England communicated their Opinions , with their Reasons , exhorting them to go on unto perfection as they had begun . Some of the most Zealous for Piety and Holiness of Life , rejected this Motion ; and Others as Zealous and Pious , clos'd with it ; and the Disputes were carried so far sometimes , as to invade the Charity of one another ; an humble Acknowledgment of which you have in a most Christian Reconciling Letter from Bishop Ridley to Bishop Hooper , two of the most Glorious Triumphant Martyrs that ever confest the Truth of Christ at the Stake . For the present , the Fire of the Persecution , ( as the Greater Light obscures the Less ) , extinguish'd that of Dissention . But when Queen Elizabeth rescu'd the Protestant Religion , and the Church enjoy'd its Peace again , the Debate reviv'd : But the first Establishment of King Edward obtain'd so on the Minds of Men , that the further Reformation was rejected ; the other Party being not at all convinc'd , tho' over-rul'd , submitted their Persons to the Laws , but not their Opinion ; affirming , That 't was the Duty of every Christian , to endeavour to serve God with the greatest Purity of Worship that was possible ; and that this was the Purest Worship which came nearest to the Divine Institution , which they believ'd the Establish'd Liturgy did not , and therefore in Conscience they must be Dissenters . It must be own'd , That the Original Authors of these Disputes were Learned , Devout , and singularly Pious , strict in Conversation to excess , if that be possible , and from thence , in a sort of happy Derision , were call'd Puritans ; of whom I shall say nothing , but leave for a Record the last Speech of a Famous Foreigner , who had seen the way of living among those Dissenters , and speaking of the Words of Balaam , Let me dye the death of the Righteous , and let my latter end be like his , cry'd Out , Sit Anima Mea cum Puritanis Anglicanis . I shall not take upon me to observe the Difference between these Primitive Dissenters and Our Present , which is too plain ; nor to dispute the Substance of the Point in Debate between them and the Establisht National Church . I shall only observe , That the Reasons for the present Dissenters Separation from the Establisht Church , are said to be exactly the same they were then ; and the present Dissenters are the Successors of those first , as the present Conformists are the Successors of the first Reformers under King Edward the 6th , and Queen Elizabeth . I must acknowledge , that it fares with the Church of England , and with the Dissenters both , as it has always far'd with Christ's Church in the whole World ; That while Supprest and Persecuted , their Professors were few , and their Profession more severe ; but when a Religion comes to be the Mode of the Country , so many painted Hypocrites get into the Church , who are not by their Voices to be distinguish'd , that Guile is not to be seen , till it arrive to Apostacy . The whole Ecclesiastical History , from the first Century of the Christian Church , is full of Instances to confirm this , That the Prosperity of the Church of Christ has been more fatal to it , than all the Persecution of its Enemies . I am now brought down to the present Time , when the Dissenting Protestant is sheltered by the laws , and protected from the Violence which he suffered in the Late Reigns , under the Arbitrary Commands of such State-Ministers who strove to dash the whole Protestant Interest to pieces by its own weight : and nothing is more apparent to those who are any thing acquainted with the late Management of Affairs in this Land , than that the Court used both Parties alternately , as Policy and occasion directed , to Suppress and Destroy one another ; that the whole House , which being so divided , cou'd not stand , might at last fall of it self . But our Eyes are at last open'd , and the Name of Protestant is now the common Title of an Englishman , and the Church of England extends her Protection to the Tender Consciences of her Weaker Brethren , knowing that all may be Christians , tho' not alike inform'd ; and the Dissenter extends his Charity to the Church of England , believing that in his due time God shall reveal even this unto them . If this is not , I wish this were the Temper of both Parties ; and I am sure it is already the Temper of some of each Side , and those few are of the Wisest , most Pious , and most Judicious . But while Frailty and Infirmity is an Essential to Humanity , and Pride and Hypocrisy are the two regnant Vices of the Church , this Good Spirit cannot be Universal , and we do not expect it . But there is a sort of Truth which all men owe to the Principles they profess ; and generally speaking , all men pay it ; a Turk is a Turk zealously and entirely ; an Idolater is an Idolater , and will serve the Devil to a tittle : None but Protestants halt between God and Baal ; Christians of an Amphibious Nature , that have such Preposterous Consciences , that can believe one Way of Worship to be right , and yet serve God another way themselves ; This is a strange thing in Israel . The whole History of Religions in the World do not shew such a Case : 'T is like a Ship with her Sails hal'd some back , and some full : 'T is like a Workman , that builds with one Hand , and pulls down with t'other : 'T is like a Fisherman , that catches Fish with one hand and throws them into the Sea with another : 'T is like every thing that signifies nothing . To say a man can be of two Religions , is a Contradiction , unless there be two Gods to worship , or he has two Souls to save . Religion is the Sacred Profession of the Name of God ; serving him , believing in him , expecting from him ; and like the God it refers to , 't is in one and the same Object , one and the same thing perfectly indivisible and inseparable ; there is in it no Neuter Gender , no Ambigous Article , God or Baal ; Mediums are impossible . As to the different Modes and Ways , which are the Circumstantials of this sacred thing I Call Religion ; I won't say , but that as Ships take different Courses at Sea , yet to the best of their Skill , keeping to the direct Rules of Navigating by the Compass , they may arrive at the same Port ; so Christians taking different Methods in the serving this God , yet going to the best of their Judgments by the direct Rules of the Scripture , may arrive at the same Heaven ; but this is nothing at all to the Case ; for no Ship would arrive at any Port , that sailed two ways together , if that were possible ; nor no Man can serve One God , and at the same time hold two Opinions . There is but one Best , and he that gives God two Bests , gives him the Best and the Worst , and one spoils t'other , till both are good for nothing . I have said already , that both the Church of England , and the Dissenter , suffer in their Reputation for the mixt Multitude of their Members , which is occasion'd by their present Prosperity : If a Third Party were to Tyrannize over them both , we should see then who were Professors , and who were Confessors ; but now it cannot be : Wherefore , I think 't were well to put both Sides in mind of one thing , which they are bound mutually to observe ; and that is , That the Personal Miscarriages of any particular Person or Member , is not really any Reflection upon the Religion they prosess , nor ought not to be so accounted , unless it be where such Miscarriages are the direct Dictates of the Doctrines they Teach ; and thus I would be understood in the present Case . Wherefore I shall give my Essay as to what I understand a Real Dissenting Protestant is , or ought to be . He who Dissents from an Establish'd Church on any account , but from a real Principle of Conscience , is a Politick , not a Religious Dissenter . To explain my self ; He who Dissents from any other Reasons , but such as these , That he sirmly believes the said Established Church is not of the purest Institution , but that he can really serve God more agreeable to his Will , and that accordingly 't is his Duty to do it so , and no otherwise . Nay , he that cannot Dye , or at least desire to do so , rather than Conform , ought to Conform . Schism from the Church of Christ is , doubtless , a great Sin , and if I can avoid it , I ought to avoid it , but if not , the Cause of that Sin carries the Guilt with it . But if I shall thus Dissent , and yet at the same time Conform ; by Conforming I deny my Dissent being lawful , or by my Dissenting I damn my Conforming as sinful . Nothing can be lawful and unlawful at the same time ; if it be not lawful for me to Dissent , I ought to Conform ; but if it be unlawful for me to Conform , I must Dissent ; several Opinions may at the same time consist in a Country , in a City , in a Family , but not in one entire Person , that is impossible . To come to the point ; there are Dissenters who have separated from the Church of England , and join'd in Communion with Dissenting Churches or Congregations . They have appear'd Zealous , Conscientious , and Constant ; have born the Reproaches and Inconveniencies of their Party , nay , suffer'd Persecution , and Loss of Estates and Liberty or the Cause : And who could have so little Charity as to doubt the Sincerity of their Profession ? And yet these Persecuted , Suffering Dissenters , to make themselves room in the Publick Advancements , and Glittering Gawdy Honours of the Age , shall Conform to that which they refus'd under all those Disadvantages to do before . And which is worse than all this ; hear O Heavens ! as soon as the present Honour is attain'd , the present Advantage made , they return to the former Circumstance again , and are freely receiv'd , a double Crime , as having done no Evil. I know not , I profess , what these Persons can say for themselves , and therefore cannot pretend to Answer their Objections ; but I cannot omit one Answer which some People give for them , viz. That this is no Conformity in Point of Religion , but done as a Civil Action , in Obedience to the Laws of the Land , which have made it a necessary Characteristick Quality , for admittance into Publick Employments , which they think it their Duty to accept , in order to serve their Country , which they doubly perform by executing those Offices to the Publick Interest , and by Excluding those who would otherwise get into those Places , and betray their Country and their Liberties . I have never met with any considerable Excuse made for this fast and loose Game of Religion , but this , and this I desire to consider a little particularly . 1. That this is no Conformity in Point of Religion , but done as a Civil Action . How this can be possible , remains to be determined . 'T is true , the Morality of an Action consists in its End ; but I cannot conceive that an Action purely and originally Religious , such as the Solemn Ordinances of God's Worship , can be made Civil Actions by any End , Design , Will , or Intention of Man whatsoever . 'T is true , an Oath , which is a calling God to witness , is an Action both Civil and Religious , but still that was appointed and instituted to that end , as is expresly noted , Heb. Naaman's bowing in the House of Rimmon ; to which the Prophet answered , Go in peace , which is understood as a permission , is a thing still different ; for Naaman only bowed for the Conveniency or State of the King , at the same time publickly disowning the Worship , as Interpreters are of Opinion ; besides , bowing the Head , though it may be a customary Act of Worship at that place , yet is no Act confin'd to Worship only , and instituted and directed so by the God who is Worshipped , but is an Act us'd in Common Salutations . Thus we kneel to God , and to the King ; but Sacraments are things appropriated by the Divine Institution of God himself , as things which have no other Signification or Import but what is Divine : Had Naaman desir'd to be excused in offering Sacrifices to the Idol Rimmon , the Prophet would hardly have bid him go in peace . Some Actions are not Civil or Religious , as they are Civilly or Religiously perform'd , but as they are Civil or Religious in themselves ; for some Religious Actions are so entirely such , that they cannot without a horrid Invasion of the Sovereignty of the Institutor be appropriated to any other use , and such are in especial manner , the Two Sacraments instituted by Christ ; such was , before Christ , the Sacrifices by Fire ; And the Judgments of God on Nadab and Abihu , for attempting to offer Sacrifice with strange Fire , stands as a terrible Instance of what we ought to think is the Will of God in this matter . Further , speaking directly of the Sacraments , Are they not the same thing , though differently Administred in the Establish'd Church , or in a Dissenting Church ; and how can you take it as a Civil Act in one place , and a Religious Act in another ? This is playing Bopeep with God Almighty , and no Man can tell of them when they are about a Civil Action , and when about a Religious . But to answer this pretence at once , Sacraments as Sacraments are Religious Acts , and can be no other ; if you do not take it as a Sacrament , the Case differs ; but how can you say you do not take it as a Sacrament ; an Oath is to be taken in the Sense of the Imposer ; and a Sacrament , which is a Recognition of the most Sacred of Oaths , must be also taken in the Sense of the Imposer ; if the Person Administring declar'd at the Administration , He did not give it as a Sacrament , but only gave you a bit of Bread , and a draught of Wine as a Friend , or the like , this was something ; but can a Minister deliver the Bread to you , and say , The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ , &c. and you kneeling with Reverence take it as such , and repeat the Responses at the Communion , and say Amen to the Prayer , and say 't is a Civil Action . This is such Bantering with Religion , as no Modest Christian can think of without Horror . 2. Another Part of the Apology is , That without it they cannot be admitted into Publick Places of Trust ; and if they are not admitted , such will get in as will betray their Country and Liberties , and they do it purely to secure their Country , which they think their Duty . These are Patriots that will damn their Souls to save their Country ; a sort of a Publick Spirit hardly to be found in the World , and indeed a Non-entity in it self ; for 't is a Mistake ; the Gentlemen who make this Answer , put the Case wrong . For I would desire such to Answer a few Questions . If the Service of their Country be so dear to them , pray why should they not chuse to expose their Bodies and Estates for that Service , rather than their Souls ; the Penalty of the Law in accepting the Publick Employments is wholly Pecuniary ; the difference lies here , they chuse the Trespassing on their Consciences , before the hazard of their Estates , as the least Evil ; for 't is plain , any Man who will suffer the Penalty , or run the Risque of it , which is all one , may excuse the Conformity : For the Law does not say you shall so and so Conform , but if you do not Conform , you shall incur such and such Penalties ; any Man that will incur the Penalty , may commit the Trespass . So that all this Compliance is not , to be admitted to Places , that they may be able to serve their Country , but to save the Five hundred pounds , and other Penalties of that Act. 2. Why , if we believe the Power of God to be Omnipotent , should we imagine that he is not able to protect our Country and Liberties , without our perpetrating so wicked an Act to secure them , as doing Evil that Good may come , which is expresly forbidden ? But we are told again , This is in it self no Sinful Act , and therefore it is not doing Evil. This is tacitly answered before ; tho 't is not a Sinful Act in it self , yet 't is either a Sinful Act in a Dissenter , or else his Dissenting before was a Sinful Act. For if he is satisfied he does well in Conforming now , why did he not before ? There is but one Answer for that , which is , He is otherwise convinced ; to which I reply , if that were true , he would then as a Convert continue in this New Communion ; but 't is evident the same Persons return immediately to the former Profession as Dissenters , and they can have no such Excuse , unless it be , that they were convinc'd , and reconvinc'd , and then convinc'd again . Some have the Folly to argue against the Law it self , as a most Notorious Imposition upon the Consciences of Men , by making the Sacred Institutions of Christ a Drudge to Secular Interest , and a Cause of Mens Sins , by leading them into Temptation . I could say enough to vindicate that part , tho I am no more reconcil'd to that Law , than other Men , but 't is remote to our Argument : 'T is an Act of Parliament , and what is so , is of every Man 's own doing , and therefore 't is just every one shou'd comply with the Terms , or suffer the Penalty ; but here is no Penalty , if no Crime ; if no Preferments are sought , no Honours accepted , there is no Crime ; if Self-denial was as practicable as Self-advancement , here is no need of the Crime . So that they who do this , seek the Crime , that is the first Sin ; then Mortgage their Consciences to avoid the Penalty , and so add one Sin to another . But we are told by some , 't is not against their Consciences , they hope both Parties are Good Christians ; there are Differences between them which they don't understand nor meddle with , and their Consciences are very well satisfied to Communicate with either . I would ask such , if their Consciences would serve to Communicate with the Church , why did they Separate ? For Communicating with the Dissenter , is not an Occasional or Casual Thing , but an open declar'd breaking off from the Church Establisht . Now no Man can be said to separate from , and join to a thing at the same time ; if your Conscience is satisfied in Joyning , it cannot be satisfied in Separating , unless you can suppose your Conscience to be satisfied and dissatisfied both together . If you have a Conscience of any Religion at all , it must be of some Religion or other ; if of this , it cannot be of that ; if of that , it cannot be of this : To Dissent and Approve , are different Acts , and can never be fixt upon the same Object at the same time ; as for a Man , Passively Religious , that can Communicate any where that Man may from the same Principle , and with far less guilt , Communicate no where , for such a Man , in down-right English , has prostituted the little Religion he had , if ever he had any , to his Interest , and may be Turk , Jew , Papist , or any thing . The latter part of the Charge leads me to consider another Point , which relates to the Assemblies of the Dissenters , who admit , and by consequence approve this way of proceeding . I do not pretend to examine by what Methods such particular Churches do proceed . And I would be as tender as possible in making Reflections . I wish they would be as Charitable in censuring this Reproof . I do think , with Submission , 't is impossible to prove that any Person , whose Case the foregoing Paragraph reaches , can be receiv'd again into Church-Communion in a Dissenting Assembly upon any other Terms , than as a Penitent . I have heard of some , who have been said to have leave from their Ministers for this Matter ; if so , they have assum'd some Dispensing Authority , which I believe does not appertain to the Ministerial Function , nor is not contain'd in the Mission of our Saviour . But I do not affirm , That any such thing has been really allow'd . As to the Relation of Churches , and the Members thereof , one to another , as the Dissenters now Establish them ; I am sure , the allowance of any Member in a Promiscuous Communion with the Church of England and the Dissenter at the same time , is not pretended to be allow'd , nor is it consistent with it self . 'T is Preposterous , and Excentrick , and is Destructive of the very Foundation of the Dissenters Principles , as is already noted , concerning Schisms in the Church . In this Case , Charity can heal nothing , nor help nothing ; 't is of absolute necessity that one Man be but of one side , at one and the same time . Either the Conformist will marr the Dissenter , or the Dissenter will marr the Conformist . For if I shall be admitted into the Communion of the Dissenter , and of the Church together ; then the Dissenter must have some other Reason for being a Dissenter , than Purity of Worship . Methinks Men should seem what they are ; if a Man Dissent from the Church , let him do so ; and his Principle being well-grounded for such Dissent , let him hold it ; if not well-grounded , let him leave it ; if he cannot suffer one way , let him suffer another ; and why should we not be as honest to God as our Country . The Motives to serve our Country are strong , but there are ways to do it without such a Violation of all our Principles and Profession ; if not , trust God's Providence with the Issue , who never wants Agents to preserve and deliver his People when his time is at hand ; and you can have small hope to expect that the Office and Trust you shall Execute , shall receive any Assistance from his Providence , when the first Step into it , is made by offering the greatest Affront to his Honour , and committing the vilest Act of Perfidy in the World. But if the gay Prospect of a Great Place , tempt any Person beyond the Power that God's Grace is pleas'd to Assist him with , in that way let him abide , and not be re-admitted , because of his Gold Ring and Fine Apparel , without a Penitent Acknowledgment . The Dissenters in England , can never pretend to be Dissenters upon the mere Principle of Purity of Worship , as I have related in the beginning of this Discourse , if such shall be receiv'd as blameless into their Communion , who have deserted them upon the occasion of Preferment , and have made the Sacred Institutions of Christ Jesus , become Pimps to their Secular Interest , and then wipe their Mouths , and sit down in the Church and say , They have done no Evil. 'T is also an Intolerable Affront to the Church of England , reflecting upon its Doctrine as well as Practice ; To make use of the Church for a Cover to sence them against the Laws , at the same time continuing to disown its Communion , as a thing not fit to be continued in . And yet the Church of England is in the right to receive such of the Dissenters as shall come to them , without the Ceremony of Recognition , because it is agreeable to the Notion of a National Church , which they profess to be . But Dissenters are bound to justify their Separation from them , or else their whole Constitution falls to the Ground . Now , how a Separation and a Conformity are Consistent , is to me an Inexplicable Riddle . I question not here the Lawfulness of the Dissenters Separation ; it is not the business of this Discourse to define it ; and I am as careful as I can in making Reflections upon either ; but I am bold to affirm , That no Dissenting Church can with lawful Cause Separate from the Church of England , Establish Private Churches or Communions , and at the same times allow the Members to Conform to the Establish't Church too : This is incongruous , and one must destroy the other . From whence I think it becomes the Dissenters , if they would maintain the Doctrine they teach ; if they would have us believe they Dissent purely on the honest Principles of Conscience , and Purity of Worship , with such a one , No , not to Eat . And it is not sufficient that the Offender be a Lord Mayor , or any Greater Person ; unless he would be Lord Mayor without a Breach of the Sacred Relation he had entred into , he should be dealt with in that Case , as the meanest Member of such a Society . On the other hand , if a Man be call'd upon to be a Magistrate , and has Courage enough to follow the Impartial Dictates of his Conscience , a Query lies before him , What shall he do ? The Case is plain ; Either refuse the Honour , or run the Risque ; the first indeed is the plainest and easiest Way , and the Ground of it is good , for he whose Conscience Dictates to him that the Terms are Sinful , may refuse the Call ; for Preferments and Honours are a Bait that some have refus'd on meer Points of Speculative Philosophy ; and 't is hard , Christianity shou'd not carry a Man as far . Well , but perhaps a Man has a mind to be a Sheriff and Lord Mayor , and is a Dissenter ; or perhaps he really thinks 't is his indispensible Duty to serve his Country , if he is call'd to that , or the like Office ; or perhaps he thinks 't is a Duty he owes his Family , to advance his Children , and the like , and he is a Profest Dissenter ; What shall he do ? Let him boldly run the Risque , or openly and honestly Conform to the Church , and neither be asham'd of his Honour , nor of his Profession ; such a Man all Men will value , and God will own : He need not fear carrying the Sword to a Conventicle , or bringing the Conventicle to his own House : But to make the matter a Game , to dodge Religions , and go in the Morning to Church , and in the Afternoon to the Meeting , to Communicate in private with the Church of England , to save a Penalty , and then go back to the Dissenters and Communicate again there : This is such a Retrograde Devotion , that I can see no Colour of pretence for in all the Sacred Book . I have heard , indeed , that some , who are Ministers of Dissenting Churches do , or did at the same time Communicate with the Church of England . I do not dispute how far a Minister may Conform as a Lay-man , tho' he cannot as a Clergy-man ; but how any Dissenting Minister can Conform as a Lay-man , and at the same time execute a Pastoral Charge over a Congregation , whom he teaches to separate from the Church in a Lay-Communion , I cannot imagine . 'T is not as I have already noted , Conformity or Non-conformity , that I am discoursing ; but 't is Conformity and Nonconformity at the same time , in one and the same Person , that is the Point ; and doing this for a Secular End , to save a Penalty , and Privately ; and then , as being asham'd of it to go back and sit down as not having done it at all ; and a Church Society admitting this without taking notice of it . These are the Contradictions insist upon , and rather wish , than expect to see rectified . FINIS . 
A37429	----	The interests of the several princes and states of Europe consider'd, with respect to the succession of the crown of Spain, and the titles of the several pretenders thereto examin'd Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1698 Approx. 59 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37429 Wing D836 ESTC R4999 12137958 ocm 12137958 54807 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37429) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 54807) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 91:12) The interests of the several princes and states of Europe consider'd, with respect to the succession of the crown of Spain, and the titles of the several pretenders thereto examin'd Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [4], 32 p. [s.n.], London : 1698. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. Wing. Reproduction of original in Yale University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Kings and rulers -- Succession. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-08 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-09 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2002-09 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE INTERESTS Of the several Princes and States of Europe , With respect to the Succession of the Crown of Spain . THE INTERESTS Of the Several Princes and States of Europe Consider'd , with respect to the SUCCESSION OF THE Crown of Spain . AND THE TITLES of the several Pretenders thereto , Examin'd . LONDON : Printed in the Year M DC XC VIII . The Interests of the Several Princes of Europe , with respect to the Succession of the Crown of SPAIN , &c. THE present Indisposition of the King of Spain , seems to put a great part of Europe into a Consternation : The Apprehension the most Judicious Persons have of a Breach in the short Tranquility this part of the World has enjoy'd , makes the Concern be very just : For they who know how ill we are able to enter upon a Second War , and what deep Incisions the Last has made into the soundest Members of the Confederacy , have good reason to be very chary of the present Peace . 'T is true , our Adversaries have felt the Effects of the War , as well as We ; and 't is reasonable to suppose , have as little need of another , as they had real need of the Peace . But what we know of that is but suppos'd ; what we feel , we are sensible and sure of . Besides , the Case here would exceedingly differ ; for the Kingdom of Spain , which perhaps were it rightly managed , is the Richest as well as the Largest Government in the World , is a thing so valuable , that 't is presum'd there is no Monarch in Christendom , were he in the King of France's stead , but would push for it at the extremest hazard . And the present King of France has never given the World any reason to expect he will omit the Addition of such a Trophy to his Glory , especially when he has so high Pretensions to the Claim . In this Case it seems very proper to enquire a little into the present Prospect of Affairs , as they respect the several Interests of the Princes of Europe , and what probable Effects the Decease of his Catholick Majesty may have , as to Peace , War , and Trade ; that from thence we may judge what we ought to expect from such an Event . To come at a full understanding of the Case in hand , 't is necessary to take a short View of the Succession of the Royal Family of Spain , and enquire who has the fairest Claim , in case of the Demise of the present King. The House of Austria have had an undoubted Possession of the Crown of Spain ; and Charles the Fifth being chosen Emperor of Germany , enjoy'd a Sovereignty of the largest Extent , perhaps that ever any One Prince in the World had under his Government : For he had at once the Empire of Germany , the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia , of Spain , Naples , and Sicily ; all the present United Provinces under the States of Holland ; all Flanders , with the Countries of Luxemburgh , Franche Comte , and Burgundy ; the Dukedom of Milan , the Islands of Sardinia , Corsica , Majorca and Minorca , with a boundless Empire in Mexico and Peru ; besides a multitude of Petty Sovereignties , Dukedoms , and Principalities . All this Vast Dominion , the Empire of Germany and its Dependancies excepted , descended to his Son Philip ; who added to it the Kingdoms of England and Ireland , by his Marriage with Queen Mary ; but that unhappy Match neither raising him any Children , nor keeping him in any long Possession of this Crown , he lost it by her Death ; and in the next Reign , lost the Low-Countries also , and by that long War so impoverish'd his own Kingdom , that it never recovered it to this hour . After his Decease , he left his Kingdoms to his Son Philip , and he to Philip the Fourth , Father of the present Charles the Second , who has yet no Children . Philip the Fourth left One Son and Two Daughters ; the Eldest Daughter , Maria Teresia , was married to the present French King , and was Mother to the present Dauphin of France ; and in case of the Death of the present King of Spain , the Dauphin of France is Heir Apparent to the Crown of Spain , and to all its Dominions ; and , one Clause excepted , has an Unquestion'd Title to the Succession of the said Kingdoms . But in answer to the Succession of the Dauphin , 't is objected , That at the Marriage of Lewis the Fourteenth of France , with Maria Teresia of Spain aforesaid , his Most Christian Majesty , with all the Princes of the Blood , did by a Writing under their Hands and Seals , ratified and exchang'd on the Borders , and firm'd by their Solemn Oath at Fonterabia , in the Year 1659 , renounce and relinquish all Right or Title , Claim and Pretensions for himself or his Successors , which they or any of them had or should have , by reason of any Alliance from the said Marriage . The Spanish Ministers of State who foresaw the possibility of a Claim upon the Crown of Spain from the Children of that Match , took all the care imaginable to bind His most Christian Majesty from so much as a Pretension to it , and to that end made the Words of that Oath as full , and the Ceremony of Making and Exchanging it , as Solemn and as Publick as possible . How far His Most Christian Majesty will think himself bound by such an Oath , time must determine . I know 't is Argued , that the Dauphin and his Sons can be no way obliged by an Oath made by their Father or Grandfather before they were born ; and that the Father could only relinquish for himself , but not for them , on whom the Right of Succession devolv'd long after the Oath of their Father : That the Inheritance was a Natural Right to them , which their Predecessors had no power to dispense with ; and therefore they are no way concern'd in the Oath of Renunciation , but ought to Succeed , as if no such Oath had been taken . Though much might be said on this Point , it being not the Design of this Paper , I shall only Note this ; That whether the Oath by which His Most Christian Majesty Renounced the said Succession be binding to the Dauphin and his Sons or no ; this is certain , That it is effectually binding to the King himself , if there be any such thing as a binding Force in the Obligation of the most solemn and sacred Oaths in the World. Now if the Obligation be so sacred as to the Most Christian King himself , 't is most certain the Dauphin or his Sons will never be Kings of Spain , if the said Most Christian King be so just to his Obligation as not to aid and assist them in pushing at the Succession . The Emperor of Germany , who is the next Branch of the House of Austria , is Heir to the Crown of Spain in case the Title of the said Maria Teresia be laid aside , being the immediate Line of Ferdinand , Son to Charles the V th , King of Spain ; and not only so , but his Issue has a Claim by Virtue of his Marriage with Margaret Teresia , the Second Daughter of Philip the IV th , by whom he had One Daughter , who was Married to the present Duke of Bavaria . It may not be amiss to Answer here a Question which seems very naturally to be drawn from the Premises , Viz. Why should the Spaniards make Provision to bar the Claim of the French by the Issue of a Daughter , and not the Claim of the Emperor whose Right is also by the Issue of a Daughter . This is expresly Answered by the Preamble to that Treaty in these Words : Estant les Deux Couronnes si Grandes et si puissantes qu' elles ne puissent estre Reunies en Une seule et a fin que dez a present on previenne les Occasions d'une pareille jonction , &c. Donques attendues les susdites justes raisons et Notamment de L'egalité qui se doit Conserver leurs Majestez accordent et arrestent par Contract et pacte Conventionnel entre elles qui aura Lieu force et Vigueur de la loy ferme et stable a tout jamais qui la serenissime Infante d'Espagne ni ses Enfans et leur descendants en quel degrè ils se puissent trover Voir a tout jamais ne puissent succeder es royaumes estats seigneuries et domination , &c. qui appartiennent et appartiendront a sa Majesté Catholique tant dedans que dehors le royaums d'Espagne Non obstant toutes Loix ou Coutumes &c. aux quelles leurs Majestez derogent , &c. In English thus : The Two Crowns being so great and so puissant that they cannot be united into One Kingdom , and that to the end that from this present all Occasion of such a Conjunction may be avoided , therefore upon due consideration had of the aforesaid reasons , especially that of Equality , which ought to be preserved ; it is Accorded between both their Majesties , and by Mutual Covenant and Contract Ordained , which shall continue in the full force and vigor of a Law for ever , That the most Serene Infanta of Spain , her Children , nor Descendants , in what Degree soever , shall never Succeed in the Kingdoms , Signiories , or Dominions , which do or shall belong to his Catholick Majesty , as well within as without the Kingdom of Spain ; notwithstanding any Law or Custom , which hereby their Majesties do Abolish . 'T is plain from this branch of the Contract , that a Union between Spain and France has been accounted by both Nations an improper , if not an impracticable thing . A Union with Germany has been known , and is coherent enough ; but the Nature and Interest of the Two Crowns of Spain and France seem to have some particular Circumstances which would make a Union fatal to them both ; and therefore Don Lewis de Haro , the great Minister of State for the Spaniards , insisted on this Article with a great deal of Zeal . I confess it seems to me that Don Lewis de Haro , the Spanish Minister , acted very different from the Character he had in other his Publick Management of the Affairs of Spain ; for he who past for one of the greatest Masters in Politicks of his Age , and was the only man in all the Spanish Court , who was thought to be a Match for Cardinal Mazarin in the Famous Peace of the Pyrennes , was sure very ill read in the Maxims of Princes , to think that a Treaty of Renunciation would ever be esteem'd of force enough to limit the Ambition of Future Times , and to oblige Princes who were not then born . The Spaniards were never taken for a Credulous Nation , and how they should come to be drawn into such a folly , seems very unaccountable . No doubt Cardinal Mazarine , who discover'd well enough the Event , suffered the Spanish Plenipotentiaries to go on at their own rate , and to call in the help of all the Civilians in the Two Kingdoms , to make an Instrument of Renunciation , knowing well enough that Titles to Crowns are generally disputed by the Sword , not by Deeds and Instruments ; and that the Succession to the Crown of Spain , if ever it fell by the Demise of the Incumbents to the Heirs of that Marriage , would receive very little Obstruction from so weak a Defence as the Paper of a Renunciation ; for we find Contracts and Writings of that Nature , have very little effect against a Title to a Crown backt with an Army of 50000 men . The Spanish Ministers acted the parts of men of Honour indeed , but not at all of Politicians . Why also that refin'd Politician should Marry the Eldest Daughter , where the Succession should require so strict a Bar , remains undetermined ; had he given the Infanta to the Emperor , and the Younger Daughter to the King of France , the Debate had been prevented ; but possibly other reasons might govern him , which we cannot judge of at this distance of time ; and the Infanta being Married to the Most Christian King Six Years before the Younger Daughter was Married to the Emperor , that Match might be made before a Marriage with the Emperor was in view . Upon the whole , it appears by this short view of the Succession of the Crown of Spain , that the Two Daughters of Philip the Fourth , are the Immediate Heirs of Charles the Second , the present King , in case he Dies without Issue ; the Eldest , who marri'd the King of France , has renounced her Claim for her self and her Posterity ; and the next Right must devolve upon the Second , whose Title Descends to the Elector of Bavaria . I am also to observe that the pretence , of the Children of the King of France , not being bound by the Oath of their Father , and therefore their Succession being clear , seems fully answered thus . The Renunciation was not so much a Personal Deed of the present King of France and the Infanta of Spain , as it was a mutual Compact between both Kingdoms pass'd by a Treaty of Peace , and became a Law of each Country , made so by a publick Instrument Sign'd by the Nobility on each side , and agreed by a general Consent of the Plenipotentiaries of both Parties , in the XXXIII d Article of the Pyrenean Treaty , in these words : And to the end this Peace and Union , Confederation and good Correspondence , might , as it is desired , be so much the more firm , lasting , and indissolvible , both the said Principal Ministers , the Cardinal Duke , and the Marquis Earl Duke , by virtue of the special Power they have had for that end of the Two Lords and Kings , have Concluded and Agreed in their Names , the Marriage of the Most Christian King with the Serenis . Infanta the Lady Maria Teresia , Eldest Daughter to the Catholick King , and the same Day bearing the Date of these Presents , have Made and Subscrib'd a particular Treaty , whereunto they refer themselves touching the mutual Conditions of the said Marriage , and the time of its Celebration ; which Treaty by it self , and Capitulation of Marriage , are of the same Force and Vigor with the present Treaty of Peace , as being the Chiefest Part thereof , and the most worthy as well as the greatest and most precious earnest of the surety of its duration . This makes it appear that the Treaty of Marriage was really a part of the Treaty of Peace , and so became a publick Stipulation between the two Kingdoms , and an Act of the generality ; so that not the King and Queen of France only personally , but the very Kingdom of France did solemnly concern it self in the Renunciation of an Union of the Crown of Spain , as a thing not fit to be done , for the Reasons expresly set down in the Preamble quoted before . France having thus renounced the Crown , and all Claim to the Kingdoms and Dominions of Spain , the Second Daughter comes in with her Claim ; and Maria Teresia stands with respect to Spain , as if she had dyed without Issue . The Second Daughter of Philip the Fourth , was Margaret Teresia , married to Leopold the Sixth , present Emperor of Germany , by whom he had Three Sons and One Daughter ; which Daughter , the Sons all dying young , was married to the present Duke Elector of Bavaria , and died in 1691 , leaving him one Son , to whom the Crown of Spain descends by a plain and direct Title , founded on the Renunciation agreed on by the Pyrenean Treaty . If the Son of this Princess dies without Issue , the German Line of the House of Austria succeeds , deriv'd from Ferdinand Brother to Charles the Fifth , Son of Philip the First , King of Spain , who left Three Sons , Maximilian , Ferdinand , and Charles . Maximilian succeeded his Father in the Empire , and left it to Rodulph the Second , his Son ; and he dying a Batchelor , Matthias his Second Son succeeded in the Empire ; and he also dying without Children , Ferdinand the Second Son of Ferdinand the First , was chosen Emperor , who had several Children , but all died without Issue ; so the Family was preserv'd in Charles the Third Son of Ferdinand the First , who among Fifteen Children had one Son , Ferdinand the Third of the Family , but as Emperor was known by the Name of Ferdinand the Second , who was Father to the Emperor Ferdinand the Third , and he to the present Emperor Leopold the Sixth of the Family , but the first Emperor of the Name , whose Eldest Son Joseph is King of Hungary , and King of the Romans ; whose Right to the Crown of Spain is Clear and Unquestion'd , still founded upon the former Renunciation . The Duke of Savoy has also some Pretension to the Crown of Spain , as he is Great Grandson of Charles Emanuel , Duke of Savoy , by Katherine , Daughter to Philip the Second . The Titles being thus discuss'd , we come to examine how the several Interests of the Princes of Europe stand , with respect to the Succession , in case his Catholick Majesty should dye . To begin with the Princes of Italy ; and first with Savoy : The Dukes of Savoy have always upheld their Fortunes by the Antipathies of the powerful Princes by whom they are environ'd , the Emperor , Spain , and France ; either of them singly have had both Power and Will to crush the Savoyard , but neither enduring to let the other seize him , he has ever had a Protector of ' the one , when he has had an Invader of the other . T is true , this has often made his Country the Seat of the War , and his very Capital City Turin has been alternately Garison'd by French , Spaniards , and Germans . The present Duke is entirely in the French Interests and in a fair way to leave his Dominions in the French Possession , having married his Daughter to the Hopes and Fortune of France : But if he has yet any Sons , it cannot be his Interest to have the Dutchy of Milan fall into the hands of the French , who will then perfectly environ him in their own Territories : Princes may take this of that Party , with respect to Wars foreign to their own Dominions ; but in their own particular Cases they are always governed by their Interests . If the Duke of Savoy has any regard to the Succession of his own Family he cannot but know that if the Kingdom of Spain falls into the hands of the French , the Milanese does so also ; and he and his Successors are as absolutely in the power and at the dispose of the King of France , as any Governor of a Province in his own Countrey ; and the powerful Assistance of the Spaniard is for ever sunk as to him ; so that it cannot consist with the Safety of the Duke of Savoy to have the French possess Spain . 'T is true , the Emperor may assist him , but the Grisons must be ask'd leave to admit Succours through their Countrey ; which though they do generally grant , yet such an Aid is remote , and the Motions of the Germans very slow : So that indeed to have the French possess'd of Spain , is to put the Dukes of Savoy under an Absolute Dependance on the Power and Will of the Kings of France . The Dukes of Mantua , Parma , and Modena , with the Republick of Genoa , will be in little better condition ; for the Countries of Savoy , Piedmont , and Milan , have always been a Frontier to them , to defend them from the Insults of the French ; as may very well appear by the care they took this last War , to get rid of the French Garison in Casal . In the South and East parts of Italy , the Case will be little better ; for with the Crown of Spain the Kingdoms of Naples , Sicily , and Sardinia , become likewise French ; the first of which admits them into the heart of Italy , where they may shake hands with the Venetians on one side the Great Duke of Tuscany on the other , and the Ecclesiastical Territories on 〈◊〉 other ; and the last gives him an entire Dominion over the whole Trade of the West part of the Mediterranean Sea. In a word , the Spanish Dominions in Italy falling into the hands of the French , would so involve the whole Country , that it would lie wholly at his Mercy , and depend entirely upon his Favour ; and whoever gives himself leave to consult the Histories of the Wars in Italy , the many attempts made by the Kings of France to get but a footing in that Delicious Country , may with ease conclude what use they would make of so advantageous a Seisure as this . Francis the First , was the most eager Competitor with the Emperor Charles the Fifth , for the Dominion of Italy ; and the Princes of Lombardy owe their present Establishment and Tranquility to the Success of the Emperor's Forces in that great Battel of Pavia ; for had King Francis gain'd that Battel , 't is more than probable he had united all the North of Italy to his Crown ; and this very humour of King Francis , who was a Warlike and an Ambitious Prince , was the very reason why he was not Elected Emperor in the stead of Charles the Fifth , lest he should either slight or attempt the subduing of the Petty-States of the Empire ; though they mended not the matter , the very same Design being afterwards formed by Charles the Fifth , whom they Elected at that time . And thus 't is in Italy now the petty Princes of Italy are neither willing nor able to injure France , and are very well satisfied with being screen'd behind the Milanese by the Spaniard and Savoyard from an Irruption from France . France has several times been Master of a great part of Italy . Pepin , and Charlemaign , having Conquer'd the Longobards , gave all the Ecclesiastical-Territory in Italy to the Chair ; and since that , Italy has been often changing Masters , and the Popes have as often been harass'd , one while by the Emperor of Germany , and other while by the French and Spanish Power ; and to prevent the like for the future , the constant Maxim of the Ecclesiastical Councils , has been to keep a due Balance between those Three Powers , that neither of them may be too powerful for one another , and then he is sure the Peace of Italy shall not be disturb'd . In this case the ingenious Puffendorff in his Introduction to the History of Europe , gives his Opinion thus : I am apt to believe , says he , the Popes would be glad the Spaniards were driven out of Italy , especially out of the Kingdom of Naples ; but it is scarce to be supposed he should be able to do it in his own strength ; and to make use of the French would be to fall out of the Frying-pan into the Fire ; therefore all the Pope can do is to take care that Spain may not Encroach upon others in Italy ; and there is no question but if the Spaniards should attempt any such thing , France and all the other Italian States would be ready to oppose their design ; neither can it be pleasing to the Pope , if the King of France should get so much Footing in Italy , as to be able to sway Matters there according to his pleasure , which the Pope ought to prevent with all his might . If this be true , what then can the Pope or any of the Italian Princes expect , if the Spaniards and French should be united , and Encroach upon them in one body , they would effectually drive them all out of Italy whenever they pleased ? All the Refuge they could have , would be the Empire , which how able it would be to Cope with France , in such a Case , time only can determine . To me it seems more than probable , that a Union of the Kingdoms of France and Spain would be an entire Reduction of whole Italy under the same Power ; for there is not that part of Italy which the Monarch of that Union would not really have some Dormant Pretension to , either as King of Spain , or King of France , or King of Naples , or Duke of Milan , except the Territories of the Republick of Venice , and some of them would not be entirely free neither . The next Country which is most nearly concern'd against this Union , and in most danger from it , is the Kingdom of Portugal . As the Spaniard is now a poor and effeminated Nation , Portugal is secured by its own strength . In the time that the Power of Spain was formidable to Europe , Philip the Second no sooner Invaded Portugal , than he subdued it ; for there is no Comparison between the Forces of the Two Kingdoms ; and had not the Spanish Power been broken by other fatal Losses against England and the Low-Countries , I suppose 't would not be improper to say Portugal had remain'd a Province of Spain to this day . In th year 1640 ; while Philip the Fourth was involv'd in several Troubles , as in particular the Revolt of the Catalonians the Portuguese shook off the Spanish Government , and set up John Duke of Braganza ; and yet even this Revolt had not been able to have been made good , had not the French privately assisted them under the Command of Duke Scomberg , by whose Conduct they won the famous Victory of Villa Vitiosa ; and yet after this , had not the Diversion the French made in the Netherlands , made the Spaniards willing to clap up a Peace with Portugal on any terms , the Portuguese could not have held out . The Sum of all is this , That Portugal is not able to support it self against Spain without a Foreign Assistance . Now if Spain and France Unites under one Power , whenever that Power pleases to demand the Crown of Portugal , it must and will be surrendred to it . Wherefore 't is the Interest of Portugal by all possible means to prevent this Union ; what those means are , I refer to its proper Head. The Swiss , the Grisons , and the City of Geneva , are the next concern'd in this Affair : I know some are apt to say , that the greatest loss the Swiss are like to have on this occasion , will be want of Employment , which they have always found in the Wars between France and Spain ; but , perhaps , it might be answered by saying , They may chance to find Employment enough in defending their own Countrey ; for it is not to be questioned but the King of France , who would then be Lord of all the Countries Southward of the Grisons and Swiss , would be very fond of making that Warlike People his Subjects , both for the advantage of having a power to force them into his Armies , and also of stopping the passage of the Germans that way into Italye , and indeed the impossibility that seems to lie on the Swissers of maintaining their Neutrality , makes it almost natural to believe the New Monarch will attempt all feasible methods to bring them over to him , if it be only to anticipate the Germans and prevent their being Parties with the Emperor . 'T is true the Swiss are a Fighting People and not easily conquered , and a Poor People not worth conquering ; there is nothing to be had from them but Blows and barren Mountains ; but yet the Reasons abovesaid would , in case of such a Union as we speak of , make it absolutely necessary to the French to make themselves Masters of them , cost what it would . 'T is confess'd some of the most Powerful Princes of Europe have attempted the Swiss in vain ; as Leopold Archduke of Austria , whom they defeated and kill'd at the Battel of Sempach , Anno 1444. And Charles Duke of Burgundy at the Battel of Granson was routed by the Switzers , though he was a Gallant Soldier , and had in his Army an 100000 Men ; and it would be a very difficult thing for the strongest Power of Europe to make a Conquest of them by Force ; but the present King of France has found other ways to Conquer , besides downright Fighting , and the Swiss who are a needy People , may , perhaps , be as easily divided as another Nation , by the help of Money especially , their Government being composed of two different Religions ; and each Party very positive and zealous in their own . If therefore the French and Spanish Monarchies should unite , the Swiss may find it very difficult to maintain their Confederacy , either from the Force or the Subtilty of their Great Neighbour : For in case of such a Union , the Monarch of that Empire will presently see , that to get the Swiss Cantons under his Power , will be the first and most necessary work to employ his Politicks ; for it would be the only way to secure himself from any disturbance in his entire Reduction of Italy . So that it must be of the last Consequence to the Swiss Cantons , to prevent such a mighty Union in Europe , which seems to bring with it a necessity of involving them in a War with the most Invincible Power of Two united Monarchies ; in which War they must of necessity at last submit or be conquer'd ; for a Victory obtain'd by them , could have no other Tendency , than to make their Terms of Accord the easier ; which they must always be bound to preserve at the Price of a War , whenever their Potent Neighbour please to impose upon them . As to Trade indeed , the Swiss are not much concern'd , because they Trade little but among themselves , nor have no Sea-Port for Foreign Trade , nor any Manufactures to export . The Empire of Germany is the next to be consider'd : The Conjunction of France and Spain seems to threaten Germany with a fatal and a bloody War ; the Frontiers of France and Spain united , extend in length , fronting the Limits of the Empire , for a contiguous Range of near a Thousand Miles , if the Swiss Grisons and the North-East part of Italy are included , as they are of necessity to be . 'T is true , the Emperor of Germany is not under an absolute necessity of quarrelling with this supposed Empire ; but the Circumstances of Italy , which has so many Fiefs and Dependancies on the Empire in it , are such , that it seems impossible , speaking of common Politicks , that the French should possess the Spanish Dominions in Italy , and not commence a War with the Emperor of Germany ; for the Italian Princes cannot subsist in Italy , without being incroach'd upon in such a case ; and the only Prince they can have recourse to for Protection , is the Emperor : Possibly it may be the truest Interest of the Emperor to lye still at this time , and rather prosecute his Wars against the Turks with his utmost Vigor , by which he gains an extraordinary Glory as well as Revenue ; and that being once happily finished , he may be the better able to cope with such an United Power : For as he is now engaged in his Wars in Hungary , it must be own'd that the Empire of Germany would be in very great danger , and a very unequal Match to the French upon the Rhine . It is without question the present Interest of the Emperor to preserve his Peace , because the Towns which are to be restored by the present Peace are not yet quitted by the French ; but that once done , the Emperor might with the greater advantage preserve the Peace of the Empire , and transfer the War into Italy , where the Germans always fight cheapest , and the French dearest . The Emperor's Interest in this Affair lies distinguish'd with respect to the several parts of the Empire . The States of the Lower Saxony , whose Troops , together with the Swabian and Franconian Circles , compose the Forces on the Rhine , are maintain'd by Quota's at the Charge of the several Princes of the Empire , and the same Princes are an inexhaustible Magazine of Men and Money , and perhaps well united are invincible as to the French. In Italy the Germans can maintain the War three parts in five cheaper than the French , because the Feudatories of the Empire bear their proportion : But if the French by this Conjunction unite also the Italian Princes , the Heat of the War between the Emperor and the French is most probable to lye on the Frontiers of Bavaria , or the Lower Parts of Austria and Bohemia , the Emperor 's Hereditary Dominion , which indeed is the tenderest place the Emperor can be touch'd in . 'T is true , that Germany united is a most formidable Empire ; but the present Condition of the Empire , very much weakned by this last War , and involved in a vigorous War against the Turks , is such as renders it in but an ill Condition to engage in so bloody and expensive a War as this would be . 'T is therefore the Interest of the Empire with all its Might , by way of prevention , to secure the Crown of Spain ; that by such an addition the French Greatness might be curb'd and restrain'd , and the French anticipated in all their vast and ambitious Designs upon Italy . The King of Poland seems to be the only Prince that will be easy at this Union , and that only as it serves his present purpose , by diverting the French from disturbing him in the peaceable Possession of his new-gotten Kingdom . The disorders of his Government seem to grow upon him , and the Party of the Prince of Conti , or the Cardinal Primate rather , are only upheld by their expectation of Succors from France , in order to dispossess the present King : Now this Union of France with Spain , may be beneficial to the King of Poland , only as it may divert the Court of France from raising and encouraging Rebellions and Disorders in his Affairs , before he is well settled in his new-gotten Dominions : And yet the King of Poland will not approve of this Conjunction , as a Friend to the French Interest , nor any way , but as he would be glad of any Circumstance that would divert the French from giving him disturbance in the particular Settlement which he has before him . The Dutch are the next State most concern'd in such a Conjunction ; were it not for Flanders the Dutch would have no manner of concern upon them , but what respected Trade only ; of which by it self . But as they now stand with respect to the several Provinces of the Spanish Netherlands , to have those large and populous Countries fall into the hands of the French , would be of the most fatal Consequence to their Affairs of any other event that could possibly befal them . Their Territory is entirely encompass'd with the Flemings , Legois , and Germans , and that subtle Government have at all times taken special care to keep off the Neighbourhood of the French , and have ever so ordered the matter , that they have had some or other strong Town of the Spaniards to stand between them and danger ; what they are to expect from the Neighbourhood of the French , they have room enough to judge from their own sad Experience in 1672 , when the French broke into the Bowels of their Country , and like a Torrent bore down all before them ; if then the Spanish Low-Countries fall into the hands of the French , as by such a Union they would immediately do , the Dutch would be even Besieged by the French Power from the Mouth of the Scheld to the Rhine , and have no Frontier but their own Towns ; and on the least breach between them and the French , their own fruitful Countries which they have hitherto been so Chary of , would become the Seat of the War , and be impoverisht and over-run with the Numerous Armies of Franc. In a word ; It does not seem very probable that the Dutch can maintain their Commonwealth , but will fall a certain Prey at some time or other , to the overgrown Greatness of the French Monarchy ; for they have but two ways of supporting themselves , by War or Peace ; the first must be Precarious , and at the Absolute Will of the French ; and the last will be destructive to them . There is a vast difference between the Charge of a War maintain'd Abroad , and the Desolations of a War brought Home to our own doors . While the Dutch maintain'd their Army , and sent them into Flanders to Fight ; the War , though it was long and very bloody , yet was easy to them ; but to have the French Army in the Bowels of their Country , leaves nothing but Ruin and Desolation behind ; witness the Rage of the French Armies at Swamerdam in the Years 1672 , and 1673. The Dutch by their hired Troops are a very powerful State ; but are on the other hand the worst of any Nation in the World to entertain a War in their own Dominion , because they are so exceedingly dependant upon the openness and freedom of Trade , which if it be once Obstructed , as to be sure it must be by such a kind of a War , they are presently impoverisht . The Uniting the Spanish Netherlands to France by this Succession , would leave Holland in a manner quite naked of all its defence , and exposed to the Will of the French ; for if Flanders be lost , all the Blood and Treasure spent by the whole Confederacy in Three long and chargeable Wars , for the rescuing Flanders out of the French hands , would be lost , and all the labour of the King of England and his Armies would be utterly lost . The Dutch are certainly exposed to the last degree , and in so much danger of being absolutely subdued in such a case , that I think they are concern'd in the highest degree , to prevent , if possible , such an Union as that , which would to them be the most fatal thing in the World. We come in the next place to examine how England stands with respect to such an Union ; England is not one jot less concern'd in the matter than Holland ; the King of England , whose Hazards in Flanders may seem needless to those who understood no better , has given sufficient . Testimony of his Opinion how much the safety of England depends upon maintaining the Frontier of Flanders as a Barrier for the Kingdom against the Insults of the French Nation : and indeed , if nothing but the prodigious increase of the Naval Strength , which France would attain by such an Union , were considered , it would be sufficient to make all the Northern parts of Europe join their Interest against it . I noted in the Article about the Dutch , the naked Condition they would be in with respect to a War by Land ; but should the French once make themselves Masters of Flanders , and of some of the Dutch Ports and Harbours in the Scheld , or the Maez , the addition of their Naval Strength would make them too great a Match for all Europe at Sea. The present Conjunction of the English and Dutch Fleets have not without great difficulty preserved the Command of the Sea during this War ; the Advantages gain'd by it are visible to the meanest understanding ; and I question whether it would be possible to maintain that Command in case of such a Union . The present growing greatness of the French Genius infus'd by vigorous Councils into the Spaniards , may once again make them , as they formerly were , the most Powerful Nation in the World , both at Land and Sea ; if then the French and Spaniard United , should make themselves in proportion too strong at Sea for the English and Dutch , they may bid very fair for a Universal Empire over this part of the World. Our Interests in the West-Indian Colonies of America , come next into Consideration . 'T is absolutely necessary for the security of our Plantations , whose extent is exceeding great , that no Union be made between the French and Spanish Dominions ; otherwise the whole Trade from these parts of the World , to both East and West Indies , may lie at the mercy of the French : For England and Holland being Nations subsisting and depending wholly upon Trade and Foreign Negoce , any Union in the World , which shall be too strong for them at Sea , may in the end reduce both those Nations to what Terms and what Subjection they please . And this leads us to the other great Consideration of this Union , as it respects The Interest of Trade in the World. The Interest of Trade is the Interest of Nations : Peace is the end of War , or at least ought to be so : Trade is the end of Peace , and Gain is the end of Trade . The Trade of Europe is principally in the hands of the English , Dutch , and Spaniards ; from the two former to the latter , in Manufactures of their own Growth and Operation . The Spaniards , who are a Nation that make the best Return in Trade of any Nation in the World , namely , Bullion , may be said to suffer us to Trade with them , rather than they to Trade with us : They are a subtle , but a very slothful Nation ; they buy almost all their necessary things of Foreigners , they have in a manner no Manufacture among them , they hardly make their own Cloaths ; and in return , the Growth of their Countrey , as Wines , Oyls , and Fruits , are brought back , and the Overplus made up by Exchange , supplied by the Bullion of their West-Indies . As a further demonstration of the ill husbandry of the Spaniards in Trade , it appears that all the Trade carried on with them by the English and Dutch , is carried on upon our own Stocks ; and some have ventured to say , that the English Effects in Spain do not amount to less than 50 Millions sterl . ; which way of Trade has always been the greatest Ligament of the Peace between the English and Dutch , and the Spaniard : For on the first occasion of a Rupture with these Countries , the immediate course the Spaniard takes , is to seize upon all the English or Dutch Merchants , and confiscate their Effects , which are always so considerable , as that those Nations have no Equivalent to lay hold on by way of Reprisal . 'T is true , they have taken their Plate-Ships , and sometimes plunder'd the Coast-Towns in the Spanish West-Indies , which at best would be but a small Amends , to the Seizure of the Effects of so many Merchants . Nay , they are not only so ill Merchants as to suffer Strangers to engross their Trade , but even those Strangers , as if the Spaniards were neither able to manage , nor fit to be trusted with Business , employ all Agents , Factors , and Servants of their own , sent over and resident among them , with the same Methods : as they Plant amongst the most barbarous Nations of Africa ; and by this Method the Trade of Spain is so managed , that whatever it be to the Spaniards themselves , 't is certainly a Trade exceeding gainful to the Merchants of these Countries in particular . 1. As it occasions the Consumption of their Manufactures , and from thence the Improvement of their Stocks at home ; by which the whole Countries are enrich'd , and the Poor employ'd and supported . 2. As it makes a Return of Bullion , which is the greatest Advantage that can accrue to Trade ; for Manufactures exported , and Bullion return'd , make always an Account of Profit to the Publick Stock of a Nation . 3. An Increase of Navigation , and Encouragement to Seamen ; the Spaniards not only Trading with us all in our own Vessels , but employing our Ships in their own Affairs from Port to Port , in Italy especially . In case of a Union with France , 't is very probable the Channel of Trade to Spain may be entirely alter'd : The French are a busy Trading Nation themselves , and are very apt to vye with the English and Dutch in their Manufactures : And to go no further , when 't is in their power to admit their own Merchants to import their Manufactures Custom-free , while we shall pay 23 per Cent. 't is easy to see that our Trade thither must dye . I know it will be objected here , That the chief Export of English Manufactures is to Cadiz , for the Trade by the Galeons to New Spain , &c. ; and that if the French should by their Conjunction any way discourage that Trade , it is but our opening a Correspondence from Jamaica to their West-Indies , and we should be as great Gainers , and the Trade from Spain by the Galeons , be very much impair'd . By the Treaty of Commerce between the two Nations , it is stipulated in particular , That the King of England shall not permit any of his Subjects to Trade , Correspond , or Sail to or with any of the Subjects of his Catholick Majesty in the West-Indies : The reason was , that the Trade from hence to Spain being so considerable by the way of Cadiz , and the return so good , keeping it in that Channel , would be the only way to maintain that beneficial Negoce to advantage : Whereas supplying the Indies directly from England , would be very prejudicial to the particular Trade of Spain it self , the Navigation from Cadiz to the Havana , and in general to the whole Trade . Now the most effectual Method of prohibiting this Trade , has appear'd to be observing the Prohibition strictly at our Colonies and Islands in America , Jamaica in particular : For did our Government give the Liberty to Trade from Jamaica to New Spain directly , the Spaniards are so eager to Trade , that all the Precaution their own Government could use to prevent it , would be to no purpose : And there is this reason to be given for it ; That the Sale from the English by the way of Jamaica is so much cheaper than that by way of Cadiz , and yet our Merchants great Gainers too , that the Spaniards of America will run all hazards to get our Goods on shore , and coming off to us in Sloops and Canoes , they Trade super altum mare , bartering immediate Money for our Commodities at an extraordinary Rate . The reason is plain ; because Goods sent from England or Holland to Cadiz , there paying Freight and Charges , with a Custom of 23 l. per Cent. to the King of Spain , and afterwards reshipt on board the Galeons , paying a second Freight , with some Indulto at their lading on board , and again at their landing in America , must of necessity be sold dearer than Goods brought directly from England . Now if the Prohibition on our side be but removed , the Trade of Cadiz , as far as respects English Goods , would be ruined . 'T is acknowledg'd this would be very detrimental to the Spanish Trade ; but a Trade carried on by Stealth could be neither very durable , nor very considerable , and therefore could never amount to an Equivalent to the Loss of that great Branch of our Trade from England to Cadiz . Another Answer may be given as to the Damage of Trade , That a Powerful Union between Holland and England , for the Augmentation of their Naval Strength , in order to preserve always the Command of the Seas , will be effectual either to prescribe the French , though they are united with the Spaniard , within the Ancient Regulations of Trade , or to prohibit their own Trade to their American Colonies , nay , even to take all America from them . To this I say , Spain indeed , as now consider'd in the hands of the Spaniards , has but an inconsiderable Naval Power ; but Spain in the hands of the French must be otherwise consider'd . The French are a Nation who improve every thing to the utmost ; they are a diligent indefatigable people ; if it be possible to recover the Naval Power of Spain ( as no doubt it is ) , they will recover it : And what a prodigious Extent of the Sea will they possess by a contiguous Coast from Dunkirk to the Streights-mouth ; ( for I must suppose Portugal to be swallow'd up by them , it cannot be avoided , the Pretensions to that Crown are so great , and the Power to oppose them so small ; ) and from the Streights-mouth , a few small Ports excepted , quite to Loretto on the East side of Italy , almost to Venice : They must be a more slothful People than the Spaniards , if they do not make themselves the strongest Nation at Sea in the World. And if they are so , no Trade can be secur'd to us , but such as some particular advantage to themselves , makes it their Interest to permit . In a word , It seems to me that Trade in general will lie too much at the Mercy of the French ever to be of any Advantage to their Neighbours , and I 'll instance in one particular Trade , in which at present we rival that Nation , viz. the Newfoundland Fishing . We take our Fish on the Banks of Newfoundland , and on the Coast of New England , and the French do the like ; the Market is general , and equal to both Nations ; if there be any advantage , 't is on the side of the English ; but if Spain , which is the place where all this Fish is disposed of , falls into the hands of the French , 't is but Prohibiting Fish , excepting in their own Bottoms , and all our Newfoundland Colonies must sink and be deserted , and Three hundred Sail of Ships be at once unemployed . That such a Prohibition would be the consequence of such a Union , is as natural as can be , and no one could blame the French neither , for we would do the same our selves . The Trade to Venice , to Italy , and to Turkey , would have like Circumstances and Consequences , for the French would keep the Key of the Mediterranean , and they would be very much to blame if they let any pass the Streights Mouth without paying them such a Toll , as that all those Trades should be managed by us under considerable disadvantage , if they were not entirely lost . To speak of the Dutch , whose Fishery in a great measure is the staple of their Navigation , this Fishery depends as much upon their St. Ubies Fleet for Salt , as the Brewers in London do upon the New-Castle Fleet for Coals : Should this Union of France and Spain succeed , and Portugal be subdued , 't is in the power of the French to destroy all the Dutch Fishery , by laying a great Duty on the Salt at St. Ubies , while their own Subjects shall have it as before ; by which means the French shall bring their Herrings Cheaper to Market , and consequently have all the Trade . The Instances which might be given of this nature are too many to be included in this short Discourse , and too plain to need it ; a very mean capacity as to Trade may make a judgment of it . From the whole I take the freedom to draw this Conclusion , that such a Union of Two such Powerful Monarchies as France and Spain , would be very pernicious to the Trade of England and Holland in general , and absolutely destructive to some branches of it in particular ; it would be hazardous to the Peace and Liberty of the Dutch , and absolutely inconsistent with the Ballance of Power in Europe ; it would be fatal to the Princes of Italy , the Cantons of Switzerland , and the Kingdom of Portugal ; 't would be very troublesome and uneasy to the Empire , and would very much endanger the Liberty of Christendom . And if so , then it must be the Interest of all the Princes of Europe to join their Forces with the utmost vigour , and endeavour to prevent it . 'T is certainly the Interest of England and Holland to preserve the Freedom of their Commerce and their Empire of the Seas ; and I see no event in the World that is in the least probable to deprive 'em of it but this ; no Union in the World but this can put any Prince or People , or Confederacy in a condition so much as to dispute it with them ; France by it self cannot do it , as has appear'd this last War ; Spain is in no probable Circumstances for it ; but France and Spain together seems to be plac'd in a Scituation for the Universal Government of Europe . 'T is certainly the Interest of the Princes of Italy , by all that is possible for them to do , to prevent this Union ; and that is so plain from all the Histories of those Countries as to the Times when the French were Masters of the greatest part of Italy , that it needs no other demonstration . Portugal has nothing to protect her , but the difference between those Two Nations , as I noted of Savoy , that when she is Opprest by one , she may have Succour from the other ; for I think it can hardly be supposed that the French King would omit uniting that small Kingdom to his Empire , having a kind of a Right to it by a former Possession . Germany has various Reasons to oppose this Union . First , Because the real Right is in the Emperor or Duke of Bavaria , or both , rather than France , if the Article of the Renunciation be good , as no doubt it is . Now the Title to the Crown of Spain being renounced before it was really a Title , seems to take off all Pretences of Exception ; for the King of France did not quit a Title which he had , but agreed to remain without a Title which he had not ; and the Renuncation was made by the Two Kings , not by the Infanta only , but by her Father too ; as appears by the particular Words of the Renunciation , which are as follow : Placuit utrique Regi pactione instar legis semper valiturâ sancire , ne unquam serenissima Infans Teresa , aut posteri ejus ulli , ad seros usque Nepotes , quocunque gradu sint , admittantur ad successionem ullam , sive Regnorum , sive Principatuum , Provinciarum , Ditionum , Dominiorum quorumcunque Regis Catholici , non obstante lege ulla , consuetudine aut alis Jure in contrarium , cui utriusque Regis authoritate plenissimè derogatur , contemplatione dictae aequalitatis , & publicae utilitatis quae inde emanatura speratur . It was consented to by both their Majesties , and by them confirm'd , that neither the most Serene Infanta Teresa , nor any of her Issue or Posterity , in what degree soever , be admitted to succeed in any of the Kingdoms , Dukedoms , Provinces , or Dominions of his Catholick Majesty , any other Custom , Constitution , or Law to the contrary notwithstanding : So that if any such Custom or Constitution were , it was by authority of both Kings absolutely annull'd and destroyed . And this only to adjust the Dominion of both Crowns , so as each of them might receive an equal benefit by it . Lastly , 'T is the Interest of Spain it self to oppose this Union ; for whereas it is not an addition of France to Spain , but of Spain to France , it changes it from a Soveraign Self dependant Kingdom , and one of the most powerful in the World to a Province of the French Empire ; to be subject to the Laws and Maxims of a Nation , whose Genius and Tempers are as directly contrary to one another , as Heat and Moisture , as Light and Darkness ; 't is Subjecting the Spanish Nation to a People for whom they have ever had a stated mortal aversion , from whom they differ in every thing that Nature can contrive two opposite Constitutions to partake of ; differ in Complexion , differ in Temper , differ in Customs , in Habits , in Manners , in every thing but Religion . To Conclude ; I firmly believe that to all this may be added , That notwithstanding the French Greatness and Policy , 't is no difficult matter effectually to prevent this Union , if His Catholick Majesty should dye , and that without involving Europe in a new War , unless the Most Christian King should resent any Preventive Methods to such a Degree , as to declare War himself against the Confederates . How this may be done , is not the business of this Paper ; nor is it an Affair proper for a Pamphlet . I doubt not but those Princes which God has plac'd at the Helm of Government in Europe , understand both the Means and the Time for such a Work , being no more without Council to Direct , than without Power to Perform ; and to them I refer it . FINIS . 
A37431	----	The pacificator a poem. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1700 Approx. 26 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37431 Wing D839 ESTC R4746 12137896 ocm 12137896 54803 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37431) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 54803) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 91:15) The pacificator a poem. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [2], 14 p. Printed and are to be sold by J. 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Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE PACIFICATOR . A POEM . LONDON : Printed , and are to be Sold by I. Nutt , near Stationers-Hall . 1700. The Pacificator . WHAT English Man , without Concern , can see The Approach of Bleeding Britain's Destiny ? That Glorious Land which Justly did Preside , For Wit and Wealth , o'r all the World beside ? In vain Victorious NASSAV did Advance His Conquering Arms against the Power of France , Since from those Conquests he is hardly come , But here 's a Civil War broke out at Home : Britannia's Warlike Sons disturb the Isle , Delighting one another to Dispoil , Enur'd to Discord , Envy , and Debate , Hereditary Frenzies of the State. The Fruits of Ten Years War they now prevent , By Civil Feuds , and Private Discontent . The Peace We Gain'd ! Does it so Cheap appear , To Prize so Low , what We have bought so Dear ? The Blood , the Treasure , which has been Destroy'd ! Methinks We shou'd with War and Wounds be Cloy'd , But 't will not be , We cannot hope to find That in the Birth which is not in the Kind : For Pride , and Strife , are Natives of our Soil , Freeholders born , and have Possess'd the Isle Long before Iulius Caesar Landed here , Or Picts , or Painted Brittons did appear , A stubborn People , Barbarous and Rude ; Who , like the Kentish Men , were ne'r Subdu'd . Fierce English Men , in Blood and Wounds delight , For want of Wars , with one another fight : Nothing 's so dangerous to them as Peace , To feed the Flame , and nourish the Disease ; No Laws can this Contentious humour Curb , Their Charter's such , they will themselves Disturb . O Iulian , Iulian , who begun the Cry Against our Safety , for our Liberty , Who wou'd no Mercenary Troops allow , Wou'd you Disband our Standing Army now ? Behold a Civil War is just at hand , I' th' very bowels of your Native Land ; The strong Contention 's grown to such a hight , The Pen's already drawn , and has begun the fight . The Pen's the certain Herald of a War , And Points it out like any Blazing Star : Men Quarrel first , and Skirmish with ill Words , And when they 're heated then they draw their Swords ; As little Bawling Curs begin to Bark , And bring the Mastive on you in the Dark . We had some Jealousies of this last Year , Both sides rais'd Forces , both in Arms appear ; But some Sage Doctors did them both Advise , To make it up without Hostilities : But the deep Quarrel 's now of such a Nature , As Magna Charta fights with Alma Mater ; The Doctors fight , and who shall heal the Matter ? The Dreadful Armies are Drawn out to fight , Encamp'd at large in one anothers fight ; Their Standards are the Red Rose and the White . Nothing but dire Destruction does Impend , And who knows where the fatal Strife will end ? The Men of Sense against the Men of Wit , Eternal fighting must determine it . Great Nokor does the Men of Sense Command , Prince Arthur Trailes a Pike at his Right Hand ; Heroic Nokor made the first Attack , And threw Drammatick Wit upon its Back ; Sixteen Battalions of Old Brittons stand , Enrich'd with Conquest from the Neustrian Strand , Ready to Charge when he the Signal makes ; And thus the Bloody Combat undertakes . His Sence was good , but see what Fate Decrees ! His hasty Talent threw him on his Knees , A Storm of Words the Hero overtook , Disorder'd all his Lines , and all his Squadrons broke . The adverse Troops pour'd in their Light Dragoons , Charg'd him with Forty thousand Arm'd Lampoons ; The Shock surpriz'd him into a Retreat , And Wits Gazette Proclaim'd a huge Defeat ; Printed a List of Wounded and of Slain , And bragg'd he ne'r cou'd Rally up again . But Nokor , like a Prudent General , Resum'd new Courage from a seeming Foil , The same Campagne again in Arms appear'd , And what the Prince had lost , the King repair'd ; Apollo Knighted him upon the spot , With other Royal Bounties I 've forgot . The Wits Commanders tho' they did retreat , Will not allow it to be a Defeat ; Their Troops , they say , soon made a stand again , Besides they lost but Thirteen thousand Men. C — r came next in order to the Charge , His Squadrons thin , altho' his Front was large , A modest Soldier , resolute and stout , Arm'd with a Coat of Sense from head to foot ; No more than need , for he was hard put to 't . He Charg'd the strongest Troops of all the Foes , And gave them several signal Overthrows , But over-power'd by multitudes of Wits , By Number , not by Force oppress'd , retreats ; So Sense , to Noise and Nonsence , oft submits . C — r's a calm and steady Combatant , And push'd the forward Troops with brave Intent , Modest , a Fault not known among his Tribe , And honest too , too honest for a Bribe : The Wits wou'd fain ha' bought his fury off , And proffer'd him Applause , and Gold enough , But 't wou'd not do , he boldly Charg'd again , And by Ten thousand Wounds at last was slain . Some say he was by his own Men betray'd , And basely left alive among the Dead , But I cannot understand how that can be , For how can Treachery and Sense agree ? In Honours Truckle-Bed the Hero lies , Till Sense again , the Lord knows when , shall rise . M — n , a Renegade from Wit , came on And made a false Attack , and next to none ; The Hypocrite , in Sense , could not conceal What Pride , and want of Brains , oblig'd him to reveal . In him the Critick's ruin'd by the Poet , And Virgil gives his Testimony to it ; The Troops of Wit were so enrag'd to see , This Priest Invade his own Fraternity , They sent a Party out , by Silence led , And without Answer shot the Turn-Coat Dead . The Priest , the Rake , the Wit , strove all in vain , For there , alas , he lies among the slain , Memento Mori ; see the Consequence , When Rakes and Wits set up for Men of Sense . But Sense still suffer'd , and the shock was rude , For what can Valour do to Multitude ? The General sent for help both far and near , To Cowley , Milton , Ratcliff , Rochester , Waller , Roscommon , Howard , and to Bhen , The Doubtful Fight the better to maintain ; Giants these were of Wit and Sense together , But they were dead and gone the Lord knows whether . The swift Express he then Commands to fly , To D — , M — , and N — , To send their Aid , and save him from Defeat , But their United Council was Retreat , Reserve your Fortunes for a better Day ; So Sailors , when the Ship 's a sinking , Pray . These are the Sages who Preside o'r Sense , And Laws to all the Common-wealth Dispence , But Wealth and Ease anticipates our fate , And makes our Heroes all degenerate , The Muses high Preferments they possess , And now their Pay's so great their Pains decrease ; So R — fought , so H — too fell on , Till Lords of O — made and T — . And now the Wits their Victory Proclaim , Loaden with Spoils of Sense , and swell'd with Fame ; Their Plunder first they carefully bestow , And then to spread their Conquest farther , go , Their Troops divide , their Terror to extend , And God knows where their Ravages will end . D — s Commanded the Forlorn of Wit , A stiff Politish Critick , very fit The open Country to over-run , And find out all Mens Errors but his own ; His Stony-Stratford Mistress read his Fate , A Slovens Fancy , and an Empty Pate . But now Commission'd by the Jingling Train , He has his Thousands , and Ten Thousands slain : He , like the Tartars , who fore-run the Turks , Easie to be distinguish'd by his Works , With equal Havock , and destructive Hate , Leaves all the Land he treads on Desolate ; He roots up Sense , and sows the Weeds of Wit , And Fops and Rakes , ten thousand strong , submit . C — e and D — n , H — s and M — x , D — y , and everlasting Fops , and Beaus , Led up the Battel Fifty thousand strong , Arm'd with Burlesque , Bombast , and Bawdy-Song ; Flesh'd with Great C — 's Slaughter they led on , Shouting Victoria , the Day 's their own . No Bounds to their Licentious Arms they know , But Plunder all the Country as they go , Kill , Ravish , Burn , Destroy , do what they please ! The French at Swamerdam were Fools to these . The Cruelties they Exercis'd were such , Amboyna's nothing , they 've out-done the Dutch ; Never such Devastation sure was known , A Man of Sense cou'd not be seen in Town . T — n , even Hackney T — n , wou'd not Print , A Book without Wits Imprimatur in 't ; And as in Revolutions of the State , Men strive the present things to imitate , So when the Wits , and Fops , had got the best , Men Acquiesc'd , and took the Oaths and Test : Few wou'd be Martyrs for their Understanding , But all went over at the Prince's Landing ; So Story tells , in Crook-back'd Richard's Time , Folks wore false Humps to make them look like him . News , hasty News , the Post is just come in . Nokor has Rally'd all his Troops again ; In a Pitch'd Field he met the haughty Foe , And gave them there a total Overthrow , The Slaughter's great , the Soldiers still pursue ▪ For they give Quarter but to very few ; Wits Routed , all the Beaus are quite undone , Their General 's slain , their Army 's fled and gone . See the uncertain fate of humane Things ! Change lays its fickle hands on States and Kings ; This bloody Battel has undone us all , Wit from its Glorious blazing Throne will fall , For all the Flower of Gallantry , and Wit , Was listed here , and overthrown in it . The Florid G — h was General of Horse , And lost his Life and Fame too , which was worse ; The Credit of this new Commander brought , With hopes of Plunder , many a Coward out , Who hitherto had very wisely chose , The Name of Wits , but had declin'd the blows . 'T was dismal to behold the Field of War , What Desolation Wit has suffer'd there , Whole Squadrons of Epick Horse appears , Trod down by his Heroic Curassiers , G — h lost his Darling Satyrick Dragoons , And two Brigades of Light Horse , call'd Lampoons , Old Soldiers all , well beaten to the Wars , Known by their Roughness , Vgliness , and Scars ; Fellows , the like were never heard nor read of , " Wou'd bite sometimes , enough to bite one's Head off , Nor cou'd their swiftness their Escape procure , For Nokor's Fury nothing cou'd endure : Enrag'd with former Losses he fell on , Resolv'd to Conquer , or be quite undone , Whole Wings of Foreign Troops he overthrew , Whom G — h from France to Wits assistance drew , Something the Matter was those Troops betraid 'em , He ill Procur'd them , or he had not Paid 'em ; 'T was a dull fancy in him to think fit , To polish English Sense with Foreign Wit. Among the Foot the Battel was severe , For Wits best Troops were wisely planted there , Led up by old Experienc'd Commanders , As D — n , C — e , A — n and S — s. The Granadiers were known by their Blue Bonnets , For they had been in Scotland making Sonnets ; Pun-Master-General D — y led them on , And with his Chattering Tunes the fight began . His Orders were to Charge , and then retire , And give the Body liberty to fire ; Ten Regiments of Plays stood on the Right , Led on by General D — n to the Fight ; The Tragedies had made some small pretence To Mutiny , and so Revolt to Sense . For D — n had some Sense , till he thought fit To Dote , and lately Deviate into Wit ; The Reason's plain , and he has found it true , He follow'd Wit which did too fast pursue . The Left was form'd of seven large Brigades , Of Farces , Opera's , and Masquerades , With several little Bands of Dogrel Wit , To Scowre the Ways , and Line the Hedges fit . Between these mighty Wings was rang'd in sight , A solid Phalanx of Compounded Wit ; Ten thousand Lyrick Foot , all Gallant Beaus , Arm'd with soft Sighs , with Songs , and Billet-Doux . There was Eight thousand Elegiack Foot , By Briny Tears and Sullen Grief made stout ; Five Pastoral Bands , lately bred up in Arms , By Chanting Gloriana's Mighty Charms , And Thund'ring out King WILLIAM's loud Alarms . Pindarick Legions , seven I think appear'd Like Brandenburghers , with the Enchanted Beard , For Lions Skins , and Whisker's late so fear'd . These were led up by able old Commanders , As C — e , H — s , Soldiers Bred in Flanders , With D — s , D — y , T — n , Dull M — x , B — r , W — y , P — s , Fops and Beaus , Dull T — e , and Pious B — y , Old T — e , G — n , Tom B — n , and many a Subaltern ; Some Flying Troops were plac'd in Ambuscade , Mock-Wits , Beau-Wits , and Wits in Masquerade , Some Amazonian Troops of Female Wit , For Ostentation , not for Combat fit ; The Witty D — t appear'd there too , Whose Wit 's in Prose , but all Incognito . There was one Caledonian Voluntier , With some Hibernian Wits brought up the Rear ; The whole , as by the Musters may be seen , Was Ninety seven thousand Fighting Men. All these drawn up , and ready to Engage , Old General D — n , with a Pious Rage , That the Great Work might with success go on , First Sacrific'd to the Emperor o' th' Moon ; The Poet and the Priest alike in Fame , " For Priests of all Religions are the same . When Nokor's Conquering Troops began t' appear , They found a very warm Reception here , He had Invok'd the Gods of Wit before , And vow'd to make their Altars smoke once more , With Bloody Hecatombs of Witty Gore . Swifter than Lightning at their Host he flew , His Word was D — , D — , M — , His Squadrons in Poetick Terror shone , And whisper'd Death to Wit as they came on : The strong Brigades of his Heroic Horse , Dreadful for Sense , for Pointed Satyr worse , Wing'd with Revenge , in fiery Raptures flew , And dipt in Poison'd Gall the Darts they threw ; Nothing cou'd Nokor's furious Troops withstand , Nor cou'd he check them with his own Command . The Troops of Wit , Disorder'd , and O'r-run , Are Slain , Disperc'd , Disgrac'd , and Overthrown ; The Shouts of Triumph reach the distant Sky , And Nokor lies Encamp'd in the Field of Victory . These are the doubtful dark Events of War , But who Britannia's Losses shall Repair ? For as when States in Civil Wars Engage , Their Private Feuds and Passions to asswage , The Publick suffers , harmless Subjects bear The Plagues , and Famines , which attend the War. So if we this Destructive War permit , Britain will find the Consequence of it , A Dearth of Sense , or else a Plague of Wit ; For Wit , by these Misfortunes desperate , Begins to arm at an unusual rate , Levies new Forces , gives Commissions out , For several Regiments of Horse and Foot , Recruits from every side come in amain , From Oxford , Cambridge , Will 's , and Warwick-lane . The scatter'd Troops too , from the last Defeat , Begin to Halt , and check their swift Retreat : In numerous Parties Wit appears again , Talks of another Battel this Campagne , Their strong Detachments o'r Parnassus range , And meditate on nothing but Revenge . To whom shall we Apply , what Powers Invoke , To deprecate the near impending stroke ? Ye Gods of Wit and Arts , their Minds inspire With Thoughts of Peace , from your Pacifick Fire ; Engage some Neighbouring Powers to undertake To Mediate Peace , for Dear Britannia's sake ; Pity the Mother rifl'd of her Charms , And make her Sons lay down Intestine Arms. Preliminary Treaties first begin , And may short Truce a lasting Peace let in , Limits to Wits Unbounded Ocean place , To which it may , and may no farther pass ; Fathom the unknown Depths of sullen Sense , And Purge it from its Pride , and Insolence , Your secret Influences interpose , And make them all dispatch their Plenipo's ; Appoint Parnassus for a Place to meet , Where all the Potentates of Wit may Treat , Around the Hill let Troops of Muses stand , To keep the Peace , and Guard the Sacred Land ; There let the high Pretensions be discuss'd , And Heaven the fatal Differences adjust . Let either side abate of their Demands , And both submit to Reason's high Commands , For which way ere the Conquest shall encline , The loss Britannia will at last be thine . Wit , like a hasty Flood , may over-run us , And too much Sense has oftentimes undone us : Wit is a Flux , a Looseness of the Brain , And Sense-abstract has too much Pride to Reign : Wit-unconcoct is the Extreme of Sloth , And too much Sense is the Extreme of both ▪ Abstracted-wit 't is own'd is a Disease , But Sense-abstracted has no Power to please : For Sense like Water is but Wit condense , And Wit like Air is rarify'd from Sense : Meer Sense is sullen , stiff , and unpolite , Meer Wit is apoplectick , thin , and light : Wit is a King without a Parliament , And Sense a Democratick Government : Wit , like the French , where e'r it reigns Destroys , And Sense advanc'd is apt to Tyrannize : Wit without Sense is like the Laughing-Evil , And Sense unmix'd with Fancy is the D — l. Wit is a Standing Army Government , And Sense a sullen stubborn P — t : Wit by its haste anticipates its Fate , And so does Sense by being obstinate : Wit without Sense in Verse is all but Farce , Sense without Wit in Verse is all mine A — . Wit , like the French , Performs before it Thinks , And Thoughtful Sense without Performance sinks : Sense without Wit is flegmatick and pale , And is all Head , forsooth , without a Tail : Wit without Sense is cholerick and red , Has Tail enough indeed , but has no Head. Wit , like the Jangling Chimes , Rings all in One , Till Sense , the Artist , sets them into Tune : Wit , like the Belly , if it be not Fed , Will starve the Members , and distract the Head ▪ Wit is the Fruitful Womb where Thoughts Conceive , Sense is the Vital Heat which Life and Form must give : Wit is the Teeming Mother brings them forth , Sense is the Active Father gives them worth . Vnited : Wit and Sense , makes Science thrive , Divided : neither Wit nor Sense can live ; For while the Parties eagerly contend , The Mortal Strife must in their Mutual Ruin end . Listen , ye Powers , to Lost Britannia's Prayer , And either side to yielding Terms Prepare ; And if their Cases long Debates admit , As how much Condescention shall be fit , How far Wits Jurisdiction shall extend , And where the stated Bounds of Sense shall end , Let them to some known Head that strife submit , Some Judge Infallible , some Pope in Wit , His Triple Seat place on Parnassus Hill , And from his Sentence suffer no Appeal : Let the Great Balance in his Censure be , And of the Treaty make him Guarantee , Let him be the Director of the State , And what he says , let both sides take for Fate : Apollo's Pastoral Charge to him commit , And make him Grand Inquisitor of Wit , Let him to each his proper Talent show , And tell them what they can , or cannot do , That each may chuse the Part he can do well , And let the Strife be only to Excel : To their own Province let him all confine , Doctors to Heal , to Preaching the Divine ; D — n to Tragedy , let C — h Translate , D — y make Ballads , Psalms and Hymns for T — e : Let P — r Flatter Kings in Panegyrick , R — ff Burlesque , and W — y be Lyrick : Let C — e write the Comick , F — e Lampoon , W — ly the Banter , M — n the Buffoon , And the Transgressing Muse receive the Fate Of Contumacy , Excommunicate . Such as with Railing Spirits are possess'd , The Muses Frenzy , let them be suppress'd , Allow no Satyrs which receive their Date From Iuno's Academy , Billinsgate ; No Banters , no Invective lines admit , Where want of Manners , makes up want of Wit ▪ Such as are hardned in Poetick Crimes , Let him give up to their own foolish Rhimes ; Let those Eternal Poets be Condemn'd , To be Eternal Poets to the end : Let D — s still continue unpolite , And no Man read what Dull M — c shall write , Reduce him to his Letter-Case and Whore , Let all Men shun him as they did before . Let M — n talk for what he can't Defend , And Banter Virgil which he ne'r cou'd Mend ; Let all the little Fry of Wit-Profaners Rest as they are , with neither Sense , nor Manners , Forsaken of Apollo's Influence , With want of Language , and with want of Pence ▪ What Fools Indite , let none but Blockheads Read , And may they write in vain , who write for Bread : No Banters on the Sacred Text admit , Nor Bawdy Lines , that Blasphemy of Wit : To Standard Rules of Government Confine , The Rate of every Bard , and Worth of every Line , And let the Rays of their Ambition burn , Those Phaeton-Wits who this Subjection scorn : If they aspire to Invade the Government , Bring them before the Muses Parliament , No Universal Monarchy admit , A Common-wealth's the Government for Wit. FINIS . 
A37433	----	The poor man's plea to all the proclamations, declarations, acts of Parliament, &c. which have been or shall be made or publish'd for a reformation of manners and suppressing immorality in the nation. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1698 Approx. 38 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37433 Wing D841 ESTC R26079 09344594 ocm 09344594 42796 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37433) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 42796) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1307:10) The poor man's plea to all the proclamations, declarations, acts of Parliament, &c. which have been or shall be made or publish'd for a reformation of manners and suppressing immorality in the nation. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. The second edition corrected. 28 p. Printed for A. Baldwin, London : 1698. Preface signed: D.F. Reproduction of original in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 17th century. Great Britain -- Moral conditions. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Poor Man's PLEA To all the Proclamations , Declarations , Acts of Parliament , &c. WHICH Have been , or shall be made , or publish'd , for a Reformation of Manners , and suppressing Immorality in the Nation . The Second Edition Corrected . LONDON : Printed for A. Baldwin , near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane . MDCXCVIII . THE PREFACE . REformation of Manners is a Work so Honourable , and at This Time so absolutely necessary , that , like the Reform of our Money , it can be no longer delayed . The Ways by which the present Torrent of Vice has been let in upon the Nation , and by which it maintains the Tyranny it has usurp'd on the Lives of the Inhabitants , are too plain to be hid . The following Sheets aim at the Work , by leading to the most direct means , Viz. Reformation by Example . Laws are , in Terrorem Punishments , and Magistrates Compel and put a Force upon Mens Minds ; but Example is Persuasive and Gentle , and draws by a Secret , Invisible , and almost Involuntary Power . If there can be any Remedies proposed more proper to bring it to pass , they that know them would do well to bring them forth . In the mean time the Author thinks Conscience in the Minds of Men Impartially Consulted , will give a Probatum to the following Proposal ; and to that Iudgment he refers all those who Object against it . D. F. THE Poor Man's PLEA TO All the Proclamations , Declarations , Acts of Parliament , &c. which have been , or shall be made , or publish'd , for a Reformation of Manners , and suppressing Immorality in the Nation . IN searching for a proper Cure of an Epidemick Distemper , Physicians tell us 't is first necessary to know the Cause of that Distemper , from what Part of the Body , and from what ill Habit it proceeds ; and when the Cause is discover'd , it is to be removed , that the Effect may cease of it self ; but if removing the Cause will not work the Cure , then indeed they proceed to apply proper Remedies to the Disease it self , and the particular part afflicted . Immorality is without doubt the present reigning Distemper of the Nation : And the King and Parliament , who are the proper Physicians , seem nobly inclin'd to undertake the Cure. 'T is a Great Work , well worthy their utmost Pains : The Honour of it , were it once perfected , would add more Trophies to the Crown , that all the Victories of this Bloody War , or the Glories of this Honourable Peace . But as a Person under the Violence of a Disease sends in vain for a Physician , unless he resolves to make use of his Prescription ; so in vain does the King attempt to reform a Nation , unless they are willing to reform themselves , and to submit to his Prescriptions . Wickedness is an Ancient Inhabitant in this Country , and 't is very hard to give its Original . But however difficult that may be , 't is easy to look back to a Time when we were not so generally infected with Vice as we are now ; and 't will seem sufficient to enquire into the Causes of our present Defection . The Protestant Religion seems to have an unquestion'd Title to the first introducing a strict Morality among us ; and 't is but just to give the Honour of it where 't is so eminently due . Reformation of Manners has something of a Natural Consequence in it from Reformation in Religion : For since the Principles of the Protestant Religion disown the Indulgencies of the Roman Pontiff , by which a Thousand Sins are , as Venial Crimes , bought off , and the Priest , to save God Almighty the trouble , can blot them out of the Account before it comes to his hand ; common Vices lost their Charter , and men could not sin at so cheap a Rate as before . The Protestant Religion has in it self a natural tendency to Virtue , as a standing Testimony of its own Divine Original , and accordingly it has very much suppress'd Vice and Immorality in all the Countries where it has had a Footing : It has civiliz'd Nations , and reform'd the very Tempers of its Professors : Christianity and Humanity has gone hand in hand in the World ; and there is so visible a difference between the other Civiliz'd Governments in the World , and those who now are under the Protestant Powers , that it carries its Evidence in it self . The Reformation , begun in England in the days of King Edward the sixth , and afterwards gloriously finished by Queen Elizabeth , brought the English Nation to such a degree of Humanity , and Sobriety of Conversation , as we have reason to doubt will hardly be seen again in our Age. In King Iames the First 's time , the Court affecting something more of Gallantry and Gaiety , Luxury got footing ; and Twenty Years Peace , together with no extraordinary Examples from the Court , gave too great Encouragement to Licentiousness . If it got footing in King Iames the First 's time , it took a deep Root in the Reign of his Son ; and the Liberty given the Soldiery in the Civil War , dispers'd all manner of Prophaneness throughout the Kingdom . That Prince , though very Pious in his own Person and Practice , had the Misfortune to be the first King of England , and perhaps in the whole World , that ever establish'd Wickedness by a Law : By what unhappy Council , or secret ill Fate he was guided to it , is hard to determine ; but the Book of Sports , as it was called , that Book to tolerate the Exercise of of all sorts of Pastimes on the Lord's Day , tended more to the vitiating the Practice of this Kingdom , as to keeping that Day , than all the Acts of Parliament , Proclamations , and Endeavours of future Princes have done , or perhaps ever will do , to reform it . And yet the People of England express'd a general sort of Aversion to that Liberty ; and some , as if glutted with too much Freedom , when the Reins of the Law were taken off , refused that Practice they allow'd themselves in before . In the time of King Charles the Second , Lewdness and all manner of Debauchery arriv'd at its Meridian : The Encouragement it had from the Practice and Allowance of the Court , is an invincible Demonstration how far the Influence of our Governors extends in the Practice of the People . The present King and his late Queen , whose Glorious Memory will be dear to the Nation as long as the World stands , have had all this wicked Knot to unravel . This was the first thing the Queen set upon while the King was engaged in his Wars abroad : She first gave all sorts of Vice a general Discouragement ; and on the contrary , rais'd the value of Virtue and Sobriety by her Royal Example . The King having brought the War to a Glorious Conclusion , and settled an Honourable Peace , in his very first Speech to his Parliament proclaims a New War against Prophaneness and Immorality , and goes on also to discourage the Practice of it by the like Royal Example . Thus the Work is begun nobly and regularly ; and the Parliament , the General Representative of the Nation , readily pursues it by enacting Laws to suppress all manner of Prophaneness , &c. These are Great Things , and well improv'd , would give an undoubted Overthrow to the Tyranny of Vice , and the Dominion Prophaneness has usurp'd in the hearts of men . But we of the Plebeii find our selves justly aggriev'd in all this Work of Reformation ; and the Partiality of this Reforming Rigor makes the real Work impossible : Wherefore we find our selves forced to seek Redress of our Grievances in the old honest way of Petitioning Heaven to relieve us : And in the mean time , we solemnly Enter our Protestation against all the Vicious Part of the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation ; as follows : First , We Protest , That we do not find impartially enquiring into the matter , and speaking of Moral Gooodness , that you are one jot better than we are , your Dignities , Estates and Quality excepted . 'T is true , we are all bad enough , and we are willing in good Manners to agree , that we are as wicked as you ; but we cannot find on the exactest Scutiny , but that in the Commonwealth of Vice , the Devil has taken care to level Poor and Rich into one Class , and is fairly going on to make us all Graduates in the last degreee of Immorality . Secondly , We do not find that all the Proclamations , Declarations , and Acts of Parliament yet made , have any effective Power to punish you for your Immoralities , as they do us . Now , while you make Laws to punish us , and let your selves go free , though guilty of the same Vices and Immoralities , those Laws are unjust and unequal in themselves . 'T is true , the Laws do not express a Liberty to you and Punishment to us ; and therefore the King and Parliament are free , as King and Parliament , from this our Appeal ; but the Gentry and Magistrates of the Kingdom , while they execute those Laws upon us the poor Commons , and themselves practising the same Crimes , in defiance of the Laws both of God and Man , go unpunish'd ; This is the Grievance we protest against , as unjust and unequal . Wherefore , till the Nobility , Gentry , Justices of the Peace , and Clergy , will be pleased either to reform their own Manners , and suppress their own Immoralities , or find out some Method and Power impartially to punish themselves when guilty , we humbly crave leave to object against setting any Poor Man in the Stocks , or sending them to the House of Correction for Immoralities , as the most unequal and unjust way of proceeding in the World. And now , Gentlemen , That this Protestation may not seem a little too rude , and a Breach of good Manners to our Superiors , we crave Leave to subjoin our humble Appeal to your selves ; and will for once , knowing you as English Gentlemen , to be Men of Honour , make you Iudges in your own case . First , Gentlemen , We appeal to your selves , whether ever it be likely to perfect the Reformation of Manners in this Kingdom , without you : Whether Laws to punish us , without your Example also to influence us , will ever bring the Work to pass . The first Step from a loose vicious Practice in this Nation , was begun by King Edward the Sixth , back'd by a Reform'd Clergy , and a Sober Nobility : Queen Elizabeth carried it on . 'T was the Kings and the Gentry which first again degenerated from that strict Observation of Moral Virtues , and from thence carried Vice on to that degree it now appears in . From the Court Vice took its Progress into the Countrey ; and in the Families of the Gentry and Nobility it harbour'd , till it took heart under their Protection , and made a general Sally into the Nation ; and We the Poor Commons , who have been always easy to be guided by the Example of our Landlords and Gentlemen , have really been debauch'd into Vice by their Examples : And it must be the Example of you the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom , that must put a Stop to the Flood of Vice and Prophaneness which is broken in upon the Countrey , or it will never be done . Our Laws against all manner of Vicious Practices are already very severe : But Laws are useless insignificant things , if the Executive Power which lies in the Magistrate be not exerted . The Justices of the Peace have the Power to punish , but if they do not put forth that Power , 't is all one as if they had none at all : Some have possibly exerted this Power ; but whereever it has been so put forth , it has fallen upon us the poor Commons : These are ▪ all Cobweb Laws , in which the small Flies are catch'd , and the great ones break through . My Lord-Mayor has whipt about the poor Beggars , and a few scandalous Whores have been sent to the House of Correction ; some Alehousekeepers and Vintners have been Fin'd for drawing Drink on the Sabbath-day ; but all this falls upon us of the Mob , the poor Plebeii , as if all the Vice lay among us ; for we do not find the Rich Drunkard carri'd before my Lord Mayor , nor a Swearing Lewd Merchant Fin'd , or Set in the Stocks . The man with a Gold Ring and Gay Cloths , may Swear before the Justice , or at the Justice ; may reel home through the open Streets , and no man take any notice of it ; but if a poor man get drunk , or swear an Oath , he must to the Stocks without Remedy . In the second place , We appeal to your selves , Whether Laws or Proclamations are capable of having any Effect towards a Reformation of Manners , while the very Benches of our Justices are infected with the scandalous Vices of Swearing and Drunkenness ; while our Justices themselves shall punish a man for Drunkenness , with a God damn him , set him in the Stocks : And if Laws and Proclamations are useless in the Case , then they are good for nothing , and had as good be let alone as publish'd . 'T is hard , Gentlemen , to be punish'd for a Crime , by a man as guilty as our selves ; and that the Figure a man makes in the World , must be the reason why he shall or shall not be liable to a Law : This is really punishing men for being poor , which is no Crime at all ; as a Thief may be said to be hang'd , not for the Fact , but for being taken . We further Appeal to your selves , Gentlemen , to inform us , whether there be any particular reason why you should be allow'd the full Career of your corrupt Appetites , without the Restraint of Laws , while you your selves agree that such Offences shall be punished in us , and do really execute the Law upon the Poor People , when brought before you for the same things . Wherefore , That the Work of Reformation of Manners may go on , and be brought to Perfection , to the Glory of God , and the great Honour of the King and Parliament : That Debauchery and Prophaneness , Drunkenness , Whoring , and all sorts of Immoralities may be suppress'd , we humbly propose the Method which may effectually accomplish so great a Work. ( 1. ) That the Gentry and Clergy , who are the Leaders of us poor ignorant people , and our Lights erected on high places to guide and govern us , would in the first place put a voluntary force upon themselves , and effectually reform their own Lives , their way of Conversing , and their common Behaviour among their Servants and Neighbours . 1. The Gentry . They are the Original of the Modes , and Customs , and Manners of their Neighbours ; and their Examples in the Countries especially are very moving . There are three several Vices , which have the principal Management of the greatest part of Mankind , viz. Drunkenness , Swearing , and Whoring ; all of them very ill becoming a Gentlemen , however Custom may have made them Modish : Where none of these Three are in a House , there is certainly something of a Plantation of God in the Family ; for they are such Epidemick Distempers , that hardly Human Nature is entirely free from them . 1. Drunkenness , that brutish Vice ; a Sin so sordid , and so much a Force upon Nature , that had God Almighty enjoyn'd it a Duty , I believe many a man would have ventur'd the loss of Heaven , rather than have perform'd it . The Pleasure of it seems to be so secretly hid , that wild Heathen Nations know nothing of the matter ; 't is only discover'd by the wise people of these Northern Countries , who are grown Proficients in Vice , Philosophers in Wickedness , who can extract a Pleasure to themselves in losing their Understanding , and make themselves sick at heart for their Diversion . If the History of this well bred Vice was to be written , 't would plainly appear that it begun among the Gentry , and from them was handed down to the poorer sort , who still love to be like their Betters . After the Restitution of King Charles the Second , when drinking the King's Health became the distinction between a Cavalier and a Roundhead , Drunkenness began its Reign , and it has Reign'd almost Forty Years : The Gentry caress'd this Beastly Vice at such a Rate , that no Companion , no Servant was thought proper , unless he could bear a Quantity of Wine ; And to this day 't is added to the Character of a Man , as an additional Title , when you would speak well of him , He is an honest drunken Fellow ; as if his Drunkenness was a Recommendation of his Honesty . From the practice of this nasty Faculty , our Gentlemen have arriv'd to the teaching of it ; and that it might be effectually preservd to the next Age , have very early instructed the Youth in it . Nay , so far has Custom prevail'd , that the Top of a Gentleman's Entertainment has been to make his Friend drunk ; and the Friend is so much reconcil'd to it , that he takes that for the effect of his Kindness , which he ought as much to be affronted at , as if he had kick'd him down Stairs : Thus 't is become a Science ; and but that the Instruction proves so easy , and the Youth too apt to learn , possibly we might have had a Colledge erected for it before now . The further perfection of this Vice among the Gentry , will appear in two things ; that 't is become the Subject of their Glory , and the way of expressing their Joy for any publick Blessing . Iack , said a Gentleman of very high Quality , when after the Debate in the House of Lords , King William was voted into the vacant Throne ; Iack , ( says he ) God damn ye Jack , go home to your Lady , and tell her we have got a Protestant King and Queen ; and go and make a Bonfire as big as a House , and bid the Bntler make ye all drunk , ye Dog : Here was Sacrificing to the Devil , for a Thanksgiving to God. Other Vices are committed as Vices , and men act them in private , and are willing to hide them ; but Drunkenness they are so fond of , that they will glory in it , boast of it , and endeavour to promote it as much as possible in others : 'T is a Triumph to a Champion of the Bottle , to repeat how many Quarts of Wine he has drank at a sitting , and how he made such and such honest Fellows drunk . Men Lye and Forswear , and hide it ▪ and are asham'd of it , as indeed they have reason to do : But Drunkenness and Whoring are Accomplishments People value themselves upon , repeat them with pleasure , and affect a sort of Vanity in the History ; are content all the World should be Witnesses of their Intemperance , have made the Crime a Badge of Honour to their Breeding ▪ and introduce the practice as a Fashion . And whoever gives himself the trouble to reflect on the Custom of our Gentlemen in their Families , encouraging and promoting this Vice of Drunkenness among the poor Commons , will not think it a Scandal upon the Gentry of England , if we say , That the Mode of drinking , as 't is now practised , had its Original from the Practice of the Country Gentlemen , and they again from the Court. It may be objected , and God forbid it should not , That there are a great many of our Nobility and Gentlemen , who are Men of Honour and Men of Morals ; and therefore this Charge is not universal . To which we answer , 'T is universal for all that , because those very Gentlemen , though they are negatively clear as to the Commission of the Crimes we speak of , yet are positively guilty , in not executing that Power the Law has put into their hands , with an Impartial Vigor . For where was that Gentleman or Justice of the Peace ever yet found , who executed the Terms of the Law upon a Drunken , Swearing , Lewd Gentleman , his Neighbour , but the Quality of the Person has been a License to the open Exercise of the worst Crimes ; as if there were any Baronets , Knights , or Squires in the next World ; who because of those little step ▪ Custom had raised them on , higher than their Neighbours , should be exempted from the Divine Judicature ; or that as Captain Vrats said , who was Hang'd for Murth'ring Esquire ●hynn , God would show them some respect as they were Gentlemen . If there were any reason why a Rich Man should be permitted in the publick Exercise of Open Immoralities , and not the Poor Man , something might be said : But if there be any difference it lies the other way ; for the Vices of a Poor Man affect only himself ; but the Rich Man's Wickedness affects all the Neighbourhood , gives offence to the Sober , encourages and hardens the Lewd , and quite overthrows the weak Resolutions of such as are but indifferently fix'd in their Virtue and Morality . If my own Watch goes false , it deceives me and none else ; but if the Town Clock goes false , it deceives the whole Parish . The Gentry are the Leaders of the Mob ; if they are Lewd and Drunken , the others strive to imitate them ; if they Discourage Vice and Intemperance , the other will not be so forward in it , nor so fond of it . To think then to effect a Reformation by Punishing the Poor , while the Rich seem to Enjoy a Charter for wickedness , is like taking away the Effect , that the Cause may cease . We find some People very fond of Monopolizing a Vice , they would have all of it to themselves ; they must , as my Lord Rochester said of himself , Sin like a Lord ; little sneaking Sins won't serve turn ; but they must be Lewd at a rate above the Common Size , to let the World see they are capable of it . Our Laws seem to take no Cognizance of such , perhaps for the same reason that Lycurgus made no Law against Parricide , because he would not have the Sin named among his Citizens . Now the Poor Man sees no such Dignity in Vice , as to study Degrees ; we are downright in Wickedness , as we are in our Dealings ; if we are Drunk , 't is plain Drunkenness ; Swearing , and Whoring , is all Blunderbus with us ; we don't affect such Niceties in our Conversation ; and the Justices use us accordingly ; nothing but the Stocks , or the House of Correction is the Case , when we are brought before them ; but when our Masters the Gentlemen come to their Refin'd Practice , and Sin by the Rules of Quality , we find nothing comes of it but false Heraldry , the Vice is punish'd by the Vice , and the Punishment renews the Crime . The Case in short is this ; the Lewdness , Prophaneness , and Immorality of the Gentry , which is the main Cause of the General Debauchery of the Kingdom , is not at all toucht by our Laws , as they are now Executed ; and while it remains so , the Reformation of Manners can never be brought to pass , nor Prophaneness and Immorality Suppress'd ; and therefore the Punishing the Poor distinctly is a Mock upon the good Designs of the King and Parliament ; an Act of Injustice upon them to punish them , and let others who are as guilty go free ; and a sort of Cruelty too , in taking the advantage of their Poverty to make them suffer , because they want Estates to purchase their Exemption . We have some weak Excuses for this Matter , which must be considered : As , ( 1 ) . The Justice of the Peace is a Passive Magistrate , till an information be brought before him , and is not to take notice of any thing , but as it is laid in Fact , and brought to an Affidavit . Now if an Affidavit be made before a Justice , that such or such a man Swore , or was Drunk , he must , he cannot avoid Fining him ; the Law obliges him to it , let his Quality be what it will ; so that the Defect is not in the Law , not in the Justice , but in the want of Information . ( 2 ) . The Name of an Evidence or Informer is so scandalous , that to attempt to inform against a man for the most open Breach of the Laws of Morality , is enough to denominate a man unfit for Society ; a Rogue and an Informer are Synonimous in the Vulgar Acceptation ▪ so much is the real Detection of the openest Crimes against God , and Civil Government , Discouraged and Avoided . ( 3 ) . The Impossibility of the Cure is such , and the Habit has so obtain'd upon all Mankind , that it seems twisted with Human Nature , as an Appendix to Natural Frailty , which it is impossible to separate from it ▪ For Answer ; 1. ▪ T is true , the Justice of the Peace is in some respect a Passive Magistrate , and does not act but by Information , but such Information would be brought if it were encouraged ; if Justices of the Peace did acquaint themselves with their Neighbourhood , they would soon hear of the Immoralities of the Parish ; and if they did impartially Execute the Law on such as offended , without respect of Person , they would soon have an Account of the Persons and Circumstances . Besides , 't is not want of Information , but want of punishing what they have information of ▪ A Poor Man informs against a Great Man , the Witness is discouraged , the man goes unpunish'd , and the Poor Man gets the scandal of an Informer ; and then 't is but too often that our Justices are not men of extraordinary Morals themselves ; and who shall Inform a Justice of the Peace that such a man Swore , when he may be heard to Swear himself as fast as another ? or who shall bring a man before a Justice for being Drunk , when the Justice is so Drunk himself , he cannot order him to be set in the Stocks ? ( 2. ) Besides , the Justice has a power to punish any Fact he himself sees committed , and to enquire into any he hears of casually ; and if he will stand still and see those Acts of Immorality committed before his Face , who shall bring a Poor Man before him to be punished ? Thus I have heard a Thousand horrid Oaths sworn on a Bowling Green , in the presence of a Justice of the Peace , and he take no notice of it , and go home the next hour , and set a man in the Stocks for being Drunk . As to the Scandal of Informing , 't is an Error in Custom , and a great Sin against Justice ; 't is necessary indeed that all Judgment should be according to Evidence , and to discourage Evidence , is to discourage Justice ; but that a man in Trial of the Morality of his Neighbour , should be ashamed to appear , must have some particular Cause . ( 1. ) It proceeds from the Modishness of the Vice ; it has so obtain'd upon mens Practices , that to appear against what almost all men approve , seems malicious , and has a certain prospect either of Revenge , or of a Mercenary Wretch , that Informs meerly to get a Reward . 'T is true , if no Reward be plac'd upon an Information , no man will take the trouble ; and again , if too great a Reward , Men of Honour shun the thing , because they scorn the Fee ; and to Inform meerly for the Fee , has something of a Rascal in it too ; and from these Reasons arises the backwardness of the People . The very same Rich men we speak of are the persons who discourage the Discovery of Vice , by scandalizing the Informer ; a man that is any thing of a Gentleman scorns it , and the Poor still Mimick the Humour of the Rich , and hate an Informer as they do the Devil . 'T is strange the Gentlemen should be asham'd to detect the Breach of those Laws , which they were not asham'd to make ; but the very Name of an Informer has gain'd so black an Idea in the minds of People , because some who have made a Trade of Informing against People for Religion , have misbehaved themselves , that truly 't will be hard to bring any man either of Credit or Quality to attempt it . But the main thing which makes our Gentlemen backward in the prosecution of Vice , is their practising the same Crimes themselves , and they have so much wicked Modesty and Generosity in them , being really no Enemies to the thing it self , that they cannot with any sort of freedom punish in others , what they practise themselves . In the Times of Executing the Laws against Dissenters , we found a great many Gentlemen very Vigorous in prosecuting their Neighbours ; they did not stick to appear in Person to disturb Meetings , and demolish the Meeting Houses , and rather than fail , would be Informers themselves ; the reason was because they had also a dislike to the think ; but we never found a Dissenting Gentleman , or Justice of the Peace forward to do thus , because they approved of it . Now were our Gentlemen and Magistrates real Enemies to the Immoralities of this Age , did they really hate Drunkenness as a Vice , they would be forward and zealous to root the practice of it out of the Neighbourhood , they would not be backward or asham'd to detect Vice , to disturb Drunken Assemblies , to disperse those Plantations of Leachery , the Publick Bawdy-Houses , which are almost as openly allowed as the Burdelloes in Italy ▪ They would be willing to have all sorts of Vices Suppress'd , and glory in putting their hands to the Work ; they would not be asham'd to appear in the detecting Debauchery , nor afraid to embroil themselves with their Rich Neighbours . 'T is Guilt of the same Fact which makes Connivance , and till that Guilt be removed , the Gentlemen of England neither will , not can indeed with any kind of Honour put their hands to the work of Reforming it in their Neighbours . But I think 't is easy to make it appear that this difficulty of Informing may be removed , and there need not be much occasion for that Scandalous Employment . 'T is in the power of the Gentry of England to Reform the whole Kingdom without either Laws , Proclamations , or Informers ; and without their Concurrence , all the Laws , Proclamations , and Declarations in the World will have no Effect ; the Vigour of the Laws consists in their Executive Power ; Ten thousand Acts of Parliament signify no more than One single Proclamation , unless the Gentlemen , in whose hands the Execution of those Laws is placed , take care to see them duly made use of ; and how can Laws be duly Executed , but by an Impartial Distribution of equal Rewards and Punishments , without regard to the Quality and Degree of the Persons ? The Laws push on the Justices now , and they take care to go no faster than they are driven ; but would the Justices push on the Laws , Vice would flee before them as Dust in the Wind , and Immoralities would be soon Suppress'd ; but it can never be expected that the Magistrates should push on the Laws to a free Suppression of Immoralities , till they Reform themselves , and their Great Neighbours Reform themselves , that there may be none to punish who are too big for the Magistrate to venture upon . Would the Gentry of England decry the Modishness of Vice by their own Practice ; would they dash it out of Countenance by disowning it ; that Drunkeness and Oaths might once come into disesteem , and be out of Fashion , and a man be valued the less for them ; that he that will Swear , and be Drunk , shall be counted a Rake , and not fit for a Gentleman's Company . This would do more to Reforming the rest of Mankind , than all the Punishments the Law can inflict ; the Evil encreased by Example , and must be suppress'd the same way . If the Gentry were thus Reform'd , their Families would be so too : No Servant would be Entertain'd , no Workman Employ'd , no Shopkeeper would be Traded with by a Gentleman , but such as like themselves , were Sober and Honest ; a Lewd , Vicious , Drunken Footman must Reform or Starve , he would get no Service ; a Servant once turn'd away for his Intemperance , would be entertain'd by no body else ; a Swearing Debauch'd Labourer or Workman must Reform , or no body would Employ him ; the Drunken whoring Shopkeeper must grow Sober , or lose all his Customers and be Undone . Interest and good Manners would Reform us of the poorer sort , there would be no need of the Stocks or Houses of Correction ; we should be sober of course , because we should be all Beggars else ; and he that lov'd his Vice so dearly as to purchase it with the loss of his Trade or Employment , would soon grow too poor for his Vice , and be forced to leave it by his own Necessities ; there would be no need of Informers , a Vicious Fellow would be presently Notorious , he would be the Talk of the Town , every one would slight and shun him for fear of being thought like him by being seen in his Company ; he would expose himself , and would be punish'd as unpitied as a Thief . So that in short , the whole Weight of this Blessed Work of Reformation lies on the shoulders of the Gentry ; they are the Cause of our Defection , which being taken away , the Effect would cease of course , Vice would grow Scandalous , and all Mankind would be asham'd of it . ( 2. ) The Clergy also ought not to count themselves exempted in this matter , whose Lives have been , and in some places still are so Vicious and so loose , that 't is well for England we are not subject to be much Priest-ridden . 'T is a strange thing how it shou'd be otherwise than it is with us the poor Commonalty , when the Gentry our Patern , and the Clergy our Teachers , are as Immoral as we . And then to consider the Coherence of the thing ; the Parson preaches a thundering Sermon against Drunkenness , and the Iustice of Peace sets my poor Neighbour in the Stocks , and I am like to be much the better for either , when I know perhaps that this same Parson and this same Iustice were both Drunk together but the Night before . It may be true , for ought we know , that a Wicked Parson may make a good Sermon ; and the Spanish Proverb , may be true of the Soul as well as the Body , If the Cure be but wrought let the Devil be the Doctor ; but this does not take with the downright ignorant People in the Country ; a poor Man gets Drunk in a Country Ale house , Why , are you not asham'd to be such a Beast , says a good honest Neighbour to him the next day ? Asham'd , says the Fellow ! Why should I be asham'd ? Why , there was Sir Iohn — and Sir Robert — and the Parson , and they were all as Drunk as I. And why a Beast , Pray ? I heard Sir Robert — say , That He that Drinks least , Drinks most like a Beast . A Vicious Parson that preaches well , but lives ill , may be like an unskilful Horseman , who opens a Gate on the wrong side , and lets other Folks through , but shuts himself out . This may be possible , but it seems most reasonable to think they are a means by that sort of living to hinder both themselves and others ; and would the Gentry and Clergy of England but look back a little on the Guilt that really lies on them , as Gentlemen by whose Example so great a part of Mankind has been led into , and encouraged in the Progress of Vice , they would find Matter of very serious reflection . This Article of the Clergy may seem to lie in the power of their Superiors to rectify , and therefore may be something more feasible than the other ; but the Gentry who are Sui juris , can no way be reduced but by their own voluntary practice . We are in England exceedingly govern'd by Modes and Customs . The Gentry may effectually Suppress Vice , would they but put it out of Fashion ; but to Suppress it by Force seems impossible . The Application of this rough Doctrine is in short both to the Gentry and Clergy , Physicians Heal your selves ; if you will leave off your Drunkenness and Lewdness first , if we do not follow you , then set us in the Stocks , and send us to the House of Correction , and punish us as you please ; if you will leave off Whoring first , then Brand us in the Foreheads , or Transport or Hang us for Fornication or Adultery , and you are welcome ; but to preach against Drunkenness immediately after an Evening's Debauch ; to Correct a poor Fellow for Swearing with the very Vice in your Mouths ; these are the unjustest ways in the World , and have in themselves no manner of tendency towards the Reformation of Manners , which is the true Design of the Law. 'T is acknowledge'd there are in England a great many Sober , Pious , Religious Persons , both among the Gentry and Clergy , and 't is hoped such cannot think themselves Libell'd or Injur'd in this Plea ; if there were not , Laws would never have been made against those Vices , for no men make Laws to punish themselves ; 't is design'd to reflect upon none but such as are Guilty , and on them no farther than to put them in mind how much the Nation owes its present Degeneracy to their folly , and how much it is in their power to Reform it again by their Example ; that the King may not publish Proclamations , nor the Parliament make Laws to no purpose ; but that we might live in England once more like Christians , and like Gentlemen , to the Glory of God , and the Honour of the present King and Parliament , who so publickly have attempted the great Work of Reformation among us , though hitherto to so little purpose . FINIS . 
A37436	----	Reasons humbly offer'd for a law to enact the castration of popish ecclesiastics, as the best way to prevent the growth of popery in England 1700 Approx. 39 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 14 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37436 Wing D843 ESTC R7912 12272874 ocm 12272874 58345 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37436) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 58345) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 179:16) Reasons humbly offer'd for a law to enact the castration of popish ecclesiastics, as the best way to prevent the growth of popery in England Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 26 p. Printed and are to be sold by A. Baldwin ..., London : 1700. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. Moore Smith, G.C. An unrecognized work of Defoe's? In the Review of English studies, v. 5, no. 17, p. 64-66. Not accepted by John Robert Moore as Defoe's; not listed by Boston Pub. Lib. cat. of The Defoe Coll. Cf. NUC pre-1956. Incorrectly identified on film and in reel guide as Wing D843. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Catholic Church -- England. Anti-Catholicism -- England. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 John Latta Sampled and proofread 2002-10 John Latta Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion REASONS Humbly offer'd For a LAW to enact the CASTRATION OF Popish Ecclesiastics , As the best way to prevent the Growth of POPERY IN ENGLAND . LONDON , Printed , and are to be sold by A. Baldwin in Warwicklane , 1700. REASONS Humbly offer'd for a Law to enact the Castration of Popish Ecclesiasticks , &c. THE Honourable House of Commons having been pleas'd to take into their Consideration the unaccountable growth of Popery amongst us of late , and to appoint a Committee to consider of Ways and Means for preventing the same : It is thought fit , among the croud of Proposals for that end , to publish what follows . We may , without intrenching upon the Province of Divines , make bold to assert , That when the Church of Rome is call'd in the Sacred Scriptures , The Mother of Harlots , and of the Abominations of the Earth ; there 's something else meant by it than a mere Religious Impurity , or going a whoring after false Gods , as their Saints and Angels , and multitudes of Mediators between God and Men undoubtedly are . We need but cast our Eye upon Platina's Lives of the Popes , and turn over a few Leaves of the Historys of most Nations of Europe , to be convinc'd that the Romish Clergy have ever since the Pope's Usurpation been branded with Uncleanness . The wanton Observation made by Henry the 4 th of France , as he passed one day betwixt a Friary and a Nunnery , That the latter was the Barn , and the former were the Threshers , was found to have too much of truth in it in all those Countrys where Monasterys were overturn'd or search'd upon the Reformation . The vast heaps of Childrens Bones that were found in draw-wells , and other places about them , were speaking , tho not living Monuments of the horrid Impurity , as well as barbarous Cruelty of those pretended Religious Communities . To insist any more upon this , were to accuse the Age of inexcusable Ignorance in History , and therefore we shall conclude this Introduction with an Observation from Fox's Acts and Monuments , That before the Reformation the Priests alone were computed to have 100000 Whores in this Kingdom ; which must be understood of what the Dialect of those times call'd Lemmans , from the French L'amante , that is , in the modern Phrase , kept Misses ; besides their promiscuous Whoredoms with the Women , they confessed , &c. This horrid Uncleanness of the Romish Clergy cannot appear incredible to those who consider , that besides their being judicially given up of God to work all manner of Uncleanness with greediness , their Vow of Chastity , and being forbidden to marry , lays them under a temptation peculiar to their Order . It will yet appear less strange if we consider their way of living , and opportunity : They eat and drink of the best , are caressed in all Families of their Way ; have an advantage of knowing the Inclinations , and of private converse with Women by their Auricular Confession , and by their pretended Power to give Pardon ; have a Door open to perswade the committing of one Sin for expiating another , and accordingly improve it . This is so far from being a Calumny , that the Popish Laity themselves in all Ages and Countrys have been sensible of it ; and therefore most of the Popish Kingdoms sollicited the Council of Trent to allow Priests marriage . But the Pope , for Reasons we shall touch anon , did not think fit to grant it ; tho AEneas Silvius himself , afterwards Pope , was so fully convinc'd of the necessity of it , that he said , Tho Priests were forbidden to marry for very good Reasons , yet there were better Reasons to allow it . They that have travel'd in Popish Countrys , and observ'd their Priests and Monks , know , that generally speaking , they carry about them no marks of that Austerity and Mortification which they pretend to . They look as fat , and generally fatter than other Men ; which is an infallible Token that they fare as well , if not better , than others do . You shall see as white and plump a Hand under a Monk's Hood , as in any Family of Quality ; and a Foot as clean and neat many times in a Sandal , as is to be found under a Spanish Leather Shoe and silk Stockin : Nor is it any Secret , that in the Neighbourhood of Convents there 's as good Diet prepar'd for the use of Monks and Nuns , as comes to Gentlemens Tables . Nay , those very places of Retirement , with their large Gardens , adorn'd with Walks and Shades , and many times water'd by pleasant Fountains or murmuring Streams , together with their idle way of living , seem to be accommodated to inspire them with amorous Sentiments , against which their Vows of Chastity , and the Rules of their Order , are so far from being Preservatives , that they only add Fewel to their Flames , and make them commit Sin with the higher relish . So that when they go abroad from their Monasterys , they are like so many fed Horses neighing , as the Scripture expresses it of the lustful Iews , after every Woman they see ; and if they have not opportunity of giving vent to their Lusts that way , they many times do it by other methods , which Nature , as well as Religion forbids to name . This we may justly suppose to have been the Motive that induc'd Emanuel de Saa in his Aphorisms to maintain that Fornication , Adultery and Sodomy did not make a Priest irregular , whereas Marriage did . If besides their being forbidden to marry , we consider that they are provided for by the sweat of other mens Faces , have no Familys to take care of , have no hard Labour to mortify and keep them low , and are under no Obligation to study hard , we shall find that there 's no Reason to wonder if they be more inclinable to Venery than any other Men whatsoever : and since by experience it is found to be so , forbidding them Marriage may well be call'd a Doctrine of Devils , both as to its Original and Effects . That it comes from the Devil , the Father of Lies , and by consequence the Author of every false Doctrine , is not to be controverted , since the Law of God and Nature commands us to increase and multiply , and fits us for it ; and that it might be in a regular way , God himself instituted Marriage in Paradise , and the Apostle tells us , that Marriage is honourable in all : and that this Doctrine is devilish in its Effects , is evident from the horrid impurity of the Romish Clergy abovemention'd , and the Mischiefs they do by it to particular Persons , Families , Kingdoms , and Commonwealths . We come next to take a view of the Cause , why the Court of Rome does so stifly insist on the Celibacy of their Clergy , which will further demonstrate the reasonableness of Guelding them , to prevent their infesting this Nation . Tho Rome pretends to have changed her Religion , and hath actually changed her form of Government , by taking an Ecclesiastical instead of a Temporal Head ; yet it 's visible she hath abated nothing of her Ambition , to be mistress of the Universe , and did in a great measure effect it by her Papacy , to which so great a part of those call'd Christian Nations submitted before the Reformation . So as Catiline , when Rome was Heathen , thought it necessary to debauch the Women , and then to carry on his Conspiracy against the Government by their Interest , because of the influence leud Women had upon the loose Rabble , and that they could either murder their Husbands , or bring them over to his Party . Rome since it became Antichristian , hath injoin'd Celibacy upon her Clergy , that they might be rendered the more apt to debauch Women , and to make use of their Interest in order to deprive the Civil Magistrates of their Right , and to usurp the Temporal , as well as the Spiritual Sword. 1. Because they know that Nature having inclin'd all Men to propagate their Species , their Priests so and so circumstantiated , as beforementioned , could not possibly refrain from the Act , tho they were not allow'd to do it in a regular way : and therefore so many Women as they debauch , which they knew by their Circumstances and Opportunity must needs be innumerable , so many Proselytes they were sure of . 2. Because they knew that their Clergy being pamper'd and restrain'd from the use of the Marriage-Bed , must needs be more inclinable to Venery than other Men , and consequently more pleasing Companions to insatiable Women , and therefore the better fitted for the practice of creeping into Houses , and leading captive silly Women , laden with divers Lusts , as the Apostle expresses it . 3. Because they knew that their Clergy by this means having an Opportunity of bringing to their Lure a buxom Wife , who perhaps has a sickly , weak , or absent Husband , a Green-sickness Daughter , or a wanton Maid ; they would by the same Means become masters in a manner of all that belong'd to the Family , have the command of their Purses , know all their Secrets , and improve all to the advantage of the See of Rome , which indulg'd them thus with a Mahomet's Paradise . 4. By restraining their Clergy from Marriage , they knew it would make them the more impetuous to satisfy their desires ; and that they might have the better Opportunity of doing it , they are injoin'd by their Directory in confessing Women to examine them most as to the Sins of the Flesh , which they tell 'em they must discover on pain of Damnation . This being a ready Method to inflame them mutually , attended with Secrecy , and the Priests pretended Power of giving a Pardon , they knew it could not miss of the design'd Effect ; they knew also that so many of those silly Women as they captivated , so many Champions and Advocates for their Religion they should have in Families , Courts , or elsewhere ; for they might assure themselves that such Women would not easily part with a Religion that did so much gratify their depraved Appetites , by allowing them as many Men , tho not Husbands , as they have Priests or Confessors . And therefore many of the wise Popish Laicks have been of Opinion themselves , that no Man ought to confess a Wife but her Husband , and that a Daughter ought to be confess'd by none but her Father . 5. Another , and that none of the least Reasons why they forbid Marriage to their Ecclesiasticks , is , That if they had Wives or Families , they could not so easily be sent on Missions , and encompass Sea and Land to make Proselytes . They would not be so ready , nor so fit to engage in Assassinations , Conspiracies , and Rebellions against Princes and States , at the Commands of their Superior : Nor could they by their Whoredoms so much propagate the Interest of the great Harlot ; for then their Wives would be so many checks and spies upon them . From all which it seems reasonable to infer , that the best way to rid this Kingdom of Popish Priests , and to prevent the growth of Popery , is to make a Law , that all of them who shall be discover'd in England , except such as are thought fit to be allowed to Foreign Ambassadors , shall be Guelded , as they are in Sweden ; where since the same was Enacted into a Law , and practis'd upon a few of them , that Kingdom hath never been infested with Popish Clergy , or Plots , nor their Women reproach'd with want of Chastity . This will appear the more reasonable , if we consider that the Havock they are allow'd to make of Womens Chastity , is one of the principal things that induces lustful Fellows to take Romish Orders upon them , and to ingage in desperate Designs to promote the Interest of that Church . This any Man may easily be convinc'd of , that will give himself leave to consider , what dangers other Men of better Principles , and who may have Opportunities of satisfying Nature by lawful Marriage , do many times expose themselves to , for the Satisfaction of their brutish Passions , and how they frequently sacrifice Honour , Interest , and Estate , with the peace of their Families and Consciences , to their irregular Appetites of that sort . The Case then being thus , let 's consider what a deluge of Uncleanness may be pour'd out upon this Nation by 1000 or 2000 , supposing there were no more of those Popish Ecclesiasticks in England at a time ; especially since they look upon it to be their Interest to debauch the Nation , as one of the best Expedients to advance Popery , as was evident from the practice of the late Reigns : and therefore it seems to be the natural way of obviating the growth of Popery , to make the Romish Ecclesiasticks uncapable of promoting it by that Method which they like best , and find most successful . It will still appear to be more reasonable , because they have vow'd Chastity , and by their own Confession have no occasion for those Seminary Vessels ; therefore if they resolv'd to live as they have sworn to do , they would willingly unman themselves as Origen did ; so far would they be from having any reason to complain , if others should do it for them . It can no ways be reckon'd cruel , since it may be done without hazard of Life , as common Experience shews both in Man and Beast , and by consequence less to be complain'd of , than those Laws which condemn them to the Gallows . There have been more Priests put to death in England , than ever were guelded in Sweden ; yet Experience teaches us it hath not had near so good an effect . This is demonstrable from the many Conspiracies against our Princes and Nation , that the Priests have form'd since the enacting of those Laws , and from the great progress their Idolatry makes among us at this very day ; whereas Sweden , since the enacting of that Law , hath been liable to none of these Misfortunes . This Law of Castration occasion'd a pleasant Raillery upon the Jesuits at Brussels by Queen Christina of Sweden . When those Fathers came to congratulate her there upon her Conversion , they entertain'd her , among other things , with the wonderful Effects of their Missions in the Indies , and other remote parts : That Princess applauded their Zeal , but at the same time rebuk'd their Indifference for her Country of Sweden , where their Indeavours were so much needed : She pleasantly told them , That tho the Law of Castration was a Bar in their way , they ought not to prefer the keeping of those things of which they stood in no need , and of which she hop'd they made no use to the advancement of the Catholic Faith. But this , tho the severest Reproof in the World , has never been able to bring the Romish Clergy to so much sense of their Duty , as to renew their Attempts of converting Sweden . This may serve to confirm the Story told us of an old Capuchin in the Menagiana , the Works of the Abbot Menage , that he rejected the Advice of his Physicians to be cut of the Stone , for fear it should make him Impotent , tho he was then 80 Years of Age. Namque ad Vivendum castrari valde recusat , Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causam . The Romish Clergy have so much accustom'd themselves to those impure Pleasures , that they will be sure to avoid those Countrys where they must be rendred uncapable of injoying them . If it be thought that the Laws already made will be more effectual against them , there 's no need of repealing them , tho a new one of Castration be added . Since that hath had so good an Effect in Sweden , we have no reason to despair of the like here . It 's generally concluded , that our English Women are as tempting as any in Europe , and are therefore as likely to prevail on a Romish Priest to venture hanging to injoy their Favours as any others : But if they be rendred uncapable of it , the temptation will have no force ; and so the Priests will save their Lives , our Women will preserve their Chastity , and our Religion and Liberty will be freed from their Attaques . The only Objection of weight that can be made against it is , that it may provoke our Popish Allies , and other Popish Princes , to treat Protestant Ministers in the like manner . To which we answer , That admitting it should be so , it is not half so bad as to have them broke on the Wheel , Hang'd , or sent to the Gallies . In the next place , there 's not the like Reason for treating Protestant Ministers in that manner , for they generally marry ; or if they be guilty of Uncleanness , are thrust from the Ministry . And in the last place , there 's no Reason why we should have any more regard to our Allies , or other Popish Princes , than they have to us . We hear every day of the cruel Persecution in France and Germany , notwithstanding our mildness to the Papists here ; so that our enacting a Law of Castration cannot possibly make them persecute the Protestants more severely than they do , but may rather put a stop to it . And indeed it is to be wondred at , that the Protestants should be so much wanting in their Zeal , and so little sensible of their own Interest , when we have so Warlike and Zealous a Protestant Prince upon the Throne of Great Britain , as not to agree on Methods for obliging the Papists to forbear that barbarous Persecution of their Brethren . Endeavours of that nature were us'd in some of those Reigns when Popery had so much Interest at Court , that it seem'd to have a share of the Throne ; therefore it 's strange if nothing shou'd be attempted towards it in this Reign . To effect this would , humanly speaking , seem to be no difficult Work , since the Naval Strength of Europe is in the Hands of the Protestants ; and that the Strength of Great Britain and Holland is now under the Command of one Prince who is the Hero of his Age. This our own Safety seems to require , and Charity and Compassion to our Brethren beyond Sea does loudly call for ; but if for Reasons of State , or otherwise , it be found impracticable for us to interpose in behalf of persecuted Protestants abroad , there 's nothing can hinder us , if we be willing to secure our selves against Popery at home , by putting the old Laws in Execution , or enacting new ones . This seems to be absolutely necessary , if we consider , either the State of the Protestants beyond Sea , or our own Condition at home . If we look abroad , we shall find the Protestant Interest , which was once so considerable in France , quite ruin'd ; and one of the chief Causes of its being so , was the neglect of our English Governments since Queen Elizabeth's time : we have done nothing effectual for them since then , which was a mighty oversight , both in respect of Duty and Interest . That it was our Duty , will scarcely be deny'd by any Man that has any true Impressions of the Protestant Religion . That it was our Interest is demonstrable , because , had the Protestants of France been supported by our Mediation and Assistance , they would never have concurr'd in any ambitious Design of their Monarchs against the Protestant Interest , or this Nation : and perhaps the fears of that Court , that they might prove a Curb upon their Designs of that nature , was none of the least Causes of their having ruin'd them by the most ungrateful , as well as the most barbarous Persecution that ever was known . From all which it will naturally result , that it is the Interest of England to save , if possible , the Remnant of the Protestants in France , by some effectual Interposition . If we look a little further into the State of the Protestants of the Valleys of Piedmont , we shall find that Antient Church almost totally ruin'd and disperst . If we turn our Eye towards Hungary , Transilvania , and Poland , the Reformed Interest is almost quite exterminated in those Countrys , as it is totally ruin'd in Bohemia : What danger it is liable to in the neighbouring Country of Saxony , is known to every one , since that Country , whose Prince was the first that embrac'd the Reformation , is now under a Popish Government ; and if we come nearer home to the Palatinate , there we shall also find a Protestant Church , once the most flourishing , and best reformed in all Germany , under an unreasonable and cruel Persecution . If we consider the Treaty of Reswick , by that we shall find the German Protestants despoil'd of eight or nine hundred Churches : The once famous Protestant City of Strasburgh deliver'd in prey to the Church of Rome ; and the Protestants in Alsace , and the neighbouring Principalities on each side , as the Dutchy of Montbelliard , County of Veldents , &c. subject to Popish Incroachments . In a word , if we look throughout the whole Empire , and take a view of the Diet at Ratisbon , we shall find the Popish Interest every where rampant , and incroaching upon the Reformation , contrary to the Fundamental Laws , and most Solemn Treatys of the Empire . If we cast an Eye upon Swisserland , the little Republick of Geneva , and the Principality of Neufchatel , there also we shall find the Protestant Interest threatned and languishing . If we look Northward , there we find the Protestant Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark ready to ingage in a War with one another , and that the Quarrels betwixt them are fomented by those who carry on an Interest , which is destructive both to the Protestant Religion , and the Civil Liberties of Europe . This is sufficient to discover the bad State of the Protestant Interest abroad . If we consider the posture of Affairs at home , it 's evident from a late printed Letter , said to be wrote by a worthy Bishop , and dedicated to a Member of Parliament , that Popery comes in upon us like a Flood . It is not to be denied that there 's a Party in the three Nations , who favour the Title of an Abdicated Popish Prince and his pretended Succession , against the present Government , and the Succession establish'd by Law. It is not to be forgot , that their Interest was so strong as to advance a Popish King to our Throne ; and tho they could not keep him there , because he dismounted himself by a furious Career , yet they have endanger'd us since by repeated Plots against his present Majesty's Life , and endeavouring to bring in a French Invasion upon us . It is also known , that there are mighty discontents fomented and nourish'd in all the three Nations , in relation to Trade , Parties , and different Pretensions ; and that this gives the Popish Clergy an opportunity of adding fewel to our Flames , which makes it likewise evident that the Protestant Interest is in danger at home . This is further demonstrable from the Trouble the Papists have from time to time given , and continue to give to our Government and Parliaments ; what 's the meaning else of those Proclamations formerly and lately emitted , commanding Papists to retire from London ? &c. What else is the meaning of those Bills brought in to prevent their disinheriting their Protestant Heirs , and to hinder their sending Children abroad to foreign Seminaries , to be bred up in Idolatry , or made Priests , Monks and Nuns ? This , besides the danger that accrues thereby to our Religion and Libertys , takes vast Sums of Money out of the Kingdom yearly . They likewise give trouble to our Parliaments , by bringing in Bills for discovering Estates and Money given to superstitious Uses , which is every way mighty prejudical to the Kingdom , and enables the Papists to breed Vipers in our Bowels , in order to rend us in pieces . Then since it is undeniable that we are in danger from the Papists , whether we consider the State of Affairs at home or abroad , and that the Laws hitherto enacted have not been able to prevent the recourse of Popish Priests , &c. nor the growth of Popery in this Kingdom ; what should hinder us from trying new Methods , and particularly this Law of Castration ? It would certainly be a Punishment very proper for them , and might make them read their Sin in their Judgment ; since it 's evident that by their own personal Villany , and their loose Doctrine of Pardons , &c. which incourages People in Licentiousness , they make more Proselytes than by any other Method . Those , who perhaps would scruple to be any ways Instrumental in taking these Priests , when the Penalty inflicted upon them by Law is Death , would not have reason to be so scrupulous to take and discover them when the Punishment is only Castration , and therefore would be more diligent to put the Laws in Execution upon them . It must also be reckon'd a deserved Punishment , since under the Seal of Confession they commit Uncleanness with those they have the Trust of as Ghostly Fathers , so that it is a sort of spiritual Incest , and a destroying People with Arms that make no Report ; both which Crimes are capital in all well govern'd States , and therefore the Punishment of Castration , in such a Case , must needs be accounted mild . If it be objected , that tho some of the Romish Clergy be guilty of Incontinence , yet all of them are not so , and therefore such only are to be punish'd in that manner as are convicted of the Crime : It 's easy to answer , That it is equally true , that all of them are not guilty of Conspiring against the Government , nor is it possible to convict all of 'em of perverting the Subjects ; yet the 27 th of Elizabeth makes it Treason for any Popish Priest , bred up beyond Sea , to be here , or to return into England without submitting to the Government , and taking the Oath of Supremacy . And indeed it is but reasonable it should be so , for their being here supposes their Design ; and therefore there 's as much reason to punish them , tho we cannot prove the Overt Acts upon them , as there is to punish Thieves for coming into our Houses in an illegal manner , tho we cannot prove that they have robb'd us , or stole any thing . If we find a Wolf , or other Beast of Prey among our Flocks , we take their design of destroying them for granted , and treat them accordingly , tho we don't see the Limbs of our Cattle in their mouths . And therefore since the Practices and Principles of the Romish Clergy are so well known , their being found in the Nation ought to be sufficient Conviction . It still remains a Question , how they shall be discovered ? But the Answer is at hand : Let a competent and certain Reward be propos'd for such as shall do it , and the like Reward , and a Pardon to any of their own Number that shall discover the rest ; or let Provision be made for some of every English Seminary beyond Sea that turn Protestants , plant some of them in the several Ports of the Kingdom ; and let some of each of those Seminarys be likewise constantly in London to assist in Searches , and view those that are taken up on Suspicion : And at the same time let provision be made for such as will inform of all the Popish Clergy that haunt the great Families of that Opinion in England , and we need not doubt of an effectual discovery in a little time : for besides the influence that the hopes of a Reward will have , those Goatish Fellows , the Romish Clergy , do many times disoblige Familys of their own way , by attempting to debauch their Wives , Children or Servants , some of whom have so much Virtue as to reject the Temptation , and to hate the Tempters ; and many times their blind Zeal occasions them likewise to take indiscreet Methods to pervert Protestant Servants , who would not be wanting , in case of such provision as above-mention'd , to discover those dangerous Fellows . To inflict this Punishment of Castration upon them , is so much the less to be thought cruel or unreasonable , since it is so ordinary in Italy , and other Popish Countries , for the meaner sort of People to geld their own Sons , that they may make the better market of them for singing Boys , and Musicians , or to be Catamites to Cardinals , and other Dignitaries of the Romish Church . In those hot Countries the Roman Clergy are much addicted to that damnable and unnatural Crime : and such of them as are not , keep lewd Women almost avowedly ; they are indeed more upon the Reserve , and live according to the Maxim of Cauté , tho not Casté , in such Countries where the Government is Reformed , or where the Protestants are numerous ; but then they are under the greater Temptation to perpetrate their Villanies , on the pretext of Confessing Women : therefore there 's the more Reason to enact a Law of Castration against them in this Kingdom . We have the more ground to think , that such a Law duly executed would have a good Effect , because the Lust of the Flesh is so bewitching and natural to the greatest part of Mankind , and continues to have a predominancy in them for so great a part of their Lives , that it hath occasion'd , and does occasion more disorders , and is apter to engage Men over whom it obtains the ascendant in more desperate Undertakings than any other passion whatever . Histories are full of Examples of Princes and great Men , that have ruin'd themselves and their Countries in the pursuit of their irregular Amours . We have no need to turn over foreign Stories , or to go out of our own Nation for Proofs of this . It is not so long ago as to be forgot , since we had the chief Affairs of State manag'd , and Parliaments dissolv'd , &c. at the beck of Courtisans . The Interest of Popery and Tyranny in the late Reigns was chiefly advanc'd by such . Do not we find , even in private Persons of all Ranks , that where that Passion is not kept in due bounds , or cur'd by the proper Remedies of a sutable Match , that Honour , Health , and Estates , nay Life it self , is many times sacrific'd to the pleasure of the Flesh ; and therefore the Apostle had Reason as well as Revelation on his side , when he rank'd all that is in the World under the three Heads of the Lust of the Flesh , the Lust of the Eye , and the Pride of Life ; and gave that of the Flesh the preference . It is plain from Experience , that the other two are made generally subservient to it , as is visible every day from that excess in Jewels , Apparel , and Household Furniture , and the vast Expence which the Gallants of both Sexes put themselves to in one or all of these , in order to obtain the Favour of their Paramours . From all which we may make this Inference , that if the Romish Clergy were made uncapable by a Law of enjoying that which they account the greatest pleasure of Life , they would avoid those Countrys where such Laws are put in execution , as they would avoid the Plague . 'T would be happy if by this means we could deliver our Posterity from those Conspiracies , Civil Wars , Dreadful Fires , Massacres , Assassinations of Princes , and other Mischiefs which these Kingdoms have been liable to from the Papists , and against which all our other Laws have hitherto signified but little to preserve us . We have also found , by sad experience , that they have had so much influence as to get the Ascendant over some of our Princes , by tempting them , as they have done the French King , with the hopes of an Absolute Sway , and we know not what Visionary Empires . By this means they prevail'd with them to overthrow our Laws , the recovery of which hath cost the Nation so much Blood and Treasure , that after Ages are like to feel the smart of it : Tho they have run one of our Princes off the Stage , and have well-nigh ruin'd their great Champion beyond Sea , as they did formerly the Spanish Monarchy , by spurring on those Princes to persecute Protestants , and establish Despotical Government . They will never give over that Game , but inspire all Princes to whom they can have access , either by themselves or others , with one or both of those Designs ; and therefore it is the Interest of England to use all possible means to secure the Nation against those Romish Clergymen , for which Castration is humbly conceiv'd to be the properest Method , and is so far from being cruely , that it may well be reckoned as great a piece of Clemency to Romish Priests , as Transportation is instead of the Gallows to other condemned Criminals . In short , it will be so far from being a real diskindness to the Popish Laics of this Nation , that it will be the greatest piece of Friendship to them imaginable : this we hope they will be the more readily convinc'd of , if their Wives , Daughters , and Maid-servants , cry out against this Law , for then to be sure they have some particular concern in the matter . We hope that our Popish Laics in England are Men of as good Observation as those in other Countrys , and particularly in France and Italy , where their very Proverbs are sufficient to demonstrate , that they have no great Opinion of their Clergymens Chastity . It is not possible to expose those goatish Fellows with more severity and contempt , than the Italians do by saying fate Lui Coronna , by way of sarcasm , of a Stallion that they don't think performs his part ; alluding to the Priests shaven Crowns , as if that Sacerdotal Character were sufficient even to invigorate a Horse . Their other Proverb of fate lo Prete , let 's make him a Priest , when they have any ungovernable Wanton in a Family , that overruns all their Females , is akin to the other ; and their covering their Stone-horses with a Monk's Frock , when they find them indifferent for a Mare in season , is a scandalous Reproof of those brutish Clergymen . Answerable to these is the French Proverb ; Qui veut tenir nette Maison Qu'il n'y souffre ni pretre in Moin ni pigeon . Comparing the Popish Clergy to the Pigeons for their venereous Inclinations ; and may be Englished thus , They that would keep their Houses Chast and Neat , From thence must Priests , Monks , Nuns , and Pigeons beat . As all Proverbs of that sort are founded upon something universally known or conceiv'd to be true , it is not at all for the Honour of the Popish Clergy , that their Chastity should be thus reflected upon in Countrys where they are the sole Directors of Conscience , and have their Religion established by Law. But that which fixes it yet more upon them , is , that in the Pope's Chancery the Tax for eating Eggs in Lent , is greater than that for Sodomy ; and the Penalty upon a Priest that marrys , is greater than upon those that commit that monstrous and unnatural Villany just now mention'd . From all which it is manifest , that they did not speak at random who inform'd us that the Celibacy of such an innumerable multitude of Popish Ecclesiastics , is the maximum Arcanum dominationis Papalis , and that the Priests Testicles are the greatest Promoters of the Pope's Empire . This will appear yet more plain , that it is of the highest Importance to them , since the Church of Rome maintains , that Marriage is a Sacrament , and that all Sacraments confer Grace , and yet denys it to her Clergy ; a manifest Indication that they have their graceless Designs to promote by it , especially since at the same time the want of those Parts which they will not allow them to make use of in a regular way , renders them uncapable of being Priests according to their Canons ; but yet they are so kind to their gelded Martyrs , as to allow it to be sufficient if they have them about them , in Pouder , or any other way . These things confirm , in a literal sense , the odious Characters given the Church of Rome in the Revelations , Chap. 17 , 18 , &c. As the great Whore , with whom the Kings and Inhabitants of the Earth have committed Fornication ; the Mother of Harlots , and Abominations of the Earth , having a golden Cup in her hand full of Abominations , and of the Filthiness of her Fornications , &c. Then since by the Testimony of God and Man , the Romish Clergy is such an impure and lascivious Crew , it makes a Law of Castration a just and adequate Punishment for them . To conclude ; Since our King and Parliament have both testified their Zeal and Forwardness to suppress Immorality and Profaneness , it follows naturally that such a Law as this deserves their serious Thoughts ; for it is impossible to suppress reigning Vice , so long as those goatish Fellows are suffered to swarm among us . They not only corrupt the Morals of People themselves by such Practices and Principles as above-mention'd , but bring over and encourage others to do it ; particularly those Italians , &c. who sell and print Aretin's Postures ; and in order to debauch the Minds of Women , and to make them guilty of nnnatural Crims , invent and sell 'em such things as Modesty forbids to name . 'T is evident , that as Popery advanc'd upon us in the late Reigns , Debauchery gain'd ground at the same time , for they naturally make way for one another ; and therefore we can never suppress Immorality , without securing our selves effectually against Popery . If this should be attempted by a Law of Castration against Romish Priests , it must be own'd that it would be more charitable and humane to save our selves from Popish Superstition , and all its mischievous Consequences , by that Method alone , than to practise it , together with other Punishments , upon such of those Wretches as come to the Gibbet for Treason ; the cutting off their Privities in such Cases , and throwing 'em in the Fire , just before they be totally bereft of Life , can be of no manner of use , whereas Castration alone beforehand might have sav'd us from the danger of their Plots , and prevented themselves from coming to the Gallows . FINIS . 
A37430	----	A Letter to a member of Parliament, shewing the necessity of regulating the press chiefly from the necessity of publick establishments in religion, from the rights and immunities of a national church, and the trust reposed in the Christian magistrate to protect and defend them : with a particular answer to the objections that of late have been advanced against it. 1699 Approx. 86 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 36 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37430 Wing D837 ESTC R4998 12137939 ocm 12137939 54806 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37430) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 54806) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 91:13) A Letter to a member of Parliament, shewing the necessity of regulating the press chiefly from the necessity of publick establishments in religion, from the rights and immunities of a national church, and the trust reposed in the Christian magistrate to protect and defend them : with a particular answer to the objections that of late have been advanced against it. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [4], 67 p. Printed for George West, and Henry Clements, Oxford : 1699. Ascribed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. Wing. First ed. Errata: p. 67. Reproduction of original in Yale University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Freedom of the press -- Early works to 1800. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-07 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-08 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-08 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER TO A Member of Parliament , Shewing the Necessity of Regulating the PRESS : CHIEFLY From the Necessity of Publick Establishments in RELIGION . From the Rights and Immunities of a National CHURCH . And the Trust reposed in the Christian Magistrate to Protect and Defend them . WITH A Particular ANSWER to the OBJECTIONS that of late have been Advanced against it . OXFORD : Printed for George West , and Henry Clements . M. DC . XCIX . The CONTENTS . An Enquiry into the Duty of the Magistrate in matters of Religion : Sect. 1. Considered , first , under a state of Nature , 1b . Secondly , under a state of Revelation : Sect. 2. An Objection answered : Sect. 3. An Enquiry when there are two or more Sects of Religion in any Government , why the Magistrate is under an obligation of protecting , or rather advancing the one more than the other : Sect. 4 , and 5. The Rights and Authority of a National Church considered and stated : Sect. 5. The Restraint of the Press demonstrated , not only as it is a necessary provision to advance the Interests of Religion , but to preserve and maintain the Ends and Designs of it , as professed in a National Church : Sect. 6. The Necessity of Publick Establishments in Religion , and the pernicious Influences which the Liberty of the Press has upon them , as introductory of Scepticism , Heresie and Infidelity : Sect. 7 , 8 , and 9. The Argument represented in several Instances from some late Prints : Sect. 8 , 9. Objections answered . As first , That the Attempts and Mischiefs of the Press , may as effectually be obviated by particular Laws , and that a Restraint of the Press from the Experience of former times has not prevented'em : Sect. 10. Secondly , That a Restraint of the Press is a giving up of the Consciences and Judgments of Mankind to a Party , and a Condemning them to an Implicit Faith , and is a direct Method to involve the World in Ignorance and Error : Sect. 11. The Church of England denies no Gospel means of Information : Sect. 12. Thirdly , That every one , not only of Natural Right , but in point of Charity , may , and ought to publish whatever appears to be Truth ; and consequently the Restraint of the Press , which abridges this Right , must be unlawful , and unjust : Sect. 13. The Natural Rights of Private Persons in the Case before us , stated : Sect. 14. The ` Duty of Informing others stated : Ib. Fourthly , That the Restraint of the Press , is an Invasion of the Liberty , and Property of an Englishman : Sect. 15. The Conclusion , in an Address to the HONOURABLE MEMBER : Sect. 16. A LETTER TO A Member of Parliament ; SHEWING The Necessity of Regulating the PRESS : With a Particular ANSWER to the OBJECTIONS that of late have been advanced against it . SIR , YOU have been pleas'd to sollicite my Opinion in a Matter of Importance , by way of Request , when You might have justly lay'd Your Commands ; and I now present it with all imaginable Deference and Humility . You have led me into a large Field of Argument , and propos'd several weighty Enquiries ; but since they are advanced with regard to a General Design , viz. The Liberty of the PRESS ; I shall not bind my self up to that Order they are propos'd in , but shall speak to them , as they will best comport with the Scheme I have projected , to evince the Expediency of Restraining the Press . In order to this Design , I shall reduce them to three or four General Enquiries . As first , How far the Duty of the Civil Governing Powers extends in Matters of Religion ? Secondly , When there are two or more Sects of Religion in any Government , why the Magistrate is under an Obligation of protecting , or rather advancing the one , more than the other : And on this Head I shall consider the Rights and Authority of a National Church . Thirdly , Whether the Restraint of the Press is not a necessary provision , not only to advance the Interests of the true Religion , but to preserve and maintain the Ends and Designs of it , as profess'd in a National Church ? SECT . I. I begin with an Enquiry into the Duty of the Civil Governing Powers in Matters of Religion . And , First , It will be received as an indisputable Article , or Proposition , That every Governing Power ( of Duty as well as Right ) is so far to inspect the Affair of Religion , that nothing be advanced , that manifestly incommodes the Rights or Interests of the Civil Polity : But whether any Government is under a further Concern or Obligation , seems to be the Case under debate . Now it will best be adjusted by considering the Nature and Design of Civil Government ; first under a state of Nature , and secondly under a state of Revelation . That Government in general is an Ordinance of GOD , by Divine Institution , as well as Allowance , and consequently that there are certain Ends and Designs peculiar to it , established in the same Authority , are Truths that will be easily subscribed to . But then if Government rests on a Divine Original , and there are certain DivineEnds and Purposes appropriate to it ; it cannot well be imagin'd that the Civil Welfare and Conduct of Mankind , is the sole and entire Province of the Civil Magistrate . If Religion is the most important Concern of Mankind ; and if there 's Fealty , Worship , and Obedience , due from a Creature towards a Sovereign Creator , even under the most simple state of Nature ; why should not that Great GOD , which constitutes the Civil Magistrates Superintendants over the Secular affairs of Mankind , be as zealous to make them Guardians of those things that are placed more near him , and them too , his Honour and Glory ? And therefore I 'm perswaded it's neither Boldness nor Arrogance to pronounce , That the Civil Governing Power , or Magistrate , was originally constituted for the Conduct of Mankind , in all the Instances of Human Happiness ; and consequently in a Religious as well as Civil Capacity . Indeed the inseparable Dependance and Affinity , between Civil Happiness and Religion , ( were other Arguments wanting ) is alone sufficient to evince it : But were the Experience of Mankind , and the universal Practice of all Civiliz'd Governments , summoned in to decide the Controversy , they must place it above Dispute , or Cavil . If we respect the earliests Accounts of Governments , and particularly those delivered in Sacred Story , we find the Characters of Prince and Priest , residing in the same Person . Before GOD had instituted a positive Oeconomy of Religion , and a peculiar Order of Priesthood , it was part of the Patriarchal province , not only to instruct their People to call upon the Name of the Lord , but to wait on the very Altar ; and perform the Priestly Function of Sacrifices . As it 's highly probable from the History of the Creation , the first Governments of the World , had their Rise and Foundation in Fathers of Families ; so we are undoubtedly instructed that they obtained the Character of Patres patrioe , by executing all the Offices of a Parent , as well as King. Abraham had no doubt his Duty represented as a Prince , as well as Master of a Family , under the Compliment of a Divine Confidence : for I know him that he will command his Children , and his houshold after him , and they shall keep the way of the Lord , to do justice and judgment , Gen. 18. 19. And truly since both Prince and Parent , have the Impress of Divine Authority upon 'em ; and there is such a strict Affinity and Correspondence between 'em , from the original frame of things ; if the Character of a Parent extends to a Religious as well as Civil Capacity , it cannot well be disputed , but that of a Prince carries the same extent and latitude . And therefore it may safely be concluded , that it was a point of Duty in the Magistrate , antecedent to any positive Oeconomy of Religion , to promote the Interests , if not execute the Spiritual Functions of Religion , as well as advance the Welfare of the State : And very probably it was a Divine Institution , as ancient and primitive as Government it self . And certainly the Model of all Heathen Governments confirms the Notion . It 's well known the Egyptian Monarchs ( Famous in the earliest Records ) bare the Character of Priest , as well as King. The Chinese to this Day , look upon the Priesthood to bear so near a Relation to that of the Empire , that the most Solemn Mysteries of Religion , are still a Prerogative peculiar to the Sovereign . Religion in the Eastern and Western parts of Europe , was always so much the Business of Government , that if the publick Acts and Offices of Religion were not immediately perform'd by the Magistrate , they were constantly directed , and enforc'd by him . If the publick Defence of a Countrey , where its Territories were enlarged and extended , diverted him from attending the Altar , it was his special Care to constitute a Priesthood , and regulate the Affairs of Religion , by publick Laws and Sanctions : these are such known and allow'd Truths , and so well attested , in the Learning of the Greeks and Latins , that I shall not now appeal to Authors ; and they are all convincing Evidences , that one End of Government , in the original Frame and Model of it , was to inspect the Conduct of Mankind in the Affairs of Religion . Thus far not only the Duty , but Prerogative of the Magistrate discovers it self in a State of Nature , antecedent to Revelation . SECT . II. It remains that we consider it under a positive Oeconomy of Religion . And , first , under that of the Jews . Now tho' GOD thought fit upon the first positive Establishment of Religion , to institute an Order of Men , and separate them from the rest of the People , to attend at his Altar , to offer for themselves , and the sins of others ; yet it 's manifest he did not exempt the Civil Magistrate from inspecting the Affairs of Religion . No , it was his special Duty , to protect and defend the True Religion ; to punish and suppress Idolatry , Seducers , and Falle Prophets , and to make such wholesom provisions , as served the cause of Religion , in the enforcement of its Publick Acts and Offices , and in the Advancement of its Ends and Designs . The Sacred Writings have delivered so many Instances , and Rules of this Nature , that it is wholly needless to enlarge in an express Citation . It 's well known he often directed the Building of places of Religious Worship , enjoyn'd Fasts ; and in a word , interpos'd in most of the Circumstantials of Religion . Now it 's certain these were not bare Arbitrary Offices , and the product of a Voluntary Zeal ; but they were either the immediate Instruction of Heaven , or the effects of some General Precepts ; and consequently were intended as standing Instances of Duty . If we examine the oeconomy of the Gospel , we must conclude , That as we have not the least hint that any ways abridges the Rights and Authority of the Civil Magistrate , further than they were exercised under the Law , so we do not find the least Exemption from any Moral point of Duty in the Affairs of Religion , to which they were antecedently bound . Now it cannot be deny'd , but that the Nature and State of the Christian Church is frequently describ'd in the Writings of the Prophets : And among those various Descriptions , the Character of Christian Kings and Princes , recorded by the Prophet Isaiah , is as glorious as it is remarkable : And Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers , and their Queens thy nursing Mothers — for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me , Isa. 44. v. 23. This Passage is unanimously interpreted of the Christian Magistrate ; and certainly we are not to receive it as a Prediction of a Contingent Blessing , or Matter of Fact , but agreeable to the Prophetick Style ( which often exhibits Duties , under simple Predictions ) as carrying the Force of a Precept in it . Thus we see the Magistrate is not only Pater Patrioe , but Pater Ecclesioe . This is his Character , and his Duty : and certainly , if he answers the Designs of it , he must not only cherisb , but protect , and defend the Church of Christ ; and in a word , liberally minister to it , whatever is necessary for its Support and Preservation . Upon the whole then , we may justly conclude , That tho' GOD , under the Jewish , as well as Gospel oeconomy , was pleased to select a peculiar Order of Men , to wait on his Altar , and more immediately prosecute all the Designs of Religion ; yet the Civil Magistrate still rightfully ministers to the same Designs in all Cases , where GOD has not interposed by some Positive Rule , or Precept ; so that he 's still the Supreme Guardian and Protector , in the oeconomy of Religion , as well as Civil Polity . He 's Custos utriusque Tabuloe ; that is , he 's not only entrusted to enforce the Observance of all Social Vertues , upon which the Peace and Interest of Government moves , as upon its Axis ; but a True and Orthodox Faith , and a pure Worship , and the Honour and Glory of that Great GOD , that has made him his Vicegerent and Representative ; and by whose Protection and Blessing he 's enabled to answer the Designs of his Character . From hence the Dis-ingenuity , or rather Impiety of some late designing Positions , abundantly discover themselves ; viz. That the care of Religion is no real Branch of the Magistrate's Office ; that he 's no further concerned for it , than as it immediately conduces to the Civil Weal and Interest of every particular Constitution or Government ; and in a word , That for the advance of a National Trade or Wealth , he may treat all Sects of Religion with equal privileges and respect . But certainly the care of Religion can now no longer be disputed , to be an Indispensible Duty in the Magistrate ; since it appears not only that every Positive Oeconomy of Religion , has expresly taught it ; but the very Nature , Designs , and Reasons of the Character , dictate it . But then , if this be admitted , we must grant that there is a True and a False Religion , and an Orthodox and Heterodox Faith ; that the true Religion is established on certain Laws , and Immunities , which in the ordinary course of Providence , are necessary to the Preservation of it ; and consequently we must conclude , That it 's an Indispensible Duty in the Magistrate , to have recourse to the most proper Methods for enquiring into the Reasons and Grounds of Religion ; and for distinguishing the True Religion from the False , and an Orthodox from an Heterodox Faith ; whether by applying to the proper Ministers of Religion , separately , or in Council . And upon a fair and impartial Enquiry , that which appears to be True and Orthodox , is to be cherisbed , defended , and promoted , against all Attempts and Invasions of the Heterodox and Unbeliever ; even tho' some present Temporal Interest seem to clash and interfere with it . These were the Unalterable Laws and Principles of the first and most pious Christian Emperors , upon which they enlarged the Territories of the Christian Church . SECT . III. But to this 't is popularly reply'd , That if Kings and Princes once thought themselves obliged to espouse the Care of Religion , as a positive Duty ( considering the Errors and Superstitions of Mankind ) it would prove the most effectual Method , not only to obstruct the growth of the True Religion , but endanger the Extirpation of it . But in answer to this , it 's to be considered , That the Propagation of Religion does not direct to Acts of force and violence , much less the Protection of it ; except where the Rights and Immunities of the Established Religion are apparently invaded . Besides it 's concluded the Magistrate is not to proceed blindly , but apply himself to the True Means of Information ; and if he miscarries , tho' he may one day answer for any Sinister Motives , that carried him into a wrong Determination ; yet GOD will find Methods to support his own Designs , and consequently advance the Interests of the True Religion , by Secret and Invisible Springs , tho' his Ordinary and Standing Provisions afford the most unlikely Prospect . Sometimes Persecution it self is the most prolifick Soil for the True Religion to shoot forth and flourish in : Christianity had not only its first Foundation in it , but we are assured received Great Increases from it . So Tertullian in his Apologetic boasts , Nec quicquam tamen , says he , proficit exquisitior quoeque crudelitas vestra , ILLECEBRA EST MAGIS SECTAE . Plures efficimur quoties metimur a vobis . SEMEN EST SANGUIS CHRISTIANORUM . Tertull. Apolog. pag. 45. But in a word , if the Care of Religion is a standing Duty , in the Magistrate ; ( as has been abundantly evinced ) and if there be such a thing as a True Religion , and sufficient Means ( if duly attended to ) to distinguish it from the False ; the Undoubted Rule is , That the Duty is to be pursued , and the Consequences left to the Providential Care of the Blessed Author of it ; who has the Hearts of Kings , and the Sovereign Disposal of Grace , and will in the Course of Affairs undoubtedly ascertain the Usefulness of his own Means , and the Ends of Religion for which they were designed . And as for that Magistrate , who upon a Principle of Zeal for the Honour of his Maker , shall thus carry on the Designs of the True Religion , he 'll no doubt one Day be made partaker of a Reward , that will every way answer that labour of love , which he has shewed towards his Name ; he 'll one Day infallibly find a Remembrance , sutable to the Supplications of that Excellent Governour Nehemiah , Remember me , O my GOD , concerning this , and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the House of my GOD , and for the offices thereof , Neh. 13. V. 14. SECT . IV. I proceed to the second Enquiry , viz. When there are two , or more Sects of Religion under any Government , why the Magistrate is under an Obligation of protecting , or rather advancing the one , more than the other ? And First , I shall consider this Argument , with regard to the Oeconomy of the Christian Church . And in order to this it will be requisite to enquire into the Rights , and Authority of a National Church . And , First , it s indisputably evident the Christian Church is one Society , or Body of Men united to CHRIST , and each other in certain External , as well as Internal and Spiritual Bonds of Union . It 's truly a Seamless Garment ; nay , it bears the Exact Portraicture of a Natural Body , whereof CHRIST is the Head , from whom the whole Body fitly joyn d' together , and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth , according to the effectual working in the measure of every part , maketh increase of the Body , Eph. 4. 16. In a word , it carries the Symmetry and Proportion of a Building , fitly framed together , growing into an holy Temple in the LORD , Eph 2.21 . The first Division of this Spiritual Body , arises from the Necessity of Divine Worship ; viz. into particular Congregations . Other Distributions arise from the Necessity of Government , which is warranted and established , by the express Canon of Scripture . Thus , Obey them that have the rule over vou , and submit your selves , for they watch for your Souls , Heb. 13.17 . And St. Pauls Instructions to Titus are , For this cause I left thee in Crete , that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting , Ch. 1. ver . 5. And , These things speak and exhort , and rebuke with all Authority , Ch. 20. We may add to this , the Power of Binding and Loosing , and Excommunication it self , being expresly committed to the Ecclesiastical Powers ; and evidently demonstrating the Necessity , as well as Divine Authority of Ecclefiastical Government . But to return : Whatever Distributions were made , either from a Necessity of Worship , or Government , every Branch or Part , is indispensibly bound to maintain this Mystical Union ; by a Communion in the Essentials of Faith , Government , and Discipline : for otherwise it 's impossible the Christian Church should answer the Character of a Natural Body fitly joyned together , and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth , even to the making increase of the Body . As for the Government of the Church , we are assured , partly from Scripture , and partly from the earliest Antiquity , That the Order of Bishops and Metropolitans , rests on Apostolical Institution . Both Timothy and Titus , in the judgement of the most Learned Presbyterians , were Superior to the rest of the Clergy , within their Districts , at least in Jurisdiction , if not Order . And tho' Antiquity has not expresly fix'd the Origine or Rise of Metropolitans , yet it may justly be presum'd to be Apostolical . For First , St. Paul directs an Epistle to the Metropolitical Church , to be communicated to the whole Province ; for such was Corinth in the Province of Achaia . To the Church of GOD , which is at Corinth , with all the Saints that are in all Achaia . And , pursuant to this , we find the Governments of Metropolitans , in the first Council of Nice , ranked among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ancient Customs , Can. 6. and in that of Antioch , styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , The most ancient Canon in force , from the times of our Forefathers . But that which conduces to the present Argument , is , That all the Establishments of Church Government , and the Districts of particular Churches , were originally modeled according to that of the State. The Bishop presided over a City , and the adjacent Villages and Territories ; where a Temporal Magistrate was likewise placed . As the Metropolis of every Province had its Proconsul in the State , so it had its Archbishop , or Metropolitan in the Church . And when the Government of Patriarchs prevailed , it was formed after the same Model , either in Imitation of the Vicars , or Lieutenants that presided over a Diocese , composed of several Provinces ; or at least in Imitation of the Pretorian Prefects , that had several Dioceses under their Jurisdiction . Upon the whole then , as we are assured , That the forming a Government in the Church , after the Model of that of the State , was by Apostolical Institution ; so we may justly conclude , that it was by the special Directions of the Holy Spirit . And , no doubt , the great Design was to advance the Interests of Religion , by placing every particular Church under the Protection of the State , whenever it should become Christian. And certainly , as it was the only true Expedient to enable the Civil Magistrate , to execute that Trust , that is lodged in the Character of a Father , or Nursing Mother , to the Church of Christ ; so it 's a considerable Argument that the Care and Protection of the True Religion is a standing Duty , incumbent on the Civil Magistrate . For to make the Districts of particular Churches , terminate with those of Civil Governments , was absolutely necessary , to make the Civil Magistrate the Supreme Guardian of the True Religion : and , since 't is an Ordinance , that may very justly be resolved into Apostolick Institution , it 's a manifest Indication , that the Civil Magistrate should be obliged punctually to answer the Character , whenever he became Christian. SECT . V. From hence we may gain a true Notion of the Rights and Authority of a National Church . And truly , if we duly weight the Premises , we must conclude , That it rests upon nothing less than Divine and Apostolick Institution . For if the Apostles themselves constituted particular Churches , with regard to the Districts of particular Provinces , and the Government of the State ; and if it be a standing Duty in the Christian Magistrate , to protect and advance the True Religion , within his Dominions ; we must conclude , That a Church is to be established upon that Model of Government , which was instituted by our Saviour , or his Apostles , in every respective Nation , over which the Magistrate is to preside , as a Father , or Guardian , and Protector ; and such a Church is what in other terms is called a National Church ; and a Church thus established , undoubtedly rests on the Authority of Divine or Apostolick Institution . I would not be mistaken , as if I intended to deny the being of a National or Provincial Church , till it has obtain'd a Civil Establishment ; for it 's manifest , the Churches of Greece , and of the Proconsular Asia , had a being , and a distinct Denomination , before Christianity was received in the Courts of Princes . Indeed when a particular Church enjoys a Civil Establishment , it receives , as it were , a new Authority ; in as much as it becomes a Civil Right or Property : So that unless its Constitution is Materially vitious and finful , it 's a high piece of injustice to destroy or infringe any of its Established Rights , or Immunities . But yet since the Magistrate is only the Guardian , not the Founder of a National Church , ( its Original Authority resting on certain positive Laws , and Sanctions , enjoyned by a Power superiour to that of the Magistrate , even that of GOD Himself ) where-ever a Church in any Province or Nation , professes the True Religion by an Orthodox Faith , and a pure Worship , under Lawful Church Governours and Pastors , that is the True National Church , in opposition to all dissenting Sects and Parties ; tho it wants the Authority of a Civil Establishment . But to return : From hence we may easily determine the merits of the Question in debate , I mean When there are two , or more Sects of Religion in any Government , why the Magistrate is under an Obligation of protecting , or rather advancing the one , more than the other ? For , First , it is abundantly demonstrated that the Christian Magistrate , ex officio , is constituted a Guardian , Father , and Protector of the True Religion ; and therefore if in any Nation , or Government , the true Religion is professed in an Orthodox , and a pure Worship , under lawful Church Governours and Pastors ; there the Magistrate is indispensibly boundto act as a Guardian and Protector , in opposition to all Models , and Platforms that are advanced against it . For by this alone he pursues the Great Design of the Apostolick Platform , in the Institution of National Churches , as well as answers that of his Character ; I mean as he 's Prophetically styled , a Father to the Church of CHRIST . It 's certain one Great Design of Christianity , is Unity ; or to range all the Parts and Members of the Church of CHRIST into an Holy Building : and therefore , if the Magistrate is constituted a Guardian of the True Religion , all his Offices of Succour and Protection must be directed to this End ; I mean the maintainance of the Bonds of Catholick Unity , throughout his whole Dominions . Without this , the Great Ends , and Proposals of so pure and holy a Religion , cannot be accomplished ; and therefore whatever Indulgences , or Exemptions the Christian Magistrate may rightfully grant to Erroneous Judgments , or Consciences , acted with simplicity and a pious Disposition ; he cannot upon the Laws and Oeconomy of the Gospel , or any Authority derived to him from thence , rightfnlly give a Positive Establishment , within the Districts of the same Government , to two Opposite Communions , or Altars of Worship ; especially when one of them is founded in a revolt , from a pure and Orthodox National Church . This is the very reverse to a Protector and Defender of the True Religion . For it implies a power to pervert the Great Design of the Christian Religion ; vis . a Unity of Faith and Worship ; by dissolving the Bonds of Catholick Unity , and Authorizing the Members of CHRIST'S Mystical Body , to disband and break into Schisms and Factions : whereas it's an External Rule , That the Magistrate can only challenge a Power to Edification , not to Destruction . This is so far from being a Prerogative of the Magistrate , that where a National Church is constituted under Lawful Governours and Pastors , tho' there may be some Defects , or Errors in her Faith , Discipline , or Worship ; he 's not to unhinge and demolish , but to endeavour to correct and remove them , by such Means and Instruments , as GOD , in his revealed Will , has decreed and appointed : and when this is done , he 's not to suffer any opposite Sects , or Factions , so much as to break in upon any of her Apostolick Rights , or Immunities . For it 's manifest , the Duty of a Guardian , Parent and Protector , is to use all prudent Methods to cultivate and improve , to advance the Interests , and enlarge the Priviledges of those under his Care ; much more to defend them from Violence , or Incroachment . To be appointed a Father , and a Protector of CHRIST'S Church , or the True Religion , is not an Empty Name , but carries very momentous Offices and Duties in it : it implies a Zeal for the Honour of GOD , and the True Religion ; and consequently it engages the Magistrate to study such wholesom Provisions , as will advance the Ends and Interests of it , to the utmost Boundaries of his Dominions : and those that thus wait for CHRIST , shall not be ashamed , Isai. 49. v. 23. And now , Sir , I hope I have prepared You for the main Argument You proposed , by informing You how the Magistrate is determined , for the Interests of Religion , and particularly those of this National Church . SECT . VI. I shall proceed to consider , Whether the Restraint of the PRESS , is not a Necessary Provision , not only to advance the Interests of the True Religion , but to preserve , and maintain the Ends aud Designs of it , as profess'd in a National Church ? And this will appear from the Necessity of a publick Establishment in Religion , and the Pernicious Influences , which the Liberty of the Press has upon it . It 's already concluded , that GOD has instituted a Governing Power in the Christian Church ; and the accommodating it to the Districts of the State , and the Constituting the Civil Magistrate a Guardian , and Protector of the Church of CHRIST , is at least a sufficient Warrant of the Lawfulness of a publick Establishment , if not an Indication of its Necessity . Indeed since there are Governing Powers in the Church of CHRIST , we must conclude , that GOD foresaw a great many Difficulties and Miscarriages , under the great Revolutions and Emergencies of Human Affairs ; which he has Authorized them to adjust , correct and remove : and this will justly infer the Necessity of publick Decrees , Articles , or Canons , and that too in Matters of Faith , Worship , and Practice . It cannot be denied , but Scripture it self has established the Authority of such Powers , and Injunctions ; and consequently it 's an indisputable Argument of their Necessity : since GOD never imparts special Powers , or Functions , but he infallibly discerns the Necessity and Usefulness of 'em . Thus we have General Rules directed to particular Churches , in the business of Publick Worship , That things be prescribed , and done according to the Laws of Decency , Order , and Edification . And no doubt St. Paul points at the same thing , when he reminds Titus , why he placed him over the Church of Crete , That thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting : Tit. 1. 5. So that we may justly conclude , there 's a Power given to prescribe such Laws and Rules , and make such Publick Declarations , as manifestly tend to the Edifying the Body of Christ ; or as are requisite to maintain the Catholick Laws of Unity , or the Unity of the Spirit , in the bond of peace . But to descend to particulars . And first , as to matters of Faith ; Indeed it will be easily granted , That the Holy Scriptures are a compleat Rule of Faith ; and consequently they seem to be a competent Standard , for the Governours of particular Churches , to try the Faith of Christians by . But yet we are assured that they contain a Great many things , hard to be understood , which the ignorant and unlearned wrest to their own destruction ; and consequently things of the greatest moment , and importance . Again , we are assured , that Heresies will come , that there will arise False Christs , and False Prophets , and Men of corrupt Minds , who have not only erred , but are reprobate concerning the Faith. In a word , it 's impossible but Controversies and Divisions , as well as Offences , will come ; this is the case of every Tribe , or Colony of Christians . And is there no Judgment to be made in these Circumstances ? Are these Persons to be suffered to proceed in their Errors , and pervert the Faith of others ? If this must be so , for what End has the Blessed AUTHOR of our Religion placed Governours and Pastors in his Church , and enforced their Authority by the Discipline of special Censure ? They cannot remonstrate against them , without making a Judgment whether the Doctrine be of GOD , or is consonant to the Canon of Faith. And yet 't is their Duty to declare the whole Counsel of GOD in these Cases . And certainly , if Private Pastors are Authorized to expound the Sence of Scripture , and make a Judgment in these Matters , and expect the Directions of the Holy Spirit , to wait on their pious Labours , and Endeavours ; much more may an Assembly , or Council of Church-Governours interpose , state the Sence of Scripture , and deliver a Definitive Sentence in express Articles and Decrees , and expect the Influences of the same Spirit in the whole performance . Certainly , where two or three , or more , are for these Ends gathered together , ( it may justly be presumed ) GOD will be in the midst of ' em . These are Proceedings warranted by the Practice of the College of Apostles , and of all particular Churches , from their Days , to this very Hour : Such Errors , Divisions , and Miscarriages concerning the Faith authorized , and gave birth to the Confessions of Faith , in all Particular Churches . They were the only Barriers against Heresie and Error , and indispensibly necessary , to preserve the Unity of the Faith , and the Church of CHRIST , from Distraction and Ruine . To affirm that Scripture in these Cases is a sufficient Rule , and reject all Interposals , or Determinations pursuant to it , is to mistake or perplex the Argument . For tho' Scripture is an adequate Rule of Faith , and Manners ; yet GOD has constituted Guardians and Trustees , to assert the Sence of Scripture , and enforce a Faith and Practice , conformable to it : and to deny this , is in effect to discard the necessity of any Visible Ministry ; since Scripture , with the help of private Reason , is as much an adequate Rule in this respect , as the other ; and consequently there could be no necessity of a standing Ministry . It 's true , these Publick Determinations , these Confessions of Faith , are not established upon a Spirit of Infallibility : but they are not to be rejected , or less necessary ; because not Infallible . GOD has not thought fit to impart a Spirit of Infallibility , in the Exercise of the Power of Excommunication ; yet Scripture establishes it as a Standing Ordinance in his Church A Spirit of Infallibility does not accompany the Ministerial Function ; and yet GOD has made it absolutely necessary . In a word then , in as much as they are Decisions grounded on Scripture , supported by Reason , and confirm'd by the joynt Authority and Suffrage of the Church of GOD , in the earliest Ages , and of Saints , Confessors and Martyrs ; they are the most apposite Moral Instruments , under GOD , and the use of Reason , to determine the Judgment , and satisfie the Conscience ; or at least to stop the Mouths of Gainsayers , as far as concerns the outward Peace of the Church . In this Case , they become indispensibly necessary ; there must be some External Umpire and Decision , where Matters must at last terminate : that the publick Peace and Unity ( things in the judgment of our Blessed Saviour , of the greatest value and importance ) may not be sacrificed to the Dissentions , Heats , and Animosities of Corrupt and Restless Spirits . If such Decrees , or Injunctions are not to be imposed as Essentials of Faith , or Terms of Communion ; yet they are , in the Language of our Church , to be received as Injunctions for the avoiding Diversity of Opinions , and for establishing Consent touching True Religion : Or , in one word , as Articles of Peace ; so that whosoever publickly oppugns'em , is at least to be censured , as a Breaker of the Peace of the Church . But further , as to the Duty of Publick Worship , it 's undeniably evident , the great Circumstantials of Worship are no where determined in Scripture , such as the Time , Manner , and Place ; and yet these are Moral , and inseparable Circumstances , without which'tis impossible the Duty can be performed . And therefore it 's absolutely necessary , they should be committed to the Determination of those Powers and Authorities , GOD has constituted in his Church . For tho'this , or that Particular Determination be not necessary , till'tis settled ; yet it 's absolutely necessary , they should be determined some way or other . And this demonstrates the Necessity of Publick Establishments , in the Duties of Publick Assemblies , and Publick Worship . Again , as to the Case of Discipline , how can that Decency , Order , and Uniformity , which the Word of GOD so passionately recommends , be maintained without the Establishment of Districts , and the Settlement of Time and Place ? how can the Manners of Men be animadverted on , or their Neglects , or Irregularities in the Publick Worship of GOD be censured ? what must become of the Publick Duties of Admonition and Reproof , and Exclusion from the External Means of Salvation , to the Correction of Offenders , Removing of Scandal , and the Deterring of others ? These are such clear and uncontroulable Evidences of the Necessity of Publick Establishments , that we find them in all the Churches of the Saints , or Christian World : and the Civil Government , agreeable to the Prophetick Character , is the professed Guardian , and Protector of 'em . SECT . VII . It now remains , That we consider the Influences , which the Liberty of the PRESS has upon an Establishment . And certainly , where Men are under an unlimited Allowance to publish their Sentiments of things , it 's the Publick Establishment , that must suffer the sharpest attack . It 's this that bears the shew of Authority and Dominion , or stands between its Adversaries , and some beloved Interests . It 's the only Check to the Ambition , Avarice , Luxury , or Impurity of a Licentious World. When this is born down by Calumny and Sophistry , and brought into disgrace , there 's nothing left to obstruct a general Licentiousness . So that the greatest Libertine may plead a Right , not only to erect his own Scheme , but to do whatever seemeth right in his own Eyes . And therefore , the common Torrent of Vice will not only bear down upon her ; but those more active Furies , Envy , Malice , Prejudice , and Revenge , will unite to form an Indictment . In a word , an Establishment as such , is markt out as a Common Enemy , against whom every Tribe and Sect , of how different a Make and Complexion soever , are prepared to unite and arm : and when they may do it at so easie an Expence of Danger , or rather under the Banner of Freedom and Liberty , no wonder if they shoot forth their Arrows , even bitter words ; and are content with nothing less , than reducing the whole Oeconomy to desolation and ruine . SECT . VIII . GOD knows , we are not now left to view the force of the Argument , in empty Theory and Notion , since we may read it in Matter of Fact , and Observation . What Branch of our Establishment , of moment and importance , has the Liberty of the Press left free and untouched ? Has not the Divinity of our SAVIOUR , and the whole Doctrine of the Ever-blessed TRINITY ( as delivered in our Articles ) been run down , and discarded , by a whole shoal of Pamphlets ? Has not the whole Design of CHRIST'S Mission been industriously overturned , and the Doctrine of His Redemption and Satisfaction , by the Offering up of Himself , been peremptorily rejected , as groundless , absurd , and impossible ? [ See Atheist turned Deist , Sect. 42 , 43 , 47. ] Has not Reason been asserted , to be the only Measure of Faith ; so that whatever cannot be comprehended by it , is to be rejected from being an Article of Faith ? [ Christianity not Mysterious ] Has not an Assent to this single Proposition , Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah , been asserted to be the only explicite Article of Faith necessary to Salvation ? [ The Reasonableness of Christianity , p. 43 , 49. 192. ] Has not Revelation it self been disputed and rejected , as an incompetent Rule to Mankind ! [ Oracles of Reason , Let. 3. 14. ] Lastly , As to our Offices of Publick Worship : Has not the Press brought Scandal and Reproach , upon two of the Anniversary Solemnities of this Church , tho' enjoyned by Acts of Parliament , viz. The Martyrdom of King Charles the First , and the Restauration of this Church and Monarchy , in the Return of King Charles the Second ? For do we not find it expresly vindicating the whole Scene of Violence , transacted in that Bloody War against the King , and stigmatizing the great Instruments of the Restoration . Nay more , we find the very Author applauding himself , as having a Point of Honour done him , by being chosen one of the King's Judges . [ See Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , falsly pretended to be printed at Amsterdam , and Ludlow's Memoirs , London , Vol. 2d . p. 871. ] These are the blessed Products of the Press , laid open , and prostituted to the Wit and Malice of designing Men ; and yet they are but the small Gleanings of that Mass of Filth and Corruption , it has brought forth . And what can more directly tend to a total subversion of an Establishment , and more effectually prepare . the World , to believe the Truth of their repeated Declamations ; viz. That Creeds and Systems , are only profitable Inventions , or rather , That the whole Oeconomy of our Establishment is but Secular Policy , and the Arts of Priestcraft . The Press has already publickly declared thus much ; and that Coldness , or rather Air of Contempt , that too generally prevails against that of this Church , abundantly demonstrates the pernicious Influences of it . But now to improve the Argument : It 's already concluded , That Ecclesiastical Establishments , or National Churches are indispensibly necessary ; they rest on the Authority of Apostolick Institution and are confirmed from the very Nature and Design of the Christian Religion . It 's concluded , That the Christian Magistrate is by Divine Appointment , constituted a Guardian and Protector of National Churches , within his respective Dominions : It 's a standing Trust committed to him by the Laws of Natural , as well as Revealed Religion : If therefore the Liberty of the Press , is highly destructive of the Interests of Religion , and particularly as 't is cultivated in National Churches : If it appears not only in the Nature of the thing , but upon unquestionable Matter of Fact , the Magistrate , who by Divine Appointment is constituted a Guardian and Protector in the cause of Religion , is indispensibly bound to remove the mischief , by laying a powerful Restraint on the Press . In a word , it is concluded , If a National Establishment is any way defective , or unfound in Faith , Worship , or Discipline , the Magistrate is to endeavour a Reform , in a Regular and Canonical Method : and this , I 'm confident , was never declined by the Established Church of England ; but if nothing of this Nature can , with any force of Argument or Reason , be charged upon Her , then the Magistrate , ex officio , is bound to protect and defend Her , in the Purity of Her Faith and Worship , and in Her just Rights and Immunities , exclusive of all other Sects and Parties ; especially where the Publick Peace and Unity is attempted by ' em . If therefore the Liberty of the Press is apparently prejudicial to Her Interests , Rights and Immunities , or the Purity of her Faith and Worship , I cannot find how the Magistrate can fairly be supposed to discharge that Trust GOD has laid upon Him , without laying a publick Restraint upon it . SECT . IX . But further : The Restraint of the Press is necessary , if we consider the pernicious Influences it casts upon Religion in General , as 't is the direct Inlet to Scepticism , Heresie , and Infidelity . It 's certain the Attempts of a Licentious Press , are almost infinite , and inconceivable . Error , as well as Vice , is extreamly prolifick , and even as numerous as the sand of the Sea ; the most virulent Poison may be gilded over , and Varnish and Colour may be laid on the foulest Cause ; and consequently the Press may be the Parent of the grossest Errors , under the Mask of Innocence , Zeal , or Charity . And truly , if Experience , and Matter of Fact , must decide the Controversie , we are convinced , that the Lewdest Notions that ever entered the Heart of Man , have been of late advanced from the Press . And moreover , the Mischiefs that are this way propagated , are much more fatal than any other . First , Because 't is the most Effectual way of Communicating ' em . A Transient Harangue or Discourse , tho' never so malignant , cannot be so entirely lodged in the Memory , as totally to infect the Judgement : and after this , it passes not much beyond the Present Audience . But the Press is a standing Monument and Record , that not only communicates the whole Poison , and leaves it to rest upon the Mind or Judgment ; but conveys it to Posterity . Again , as the Mischief is more Successfully propagated ; so 't is more difficulty removed . The Men of Learning , Judgment , and Probity , may be engaged in Matters of too great Importance , to be at leisure to obviate the Mischiefs of every Poisonous Libel ; but if it happens to receive a just Confutation , it's odds it either reaches not the deluded Reader , or loses its just Efficacy by not presenting it self before the Infection is rivetted , and the Defence of the Error become a Point of Interest or Honour . But that which is more fatal than all this , is , an Unrestrained Press gives a kind of Imprimatur to every thing that comes from it . As the Case stands , the Generality of Mankind are scarce able , or at leisure to detect the false Colours of an Artificial Harangue ; much less enter into the Merits of any particular Controversie ; and in these Cases , where a right Judgment cannot be made , every thing that appears in publick , must pass for Orthodox , unless it has some publick Note of Distinction fixed upon it . So that the most Heterodox Positions in this Case rest upon equal Authority with the most convincing Truths , till they have received a Censure from the Government , either in Church or State. And Since Paradoxes are capable of receiving a plausible Dress , and Downright Contradictions may be advanced , under a shew of Argument ; what fatal Consequences may not we justly dread , when Religion is the subject of both ? The Injudicious and Illiterate Reader is exposed to the Rack , and left to be divided and torn in pieces , between contrary Opinions ; and either hangs so long between both , till he commences Sceptick , or Infidel , and Believes Neither ; or at least follows the Biass of Lust , and Corrupt Nature ; and is carried away with Declamation and Harangue , the Usual Artifices of a Bad Cause ; and consequently is inevitably plunged into Heresie and Error . But further , the Mischief rises higher yet , for it 's concluded , An Unrestrained Press is often the most familiar with the Established Religion , and never spares in bringing Disgrace on any Branch , or part of it : It 's the Publick Mark of Envy or Malice , and consequently never wants the most Furious and Envenomed Assailant . But then , this is the direct Method to usher in the most fatal Consequences ; for it will not only sap the Foundations of an Establishment , by bringing Her Authority into Contempt ( it being the Moving Principle of all such Attacks ) but it strikes at the Reputation of Religion in General , and makes way for resolving the whole into Sham , and Imposture . For when the Government suffers the Press to attack a Received Article of the Established Religion , without the least Censure , or Controul ; an indifferent Judge must conclude , that both cannot be true : And because Authority does not proceed , to Assert and Vindicate its own Establishment , or upon a fair Estimate , establish and determine for the Truth ; he 'll conclude , there 's no real Difference between Truth and Falshood , and that Religion it self is nothing but a Set of Maxims , calculated according to the several Aspects and Interests of Government . This is so great a Truth , that I 'm highly perswaded , those publick and repeated Attacks , made from the Press of late Years , upon the Faith , Authority , Worship , and Discipline of this Church ( so many Articles of Religion having been so professedly questioned , and rejected ) is the Great Cause of that Scepticism and Infidelity , or at least Contempt of Religion , which so visibly reigns in this Nation . Give me leave to represent the Force of the present Arguments , in a single Instance . It 's already concluded , that the Press has appeared in a Line of Contradiction , to two of our Publick Offices of Worship , the Anniversaries of that Glorious Martyr King Charles the First , and the Restauration of King Charles the Second . They are by Royal Authority , as well as Statute-Law , made part of our Publick Service . The whole Body of the Clergy are indispensibly bound to Celebrate them , and the whole Legislative Power , in a Solemn Manner , joyns in the Celebration of 'em ; and yet we have Books published in Contradiction to 'em ; published in the most open and audacious Manner . For the Press has not done its Duty , by sending 'em into the World , but they are publickly sold in the Shops , and exposed to sale from our Publick Prints , and Term-Catalogues . Now , what dismal Consequences can we imagine must attend such vile Practices ? Our Law-givers piously declare , That By the Murder of Our late Dread Sovereign , the Protestant Religion hath received the greatest Wound and Reproach , and the People of England the most insupportable Shame , that was possible for the Enemies of GOD , and the King , to bring upon us ; 12. Car. II. c. 30. But pardon me , if I pronounce the Liberty of the Press , to have advanced some Degrees beyond this : For the Fact , with its Preliminaries , is now not only levelled against the Authority of Law , and consequently that Blasphemy , and Reproach that is due to it , is renewed , and heightened ; but a manifest Blasphemy and Reproach is entailed on the very Cause of Religion : Such Allowances as these , must cause the Enemies of GOD to Blaspheme ; and tell us , that we either Worship we know not what , or that our Worship is a Solemn piece of Mockery , or at least a piece of Lip-Devotion ; or rather , that the whole of Religion is Cheat and Imposture . For if these things be reconcilable , there can be no Truth nor Reality in Religion ; and this or that Profession , is no longer a piece of Religion , than it runs with the Tide and Bent of a Community . But now when things discover such a fatal Tendency as this is , if there be any such thing as a Guardian of the Church of CHRIST , and if the Magistrate by Divine Designation , is invested with the Character , it must be an Indispensible Duty to exert with Vigour , and Resolution . The whole Case will turn upon a short Issue ; if upon a Due and Regular Examination , these Religious Offices are Materially Evil , and Unwarrantable ; let 'em be set aside , and abolished , that GOD may be no longer trifled with and blasphemed ; nor His Pastors loaded with Hatred and Contempt , by being bound up to the Observance of things that are not Warrantable : But if notwithstanding the utmost Efforts of Malice and Declamation , they appear to be a Pious and a Just Institution , the Magistrate , if ever , must be obliged to endeavour a speedy Redress ; and since these Mischiefs apparently derive from the Liberty of the Press , certainly the Trust of a Guardian can never be discharged , without destroying the Evil in its Cause : and consequently without laying a Powerful Restraint on it . When a Mischief is thus dangerous , and destructive , it becomes the proper subject of a Law , and is to be suppressed with all the Ensigns of Authority and Power . And now , Sir , I hope I have , in some measure , answered Your Demands , and discovered the Necessity of Regulating the PRESS ; and that too with Regard to the Ecclesiastical Establishment of this Nation : and therefore I 'm inclined to perswade my self , the Argument will have its just Weight , and Influence on Your Zeal and Affection , for the Publick Good , as well as Judgment . But that nothing may intervene , to cause a Miscarriage , I shall endeavour a short return to the most Considerable Objections , that have been advanced against it . SECT . X. And , first , It may be objected , That the Mischiefs of the PRESS may be effectually obviated , by Particular Laws ; and that a Restraint of the PRESS from the Experience of former Times , has not prevented ' em . Now it must be confessed , That the Law produced in the last Parliament , may serve as a Bridle to the Deist , Atheist , and Anti-Trinitarian ; but this can by no means obviate the Mischiefs of a Licentious Press : For there are other Truths , and Doctrines set forth in the Christian Religion , and this Established Church ; which if publickly oppugned , must prove highly Injurious to the Main Design of the Christian Religion , as well as the Peace of the Present Establishment , such as the Doctrine of CHRIST'S Satisfaction , by the Sacrifice of Himself ; the Doctrine of Grance , or Divine Assistance . How these have of late suffered , the Publick has been too lately made a Witness , if not a Judge . But certainly , the Mischiefs of the Press can never be fully obviated , unless by the Restraint of it ; or at least , by such a Law as makes it highly Penal , to publish any thing in Writing , that is level'd against any Branch of the Established Religion ; for since National Establishments appear to be absolutely Necessary for the Carrying on the Ends and Designs of the Gospel , that which is amiss is to be regularly corrected ; and after this is done , nothing is to be suffered , that any-wise invades the Peace of such an Establishment . But after all , Penal Laws of this Nature , are not so apt Instruments to prevent the Mischiefs that usually spring from the Press , as an absolute Restraint of it , when the Authority of a License or Imprimatur is wanting . Such a Restraint destroys the Mischiefs in its Seeds and Principles ; it stops the Contagion in the very Spring or Fountain : whereas such Laws take place at a Distance , it may be when the Infection is propagated to a considerable Degree . There is a solemn Process , and a great many Formalities , and Steps to be made , which may serve as so many Advantages , or Chances , to escape the Force of the Law. The Author is not only to be discovered , but an Information given in , and received too , according to the Genius and Temper of the Magistrate ; and consequently the Undertaker must have Courage enough to bear the Title of Informer ; an Office , which as the World goes , neither the Justice nor Merits of the Cause can secure from Ignominy and Contempt . Again ; there must be a Prosecution by course of Law , and the Case examined , and tried whether it falls within the Penalty of the Law ; and all this , perhaps , without the least Recompence to the Prosecutor , for Expences or Attendance . In a word , a Verbal Recantation , after the Labour and Difficulties of Conviction , may render the Author Rectum in Curia : and after this , he may under Disguise go afresh to work , at the small hazard of the least of Punishments . I wish some Provisions of this Nature had not been wanting in the late Act against Profaneness and Immorality , whereby a Pious Design may become Insignificant and Useless . For upon this bottom , while the Press is open , I 'm afraid the Enemies of our Establishment will publish their Notions , with the Satisfaction of secret Smiles and Triumphs . But now if the Press were shut , till an Imprimatur is obtained , the mere want of one is a Competent Evidence for Conviction ; and tho' some may be so daring to expose their Notions , at the hazard of their Safety , yet such a Restraint of the Press gives this considerable Advantage , That whatever comes forth without Authority , carries its own Mark in the Title-page ; and consequently gives an Alarm to the incautious READER , of Infection and Mischief . SECT . XI . But Secondly , it is objected , That such a Restraint of the PRESS is a giving up the Consciences , and Judgments of Mankind to a Party , and a condemning them to an Implicit Faith , and is a direct Method to involve the World in Ignorance and Error . As for the First part of the Objection ; If an Orthodox National Church is the Party intended , I may safely affirm , That as it is the Duty of every Person within her Communion , to conform to her Faith , Worship and Government ; so I hope it already appears , that it 's a standing Duty in the Magistrate , as well as Church Governours , not only to enforce all Gospel Means to bring every Soul into the Pale of it ; but to Maintain and Cultivate the Purity of its Faith and Worship , against all the Attempts of its Enemies . If any thing is unsound and deficient , GOD has invested a Power of using such proper Means in the Governours of his Church , and the Believing Magistrate , as under his Divine Protection , will secure a True and Orthodox Religion ; but if nothing of this Nature can be truly charged upon Her , when Endeavours have been made in this kind , tho' there may be no foundation , by Violence and Force , to compel Men to be of one Mind , and one Heart ; yet the Magistrate is of Right , as well as Duty , bound not to suffer her Peace to be Disturbed , or her Faith and Worship shaken by Publick Harangues , and Professed Declamations : This is no Persecution , but a Necessary Provision , whereby the Designs of an important Trust committed to the Magistrate , are fulfilled and answered , I mean that of a Guardian ; and since it is so , I cannot imagine why any Government should be slack in the Exercise of a Just Power ; especially since all sides are sensible how much Unanimity , in Matters of Religion , contributes to the Publick Weal of a Nation . And truly , if to this Just Law , another as Equitable were established , That Persons who will not content ' emselves with the Communion of the Established Religion , should thereby be uncapable of any Places of Trust or Office , either in Church or State ; as we find it in Neighbour Countries , I question not but it would have produced a greater Unanimity in Matters of Religion , than the most hopeful Projects of Comprehension . As the Case now stands , the Tolerated Party is envigorated with the Hopes of one Day reducing every thing to their own Model ; but certainly had an Incapaciting Clause been fixed to the last Act of Grace , I mean that of Toleration , it would not only have proved an invincible Bulwark to our Pure and Apostolick Establishment , but the most Healing Principle of Unity that could have been contrived , or thought of . SECT . XII . But to return : As to the Charge of Implicit Faith , it must be confessed , That the Depriving Mankind of any of those Means , or Instruments which GOD has appointed for the Discovery of His Revealed Will , is a direct Invasion of the Privileges of a Christian , and a considerable step towards the Introduction of an Implicit Faith. But I presume it cannot be pretended , that an Unlimited Power of Printing is one of those Means which GOD has appointed for the Discovery of the True Religion . If so , GOD seems to have been very much wanting to his own Designs , in not communicating the Art by some Apostle or Prophet , long before it obtained in the Christian World. But it 's well known , the True Religion rests upon other Foundations ; it was Established in Purity and Perfection , long before this useful Art was formed , or thought of ; and I question not , will long continue so , unless the Privilege of Printing the lewdest and most Heretical Notions , subvert its Foundations . As for this National Establishment , I challenge her most avowed Enemies to produce one single Instance , wherein she denies her Members the use of any Divine or Apostolick Means , that are Instituted for the Discovery of the True Religion . Our Church imposes no Article of Faith upon pure Church-authorities ; she recommends every thing to the Mind and Conscience upon rational Motives , and Convictions : She is careful to publish useful Discourses , in Matters of Faith and Practice ; and , in a word , every thing that is profitable for Doctrine , for Reproof , for Correction , for Instruction in Righteousness , that the Man of GOD may be perfect , throughly furnished unto all good Works . She does not only allow , but exhort her People , To examine themselves whether they are in the Faith : She denies 'em no Means of Information , she does not only lay open the Well of Life , or Fountain of Living Waters , the Holy Scriptures , but recommends 'em to their Search and Enquiry , even to the Trying of the Spirits by them : She allows 'em to propose their Doubts and Scruples to their Spiritual Pastors , and administers Counsel and Advice upon the force of Reason and Scripture : In a word , as she conceals nothing of the whole Counsel of GOD , so she admits all their Proposals , by way of Enquiry and Information : So that there is nothing wanting of those Means GOD has instituted to enable every Man To give a reason of the Hope that is in him . Where then is that Nursery of Implicit Faith and Ignorance ? If Mens Judgments by all these Methods cannot , or will not be set right and informed , shall they challenge a Right to publish Dogmatically , what they pretend to retain on no other Authority , than that of a weak Conscience , to bear down a rightful Establishment ? Are all the Means of Information useless , and to be despised , if this is not suffered ? Must they from Examiners and Enquirers , immediately commence Doctors and Dictators ; and deliver their Sentiments with equal Authority to that of the Established Religion ? Where is that Spiritual Tyranny , or Blind Obedience , when they may propose their Arguments , Doubts , and Scruples to Private Pastors , or a Publick Convocation ; when they may depute Proxies , and be admitted to Conferences , and Publick Debates , without Passes of Safety , without the Dread of an Inquisition , or of a Writ de Hoeretico comburendo ? These are Privileges that may be obtained for asking ; and they are the most apposite Methods for the distinguishing Truth from Falshood : They are such as GOD has appointed , and consequently such as GOD may be presumed to give a Blessing to . When therefore an Establishment has done all this , shall the Magistrate that is constituted a Guardian ; and Trustee in the Church of CHRIST , suffer the consciences of Men to be distracted , and the Publick Peace of the Church invaded , by the bold Cavils and Harangues of every Unreasonable Gainsayer ? SECT . XIII . Thirdly , 'T is objected , That every one , not only of Natural Right , but in point of Duty , particularly that of Charity , may and ought to publish whatever appears to be Truth , for the Information and Direction of others ; and consequently the Restraint of the Press , that abridges this Right , must be unlawful , and unjust . But , First , it 's an indisputable Truth , That the Natural Rights and Duties of Private Persons , are perpetually consonant to the Rights and Interests of Publick Societies ; and the Exercise of the former , is for the most part to be regulated , and determined by the latter . Again , Whatever the Rights and Interests of Private Persons may be , the Magistrate is absolutely entrusted with the Preservation of the Publick Peace ; and consequently may rightfully suppress every thing that is level'd against any Branch of the Publick Establishment ; since such Attempts unsettle the Minds of a People , and engender intemperate Heats and Animosities , and consequently carry a direct Tendency to Disorder and Confusion . All Governments give a latitude for private Opinions and Sentiments ; and therefore do not usually extend their Tests or Subscriptions , beyond Places of Trust or Publick Employments : whereas 't is their Care and Prudence to keep a watchful Eye upon New Notions obtruded on the Publick . Whilst an Opinion rests in the Breasts of private Persons , the Publick Peace is not exposed ; but when 't is pressed upon Mankind in Publick Harangues , and transmitted from the Press too ; it gives Umbrage to the Peace and Weal of the Community , and consequently calls for the Care and Vigilance of the Magistrate . In Cases of this Nature , the first Christian Emperors appear'd as Guardians in the Church of CHRIST , and vigorously exerted their Power and Authority , to maintain its publick Peace and Unity . SECT . XIV . As for the Duty of Communicating our Opinions to others , with a Design of Information , it is indisputably to be regulated by two Considerations . First , The Importance of the Opinion , and Secondly , The Certainty and Evidence of it . First , If the Opinion be such as does not affect any considerable Interest of Mankind , or correct or remove any dangerous Error , but rather serves to entertain our Speculation and Curiosity , than regulate our Conscience or Practice ; there can be no Obligation to disturb the World by opposing Established Doctrines or Notions , when after all they may carry in them greater Marks or Evidences of Truth , than a private Judgment can reasonably pretend to . Secondly , Unless our Opinions are supported by the clearest Convictions of Reason , or Authority of Scripture , ( as all matters of Importance undoubtedly are ) there can be no just Plea for Duty , to engage the rest of the World to become Disciples or Followers . And indeed it seems highly unreasonable , that private Persons should amuse the Minds of others by obtruding New Notions , when it may be they rest upon bare Probabilities , or no higher Evidences than those that have been peaceably received from Publick Authority in Church and State. If the Projections and Opinions of Men were governed by these Maxims , I 'm perswaded the Restraint of the Press ( when it is thereby only committed to the Inspection of Publick Authority ) would seldom be interpreted a Breach of any Natural Rights or Duties . SECT . XV. There now only remains an Objection no way worthy to be animadverted on , except for its Popularity and Modern Fashionableness : 'T is this , That the Restraint of the PRESS , is an Invasion of the Liberty and Property of an Englishman . But I 'm perswaded before the Objection can justly take place , the Privileges of the Press should be discovered to be an Article of Magna Charta , tho' it were some Centuries before Printing had its Beginning : But in a word , if the Power of Legislation is to be crampt , and fettered in the Case before us , I cannot see but that every Authoritative Regulation of the Actions of an English Subject , might be disputed as a Breach of the Liberty and Property of an Englishman , and consequently no Law could be established , without first obtaining the Unanimous Consent of the People . SECT . XVI . And now , Sir , I have in some measure dispatched what I proposed , and You seem to have demanded ; and tho' I have not expresly replied to Your Enquiries in the very Terms , or order they were proposed ; yet I have the Vanity to presume , That I have not only made returns to the Arguments contained in them ; but dispel'd that Cloud of Objections that of late has been raised to obstruct the Restraint of the Press . If therefore what has been already offered has the good Fortune to carry the Balance , against Your former Sentiments , be pleased to suffer a short Address on my part , in the case before us , as a hearty Advocate for the Maintainance and Welfare of the Government in Church and State. Sir , We have been hitherto engaged in the Cause of Religion , and the Methods of its Preservation and Support . And the late passionate Address of the last Parliament , and His Majesty's most Gracious Answer to it , seems to Authorize the Pursuit of the Argument . That Venerable Body wisely applied Themselves to their Sovereign , to consult His Pleasure , as well as excite His Zeal and Piety : and He was pleased to signifie His concurrence , and remit the Managery of the Affair to His House of Commons , as to the proper Instruments to prepare Matters for the Formation of a just Law. It 's true , that Honourable House formed a Bill upon the present Argument ; but the Miscarriages of it , where-ever justly to be fixed , cannot conclude against , the Reasonableness or Necessity of it . I 'm confident the Eyes and Heart , the Hopes and Expectations of every Englishman , that is acted with a true Concern for the True Religion , are fixed on the ensuing Session ; and pardon me , if I flatter My-self , That the Arguments already suggested , demonstrate the absolute Necessity of Restraining the Press , as an effectual Expedient to preserve the Interests of it . The Liberty of Printing without License or Inspection , has sufficiently discharged its poisonous Influences against the Interests of the Established Religion ; and a small tract of Time in the same Allowance , would demonstrate its Force and Efficacy against the Interests of the Civil Polity , as established in a Monarchy . I wish some late Essays had not asserted the Truth of the Observation : witness those gross Insinuations the Press has presented us with , for the preference of a Republick to that of Monarchy : [ See Ludlow's Memoirs ] Witness those base and unwarrantable Characters vented , in a late Paper , wherein the present Reign seems to be blacken'd by the Help of a Prophetick Spirit , and making it an Accessary to what may come hereafter ; where every Estate of the Realm , and every Order of Men in Authority and Places of Trust , are described like Ruffians and Paltroons , rather than Persons of Dignity and Honour . What can be the Scope of such unmannerly Declamation , but to bring the English Constitution into Disgrace , and prepare the Minds of the People for Anarchy and Confusion . [ See The short History of Standing Armies in England . ] But to return : YOU , Sir , and Your Honourable Brethren , are concerned as Trustees and Guardians in part for Religion ; and since the necessity of a National Establishment is fully demonstrated , all disinterested Persons must conclude , That Your special Care and Inspection should be engaged to advance that of this Nation , of which You profess Your selves Members , and from whose Communion , by Civil Appointment , You receive Qualifications for Places of Trust , or Publick Employ . A Temporary Interest may engage a great many Men , to declare ' emselves Members of Her Communion ; but it 's certain the true Test of Membership is to use all imaginable Endeavours to maintain her Rights , and support her Constitution ; whenever she 's publickly attack'd in any Branch of it . To have the Press regulated by the received Doctrines of a National Establish ment , is to be esteemed one of her undoubted Rights and Immunities ; and therefore when Invasions of this Nature are daily made , she may justly expect the interposal of Authority : But if she could not challenge thus much of Right , yet since the Dissenting Sectaries have received very ample Acts of Grace , under the present Government ; the Established Religion , one would think , may reasonably expect her tail in this kind , and command the Press in matters of Religion , as the First Act of Grace ; especially since 't is no more but what Former Reigns , by an indisputable Authority , afforded her . But to draw towards a Conclusion : Give me leave to tell You , Sir , If the Restraint of the Press cannot be obtained by way of Right , nor Grace and Favour : I question not but the fatal influences it has upon Morality and Religion , is Motive sufficient to accomplish it . I shall not resume the Argument I have already enlarged on ; but certainly it seems to be a fruitless Attempt to suppress Immorality and Profaneness , and establish a Sence of Religion , and Principle of Piety , whilst a latitude is permitted in the most publick manner , to dispute the most Sacred Points of Religion , to decry National Establishments , arraign the whole Order of the Ministers of Religion , and the Solemnities of Publick Worship . It 's impossible the generality of Mankind under these Instructions , can entertain any serious Thoughts concerning Religion , but are rather prepared to contemn and vilifie the Blessed AUTHOR of it , and the whole Contrivance : and therefore if Morality and strict Vertue is pursued on these terms , it 's more to be ascribed to the happy Genius of Mankind , than any Principle of Religion . In a word then , If the Honourable Assembly of Commons is in earnest for Reformation ( as I question not but they are ) what has already been offered , seems to bespeak the Regulation of the Press to be the most likely Introduction to it . And now , Sir , I have delivered my Sentiments with as much Sincerity as Freedom . All that remains , is , If they happen to make You a Proselyte , I hope You 'll employ Your hearty Endeavours , in the Post You 're fixt , to make the Argument the subject of a Law ; and the greatest Testimony of this will be , that Care be taken , not only that a Law be formed , which will effectually answer the Designs of it ; but that the Forming of it be done with that Prudence and Caution , as not to give a handle to crush it in its first Production . When. this is accomplished , it will lay perpetual Obligations of Gratitude and Respect towards the Instruments of it , on all those in whom the Interest of this Government apparently consists ; The True Members of the Established CHURCH of ENGLAND . FINIS . ERRATA . Pag. 1. lin . 1. read solicite . P. 24. l. 20. read Eternal . P : 49. l. 4. dele absolutely . P. 65. l. 20. read Tale. 
A37439	----	The six distinguishing characters of a Parliament-man address'd to the good people of England. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1700 Approx. 26 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 14 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37439 Wing D846 ESTC R17561 12012228 ocm 12012228 52436 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37439) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 52436) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 64:1) The six distinguishing characters of a Parliament-man address'd to the good people of England. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [4], 23 p. [s.n.], London : 1700. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. BM. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng England and Wales. -- Parliament. National characteristics, English. 2005-12 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-04 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-06 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2006-06 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Six Distinguishing Characters OF A Parliament-Man . THE Six Distinguishing Characters OF A Parliament-Man . Address'd to the Good People of England . And that in Respect of some Matters of the Highest Importance to this our Kingdom , we do intend to give Directions for the calling a new Parliament , which shall begin , and be holden at Westminster , on Thursday the Sixth Day of February next . Vide Proclamation . LONDON : Printed in the Year MDCC . THE Six Distinguishing Characters OF A Parliament-Man . Good People of England , THE Disuse , or Distrust of Parliaments in the Four last Reigns , was the Nation 's general Grievance ; and 't was but lately that parliaments were consulted in the Matters of Highest Importance to the Kingdoms . This was the Destruction of that Mutual Confidence between King and People , which is so Essential to the Prosperity of a Nation . Parliaments were call'd together , a long Speech , and great Pretences for Money open'd the Session ; and as soon as the End was answer'd , they were sent Home about their Business . If they began to show their Resentments , and appear Sensible of their being Impos'd upon , if they began to search into the Intriegues of the Court , if they began to Question Favourites , and Ministers , they were equally certain of being dismiss'd . Now to show us what kind of a Nation we are ( that according to the Old Character of an Englishman ) can never tell when we are Well , Providence has chang'd the Scene . Former Kings have been Addressed by their Parliament to make War against the French , and Money given by Millions to carry it on , and have had their Money spent , and no War cou'd be had . Now we have a King that has Fought our Battels in Person , and willingly run thro' all the hazards of a bloody War , and has been oblig'd to use all the Perswasions possible to bring us to Support him in it . Former Kings wou'd stand still , and see the French over-run Flanders , and ruin our Protestant Neighbours , tho' the Parliament & People have intreated them to Assist them , and save Flanders from the falling into the hands of the French. Now we have a King , who Solicites the People to enable him to preserve Flanders from falling into the Hands of the French , and to stand by and assist our Protestant Neighbours . And we on the Contrary are willing to see the French and Popish Powers , unite and possess Flanders , and every thing else , and glad the Dutch are in danger to be ruin'd ; nay , so willing we are to have the States General destroy'd , that Damn the Dutch , is become a Proverb among us . Formerly we had Kings who raised Armies in Times of Peace , and maintain'd them on sham Pretences of a War never design'd , and received Aids from the Parliament Three times for the Disbanding One Army , and having spent the Money , left the Parliament to do it themselves . Now we have a King who against his Judgment , and , as it now appears , against the Nation 's Interest , consented to Disband the Army at the first Word from his parliament , tho' he left all the most powerful of our Neighbours with their Forces in full Pay , Formerly we had Kings who did what they pleas'd , now we have a King who lets us do what we please . And yet Englishmen are not contented , but , as it were with our Saviour , when our Kings come Eating and Drinking , they Cry , Behold a Glutton and a Drunkard ; and now they have a King that comes neither Eating or Drinking , they cry out , He has a D — l. 'T is a vain thing to pretend to open the Eyes of the English Nation , but by their own immediate Danger , any Body might ha' known in former times what the Issue of a Popish Successor would ha' been , and some wiser than others told the People of it , and were rewarded with the Ax and the Halter for their News . But when that Popish Successor came to the Crown , and had reduced the Liberties and Religion of the Nation to the last Gasp , then those very People , who cou'd not see their Danger at a distance , took a fright when it was upon them , and what was the Consequence ? Nothing but all the Blood and Treasure of this last War. Had the Nation seen with the same Eyes as the late Lord Russel , Earl of Essex , and the Oxford Parliament , did see , could they have been convinc'd by Argument that It was inconsistent with the Constitution of this Protestant Kingdom to be govern'd by a Popish Prince . Cou'd the B — ps , who threw out that Bill , have known that a Popish King wou'd erect a High Ecclesiastick Commission Court , and send them to the Tower for refusing him a Power to Dispence with the Laws , this War had been prevented , and the Blood of 300000 English Protestants , who have perished in it , had been sav'd , all the Ships our Merchants have lost to the French , had been safe , and the many Millions of Money , which have been spent , had been in our Pockets ; all this is owing to the blindness of that Age , who cou'd not see the danger of the Nation , till it was just upon them . Now , Gentlemen , this is to give you Notice , that the Nation is in more danger at this time from abroad , than ever it was then in at home . The King in his Proclamation for the calling a Parliament , has done two things which no King his Predecessor ever did in our Age. First , He has told us that he has such a Confidence in his People , that he is very desirous to meet them , and have their Advice in Parliament . Secondly , He tells us , that what he will advise with them about are Matters of the Highest Importance to the Kingdom . Matters of the Highest Importance to a Kingdom must relate to some of these things , Peace and War , the Safety of Religion , Liberty and Trade ; at least it will be allow'd that these are Matters of the Highest Importance to the Kingdom . Now , tho' I shall not adventure to explain His Majesty's Meaning , yet I may be allow'd to build the following Discourse on the Supposition of this Explication : And venture to suppose His Majesty had said , that the Danger the Protestant Religion seems to be in from the formidable Appearance of the French Power , and the Danger our Trade is in from the Succession of Spain devolving to the House of Bourbon , and the Danger of a new Flame of War breaking out upon our confederated Neighbours , whom our Interest , as well as Leagues and Alliances , oblige us to assist ; all these things being Matters of the Highest Importance to the Kingdom , he has resolv'd to call a new Parliament , to advise with them about these important things . And because the Circumstances of Affairs are such , as may bring us under a necessity of Armies , which People are so mightily afraid of ; and that the Condition the Breach of our Army has left us in has been such , that if another shou'd be wanting to defend us , 't is a Question where it cou'd be rais'd . Wherefore our proper Defence , may be one of the Important things , for ought we know , about which they are to Advise . And because the Debate of an Army is a tender nice Point , I shall explain my self ; I do not mean that a Standing Army shou'd have been kept up in England in time of Peace , but , I say , it had been better for England and all Europe that we had not disarm'd our selves so soon ; and if we had disarm'd , that we had not so entirely done it all at once ; whereby we rendred our selves so despicable , that the French King has had an opportunity to Affront the whole Confederacy , in renouncing a League ratify'd and exchang'd , and taking Possession of a Crown for his Grandson , on the new invented Title of a last Will and Testament . This he wou'd not have adventur'd to ha' done , had the English been in a Capacity to have possess'd Flanders , and to have appear'd at Sea , to have protected the Princes of Italy in their adherence to the Emperor . But the English having reduc'd themselves to such a Condition , that whenever the French , or any body else please to Quarrel with us , we must be a considerable while before we can be in a posture to act offensively , and the French having so insulted us in the Affair of Spain , that it will stand as an effectual Proof , whether we are in a Capacity to resent an Affront or no ; His Majesty , who , when in a much lower Station , did not use to suffer himself to be so treated , has thought fit to advise with the English Parliament in the Case . By advising with the Parliament , I understand , informing them of the State of Affairs , telling them his own Opinion , and asking theirs , proposing the Measures he thinks fit to take , and desiring their Opinion of the matter , and if they agree with him in the Measures which are to be taken , then to Propose their making provision in a Parliamentary way , for enabling him to Prosecute such Measures as they agree to . For to debate and consider Matters of so much Consequence , the King has directed Writs for the calling a new Parliament , to meet at Westminster the Sixth of February next . Since then the Matter is referr'd to the People of England , and they are to chuse Representatives for so great a Work , as to advise with a Protestant King about things of the highest Importance to the Kingdom , Give a stander-by leave , Gentlemen , to offer something to the People of England , by way of Advice or Direction , in the great Affair they have before them , and if it be with more freedom than is usual , bear with him for once , because 't is about Matters of the highest Importance . The usual Advices given in like Cases , formerly ( when the Elections of Members were so corrupted , that indeed Advice was necessary , tho' hopeless ) use to be , to chuse Men that had Estates , and Men of Honesty , Men that had Interests in the Freehold , and in the Corporations , and that wou'd not give away their Liberties , and the Advice was good : And had the Country taken that Advice , the P — wou'd not ha' been huff'd by King James into a tacit Permission both of a standing Army at home , and the dispensing the Popish Officers continuing in Commission without taking the Test . But my Advice must differ from , tho' it must include part , of the forementioned Particulars ; and therefore while I am directing these Sheets to the Freeholders of England , I beg them to consider in their Choice of Parliament-men , that there may be Men of Estates , and Men of Honour in the Countries , who by some Circumstances may not be proper to serve in this Parliament , because by Prejudice or private Principles their Judgment may be pre-engaged to the Disadvantage of the Nation 's Interest ; and since there are such , 't is necessary , Gentlemen , to caution you , First , That you be well assur'd the Gentlemen you shall chuse are throughly engag'd with the present Circumstances of the Nation , and thoroughly satisfied with the present Establishment of the Government ; as Papists are justly excluded by Law from coming to Parliament , because it cannot be expected that a Roman Catholick can be a proper Person to consult about the Interest of a Protestant Kingdom , so it cannot be rational that he who is a declar'd Friend to King James or his Interest , can be a proper Person to advise with King William about Matters of the highest Importance to the Kingdom ; it cannot be rational , that he who wou'd be willing to have this Nation return to her Obedience to a Popish King , can be a proper Person to be consulted with in Parliament about securing and defending the Protestant Religion ; this were to pull down what we intend to build , and wou'd be as proper a way to help us , as a French Army maintain'd in England , wou'd be proper to defend us against Lewis the XIV . Those Men that Drink Healths to King James , and wish him all manner of Prosperity , are they fit Men to represent a Protestant Nation , and to advise a Protestant Prince for the security of the Protestant Religion ? Wherefore , Gentlemen , for God sake , and for your own sakes , take heed , and set a mark on such Men ; if you chuse Men disaffected to the Present Settlement of the Nation , Friends to the late King , or to his Interest , you may be certain , such Men will pull back the Nation 's Deliverance , and hinder , not further that Unanimity of Councils , which is so much more needful now than ever , can the Friends to a Popish Prince be fit to represent a Protestant People , I have nothing to say to those we call Jacobites , tho' I wonder any can be such , and yet be Protestants ; but as to their Persons I say nothing to them , no , nor to the Papists , provided they keep the Peace , but to single such out to serve the Nation in a Protestant Parliament , and to advise with King William in Matters of the highest Importance , this is a thing so Preposterous , is such a Contradiction , that I know not what to say to it ; 't is like going to the Devil with a Case of Conscience . Even our Adversaries cannot but laugh at the folly of the English Nation , that they shou'd chuse their Enemies to be their Councellors , and think to Establish King William , by King James's Friends , nothing can sooner compleat the Ruin of the Kingdom , than to fill the House of Commons with Jacobite Members , who will be sure to forward any thing that tends to division , in order to hinder the Nations Happiness , wherefore tho' I might imagine such Advice to be needless , I must insist upon it , that you will avoid such Men as either have discover'd a Disaffection to King William , and the Present Settlement of the Nation , or that have been upheld by that Party . In the next place , Gentlemen , let your Eyes be upon Men of Religion ; chuse no Atheists , Socinians , Hereticks , Asgillites , and Blasphemers . Had the Original of the late War been under the Reign of such a Body of Men , England might have made a Will , and given her Crown to the Duke d' Berry , as Spain has to the Duke d' Anjou , and have sought Protection from the French. The danger of Religion calls for Men of Religion to consult about it ; you can never expect that Atheists , Socinians , or Asgillites , will have any tenderness upon their Minds for the Protestant Religion ; Jacobites will as soon support King William , as Atheists will preserve the Protestant Religion ; what concern can they have upon their minds for the protestant Religion , who really are of no Religion at all ? They 'll think it hard to raise any Money for the preservation of Religion , who fancy all Religion to be a trick , and the cheat of the Clergy ; they can never think the danger of the Protestant Religion to signifie much , who wou'd not give a Shilling to secure it ; and they will never give a Shilling to secure it , who Believe nothing of the matter ; besides this , What goods Laws ? What Reformation of Manners ? What wholesome Orders for the Morality of Conversation can we expect from Men of no Religion ? Of all things therefore the Members you chuse shou'd be Men of Religion , Men of Orthodox Principles , and Moral in Practice , and that more especially now , because the security of Religion not only here , but over the whole World , may lye before them , and have a great dependance upon their Councils . 3. Men of Sence ; the House of Commons is not a place for Fools ; the great Affairs of the State , the Welfare of the Kingdom , the publick Safety , the Religion , Liberties , and Trade , the Wealth and Honour of the Nation , are not things to be debated by Green Heads ; the saying we have , that the House of Commons is a School for States-men , is an Error , in my Opinion they shou'd be all well Taught , and thoroughly Learn'd in Matters of the highest Moment before they come there . There has always been a sort of Gentlemen in the H — se who use to be called the Dead Weight , who pass their Votes in the House as the poor Ignorant Freeholders in the Country do , just as their Landlord , or the Justice , or the Parson directs ; so these Gentlemen understanding very little of the Matter , give their Vote just as Sir such a one do's , let it be how it will , or just follow such a Party , without judging of the Matter . Pray Gentlemen , if we are ruin'd , and the Protestant Religion must sink in the World , let us do our best to Save it ; don't let us have cause to say , we sent a parcel of Fools about the Business that fell into Heats and Parties , and spent their time to no purpose , for want of knowing better . Of all Employments a Fool is the most unfit for a Parliament Man , for there is no manner of Business for him ; he is capable of saying neither Ay , nor No , but as he is lead . I desire to be understood here what I mean by a Fool , not a Natural , an Idiot , a Ben in the Minories , a Born Fool , no , nor a silly , stupid , downright Blockheaded Fool : But Men are Fools or Wise-Men , comparatively considered with respect to their several Capacities , and their several Employments ; as he may be a Fool of a Parson who is a very Ingenious Artificer ; a Fool of a Clockmaker , and yet be a very good Sailor ; so a Gentleman may be a good Horse-racer , a good Sports-man , a good Swords-man , and yet be a Fool of a Parliament-man , therefore so I am to be Understood . That he who is Capable to serve his Country as a Representive in Parliament , ought to be a Man of Sence , that is , a Man of a general Knowledge , and receptive of the general Notions of things , acquainted with the true Interest of his Native Country , and the general State of it , as to Trade , Liberties , Laws , and common Circumstances , and especially of that part of it for which he serves ; he ought to know how to deliver his Mind with freedom and boldness , and pertinent to the Case ; and he ought to be able to distinguish between the Different Circumstances of things , to know when their Liberties are encroached upon , and to Defend them , and to know how to value a Prince who is faithful to the Liberty and Interest of his Country , and to distinguish such a one from those who have made it their Business to Oppress and Invade the Liberties and Properties of the People , and betray them and their Interest to Popish and Bloody Enemies . 4. Men of Years ; tho' 't is confess'd Wisdom makes a young Man old , yet the House of Commons is not a House for Boys ; we have seen too many young Men in the House , and rash Councils are generally the Effect of young Heads . Fools and Boys wou'd do less Harm in the House , and grow wiser by being there , were they but allow'd to sit , and not give their Votes ; but while a Boy may do as much mischief as a Man , and a Fool as a Man of Sence , 't is hard the material Points of the Nation 's Happiness shou'd be committed either to young or weak Heads . The Grandeur of the present French Monarchy is not unjustly ascrib'd to the extraordinary Men , who are of the King's Council . The Parliament of England is the Great Council of the Nation , and on their Resolutions depends the prosperity both of King and People . Now if these Councils are committed to young Heads , the Proceedings will be suitable ; as he that sends a Fool with a Message must expect a foolish Answer ; so he that sends a Boy to Market , expects to make a Child's Bargain . 5. Men of Honesty . It was formerly said , Chuse Men of Estates ; the reason was , that they might not be tempted by places and Pensions from the Court , to sell the Nation 's Liberties ; and indeed the Caution was good ; but , Gentlemen , the Case is alter'd , the Court and the Nation 's Interest are now all of a side , which they were not then , nor indeed never were since Queen Elizabeth . The King desires we shou'd do nothing but what is for the Security and prosperity of Religion , and the Glory of the Nation ; the Caution about Estates can do no harm , but a Man's Estate does not qualifie him at all to judge of the Necessity of Giving . The Article of Estate was only suppos'd to make a Man cautious what he gave , because he was to pay the more of it himself . Now let a Man have but Sence to know when there is a Necessity to give , and that Sence back'd with Honesty , if he has not one Groat Estate , he will be as cautious of giving away the Nation 's Money , as he would be of his own : To desire Men should have Estates , that their Interest shou'd make them shy , and backward to give Money , supposes at the same time they shou'd want both Sence and Honesty . Sence , that they cou'd not value the Nation 's Money , unless they were to pay part of it themselves ; and Honesty , that they wou'd not take as much care of giving away the Nation 's Money as their own . Wherefore do but chuse Men of Honesty , and I do not lay so great a stress upon a Man's Estate . If there was any Body to bribe them , something might be said , but that Trade is over , ( God be thank'd ) King William has no need for it , and King James cann't afford it , and so that Fear ceases . The last Character I shall recommend for your choice is , let them be Men of Morals . Rakes and Beaus are no more fit to sit in the House of Commons , than Fools and Knaves . 'T is hard we should put the Work of Reformation into the Hands of such , whose own Conversation is vicious and scandalous . A drunken Parson is a very improper Agent to reform a Parish , a lewd swearing Justice is not likely to reform the Country , no more is a vitious immoral Parliament likely to reform a Nation . Reformation of Manners is an Article of the highest Importance to the Kingdom ; the King has recommended it to every Parliament , and yet we find it very much retarded ; it goes on so heavily , that the Proceedings are hardly visible ; and till you have a reform'd parliament , you cannot expect a Parliament of Reformers . Unless our Members are Men of Morals , we must expect very few Laws against Immorality ; and if there shou'd such clean things come out of an unclean , it wou'd be all Hetrodox , and Unnatural ; t wou'd be like a monstrous Birth , the Parent wou'd be afraid of it , and it wou'd be asham'd of its Parent . Besides , how can ye expect that God shou'd accept of the Offering dedicated by Impure Hands ? The Work can never be suppos'd to Prosper while the Undertakers plead for God , and at the same time Sacrifice to the Devil . 'T is true , that God oftentimes Works by unlikely Instruments , but 't is not often that he Works by contraries ; Jehu was made use of to bring to pass the Ruin God had foretold to the Family of Ahab , but 't was a Josiah and a Jehosaphat , for whom God reserv'd the Work of Reformation , and the Destruction of Idolatry . But allow that God may make use of improper Methods , and unlikely Instruments when he pleases to bring to pass what his Providence has design'd , yet we are not to confine him to show his Power , and oblige him to make use of such Instruments , as he can have no Pleasure in , least he shou'd think fit to refuse his Blessing , and make the Work abortive , or at least delay his Concurrence to the Work of our Reformation , till we shall think fit to chuse such Persons for the carrying it on , as are fit to be employed in so great a Work. FINIS . 
A37443	----	The two great questions consider'd I. What the French king will do, with respect to the Spanish monarchy, II. What measures the English ought to take. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1700 Approx. 40 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37443 Wing D850 ESTC R20141 11768870 ocm 11768870 48806 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37443) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 48806) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 488:4) The two great questions consider'd I. What the French king will do, with respect to the Spanish monarchy, II. What measures the English ought to take. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [4], 28 p. Printed by R. T. for A. Baldwin, London : 1700. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. BM. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Spanish Succession, War of, 1701-1714 -- Causes. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion The Two Great QUESTIONS CONSIDER'D . I. What the French King will Do , with Respect to the Spanish Monarchy . II. What Measures the English ought to Take . LONDON , Printed by R. T. for A. Baldwin , at the Oxford-Armes , in Warwick-lane . 1700. THE PREFACE . SInce the Following Sheets were in the Press , some Letters from France advise , that the King of France has saluted his Grandson the Duke D'Anjou , as King of Spain . Some People who are of the most Intelligent Part of Mankind , think He has done so by way of Politicks , to see how the rest of Europe will resent it ; as He once did in a like Case , to the Prince of Conti as King of Poland ; whose Pretensions He did not think fit to pursue . The Author therefore thinks the following Sheets are as much to the purpose as they were before ; and without any farther recommendation refers the Reader to the perusal . THE Two Great Questions CONSIDER'D . WE are told , That the Deceased King of Spain has by his last Will , bestow'd his Kingdoms on the Duke D'Anjou , Grandson to the Present King of France . Amongst the many weak Actions of that Effeminate Prince , who hardly ever did a Wise One , This is the most Ridiculous ; if it be proper to give such an Epithet to the Actions of Sovereign Princes . 1. To imagine the Most Christian King wou'd give any Regard to , or put any Value upon such a Bequest , any farther than consisted with his other Measures , or at least with his Interest ; must be a Folly none could be guilty of , but such as know very little of the King of France , or of the Affairs of Europe . 2. To think that the Rest of the Princes of Christendom , wou'd suffer the Spanish Monarchy to be bequeath'd by Will to a French Man , without any Title or other Right than the Deed of Gift of the late King , and without any Regard to the Right of the Lawful Pretenders , is also most Egregious Nonsence . To make way therefore , to the Case in hand , and come at the Questions before us with more Clearness ; 't is necessary to Examine the Nature , and probable Consequences of this Last Will and Testament of the King of Spain . 1. As to the Nature of the Thing , it seems to be a Tacit Invitation to all the Competitors to a Dangerous and a Bloody War ; as if the King of Spain shou'd have said to his Privy Council , I 'll be revenged on them all for attempting to divide our Dominions ; for I 'll give it to One that has no Title , let the Rest fight for it , and the longest Sword take all . As to the Duke D'Anjou , he has no Manner of Title , but what is presumptive on the Death of his Father and Elder Brother without Issue ; if they should have Children the Emperor of Morocco has as good , and perhaps a better Title to the Crown of Spain than He. The Dauphin of France has an Unquestion'd Title to the Crown of Spain , if it be True , that the Renunciation made by his Father and Mother at the Pyrenaean Treaty ; cannot bind the Children so as to deprive them of their Right , which is the great Argument now us'd to defend their Title : Now if their Right be good the Crown is the Dauphin's , and after him the Duke of Burgundy's and his Heirs ; and Dr. Davenant may spare himself the Labour of Writing a long Discourse to defend the Dauphin's Title , for we will grant he has an Undoubted Right of Succession . But I shou'd be glad to have it answer'd , how the Duke D'Anjou can have a Title while the other are alive ? It cannot be in the Power of the Dauphin to say , I will give my Right to my Second Son , for I do not think it worth my while to accept of it for my self or my Eldest . Because , 2. The Consequence of that will in all Probability be this , that the Duke of Burgundy's Son when he has One will say again , My Grandfather had no Power to give away my Right , I am the Undoubted Heir to the Spanish Monarchy , and so no Question he will be if the present Dauphin has a Right ; and if Power be in his Hands to subdue it , he will have it , tho' the Possession be his Uncle's ; for Crowns know no Uncles , Brothers , or any Relations ; when Power of Possession joyn'd with Right is before them . So that the King of France cannot but see , that to take the Crown of Spain from the Will and Testament of the late King , is Disclaiming the Right of his own Son and Involving his Grandsons in Bloody Wars ; the Issue of which a Wiser Head than His cannot foresee . This leads me to Consider The First Question . What Measures the King of France will take , with respect to the Succession of the Spanish Monarchy ? By saying what Measures he will take , I mean , what He will in all Probability take , or what his Interest will lead him to take ; for I suppose , no Man will imagine I am of his Privy Council . To debate this Matter , 't is necessary to consider the King of France , with respect to the Terms He stands in with the rest of Europe . If the King of France were Absolute Master of his own Measures , and had no Leagues or Neighbours to regard ; there is no Question to be made , but that rejecting all Conditions , he would immediately enter upon the Dominions of Spain as his own undoubted Inheritance , or at least his Sons ; annex the same to the Crown of France and make it one Entire Empire , and any Man else wou'd do the like . But as He has Measures to take with Powerful Neighbours , who as Potent as He is , are able to give him Diversion enough ; and if He shou'd embroil himself with them , may make it a Hazard whether he should obtain it or no ; He is too Wise a Prince not to see that his Interest will Oblige him to act in Concert with his Neighbours . as far as conveniently He can . The Truth of this Argument is abundantly confirm'd in the Measures He took , and the Alliances He made before the Death of the King of Spain . They who think the King of France so Magnipotent that He values none of his Neighbours , and talk so big of him , that like His Medal-makers they place him among the Invincibles ; must have forgot the Siege of Namure , and the Vain Effort of the Power of France to relieve it ; they must pass over his Deserting the Late , and Acknowledging the Present King of England at the Peace of Reswick ; they must overlook the low Steps he was oblig'd to make , to draw the Duke of Savoy from the Confederacy , how he was unable to save Casall , which cost him so much Money ; how he delivered the Impregnable Town of Pigneroll , which his Father call'd the Right Hand of France , and which cost him 100 Millions to fortifie ; how he married the Fortune of France to a Daughter of Savoy without a Portion , and bought the Duke of Savoy at the Price of his Grandson's Dishonour ; how he surrendred the large Dominions of Lorrain and Luxemburgh , and above 100 Fortified Towns to the Confederates , which though he were always Master of the Field , wou'd cost him Seven Years to recover by the Ordinary Course of Sieges and Attacks . These are plain Demonstrations , that he found himself over-match'd by the Confederacy ; and he is not a Man of so little Sence , as not to know it . Why else in the League now made for the Partition of the Spanish Monarchy , shou'd he content himself with the Dominion the Spaniards had in Italy , and quit the Delicious Morsel of America to the House of Austria . What Reason can any one assign for it , but that finding the English and Dutch never to be brought to consent , to his being so very powerful at Sea , as that Addition wou'd make him ; he was willing to accept so large a Portion as the Italian Part assign d to him upon Easie Terms , rather than venture like the Dog in the Fable , to loose all by coveting too much . Upon these Terms therefore , in Consent with the English and Dutch , his Most Christian Majesty has agreed , that on the Decease of the King of Spain the Spainsh Monarchy should be thus divided . All the Dominions which the Spaniards possess in Italy to be given to the French , Millan excepted , which is to be given to the Duke of Lorrain in Consideration of the Dutchies of Lorrain and Barr , which are to be yielded to the French , and all the rest some few Towns on the Frontiers of Navarr excepted , to be given to the Arch-Duke of Austria , with other Particulars needless to repeat . This League being Concluded , the King of Spain ( as if he had linger'd out his Days only 'till it was thus fix'd ) dyes according to our Account on the 22. October last . The Spaniard on pretence , that they wou'd not have their Monarchy divided , and taking no Notice at all of the Right of any Prince to succeed ; has made a Legacy of his Kingdoms , and given them all away to the Duke D'Anjou , a Prince who has no more Right to it , or Pretence of Right , except as before , than the Prince of Wales or the Czar of Muscovy . Now 't is a Mighty Disputed Point among our Politicians , what the King of France will do in this New Juncture of Affairs , whether He will stand by the Partition agreed on , or accept of the late King of Spain's Bounty , and take the Kingdom as a Gift to his Grandson . What He will do , as is before noted , cannot positively be asserted ; but what Reason the State and Nature of the Thing , and his own Undoubted Interest will dictate , to be done by any Prince in his Circumstances , any one may judge . If He be the same King of France that He has always been , who has very rarely took false Measures , or baulkt his own Interest , if He be guided by the same well-mannag'd Council as he us'd to be , He will certainly adhere to the Posculata of his Alliance , and quietly accept the Partition of the Spanish Monarchy , as it is agreed in the before-mention'd League . For , By this Acquisition of Italy He secures to Himself the whole Absolute Dominion of the Mediterranean Sea ; He entirely excludes the House of Austria from any farther Concern in Italy , He has the Church so absolutely in his Clutches , that He may make himself Pope if He thinks fit ; and whenever He is pleas'd to be displeas'd with the Petty Princes of Tuscany , Parma , Modena , Mantua , &c. He can blow them away with the Breath of his Mouth , they shall lay down their Principallities at his Invincible Feet , and count it more an Honour to be call'd Princes of the Blood or Peers of France , than to be Absolute Lords of their own Dominions . So He shall whenever He thinks fit , re-establish the Old Kingdom of the Lombards , and annex it to the Title of France and Navarr . And all this without the Expence of Treasure or Hazard of his Armies , without fitting out a Fleet , or fighting at Sea or on Shore ; the English and Dutch being assistant to put him into the Possession of it . If the Emperor shou'd be so weak to oppose Him , He must stand upon his own Leggs , and in the present Circumstance , his Power does not seem formidable enough to make the Matter doubtful . And now we are come to mention the Emperor , let us say a Word or Two to those Gentlemen , who in his behalf speak big and say , he is able to baffle all these Measures . First , They tell you , how powerful the Empire now is by the Acquisition of the Kingdom of Hungary , and the most advantagious Peace with the Turk . They tell you his Imperial Majesty has an Army of 120 Thousand Men , besides the Troops of the Circles which are 80 Thousand more ; that of these 50 Thousand lye ready on the Confines of Italy , and all the rest of his Forces are drawing down to the Rhine , that the Duke of Brandenburgh on Condition of being made King of Prussia will joyn him with all his Forces ; that the Duke of Lunenburgh on account of the Ninth Electorate , will maintain 30 Thousand Men at his own Charge , and thus all the Princes of Italy are on his side . By these they tell you , the Emperor will immediately on the one side secure Italy , and on the other side make such a Vigorous Diversion on the Rhine , that the King of France shall have Work enough to secure his own Dominions , while in the mean time the Arch-Duke Charles shall be sent into Spain , where the Spaniards who naturally hate the French , will immediately proclaim him King. Those are great Things indeed , and if the Emperor be so strong , he may cut out a great deal of Work for the Confederates , and I 'll suppose , the Emperor should be so blind to his own Interest as to attempt it , yet it seems not at all probable , that his Imperial Majesty who has hardly been able to support himself this War , in Conjunction with the whole Confederacy of Europe , should imagine himself capable of putting a Check to the Power of France , in Conjunction with England and Holland ; for whatever he might do in Italy and on the Rhine , he would never be able to defend Spain and Flanders if he really had them in Possession . First , Flanders which has always been maintain'd by the Conjunction of the Dutch , would immediately be entred by the Dutch on one side , and the French on the other ; and must fall into their hands with little difficulty . Secondly , Spain cou'd never hold out against the French by Land , assisted with the Naval Forces of the English and Dutch by Sea , the Islands of the Mediterranean must submit to the Masters of the Sea , and America would lye like the Golden Garland to the Wrestlers , to be given to the Conquerors . No Man can imagine , but the Emperor , to whose Son so Considerable a Dominion is allotted , will accept of the Partition for his Part , especially when he sees how impossible it will be to make better Conditions by force . What the English and Dutch are to do , if he should ; remains to be debated under another Head. I 'll now suppose that which to me seems very unlikely , That the King of France should accept of this Legacy , and claim the Crown of Spain for his Grandson the Duke D'Anjou , and attempt to set up that Ridiculous Title of a Last Will and Testament , as the Foundation of his Pretension . Let us Calmly consider the Consequences . 1. He inevitably renews the War with the whole Confederacy , that Peace which cost Him so much to procure is immediately broken , upon the first Invasion He makes on the Territories of Spain , who are a Branch of the Confederacy . 2. He renews the War under insuperable Disadvantages , such as are infinitely greater than He lay under before , and such as loudly tell the World , He never will venture to fight the whole Confederacy again . Viz. The Multitude of strong Towns and Cities which he surrendred to the Confederates , which are a sufficient Guarantee of the Peace , and the Different Case of the Emperor , who is more than ' twice what he was the last War , by his Peace with the Turks . 3. If He should make the Duke D'Anjou King , France would really get nothing by the Bargain for in One Age the Race would be all Spaniards again ; Nay , in a few Years Property wou'd prevail , and he wou'd no more let his Brother the Duke of Burgundy when King of France encroach upon him , than the late King of Spain wou'd the present King of France ; We do not want Instances in the World , that Interest banishes all the Ties of Nation and Kindred , when the Duke D'Anjou had been King of Spain some time , he would look upon Spain to be his Own , his Native , his Peculiar , and be as far from subjecting himself to France , because he was born there ; as if he had never seen it : Possibly he might be willing to join Interest with France , and it may be join Forces upon Occasion ; but it must be where the Interest of the two Nations did not clash then , and that is almost no where , but if ever France encroach upon him , she wou'd find him King of Spain not Duke D'Anjou . So that all the King of France cou'd get by accepting the Crown of Spain , would be a little present Satisfaction , to see a Son of the House of Bourbon on the Spanish Throne , but as King of France he wou'd not be One Farthing the beter for it . But this would not be all as is before noted , but whenever the present Duke of Burgundy comes to Enjoy the Crown of France , it will in all Probability be an Eternal Cause of Contention between them : For if the Family of France has any Title to Spain 't is in the Eldest Son of the Family , and there can be no Colour of a Title in the Second Son while the Eldest is alive , but what is founded either in the Gift of the One King or the Other . As to the Gift of the Dauphin to his Second Son the first being alive , it cannot be valid ; for he has no Power to give away what is his Son 's by Inheritance , nor can no more give the Crown of Spain from him than the Crown of France ; if Gift could be pleaded , the Grandfather gave it away from them all before they were born : Nay , If the Duke of Burgundy should consent to it , His Children if ever he has any , will declare , he had nothing to do to give away their Right , any more than the present King of France had Power to give away the Right of the Dauphin ; for since the Deficiency of that Action in its own Nature is the whole Ground of the Dauphin's Title now , it will directly destroy the Title of the Duke D'Anjou , for what is a good Argument for him cannot be a bad One against him . As to the Gift of the Defunct King of Spain , I see nothing in it to build a Pretence of Right on ; If He had bequeath'd it to the Right Heir , I presume , he wou'd not have thought his Title one jot the better for it . And if he had bequeath'd it to the Grand Seignior , the King of France wou'd not have thought his Title the worse for it : So that it signifies just nothing at all . We come now to the grand Question proposed . Quest. 2. What Measures the English ought to take in this Juncture . The Answer must be in Two Parts . 1. Supposing the French King adheres to the Partition agreed upon by the League before-mentioned . 2. Supposing the French King for Reasons which we know not should think fit to quit the Treaty , and push for the whole on the Pretence of a Will made by the King of Spain . 'T is confess'd England , since her Troops are broke , and her People more divided in Temper than 't was hop'd they wou'd have been under so mild and gentle a Government , makes but a very mean Figure abroad ; and were any King at the Head of her Councils as well as Forces , but King William , hardly any Nation would trouble their Heads to confederate with her . But all the World does not yet see our weak Side , and the Reputation of the King makes us more formidable a great deal than we really are . But we are to act according to the Knowledge we have of what our Circumstances really are not what other Nations may believe them , lest we let them know our Weakness at the Price of our Destruction . However I 'll for the present suppose what all good Men wish : That we were in the same good Posture as the War left us , united in Council , and ready for Action , and willing to preserve the Character we had then in the World. And First , Supposing the King of France adheres to the Partition of the Spanish Monarchy . If so , without Question England ought to put her self into such a posture as to be able , in Conjunction with the Dutch , to force the Emperor and Princes of Italy to comply with the Conditions . At the same time so to maintain the Ballance in the Partition , as to oblige the King of France to accept of , and rest contented with the Particulars stipulated in their respective Leagues , without farther Encroachment , and to make themselves Trustees for the rest , in Behalf of the Heir . It is already started as a Query , what if the King of France does accept of the Partition , and the Emperor shou'd continue to stand out , the King of France is then at Liberty to take the whole if he can get it . No such Matter , I do not pretend to have been privy to the Debates , or of the Council , in the contriving this League , nor to be acquainted with what Provision is made , in case the Emperor refuses to come in , but in order to give a Judgment as near as can be done without Doors as we call it . I shall briefly state the Reasons , which in my Opinion should move the English and Dutch to form this League : And the great Reason , which , as I conceive , gave Birth to the first Project of this League , setting aside private Reasons of State , was the maintaining the Ballance of Power in Europe . This has been the Foundation of all the Wars in our Age against the French , and in the last Ages against the Spaniard and the Emperor . A just Ballance of Power is the Life of Peace . I question whether it be in the Humane Nature to set Bounds to its own Ambition , and whether the best Man on Earth wou'd not be King over all the rest if he could . Every King in the World would be the Universal Monarch if he might , and nothing restrains but the Power of Neighbours ; and if one Neighbour is not strong enough for another , he gets another Neighbour to join with him , and all the little ones will join to keep the great one from suppressing them . Hence comes Leagues and Confederacies ; thus the German Protestants call'd in the Assistance of Gustavus Adolphus to match the Power of the Emperor Ferdinand the 2. and founded the famous League call'd the Conclusions of Leipsick , which brought the Imperial Power to the due Ballance which it now stands at on the Foot of the Treaty of Westphalia ; so the French and the English assisted the Dutch to bring the Spanish Power to a Ballance in the time of Philip the II. when the Spanish Greatness began to be terrible to Europe , which Ballance was established in the Peace of Aix la Chappel . So the Power of France was brought to a Ballance , but not so equal as it might have been , had King Charles II. stood to his own Proposals at the Treaty of Nimeguen , the Defects of which Peace were in a great Measure the Occasion of this late War , which has been the longest , most chargeable , and most bloody that ever the French Nation has been engaged in since the Days of Francis the I. their own civil Wars excepted . This War has brought the power of France to a Ballance , she had fortified her Frontiers with a continued Rampart , a Line of strong Cities from Hunninghen on the Confines of the Swiss , down the Rhine , the Mosell , and the Maes , to the very Sea-side , the greatest whereof she has been oblig'd to part with , to enable her Enemies to be their own Guarantees ; by which in some places she is left so naked , that she is fain to build new Cities , or fortifie old ones to supply the Vacancy , as at Brisack , and in other she lyes wholly open as at Pigneroll ; she has stoop'd to such a peace , as has made her far less formidable than before . Now the precarious Life of the King of Spain gave the King of England just Umbrage , that this Ballance in which our Safety so much consists , should receive a Shock , to the prejudice of the Protestant Interest , by the Addition of the Spanish Dominion to that of France . And here I place the Original of the Project , as a probable Conjecture , at least drawn from the Nature of things according to rational Conclusions from probable premises , when better Grounds are made publick , I shall own my self mistaken . When the pretenders to the Spanish Succession are considered , they are found to be the Emperor and the King of France , the Prince of Bavaria being dead before . To let the Emperor possess the Spanish Dominions , would be the overthrowing the Ballance made at the Westphalia Treaty , by which the House of Austria already strengthened by the Conquest of Hungaria , and the peace with the Turks would be too potent for the princes of Germany , nor wou'd the French like well that the Emperor the Eternal Competitor of France upon the Rhine shou'd be strengthen'd with such an addition , by which he wou'd ha' been Lord of almost half the World. To let the French possess the Spanish Dominions , would overthrow the Ballance Purchas'd in this War with so much Blood and Treasure , and render fruitless the Treaty of Reswick . Twou'd especially ha' been Fatal to the English and Dutch , by the encrease of Wealth from the Mass of Money returning Yearly from the Empires of Mexico , and Peru , which the French wou'd be better Husbands of than the Spaniards ; by their encrease of Shipping which wou'd make them too strong for all the World at Sea , and by their ruining the Spanish Trade which is the greatest and most profitable in Europe ; 't would immediately unhinge all the Settlement of our Merchants and Factories , and turn the whole Channel of Trade ; for the ports of Spain being free to the French as Subjects , all our Negoce that way wou'd be destroy'd , then their Neighbourhood in Flanders , and in the West-Indies , would be intollerable and insupportable . O 't would fill a Volume to set down the Inconveniencies which England and Holland must expect to feel , in Case the French were Masters of the Spanish Monarchy , the Streights-Mouth would be like the Sound , and all our Ships should pay Toll at Gibralter , as they do at Elseneur , your Fishing Trade from New-England , and Newfoundland wou'd perish , for the French from the Banks of Newfoundland should go free , and you Pay 23 per Cent. &c. We must erect an Admiralty in the West-Indies , or mantain a Fleet there , or our Plantations wou'd be always at his Mercy ; our Collonies of Virginia , and New-England , would easily be destroy'd while the French would lye on their backs quite thro' their Country from Canada to the City of Mexico . These are some of the lesser Inconveniencies , which as I presume , were the first Motives to the Treaty . The Confederats therefore not being willing the French shou'd have Spain , and the French being resolv'd the Emperor should not have it , a Medium is proposed that since it was not convenient for Europe , that either of them should have it all , and both of them had a Title to it , it should therefore be divided between them in Manner and Form , as aforesaid . This is the short History of this League , which really has more of Pollicy than Right in it , for strictly Considered , the Right of Succession can devolve but upon one Person , let that one be who it will , is not the present Business . But publick good , the Peace of Kingdoms , the General quiet of Europe , prevails to set aside the Point of nice Justice , and determine in favour of the Publick Tranquility . And I crave leave to make Two Observations here : First , Our Iacobites-Protestant-Brethren , whose Understandings are so blind , that they cannot see the Interest of their Native Country , have here fairly represented to them the Condition England had now been in , and Europe in General , if a Papist and Confederate with France had been on the English Throne ; if England had not had a King who cou'd so far Influence the Ambition of the powerful Prince , as to prevent his seizing that Monarchy of Spain , which none but England cou'd hinder him from . Secondly , Our Non-jurants who hold the right Lines of Princes such Sacred things , may also see that even among Hereditary Princes themselves , the Rights of Succession are oftentimes infringed , and the private Interest of Princes and Families set aside when the publick Interest of Nations , the Preservation of Peace , and the keeping a General Ballance of Power among Princes , comes to be the Question , and the Histories of all Ages and Nations give Instances to Prove it as well as this . Having thus run thro' the Reasons of this League of Partition , the Question is answered of course , that if the Emperor shou'd refuse to come into the Partition and push for the whole , then the King of France is not thereby at Liberty to possess the whole , if he can , for that wou'd overthro ' all the Measures upon which the League of Partition is built . The Emperor is not so weak a Prince to refuse the Kingdom of Spain with all its & c's in the Ocean , Flanders , and America , but upon some Expectation to get more ; the Confederates therefore are to preserve that part which is Design'd him free , and then effectually to put it out of his power to obtain the rest , and with all not to admit him into the part Reserv'd for him , till he agrees to accept it on the Terms proposed ; if he shou'd absolutely refuse it , which is a ridiculous Supposition , there are other Heirs of that Line to have recourse too , there 's no doubt the Crown of Spain , need not go a begging for an Heir . It may be answered , if it be thus , it is the Emperor's best Course to lay his Measures for the whole , and if he cannot carry it , he may accept of the Partition at last . That 's more than the Objector may be able prove how far the Confederates may think fit to bestow the remainder , if the Emperor after a War shou'd be reduc'd to accept of it , is more than any one can Answer , and more than the Emperor will try , if he be not infatuated worse than ever a certain King was , who if he had not might ha' been a King still . The Second Branch of the Answer is supposing the King of France shou'd so far forget himself as to quit the League of Partition , and claim the Crown of Spain for his Grandson l'Duk d' Anjou , by Virtue of the Will of the King Defunct . It must certainly then be the Interest of England and Holland , first to put themselves in such a Posture as may prevent the French King seizing of Spain it self , and Flanders in Particular . And upon the First Invasion of the Territories of Spain by the French King , to Declare War against him in the Name of the whole Confederacy as an Infringer of the Grand Peace at Reswick . And then by appearing on the Frontiers in such a formidable manner as shall give him diversion enough , that he not be able to enter Spain with any considerable Forces . The First of these things is to be done immediately by fitting out a good Fleet , which should so Scour the Mediteranean that the French wou'd not be able to do much on the side of Catalonia , for Experience has told us a Fleet at Sea will make their War in Catalonia very uneasie to them , and by landing a small Force of about Eight or Ten Thousand Men at Fonterabia , which should be sufficient to Defend that side of the Country from the Invasions of the French. But this Pamphlet is not wrote to direct Methods , but to Argue the general Point . The Conclusion of the Argument must come to that sort of People , who have appeared Champions for our English Liberty , as to Damn all kind of force , as useless , burthensom to the Kingdom and Badges of slavery , and all Arguments to be only pretences for supporting Arbitrary Designs . If the French shou'd attack Spain , I am far from saying I am glad they will be convinc'd ; but I must say I am sorry the people of England have been deluded by their specious pretences . For if the French carry the Spanish Monarchy for want of our being in a Condition to prevent it ; I am bold to tell those Gentlemen God Almighty must be put to the trouble of working another Miracle to save us , or we are reduc'd to a very dangerous Condition . But say they , we have a great Fleet , and in that we are safe ; it is true , Gentlemen , so we are from Invasion , I believe we need not fear all the World ; but what is England without its Trade , without its Plantation Trade , Turky Trade , and Spanish Trade , and where will that be when a French Garrison is planted at Cadiz , and the French Fleet brings home the Plate from Havana . What will the Virginia Collony be worth when the French come to be strong in the Lakes of , and have a free Commerce from Quebeck to Mexico behind ye , what will our Northern Trade be worth in a War , when the the ports of Ostend and Neuport are as full of pirates as Dunkirk and St. Malo. A wise Man cannot patiently reflect upon the formidable power of France , with the Addition of the Spanish Dominion , and should he at last annex it to the Crown of France , who can consider without Horrour that all the ports from Sluce in Flanders , to the Faro Messina in Sicily , should be in the Hands of the French , which is a Coast of near 3000 Miles , Portugal , Genoua and Leghorn excepted ; and how long they will hold out , is easie to imagine . I know God can prevent Humane Contrivances , and I belive he has plac'd King William on the English Throne , on purpose to disappoint this Invincible Monarch in these vast Designs , but no Thanks to our Gentlemen that have so weakned both his Hands and his Interest at home , as to make him less able to perform for us what is our own Advantange than His Majesty wou'd be , and than the Case requir'd . As to Ways and Means I meddle not with them , I leave them to the wise Heads of the Nation , but with Submission to their Judgment , this I am positive in , let our Measures be what they will , if we do not keep the Enemy , the French , I mean out of Spain , we are undone . In all the Histories of Times and Wars , I never read of a General who would not chuse to be Master of the Field , and able to fight his Enemy , rather than to be coop'd up , and bound to defend the Walls of a Town . If the French get the Spanish Crown , we are beaten out of the Field as to Trade , and are besieged in our own Island , and never let us flatter our selves with our Safety consisting so much in our Fleet ; for this I presume to lay down as a fundamental Axiom , at least as the Wars go of late , 't is not the longest Sword , but the longest Purse that conquers . If the French get Spain , they get the greatest Trade in the World in their Hands ; they that have the most Trade , will have the most Money , and they that have the most Money , will have the most Ships , the best Fleet , and the best Armies ; and if once the French master us at Sea , where are we then ? And though I would not lessen our Fleet , which I believe is now the best in the World , yet he that looks back to the French Fleet before their Misfortune , will tell you that all our English was not able to look them in the Face if we had no Dutch on our side , and hardly with the Dutch and us together . I am Answer'd by some , that if the French shou'd have Spain , we shall Trade thither still , they cannot do without our Manufactures . To this , I Answer , time was France could not Trade without our Manufactures . Now they are fallen into them to such a Degree , that they only want Wooll , and they have Hands enough to supply all the World with Manufactures , and they are so supplied with that from one Place or another , that they Buy none of our Goods now , or but a trifle ; and if the Ports of Spain come to be filled with French , they will fill every Place with their Goods , as well as People . Besides , the Laws of Trade when Masters of the Ports will bring all Nations to Trade under-foot with them , and with gaeat disadvantages and hardships which will in the end ruin all that Trade that does not run thro' their own Hands . The Present King of France , lik● a wise Governor , puts his People upon all manner of Improvements ; tho' the Spaniards are a flothful Nation , if the French Diligence comes once to thrive in Spain , he knows little of Spain that does not know they are capable of Improvements , several ways to the disadvantage of the English Trade . I 'll give but one Instance , Spain is a very hot Country , and yet such is the Constancy of the Spaniard to the Old ridiculous Custom , that they wear their Cloaks of course black English Bays , should the French King when he is Master of Spain , forbid the Spaniards the wearing of Bays , and introduce some antick French Druget , or other thin Stuff , such as they make in Normandy , it wou'd at once destroy our Trade of Bays , which is the noblest Manufacture in many respects that we have in England , and send Forty Thousand People who depend on that Trade to beg their Bread , or seek other Work , which other Work must of Consequence lessen the Employment of other Poor Families which it maintained before . I cou'd give many Instances of the like Nature , as for one more should they Prohibit the Exportation of Spanish Wooll and Manufacture it among themselves , or into France ; let the West-Country Clothiers speak for themselves , and say what strange work it wou'd make among them , or our Hambrough Merchants give an Account what their Trade wou'd come to , where they are outdone already in course Cloth and wou'd ha' no fine over to send to Market . I know not but I may present the World with a short Account by it self , of all the Sensible Losses our Trade will come under , if the Kingdom of Spain should fall into the Hands of the French , tho' methinks it should be needless to run thro' it , the meanest Understanding being capable to know that the greatest Part of the Wealth of this Nation has been and is still rais'd by the Gainful Trade we have with the Spaniards . FINIS . 
A37441	----	Some reflections on a pamphlet lately published entituled An argument shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government and absolutely destructive to the constitution of the English monarchy Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1697 Approx. 60 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37441 Wing D848 ESTC R29705 11195807 ocm 11195807 46672 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37441) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 46672) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1439:36) Some reflections on a pamphlet lately published entituled An argument shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government and absolutely destructive to the constitution of the English monarchy Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. The second edition. [4], 28 p. Printed for E. Whitlock ..., London : 1697. Attributed by Wing and NUC pre-1956 imprints to Daniel Defoe. Reproduction of the original in the Harvard University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Great Britain -- History -- William and Mary, 1689-1702. Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1689-1702. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion SOME REFLECTIONS On a Pamphlet lately Publish'd , Entituled , AN ARGUMENT Shewing that A Standing Army Is inconsistent with A Free Government , AND Absolutely Destructive to the Constitution of the English MONARCHY . Hard words , Iealousies and Fears , Sets Folks together by the Ears . Hudibras Lib. 1. The Second Edition . LONDON : Printed for E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall . 1697. The PREFACE . Mr. ABCDEFG , SIR , SInce I am to Address to you Incognito , I must be excus'd if I mistake your Quality ; and if I treat you with more or less Civility than is your due , with respect to the Names or Titles , by which you may be Dignified or Distinguish'd ; but as you are in Print , you give your self a just Title to the scandalous Name of a Pamphleteer , a Scribler , a seditious broacher of Notions and Opinions , and what not , for as is the Book such is the Author . I confess you are something difficult to be known , for your Note is so often chang'd , and your Trumpet gives such an uncertain sound , that no man can prepare himself to the Battle ; sometimes you talk like a Common Wealths Man , sometimes you applaud our present Constitution , sometimes you give high Encomiums of the King ; and then under the Covert of what Kings may be , you sufficiently Banter him ; sometimes the Army are Ragamuffins , sometimes Men of Conduct and Bravery ; sometimes our Militia are brave Fellows , and able enough to Guard us , and sometimes so inconsiderable , that a small Army may Ruine us , so that no Man alive knows where to have you . Possibly I may not have made a particular Reply to a long Rapsody of Exclamatory Heads ; for indeed , Sir , Railing is not my Talent : Had I more time to consult History , possibly I might have illustrated my Discourse with more lively instances ; but I assure you I have not look'd in a Book during the Composure , for which reason I desire to be excus'd if I have committed any Errors , as to the Dates of any of my Quotations . If I were a Member of the Army , I wou'd thank you mightily for the fine sweet words you give them at the end of your Book : you have a pretty way with you of talking of Kings , and then you don't mean this King ; and then of Armies , but you don't mean this Army ; no , by no means , and yet 't is this King that must not be trusted with Men nor Arms , and 't is this Army that must be Disbanded ; and his Majesty is exceedingly obliged to you , Sir , for your usage of him as a Soldier ; for 't is plain you are for Disbanding him as well as the Army . But of all things I magnifie you , Dear Sir , for that fine turn of Argument , that not to Disband the Army is the way to bring in King James ; but to Disband them is the most effectual way to hinder them . You have read , no doubt , of the Fable , how the Sheep were perswaded to dismiss the Dogs who they had hired to defend them against the Wolves ; the Application , Sir , is too plain ; and this is the Clause makes me suspect you for a Iacobite . Well you have driven furiously , and like Jehu called all the World to see your Zeal for the Lord ; but like him too you have not Demolished the high Places ; you have Demolish'd the Army , but you have not provided against Jacobitism ; you take care to leave the King naked to the Villany of Assassines , for you are not for leaving him so much as his Guards ; and you take care to leave the Nation naked to the insults of an Enemy , and the King and the People must defend themselves as well as they can . This is the way indeed to teach us Obedience with a Rod of Iron , and to make us pass under the Axes and Harrows of a barbarous Enemy . All your Plea is Liberty , an alluring word ; and I must tell you , Liberty or Religion has been the Mask for almost all the Publick Commotions of the World : but if Freedom be the English Man's Right , you ought to have given the King and his Parliament the Freedom of Debating this matter by themselves , without putting your self upon them to raise a Controversie , where for ought you know there may be no occasion . What is there no way but an entire Disbanding the whole Army ? Can no Expedient be found out to secure us from Enemies abroad , and from Oppression at home , &c. no way but this , Sir , How do you know what a Parliament may do ? Parliaments are Magnipotent , tho' they are not Omnipotent , and I must tell you , Sir , the Commons of England are not a Body that can be Enslaved with 20000 Men ; and all that have ever attempted it , formed their own Ruine in it , and I hope ever will do so ; but the Wicked fear where no fear is , and fly when none pursues . Sir , I wish you wou'd let us know your Character , that we might judge of the Manners by the Man , for I am sure we cannot judge well of the Man by the Manners . Your most Humble Servant , D.F. Reflections on a late Scandalous Pamphlet , Entituled , An Argument against a Standing Army . SOME Men are so fond of their own Notions , and so impatient in the Pride of their own Opinions , that they cannot leave Business of Consequence to them to whom it specially and peculiarly belongs , but must , with as much Brass as Impertinence , meddle with a Cause before it comes before them , tho' it be only to show they have more Wit than Manners . I observe this by the way , before I enter the List of Argument which a Nameless Author of a most Scandalous Pamphlet , call'd , An Argument against a standing Army . If the Author of that Pamphlet be , as he wou'd be thought , a true honest spirited English-man , who out of his meer Zeal for the Safety , Liberty , and Honour of his Country , has made this false Step , he is the more to be consider'd : But if so , why shou'd he fear his Name ? The days are over , God be thank'd , when speaking Truth was speaking Treason : Every Man may now be heard . What has any Man suffer'd in this Reign for speaking boldly , when Right and Truth has been on his side ? Nay , how often has more Liberty been taken that way than consisted with good Manners , and yet the King himself never restrain'd it , or reprov'd it ; witness Mr. Stephen's unmannerly Books , written to the King himself . But since the Author Conceals himself from all the World , how can we guess him any thing but a Male-content , a Grumbletonian , to use a foolish term , a Person dissatisfied with his not being Rewarded according to his wonderful Merit , a Ferg — , a Man — , or the like . Or a down-right Iacobite , who finding a French War won't do , wou'd fain bring in Fears and Jealousies to try if a Civil War will. I confess I cannot affirm which of these ; but I am of the Opinion he is the latter of the two , because his Insinuations are so like the Common Places of that Party , and his Sawcy Reflections on the King's Person , bear so exact a Resemblance to their usual Treatment of him , that it seems to be the very stile of a Malignant . I may be readily answer'd to this ( I confess ) Let me be what I will , what 's that to you , Answer my Argument ; If the Doctrine be true , let the Devil be the Parson ; Speak to the Point . In good time I shall : And to begin with him , I agree with him in all he says , or most part at least of his Preamble , saving some triflng Matters of Stile and of Notion , and we won't stand with him for small things . And thus I bring him to his Fourth Page without any trouble ; for indeed he might have spar'd all the Three Pages for any great signification they have , or relation to what comes after . The Fifth Paragragh in his Fourth Page , and indeed the Substance of the whole Book brings the Dispute to this short Point ; That any Army in England is inconsistent with the Safety of the Kingdom ; That Liberty and an Army are incompatible ; That the King is not to be trusted with either Men , Arms , nor Money , for the last will be the Consequence of the former ; lest he that has ventur'd his Life in the Extreamest Dangers for us , shou'd turn our Devourer and destroy us . A great deal of very handsome Language he bestows upon the King on this account , calling him , with a tacit sort of necessary Consequence , Wolf , Beast , Tyrant , and the like . He tells us , Page 3. All the Nations round us have lost their Liberty by their permitting standing Armies ; and that they permitted them from Necessity or Indiscretion . If from Necessity , 't was their Misfortune not their Fault . If from Indiscretion , that was their Fault indeed . But he is not pleas'd to give us one Instance of any People who were brought under that Necessity , and lost their Liberty by it ; and yet if he had , 't was no Argument , but that if we were reduc'd to the same Necessity , we must run the risque of it : Of which more by and by . In the same Page he lays down the Draught of our Constitution . Depending on a due Ballance between King , Lords and Commons ; and affirms from thence , That this Constitution must break the Army , or the Army destroy this Constitution : and affirms absolutely , with a Confidence Peculiar to himself , That no Nation can preserve its freedom , which maintains any other Army than such as is composed of a Militia of its own Gentry and Freeholders . And being gotten into a Positive vein , he says , What happen'd yesterday , will come to pass again ; and the same Causes will produce like Effects in all Ages . And indeed all is alike true , since nothing is more frequent , than for the same Causes to produce different Effects ; and what happened yesterday may never happen again while the World stands , of which King Iames is a visible Instance . But to descend to Particulars . I shall give you only this remarkable Instance ; King Henry VIII made as vigorous and irregular Efforts to destroy the Religion of the Kingdom ( as then 't was establish'd ) as ever King Iames did , and perhaps his Methods were more than ordinarily parallel ; he Govern'd this Nation with as absolute a despotical Power , though the Constitution was then the same it is now , as ever King Charles II. or King Iames II. attempted to have done , and yet the Effects were not Abdication , or calling in a Foreign Aid . I could go back to other Kings of this Nation , whose Stories might illustrate this ; but the Gentleman is Historian good enough , I perceive , to know it ; and by the way , 't is to be observed also , that he did this without the help of a Standing Army : From whence I only observe , as all the present use I shall make of this Instance , that there are ways for a King to tyrannize without a standing Army , if he be so resolv'd : è contra , there may be ways to prevent it with an Army , and also that I think this proves , that the same Causes does not always produce the same Effects ; and a little further , if the same Causes will produce the like Effects in all Age , why then , Sir , pray lay by your Fears , for if ever King William ( which we are sure he won't ) or any King else , goes about to destroy our Constitution , and overturn our Liberties , as King Iames did , the People will call in a Foreign Aid , and cause him to run away , as they did then ; for what happened Yesterday will come to pass again , and the same Causes will produce the like Effects in all Ages . Page the Sixth he begins very honestly , with a Recognition of our Security under the present King , and softens his Reader into a belief of his Honesty , by his Encomiums on his Majesty's Person , which would be well compar'd with his Seventeenth Page , to shew how he can frame his Stile to his Occasion ; but in short , concludes , that when he is dead , we know not who will come next ; nay , the Army may come and make who they please King , and turn the Parliament out of Doors and therefore in short , we ought not to trust any thing to him , that we wou'd not trust to the greatest Tyrant that may succeed him . So that our Condition is very hard , that the Person of a King is no part of the Consideration , but a King , be he Angel or Devil , 't is all one , is a Bugbear , and not to be trusted . A fine Story indeed , and our great Deliverer ( as he calls the King ) must not regret this , but be contented : that now he has cleared the World of all our Enemies , but himself , he should be esteem'd the great Charibdis which the Na●ion was to be split upon , and we must entirely disarm him , as a Wolf who ought not to be trusted with Teeth ; for these are his own Words . Then he tells us , No Legislators ever establisht a Free Government , but avoided this , as the Israelites , Athenians , Corinthians , Accaians , Lacedemonians , Thebanes , Sammites , Romans . Now 't is notoriously known , that all these were first establish'd Commonwealths , not Monarchies : and if this Gentleman wou'd have us return to that Estate , then I have done with him ; but I appeal to himself , if all these Governments , when they became Regal , did not maintain a Millitary Power more or less : Nay , God himself , when the Israelites would have a King , told them this would be a Consequence : as if it might be inferr'd as of absolute necessity , that a Military Power must be made use of with a Regal Power ; and as it may follow no King , no Army , so it may as well follow , no Army no King. Not that I think an Army necessary to maintain the King in his Throne , with regard to his Subjects , for I believe no Man in the World was ever the Peoples King more than his present Majesty . But I shall endeavour a little to examine by and by , what the King and Nation , so as Matters now stand in the World , wou'd be without an Army . But our Adversary rests not here , but Page 7. he proceeds ; truly he wou'd not have the King trusted with an Army ; no , nor so much as with Arms , all the Magazines too must be taken from him . And referring to the Estates , mentioned before , he says , They knew that the Sword and the Sovereignty marcht Hand in Hand , and therefore a general exercise of the People in Arms , was the Bulwark of their Liberties , and their Arms , that is , Magazines of Amunition , &c. for the Term is now changed , w●re never lodg'd in the Hands of any but the People : for so the following Words directly imply . The best and bravest of their Generals came from the Plough , and contentedly return'd to it again when the War was over . We shou'd have made a fine War against France indeed , if it had been so here . And then he goes on with Instances of Nations who lost their Liberties when ever they deviated from these Rules . At the end of these Examples , our Author tells all the World in short what he would be at : For there he has , like God Almighty , divided the World , and he has set the Sheep on his right hand , and the Goats on his left ; for he has reckon'd up all the Monarchal Governments in the World , with a Go ye cursed into the most abandon'd Slavery , as he calls it ; and all the Commonwealths in the World , on the other side , with a Come ye blessed into freedom from Kings standing Armies , &c. Nay he has brought Algiers and Tunis in for People who enjoy their Liberty , and are free . I suppose he has never been there : and truly , I believe the Freedom he mentions here , wou'd be very like that , or like the Days when there was no King in Israel , but every Man , did what was right in his own Eyes . Thus far I have follow'd him only with Remarks in general to Page 13. he proceeds then to tell us the Danger of an Army , and the Misfortune of all Countries to be forc'd sometimes to take up Arms against their Governours . A Man ought to be an universal Historian to affirm that , and I have not time to examine it now . From hence he draws this Assertion , That 't is therefore necessary to put us into a Capacity always to be able to Correct our Kings , that we may have no occasion for it ; for when we are enabled to do it , we shall never be put upon it . The English is this , Keep your King so weak that he may always be afraid of you , and he will never provoke you to hurt him . For , says he , that Nation shall be sure to live in Peace which is most capable of making War : But if the King has 20000 Men before-hand with us , observe it [ with us ] in totidem verbis I leave his meaning to be construed , the People can make no Efforts without the Assistance of a Foreign Power . Another Consequence of an Army is , They may come and force the People to choose what Members they please , to sit in Parliament , or they may besiege the Parliament-House , and the like . Now it happened that both these things have been done in England , and yet the People preserved their Liberties , which is a Demonstration beyond the Power of Words , from his old Maxim , What happen'd Yesterday , will come to pass again , and like Causes will have like Effects : The choice of Members of Parliament were obstructed , and the House of Parliament was besieged and insulted by the Soldiers , and yet the People were not depriv'd of their Liberties ; therefore it may be so again , for what happen'd Yesterday will come to pass again . Page 14. He descends to a particular , which reverst , I think , is a lively Instance what a vigorous Opposition may do against a far greater Force than 20000 Men : If King Charles the First , says he , had had but 5000 Men , the People cou'd never have struck a Stroak for their Liberties . Turn this Story , and let us but recollect what Force the Parliament had , and what the King had , and yet how many Stroaks he struck for his Crown . The Parliament had the Navy , all the Forts , Magazines and Men in their Hands : The King , when he erected his Standard at Nottingham , had neither Ships , Men , Arms , Ammunition or Money , but seem'd to be turn'd loose into the Field , to fight with the Commons of England , and all the Militia was in the Hands of the Parliament by the Commission of Array , and yet the King was ready in Keynton Field , and at the Head of an Army , sooner than the Parliament were ready to fight him , nor do the Writers of that Side pretend to call that a Victory . Then he comes to King Iames , and says he , If he had not attempted Religion ▪ but been contented with Arbitrary Power , we shou'd ha' let him bound us Hand and Foot ; and tho' King James had all the Nation , and his own Army against him , yet we account the Revolution next to a Miracle . To this I reply , No , Sir ; no Miracle at all on that Score ; for the Nobility , Gentry , and People of England did not question but they shou'd reduce him to reason , else they had never call'd in the present King , for they did not expect him to work Miracles , but to procure a Free Parliament , &c. as is at large express'd in his Majesties Decla●ation . But here lay the Miracle of the Revolution : The Providential Removal of the French Kings Forces to the Siege of Philipsburgh , against all manner of Policy , when if he had made but a feint on the Frontiers of the Dutch , they could neither have spar'd their Troops nor their Stadtholder . The wonderful Disposition of the Wind and Weather which lockt up King Iames's Fleet , so as to make the Descent easie and safe . And at last the Flight of King Iames , and the Re-settlement of the whole Kingdom without a Civil War , which was contrary to the Expectations of all the World ; this was that which was next to Miraculous . Now we must come to examine his Quotations , by which I must be excus'd to guess at the rest of his Instances , which indeed , generally speaking , are chosen very remote ; he tells us , a very small Army is capable to make a Revolution ; Oliver Cromwel left behind him but 17000 , Oportet Mendacem esse Memorem ; Oliver Cromwel did not work the Revolution which he brought to pass on the Parliament with less than 35000 Men , and if he left but 17000 behind him , which nevertheless I do not grant , there must be reckoned the Army left in Scotland , with General Monk , which was at least 12000 , and the Settlement in Ireland , which at least also took off from the old Army above 10000 Men more , besides those which had chang'd Parties and laid down their Arms : As to the Pretorian Soldiers , I don't read that they by themselves made any Revolution in the Roman Empire . Iulius Caesar had a much greater Force when he March'd out of Gaul ; and they were great Armies who Declared Galba , Otho , and Vespasian Emperors . Then as to the Ottoman Empire , of which this Author , I suppose , knows very little ; the Ianisaries have not been less in that Empire till this War , than 70000 Men ; what he calls the Court Ianisaries I know not , but when Selimus Depos'd and Murther'd his Father Amurath , you will find above 50000 Ianisaries and Spahis in the Action ; but if an Army of 17000 Men can enslave this Nation , as he foolishly supposes , our Militia are good for much at the same time . As to his Paragraph , p. 15. wherein he says , we are told , this Army is to be but for a time , and not to be part of our Constitution . I must say to him , I never have been told so , but I am of the Opinion , and shall acquiesce in it , that such an Army and no other , as the King and Parliament shall think needful for our Preservation shall be kept on Foot , so and so long as the said King and Parliament shall think fit ; and from them I dare say no Danger can befal our Liberty . We have a blessed happy Union between the King and the Parliament ; the King offers not to invade the Peoples Liberties , nor they his Prerogative ; he will desire no Army but for their safety , nor they will deny none that is : But here is an Author , who in the beginning of his Pamphlet says , the Safety of the Kingdoms depends upon a due Ballance ; and at the same time tells us , our Armies , no nor our Magazins , are not to be trusted with the King ; is that a due Ballance ? Then he tells you , that saying the Purse is in the Hands of the People , is no Argument at all , and that an Army will raise Money , as well as Money raise an Army ; he suggests indeed , that 't is too desperate a Course , as well he may ; for I wou'd only ask him , if he thinks an Army of 20000 Men could suppress this whole Kingdom , and live upon Free Quarter on the Inhabitants by Force . I wou'd put him in mind of the Alarum Ship Money made in England , and yet King Charles had then an Army and no Parliament Sitting . Then he supposes a shutting up the Exchequer , for indeed he is upon the Point of Supposing every thing that has but a Possibility in it , and what if the Exchequer should be shut up ? why this Gentleman wants to be told that the Money is not in Specie in the Exchequer , and it must be raised and brought thither by the Help of the Army ; so that all that amounts to the same thing as the other , raising Money by Troops of Horse , which has been try'd in England , to the Destruction of the Contrivers ; and what has been , he says , will always be again . From this he proceeds to an insolent saucy Banter on his Majesty's Person , whose Vertue , he says , we ought not to hazard by leading it into Temptation : Our Heroes , he says , are of a course Allay , and he has observed most Men to do all the Mischief they can , and therefore he is for dealing with them as with Children and Mad Men , that is , take away all Weapons from them , by which they may do either themselves or others any Mischief ; as the Sheep who addrest to Apollo , that for the future the Wolves might have no Teeth . His placing this in the Plural , the Courtiers , is too thin a Screen to blind any Man's Eyes ; but 't is as plain as if it had been said in so many Words , that all this is meant directly of the King ; for who is it we have been speaking of ? 't is the King , who is not to be trusted with an Army , or with the Arms of the Kingdom ; 't is the King who must be the Tyrant , and must raise Money , and shut up the Exchequer , and the like ; and he speaks here of nothing but what the King only can be supposed to do . In Confutation of his 18th Page , I could very plainly demonstrate , that even a Slavery under a Protestant Army would differ very much from a Slavery under a Popish and French Army . England has felt the First , and seen others feel the last : there is a Difference in Slavery , Algiers is better than Sally ; and there are Degrees of Misery ; and this is no putting an Epethite upon Tyranny , ask the Protestants of Languedoc if the French Dragoons were not worse than the Spanish Inquisition : But this is Foreign to the Point , it does not appear to any considerate Person , that here is any of these Slaveries in view , and therefore , I thank God , we are not put to the Choice . I shall leave him now , and discourse a little in Particular of the thing it self , and what other Pretensions he makes will meet their Answer in the process of the Story as they come in my way . As I said at the Beginning , what 's all this to us ? we who are English Men have the least Reason of any People in the World , to complain of any of our Laws , or of any Publick Affairs , because nothing is or can be done , but I , and every individual Free holder in England , do it our selves , we consent to it , and tacitly do it by our Representatives in the Parliament ; and since then our Liberties , aye and our Lives are committed to them , who are you , Sir ? that you shou'd run before you are sent , and dictate to the Collective Body of the Nation , what they ought or ought not to do ? if the House of Commons think fit to continue 50000 Men , there is no doubt but they will find ways so to keep them at their dispose , that even that Army shall be the Preserver of our Liberties , not the Destroyer of them , and to them let us leave it . But 't is the King is the Bugbear , a Royal Army shall destroy us , but a Parliament Army shall protect us . Page 11. Commonwealths , he says , may have Armies , but Kings may not . Now if putting Arms into the Hands of Servants is so fatal , why it 's as dangerous to make a general Muster of the Militia , as 't was to the French in the West-Indies , to give their Arms to their Servants , a standing Militia regulated and disciplin'd , such as the Vaudois or Miquelets , why that 's a Standing Army , and shall be as insolent as they , if you give them an Opportunity , and a Standing Army , as they may be regulated , shall be as safe and as far from Tyrannizing as they . And with this Gentleman's leave , I believe I could form a Proposal how an Army of 20000 Men might be kept in England , which should be so far from being destructive of , that , they should on all Occasions be the Preservers and Protectors of the Peoples Liberties , in case of a Court Invasion , for that is the Out-cry ; I confess , I do rather beg the Question here , than produce my Schemes of that Nature , because I do not think it becomes me to dictate to my Superiors , who without Question , know better what to do in that great Concern of the Government , than I could direct . The Question here may be more properly , What sort of an Army we talk of ? If 't were an Army Independant of the People , to be paid by the King , and so entirely at his absolute dispose . If 't were to be an Army of 50000 Men , why then something may be said ; but our Gentleman has not talk'd of above 20000 , and I presume he speaks of that without any Authority too , and at the same time talks of the Valour and Performances of the Militia , and wou'd have Sixty thousand of them settled and regulated . This Argument of the Militia is strangely turn'd about by him ; sometimes they are such Hero's that they are able to defend us , and why should they not , and the like , page 20 , 21. and sometimes so weak that 20000 Men will ruine us all ; nay , any thing of an Army . If they are strong enough to defend us from all the World , a small number of standing Troops cannot hurt us ; if they are not , then we must have an Army , or be exposed to every Invader . I wonder therefore this Gentleman does not descend to show us a time when the Militia of any Country did any Service singly , without the help of the Regulated Troops ; I can give him a great many Instances when they did not . The best time that ever the Militia of England can boast of doing any Service , was in our Civil War ; and yet I can name a Gentleman , who is now alive , who was an Officer of Horse in the Parliament Army , he was posted by the General at a Defile , to dispute the Passage of some of the King's Horse , who advanc'd from Warrington-Bridge in Cheshire , finding himself prest , he sent away to the General for some Foot to support him : He sent him a Company of Foot of the Militia , and a Detachment of Dragoons ; the Foot were plac'd behind the Hedges to line the Pass where they might have fir'd almost under Covert , as behind a Breast-work ; but as soon as ever the King's Horse appear'd , without firing one shot , they run all away . These were Regulated Militia . But our Author gives us three Instances of Countries , whose Militia defend them ; and three more of the bravery of a Country Militia , which Instances I must a little examine . Poland , Switzerland , and the Grisons are his Instances of Nations who defend themselves against powerful Neighbours without a standing Army . As to Poland , I shall shew afterward at what a rate they have defended themselves . The Swiss and Grisons subsist between formidable Enemies , just as the Duke of Savoy defends himself between the French and the Spaniards , or as Hamburgh between the Danes and the Dukes of Zel , or as Geneva between the French and the Saveyard ; not but that eithre side is able to devour them , but because when ever one side Ataques them , the others defend them ; for 't is neither sides Interest to see the others have them . But now we come to the Militia , the London Apprentices in the late War , and the Vaudois and Miquelets in this . As to the London Auxiliaries , which they call Apprentices , they behav'd themselves very well , but it was in Conjunction with the Regulated Troops , when I must also say , the King's Army at that time were but raw , and not much better than themselves . The Vaudois are Les Enfans perdue , a People grown desperate by all the Extremities which make Cowards fight ; a small handful of Ruin'd Men , exasperated by the Murder of their Families , and loss of their Estates , and are to be lookt upon as Men metamorphised into Dragons and Furies ; and yet even the Vaudois have never fought but on Parties , Skirmishes , Surprizes , Beating up Quarters , and the like , back'd with Retreats into inaccessible Rocks , and skulking behind the Cliffs , from whence , like Lightning , they break out on the Enemy , and are gone before they could well find where they were . The Miquelets in Catalonia are another Instance , and these are but People , who by the Advantages of the Mountains , lye in wait to intercept Convoys , and surprize Parties , and have done the French exceeding Dammage , on account of the Distance of the French Armies in that Country from their Magazines ; for 't is necessary to state Matters very exactly , to debate with so cunning a Disputant . But for the Service of either the Vaudois or Miquelets in the open Field , it has not been extraordinary . As to the Militia in Ireland , all their Fame is owing to the despicable wretched Conduct of the Irish ; for what Army but that of a Rabble of Irish , could Iniskilling and London-Derry have stood out against , at the rate they did . So that these Wonders of the Militia are all Phantosms , and not applicable to the present Case at all . I shall a little urge here by way of Reply , That there seems to be a Necessity upon the People of England at this time , to stand in a Posture of Defence more than usually ; if I cannot prove this , then I say nothing First , This Necessity arises from the Posture of our Neighbours : In former times , says our Authour , there was no difference betweon the Citizen , the Souldier , and the Husband-man ; but 't is otherwise now , Sir , War is become a Science , and Arms an Employment , and all our Neighbours keep standing Forces , Troops of Veteran Experienced Soldiers ; and we must be strangely expos'd if we do not . In former times the way of Fighting was Common to all , and if Men ran from the Field to the Camp , so did their Neighbours , and 't was as good for one as another . But how did the Romans preserve their Frontiers , and plant their Colonies ? That was not done by Citizens of Rome , but by Legionary Troops ; and shall we Disarm , while our Neighbours keep standing Armies of Disciplin'd Souldiers on foot ? Who shall secure us against a sudden Rupture ? Whoever will give himself the trouble to look into the Treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen and to Examine the Conduct of the French King they will find , He did not then account Leagues such Sacred things as to bind him against a visible Advantage ; and why should we lead him into Temptation ? Let any one but reflect on the several Treaties between him and the Duke of Lorrain , the Duke of Savoy , and the Spaniards ; after which ensued , the Prize of all Lorrain , the taking of all Savoy , and the taking of the City and Country of Luxemburgh ; let them look on his surprising the Principality of Orange , directly contrary to the Peace of Nimeguen , and the like , and is this a Neighbour to live by Naked and without an Army ? Who shall be Guarrantee that the French shall not insult us , if he finds us utterly Disarmed . To answer this Necessity says this wise Gentleman , We will have an Equivalent ; why , we will not have a Land Army , but we will have a Sea Army , that is , a good Fleet. A fine Tale truly , and is not this some of Mr. Iohnson's false Heraldry , as well as ' tother ? Is it not all one to be Slaves to an Army of Masqueteers , as a Rabble of Tarrs . Our very Scituation , which the Author is in his Altitudes about , and blesses his God Neptune for at such a rate ; that very Scituation exposes us to more Tyranny from a Navy , than from an Army : Nay I would undertake , if I were Admiral of a good Fleet , to Tyrannize more over this Nation , than I should if I were General of 40000 Men. I remember 't was a great cry among the Iacobite Party , about four Year ago ; what a vast Charge are we at about a War for the Confederates , Damn the Confederates , let us keep a good Fleet , and we are able to defend our selves against all the World ; let who will go down , and who will go up , no Body will dare to meddle with us : But God be thanked , the King knew better than these , what was the true Interest of England ; a War in Flanders is a War in England , let who will be the Invaders ; for a good Barrier between a Kingdom and a powerful Enemy , is a thing of such Consequence , that the Dutch always thought it well worth the Charges of a War to assist the Spaniard ; for thereby they kept the War from their own Borders and so do we . In defending this silly Equivalent of a Fleet , he has the Vanity to say , If our Fleet be well mann'd , 't is a ridiculous thing to think of any Princes Invading us ; and yet we found it otherwise . This very War we found King Iames invaded Ireland , and the French sent him an Aid of 8000 Men , who stood their Ground so well at the Battle of the Boyn , that if King Iames had done his part as well , it might have been a dearer Victory than is was ; after this he fetch'd those 8000 off again ; and after that sent Monsieur St. Ruth ; and after that a Relief to Limerick , tho' it came too late ; and all this notwithstanding we had the greatest Fleet at Sea , that ever England had before th● time , since it was a Nation . Thus Experience Bafles this foolish Equivalent , for Armies are not Transported with so much Difficulty ; and the Six hundred Sail the P. of Orange brought with him , had not been absolutely necessary for 14000 Men ; but there were vast Stores , Artillery , Arms , and heavy Baggage with them , which are not always necessary ; for we know Monsieur Pointy carried 4500 Men with him , on his Expedition to Cartagena in but 16 Ships ; and the 8000 Men before-mentioned , sent to Ireland , were carried in not above 35 or 38 Sail. Another wretched Equivalent , which this Author would have us trust to , is the Militia ; and these he magnifies , as sufficient to defend us against all the Enemies in the World ; and yet at the same time so Debases them , as to make them nothing in Comparison of a small Army : Nay , he owns , that notwithstanding these we are undone , and our Liberties destroyed , if the King be trusted but with a few Guards . This is such a piece of Logick as no Man can understand . If a Militia be regulated and Disciplin'd , I say they may enslave us as well as an Army ; and if not , they cannot be able to defend us ; if they are unable to Defend us , they are insignificant ; and if able , dangerous ; But , says the Author , there is no danger from the Militia , for they are our selves , and their Officers are Country Gentlemen of Estates : And is not our Army full of English Gentlemen , of Estates and Fortunes ; and have we not found them as inflexible to the Charms of Tyranny , when closetted in the late Reign ; and as true to the Protestant Interest and Liberties of England , as any Country Gentlemen , or Freeholders , or Citizens in England . Did they not lay down their Commissions , did they not venture to disobey his illegal Commands ? when the Cowardly Citizens address'd him with their nauseous Flattering , fulsome Harrangues ; thank'd him for their Bondage , and gave up their Charters and Priviledges , even before he ask'd for them ; These are the Persons that must guard our Liberties ; and they would be finely Guarded , God help us . I remember a Speech which I have to show in Manuscript of Sir Walter Rawleigh , on the Subject of the Spanish Invasion , which comes directly to this Case . The Author of this Pamphlet , to instance in the prodigious Navy that is necessary to bring over a small Army , tells us , the Spanish Armado Embark'd but 18000 Men , but he forgot that they were to take the Prince of Parma on Board from Flanders with 28000 old Low Country Soldiers more ▪ with which Army , as Sir Walter Rawleigh observ'd to that Gentleman , it was no improbable thing to think of Conquering this Kingdom ; and Queen Elizabeth was so sensible of it , that she often told Sir Walter , that if they had not been beaten at Sea , they had been all undone , for her Armies were all Tumultuary Troops , Militia , and the like . To proceed , I 'll grant all the Improbabilities which he suggests of the French King 's reviving a War , which has been so fatal to him : And as to King Iames Coming , truly I 'll allow the Militia are fittest at all times to deal with him ; but to use his own Method of supposing the worst , I 'll suppose the French King waving the Ceremony of a League , and a Declaration of War , when he has recovered Breath a little , shou'd as much on a sudden as can be , break with us single , and pour in an Army of 50000 Men upon us ; I 'll suppose our Fleet may be by accident so lockt in , as King Iames's was , for what has been may be , and they take that Opportunity , and get on Shore , and to oppose their Army , truly we raise the Militia , a Fine Shew they wou'd make , but what wou'd they do against 60 Batalions of French and Swiss Infantry ? wou'd this Gentleman venture to be hang'd if they run all away and did not fire a Gun at them ? I am sure I wou'd not . But on the other Hand , if the Militia are a sufficient Guard against a Foreign Power , so they are against a Home Power , especially since this Home Power may be kept down to a due Ballance , so as may but suffice to keep us from being insulted by a Foreign Enemy ; for Instance , suppose the King were to entertain in constant Pay , 20000 Men , including his Guards and Garrisons , the Militia of England Regulated and Disciplin'd , join'd to these , might do somewhat , but by themselves nothing . I can give him innumerable Instances of the Services of the Militia , but I never heard or read of any real Bravery from them , but when join'd with Regular Troops . To Instance once for all , 't is notorious that when the Prince of Conde attackt the Citizens of Paris at Charento● , that Populous City being all in an Uproar , sent a Detachment of 20000 Men to dislodge the Prince , who with 1500 Horse and Dragoons , drove them all away , and they never lookt behind them , till they got within the City Walls . Another Necessity for keeping up a certain Number of Troops , is the vast Expence and Difficulty of making a New-rais'd Army fit for Service ; I am bold to say , as the Nature of Fighting is now chang'd , and the Art of War improv'd , were the King now to raise a New Army , and to be Commanded by New Officers , Gentlemen who had seen no Service , it should cost him Three Years Time , and 30000 Mens Lives to bring them into a Capacity to face an Enemy . Fighting is not like what it has been ; I find our Author is but a Book Soldier , for he says , Men may learn to be Engineers out of a Book ; but I never heard that a Book Gunner could Bombard a Town ; the Philosophy of it may be Demonstrated in Scales and Diagrams , but 't is the Practice that produces the Experiments ; 't is not handling a Musket , and knowing the Words of Command , will raise a Man's Spirit , and teach him to Storm a Counterscarp ; Men must make the Terrors of the War familiar to them by Custom , before they can be brought to those Degrees of Gallantry . Not that there is an intrinsick Value in a Red Coat ; and yet the Argument is not at all enforced by the Foul Language he gives the Souldiers , while they are fighting in Flanders , and laying down their Lives in the Face of the Enemy to purchase our Liberty ; 't is hard and unkind to be treated by a rascally Pamphleteer with the scandalous Term of Ragamuffins , and Hen-roost Robbers . I am no Soldier , nor ever was , but I am sensible we enjoy the present Liberty , the King his Crown , and the Nation their Peace , bought with the Price of the Blood of these Ragamuffins , as he calls them , and I am for being civil to them at least . I might descend a little to examine what a strange Country England would be , when quite dismantled of all her Heroes ( as he calls them ) ; truly were I but a Pirate with a Thousand Men , I wou'd engage to keep the Coast in a Constant Alarm . We must never pretend to bear any Reputation in the World : No Nation would value our Friendship , or fear to affront us . Not our Trade Abroad would be secure , nor our Trade at Home . Our Peace , which we see now establish'd on a good Foundation , what has procur'd it ? a War , and the Valour of our Arms , speaking of Second Causes . And what will preserve it ? truly nothing but the Reputation of the same Force ; and if that be sunk , how long will it continue ? Take away the Cause , and our Peace , which is the Effect , will certainly follow . Let me now a little examine the History of Nations who have run the same risque this Gentleman would have us do , and not to go back to remote Stories of the Carthaginians , who the Romans could never vanquish till they got them to dismiss their Auxiliary Troops . The Citizens of Constantinople , who always deny'd their Emperor the Assistance of an Army , were presently ruin'd by the Turks . We will come nearer home : The Emperor Ferdinand II. over-run the whole Protestant Part of Germany , and was at the point of Dissolving the very Constitution of their Government , and all for what of their having a Competent Force on foot to defend themselves ; and if they had not been deliver'd by the Great Gustavus Adolphus , God Almighty must have wrought a Miracle to have sav'd them Next look into Poland , which our Author reckons to be one of the Free Countries who defend themselves without a standing Army . First he must understand , for I perceive he knows little of the Matter , that Poland has not defended it self ; or if it has , it has been at a very sorry rate , God knows , much such a one as we should do without an Army , or at much such a rate as we did of old , when the Picts and Scots were our Hostile Neighbours . Pray let us see how Poland , which enjoys its freedom without a standing Army , has defended it self : First , It has been ravag'd on the side of Lithuania by the Effeminate Muscovites , and tho' the Poles always beat them in the Field , yet they had devoured their Country first before the Polanders Militia could get together . On the other hand , the Tartars , in several volant Excursions , have over-run all Vpper Poland , Vkrania and Volhinia , even to the Gates of Crakow ; and in about Fifty years 't is allow'd they have carried away a Million of this wretchedly free People into Slavery , so that all Asia was full of Polish Slaves . On the East side Carolus Gustavus , King of Sweden , over-run the whole Kingdom , took Warsaw , Crackow , and beat King Casimir out of the Country into Silesia , and all in one Campaign , and only indeed for want of a Force ready to meet him upon the Frontiers ; for as soon as Casimir had time to recover himself , and Collect an Army , he lookt him in the Face , and with an Invinsible Resolution fought him wherever he met him : But the ruin of the Country was irrepairable in an Age. To come nearer home , and nearer to the Matter in hand , our Neighbours the Dutch , in the Minority of the present King , and under the manage of Barnavelt's Principles reviv'd in the Persons of the De Witts , to preserve their Liberties , as they pretended , they would suppress the Power of the House of Orange , and Disband their old Army which had establish't their Freedom by the Terror of their Arms ; and to secure themselves , they came to a regulated Militia , the very thing this Gentleman talks of : Nay , this Militia had the Face of an Army , and were entertain'd in Pay ; but the Commissions were given to the Sons of the principal Burghers , and the Towns had Governors from among themselves . This is just what our Gentleman wou'd have ; and what came of this ? These brave Troops were plac'd in Garrisons in the Frontier Towns : And in the Year 1672. the French King , this very individual French King now regnant , during the continuance of the Sacred Peace of Westphalia , enters the Country at the Head of two dreadful Armies , and these Soldiers , that were the Bulwark of the Peoples Liberties , surrendred the most impregnable Towns , garrison'd some with 2000 , some 3000 Men , nay some with 6000 , without striking a stroke , nay faster than the French cou'd well take Possession of them ; so that in about Forty days he had taken 42 strong Towns , which would cost him Seven years to take now , tho' no Army were in the Field to disturb him ; and then the People saw their Error , and gave themselves the Satisfaction of Tearing to Pieces the Authors of that pernicious Advice . And truly , I think these Instances are so lively , that I wonder our Author , who I perceive is not so ignorant , as not to know these things , shou'd not have provided some Answer to it , for he could not but expect it in any Reply to him . These things may a little tell us what is the Effects of a Nations being disarm'd while their Neighbours are in Arms , and all this must be answer'd with a Fleet ; and that may be answer'd with this , We may be invaded notwithstanding a Fleet , unless you can keep up such a Fleet as can Command the Seas in all parts at the same time , or can , as Queen Elizabeth did , forbid your Neighbours to build Ships . But the French King is none of those , and his Power at Sea is not be slighted : Nor is it so small , but it may with too much ease protect an Invasion , and it is not safe to put it to that hazard . Another Necessity of an Army seems to me to lye among our ●●●●es : There are Accidents which require the help of an Army , tho' the King and People were all of a Mind , and all of a side . King Iames and his Parliament had a full understanding , and they were as Vigorous for him , as ever Parliament was for a King , and yet what had become of both if he had not had Regular Troops to have resisted the Duke of Monmouth ? If they had been to be raised then , he must have gone to France then , as he did now , or have stay'd at home and have far'd worse ; for they wou'd hardly have us'd him so tenderly as the present King did to my knowledge . I am loth to mention the Iacobite Party as an Argument worth while , to maintain any thing of force , but just enough to prevent Assassinations and private Murthers on the King's Person ; for as they never dar'd look him in the face when powerfully assisted by the French ; so I dare say they will never have the Courage to disturb our Peace with Sword in hand ; what they do , will be by Caballing to foment Distrusts and Discontents to embroil , if possible , the King with his People or by private villainous Assassinates to destroy him , and by that means to involve the whole Nation in Blood and Disorder . I allow the Speech of Queen Elizabeth to the Duke D'Alanzon was very great and brave in her ; but pray had Queen Elizabeth no standing Army ? On the contrary , she was never without them ; she never had less in the Low Countreys , in aid of the Dutch , in France in aid of the King of Navar , and in her Wars in Ireland , than 30000 Men ; and all the difference was , that she kept them abroad , employ'd for the Assistance of her Neighbours , and had them absolutely at Command ; and so sensible she was of the want of them on the approach of the Spanish Armado , that she never lest her self so bare of them afterwards : and therefore to compare her Enemies and ours , and her Force with ours , without an Army , as he does p. 19. is a Deceptio visus upon our Understanding , and a presumption that no body has read any History but himself . Then we come to K. Charles the Second's time in p. 26. and then , he says , we thought a much less Army than is now contended for a grievance . To which I answer , Quatenus an Army , they were not thought a Grievance , but attended with the Circumstances of Popish Confederacies and Leagues , and a Popish Successor in view , and then visibly managing them they might be thought so ; and yet the Grand Iury presenting them , made them no more a Grievance than if they had presented the Parliament which granted an establisht number of Troops to King Charles . Another bold Assertion he makes p. 27. That a standing Army is the only way to bring in K. James . This is a strange preposterous Supposition , and has no Argument brought to prove it , but the uncertain capricious Humour of the Souldiery , who in all Ages have produc'd violent Revolutions , may bring it to pass ; that is in short , the Thing is possible , and that is all he can say ; and 't is every jot as possible , that K. William himself should change his Mind , Abdicate the Throne , and Call in K. James again , therefore pray let us have no King at all , for really when all is done these Kings are strange things , and have occasion'd more violent Revolutions in the World than ever have been known in unarm'd Governments . Besides , if we had no King , then a standing Army might be safe enough ; for he tells you , in Commonwealths they may be allow'd , p. 11. but in Monarchies they are the Devil and all : Nay he gives two Instances when we had Armies turn'd out their Masters , Oliver Cromwel and General Monk , and yet both these were in the time of a Commonwealth . Now I would know if ever an Army turn'd out their King ; as for K Iames , his instance is false , he really run away from his Army , his Army did not turn him out ; 't is true , part of it deserted : but I am bold to say , had K. Iames , with the Remainder , made good his Retreat , Souldier like , either to London , or under the Canon of Portsmouth , or to both , which he might ha' done , for no Body pursued him , till the French King had reliev'd him , it might have been a Civil War to this Hour . And thus I have followed him to his last Page , I think I have not omitted any of his material Arguments or Examples ; whether he is answered or not , in point of Argument , I leave to the Reader : what I have discovered in his Sophistical straining of Arguments , and misapplying his Quotations to gild by his Wit the want of his Proof , is what I thought needful ; his malicious Spirit every where discovers it self , and to me he seems to be a disconted unsatisfied sort of a Person , that is for any thing but what shou'd be , and borrows the Pretence of Liberty , to vent his Malice at the Government : Nor is it a new Invention , when ever any Person had a mind to disturb the Roman Government , Liberty was always the Word , and so it is now . CONCLUSION . I Shall say no more as to Argument , but desire the Favour of a Word in General , as to the present Controversy . To me it seems one of the most impudent Actions that ever was suffered in this Age , that a Private Person shou'd thus attack the King , after all that he has done for the Preservation of our Liberties and the Establishing our Peace , after all the Hazards of his Person and Family , and the Fatiegues of a bloody War , to be represented at his Return , as a Person now as much to be feared as King James was ; to be trusted no more than a Mad Man , and the like , before he so much as knows whether there shall ever be any Dispute about the Matter , or no. Has the King demanded a Standing Army ? Has he propos'd it ? Does he insist upon it ? How if no such thought be in him ? 'T is a Sign what a Government we live under , and 't is a Sign what Spirit governs some Men , who will abuse the most indulgent Goodness . It had been but time to have wrote such an Invective upon the King and the Army , when we had found the Parliament of England strugling to disband them , and the King resolute to maintain them : But This ! when the King and the House are all Union and Harmony ! 't is intollerable , and the King ought to have some Satisfaction made him , and I doubt not but he will. I am not , nor , I think , I have no where shown as if I were for the Government by an Army ; but I cannot but suppose , with Submission to the House of Commons , that they will find it necessary to keep us in a Posture of Defence sufficient to maintain that Peace which has cast so much Blood and Treasure to procure , and I leave the Method to them , and so I think this Author ought to have done . I do not question but in that great Assembly all things will be done for the Maintenance of our Liberty with a due respect to the Honour and Safety of his Majesty , that is possible : They have shown themselves the most steady and Zealous for his Interest and the Publick , of any Body that ever filled that House ; and I could never see , and yet I have not been a slight observer of Affairs neither . I say , I could never see the least symptom of an Inclination in the King's Actions , to dislike or contradict what they offered : has he not left them to be the entire judges of their own Grievances , and freely left them to be as entire judges of the Remedies ? Has he ever skreened a Malefactor from their Justice , or a Favourite from their Displeasure ? Has he ever infring'd their Priviledges ? and as to who shall come after , we have his Royal Declaration at his coming to these Kingdoms ; That his Design was to establish our Liberties on such Foundations , as that it might not be in the power of any Prince for the future to invade them , and he has never yet attempted to break it ; And how is this to be done ? not at the direction of a Pamphlet , but by the King , Lords and Commons , who have not taken a false Step yet in the Matter ; To them let it be left , and if they agree , be it with an Army , or without an Army ; be it by a Militia regulated , or by an Army regulated , what is that to him ? I have indeed heard much of a Militia regulated into an Army , and truly I doubt not , but an Army might be regulated into a Militia , with Safety and Honour to the King , and the Peoples Liberties . But as I have said , I leave that to the Government to determine , and conclude with only this Observation ; If ever the Gentleman who is the Author of this Pamphlet be trac'd , I verily believe he will appear to be one , who thinking he has deserv'd more Respect from the Government than he has found , has taken this Way to let them know , they ought to have us'd him better or us'd him worse . FINIS . 
A37442	----	The true-born Englishman a satyr. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1700 Approx. 71 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 38 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37442 Wing D849 ESTC T70649 11987849 ocm 11987849 51969 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37442) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 51969) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 64:2) The true-born Englishman a satyr. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [4], 71 p. s.n.], [London : 1700. In verse. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. BM. First (?) edition published anonymously. Cf. BM. Place of publication from Wing. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng National characteristics, English. Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1689-1702. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE True-Born Englishman . A SATYR . Statuimus Pacem , & Securitatem , & Concordiam Iudicium & Iustitiam inter Anglos & Normannos , Francos & Britones , Walliae , & Cornubiae , Pictos & Scotos , Albaniae , similiter inter Francos & Insulanos Provincias , & Patrias , quae pertinent ad Coronam nostram , & inter omnes nobis Subjectos , firmiter & inviolabiliter observari . Charta Regis Willielmi Conquisitoris de Pacis Publica , Cap. 1. Printed in the Year M D CC. The Preface . THE End of Satyr is Reformation : And the Author , tho he doubts the Work of Conversion is at a general Stop , has put his Hand to the Plow . I expect a Storm of Ill Language from the Fury of the Town , and especially from those whose English Talent it is to Rail : And without being taken for a Conjurer , I may venture to foretell , That I shall be Cavil'd at about my Mean Stile , Rough Verse , and Incorrect Language ; Things I might indeed have taken more Care in . But the Book is Printed ; and tho I see some Faults , 't is too late to mend them . And this is all I think needful to say to them . Possibly somebody may take me for a Dutchman ; in which they are mistaken : But I am one that would be glad to see Englishmen behave themselves better to Strangers , and to Governors also ; that one might not be reproach'd in Foreign Countries , for belonging to a Nation that wants Manners . I assure you , Gentlemen , Strangers use us better abroad ; and we can give no reason but our Ill Nature for the contrary here . Methinks an Englishman , who is so proud of being call'd A Goodfellow , shou'd be civil : And it cannot be denied but we are in many Cases , and particularly to Strangers , the Churlishest People alive . As to Vices , who can dispute our Intemperance , while an Honest Drunken Fellow is a Character in a man's Praise ? All our Reformations are Banters , and will be so , till our Magistrates and Gentry Reform themselves by way of Example ; then , and not till then , they may be expected to punish others without blushing . As to our Ingratitude , I desire to be understood of that particular People , who pretending to be Protestants , have all along endeavour'd to reduce the Liberties and Religion of this Nation into the Hands of King James and his Popish Powers : Together with such who enjoy the Peace and Protection of the present Government , and yet abuse and affront the King who procur'd it , and openly profess their Uneasiness under him : These , by whatsoever Names or Titles they are dignified or distinguish'd , are the People aim'd at : Nor do I disown , but that it is so much the Temper of an Englishman to abuse his Benefactor , that I could be glad to see it rectified . They who think I have been guilty of any Error , in exposing the Crimes of my own Countrymen to themselves , may among many honest Instances of the like nature , find the same thing in Mr. Cowly , in his Imitation of the second Olympick Ode of Pindar : His Words are these ; But in this Thankless World , the Givers Are envi'd even by th' Receivers : 'T is now the Cheap and Frugal Fashion , Rather to hide than pay an Obligation . Nay , 't is much worse than so ; It now an Artifice doth grow , Wrongs and Outrages to do , Lest men should think we Owe. The Introduction . SPeak , Satyr ; for there 's none can tell like thee , Whether 't is Folly , Pride , or Knavery , That makes this discontented Land appear Less happy now in Times of Peace , than War : Why Civil Feuds disturb the Nation more Than all our Bloody Wars have done before . Fools out of Favour grudge at Knaves in Place , And men are always honest in Disgrace : The Court-Preferments make men Knaves in course : But they which wou'd be in them wou'd be worse . 'T is not at Foreigners that we repine , Wou'd Foreigners their Perquisites resign : The Grand Contention 's plainly to be seen , To get some men put out , and some put in . For this our S — rs make long Harangues , And florid M — rs whet their polish'd Tongues . Statesmen are always sick of one Disease ; And a good Pension gives them present Ease . That 's the Specifick makes them all content With any King , and any Government . Good Patriots at Court-Abuses rail , And all the Nation 's Grievances bewail : But when the Sov'reign Balsam's once appli'd , The Zealot never fails to change his Side . And when he must the Golden Key resign , The Railing Spirit comes about again . Who shall this Bubbl'd Nation disabuse , While they their own Felicities refuse ? Who at the Wars have made such mighty Pother , And now are falling out with one another : With needless Fears the Jealous Nation fill , And always have been sav'd against their Will : Who Fifty Millions Sterling have disburs'd , To be with Peace and too much Plenty curs'd . Who their Old Monarch eagerly undo , And yet uneasily obey the New. Search , Satyr , search , a deep Incision make ; The Poyson 's strong , the Antidote 's too weak . 'T is pointed Truth must manage this Dispute , And down-right English Englishmen confute . Whet thy just Anger at the Nation 's Pride ; And with keen Phrase repel the Vicious Tide . To Englishmen their own beginnings show , And ask them why they slight their Neighbours so . Go back to Elder Times , and Ages past , And Nations into long Oblivion cast ; To Old Britannia's Youthful Days retire , And there for True-Born Englishmen enquire . Britannia freely will disown the Name , And hardly knows her self from whence they came : Wonders that They of all men shou'd pretend To Birth and Blood , and for a Name contend . Go back to Causes where our Follies dwell , And fetch the dark Original from Hell : Speak , Satyr , for there 's none like thee can tell . THE True-Born Englishman . PART I. * WHereever God erects a House of Prayer , The Devil always builds a Chappel there : And 't will be found upon Examination , The latter has the largest Congregation : For ever since he first debauch'd the Mind , He made a perfect Conquest of Mankind . With Uniformity of Service , he Reigns with a general Aristocracy . No Nonconforming Sects disturb his Reign , For of his Yoak there 's very few complain . He knows the Genius and the Inclination , And matches proper Sins for ev'ry Nation . He needs no Standing-Army Government ; He always rules us by our own Consent : His Laws are easy , and his gentle Sway Makes it exceeding pleasant to obey . The List of his Vicegerents and Commanders , Outdoes your Caesars , or your Alexanders . They never fail of his Infernal Aid , And he 's as certain ne're to be betray'd . Through all the World they spread his vast Command , And Death's Eternal Empire 's maintain'd . They rule so politickly and so well , As if they were L — J — of Hell. Duly divided to debauch Mankind , And plant Infernal Dictates in his Mind . Pride , the First Peer , and President of Hell , To his share Spain , the largest Province , fell . The subtile Prince thought fittest to bestow On these the Golden Mines of Mexico ; With all the Silver Mountains of Peru ; Wealth which would in wise hands the World undo : Because he knew their Genius was such ; Too Lazy and too Haughty to be Rich. So proud a People , so above their Fate , That if reduc'd to beg , they 'll beg in State. Lavish of Money , to be counted Brave , And Proudly starve , because they scorn to save . Never was Nation in the World before , So very Rich , and yet so very Poor . Lust chose the Torrid Zone of Italy , Where Blood ferments in Rapes and Sodomy : Where swelling Veins o'reflow with living Streams , With Heat impregnate from Vesuvian Flames : Whose flowing Sulphur forms Infernal Lakes , And human Body of the Soil partakes . There Nature ever burns with hot Desires , Fann'd with Luxuriant Air from Subterranean Fires : Here undisturb'd in Floods of scalding Lust , Th' Infernal King reigns with Infernal Gust . Drunk'ness , the Darling Favourite of Hell , Chose Germany to rule ; and rules so well , No Subjects more obsequiously obey , None please so well , or are so pleas'd as they . The cunning Artist manages so well , He lets them Bow to Heav'n , and Drink to Hell. If but to Wine and him they Homage pay , He cares not to what Deity they Pray , What God they worship most , or in what way . Whether by Luther , Calvin , or by Rome , They sail for Heav'n , by Wine he steers them home . Ungovern'd Passion settled first in France , Where Mankind lives in haste , and thrives by Chance A Dancing Nation , Fickle and Untrue : Have oft undone themselves , and others too : Prompt the Infernal Dictates to obey , And in Hell's Favour none more great than they . The Pagan World he blindly leads away , And Personally rules with Arbitrary Sway : The Mask thrown off , Plain Devil his Title stands ; And what elsewhere he Tempts , he there Commands . There with full Gust th' Ambition of his Mind Governs , as he of old in Heav'n design'd . Worshipp'd as God , his Painim Altars smoke , Embru'd with Blood of those that him Invoke . The rest by Deputies he rules as well , And plants the distant Colonies of Hell. By them his secret Power he maintains , And binds the World in his Infernal Chains . By Zeal the Irish ; and the Rush by Folly : Fury the Dane : The Swede by Melancholly : By stupid Ignorance , the Muscovite : The Chinese by a Child of Hell , call'd Wit : Wealth makes the Persian too Effeminate : And Poverty the Tartars Desperate : The Turks and Moors by Mah'met he subdues : And God has giv'n him leave to rule the Jews : Rage rules the Portuguese ; and Fraud the Scotch : Revenge the Pole ; and Avarice the Dutch. Satyr be kind , and draw a silent Veil , Thy Native England's Vices to conceal : Or if that Task 's impossible to do , At least be just , and show her Virtues too ; Too Great the first , Alas ! the last too Few . England unknown as yet , unpeopled lay ; Happy , had she remain'd so to this day , And not to ev'ry Nation been a Prey . Her Open Harbours , and her Fertile Plains , The Merchants Glory these , and those the Swains , To ev'ry Barbarous Nation have betray'd her , Who conquer her as oft as they Invade her . So Beauty guarded but by Innocence , That ruins her which should be her Defence . Ingratitude , a Devil of Black Renown , Possess'd her very early for his own . An Ugly , Surly , Sullen , Selfish Spirit , Who Satan's worst Perfections does inherit : Second to him in Malice and in Force , All Devil without , and all within him Worse . He made her First-born Race to be so rude , And suffer'd her to be so oft subdu'd : By sev'ral Crowds of Wandring Thieves o're-run , Often unpeopl'd , and as oft undone . While ev'ry Nation that her Pow'rs reduc'd , Their Languages and Manners introduc'd . From whose mixt Relicks our compounded Breed , By Spurious Generation does succeed ; Making a Race uncertain and unev'n , Deriv'd from all the Nations under Heav'n . The Romans first with Iulius Caesar came , Including all the Nations of that Name , Gauls , Greeks , and Lombards ; and by Computation , Auxiliaries or Slaves of ev'ry Nation . With Hengist , Saxons ; Danes with Sueno came , In search of Plunder , not in search of Fame . Scots , Picts , and Irish from th' Hibernian Shore . And Conqu'ring William brought the Normans o're . All these their Barb'rous Offspring left behind , The Dregs of Armies , they of all Mankind ; Blended with Britains who before were here , Of whom the Welsh ha' blest the Character . From this Amphibious Ill-born Mob began That vain ill-natur'd thing , an Englishman . The Customs , Sirnames , Languages , and Manners , Of all these Nations are their own Explainers : Whose Relicks are so lasting and so strong , They ha' left a Shiboleth upon our Tongue ; By which with easy search you may distinguish Your Roman-Saxon-Danish-Norman English. The great Invading * Norman let us know What Conquerors in After-Times might do . To ev'ry * Musqueteer he brought to Town , He gave the Lands which never were his own . When first the English Crown he did obtain , He did not send his Dutchmen home again . No Reassumptions in his Reign were known , D'avenant might there ha' let his Book alone . No Parliament his Army cou'd disband ; He rais'd no Money , for he paid in Land. He gave his Legions their Eternal Station , And made them all Freeholders of the Nation . He canton'd out the Country to his Men. And ev'ry Soldier was a Denizen . The Rascals thus enrich'd , he call'd them Lords , To please their Upstart Pride with new-made Words ; And Doomsday-Book his Tyranny records . And here begins the Ancient Pedigree That so exalts our Poor Nobility : 'T is that from some French Trooper they derive , Who with the Norman Bastard did arrive : The Trophies of the Families appear ; Some show the Sword , the Bow , and some the Spear , Which their Great Ancestor , forsooth , did wear . These in the Heralds Register remain , Their Noble Mean Extraction to explain . Yet who the Hero was , no man can tell , Whether a Drummer or a Colonel : The silent Record blushes to reveal Their Undeseended Dark Original . But grant the best , How came the Change to pass ; A True-Born Englishman of Norman Race ? A Turkish Horse can show more History , To prove his Well-descended Family . Conquest , as by the * Moderns 't is exprest , May give a Title to the Lands possest ▪ But that the Longest Sword shou'd be so Civil , To make a Frenchman English , that 's the Devil . These are the Heroes that despise the Dutch , And rail at new-come Foreigners so much ; Forgetting that themselves are all deriv'd From the most Scoundrel Race that ever liv'd . A horrid Medly of Thieves and Drones , Who ransack'd Kingdoms , and dispeopl'd Towns. The Pict and Painted Britain , Treach'rous Scot , By Hunger , Theft , and Rapine , hither brought . Norwegian Pirates , Buccaneering Danes , Whose Red-hair'd Offspring ev'ry where remains . Who join'd with Norman-French , compound the Breed From whence your True-Born Englishmen proceed . And lest by Length of Time it be pretended , The Climate may this Modern Breed ha' mended , Wise Providence , to keep us where we are , Mixes us daily with exceeding Care : We have been Europe's Sink , the Iakes where she Voids all her Offal Out-cast Progeny . From our Fifth Henry's time , the Strolling Bands Of banish'd Fugitives from Neighb'ring Lands , Have here a certain Sanctuary found : The Eternal Refuge of the Vagabond . Where in but half a common Age of Time , Borr'wing new Blood and Manners from the Clime , Proudly they learn all Mankind to contemn , And all their Race are True-Born Englishmen . Dutch , Walloons , Flemings , Irishmen , and Scots , Vaudois and Valtolins , and Hugonots , In good Queen Bess's Charitable Reign , Suppli'd us with Three hundred thousand Men. Religion , God we thank thee , sent them hither , Priests , Protestants , the Devil and all together : Of all Professions , and of ev'ry Trade , All that were persecuted or afraid ; Whether for Debt or other Crimes they fled , David at Hackelah was still their Head. The Offspring of this Miscellaneous Crowd , Had not their new Plantations long enjoy'd , But they grew Englishmen , and rais'd their Votes At Foreign Shoals of Interloping Scots . The * Royal Branch from Pict-land did succeed , With Troops of Scots and Scabs from North-by-Tweed . The Seven first Years of his Pacifick Reign , Made him and half his Nation Englishmen . Scots from the Northern Frozen Banks of Tay , With Packs and Plods came Whigging all away : Thick as the Locusts which in Egypt swarm'd , With Pride and hungry Hopes compleatly arm'd : With Native Truth , Diseases , and No Money , Plunder'd our Canaan of the Milk and Honey . Here they grew quickly Lords and Gentlemen , And all their Race are True-Born Englishmen . The Civil Wars , the common Purgative , Which always use to make the Nation thrive , Made way for all that strolling Congregation , Which throng'd in Pious Ch — s's Restoration . The Royal Refugeé our Breed restores , With Foreign Courtiers , and with Foreign Whores : And carefully repeopled us again , Throughout his Lazy , Long , Lascivious Reign , With such a blest and True-born English Fry , As much Illustrates our Nobility . A Gratitude which will so black appear , As future Ages must abhor to hear : When they look back on all that Crimson Flood , Which stream'd in Lindsey's , and Caernarvon's Blood : Bold Strafford , Cambridge , Capel , Lucas , Lisle , Who crown'd in Death his Father's Fun'ral Pile . The Loss of whom , in order to supply With True-Born English Nobility , Six Bastard Dukes survive his Luscious Reign , The Labours of Italian C — n , French P — h , Tabby S — t , and Cambrian . Besides the Num'rous Bright and Virgin Throng , Whose Female Glories shade them from my Song . This Offspring , if one Age they multiply , May half the House with English Peers supply : There with true English Pride they may contemn S — g and P — d , new-made Nobleman . French Cooks , Scotch Pedlars , and Italian Whores , Were all made Lords , or Lords Progenitors . Beggars and Bastards by his new Creation , Much multipli'd the Peerage of the Nation ; Who will be all , e're one short Age runs o're , As True-Born Lords as those we had before . Then to recruit the Commons he prepares , And heal the latent Breaches of the Wars : The Pious Purpose better to advance , H' invites the banish'd Protestants of France : Hither for God's sake and their own they fled , Some for Religion came , and some for Bread : Two hundred thousand Pair of Wooden Shooes , Who , God be thank'd , had nothing left to lose ; To Heav'n's great Praise did for Religion fly , To make us starve our Poor in Charity . In ev'ry Port they plant their fruitful Train , To get a Race of True-Born Englishmen : Whose Children will , when riper Years they see , Be as Ill-natur'd and as Proud as we : Call themselves English , Foreigners despise , Be surly like us all , and just as wise . Thus from a Mixture of all Kinds began , That Het'rogeneous Thing , An Englishman : In eager Rapes , and furious Lust begot , Betwixt a Painted Britton and a Scot : Whose gend'ring Offspring quickly learnt to bow , And yoke their Heifers to the Roman Plough : From whence a Mongrel half-bred Race there came , With neither Name nor Nation , Speech or Fame . In whose hot Veins new Mixtures quickly ran , Infus'd betwixt a Saxon and a Dane . While their Rank Daughters , to their Parents just , Receiv'd all Nations with Promiscuous Lust. This Nauseous Brood directly did contain The well-extracted Blood of Englishmen . Which Medly canton'd in a Heptarchy , A Rhapsody of Nations to supply , Among themselves maintain'd eternal Wars , And still the Ladies lov'd the Conquerors . The Western Angles all the rest subdu'd ; A bloody Nation , barbarous and rude : Who by the Tenure of the Sword possest One part of Britain , and subdu'd the rest . And as great things denominate the small , The Conqu'ring Part gave Title to the Whole . The Scot , Pict , Britain , Roman , Dane submit , And with the English-Saxon all unite : And these the Mixture have so close pursu'd , The very Name and Memory 's subdu'd : No Roman now , no Britain does remain ; Wales strove to separate , but strove in vain : The silent Nations undistinguish'd fall , And Englishman's the common Name for all . Fate jumbl'd them together , God knows how ; Whate're they were , they 're True-Born English now . The Wonder which remains is at our Pride , To value that which all wise men deride . For Englishmen to boast of Generation , Cancels their Knowledge , and lampoons the Nation . A True-Born Englishman's a Contradiction , In Speech an Irony , in Fact a Fiction . A Banter made to be a Test of Fools , Which those that use it justly ridicules . A Metaphor invented to express A man a-kin to all the Universe . For as the Scots , as Learned Men ha' said , Throughout the World their Wandring Seed ha' spread ; So open-handed England , 't is believ'd , Has all the Gleanings of the World receiv'd . Some think of England 't was our Saviour meant , The Gospel should to all the World be sent : Since when the blessed Sound did hither reach , They to all Nations might be said to Preach . 'T is well that Virtue gives Nobility , Else God knows where we had our Gentry ; Since scarce one Family is left alive , Which does not from some Foreigner derive . Of Sixty thousand English Gentlemen , Whose Names and Arms in Registers remain , We challenge all our Heralds to declare Ten Families which English-Saxons are . France justly boasts the Ancient Noble Line Of Bourbon , Mommorency , and Lorrain . The Germans too their House of Austria show , And Holland their Invincible Nassau . Lines which in Heraldry were Ancient grown , Before the Name of Englishman was known . Even Scotland too her Elder Glory shows , Her Gourdons , Hamiltons , and her Monroes ; Dowglas , Mackays , and Grahams , Names well known , Long before Ancient England knew her own . But England , Modern to the last degree , Borrows or makes her own Nobility , And yet she boldly boasts of Pedigree : Repines that Foreigners are put upon her , And talks of her Antiquity and Honour : Her S — lls , S — ls , C — ls , De — M — rs , M — ns and M — ues , D — s and V — rs , Not one have English Names , yet all are English Peers . Your H — ns , P — llons , and L — liers , Pass now for True-Born English Knights and Squires , And make good Senate-Members , or Lord-Mayors . Wealth , howsoever got , in England makes Lords of Mechanicks , Gentlemen of Rakes . Antiquity and Birth are needless here ; 'T is Impudence and Money makes a P — r. Innumerable City-Knights we know , From Blewcoat Hospitals and Bridewell flow . Draymen and Porters fill the City Chair , And Footboys Magisterial Purple wear . Fate has but very small Distinction set Betwixt the Counter and the Coronet . Tarpaulin Lords , Pages of high Renown , Rise up by Poor Mens Valour , not their own . Great Families of yesterday we show , And Lords , whose Parents were the Lord knows who . PART II. THE Breed's describ'd : Now , Satyr , if you can , Their Temper show , for Manners make the Man. Fierce as the Britain , as the Roman Brave ; And less inclin'd to Conquer than to Save : Eager to fight , and lavish of their Blood ; And equally of Fear and Forecast void . The Pict has made 'em Sowre , the Dane Morose ; False from the Scot , and from the Norman worse . What Honesty they have , the Saxon gave them , And That , now they grow old , begins to leave them . The Climate makes them Terrible and Bold ; And English Beef their Courage does uphold : No Danger can their Daring Spirit pall , Always provided that their Belly 's full . In close Intriegues their Faculty's but weak , For gen'rally whate're they know , they speak : And often their own Councils undermine By their Infirmity , and not design . From whence the Learned say it does proceed , That English Treasons never can succeed : For they 're so open-hearted , you may know Their own most secret Thoughts , and others too . The Lab'ring Poor , in spight of Double Pay , Are Sawcy , Mutinous , and Beggarly : So lavish of their Money and their Time , That want of Forecast is the Nation 's Crime . Good Drunken Company is their Delight ; And what they get by Day , they spend by Night . Dull Thinking seldom does their Heads engage , But Drink their Youth away , and hurry on Old Age. Empty of all good Husbandry and Sense ; And void of Manners most , when void of Pence . Their strong Aversion to Behaviour 's such , They always talk too little , or too much . So dull , they never take the pains to think ; And seldom are good-natur'd , but in Drink . In English Ale their dear Enjoyment lies , For which they 'll starve themselves and Families . An Englishman will fairly drink as much As will maintain Two Families of Dutch : Subjecting all their Labours to the Pots ; The greatest Artists are the greatest Sots . The Country Poor do by Example live ; The Gentry Lead them , and the Clergy drive : What may we not from such Examples hope ? The Landlord is their God , the Priest their Pope . A Drunken Clergy , and a Swearing Bench , Has giv'n the Reformation such a Drench , As wise men think there is some cause to doubt , Will purge Good Manners and Religion out . Nor do the Poor alone their Liquor prize , The Sages join in this great Sacrifice . The Learned Men who study Aristotle , Correct him with an Explanation-Bottle ; Praise Epicurus rather than Lysander , And * Aristippus more than Alexander . The Doctors too their Galen here resign , And gen'rally prescribe Specifick Wine . The Graduates Study's grown an easier Task , While for the Urinal they toss the Flask . The Surgeons Art grows plainer ev'ry Hour , And Wine 's the Balm which into Wounds they pour . Poets long since Parnassus have forsaken , And say the Ancient Bards were all mistaken . Apollo's lately abdicate and fled , And good King Bacchus reigneth in his stead : He does the Chaos of the Head refine , And Atom-Thoughts jump into Words by Wine : The Inspiration's of a finer Nature ; As Wine must needs excel Parnassus Water . Statesmen their weighty Politicks refine , And Soldiers raise their Courages by Wine . Caecilia gives her Choristers their Choice , And lets them all drink Wine to clear the Voice . Some think the Clergy first found out the way , And Wine 's the only Spirit by which they Pray . But others less prophane than so , agree , It clears the Lungs , and helps the Memory : And therefore all of them Divinely think , Instead of Study , 't is as well to drink . And here I wou'd be very glad to know , Whether our Asgilites may drink or no. Th' Enlight'ning Fumes of Wine would certainly Assist them much when they begin to fly : Or if a Fiery Chariot shou'd appear , Inflam'd by Wine , they 'd ha' the less to fear . Even the gods themselves , as Mortals say , Were they on Earth , wou'd be as drunk as they : Nectar would be no more Celestial Drink , They'd all take Wine , to teach them how to Think . But English Drunkards , gods and men outdo , Drink their Estates away , and Senses too . Colon's in Debt , and if his Friends should fail To help him out , must dye at last in Gaol : His Wealthy Uncle sent a Hundred Nobles , To pay his Trifles off , and rid him of his Troubles : But Colon , like a True-Born Englishman , Drank all the Money out in bright Champaign ; And Colon does in Custody remain . Drunk'ness has been the Darling of the Realm , E're since a Drunken Pilot had the Helm . In their Religion they are so unev'n , That each man goes his own By-way to Heav'n . Tenacious of Mistakes to that degree , That ev'ry man pursues it sep'rately , And fancies none can find the Way but he : So shy of one another they are grown , As if they strove to get to Heav'n alone . Rigid and Zealous , Positive and Grave , And ev'ry Grace , but Charity , they have : This makes them so Ill-natur'd and Uncivil , That all men think an Englishman the Devil . Surly to Strangers , Froward to their Friend ; Submit to Love with a reluctant Mind ; Resolv'd to be ungrateful and unkind . If by Necessity reduc'd to ask , The Giver has the difficultest Task : For what 's bestow'd they awkwardly receive , And always Take less freely than they Give . The Obligation is their highest Grief ; And never love , where they accept Relief . So sullen in their Sorrows , that 't is known , They 'll rather dye than their Afflictions own : And if reliev'd , it is too often true , That they 'll abuse their Benefactors too : For in Distress their Haughty Stomach 's such , They hate to see themselves oblig'd too much . Seldom contented , often in the wrong ; Hard to be pleas'd at all , and never long . If your Mistakes their Ill Opinion gain , No Merit can their Favour reobtain : And if they 're not Vindictive in their Fury , 'T is their unconstant Temper does secure ye : Their Brain 's so cool , their Passion seldom burns ; For all 's condens'd before the Flame returns : The Fermentation's of so weak a Matter , The Humid damps the Fume , and runs it all to Water . So tho the Inclination may be strong , They 're pleas'd by Fits , and never angry long . Then if Good Nature shows some slender proof , They never think they have Reward enough : But like our Modern Quakers of the Town , Expect your Manners , and return you none . Friendship , th' abstracted Union of the Mind , Which all men seek , but very few can find : Of all the Nations in the Universe , None talk on 't more , or understand it less : For if it does their Property annoy , Their Property their Friendship will destroy . As you discourse them , you shall hear them tell All things in which they think they do excel : No Panegyrick needs their Praise record ; An Englishman ne're wants his own good word . His first Discourses gen'rally appear Prologu'd with his own wondrous Character : When , to illustrate his own good Name , He never fails his Neighbour to defame : And yet he really designs no wrong ; His Malice goes no further than his Tongue . But pleas'd to Tattle , he delights to Rail , To satisfy the Lech'ry of a Tale. His own dear Praises close the ample Speech , Tells you how Wise he is ; that is , how Rich : For Wealth is Wisdom ; he that 's Rich is wise ; And all men Learned Poverty despise . His Generosity comes next , and then Concludes that he 's a True-Born Englishman ; And they , 't is known , are Generous and Free , Forgetting , and Forgiving Injury : Which may be true , thus rightly understood , Forgiving Ill Turns , and Forgetting Good. Chearful in Labour when they 've undertook it ; But out of Humour , when they 're out of Pocket . But if their Belly and their Pocket's full , They may be Phlegmatick , but never Dull : And if a Bottle does their Brains refine , It makes their Wit as sparkling as their Wine . As for the general Vices which we find They 're guilty of in common with Mankind , Satyr , forbear , and silently endure ; We must conceal the Crimes we cannot cure . Nor shall my Verse the brighter Sex defame ; For English Beauty will preserve her Name . Beyond dispute , Agreeable and Fair ; And Modester than other Nations are : For where the Vice prevails , the great Temptation Is want of Money , more than Inclination . In general , this only is allow'd , They 're something Noisy , and a little Proud. An Englishman is gentlest in Command ; Obedience is a Stranger in the Land : Hardly subjected to the Magistrate ; For Englishmen do all Subjection hate . Humblest when Rich , but peevish when they 're Poor ; And think whate're they have , they merit more . Shamwhig pretends t' ha' serv'd the Government , But baulk't of due Reward , turns Malecontent . For English Christians always have regard To future Recompences of Reward . His forfeit Liberty they did restore , And gave him Bread , which he had not before . But True-Born English Shamwhig lets them know , His Merit must not lye neglected so . As Proud as Poor , his Masters he 'll defy ; And writes a Piteous * Satyr upon Honesty . Some think the Poem had been pretty good , If he the Subject had but understood . He got Five hundred Pence by this , and more , As sure as he had ne're a Groat before . In Bus'ness next some Friends of his employ'd him ; And there he prov'd that Fame had not bely'd him : His Benefactors quickly he abus'd , And falsly to the Government accus'd : But they , defended by their Innocence , Ruin'd the Traytor in their own Defence . Thus kick'd about from Pillars unto Posts , He whets his Pen against the Lord of Hosts : Burlesques his God and King in Paltry Rhimes : Against the Dutch turns Champion for the Times ; And Huffs the King , upon that very score , On which he Panegyrick't him before . Unhappy England , hast thou none but such , To plead thy Scoundrel Cause against the Dutch ? This moves their Scorn , and not their Indignation ; He that Lampoons the Dutch , Burlesques the Nation . The meanest English Plowman studies Law , And keeps thereby the Magistrates in Awe : Will boldly tell them what they ought to do , And sometimes punish their Omissions too . Their Liberty and Property 's so dear , They scorn their Laws or Governors to fear : So bugbear'd with the Name of Slavery , They can't submit to their own Liberty . Restraint from Ill is Freedom to the Wise ; But Englishmen do all Restraint despise . Slaves to the Liquor , Drudges to the Pots , The Mob are Statesmen , and their Statesmen Sots . Their Governors they count such dangerous things , That 't is their custom to affront their Kings : So jealous of the Power their Kings possess'd , They suffer neither Power nor Kings to rest . The Bad with Force they eagerly subdue ; The Good with constant Clamours they pursue : And did King Iesus reign , they 'd murmur too . A discontented Nation , and by far Harder to rule in Times of Peace than War : Easily set together by the Ears , And full of causeless Jealousies and Fears : Apt to revolt , and willing to rebel , And never are contented when they 're well . No Government cou'd ever please them long , Cou'd tye their Hands , or rectify their Tongue . In this to Ancient Israel well compar'd , Eternal Murmurs are among them heard . It was but lately that they were opprest , Their Rights invaded , and their Laws supprest : When nicely tender of their Liberty , Lord ! what a Noise they made of Slavery . In daily Tumults show'd their Discontent ; Lampoon'd their King , and mock'd his Government . And if in Arms they did not first appear , 'T was want of Force , and not for want of Fear . In humbler Tone than English us'd to do , At Foreign Hands for Foreign Aid they sue . William the Great Successor of Nassau , Their Prayers heard , and their Oppressions saw : He saw and sav'd them : God and Him they prais'd ; To This their Thanks , to That their Trophies rais'd . But glutted with their own Felicities , They soon their New Deliverer despise ; Say all their Prayers back , their Joy disown , Unsing their Thanks , and pull their Trophies down : Their Harps of Praise are on the Willows hung ; For Englishmen are ne're contented long . The Rev'rend Clergy too ! and who 'd ha' thought That they who had such Non-Resistance taught , Should e're to Arms against their Prince be brought ? Who up to Heav'n did Regal Pow'r advance ; Subjecting English Laws to Modes of France . Twisting Religion so with Loyalty , As one cou'd never live , and t'other dye . And yet no sooner did their Prince design Their Glebes and Perquisites to undermine , But all their Passive Doctrines laid aside ; The Clergy their own Principles deny'd : Unpreach'd their Non-Resisting Cant , and pray'd To Heav'n for Help , and to the Dutch for Aid . The Church chim'd all her Doctrines back again , And Pulpit-Champions did the Cause maintain ; Flew in the face of all their former Zeal , And Non-Resistance did at once repeal . The Rabbies say it would be too prolix , To tye Religion up to Politicks : The Church's Safety is Suprema Lex . And so by a new Figure of their own , Do all their former Doctrines disown . As Laws Post Facto in the Parliament , In urgent Cases have obtain'd Assent ; But are as dangerous Presidents laid by ; Made lawful only by Necessity . The Rev'rend Fathers then in Arms appear , And Men of God became the Men of War. The Nation , fir'd by them , to Arms apply ; Assault their Antichristian Monarchy ; To their due Channel all our Laws restore , And made things what they shou'd ha' been before . But when they came to Fill the Vacant Throne , And the Pale Priests look'd back on what they had done ; How English Liberty began to thrive , And Church-of - England Loyalty out-live : How all their Persecuting Days were done , And their Deliv'rer plac'd upon the Throne : The Priests , as Priests are wont to do , turn'd Tail ; They 're Englishmen , and Nature will prevail . Now they deplore the Ruins they ha' made , And Murmur for the Master they Betray'd . Excuse those Crimes they cou'd not make him mend ; And suffer for the Cause they can't defend . Pretend they 'd not ha' carry'd things so high ; And Proto-Martyrs make for Popery . Had the Prince done as they design'd the thing , Ha' set the Clergy up to rule the King ; Taken a Donative for coming hither , And so ha' left their King and them together , We had say they been now a happy Nation . No doubt we had seen a Blessed Reformation : For Wise Men say 't's as dangerous a thing , A Ruling Priesthood , as a Priest-rid King. And of all Plagues with which Mankind are curst , Ecclesiastick Tyranny's the worst . If all our former Grievances were feign'd , King Iames has been abus'd , and we trepann'd ; Bugbear'd with Popery and Power Despotick , Tyrannick Government , and Leagues Exotick : The Revolution's a Phanatick Plot , W — a Tyrant , S — a Sot : A Factious Army and a Poyson'd Nation , Unjustly forc'd King Iames's Abdication . But if he did the Subjects Rights invade , Then he was punish'd only , not betray'd : And punishing of Kings is no such Crime , But Englishmen ha' done it many a time . When Kings the Sword of Justice first lay down , They are no Kings , though they possess the Crown . Titles are Shadows , Crowns are empty things , The Good of Subjects is the End of Kings ; To guide in War , and to protect in Peace : Where Tyrants once commence , the Kings do cease : For Arbitrary Power 's so strange a thing , It makes the Tyrant , and unmakes the King. If Kings by Foreign Priests and Armies reign , And Lawless Power against their Oaths maintain , Then Subjects must ha' reason to complain . If Oaths must bind us when our Kings do ill ; To call in Foreign Aid is to rebel . By Force to circumscribe our Lawful Prince , Is wilful Treason in the largest sense : And they who once rebel , most certainly Their God , and King , and former Oaths defy . If we allow no Male-Administration Could cancel the Allegiance of the Nation ; Let all our Learned Sons of Levi try , This Eccles'astick Riddle to unty : How they could make a Step to Call the Prince , And yet pretend to Oaths and Innocence . By th' first Address they made beyond the Seas , They 're perjur'd in the most intense Degrees ; And without Scruple for the time to come , May swear to all the Kings in Christendom . And truly did our Kings consider all , They 'd never let the Clergy swear at all : Their Politick Allegiance they 'd refuse ; For Whores and Priests do never want excuse . But if the Mutual Contract was dissolv'd , The Doubt's explain'd , the Difficulty solv'd : That Kings , when they descend to Tyranny , Dissolve the Bond , and leave the Subject free . The Government 's ungirt when Justice dies , And Constitutions are Non-Entities . The Nation 's all a Mob , there 's no such thing As Lords or Commons , Parliament or King. A great promiscuous Crowd the Hydra lies , Till Laws revive , and mutual Contract ties : A Chaos free to chuse for their own share , What Case of Government they please to wear : If to a King they do the Reins commit , All men are bound in Conscience to submit : But then that King must by his Oath assent To Postulata's of the Government ; Which if he breaks , he cuts off the Entail , And Power retreats to its Original . This Doctrine has the Sanction of Assent , From Nature's Universal Parliament . The Voice of Nations , and the Course of Things , Allow that Laws superior are to Kings . None but Delinquents would have Justice cease , Knaves rail at Laws , as Soldiers rail at Peace : For Justice is the End of Government , As Reason is the Test of Argument . No man was ever yet so void of Sense , As to debate the Right of Self-Defence ; A Principle so grafted in the Mind , With Nature born , and does like Nature bind : Twisted with Reason , and with Nature too ; As neither one nor t'other can undo . Nor can this Right be less when National , Reason which governs one , should govern all . Whate're the Dialect of Courts may tell , He that his Right demands , can ne're rebel . Which Right , if 't is by Governors deny'd , May be procur'd by Force , or Foreign Aid . For Tyranny's a Nation 's Term for Grief ; As Folks cry Fire , to hasten in Relief . And when the hated word is heard about , All men shou'd come to help the People out . Thus England groan'd , Britannia's Voice was heard ; And Great Nassau to rescue her , appear'd : Call'd by the Universal Voice of Fate ; God and the Peoples Legal Magistrate . Ye Heav'ns regard ! Almighty Iove look down , And view thy Injur'd Monarch on the Throne . On their Ungrateful Heads due Vengeance take , Who sought his Aid , and then his part forsake . Witness , ye Powers ! it was Our Call alone , Which now our Pride makes us asham'd to own . Britannia's Troubles fetch'd him from afar , To court the dreadful Casualties of War : But where Requital never can be made , Acknowlegment's a Tribute seldom paid . He dwelt in Bright Maria's Circling Arms , Defended by the Magick of her Charms , From Foreign Fears , and from Domestick Harms . Ambition found no Fuel for her Fire , He had what God cou'd give , or Man desire . Till Pity rowz'd him from his soft Repose , His Life to unseen Hazards to expose : Till Pity mov'd him in our Cause t' appear ; Pity ! that Word which now we hate to hear . But English Gratitude is always such , To hate the Hand which does oblige too much . Britannia's Cries gave Birth to his Intent , And hardly gain'd his unforeseen Assent : His boding Thoughts foretold him he should find The People Fickle , Selfish , and Unkind . Which Thought did to his Royal Heart appear More dreadful than the Dangers of the War : For nothing grates a Generous Mind so soon , As base Returns for hearty Service done . Satyr be silent , awfully prepare Britannia's Song , and William's Praise to hear . Stand by , and let her chearfully rehearse Her Grateful Vows in her Immortal Verse . Loud Fame's Eternal Trumpet let her sound ; Listen ye distant Poles , and endless Round . May the strong Blast the welcome News convey As far as Sound can reach , or Spirit fly . To Neighb'ring Worlds , if such there be , relate Our Hero's Fame , for theirs to imitate . To distant Worlds of Spirits let her rehearse : For Spirits without the helps of Voice converse . May Angels hear the gladsome News on high , Mixt with their everlasting Symphony . And Hell it self stand in suspence to know Whether it be the Fatal Blast , or no. BRITANNIA . The Fame of Virtue 't is for which I sound , And Heroes with Immortal Triumphs crown'd . Fame built on solid Virtue swifter flies , Than Morning Light can spread my Eastern Skies . The gath'ring Air returns the doubling Sound , And lowd repeating Thunders force it round : Ecchoes return from Caverns of the Deep : Old Chaos dreams on 't in Eternal Sleep . Time hands it forward to its latest Urn , From whence it never , never shall return , Nothing is heard so far , or lasts so long ; 'T is heard by ev'ry Ear , and spoke by ev'ry Tongue . My Hero , with the Sails of Honour furl'd , Rises like the Great Genius of the World. By Fate and Fame wisely prepar'd to be The Soul of War , and Life of Victory . He spreads the Wings of Virtue on the Throne , And ev'ry Wind of Glory fans them on . Immortal Trophies dwell upon his Brow , Fresh as the Garlands he has worn but now . By different Steps the high Ascent he gains , And differently that high Ascent maintains . Princes for Pride and Lust of Rule make War , And struggle for the Name of Conqueror . Some fight for Fame , and some for Victory . He Fights to Save , and Conquers to set Free. Then seek no Phrase his Titles to conceal , And hide with Words what Actions must reveal . No Parallel from Hebrew Stories take , Of God-like Kings my Similies to make : No borrow'd Names conceal my living Theam ; But Names and Things directly I proclaim . 'T is honest Merit does his Glory raise ; Whom that exalts , let no man fear to praise . Of such a Subject no man need be shy ; Virtue 's above the Reach of Flattery . He needs no Character but his own Fame , Nor any flattering Titles , but his Name . William's the Name that 's spoke by ev'ry Tongue : William's the Darling Subject of my Song . Listen ye Virgins to the Charming Sound , And in Eternal Dances hand it round : Your early Offerings to this Altar bring ; Make him at once a Lover and a King. May he submit to none but to your Arms ; Nor ever be subdu'd , but by your Charms . May your soft Thoughts for him be all sublime ; And ev'ry tender Vow be made for him . May he be first in ev'ry Morning-Thought , And Heav'n ne're hear a Pray'r where he 's left out . May ev'ry Omen , ev'ry boding Dream , Be Fortunate by mentioning his Name . May this one Charm Infernal Powers affright , And guard you from the Terrors of the Night . May ev'ry chearful Glass as it goes down To William's Health , be Cordials to your own . Let ev'ry Song be Chorust with his Name . And Musick pay her Tribute to his Fame . Let ev'ry Poet tune his Artful Verse , And in Immortal Strains his Deeds rehearse . And may Apollo never more inspire The Disobedient Bard with his Seraphick Fire . May all my Sons their grateful Homage pay ; His Praises sing , and for his Safety pray . Satyr return to our Unthankful Isle , Secur'd by Heav'n's Regard , and William's Toil. To both Ungrateful , and to both Untrue ; Rebels to God , and to Good Nature too . If e're this Nation be distress'd again , To whomsoe're they cry , they 'll cry in vain . To Heav'n they cannot have the face to look ; Or if they should , it would but Heav'n provoke . To hope for Help from Man would be too much ; Mankind would always tell 'em of the Dutch : How they came here our Freedoms to maintain , Were Paid , and Curs'd , and Hurry'd home again . How by their Aid we first dissolv'd our Fears , And then our Helpers damn'd for Foreigners . 'T is not our English Temper to do better ; For Englishmen think ev'ry man their Debtor . 'T is worth observing , that we ne're complain'd Of Foreigners , nor of the Wealth they gain'd , Till all their Services were at an End. Wise men affirm it is the English way , Never to Grumble till they come to Pay ; And then they always think their Temper 's such , The Work too little , and the Pay too much . As frighted Patients , when they want a Cure , Bid any Price , and any Pain endure : But when the Doctor 's Remedies appear , The Cure's too Easy , and the Price too Dear . Great Portland ne're was banter'd , when he strove For Us his Master's kindest Thoughts to move . We ne're lampoon'd his Conduct , when employ'd King Iames's Secret Councils to divide : Then we caress'd him as the only Man , Which could the Doubtful Oracle explain : The only Hushai able to repell The Dark Designs of our Achitophel . Compar'd his Master's Courage to his Sense ; The Ablest Statesman , and the Bravest Prince . On his Wise Conduct we depended much , And lik'd him ne're the worse for being Dutch. Nor was he valued more than he deserv'd ; Freely he ventur'd , faithfully he serv'd . In all King William's Dangers he has shar'd ; In England's Quarrels always he appear'd : The Revolution first , and then the Boyne ; In Both his Counsels and his Conduct shine . His Martial Valour Flanders will confess ; And France Regrets his Managing the Peace . Faithful to England's Interest and her King : The greatest Reason of our Murmuring . Ten Years in English Service he appear'd , And gain'd his Master's and the World's Regard : But 't is not England's Custom to Reward . The Wars are over , England needs him not ; Now he 's a Dutchman , and the Lord knows what . Schonbergh , the Ablest Soldier of his Age , With Great Nassau did in our Cause engage : Both join'd for England's Rescue and Defence ; The Greatest Captain , and the Greatest Prince . With what Applause his Stories did we tell ? Stories which Europe's Volumes largely swell . We counted him an Army in our Aid : Where he commanded , no man was afraid . His Actions with a constant Conquest shine , From Villa-Vitiosa to the Rhine . France , Flanders , Germany , his Fame confess ; And all the World was fond of him , but Us. Our Turn first serv'd , we grudg'd him the Command . Witness the Grateful Temper of the Land. We blame the K — that he relies too much On Strangers , Germans , Hugonots , and Dutch ; And seldom does his great Affairs of State , To English Counsellors communicate . The Fact might very well be answer'd thus ; He has so often been betray'd by us , He must have been a Madman to rely On English G — ns Fidelity . For laying other Arguments aside ; This Thought might mortify our English Pride , That Foreigners have faithfully obey'd him , And none but Englishmen have e're betray'd him . They have our Ships and Merchants bought and sold , And barter'd English Blood for Foreign Gold. First to the French they sold our Turky-Fleet , And Injur'd Talmarsh next at Camaret . The King himself is shelter'd from their Snares , Not by his Merit , but the Crown he wears . Experience tells us 't is the English way , Their Benefactors always to betray . And lest Examples should be too remote , A Modern Magistrate of Famous Note , Shall give you his own History by Rote . I 'll make it out , deny it he that can , His Worship is a True-born Englishman , In all the Latitude that Empty Word By Modern Acceptation's understood . The Parish-Books his Great Descent record , And now he hopes e're long to be a Lord. And truly as things go , it wou'd be pity But such as he bore Office in the City : While Robb'ry for Burnt-Offering he brings , And gives to God what he has stole from Kings : Great Monuments of Charity he raises , And good St. Magnus whistles out his Praises . To City-Gaols he grants a Jubilee , And hires Huzza's from his own Mobile . Lately he wore the Golden Chain and Gown , With which Equipt he thus harangu'd the Town . Sir C — s D — b's Fine Speech , &c. WIth Clouted Iron Shooes and Sheepskin Breeches , More Rags than Manners , and more Dirt than Riches : From driving Cows and Calves to Layton-Market , While of my Greatness there appear'd no Spark yet , Behold I come , to let you see the Pride With which Exalted Beggars always ride . Born to the Needful Labours of the Plow , The Cart-Whip grace 't me as the Chain does now . Nature and Fate in doubt what course to take , Whether I shou'd a Lord or Plough-Boy make ▪ Kindly at last resolv'd they wou'd promote me , And first a Knave , and then a Knight they vote me . What Fate appointed , Nature did prepare , And furnish'd me with an exceeding Care. To fit me for what they design'd to have me ; And ev'ry Gift but Honesty they gave me . And thus Equipt , to this Proud Town I came , In quest of Bread , and not in quest of Fame . Blind to my future Fate , an humble Boy , Free from the Guilt and Glory I enjoy . The Hopes which my Ambition entertain'd , Were in the Name of Foot-Boy all contain'd . The Greatest Heights from Small Beginnings rise ; The Gods were Great on Earth , before they reach'd the Skies . B — well , the Generous Temper of whose Mind , Was always to be bountiful inclin'd : Whether by his Ill Fate or Fancy led , First took me up , and furnish'd me with Bread. The little Services he put me to , Seem'd Labours rather than were truly so . But always my Advancement he design'd ; For 't was his very Nature to be kind . Large was his Soul , his Temper ever Free ; The best of Masters and of Men to me . And I who was before decreed by Fate , To be made Infamous as well as Great , With an obsequious Diligence obey'd him , Till trusted with his All , and then betray'd him . All his past Kindnesses I trampled on , Ruin'd his Fortunes to erect my own . So Vipers in the Bosom bred , begin To hiss at that Hand first which took them in . With eager Treach'ry I his Fall pursu'd , And my first Trophies were Ingratitude . Ingratitude 's the worst of Human Guilt , The basest Action Mankind can commit ; Which like the Sin against the Holy Ghost , Has least of Honour , and of Guilt the most . Distinguish'd from all other Crimes by this , That 't is a Crime which no man will confess . That Sin alone , which shou'd not be forgiv'n On Earth , altho perhaps it may in Heav'n . Thus my first Benefactor I o'rethrew ; And how shou'd I be to a second true ? The Publick Trust came next into my Care , And I to use them scurvily prepare : My Needy Sov'reign Lord I play'd upon , And Lent him many a Thousand of his own ; For which , great Int'rests I took care to charge , And so my Ill-got Wealth became so large . My Predecessor Iudas was a Fool , Fitter to ha' been whipt , and sent to School , Than Sell a Saviour : Had I been at hand , His Master had not been so cheap Trepann'd ; I wou'd ha' made the eager Iews ha' found , For Thirty Pieces , Thirty thousand Pound . My Cousin Ziba , of Immortal Fame , ( Ziba and I shall never want a Name : ) First-born of Treason , nobly did advance His Master's Fall , for his Inheritance . By whose keen Arts old David first began To break his Sacred Oath to Ionathan : The Good Old King , 't is thought , was very loth To break his Word , and therefore broke his Oath . Ziba's a Traytor of some Quality , Yet Ziba might ha' been inform'd by me : Had I been there , he ne're had been content With half th' Estate , nor half the Government . In our late Revolution 't was thought strange , That I of all mankind shou'd like the Change : But they who wonder'd at it , never knew , That in it I did my Old Game pursue : Nor had they heard of Twenty thousand Pound , Which ne're was lost , yet never cou'd be found . Thus all things in their turn to Sale I bring , God and my Master first , and then the King : Till by successful Villanies made bold , I thought to turn the Nation into Gold ; And so to Forg — y my Hand I bent , Not doubting I could gull the Government ; But there was ruffl'd by the Parliament . And if I ' scap'd th' Unhappy Tree to climb , 'T was want of Law , and not for want of Crime . But my * Old Friend , who printed in my Face A needful Competence of English Brass , Having more business yet for me to do , And loth to lose his Trusty Servant so , Manag'd the matter with such Art and Skill , As sav'd his Hero , and threw out the B — l. And now I 'm grac'd with unexpected Honours , For which I 'll certainly abuse the Donors : Knighted , and made a Tribune of the People , Whose Laws and Properties I 'm like to keep well : The Custos Rotulorum of the City , And Captain of the Guards of their Banditti . Surrounded by my Catchpoles , I declare Against the Needy Debtor open War. I hang poor Thieves for stealing of your Pelf , And suffer none to rob you , but my self . The King commanded me to help Reform ye , And how I 'll do 't , Miss — shall inform ye . I keep the best Seraglio in the Nation , And hope in time to bring it into Fashion . No Brimstone-Whore need fear the Lash from me , That part I 'll leave to Brother Ieffery . Our Gallants need not go abroad to Rome , I 'll keep a Whoring Jubilee at home . Whoring's the Darling of my Inclination ; A'n't I a Magistrate for Reformation ? For this my Praise is sung by ev'ry Bard , For which Bridewell wou'd be a just Reward . In Print my Panegyricks fill the Street , And hir'd Gaol-birds their Huzza's repeat . Some Charities contriv'd to make a show , Have taught the Needy Rabble to do so : Whose empty Noise is a Mechanick Fame , Since for Sir Belzebub they 'd do the same . The Conclusion . THen let us boast of Ancestors no more , Or Deeds of Heroes done in days of Yore , In latent Records of the Ages past , Behind the Rear of Time , in long Oblivion plac'd . For if our Virtues must in Lines descend , The Merit with the Families would end : And Intermixtures would most fatal grow ; For Vice would be Hereditary too ; The Tainted Blood wou'd of necessity , Involuntary Wickedness convey . Vice , like Ill Nature , for an Age or two , May seem a Generation to pursue ; But Virtue seldom does regard the Breed ; Fools do the Wise , and Wise Men Fools succeed . What is 't to us , what Ancestors we had ? If Good , what better ? or what worse , if Bad ? Examples are for Imitation set , Yet all men follow Virtue with Regret . Cou'd but our Ancestors retrieve their Fate , And see their Offspring thus degenerate ; How we contend for Birth and Names unknown , And build on their past Actions , not our own ; They 'd cancel Records , and their Tombs deface , And openly disown the vile degenerate Race : For Fame of Families is all a Cheat , 'T is Personal Virtue only makes us great . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A37442-e1370 * An English Proverb , Where God has a Church , the Devil has a Chappel . * W m the Conq. * Or Archer . * Dr. Sherl . De Facto . * K. I. I. K. c. II. Notes for div A37442-e7580 * The Drunkards Name for Canary . * Satyr in Praise of Folly and Knavery . * The Devil . 
A37444	----	The two great questions further considered with some reply to the remarks / by the author. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1700 Approx. 34 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37444 Wing D851 ESTC R20633 12403577 ocm 12403577 61329 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37444) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 61329) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 275:11) The two great questions further considered with some reply to the remarks / by the author. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [5], 20, [1] p. [s.n.], London : 1700. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. NUC pre-1956. Errata: p. [1] at end. Reproduction of original in Yale University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Spanish Succession, War of, 1701-1714 -- Causes. Europe -- Politics and government -- 1648-1715. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Two Great Questions Further Considered . With some Reply to the Remarks . Non Licet Hominem Muliebriter rixare . By the Author . LONDON : Printed in the Year MDCC . Since then his Passion has put him out of Temper , and transported him beyond the bounds of Decency and good Manners , I shall leave him to come to himself again , by the helps of Time , Sleep , and such other proper Remedies for Men that are Craz'd ad Distemper'd , and Address my self to that part of Mankind who are Masters of their Sences . Of all Men in this Town , the Author of the Two Reasons Consider'd , was never yet suspected of being a Courtier , an Advocate for standing Armies , an Insulter of Parliaments , but just the contrary , as will appear , if ever he is call'd to show himself . But because he took the Liberty to put his Thoughts in Print , on the Extraordinary Iuncture of Affairs on Account of the Spanish Succession , and he finds that some People are mistaken both in him , and in the Intent of his Book ; he therefore Craves leave of the Publick to Explain himself in some things , in which he little thought any Body wou'd ha' been so weak as to mistake him . THE Two Great Questions Further Considered . BEFORE I enter into the Particulars of the Book I am going to vindicate , I must desire the Reader to observe that this Book was wrote before the French King had declar'd He would accept the King of Spain's Will , or had receiv'd the Duke d' Anjou as King of Spain . And therefore when I speak of the King of France's seizing of Spain , or seizing of Flanders , I desire to be understood seizing it for himself to annex it to the Crown of France , a thing that hath all along by all the Princes and States of Europe , been counted , and really is , inconsistent with the Peace of Europe ; and any Man , but such an Author as our Remarker , wou'd understand me so , when I say Page 22 , and quoted by him , Page 9. It must certainly be the Interest of England and Holland first to put themselves in such a Posture , as may prevent the French King 's seizing of Spain ; and the next Words express it directly , viz. And upon the first Invasion of the Territories of Spain , to declare War against him in the Name of the whole Confederacy , as an Infringer of the Grand Peace of Reswick . I need but appeal to any Man's Reason whether the French King 's seizing or invading of Spain can mean any thing , but the French King 's seizing or invading of Spain , and is as explicite as Words can make it , and wou'd certainly be a Breach of the Peace of Reswick . The Remarker , Page 6. tells the World the Question what the English ought to do , is a Shooing-horn to draw on what some People mightily want a standing Army , and then in his rude Dialect runs on against the Soldiery , and when he has done , to put a Value on his Argument , magnifies our Nation to such a degree , as no Man , who is sensible of the Power and Designs of our Neighbours , can allow to be so much as rational . I must first answer his presumptive Suggestion , and then proceed . I take leave to assure all the World that shall read these Sheets , that by all the Expressions of Forces , Posture of the Nation , and the like , I do mean , and do desire to be understood to mean , such Force , and no other , such a Posture of Defence , and no other , as by the King , Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament , shall be thought necessary for the Safety of the Kingdom , and Support of our Trade and Interest in the World. Why else do I say , England shou'd put herself into such a Posture ? By England , an Englishman always understands the Parliament of England , and no Man in his Wits wou'd imagine otherwise . Now did ever Parliament in England talk in this Gentleman's Dialect ? That we have a Fleet , and no Army , no matter if all the World Confederated against us ; and did ever we get any thing by Foreign Alliances ? Are Confederacies advantageous to us ? And the like . Surely , they that are of the Opinion that England is able to Fight the whole World , know very little of the World , and do not remember that in this very War had we had no Confederates , the War had been in our own Bowels , whereas this we got by Foreign Alliances , that we carried the War to our Neighbours Doors ; had not the Spaniards , Germans , and Dutch , joined in a Confederacy , the French King had met with no Work to Divert him from giving King Iames such a Powerful Assistance as might have prevented our Revolution , none but a Mad Man can deny that 't was the Union of the Confederates that was the Protection of England . The Remarker tells us the Revolution was a Miracle , and so it was ; but , says he , 'T was a Miracle that we did not do it without Foreign help . I am sure it wou'd ha' been a Miracle if we had ; and I Appeal to any Man that has not forgot the State of England at that time to be Judge of it . That we shou'd not reduce King Iames to Reason by our own Native Strength , was a Miracle , says he ; That is , that we did not rise and pull his Army to pieces ; if this Gentleman had not forgot his own Story , he cou'd never thus contradict himself . If our own Native Strength is so much Superior to an Army , that 't is a Miracle they did now recover themselves without other help ; then Ridiculus mus , the dreadful Spectrum of a Standing Army is lost , and all our Danger of being enslav'd is at end . I have as great an Opinion of the Bravery of the English Nation , as any Man ; but it does not use to be the Temper of the English to run on such Rhodomantado's . 'T is no disparageing the English Na●ion , to say , That as Affairs now Stand , they are not a match for the French Power without the help of Confederates . I am no Traitor to my Country , as he is pleased to call me , if I own that our Militia are not able to Fight a French Army . But Grant they were , 't is not Invasion of our Native Country that we are upon , God forbid , we shou'd have Occasion to Provide against that ; but 't is always the Interest of England to keep Danger at a distance , and it has been the Practice of England to do it by Leagues and Confederacies , as the only proper Method . This Gentleman upbraids me with Reading truly ; I have Read all the Histories of Europe , that are Extant in our Language , and some in other Languages , and amongst the rest , I have Read that Queen Elizabeth supported the Dutch , and supplied them with Men and Money , that she did the like by the Hugonots of France , and afterwards made a League offensive with the King of France ; and why ? All our Histories agree it was to keep the Forces of Philip the Second , so employ'd that he shou'd not be at leisure to turn all his Power upon her . Thus she manag'd a War with him abroad , and kept England from being the Field of Blood ; and this England got by a Confederacy abroad . And I 'll give another Instance , which no Man can have the Face to deny ; when the Spanish Fleet lay at Anchor , and had yet received no such considerable Damage from our Ships , as to prevent their Landing , the Dutch lay with their Fleet on the Flemish Coast at the procurement of the Queen , and thereby prevented the Duke of Parma bringing over 30000 Spaniards into England , which if they had done , the Fate of England must have been tryed by the Sword , and on her own Ground . Behold the Benefit of Allies . If I have Panegyrick'd on the Reputation of the King at the Head of a War-like Nation , I have done nothing , but what all the World own his Due , and what we have the Authority of Parliaments for , who have own'd him for the Saviour of these Nations from Popery and Arbitrary Power , at the Expence of his own Personal Hazard . I need not Quote the many Addresses of Parliament , as the Voice of the whole Nation , for my Authority : As for places at Court or Pensions , the Author never had nor desired any , but hopes a Man may be allowed to speak what Truth and Honour obliges every Man to do of a King , that has deserv'd so much of the English Nation , without the Reproach of a railing Scribler . I must further Explain my self in Defence of what I thought no Man wou'd have had Baseness enough to Suggest . But when I speak of a sort of a People , who have appear'd such Champions of our English Liberties , as to damn all kind of Force , as useless , burthensome to the Kingdom , Badges of Slavery , and all Arguments to be only pretences for supporting Arbitrary Designs , I should mean by these the Parliament of England . Far be it from the Thoughts of any honest Man to imagine such a thing ; nor is it rational that I cou'd Suggest such a thing of the Parliament , for as his own Words confutes him , The Parliament , says he , never did damn all Force as useless . Very true , Sir , how then can you imagine any Man cou'd mean the Parliament who never did any such thing ? Nothing can be so absurd , and there I leave it . But since I am charged with intending those whom I really never thought of , nor no Rational Man cou'd suppose , give me leave to tell the World , who it is I do mean , when I say , There are a sort of People who have appear'd such Champions of our English Liberty as to damn all kind of Force as useless . I mean the Pamphleteering Club , who have set themselves to Blaspheme God , and Ruin their Native Country , and in Print to sow to the Seeds of Misunderstanding and Distrust between the King and his People . The Club where the Blessed Trinity is openly derided , in Print lampoon'd , and shamefully in the Face of a Protestant Government abus'd and ridicul'd . That Club of Men who pretend to guide Parliaments , and prescribe to them what they are to do ; who are so openly against Force , that they leave us naked for a Prey , even to the most Contemptible Treasons . That Club that sent out a blasphemous Poem lately under the borrow'd Name of Clito , where the Deity of our Saviour is denied , and then the very Being of the English Monarchy undermin'd . That Club that denies Englishmen the use of their Reason , and will not allow that even the Parliament of England can appoint such Powers as are necessary to our Defence . These are the Champions of our Liberty , that I directly mean , who damn all kind of Force as useless . These are they who have sent out this Pamphlet into the World , and have brought the Author of the Two Questions to the Bar of the House right or wrong ; these are the Men who tell us Confederacies and Alliances are useless , and all Forces oppressive that say they are not yet rid of Slavery , because the King has his Guards left ; as if Forces in England by Consent of Parliament , cou'd be a Grievance . Who tho' they cry up Parliaments , as those by whom Kings reign , yet will not allow them to be Judges of what is , or what is no Convenience , but will have the Lord Treasurer , Lord Chancellor , and Lord Admiral be nam'd by the Parliament , because the Word England is added to their Titles . These , and none but these , are the Persons who I mean all along , when I say , They have deluded the People of England ▪ by their specious Pretences ; and nothing can be plainer , than that they have carried on a Pen and Ink War against the Reputation of the King obliquely , and sometimes directly reproaching him , with Designs to enslave the Nation , whom he came to set free , and to rob us of those Liberties which he ventur'd his Life to save . These are the Men who I mean when I say , they have weakned his Hands , and his Interest at home , which they have certainly done , by endeavouring to lessen his Reputation , and to suggest to his Subjects , that he will invade their Liberties . These are the Men who think they cannot be answered , without concerning the Parliament in their Quarrel ; who to bring the King into Contempt with his Subjects , for whom he has done so much , and from whom he has received so many Thanks and Acknowledgments , represent him attempting to destroy our Liberties by standing Armies ; and if they are answered , pretend to fright their Adversaries with the Parliament , as if nothing cou'd be said to the Point , without reflecting on the Parliament . To these People let me take the Liberty to say , tho' the Matter of Armies was no way the Case in this Affair , that this Author does affirm , and will answer it any where . That a standing Army in England in time of Peace is not against Law , nor inconsistent with the Constitution of England . Provided it be by Consent of Parliament . To avoid all manner of Disputes in this Point , my Authority is unquestionable , being the Parliament of England themselves , or Convention , which is equivolent in the Sixth Article of the Declaration of the Rights of the People , declar'd by the Commons of England . These are the Words : That the raising and keeping a standing within the Kingdom in time of Peace ( unless it be by Consent of Parliament ) is unlawful . This was once urged to these Gentlemen before , but as a thing they cou'd never answer ; they took no notice of it , and here I leave it with this Remark . That I do , and every English Protestant will always consent to have such , and so many Forces rais'd , maintain'd , and kept up in England , and no more ; as the King , Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament shall think needful for our common Perservation , and the Safety of the Nation 's Interests . This is the middle way between both Extr●ams , and nothing in the Book this Remarker treats so scurvily , can give any rational Ground to charge me with proposing farther . Nor has the King himself attempted to keep up any Forces , but with Consent of Parliament , and has ass●r'd us he never will. I have done with this railing Author , and indeed had not meddled with him at all , only to explain my self in the Persons , I mean thro'out the Book he reflects on ; and methinks no Man cou'd imagin any Author wou'd be such a Fool to treat the Parliament of England in such a manner , as I have done the People I speak of , while he knows the Power of the Parliament to crush such a one with the Breath of their Mouth . Without troubling the Reader any more with my Remarker , or but by the by , where I am oblig'd to come athwart him , I shall take this Opportunity to say what I wou'd ha' said before , had it been known that the King of France wou'd have declar'd his Grandson King of Spain . And I shall lay it down as a further Answer to the grand Question . What Measures England ought to take ? The League for the Partition of the Spanish Monarchy being not made publick , and propos'd to the English Parliament , says some , is no League at all , and therefore England has nothing at all to do with it . If what such say be true , which yet I do not believe , then whenever His Majesty please to call a Parliament , and acquaint them of it , it becomes an English League , for no Man ever yet disputed , but that the Power of making Leagues and Treaties , either for Peace or War , was committed to the Kings of England , nor can he tell us of a League ever made in England , which was first discuss'd in Parliament , when we had a King to be treated with . All that I have yet said we ought to do , amounts to no more than this , that England ought to put her self into such a Posture with the rest of her Neighbours , as that she may be able to preserve the Peace lately purchased at so dear a Rate , and to preserve her Trade , upon which the whole Nation so much depends . If People will have me to mean a standing Army whether I will or no , I cannot help it ; but I say again it may be done without a standing Army , and where is your Argument then ? Of which I cou'd say more , but I have not room for it here . I did affirm it was a weak thing of the King of Spain to pretend to give his Kingdom by Will , and I am of the Opinion we shall hear that he really did not do so ; that is , that there was some Practices made use of to procure such a Will , as in the true Sence of a late Will and Testament makes it void in its own Nature . But be it which way it will , it is an odd way of devolving the Succession of Crowns ; and here I cannot help meeting our Remarker again : That notwithstanding all Deeds of Gift , or other Titles whatever , if the good People of Spain own him as their King , and allow him the Soveraignty , he has the most undoubted Title to the Kingdom of any in the World. Though our Author is not worth answering , having a right Notion in his Head , but not the Sence to put it into English , I shall tell him , That in the main his Argument is true , and yet the Consequence is false . For , The good People of Spain , as he calls them , whose Country is their own , have all along agreed that their Crown shall descend by the direct Line , to the lawful Issue of the House of Austria , Successors to Ferdinand and Isabella , in whom the contending Crowns of Arragon and Castile were united ; this our Author may find stipulated in the Contract between those two Families , and sign'd to by the Council , call'd by them the great Council of Spain , which is the same thing with them as a Parliament . Thus the good People of Spain acquiesc'd , and have all along submitted to the Successors of that Family , as their undoubted rightful Kings . Now if it be the Peopl●'s Act and Deed , that the Succession of the House of Arragon or Austria shall possess the Crown of Spain , then the Duke d' Anjou has no more Title to the Crown of Spain than the Czar of Muscovy , as I said before , while the Dauphin and the Duke of Burgundy are alive , unl●ss the People of Spain legally Convocated had Declar'd the Throne vacant . And to go on with the Argument in the same Notion of the People's Right to make Kings , which is what these Gentlemen are so fond of . When the People of a Nation have by any publick Act , Legally made , entail'd their Crown , or committed the Government of themselves , or what he pleases to call it , to such or such a Family , and such and such Heirs , I hope they will allow then that such and such Heirs have a Right , till the same which gave them their Right , in the same legal Manner do publickly rescind , alter or repeal the former Settlement on which that Right was founded . If this be true , then where is this Publick act of the People of Spain to rescind the Former Title of the House of Arragon ? To say they have not disclaim'd the Duke d'Anjou , what a ridiculous Argument is that , the Settlement they have agreed to , is not Repeal'd , nor the Great Council of the State been call'd to Debate it ; nor is their any need of it , for the Heirs are in Being , the Throne is not Vacant . Now if you will form a Legal Title for the Duke d'Anjou , on this Gentleman's Notion of the Peoples Right , it must be thus . The Dauphin is the Immediate Heir , but he refuses to accept of the Crown for himself , and his Eldest Son ; then the Great Council of the State , which is the People of Spain , ought in this Emergency to have been call'd , to Consider to whom they wou'd dispose of the Crown , or to whom they wou'd Submit ; and if this be true , as I am sure by this Doctrine it cannot be otherwise , they may as well bestow their Crown on the Emperor of Morocco , saving his being a Mahometan , as on the Duke d'Anjou . Also , if all Titles be deriv'd thus from the People , and any one that they will Accept , is Lawful King : Why shou'd I be blam'd for saying , 't was a weak thing for the King of Spain to give away his Kingdom by his Will , which he had no Power do ? It had been much wiser to have call'd the Great Council of the Nation together , and ha' caus'd them to settle the Succession , as they thought fit , as the only Persons who had a Right to do it . Another Consequence I must draw from this Doctrine of the People's Right , which the Gentlemen are not Historians enough it seems to know . If it be the Peoples Right to dispose of the Government as they see fit , as in the Case of a Vacancy of the Throne No body doubts ; then let the Title to the Crown Spain , be whose it will , 't is none of the Duke d'Anjou's ; for in the famous Treaty of the Pyrenees , where the Match was made , from whence this Title does proceed ; the Reconciliation made by the French to the Crown of Spain was Sign'd on both sides , by the Princes of the Blood on behalf of the French , and by the Grandees and Plenipotentiaries on the behalf of Spain ; and this was to signifie , that it was an Agreement , not Personal only , but National ; and that therein the People of Spain did renounce all Subjection to the Issue of that Marriage . Now to pretend this can be rescinded by the Will of the late King , or the call to the Duke d'Anjou from Six or Seven Councellors nominated by the King , this is to destroy all the Pretence of the Right of the People , and so humbly Conceive by their Doctrine , the present Title of the Duke d'Anjou is fallen to the Ground . What the People of Spain may do when a French Power may have put the Duke d'Anjou in Possession , and they see no Body to help them , I cannot tell , but at present he has no visible Title , either from the Call or Consent of the People , or by Legal Succession . 'T is next proper to Enquire what is all this to us who is King of Spain ? I Confess I see less Cause to apprehend Danger from Spain , under this way of Succession , than I shou'd have done if the French had attempted to Possess it as a Devolution to their Monarchy , and put it all into one Government , which is what I meant , and what any Man that understands English must understand by it , when I said , Page and quoted by him , P. 13. If the French carry the Spanish Monarchy . Truly , If the French carry the Spanish Monarchy , that is , obtain the Possession of it to themselves , I appeal it to all the World if we are not in a dangerous Condition ; and how foolish is it to say with our Author , P. 14. I care not who is King of France or Spain , so the King of England Governs according to Law. 'T is a barbarous and impudent Reflection on the King , who never yet has broke any of our Laws , and has no Relation to the Case in hand , but to show that the Publisher wants Manners as well as Sence . But now the French King has resolv'd to make the Duke d'Anjou King of Spain , what is our Danger from that ? I shall not go much on Conjecture , but I shall go on the same foot as before . France can Propose no Benefit fairly by it , but the drawing the Spaniards off from the Confederates , and Leagueing them with himself . If he will do thus , he will strengthen his Interest very much , as well as weaken his Enemies ; but then He must be sure not to Encroach upon the Spanish Monarchy ; which if he does as I said in the other part of this Discourse , he will find the Duke d'Anjou King of Spain , as well as a Prince of Bourbon . But if the King of France shou'd put the Duke d'Anjou upon such Methods of Government , as shou'd recover the Spanish Greatness , and make that Wealthy Nation Masters of themselves again , as they formerly were , and find out ways to Unite the Interests of the two Nations , the Ballance of Power in Europe is again quite overturn'd , and there is our Danger . Before I descend to Particulars , I 'll explain the Terms , to avoid the Impertinence of another Remarker . If the King of France shou'd find out a way to Unite the Interest of the two Nations , by this I understand in short , making the Prosperity of one , necessary for the Safety of the other , and so vice versa . I cou'd explain my self how this may be done too , but 't is too large for a Pamphlet , joining Interests is joining Nations . Affinities , Leagues , and Treaties , are trifles ; where has there been more Inmarriages , than between the two Northern Crowns ? And yet never more Jealousies , nor difference of Interest . Where has there been more Antipathies , more contrariety in Temper , and Religion , than between the Dutch and Spaniards ? And yet their Interest has overcome all Animosities , and made them strict Confederates . To say a strict Confederacy and Conjunction of Interests between Spain and France will do us no harm , is the Effect of a stupid Ignorance ; and no Man can say it , but he that has the Face to say Foreign Alliances are of no use to us . 'T is plain , the Trade we drive to Spain , is without Dispute , the best , the greatest , and most profitable Trade we have ; 't is plain and known to all Men that understand that Trade , that 't is driven by way of Factory , and carried on by Englishmen , and by English Stocks ; I 'll lay the present Case upon one Article only . If the French obtain so much by their Amity with Spain , that upon every Breach with France , our Merchants and their Effects shall be seized in the Spanish Dominions , as is the Custom of the Country : Whenever the French please to Insult us , we are at their Mercy ; if we break with them , we are ruin'd . Why have we all along been so tender of a Peace with Spain ? Why so careful not to Affront them ? Why so ready to Protect them with our Fleet and Forces , but because our Effects there are so Considerable , that the very Soul of our Trade is Dependant upon it , and is there no Danger in having all this lye at the Mercy of the French ? Some think all the World must Trade with us , and our Manufactures will Force their own way , and the French can do us no harm , says our Wise Remarker , If the Lords of the Treasury wou'd take care to prevent the Exportation of Wooll . He might as well ha' thrown that upon the Parliament too , unless he can make it out that the Lords have not prevented it . But he is as blind a Merchant , as he is a Geographer , when he says , P. 21. Portugal is environ'd with the Territories of France and Spain , when every Body knows , not a Foot of the Territories of France comes within a Hundred Leagues of Portugal ; and in the same Page talks of Forces Landing in Holland , and forcing their way thro' the Spanish Netherlands into Germany , which is no more that Road out of Holland into Germany , than to go to West-Chester , is the Road to Edinburgh ? I suppose this Gentleman never went up the Rhine in Germany : And then to mend the matter , tells us that is the Way to come on the back of Spain , in which he forgets to Consult his Map again , where he wou'd ha' found the whole Kingdom of France , with the Swiss-Cantons , or the Savoyards , between Spain and the nearest part of Germany , besides the Alps , and the Pyrenees to get over , and the French to be sought with : This is such a Marcher of an Army , the Devil wou'd not be a Musqueteer under him . And thus Infatuated he is in Trade ; tho' there were really no Wooll went out of England , yet the French , Dutch and Germans would always be advancing upon our Manufactures , our English Wooll is a great Commodity in France , but in Holland , and at Hamburg , 't is not half so valu'd , and yet they out do us in many of our Manufactures . Besides , Scotland and Ireland are Back-doors , at which our Wooll manifestly goes Abroad in quantities , the rest is by Stealth , and what can the Lords of the Treasury do in that . But he that loves to Cavil , will have something to say to every Body . I think I have stated a Case wherein a Union of Interest between France and Spain will be very Fatal to Trade . I Refer the Reader to what I have hinted in the former Book for more of the like . I descend now to Matters of Strength ; all Men must allow that the Prosperity of this , and of most Nations , depends upon Peace ; for if Peace be not preserv'd , Trade must suffer ; and if Trade suffer , the Poor suffer , and so on . Now , as is already noted , the Ballance of Power is the Life of Peace , and here is your Ballance broken ; as I said before , I say again ; it is not enough to say we have a good Fleet , tho' it be the best in the World , and I do not think our Remarker can prove that to be a Contradiction any more than he can prove that to go by Germany is the way to come on the Back of Spain . If our Fleet were Masters at Sea , 't is true it might preserve us from Invasion , and we are not afraid of it , but a Thousand Men of War wou'd not entirely suppress the Privateers of France and Spain from injuring our Trade , and snapping up our Merchants ; nor wou'd a Fleet ever reduce the French in Conjunction with the Spaniard to Peace with you , if they were whole and unbroken in their Land Forces . Nor is it enough if a Fleet cou'd secure our Ships ; if your Peace be precarious , 't is no Peace ; and if you are not a Master for your Adversaries , you shall have no Peace at all any longer than they please . Why do all Nations covet to strengthen themselves by Leagues and Confederacies , but to put themselves into a Condition to be fear'd by their Neighbours ; and if we leave our selves without Forces , and without Alliances abroad , we are like to be very little valued by Neighbours . From all these Considerations I think this Conclusion is very natural . That England ought so to act , as to oblige the French to perform all the Leagues , Articles and Agreements which they have entred into with us , and which the King for Preservation of our Peace and Trade has thought fit to engage them in for . Of what Value will the French King make any Treaties with the English Nation , if at his Pleasure they shall be laid aside , without any Notice taked by us : If he esteems us not in a Condition to resent a Breach of Faith , when our Interest is so much engag'd , what Notice can we expect he shou'd ever take of us in any Treaty . This is certainly the way to make it true , that no Nation will trouble their Heads to confederate with us ; if when we have confederated with them , we let the Enemy insult us all , and bauk our Confederates in such Resentments , as the Nature of the King requires . If the French King can be reduc'd to Reason without a War , and an Army or Fleet , no Doubt 't is best , but any of them are less Evils than a Union of Interests between Spain and France , and such a Confederacy , as may hereafter league against England , to the Destruction of our Confederates , and of our Trade . The Debate here is not a standing Army in England , but the Kingdom of Spain falling into the French Interests , let the King and the Parliament alone to the Methods , if it may be done by paying Foreign Forces , or by no Forces , in the Name of God , Amen : But to say 't is nothing to us who is King of Spain , is as ridiculous as to say 't is no matter to us who has the Kingdom of Ireland . And if I were to speak of annexing the Spanish Dominions to the Crown of France , I believe it would be less Loss to England to give the French the whole Kingdom of Ireland , than to suffer it . FINIS . ERRATA . THE Reader is desired to mend the following Errata's that have escap'd the Press , the Author living in the Country , and not having revis'd the Proofs till after the Book was printed off . In the Preface , line 3. read the Contempt ; p. 2. l. 10. for Reasons r. Questions ; p. 3. l. 6. r. that if we have ; p. 4. l. 4. f. now r. not ; p. 6. l. 1. f. but r. that ; l. 23. dele to ; p. 7. l. 21. f. no Convenience r. not Convenient ; p. 9. l. 1. r. Standing Army ; p. 11. l. 11. f. late r. last ; p. 13. l. 30. r. Crown of Spain ; p. 14. l. 2. f. Reconciliation r. Renunciation ; l. 14. dele so ; p. 16. l. 12. f. Inmarriages r. Intermarriages ; p. 17. l. 29. f. that r. the ; p. 18. l. 1. f. in r. into ; p. 20. l. 11. f. King r. thing . 
A48197	----	A letter to a member of Parliament, shewing, that a restraint on the press is inconsistent with the Protestant religion, and dangerous to the liberties of the nation 1698 Approx. 63 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A48197 Wing L1680 ESTC R10914 12387032 ocm 12387032 60863 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A48197) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 60863) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 766:18) A letter to a member of Parliament, shewing, that a restraint on the press is inconsistent with the Protestant religion, and dangerous to the liberties of the nation Tindal, Matthew, 1653?-1733. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 32 p. Printed by J. Darby, and sold by Andr. Bell ..., London : 1698. Advertisement: p. 32. Attributed to Matthew Tindal by. S. Parks; see also "Four discourses on the following subjects ... IV. Of the liberty of the press. London, 1709"; attributed also to Daniel Defoe. Reprinted in: A collection of state tracts, publish'd on occasion of the late revolution in 1688, and during the reign of King William III, 1705-07, v. 2, p. 614-626. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Freedom of the press -- England. 2003-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-03 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2005-03 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER TO A Member of Parliament , Shewing , that a RESTRAINT On the PRESS Is inconsistent with the Protestant Religion , and dangerous to the Liberties of the Nation . LONDON ; Printed by J. Darby , and sold by Andr. Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhil . MDCXCVIII . A LETTER TO A Member of Parliament . SIR , ACcording to your Commands , I here present you with those Reasons that oblige me to oppose the Restraining the Press , as inconsistent with the Protestant Religion , and dangerous to the Liberties of the Nation : Both which I undertake to shew . And in order to prove the first , I beg leave to premise , First , That which makes a Man to differ from a Brute , wholly uncapable of forming any Notion of Religion , is his Reason ; which is the only Light God has given him , not only to discover that there is a Religion , but to diftinguish the true from the many false ones . He therefore that employs his Reason to the best of his Ability to find out Religious Truth , in order to practise it , does all that God desires : for God , who will not command Impossibilities , can require no more of him , than that he impartially searches after , and endeavours to discover Religious Truth , by the use of that Reason which was given him for that end . He that does this , may have the satisfaction of doing his Duty as a rational Creature , and may be sure , tho he misses Truth , he shall not miss the Reward that is due to him who obeys his Maker , in following as well as he could , and no more could be his Duty , the only Guide God has given him to judg of Truth and Falshood . On the contrary , he that neglects to do this , is disobedient to his Maker , in misusing his rational Faculties ; and tho he should light on Truth , the luckiness of the Accident will no way excuse his Disobedience : for God will judg us as we are accountable ( that is , rational ) Creatures ; and consequently our Reward from him , whether we hit or miss of Truth , will be in an exact proportion to the use we make of our Reason : And if God has oblig'd us to use it as the only means to distinguish Truth from Falshood , that alone must be the way to find the one , and avoid the other . Now the way that a Man's Reason does this , is by examining those Proofs , Arguments , or Mediums , that either himself or others have found out , and by comparing them with his common and self-evident Notions , by means of which he finds out the agreement or disagreement of any Proposition with those Standards and Tests of Truth . Tho this is the only way to discover Truth , yet if a Man was left wholly to himself , without any to inform his Judgment , he would make but a very small Discovery in Religious , or any other Truths : Therefore it's Mens mutual Duty to inform each other in those Propositions they apprehend to be true , and the Arguments by which they endeavour to prove them ; which cannot be done so well as by Printing them , ten thousand Books , after the Letters are once set , being sooner Printed than one Transcribed : By the Advantage of which , Men , tho at never so great distance , may , with a great deal of Ease and little Charge , be exactly acquainted with each others Sentiments . And it 's wholly owing to Printing , that Knowledg is become , not only much more diffusive , but that a great deal of more useful Knowledg has been discovered in a short time since that Invention , than in many Ages before . And if it has not had as great effect in most places with respect to Religious as to other Knowledg , it can only be because the Liberty of Printing , as to the former , has been more restrained ; for Men have the same way of judging of that as of all other Matters . This being premised , 't is clear that the Press ought not to be restrained : 1. Because it tends to make Men blindly submit to the Religion they chance to be educated in : for if 't is once suppos'd unlawful to publish any Arguments against that Religion , it cannot be denied but that 't is as unlawful to read and examine those Arguments , that being the sole Reason of forbidding the printing them ; which necessarily supposeth they are to take their Religion on trust , without any trial , which is the greatest Fault that can be , next to having no Religion at all : For I cannot see any ground a Man has to hope to go to Heaven , that will not be at the pains to examine what it is that God requires of him in order to his coming thither . 2. Because it deprives Men of the most proper and best means to discover Truth , by hindering them from seeing and examining the different Opinions , and the Arguments alledg'd for them . I can see no Reason why 't is more necessary for him that judges for others , than 't is for him who judges for himself , to see the Arguments on all sides ; this being the only evidence by which any Man is to judg . The suppressing the Evidence in a Cause where Mens eternal Happiness is concerned , is ( I take it ) much more criminal than in a Cause of a temporal Interest . So that a Law to oblige the Judges to hear the Proofs but of one side , is not as bad as to trust the Clergy of any one Sect with the Press ; who , to be sure , will suffer nothing to be printed but of their own side ; and who too , in all probability , will misrepresent their Adversaries , and their Opinions , more than a Pleader will the Party or Cause against which he is engaged . And are not the People ( for instance ) amongst the Papists , where the Press is effectually restrained , as ignorant of what can be alledged against the Popish Doctrines , as a Judg that has heard but one side can be of the Defence the other is to make ? 3. Because it hinders Truth from having any great influence on Mens Minds : which is owing chiefly to Examination , because the more rational That makes an Opinion appear , the greater power it will have on the Affections ; which are not moved without some sensible connexion between the Cause and Effect ; for what does not convince the Understanding , will have but little or no effect on the Will : Which is one reason why Men are obliged to try all things , because when they see the reasonableness of any Opinion , it will oblige them to act according to it more heartily than when they take it on trust : and nothing more endears Truth to us , than that its discovery is the effect of our own Industry and Observation . 4. Because it tends to make us hold the Truth ( should we chance to light on it ) guiltily : for that ( as I have already proved ) will not be accepted , if it be not the Effect of an impartial Examination ; which makes Error it self innocent : for if any thing in that case be a fault , it must be the Examination , because That might have been prevented ; but the Opinion that 's caused by it could not , That being a necessary Consequence of the other . Men when they are left to themselves without any Clergy at all , are more likely not only to judg for themselves , but to make a truer and a more impartial Judgment , than when they are permitted to know the Sentiments of the Clergy but of one Sect , who then may impose on them what ever out of Interest they think fit . 5. One Reason why God hath so formed Mankind , that each alone without the help of others cannot well subsist , is to oblige them to mutual love and kindness , and to contribute to one anothers happiness . And they want each others assistance for things of the Mind as well as of the Body . For a Man would be in a miserable state of Darkness and Ignorance , were it not for the Light that others afford him : and therefore they are obliged to increase as much as they can each others Knowledg , especially in Religion , which they can no otherwise do , than by communicating to one another what they think is the Truth , and the Reason by which they endeavour to prove it . To oblige Men to do this , God has not only implanted in them a strong desire to find out Religious Truth , but as great an inclination to teach others what they apprehend to be so ; and there is no Man who believes a Doctrine to be true , but would be very glad to get it owned by others . Whosoever therefore endeavours to hinder Men from communicating their Thoughts , ( as they notoriously do that are for restraining the Press ) invade the natural Rights of Mankind , and destroy the common Ties of Humanity . If we must , early and late , according to the Wise Man's direction , seek after Wisdom as after a hidden Treasure ; I cannot see how it will become the Wisdom of a Nation to endeavour by a Law to hinder us from knowing more than the scanty Measure a Party-Licencer will afford us . Not only the Light of Nature , but the written Word ( Levit . 19. 17. 1 Thess. 5. 14. Heb. 3. 13. ) obliges every one , Lay as well as Clergy , to exhort , warn , rebuke , and use all means possible to bring his mistaken Brother into the right way ; which he can no otherwise do , than by first judging himself what is right and wrong ; and then by using Arguments to perswade him whom he judges in the wrong , to desist from it . And if , as the Scripture supposeth , no Man can neglect to do this without hating his Brother ; every one has a right to print his Sentiments as the best , if not the only way to exhort , rebuke , reprove Myriads of Brethren at the same time . In short , in all Ages the greater Mens Zeal hath been towards God , and the more inflamed their Love to their Neighbours , the more they have thought it their Duty ( tho with the hazard of their Lives ) to communicate to others what they judged to be the Truth . And all Sects , how different so ever in all other things , do agree in thinking themselves bound thereto , as to the greatest Act of Charity ; and consequently there is no Sect that hinders others from publishing what they believe to be Truth , but sins against the natural and revealed Law , and breaks that golden Rule ( the Foundation of all Morality ) of doing as they would be done unto . For tho they look upon it as impious and tyrannical for any to hinder them from imparting to others those Doctrines they judg to be true , yet they themselves would hinder all others , who have as much right to judg for themselves , and are as much obliged to communicate to others what they judg to be a Religious Truth . What can be more inhumane , as well as ungrateful , than to punish that Person who out of love to Truth , and charity to the Souls of his Brethren , bestows his Time , perhaps to the detriment of his Health and Fortune , in publishing what he judges to be for their eternal Good ? If this be a just Reward for such an Undertaking , I cannot see how the Clergy can deserve such Riches and Honours for doing but the same thing ; that is , for instructing others in that they judg to be true . Nothing can be more unbecoming the Dignity of a rational Nature , than to bar up the way to religious Knowledg and Wisdom , which Men have no way to propagate , but by offering one another Reasons and Arguments : And there can be no Pretence to hinder Men from doing this by restraining the Press , but what will as strongly forbid them doing it any other way . In a word , Men have the same right to communicate their Thoughts , as to think themselves ; and where the one is denied , the other is seldom used , or to little purpose : For , Men as they are more or less hindred from communicating their Thoughts , are more or less stupid and ignorant , and their Religion more or less corrupted : And this is not only true with relation to Mahometans and Pagans , who suffer no Printing at all , except the Chinese ( whose Knowledg above other Eastern Nations seems to be owing to that Art , tho among them wonderfully rude and imperfect ) but with respect to Christians , amongst whom one would think it almost impossible , considering what Light and Knowledg the Gospel brought into the World , that any should be so grosly ignorant and superstitious as the Papists are , or that the Christian Religion should be so much depraved as it is amongst them : and what is this owing to , but the denying the People the Liberty of the Press , and all other ways of freely debating matters of Religion ? And had it not been for this Invention , whereby men had such an easy way of communicating their Thoughts , nothing but a second Revelation could have freed them from that mass of Ignorance and Superstition the Christian World lay under ; and which was every day increasing , and does still remain in a very high degree in those Countries that groan under Restraint , as Portugal , Spain , Italy ; which last , sutably to the Freedom once it enjoyed , abounded with Men eminent in all Learning and Knowledg , as well as Vertue and Bravery : and that it is so much degenerated now ( the Climate and the make of their Bodies being still the same ) is owing to nothing but that Priest-craft which forbids all Freedom ; contrary to the practice of antient Rome , where to think on what one had a mind to , and to speak ones thoughts as freely as to think them , was looked on as one of the chief Blessings of a Free Government . It 's not only in Popish , but in Protestant Countries too , that according to the Restraint Men lay under , Ignorance , Superstition , and Bigotry does more or less abound . Denmark , Sweden , and several other Countries , are undeniable Instances of this ; and it cannot be otherwise , for there is little difference between having no Reason , and not exercising it . And it 's evident that the Clergy themselves are not only more knowing , and reason much better , but are much more sober , careful and exemplary , where liberty of Debating is allowed , than where denied . From what has been urged , I think I may safely conclude , that Men , if they regard the employing their rational Faculties as God requires , and ( the Consequence of it ) the discovery of Truth in Religion , and their being influenced by it as they ought to be , are obliged to allow one another an entire liberty in communicating their Thoughts , which was never forbidden but where Interest supplanted Religion . 6. There 's no medium between Mens judging for themselves , and giving up their Judgments to others . If the first be their Duty , the Press ought not to be restrained , because it debars them from seeing those Allegations by which they are to inform their Judgments . All the Arguments that are or can be urged for the regulating the Press , have no other Foundation than that of People's being liable to mistake , and subject to be imposed on by fallacious Arguments and specious Pretences : which instead of proving what they design , only shows the greater Necessity for the freedom of the Press ; for the more apt Men are to mistake and to be deceiv'd , the less reason there is for their relying on any one Party , but the more to examine with all care and diligence the Reasons on all sides , and consequently for the Press being open to all Parties , one as well as the other . So that those that are for allowing Men the liberty of judging for themselves ( if any such can be for regulating the Press ) are very unhappy in their Arguments , because they all make against themselves , and out of their own Mouths they are condemned . But if Men are to give up their Reason to the Clergy , of whatsoever Denomination , there 's nothing , I confess , more inconsistent with that blind Obedience than the Liberty of the Press , because it gives them an opportunity to see what can be said against that or any other Darling Notion of the Priests ; and then it 's a great odds but that rational Creatures will be governed by their own Reason , and no longer endure the Clergy to be Lords of their Faith. 7. In fine , if it be unlawful to let the Press continue free , lest it furnish Men with the Reasons of one Party as well as the other , it must be as unlawful to examine those Reasons : for if the last be a Duty , the first cannot be unlawful , because it 's only a Means to the last in providing those Reasons which Men are bound to try and examine ; except an implicit Belief be a Duty , which must necessarily bring Men back again to Popery . For if it be now unlawful to examine the Reasons on all sides , for fear of having other Sentiments than those the Clergy approves , it was no less unlawful at the time of the Reformation , which was wholly built upon this freedom of examining the Opinions of the Priests , and rejecting them if they judged them false . This the brave Luther did singly and by himself in defiance of the whole Church , and this any Man now hath the same right to do : So that it 's evident the Freedom or Restraint of the Press depends on this single Question , Whether we ought to be free , or Slaves in our Understandings ? or , in other words , Protestants or Papists ? If the first , there cannot be the least colour for leaving the Conduct of Religion so wholly to a few Priests , that nothing shall be published about it but what they think fit , than which nothing can favour more of a Popish , slavish , and prostitute Compliance . What , Sir , could be more surprizing to that Honourable House , whereof you are a most worthy Member , than a Motion to this purpose ; That because making of Laws is a thing of great Consequence , and Country Gentlemen are subject to mistake , that therefore the House ought to be regulated , by appointing a Licenser to judg what should be spoke in it ? As ridiculous as such a Motion would be , I would willingly know why 't is not as unaccountable to hinder a whole Nation the freedom of debating Matters of Religion , which ( since they are not able , like their Representatives , to assemble in one Room ) cannot well be done but by letting the Press be open to every one to publish his Reasons ; which ought not to be denied , as long as every one in the Nation has as much a right , not only to judg for himself in religious , as any Legislators can have to judg for him in Civil Matters , but is as much obliged to use all possible means to inform his Judgment ; and consequently there is as little reason to deny Liberty of debating in one Case as the other . 8. The Reformation is wholly owing to the Press : For tho there were several able Men who , before Printing was known , most vigorously opposed the growing Errors of the Western Church ; yet all they could do was to little or no purpose , because they had no easy and ready way to communicate their thoughts to any great number : but no sooner was the Invention of Printing made useful , but a poor Monk who discovered at least the grosser Cheats of the Priesthood , was made capable of imparting those Notions , which drew almost a Moiety from the Romish Superstition , which lost ground every where , as the Press was either more or less free . Therefore it was not strange that the Popish Clergy , since they could not confound the Art of Printing , should endeavour to turn it to their own Advantage , not only by hindring any new Book from being printed , but by expunging out of old ones whatever did not serve their turn : and herein they acted consistent with their Principles , which allows no Liberty of examining , and consequently denies all Freedom of the Press , which of all things does engage Men the most to do it . But what Pretence can the Protestants have for restraining it , who as they owe their Religion to its Liberty , so they cannot hinder it without destroying that Religion which has no other Foundation than that of every ones having a Right to examine those Reasons that are for or against any Opinion , in order to make a true and impartial Judgment ? which can never be justified , if it be unlawful to permit the Press to be open for all Men to propose their Reasons to one another in order to their examining them . And it cannot be denied , but that the Protestant Clergy , who are as ambitious for the most part as the Papists themselves to impose on the Consciences of the People , have by Persecution , Restraint of the Press , and other such methods , given the Papists ( who have scarce any thing to plead for themselves but the Practice of their Adversaries ) too just an occasion to insult them , who are ( they say ) no other than a pack of Hypocrites , in doing the very same things they so loudly condemn ; and that it 's little less than a Demonstration , that the Principles by which they pretend to justify their Separation , are very absurd , since they are forced to act contrary to them in every point . And what was it in truth but these shameful Practices , that put a stop to the Reformation , which at first , like a mighty Torrent , overwhelmed all that oppos'd it , but has ever since gone back both in esteem and interest , and at last , if Men do not change their conduct , will be quite lost ? For how can it be otherwise , since that method ( Protestantism and Popery being so opposite ) that preserves the one , must necessarily destroy the other ? The taking a contrary method not only hinder'd the farther spreading of the Reformation , but was the cause that where it did prevail it was no more perfect : for tho the Reformers deserve just Commendation for what they did , yet being bred up in so much Ignorance and Superstition , they could not remove those vast loads of Corruptions which had been so long a gathering . But if those that succeeded them had taken the same liberty in examining theirs as they did their Predecessors Opinions , it 's impossible but that time must have discover'd the Truth , and made them agree at least in all matters of moment . But instead of this , they became as guilty of a blind Obedience as the Papists ; and it was a sufficient proof of any thing amongst the different Sects , if Luther , Calvin , Church of England , said so : nothing more common than that I submit all to Mother Church , and such like Phrases ; which that Men should effectually do , there were Penal Laws enacted to force them , and no Printing or Preaching allow'd to those that durst see farther than the first Reformers ( whose Eyes at the best were but half open , tho they saw very well for those times of Darkness , and in respect of the Papists who may justly be reckon'd to be quite blind ) the consequence of which was , that the Differences between the several Sects were widened , and they all run daily farther and farther into Uncharitableness , Ignorance , Superstition , and Fanaticism . 9. Whosoever observes with what Zeal our Divines condemn the Popish Clergy for not suffering their Laity to read Protestant Authors , would hardly think it possible for them to be so difingenuous as to appoint some spiritual Dragons to watch the Press , lest any thing should steal from thence that 's not for their turn . Let us hear only ( for they all write after the same manner ) the learned Dr. Clegget , who in his Persuasive to an ingenuous Trial , p. 28. tells us , They that have a good Cause will not fright Men from considering what their Adversaries say by denouncing Damnation against them , nor forbid them to read their Books , but rather encourage them so to do , that they may see the difference between Truth and Error , Reason and Sophistry , with their own eyes . This is the effect of a well-grounded confidence in Truth , and there 's this sign of a good Cause apparently discernable in the Application of the Clergy of this Church ( of England ) both to their Friends and Enemies , they desire the one and the other to consider impartially what is said for us as well as against us . And whatsoever Guides of a Party do otherwise , they give just cause to those that follow them to examine their Doctrines so much the more carefully , by how much they are unwilling to have them examined . It 's a bad sign when Men are loth to have their Opinions seen in the day , but love Darkness more than Light. If the Church of England will own this to be a just Character of them , they ought to be so far from endeavouring to obtain a Law to restrain the Press , that they are obliged , did they apprehend any such design , to oppose it to their utmost , and to encourage their Adversaries to print their Sentiments , and the People to read them , that they may see the difference between Truth and Error , Reason and Sophistry , Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy , Dissenting and Conforming , with their own eyes . Taking a contrary method only affords a new Argument for the Liberty of the Press , because they give their Followers a just Cause to examine their Doctrines so much the more carefully , by how much more unwilling they are to have them examined . It 's a bad sign , &c. In a word , did the Protestant Guides act as such , instead of frighting Men from considering what their Adversaries say by denouncing Damnation against them , they would tell their Auditors the great sin of being biass'd by them in the choice of their Opinions , and that the more important any Controversy is , the more Reason there is for the Liberty of the Press , that they may examine with all the diligence imaginable the Tenets of their Adversaries as well as of their Guides ; and that the more they heard the one Party , the more they should read the other ; and that if they should fall into any Error by so doing , they would not be accountable for it . For tho there is not ( as the Papists vainly imagine ) such a Guide as would infallibly lead every Man into every Truth , yet that every ones Reason as a Guide is infallible , because God that designs that all Men ( if it be not their own fault ) should be for ever happy , has given them no other Guide but their Reason to bring them to that Happiness ; and therefore as sure as God himself is infallible , the following that Guide must bring them to that happy state God designed the following it should bring them to . And on the contrary , that God , who is the Rewarder of those only that diligently seek him , would condemn them as unprofitable Servants , who instead of using their Talents to find out his Will , did abandon themselves to the uncertain chance of Education and the Religion in fashion , which varies with every Age and every Country . As thus they ought to preach to the People , so they should as little scruple to tell the Magistrate that by permitting an entire Liberty he did nothing but his Duty ; but by a Restraint of the Press he did not only shew himself guilty of a blind Obedience , but did endeavour to make a whole Nation so , and was to answer not only for all the Errors and other ill Consequences himself caused by a Restraint , but likewise of abetting all other Magistrates that think themselves in the right in doing the like ; and that tho he should chance to be in the right himself , yet he could not know how many he was the cause of being all their Lives in the wrong , who might be so only , because , not having liberty to publish the Reasons they had to embrace such Opinions , they could not meet with any that could give them Satisfaction ; and in truth , writing against any Opinion where Men have not the liberty to shew the Reasons why they hold it , is but writing at random , because Mens Reasons cannot be confuted till they are known . Such Arguments as these a Protestant Clergy , that 's true to their own Principles , ought to use both to the Prince and People , and not prevaricate with God and Man , and talk backward and forward just as it serves their turns . If Baal be God , serve him ; if not , serve the Lord. 10. I can see no reason why they that are for tying Men to that Interpretation of Scripture a Licencer shall approve , and therefore put it in his power to hinder all others from being published , can with any justice condemn the Popish Clergy for not licensing the Bible it self for the Laity to read it . For if the Bible is to be translated into the vulgar Tongue , to what end is it , but that the People by reading it may judg what is their Duty in the most obscure and difficult places ? Ought they not then to see the different Translations and Explications ? If they are to be denied this , lest they apprehend it in a Sense different from that of the Licencer and his Party , the same Reason will restrain the People from promiscuously reading the Bible , because they may , and frequently do apprehend it in such a Sense as their Guides do not approve ; and if that be a Crime , all the means that are necessary to hinder it must be a Duty ; and therefore if it cannot be prevented without hindring the Laity from reading the Bible , it 's a Crime to suffer them to read it . 11. This Restraint gives a great handle to those that believe only Natural Religion to argue against the Christian ; for , say they , 't is no small Presumption that the Clergy themselves are conscious of the Falsness of their Religion , because they dare not suffer it to undergo a fair Trial , but do what they can to stifle all the Reasons that can be urged against it . The Clergy , say they , are so learned , and withal so numerous , that amongst them they could not fail to expose and confound any thing that 's writ against them , had they but Truth on their side , which they know is , next to the Almighty , strong , and therefore needs no licensing Tricks , or Stratagems , to make it victorious : These are the mean Shifts that Error is forced to use against its Power . These Men farther add , That if Christ and his Apostles obliged Men to try all things , how can they that pretend to be his Successors ( did they believe the Scriptures ) hinder a fair trial of any thing relating to Religion ? And can there be a fair Trial when all Parties have not the liberty to publish their Reasons , that the People may compare and examine them by their common Notions , those Tests and Standards of all Truths ? Has the Protestant Religion a fair Trial in Italy , where nothing can be heard in its defence ? Thus 't is that some Men expose our Religion on the one hand to the Insults of Unbelievers , and on the other of Papists ; which can never be avoided but by granting to all Sects an entire Liberty of the Press . All other methods equally serve to promote Error as Truth , and consequently can never be the way that God ordained to distinguish the one from the other . 12. It may be objected , That by such a latitude as this People may be seduced into false Religions , or into Heresies and Schisms . None can profess a Religion but either , because upon examination he judges it to be true , or , that some by Interest makes him do so contrary to his Judgment , or else , because he takes it on trust without examining it . As to the first , If two Persons profess different Religions , one the true , the other a false one , yet if they have been equally sincere in their examination , they are equally in the way to Heaven ; because in following their Reason , they both have done what God requires : so two Men that equally act against their Judgment , the one professing the Truth , the other not , are alike guilty : so also are they who equally take their Religion on trust ; and such perverse holding of a Religion , whether true or false , is Heresy , as the other is Hypocrisy : and according as Men are more or less partial in examining , they are more or less heretical . So that 't is not what a Man professeth , but how , that justifies or condemns him before God. And there would be few , either Hereticks or Hypocrites , were there not'Bribes annexed to some , and Awes to other religious Tenets ; for then Men would not be afraid to examine Those for fear of finding them false , nor These lest they should be true , nor to own or disown either , according as they judg them true or false . And an entire Liberty of the Press would by degrees establish religious Truth , because that is supported by better , plainer , and more cogent Proofs than any false Opinions are ; which are either mischievous or burdensome , or at the least useless , whilst the other by its Excellency and Usefulness carries Evidence and Conviction with it . As to Schisms , they are caused by Mens imposing their own Interpretations , instead of the express Words of God , as necessary terms of Communion : which makes Protestant Imposers not only Schismaticks but Hereticks , because having laid down as a Fundamental of their Religion , that every one is to interpret Scripture for himself , they most obstinately and perversly ( not to say knowingly ) act against that Fundamental . 13. The most material Objection against the Liberty of the Press is , That without Licensers , Atheism , Profaneness , and Immorality , as well as Sedition and Treason , may be published . The Commonwealth has the same reason to punish Men for those as for these , because they are all alike pernicious to humane Societies . And 't is all the reason in the world that whoever asserts any such Notions , whether in Discourse , or from the Pulpit or Press , should be severely punished . But this can be no more a reason to appoint Licensers for the one than for the other ; nor would it hinder the printing things contrary to Law , for none will be so mad as to desire an Imprimatur for them : so that such Pamphlets , whether there are or are not Licensers , will come out only by stealth ; and 't is evident there were more of them printed when the Law for regulating the Press was in being , than since . To make the Laws against such things severer , and to oblige either the Printer or Bookseller to set his Name to all Books whatever , will take away all pretence for appointing Licensers , and will be the most effectual way to prevent publishing such Books . But before I leave this Head , I cannot but remark that they are no way guilty of Profaneness who out of Conscience ( to which profane and atheistical Persons have no pretence ) worship God after a mistaken manner , because all the honour Men are capable of giving an Almighty and Alknowing Being , consists in the Intention and Design ; and therefore to punish those , who out of a holy Intention and pious Design worship God after that manner they judg acceptable to his Will , as profane Persons or Blasphemers , is the greatest Crime next to real Blasphemy , because 't is punishing Men for no other reason but for expressing their Zeal for the Honour of God , which they can no otherwise do than by worshipping him as their Reason dictates , which they must either do , or not worship him at all , or else but with a mock Worship . And they that by force are made to break the ties of Conscience , tho never so erroneous , cannot be good Subjects neither to God nor the King : so that Profaneness and Immorality cannot be destroy'd but by all Sects doing as they would be done unto ; which must establish an entire and universal Liberty , since they have all the same right to judg for themselves , and are equally oblig'd to act according to that Judgment , and to communicate to others what they judg to be true : which perhaps was the reason that the House of Commons so unanimously threw out the Bill for restraining the Press immediately before their addressing the King against Profaneness and Immorality . But to return , If it be once thought unlawful to have nothing printed but of the side of the Church in fashion , the same reason will at least as strongly hold against any thing being preached but of that side ; because if any thing is printed against that Church , there are ten thousand Clergy ( whom one would think a sufficient Guard for Truth ) to expose its Folly and Weakness , but 't is not so easy for them to know , and consequently to apply an Antidote to what is preached against them : wherefore they who are not for destroying that just and righteous Law that allows Liberty of Conscience , ought to be very careful of the Freedom of the Press , as the only means to guard and defend the other ; and both being built on the same foundation , cannot ( as has been already proved ) be destroyed but by striking at the foundation of the Protestant Religion . And , Therefore it cannot be suppos'd that the chief Support of it , the Honourable House of Commons , will ever consent to the one or the other , especially considering how much the Popish Interest increaseth , and what Advantage of late it has got in France , Germany , and Savoy . And if the Popish Princes ( as 't is suppos'd ) have enter'd into a Confederacy among themselves to extirpate the Protestant Cause , ought not all Protestants ( and all that are not for a blind Obedience deserve that Name , that being the essential difference between it and Popery ) instead of using restraint on one another , unite against the common Enemy ? Besides , let it be consider'd , 't is not certain we shall be always blest with the Government of a Prince so entirely a Protestant as our Great and Glorious Deliverer . And if the Papists should pervert one , and by that means get the publishing their Doctrines without contradiction , they might by degrees confound the Protestant Religion , so much weakned already by its Professors acting so inconsistently with their own Principles . But were that Scandal removed , by allowing as entire a Liberty as the Protestant Principles require , there could be no danger of the prevailing of the Popish , or any other Superstition . And 't is remarkable , that nothing has been writ in behalf of Popery since the Expiration of the Act for Regulating the Press , so little is Liberty a Friend to that Superstition . 14. But if , after all , there must be some appointed to determine the Fate of Religious Books , the Clergy , of all Men , ought not to be trusted with this Employ , because they ( not content with the Right they have from the Society of exercising the Ecclesiastical Function ) do claim Power and Government distinct and independent of it , which they pretend is founded in Scripture ; and consequently they have no way , as Clergy , of gaining any Dominion , Power , or Riches , more than what the Society will give them , but by wresting the Holy Writ : And if , besides the Pulpits , where they may preach what gainful Doctrines they please , without contradiction , they do so far engross the Press , as to hinder any thing from being printed but what favours their Designs ; What may not such a body of Men , ( well vers'd in all the Arts of Perswasion ) by their frequent Opportunities to display them , impose on the too credulous People , especially when all the ways to disabuse them are stopt up ? And if the Clergy in the more early and primitive times , perhaps ever since they were forbid to lord it over the Heritage of God , have made it their business to pervert Religion to advance their own Power ; what reason is there to imagine that they would not do the same in these later and degenerate Ages ? How , I pray , did the Clergy , who at first subsisted by the Charity of the People , arrive to such immense Grandeur and prodigious Riches , but by a constant Confederacy from time to time , carried on at the Expence of Religion ? which ( as their own Historians shew ) was proportionably corrupted , as they encreased in Power and Riches , the one being made a step to the other ; and 't is as evident where they are now most potent , there Religion is most perverted , and the People most enslaved . The chief way they effected this , was by perswading the People to a blind Obedience , the consequence of which was , that they must take the Clergy's own Word for all the Powers they thought fit to say the Scripture had given them , and to submit to whatever they would determine in their own Cause , and for their own Interest . And there never was a Synod , whether Orthodox or not , but were for imposing on the Laity , not only by Excommunicating , Anathematizing , and Damning , but by making the Magistrate use Violence on all that would not , contrary to their Consciences , comply with their Determinations ; by which means they at last arrived to such an excess of Power over the Magistrate as well as the People , that one was no better than their Hangman , and the other than their Slaves . And have not the Protestant Clergy ( from whom one ought to expect better things ) taken the same method to make People blindly submit to their Determinations ? Nay , have they not outdone the Popish Clergy , in wresting the Holy Writ to destroy the English Constitution , and enslave the Nation , and in preaching up the Doctrine of Absolute Obedience , than which nothing can be more inconsistent with the goodness of God , and the happiness of Humane Societies , as knowing the only way to secure Tyranny in the Church was to get it establish'd in the State ? So that if the Protestant Clergy do not keep the People in as vile a Subjection as the Popish do , 't is not owing to their good will ; and therefore none that have any value for Religion , or any kindness for their Liberties , will trust those that lie under such Temptation to pervert the Scripture , with the sole licensing Books of Religion . As we pray not to be led into Temptation , so we should avoid leading others into it , especially such as in all probability they cannot withstand . 15. The Discovery of Printing seems to have been design'd by Providence to free Men from that Tyranny of the Clergy they then groan'd under . And shall that which was intended by divine Goodness to deliver all from Sacerdotal Slavery , be made the means of bringing it on again ? And if our Ancestors could not defend themselves from more than Egyptian Bondage , which the Pulpits brought on them , without the assistance of the Press , it 's scarce possible that we should be able to secure our Liberties against both , when by the help of the latter the Clergy have got better Abilities , as well as Opportunities , to impose on the Understandings of the People : and when Men are once enslaved in their Understandings ( which of all things ought to be most free ) it 's scarce possible to preserve any other Liberty . The trusting not only the Pulpits but the Press in the hands of the Clergy , is causing the Blind to lead the Blind , because the generality of them are more likely to be guilty of a blind Obedience than the Laity , since they are obliged , as they value their Subsistence , right or wrong , to assert those Religious Tenets they find establish'd by Law ; the truth of which they cannot any more be presum'd to have impartially examin'd , than a mercenary Soldier the Justice of the Cause he is engag'd in ; being sent by their Friends to the Universities not to try the establish'd Religion , whether 't is right or wrong , but to profess it as a Trade they are to earn their bread by : and lest they should examine it , they are , even before they are capable , shackled with early Oaths and Subscriptions . Which is the reason that the Priests are wondrous hot in every Country for the Opinions to which their Preferments are annexed ; in one place fierce Calvinists , in another violent Lutherans , in a third bigotted Papists ; which could not so universally happen , did they in the least examine those Opinions they are engag'd to profess . And therefore there can be no reason to trust the Press in hands of men so biass'd and prejudic'd , who cannot but be highly affronted to see the Laity do , what they durst not , judg for themselves , and not be blindly guided by them , who ( poor men ) are not trusted to guide themselves . Yet for all this extraordinary precaution to keep the Clergy right and tight , and the great disproportion of numbers between the Laity and them , 't is evident that almost all the Errors and wrong Notions in Religion have had their rise and chief Support from them . So that upon the whole , if the Press should be trusted with any , it ought to be with Lay-men , who have no Powers , Prerogatives , or Privileges to gain by perverting of Scripture , since they pretend to none but what they receive from the Society . Tho I cannot but presume that our Legislators , were there no other reason , yet out of respect to the Clergy , would not enact such a Law as supposeth the greatest and most learned of them not fit to be trusted with the printing but a Half-sheet in Religion without consent of a Lay Licenser , who is to have an arbitrary Power over their Works . And there 's no doubt but the Clergy would highly resent such a Law ; tho I cannot see but the appointing Licensers , whether of the Laity or Clergy , equally reflects on their Body , because it equally supposeth they are unfit to be trusted . But if they are content with that Disgrace , it must be because either they cannot defend themselves against-their Adversaries , or that they have a mind to give themselves up to Laziness and Idleness , and not trouble themselves with the laborious work of controversial Divinity . But I shall say no more on this Point , having already sufficiently shewed how destructive the restraining the Press is to Religion , which it cannot be without , being in general prejudicial to Civil Societies , for whose good it was instituted , but especially when it is perverted on purpose to enslave them : and there never was a Nation which lost their religious Rights that could long maintain their civil ones , for Priestcraft and Slavery go hand in hand . Therefore I shall be the shorter on what I have to say on a civil account , especially considering that most of those Reasons that shew how destructive a Restraint of the Press is to Religious , will equally prove it to be so in Civil Affairs . 16. The greatest Enjoyment that rational and sociable Creatures are capable of , is to employ their Thoughts on what Subjects they please , and to communicate them to one another as freely as they think them ; and herein consists the Dignity and Freedom of humane Nature , without which no other Liberty can be secure : for what is it that enables a few Tyrants to keep almost all Mankind in Slavery , but their narrow and wrong Notions about Government ? which is owing to the Discouragement they lie under of mutually communicating , and consequently of employing their Thoughts on political matters ; which did they do , 't is impossible that the bulk of Mankind should have suffered themselves to be enslaved from Generation to Generation . But the Arts of State , in most Countries , being to enslave the People , or to keep them in Slavery , it became a Crime to talk , much more to write about political Matters : and ever since Printing has been invented , there have been , in most places , State-Licensers , to hinder men from freely writing about Government ; for which there can be no other reason , but to prevent the Defects of either the Government , or the Management of it , from being discovered and amended . 17. Fame , Reputation , and Honour , as they are the greatest Incentives to all good and vertuous Actions , so they as much terrify Men from committing base and unworthy ones . And it cannot be reasonably presumed , considering the general Corruption of Mankind , but that the rich and powerful would frequently oppress those beneath them , were they not afraid of losing their Reputation , and exposing themselves either to the Contempt or Hatred of the People : for this Law of Reputation ( if I may so call it ) influences Men more than all other Laws whatever . But if there were a Licenser of the Press , he might be prevailed on not only to hinder the injured from appealing to the People by publishing their Grievances , but to license such Stories only as mercenary Scriblers would write to justify the Oppressors , and to condemn the Opprest : which , as it would be the greatest Encouragement for those Men that are above the ordinary Remedies of Law to crush whom they please , so it would be the highest Injustice to deny the injured the last satisfaction of justifying their innocence to the World , which would be sure to pass a just Censure on the Oppressors ; and this they would the more dread , because if once they lose their Credit with the People , they will be very unfit Instruments for a Court to use . Therefore 't is no wonder if all that make an ill use of their Power , especially those who have cheated the Government as well as abused the People , do endeavour with all their might to have the Press regulated , left their Crimes being exposed in Print , may not only render them odious to the People , but to the Government . In a word , All sorts of Men whose Interest it is not to have their Actions exposed to the Publick ( which I am afraid are no small number ) will be for restraining the Press , and perhaps will add Iniquity to Inquity , by pretending they do it out of Conscience to suppress Immorality and Profaneness . 18. But this is not the worst that may happen , because the Press may be so managed , as to become a most powerful Engine to overturn and subvert the very Constitution : for should a Magistrate arise with Arbitrary Designs in his head , no Papers that plead the Rights and just Privileges of the People would be stamp'd with an Imprimatur : Then the Press would be employed only to extend the Prerogative beyond all bounds , and to extol the Promoters of Arbitrary Power as the chief Patriots of their Country , and to expose and traduce those that were really so ; which would be the greatest Discouragement not only to all brave and vertuous Actions , but would be apt to make the People mistake their Friends , when they had not the Liberty to publish a Vindication of their Principles or Actions , for their Enemies . In a word , if the Pulpits and Westminster-Hall ( as we have lately seen it ) should chime in with an Arbitrary Court , what can warn the People of their Danger , except the Press ? But if that too be wholly against them , they may easily be so blinded as not to see the Chains that are preparing for them , till they are fettered beyond all power of Redemption ; for there can never be wanting a thousand plausible Stories , and seemingly fair Pretences , to amuse and divert them from perceiving their real Danger . And if we look into the History of Europe , we shall find more Nations wheedled than forced out of their Liberties ; tho Force afterward was necessary to maintain what was got at first by Fraud . 19. 'T is so far from being impossible , that a People may be thus imposed on to their utter ruin ; that 't is probable another Generation seeing nothing but the Royal Prerogative highly magnified , may be bred up with the Opinion of being born Slaves . And were we not almost brought to that pass in the late Reigns ? when nothing came out with Allowance but what was to justify such Opinions ; and if some good men ( not to mention the Prince of Orange's third Declaration ) especially about the time of the Revolution , had not had the Courage privately to print some Treatises to undeceive the People , and to make them see the fatal Consequences of those Doctrines which by the restraint of the Press pass'd for divine and sacred Truths ; the Nation had tamely submitted to the yoke . And as it cannot be denyed but that those Papers in a great measure opened our eyes , so it may justly be hoped that none that saw the miserable Condition that the Act for regulating the Press would have brought us into , will be instrumental in reestablishing that Law. No ; those Men sure who so much exclaimed against it in the late Reigns , will take all care imaginable to prevent it now . But if these very men who may justly be said to be written into their places , and owe their Preferments to the freedom of examining those slavish Doctrines of the former Reigns ; if these Men , I say , can so far forget themselves as to be for a Law which till themselves were uppermost they thought tended only to inslave us , there cannot be , I think , a greater Argument for all others to oppose it . We are , God be thanked , blest with the Government of the best of Kings , who as he hazarded every thing to rescue our Liberties when in the extremest Danger , so he places the Glory of his Reign in preserving them entire , and transmitting them so to Posterity . And therefore none that love his Glory can be for restraining the Press , which now as it can serve to no other end than to create Jealousies in the People , who cannot forget what former Reigns design'd by it , so it may hereafter hazard all our Liberties . Under a good King we may justly expect such Laws as will not expose us to , but secure us from the Oppressions of an ill one . The best things when perverted become the very worst ; as Religion it self , when it degenerates into Superstition , so Printing , which in it self is no small Advantage to Mankind , when it is abused , may be of most fatal consequence . Secure but the Liberty of the Press , and that will , in all probability , secure all other Liberty ; but if that once falls into the hands of ill designing Men , nothing that we hold dear or precious is safe . And experience manifests , that wheresoever That of the Press is denied , there no Other is preserved . Most Countries in Europe maintained their Freedom tolerably well till the Invention of Printing ; but when that was suffered to speak nothing but Court-Language , People were by degrees gull'd and cheated of their Liberty . Had not the late King tack'd Popery to Slavery , he might with the greatest ease imaginable have enslav'd us ; and methinks the danger we have so miraculously escaped , should fright us from ever enacting any of those Methods into a Law that so much contributed to that danger . 20. That which alone would engage me , were I a Senator , to oppose the Restraint of the Press , is , that a Parliament is to take cognizance of all sorts of things which some Men of Gentlemen-like Education may not have much considered ; and therefore the perusing what those without doors , who have made such things their business , have writ , may be none of the worst means of informing themselves ; but a Restraint of the Press may in a great measure hinder them from receiving this Satisfaction , because Licensers might be prevailed on to suffer but one side to publish their Sentiments even in Matters of the greatest Consequence . I have met with some Members who have frankly owned that the incomparable Argument against the Standing Army gave them great Insight into that grand Point , which , said they , had not the Press been open , would never have appeared , nor any thing on that side , tho a number of Pamphlets on the other , which , with the noise of self-interested Persons , would in all probability have carried things quite otherwise . And seeing they could not foresee how frequently such things might happen , this alone , said they , was enough to convince them of the necessity of the Liberty of the Press , since they could not be too secure of that inestimable Jewel Liberty , which , if once lost , was scarce ever to be recovered , especially if seized by a domestick Power . 21. I doubt not but there are several well-meaning Men for regulating the Press ; who , did they consider how subject all things are to change , could not but be apprehensive that this Engine of their own contriving might be turned upon themselves , and made to ruin those very Designs they thought to promote by it . For the Press ( as a witty Gentleman observes ) is like a Jackanapes , he who has him in his hands may make him bite whom he pleases , and therefore 't is their safest way to keep their Jackanapes in their own hands . And it cannot but shew a great deal of hardiness to make such a Law as may produce very fatal Consequences even to the Makers themselves , who will then deserve no pity , since they are scourg'd with Rods of their own providing : and 't is the more probable this may happen so hereafter , since even at present such a Law has but an untoward Aspect upon most Parties ; for one Party , tho he is pleased with it in religious , yet dislikes it in civil Matters ; another thinks the contrary to be his Interest ; a third is satisfied with having such or such Sects restrained from Printing , but would be glad that others had that Liberty ; a fourth , who cares not how all the Sectaries are dealt with , is yet afraid , that if the Press be in the hands of moderate Church-men , none will be suffered to write any more Letters to a Convocation-man , or a Manicipium Ecclesiasticum , or such like Books ; a fifth is afraid lest this Power should get into the hands of the rigid ones , for then the others will be run down as Trimmers , Latitudinarians , and what not . The same may be said with respect to other Religious Opinions , about which Men of the same Church are divided , and the like may be as well observed in civil Matters , but I leave every one to make that Remark for himself ; so that if all Parties cast up their accounts , there are very few of them but will find a Restraint of the Press to be against even their present Interest . 22. I might add a great number of other Reasons , because as many things as are worth knowing , so many Arguments there are for the Liberty of the Press ; what can be more useful than History , and the Knowledg of our Ancestors Actions ? A faithful account of which can scarce be expected in a Reign that has a design to disguise Truth , and to keep us in ignorance of those noble and generous Notions our Ancestors had of Liberty , and how they asserted theirs upon all occasions . As for what concerns the present time , I shall only say , that for my own part I should be glad , especially when at a distance from London , ( and I suppose other Country Gentlemen may be of the same mind ) to divert my self with some other News-papers besides the Gazette , which would hardly be permitted if the Press were regulated . As for Books of Philosophy , and of other Arts and Sciences , I can see no reason why there should be any Restraint on them , or why the licensing them should be intrusted with the Clergy , as by the late Act , except it be to hinder such Books from being printed as tend most to inform Mens Judgment , and make them reason clearly , things very dangerous to a blind implicit Obedience . Besides , an excellent Discovery in Nature may be hindred from being publish'd , on pretence that 't is inconsistent with Religion : for the time has been when asserting the Antipodes has been no less than Heresie ; and the Motion of the Earth a Crime worthy the Inquisition , and with as little Reason ( not to mention Dr. Burnet's ingenious Tracts ) has the most useful Book that was ever written in Philosophy , the Essay of humane Understanding , been condemned as inconsistent with the Articles of the Christian Religion . As for Physick , tho the licensing Books therein were wholly trusted with some of the College , the most useful Piece in that Science , either because the Licensers were engaged in another Method of Practice , or because it may take from their Advantage , by prescribing a cheaper and easier way of Cure , or out of Envy , or a thousand other Reasons , might be hindred from seeing the Light , to the no small detriment not only of the present , but future Ages . As to Law , I shall only say , If there are any Abuses crept into it , the likeliest way to have them reformed is not by restraining the Press . 23. Were Licensers unbiast , uncorrupt , and infallible , there might be good Reason to trust them with an Arbitrary Power to pass what Sentences they pleas'd on Books ; but if we are to judg of the future by the past , they are almost as likely to be one as the other . Men of Sense , ( and others ought not to be trusted with it ) without being resolved to make the most of it , will not care to be condemned to the drudgery of reading all the Trash that comes to be printed , nothing but necessity will make such Persons submit to it , and that necessity will make them less able to withstand Temptation . So that the appointing Licensers will be as bad as laying a Tax on Learning , since by delaying to look over Books , especially those that require haste to be printed , and by other tricks ( for there are Mysteries in all Trades ) they may make People pay what they please for their Allowance . 24. But this is not the worst , it will be a great hindrance to the promoting of Knowledg and Truth , by discouraging the ablest Men from writing for such Persons , especially after having once had the liberty of publishing their own Thoughts , will not be content to have their Works lie at the Mercy of an ignorant or at the best of an unleisured Licenser , who upon a cursory view may either condemn the whole to perpetual Darkness , or strike out what he pleaseth , perhaps the most material things . And tho a living Author may subject himself to this , yet none will be content that the Labours of a deceased Friend should be so served ; so that the Works of such a Person , tho never so famous in his Life-time , shall be lost to all Posterity . Besides , is it not intolerable , that every time a Man has a mind to make any Alteration or Addition between the licensing of the Copy , and the printing it off , that he must as often hunt after the same Licenser to obtain his leave , for the Printer could not go beyond his licensed Copy , when in the mean time the Press , to his no small damage , must stand still ? In short , tho there might seem to be some reason to condemn a Person that upon a fair Trial had been found guilty of writing immoral things , or against the Government , to the Punishment of never writing again but under the Authority of an Examiner ; yet what reason can there be that those that never offended , nay that the whole Commonwealth of Learning should be subject to so severe Usage , which too is the way to have none but Fools and Blockheads plague the World with their Impertinence , and make an Imprimatur ( as it did formerly ) signify no more than that such a Book is foolish enough to be printed ? ' This objected , that without Licensers any one may reflect on whom he has a mind to , so as that most People shall be sensible whom he means , tho he mention but two Letters of his Name , or useth some other Description , by which means he is out of the reach of the Law. This may be an Argument for the forbidding all Printing , but none for appointing Licensers ; for 't is much more reasonable for all to have the Liberty to vindicate themselves the same way they chance to be aspersed , than to let the Licenser's Party abuse all others , and the Press not open for them to justify themselves . But if any one reflects upon another after this manner , let him make appear whom it is he means , or else let him be esteemed in Law to intend that Person that takes it to himself . This I think is all that can be objected as to Civil Matters , except what relates to Sedition and Treason , for an Answer to which I refer the Reader to § . 13. I have no more to add , but that my greatest Ambition next to serving the Publick , ( which here I have endeavoured to do without so much as once thinking how it may affect me in my own private Concerns ) is to approve my self to be , SIR , Your most faithful and devoted humble Servant . Lately Published , THE Militia Reform'd ; or an easy Scheme of furnishing England with a constant Land-Force , capable to prevent or to subdue any Forein Power ; and to maintain perpetual Quiet at home , without endangering the Publick Liberty . Sold by Andrew Bell in Cornhill . 
A48302	----	Lex talionis, or, An enquiry into the most proper ways to prevent the persecution of the Protestants in France Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1698 Approx. 43 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A48302 Wing L1863 ESTC R33482 13403091 ocm 13403091 99391 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A48302) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 99391) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1552:5) Lex talionis, or, An enquiry into the most proper ways to prevent the persecution of the Protestants in France Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [4], 27 p. [s.n.], London printed : M DC XCVIII [1698] Half-title page reads: Lex talionis. Attributed by Wing and NUC pre-1956 imprints to Defoe. Reproduction of original in the Cambridge University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Huguenots -- France. Protestants -- France. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-07 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-08 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2002-08 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Lex Talionis . LEX TALIONIS : OR , AN ENQUIRY INTO The most Proper Ways to Prevent THE PERSECUTION OF THE Protestants in France . Matth. vii . 2. With what judgment ye judge , ye shall be judged : and with what measure ye mete , it shall be measured to you again . LONDON , Printed in the Year M DC XCVIII . Lex Talionis . EVROPE has now for Nine Years past been afflicted with a Bloody , a cruel and a Destructive War , carried on with a vast Effusion of Blood and Treasure ; and in all Parts of it manag'd with more Eagerness and Fury , than any War among the Europoean Princes ever was in the Memory of Man. The French , who are Masters of Address , used all the Skill and Cunning with the Roman Catholick Princes , especially those of Italy , to have made it pass for a War of Religion , thinking by that fineness , to have drawn them off from the Confederacy . But Innocent XI . who , 't was likely , knew as much of Religion , and the Interest of the Church , as the Statesmen of France , saw through that Artifice , and readily agreed with the Emperor , and the King of Spain , That the Growing Greatness of France , and the Measures laid for the Subjecting Europe to her Government , were really more dangerous Things , and of more immediate Consequence to the Publick Liberty , than the Matter of Religion could be : And therefore , though the Court of Rome made some seeming Difficulties at first ; yet the French having thrown off the Mask , and fallen upon his Catholick Confederate the Duke of Savoy , the most Bigotted Romanist , made no scruple to entertain Heretick Soldiers , to recall the banish'd Vaudois , to fight under the Command of Protestant Generals , to accept of the Subsidial Supplies of Protestant Money , and the Protection of Protestant Armies ; thereby evidently declaring to all the World , that this was a War of State , not of Religion ; and that the real Interest of Princes , is to preserve themselves , and their Subjects , against a too Powerful Invader , by Leagues and Assistances , let their Religious Interests be what they will. Nor have the Protestant Princes , though their Forces in this Confederacy have been much superiour , been backward to push on the Common Interest with their utmost Vigour , but have with extraordinary chearfulness assisted the Roman Catholick Confederates , with their Armies , Fleets , and Moneys ; witness the Subsidies paid to the Duke of Savoy , by the English and Dutch ; the Army maintain'd , under the Command of Duke Schombergh in English Pay in Piedmont ; the Forces Ship'd from England to Catalonia , to aid the Spaniard , which sav'd the City of Barcelona a whole Year ; witness also the English Fleet Wintering at Cadiz , under Admiral Russel ; the Squadron sent to the West-Indies , to Relieve Cartagena : And indeed the whole Series of the War has been one continual Instance of the Safety and Protection the Roman Catholick Countries have enjoy'd , by the Sword and Power of the Protestant Interest . So that it has been apparent , beyond the power of Contradiction , that this has been a War of State , not a War of Religion : Nor can I imagine , generally speaking that it can ever be the Interest of the Powers of Europe , take them together , to Commence a War of Religion : For though 't is true , That the Pope always Exalted both his Power and Credit , in the blind Ages of bigotted Devotion , by his Crusadoes and Holy Expeditions ; yet since , the World has more Years over its Head , and the Cheat has been discovered , Int'rest has prevail'd too much upon Devotion to be Deceiv'd any more at that rate : And the Reformed Kingdoms of Europe , are too Potent to be us'd so any more . 'T is true , the Protestant Religion has lost Ground in France ; and that Kingdom where once the Protestants were Strong enough to Contend with their Governours for their Liberty , is now wholly Roman , at least seems to be so . But notwithstanding that , I believe the Protestant Interest in Europe , very well able to stand a shock with the Popish , when ever the Pope thinks fit to Publish another Bloody Jubilee , and display the Standard of St. Peter against St. Paul. And not to descend to Particulars , I shall only Draw up the several Kingdoms , on each Side , who would form this Great Division in Case of such a War. On the Roman Catholick Side , There would be the Emperor , the Pope , the King of France , the King of Spain , the King of Portugal , the King of Poland , the Princes of Italy , Five Electoral Princes of Germany , and the Catholick Cantons of Swisserland . On the Protestant Side , The King of England , King of Denmark , King of Sweden , the Czar of Moscovy , States of Holland , Three Electoral Princes of Germany , but those by far the Strongest ; the Protestant Cantons of Swisserland , the Grisons , Hungarians , Transilvanians , and Moldavians . In the first place , I think it wou'd easily be granted , That the English , Dutch , Dane , and Swede , United ; wou'd be able to Maintain so absolute a Dominion of the Seas , as would entirely Ruine the Negotia-tion of the Catholick Party , Beggar their Merchants , Starve their Islands , and Destroy all their Trade ; They should never be able to Build a Ship , without Leave ; Their Ports should be Bombarded and Destroy'd , their Open Country be Ruin'd by Descents , and all their Coasts continually Harrass'd and Alarm'd by Fleets , and Volant Parties . What the Armies at Land could do , I referr to the History of the Present War , and of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden ; who , barely on a War of Religion , and with only his Own single Force , and the Protestant Princes of Germany , who were then much Weaker than they are now , in Two Years and a half pass'd the Rhine and the Danube , and shook the Imperial Crown on the Head of Ferdinand the Second . It would take up too much room in this short Treatise , to Consider the Proportion of the Force of these Nations in general ; 't is true that the weight of the Force of the Catholick Party , lies in the Power of the French ; who must , in such a Case , be the Bulwark and Support of their Cause . As to the Spaniard , he wou'd as he has in all Cases , have Work enough to Secure his Own ; the Empire separated from the Protestant Party , with the Swede , Dane , Brandenburghers , Saxons , and all the Princes of the Augustane Confession on its Front , with the Protestants of Upper Hungary and Transylvania in the Rear , with the Switz and Grisons in Flank , wou'd be very hard bestead , having no Power but the Bavarian , and the small Electorates of Ments , Triers and Cologne , which are of no Consideration to uphold it . Some Support might be drawn from Italy indeed ; but the French must give a powerful Assistance , or the Emperor would be Devoured in two Campagns ; the English , Dutch , and Eastern Germans , as the Lunenburghers , of Hanouer and Brunswick , would be the Opposites to the French on this side , and there the Contention would be strongest . I believe no Wise Man wishes for so Universal a Distraction as such a War would make in Europe , but 't is needful to suppose such a Thing , in order to Examine whether we ought to apprehend any Danger from it , in case such an Attempt shou'd ever be made in Europe ; for 't is apparent , some Princes of the Roman Catholick Party , have Will enough to such an Enterprize , and the Pope would be forward enough to set it on Foot , if he were but sure of the Success . The glorious Peace of Reswick , in which all the World must acknowledge the French have been very much reduc'd , has but One Clause that any way Eclipses the Honour of its Conclusion on the Protestant side , and that is , that it left the Poor Protestant Subjects of the King of France , without any shelter from the Violences of their Persecutors ; as if the Protestant Princes had so much excluded the Int'rests of Religion from the Articles , that they had not one Compassionate Thought for their Distressed persecuted Brethren . 'T is true , the War was wholly a War of State , as is before noted , and the Invasion of Property was the Occasion of it ; and therefore the Surrender of Luxemburgh to the Spaniard , who is a Roman Catholick , nay , a few Villages in the Chattelany of Aeth , made more Bustle in the Treaty , than the Restoration of Three Hundred Thousand banish'd Christians to their Country and Estates . Some have presum'd to say , That had the Restoration of the Edict of Nants been insisted on with the same Vigour as the Dutchy of Lorrain , it wou'd as easily have been Obtain'd ; and these People , among whom some of the French Refugees are of that Mind , think the Protestant Int'rest was not so much Considered in that Treaty as it ought to have been . I cou'd easily Answer such Objectors , by telling them , That the Ground of this War being only Matter of Right , to reduce the Power of France to a Balance , and to oblige her to restore what she had by Force and Injustice taken from her Neighbours ; this being obtain'd , the End was answer'd , and the Confederate Princes had no further Pretence for a War : As to the Protestant Refugees , they were the Subjects of the King of France , and strictly speaking with respect of Princes , no body had any thing to do with it , let him use them how he would . Besides , to have made it an Article of the Peace , it could not be expected that the Catholick Branches of the Confederacy would have insisted on it , or , indeed , have desired it , and the Treaty being Manag'd in one Body , by the Resolutions and Measures of several Princes and States in Congress , the Catholick Princes would have immediately Protested against it , and the Union must have been Dissolved . So that there was no room to Espouse the Interests of the Protestant Subjects of France in the General Treaty , any other Way than by Intercession with their King to use them Mercifully : And this has been done by all Parties , though hitherto without Success . It remains now to examine what Methods are further to be used , in order to oblige the King of France to use his Protestant Subjects with more Humanity , and if possible , either to preserve them that Peace and Enjoyment of their Properties and Estates , which is their Natural Right ; or to procure them some other Equivalent which may give them some kind of Satisfaction and Repose . To Commence a War against the King of France , for the Prosecution of His Protestant Subjects , seems to be very Unjust ; because Speaking of Right and Wrong , we are not Interested in the Quarrel . I make no Question but the Protestants of France themselves have , by the Laws of Nature and Reason , a right to Defend their own Possessions and Inheritances , and to Maintain themselves in them by Force , if they had a Power ; and by the same Rule might by Strength of Hand recover and take Possession of their own Estates if they were Able : But it does not seem so clear that a Neighbour Nation or State can justifie the making War on the King of France , to oblige him to do Justice to his Protestant Subjects . Nor will I attempt to Determine how far it would be Lawful to assist such a People in such a forcible Return , or in Maintaining themselves in the Possession and Enjoyment of their own Rights , be they never so Just. Only thus far 't is plain , That by the particular Article of the Peace of Riswick , respecting the Kings of England and France ; England is fore-closed from such an Attempt both Sides having expresly Stipulated not to Assist the Subjects of either against their Sovereign . The Fourth Article of the said Treaty , providing as follows , ( viz. ) And since the most Christian King was never more desirous of any thing , than that the Peace be Firm and Inviolable , the said King Promises and Agrees for Himself and His Successors , That he will on no Account whatsoever disturb the said King of Great Britain in the free Possession of the Kingdoms , Countries , Lands or Dominions which He now Enjoys , and therefore Engages His Honour , upon the Faith , and Word of a King , that He will not give or Afford any Assistance , directly or indirectly , to any Enemy or Enemies of the said King of Great Britain ; And that He will in no manner whatsoever favour the Conspiracies or Plots which any Rebels , or ill-disposed Persons , may in any Place Excite or Contrive against the said King ; And for that End Promises and Engages , That He will not Assist with Arms , Ammunition , Provisions , Ships or Money , or in any other way , by Sea or Land , any Person or Persons , who shall hereafter , under any Pretence whatsoever , Disturb or Molest the said King of Great Britain in the free and full Possession of His Kingdoms , Countries , Lands and Dominions . The King of Great Britain likewise Promises and Engages for Himself and Successors , Kings of Great Britain , That He will Inviolably Do and Perform the same towards the said most Christian King , His Kingdoms , Countries , Lands and Dominions . There seems to be but One Way left , either to make any Amends to these poor desolate People , or to bring to pass their Re-admission ; I do not say , that the Princes of Europe will find it their Int'rest to put it in practice any more than I believe it is really the Int'rest of the King of France , to Ruine so many Thousand Families of his Peaceable Subjects ; I mean , the Old Standard Law of Retaliation . But if it might be a Means to re-establish those poor People in Peace and Liberty , the Sacrificing Ten Thousand Families of other persons , as Innocent as them , seems to be a Justice their present Case calls for . Lex Talionis seems to me to be the Foundation-Law of Right and Wrong ; the Scripture is full of Instances of this Nature : Adoni-bezek , Agag , and a multitude of other Relations therein , declare it to be agreeable to the Divine Method of Executive Justice ; the reason of Rewards and Punishments , seems to be wholly measured by it : And if exactly administred , it carries so Convictive a Force , that no Person who ever fell under the severest part of it , could object against the Execution of it . Adoni-bezek , above-mention'd , made a Confession of the Justice of his Punishment , when his Thumbs and Great Toes were cut off , as a Retaliation of his Barbarities . And Samuel's Return upon Agag , That as his sword had made women childless , so should his Mother be childless among women ; declares both the Reason and the Justice of God's Decree against him , 1 Sam. XV. 33. 'T is true , this Retaliation is strictly Personal ; and all Retaliation ought to be so , if possible : But in some Cases it differs ; and where a Personal Retaliation is not practicable , then People are considered in Collective Bodies , Nations , Families , and States . Thus , in a War , the Subjects of either Party account it very justifiable , to make themselves Satisfaction for Injuries received , on any of the Subjects of the contrary Party , though the Wrong particularly suffered , is not chargeable on those particular Persons who suffer for it . By the same Rule , it seems justifiable , if we cast the whole Body of Europe into Two sorts , Popish and Protestant , that while the one part commit Hostilities and Depredations on the other , the injur'd Party should have a Right of Retaliation on any Member of the same Body , of what Nation or Government soever they shall be , where the Power is properly put into their Hands : for Power , in such a case , may pass for a sufficient Right of Directing the said Punishment , since nothing but want of Power interrupts its being Personal . The French King has given a Challenge to all the Protestant Princes of Europe , in his present Usage of the Reformed Churches of France : He has carry'd on , though not with much Success , a War for above Eight Years , against the whole United Power of Europe ; at last he has made a Peace , not at all to his Advantage , nor much for his Honour : And now the War of State is at an end , he seems to be beginning a War of Religion ; and that he may lay the Foundation of it safely , he has began it upon his own Subjects . I cannot imagine why all the Protestant Princes of Europe should not think themselves concern'd in this Invasion of their Religion , since nothing is more certain than that they are all strook at , though more remotely : And by all the Rules of Humane Policy , Prevention ought to extend as far as the Evil is design'd . If the weakening the Protestant Interest in general , were only the Design ; the strengthening that Interest ought to be the care of the other : Besides , the Papists are the Aggressors , as they always have been , and the Injustice of their Cause so great , that they have hardly ever attempted to make any other Pretences for all their Barbarities , than the Absolute Will and Pleasure of their Omnipotent Monarch , who will have but one Religion within his Dominions . I confess , to me it seems very proper , for the Ease of all Parties , That Religion should really divide the whole Body of Europe , and that all the Roman Catholicks , and all the Protestants , if they could but agree it among themselves , should live by themselves ; That if the French King will have no Protestants in his Dominion , the Protestants should suffer no Roman Catholicks in theirs ; and when all Parties are withdrawn to their own sort , and the Division compleated , let the Roman Catholicks begin a War of Religion as soon as they please . It is , in my opinion , the unjustest thing in the World , that since the Spaniards and Italians suffer no Protestants to live amongst them , but the bloody Inquisition destroys them ; and the French have Dragoon'd Three Hundred Thousand of their Protestant Subjects to Mass , and hurry'd Three Hundred Thousand more out of their Country , to seek Comfort from the Charity of Neighbour States . The Duke of Savoy has Exiled all his Protestant Vaudois : And hardly any Popish Country admit the Protestants among them , some few Parts of Germany excepted ; yet the Protestant Governments , at the same time , suffer Three Millions of Papists to live among them , and enjoy their Liberties and Estates unmolested . Nor is this all , the Protestants of France , Savoy , and Hungary , have been Persecuted , under the Assurances of the most solemn Treaties , the most sacred Edicts , and the firmest Peace that could be made ; they have never , their Enemies themselves being Judges , been guilty of the Breach of their Faith or Loyalty . Henry III. of France , acknowledged it , when he had recourse to them for Protection against his own mutinous Catholick Subjects . The Duke of Savoy acknowledged it , in his Speech to those Vaudois whom he had releas'd out of the Citadel of Turin . We never read of any War begun by the Protestants , they were always Defendants ; we have not one Instance of a Massacre committed , or of a King Assassinated , or of Nobles Undermined , in order to to be blown up by them ; they have always been Men of Peace , till Self-Defence has oblig'd them to be Men of War. On the contrary , the Roman-Catholicks have been always uneasie to the Governments they have lived under . Our Histories are full of their Treasons . Ireland has twice been Deluged in Blood by their Rebellions and Cruelties . Two Kings of France have been Murthered by their Assassinations ; and innumerable Protestants Massacred and Butcher'd in Cold Blood , under the pretences of Friendship , and assurance of a Treaty . The Reigns of all our Kings and Queens in England , since Henry VIII . have been strangely disturb'd by the Plots , the Treasons and Rebellions of the Papists ; they have often forfeited their Estates and Liberties to the Publick Justice of the Nation , had they been dealt with by the Rules of strict Retaliation . England , Scotland and Ireland have such Reasons for Entire removing them out of their Dominions , as no Nation in the World can have greater ; and yet here they live in Peace , under the Protection of those very Princes they refuse to swear Allegiance to , and under the shelter of those Laws they refuse to be bound by . 'T is no Plea in Bar of any Right , that the Plaintiff is a Papist ; our Courts of Justice are as open to them , as to any of the Kings most faithful Subjects : Of which more hereafter . On the contrary , the Protestants of France , tho' charg'd with no Disloyalty , nor guilty of no Crimes , are Dispossess'd of their Estates , Banish'd their Native Country , Dragoon'd , Shipt to the Gallies , and many of them Hang'd , their Children torn from them by Violence , and buried alive in Monasteries and Nunneries , and all the Cruelties an unbridled Soldiery can inflict , acted upon them , without any manner of Crime alledg'd but their Religion , and this when that very Religion was secur'd to them by the solemnest Leagues and Treaties in the World , Declared in the famous Edict of Nantes , Entred , Receiv'd and Registred in all the Parliaments of the Kingdom . The King of France , in Persecuting his Protestant Subjects , acts not only the part of a Tyrant over them , as they are his Subjects , but is guilty of the Breach of the Faith and Honour of a King , oppressing those People who had their Religion tolerated and allow'd to them by his Ancestors , in the most sacred manner possible ; and he is guilty also of the greatest Unkindness to those very People who were the Instruments and Agents of the Glory of his Family , and of his Person . To make good which Reflection , that I may not seem to be guilty of Disrespect to the Majesty of the King of France , 't is needful to examine a little the Ground on which the Protestant Interest in France stood for the last Century of Years , and the History of the present Royal Family of France , and how they came to the Crown . In the Year 1571. on the 24th . Day of August , Charles IX . being King of France , the Third War with the Hugonots having been lately ended , and a Peace made with the Protestants , the Cities of Rochell , Montauban , Coignac , and la Charitie , being put into their Hands for Security , and the Chief of the Protestants wholly resting on the Faith and Honour of the King , in full Satisfaction of his sincere Intentions , being come to Court , was acted the Massacre of Paris ; at which , in the space of Five Days , above Thirty Thousand Protestants were barbarously Surprized and Butcher'd in Cold Blood. Upon which follow'd the Fourth and Fifth Civil War ; during which , King Charles IX . died ; and the Crown fell to Henry III. the last of the House of Valois , and then newly Elected King of Poland . The Beginning of his Reign being entangled with Civil Broils , the Protestant Interest grew very strong ; and though the League forced the King to make Three several Wars with them , yet they still maintain'd their Liberty and Religion . At length the Faction of the Guises , known by the Name of the Catholick League , Declar'd themselves so absolutely against the King , and grew so powerful , especially after the Death of the Duke and Cardinal of Guise , whom the King had caused to be kill'd , that they had almost driven him out of the Kingdom . In this Exigence , the Protestants , against whom he had carry'd on Four Persecutions and Wars , and therein destroyed many thousands of their Brethren , undertook his Defence , and joining all their Forces , in order to Restore him , marched with him to the very Gates of Paris ; where , while he was preparing for a general Attack of the City , he was barbarously Assassinated by Jacques Clement , a Jacobin Monk , sent out of the City on purpose , being stabb'd in the Belly with a Poynard , of which he died the Day after . Henry IV. the present King's Grand-father , was then King of Navarre , and a Protestant ; and being Lawful Heir to the Crown , as also recommended to the Nobility by the deceased King , at his death , took upon him the Stile and Title of King of France . The League , back'd by the Power of the King of Spain , oppos'd him with all the vigour imaginable ; and many of the Catholick Nobility deserted him , on the account of his being an Heretick . The Protestants serv'd him with all the Glory and Loyalty that ever was shown , perhaps , in any War in the World ; and , as is computed , during the Years War he maintain'd against the League , and the Spanish Power , above an Hundred and Sixty Thousand Protestant Soldiers lost their Lives in his Service . At length , to put an end to the War , and assure himself of the Kingdom , he deserted his Religion , and turn'd Roman-Catholick ; by which means he obtain'd a full Possession of the Crown , ruin'd the League , the Chief Heads of it making their Peace with him , one by one ; and at last concluded the War with the Spaniard , at the Peace of Vervin . The Protestants , however , never withdrew their Loyalty nor their Services from him : The famous Mareschal de Biron , the Dukes de Bouillon , du Plessis , and de la Tremouille , continuing to do him the most faithful and important Services against the Spaniards to the last . Having setled himself in the Kingdom , and made Peace with all the World , the Protestants , who had serv'd him so faithfully , and who expected no other Reward than the Security of their Religion and Estates , obtain'd from him the famous Edict of Nantes ; in which is particularly stated and stipulated , the Terms of their Liberty , in what Places they should erect their Temples , how they should hold their Synods and Assemblies : Money was allotted out of the Publick Revenues , to maintain their Ministers ; Cities were allotted to them , for their Security , the Garrisons whereof were to be paid by the King : And the Edict was made Perpetual and Irrevocable , by being Entred and Registred in the Parliaments , and Courts of Justice all over the Kingdom . But all the Services of the Protestants to this Great King , by which he was brought to the Crown of France , nor the solemn Engagement of this Edict , could not preserve them , but that in the Ministry of Cardinal Richlieu , under the very next Reign , they were again attack'd , and driven to the necessity of taking Arms in their own Defence : Which Cardinal , after three times making Peace , and breaking it again at his pleasure , compleated the Conquest of them , in the Taking of Rochelle ; the Protestants being miserably deserted by the English , and Thirteen Thousand People starv'd to death in the Town . Since this , in the Infancy of the present King , while the Contests between the Prince of Conde and the Queen-Mother were so hot as to break out into a War , the Protestants , as Subjects only , were not a little instrumental to the maintaining him in that very Power , which now he makes use of to their Destruction . I think this History fully makes good the Assertion that the present Usage of the Protestants is both Perfidious and Ungrateful . Perfidious , as being acted while under the Protection of a Sacred League and Solemn Treaty , and Ungrateful as it is exercised on those very People , who with their Lives and Estates , raised the present Fortune of the House of Bourbon , to the Greatness it now enjoys . I have been the more particular in this Account , because from hence it will appear that the Protestants of France stand on a different foot from other Subjects of that Monarchy , and that his right of Dealing with them , differs from his Power over the rest of his Subjects , for they are his Subjects by express Stipulations and Agreements , whose Obedience to him has been always allow'd to be Conditional ; they have made Peace and War with their Kings , not as Rebels , but as Persons having a Lawful Right to Plead and to Defend , their Kings have given them Cautionary Towns for the Performance of the Treaties made with them ; a Thing which in its own Nature implies that they might hold those Towns against him , if he did not perform the Postulata of those Treaties , without the Scandal of Rebellion . So that their Right to the Liberty of their Religion , had an Authority sufficient to justifie them in taking Arms ; nor does any of the French Histories , that ever I saw , though wrote with the greatest Partiality , ever call it a Rebellion , but a War with the Hugonots , and the Conclusions were always call'd , A Peace with the Hugonots , as is Evident through D' Avila's whole History of the Civil Wars of France . The History of the Protestants of the Upper Hungary and of Bohemia , might in many respects bear a Parallel with this , the Persecutions and ill Usage of them , having been after the solemnest Agreement and Treaties with them that could be made ; insomuch as that poor Unhappy People being so absolutely separated from any Relief of their Brethren of Germany , have been forced to fly for Protection to the Enemies of Christianity , the Turk , with whom however they have this Satisfaction , that whatever Bargain they make for their Religion , they are sure they will keep it . And I remember very well a Banished Hungarian Minister told me , Discoursing of this very Case , he was sorry to say it , That the Turks , though they made them pay Dear for it , were Juster and Truer to their Leagues and Treaties than the Imperialists , who call'd themselves Christians . It may possibly be objected here , That while we Exclaim against the French and Germans for their Violence to their Subjects , if we should do the same thing to the Papists , it would be practising what we Condemn , and doing Evil that Good may come . The Answer to this is Included in what goes before , ( viz. ) taking the whole Roman Catholick and Protestant Party in Europe asunder , and considering them as two Collective Bodies divided in Interest and Religion , it seems to me to be just that a Retaliation of the Injuries done upon the Members of one Party in one place , may be made upon the Members of the same Party in another place , by the same Rule that Depredations of Subjects of one Prince in War , may be paid by Reprizal upon any of the Subjects of the same Prince . But this may be more fully answer'd thus , That if the Popish Subjects of some Protestant Governments have so behaved themselves to their Governors , as to make their Extirpation just , that Justice however suspended in Mercy to them hitherto , will absolutely justifie removing them from those Governments , and by that means Lex Talionis be Executed by the Hands of Publick Justice , and one Banishment be at the same time both a Punishment of their several Crimes , and a Retaliation of the Oppressions of their Party . This is a Method God Almighty often takes himself , while he suffers a Punishment for a publick Crime of less Guilt to be the Executor of his Vengeance for some Crime of a higher Nature not known . To go no farther than Ireland for an Instance of this , the present Inhabitants , I mean the Popish Irish by a Bloody Massacre of 200. Thousand Protestants in 1641. by little less intended , and as much as they were able executed , this late War , have deserved no doubt to have been used at the Discretion of the English ; and Oliver Cromwell was more than once consulting to Transplant the whole Nation from that Island . If he had done it , or if it had now been done , I am of the Opinion , no Nation in the World wou'd have tax'd us with Injustice , and I do verily think Oliver acted with more Generosity than Discretion in omitting it ; for this is certain , that if he had done it , this last War and the Expence of so much Treasure as it cost this Nation , and the Ruine of so many Thousand Protestant Families , who were Driven from thence by King James , all the Destruction at London-Derry , the Sickness at Dundalk , and the Blood of 150000 people , who at least one way or other , on both sides , perish'd in it , had been prevented . It may be enquired whether Oliver design'd to Transplant them , I could answer directly to that also ; but 't is sufficient to my purpose to say , had he clear'd the Island of them , it had been no matter at all to us whither they had gone , and the King of France has set a Rule for such as Banish their Subjects to let them go where they please , and then they certainly separate ; whereas had he sent the Protestants to any particular place , they wou'd have been so many and so United , they might possibly have come back again with Swords in their Hands , and ha' bidden fair for another Hugonot War. I have also seen among the Letters of State written by Mr. Milton , who was his Secretary for the Foreign Dispatches , a Letter written to the States of Holland , wherein by way of Argument to prevail , for some Ease to the Protestants of Piedmont , he proposes a Confederacy with the Dutch , and all their Reform'd Friends , to reduce the Duke of Savoy to a Necessity of giving better Conditions to the Vaudois ; and seems to Threaten to Expel all the Roman Catholicks in England , Scotland and Ireland , out of his Dominions . I remember upon Discoursing of this Passage in some Company , one asked , What if he had ? and another by way of Repartee , made Answer , Then there wou'd have been none left . I repeat it not for any great Wit in the Answer ; but to Introduce the Question , What if he had ? 1. If he had , possibly we had not been troubled with any Popish Plot in 1678. nor none of the bloody Consequences of it ; we had had no Sham-Plot upon that , no Russel , Sidney , nor Armstrong Murthered ; No Blood lost in an Invasion by the Duke of Monmouth , nor Cruel Executions in the West ; we had had no Popish Successor , no Standing Army , no Bishops sent to the Tower , no Invasion of Charters nor Privilege of Universities ; No Ecclesiastical Commission , &c. 2. We had had no Nuncio from Rome , to take his Progress over the Kingdom , no Fire-Works for a Sham-Prince of Wales , nor no Mass Sung in Windsor Chapel , no Seminaries of Priests , nor Nunneries of Whores , at Chelsea , Lincolns-Inn Fields , or Hammersmith . 3. In short , we had had no War of Nine Years to restore a Popish King , the Nation had not spent 60 Millions Sterling , nor lost 200000 of the Stoutest of her Inhabitants to Maintain her Liberty ; King William had been King in Right of his Wife , and a Peaceable Admission had been given him . In all probability this had been the Consequence , if Oliver Cromwell had sent them all out of the Kingdom . I beshrew his Heart he did not . I do not pretend to lead my Reader to any Political Reasons why this shou'd be done now ; our Governours are best Judges of the Publick Interest . But thus far , I think , may be assumed without Danger of Reflection . If the Nation shou'd think fit in Compassion to the Miseries of our poor Distressed Brethren of France to retaliate their Usage upon the Roman Catholicks of England and Ireland , the following Consequences would in all probability ensue , which whether it wou'd be Just in the whole , or Beneficial to England and Ireland in particular , I leave to the Judgment of Impartial Readers to Consider , 1. It might be a means , by the Intercession of Parties , to procure some reasonable Conditions for the Poor Protestants of France , as the Stopping the Mareschal Boufflers at the Surrender of Namur procur'd Justice to the Imprisoned Garrisons of Deinse , and Dixmuide . This is a Practice too well known in the War to need any Contention , where the putting a Prisoner of War to Death , or any other Breach of Articles has been requited by putting some other Prisoner of War to Death on the contrary Side ; and though the latter be an innocent Person , Lex Talionis is the Word , the Justice of it is not disputed . 2. It wou'd put these Kingdoms in a Condition to Entertain and Relieve that great Multitude of Distressed Christians , with the very Substance of their Adversaries , and the King of France might , if he pleas'd , make the Roman Catholicks Amends , by giving them the Estates of the Hugonots , or what other Way he thought fit . This is most certain , that the Roman Catholicks of England , wou'd not have half the Reason to Complain of hard Usage that the Protestants of France have , they have no Leagues or Capitulations to show for their Permission the Laws of the Kingdom are expresly against them , and they have in all the Reigns for 150 Years past , been the Disturbers of the Peace of it ; they resuse now to Swear Allegiance to the Government , and if they do not Disturb it , it is Owing to their want of Power , not their want of Will. But if they had all those Defences to make , which have been hinted , on behalf of the Protestants of France , they wou'd have no body to thank for such Usage , but their own Friends . And the Pope , if he ow'd them so much Care , might use his Interest with the King of France , to let the Protestants enjoy their Liberty , in order to save them from the same Fate . Some , indeed , object against the receiving such vast Numbers of Foreigners among us , as Prejudicial to the Interest of Trade , and to our own Manufacturers and Inhabitants , by Eating the Bread out of our Mouths , and Starving our own Poor . This is an Argument would require a little Volume to Answer ; but in General , I presume to Affirm , That no Number of Foreigners can be Prejudicial to England , let it be never so great . Number of Inhabitants , is the Wealth and Strength of a Kingdom ; and if we had a Million of People in England , more than we have , let them be of what Nation they would , it would be far from being a Damage to us . 'T is true , if these Million of People were all Artisans , Manufacturers , it would be some detriment to our Poor who are employ'd in those particular Manufactures : but allow one third to be Artisans , one third Labourers , Husbandmen or Sailors , and one third Merchants , Shop-keepers or Gentlemen ; and if the greatest Number that can be supposed came to settle in England , it could be no Injury , but a vast Advantage to the Kingdom in general : And it will appear by this One particular , well examin'd . An Addition of a Million of People , suppose that were the Number , would devour a proportion'd quantity of Corn and Flesh for Food and Drink , and a proportioned quantity of Manufactures for Cloth and Housholdstuff ; the one employs more Land , and the other more People . Now 't is apparent , we have in England more Land lies unimprov'd , common , and waste , than would feed a vast many People more than we have ; and we have a Staple of Wooll , never to be exhausted . In Manufactures , the more Lands we improve , the greater the Rents will be , and the greater the general Stock of the Nation will be ; and the more Manufactures are made , the better the Poor are employ'd , and the richer the Manufacturer is made . Many other Arguments might be used , to prove , That the Coming Over of Foreigners can be no general Prejudice to the Nation , as to Trade . But that is not the main thing here . If the Roman-Catholick Princes pursue their Protestant Subjects with such Cruelty , and drive them into Banishment and Exile , to seek Relief in Foreign Countries , the Case seems to speak for it self , the Protestants can have no readier way , either to prevent the Miseries of those poor persecuted People , or to relieve them in their Exile , than by dealing with the Papists in their Dominions in the same manner , and Inviting the said persecuted French to come and live in the Estates and in the Places of their Adversaries . This is Lex Talionis : And this is a way that would soon tire the Papists out . For I think I may be allowed to suppose there are much the greater number of Papists among the Protestants , than there are of Protestants among the Papists ; and the Exile of the Parties would also differ , as to Places . For , generally speaking , the Protestant Countries are the best for Strangers to live in , the Protestant People are the Trading People of the World : therefore the Exile of the Protestants of France and Hungary would be less to their disadvantage , than the Papists of England , Ireland and Holland , who must apply themselves to Countries where there are few Manufactures , small Trade , and but very indifferent Means for a Stranger to live . So that the Popish Exiles would be in much the worse Circumstances : And there is no question , but whenever the Protestant Princes of Europe shall find it needful to use this Remedy , the Roman-Catholick Powers will find it for their Interest to make some Cartel , or Condition , upon which all their Subjects , though they are Protestants , may enjoy some sort of Liberty in their own Native Countries ; and so Persecution , as well as War , might end in an Universal Happy Peace to Europe , both in Matters of Religion , as well as Civil Affairs , which has so often been attempted by other Methods , to so little purpose . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A48302-e120 Judg. i. 7. 
A48827	----	The pretences of the French invasion examined for the information of the people of England Lloyd, William, 1627-1717. 1692 Approx. 33 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-11 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A48827 Wing L2690 ESTC R20528 12402827 ocm 12402827 61319 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A48827) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 61319) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 767:19) The pretences of the French invasion examined for the information of the people of England Lloyd, William, 1627-1717. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [3], 16 p. Printed for R. Clavel ..., London : 1692. Advertisement: prelim. p. [3]. Usually attributed to W. Lloyd but perhaps written by Daniel Defoe. Cf. BM. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Oaths. 2003-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-08 Andrew Kuster Sampled and proofread 2004-08 Andrew Kuster Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion May 25th 1692. Let this be Printed , Nottingham . THE PRETENCES OF THE French Invasion EXAMINED . FOR THE INFORMATION OF THE PEOPLE of ENGLAND . LONDON , Printed for R. Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-Yard , 1692. A Catalogue of some Books lately Printed and Reprinted for Robert Clavel , at the Peacock in S. Paul's Church-Yard . THE State of the Protestants of Ireland under the late King James's Government , in which their Carriage towards him is justified , and the absolute Necessity of their Endeavouring to be freed from his Government , and of submitting to their present Majesties is demonstrated . Writ by Bishop King. Licensed by the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham . The Third Edition , with Additions . The Frauds of the Romish Monks and Priests set forth in Eight Letters , lately Written by a Gentleman in his Journey into Italy . The Third Edition , very fairly printed . Observations on a Journey to Naples , wherein the Frauds of Romish Monks and Priests are farther discover'd : By the Author of the former Book . Forms of Private Devotions for every Day in the Week by a Method agreeable to the Liturgy ; with Occasional Prayers , and an Office for the Holy Communion , and for the time of Sickness . L. Annaei Flori Rerum Romanarum Epitome , interpretatione , & Notis illustravit Anna Tanaquilli Fabri Filia , Jessu Christianismi Regis in usum Serenissime Delphini . In a large 8vo . curiously Printed . LEVSDEN's Greek Testament . The Fifth Edition . A Defence of Pluralities , or holding two Benefices with Cure of Souls , as it is now practised in the Church of England . THE PRETENCES OF THE French Invasion EXAMINED : For the Information of the People of England . THat the Sword hath thus long been kept from destroying among us , is a Blessing which we cannot sufficiently understand , unless we consider the woful Desolation it hath made in all Neighbouring Nations : Nor are they at all sensible how much they owe to God , and their Majesties for keeping us in Peace , who give the least Encouragement to this intended Descent , which must turn our Land into an Aceldama , and will make such woful Havock of our Lives and Fortunes , while one party fights for Safety and the other for Revenge , that no Age can parallel the horrid Consequences of such a Civil War as this will prove . And if Papists only ( blinded by Zeal for their Religion , and blown up with hopes of absolute Empire ) encouraged this bloody design , it would be no Wonder , and could have no Success , considering the general Aversion of the People to them , and the fresh Instances of their Insolence and Cruelty . But alas ! It appears that many who call themselves Protestants , are engaged in this fatal Conspiracy against their Religion and their Native-Country ; which is so prodigious and amazing , that a Man would wonder who hath bewitched these foolish Galatians to push on their own and the Churches Ruin : And every one must be inquisitive into the specious pretences by which these Men are induced to become their own Executioners . Now the pretended Motives are these : 1. Repairing the Injury done to the late King. 2. Delivering us from the Oppressions we suffer under the present King. 3. Setling the Government upon its old Basis. 4. Securing the Protestant Religion for all future Ages . Now it becomes every true English Protestant to examine these Pretences very well , before he venture on a thing of so evil Appearance and dangerous Consequence , as is the joyning with these Invaders . First , It is pretended , the late King was unjustly deprived of his Birth-right by his Subjects , who by Nature and Oaths were bound to defend him in the Possession of it : And now that he comes to demand his own , all that ever were his Subjects must either assist , or at least not oppose him . But let it be considered , that all the late Kings Sufferings were owing to , and caused by the Counsels of his Popish-Priests , and the Bigots of that Persuasion : Protestants were not the Aggressors , he might have kept his Possession to this day undisturbed , if he had not made such open and bold Attempts upon our Laws , our Religion and Properties ; so that he was the first and only Cause of his own Sufferings ; and why should Millions be involved in Blood and Ruin , who are perfectly Innocent of doing this Injury ? No free Nation did ever bear more or greater Injuries , or endure such Violences so long , or so patiently as we did : And when some Stop was to be put to the final Ruin of our Liberties and Religion , it was done at first by Petitions and Complaints ; and when they were despised , none but defensive Arms were taken up by some few , and by a Foreign Prince , only to cover their Heads while the Grievances were fairly redressed ; not to take away his Rights , but to secure our own : Nor did the Prince of Orange , or these Gentlemen , devest or deprive him of his Throne , but owned his Right by offering a Treaty , during the continuance of which he disbanded his Army , dissolved his Government , and as much as in him lay attempted to desert the Throne , and seek Aids from an Enemies Country ; which might secure him against redressing any Grievances , and enable him to be revenged upon the injured Complainers : We did not make the Throne vacant , but the late Archbishop and other Peers at Guildhall , believed he had left it void , or else they would not without his Consent , have seized on the Administration of the Government , secured his Chancellor , taken possession of the Tower , and offered the Exercise of the Supream-Power to the Prince of Orange . He left us in Anarchy , and we provided for our selves in the best manner such a Juncture would allow : I will not enquire now , whether these Subjects who are so Zealous for his Return , were not bound to do more than they did to keep him in his Throne while he had it ; their Conscience then permitted them to look on and let him sink , while his Security had been far more easily compassed : But they who have now these unseasonable Pangs of their old Loyalty , must consider , that a Man may leave his Right when he pleaseth , but may not take it again at his pleasure , especially not by Force , and this most especially as to Soveraign Power : Some Body must govern , when he would not ; the next undoubted Heir in an Hereditary Monarchy must ; and whoever doth govern in Chief in this Nation must be King , by our Constitution , and must have Power sufficient to protect himself and the Nation , against all their Enemies , and that cannot be without Swearing new Allegiance . Now when a King and Queen are declared , submitted to , and owned by Oaths , and all other Methods required in such Case : The King is not at liberty to give up his own Power , and the Protection of us , nor are the People free to joyn with him that deserted them , or to venture their Necks or their Countries Ruin , to restore him : I dare say that the French King will not grant , that the Citizens of those Cities who were Subjects to Spain or the Emperour , and bound by Oath to those Princes ( but have now submitted to him , and sworn new Allegiance ) are obliged to venture their Lives and Fortunes , by vertue of their old Oaths to restore those Cities to their former Masters ; doubtless he would solve their Scruples with a Halter if he found they attempted it . Besides the Injuries ( as they are called ) done to the late King by his own Acts , if they were capable of Reparation , must not be repaired with the injuring , yea ruining many thousand innocent Persons , who must unavoidably lose their Lives , and be undone in their Estates by his returning by Force : The present King and his Army , are bound by Oaths , Duty and Interest , to oppose him , so are all now protected by him , and who have sworn Allegiance to him ; and 't is certain all that are not perjur'd Hypocrites will do so : And then what Englishmans Bowels must not Bleed , to consider what Murthers , Burning , Plundering and Destruction he brings upon his Native-Country , who encourages the Aggressors ? If he have any Kindness for us whom he calls his Subjects , he would rather sit quietly under his single Injuries , than wish , or however attempt to be restored by Blood , and an Universal Ruin : And if he have no Pity for us , why should we be so concerned for him as to Sacrifice our Lives and Fortunes to his Revenge ? He went away while a Treaty was on Foot , and nothing but a Treaty can restore him fairly , which he never yet offered : We did not force him to go away in Disguise , and if he will force himself upon us again by French Dragoons , and Irish Cut-Throats , we may and must Oppose him ; for our Allegiance is now transferred to another . Finally , there is no Injury to any but himself , and those who run into Voluntary Exile with him , by his being out of the Possession ; the Monarchy , the Law , the Church and Property are all in better Estate than in his time , and all these with innumerable private Persons must be irreparably injured by his Return in an Hostile manner . So that there can be no reason to redress the sufferings he ows to his own Faults , by so many publick and private Injuries : If it be pleaded that he who was born to a Kingdom really wants Subsistance , I reply , that if he would seek the Peace of Christendom , and of his late Subjects , he might by a fair Treaty set on foot , not only restore the Exiles , but have a sufficient and honourable Maintenance from this Government ; but while the War he makes upon it , puts us to so great Expence , he cannot expect it , nor imagin we should give him a Supply to enable him to ruin us . The Second Pretence why we should assist towards his Restauration , is to deliver our selves from the Oppression we suffer under the present King : And to set off this with a better Gloss , the late Reign is magnified by the Jesuits and their Tools , and this blackned : Freedom from Taxes then is made a rare Instance of his Gentleness , and the present Impositions heightned with all the Rhetorick imaginable , to represent this King as an Oppressor . The flourishing of Trade then is extolled , the decay of it now odiously insinuated , and great hopes are given of Golden Days , upon the Return of James the Just ; he is to make us all happy . Now to answer this , there is no need to make a Satyr on that Reign , or a Panegyrick on this ; that is so well remembred , and this so fully known , that all unprejudiced People see on which side the Truth lies . But 't is great Pity they who have the Wit to invent or urge this Plea , have not a Memory to remind them , that none complained more of the Danger of Law and Religion , of our Lives and Fortunes in that Reign , than many who have this high Opinion of it now ; the Cruel Severities in the West , the High Commission , turning out of Office all good Protestants , attempting to reverse all the Penal Laws , putting unqualified Men into all Places of Trust , Profit and Power , excluding the Fellows of Magdalen , and putting in Papists , with the Imprisonment and Trial of the Bishops were thought Oppressions then ; but now all these are buried in Oblivion , and those Taxes which the late King and his Ally of France with their Abettors alone make necessary to this Frugal Prince , these are our only Grievance , and this Kings unpardonable Crime . The late King had one Tax , and might , yea , would have had more for the glorious Design of enslaving his Subjects , if he could have got a Parliament to his Purpose , which he vigorously endeavoured ; and it was because he was sure he must satisfie his People in their just Complaints , when ever he asked a Supply , that he durst not ask it of a freely chosen Parliament ; yet then we were in Peace with all Nations , and now he hath intangled us in a War with the worst Enemy in Europe . Assessments then were not needed but to hasten our Ruin ; now they are absolutely necessary to our Safe●y , and made so by him and his complaining Friends . Yet still what Grievances are these Taxes , in comparison of what is laid on the French Slaves , into whose Condition we were intended to be brought ? There is a vast difference between losing our Property for ever , and paying some part of our Profits to secure the rest , and our Inheritances to our Posterity as well as our Selves . Besides , should we not leap out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire , if to avoid tolerable Payments , we should rashly bring a fatal War to our Doors , that must last till more than one half of the Nation be destroyed , and the rest utterly and almost irrecoverably impoverished ? This I am sure is voluntarily to change our Whips for Scorpions . We have paid as much formerly for assisting France to ruine Europe , and maintain Vice at Home , as now serves to deliver Europe , and secure our Native Country and Religion from utter Destruction : Nor are the Sums considerable , ( reckoning the Abatement of Chimney-Mony , ) which we have paid to this Government ; no Country in Europe hath paid so little in proportion to our Wealth , these last Three Years of War : And if the late King return , England must pay all the Sums borrowed of France to maintain him abroad , to keep Ireland , and to discharge the Forces that come to thrust him on us , and must stay to compleat the happy Design of setting up Popery and Slavery , the natural consequences of his Restauration ; and 't is well if Arrears of Chimney-Mony , and other publick Monies be not called for to carry on so glorious a Work : So that if England rebel against the present King to avoid the Burthens now upon them , they expose themselves to Ten times greater Taxes for many Years , and it can end in nothing but the utter Impoverishing of the whole Nation , especially the Protestant part of it , who by their Poverty will become a more easie Prey . As for Trade , the Decay of it began in the late King's time , and it is the War which he and France have engaged us in , that still keeps it at a low Ebb ; so that for the late King's Friends to expose the present Government for this , is like a Conjurers complaining of the Storms he raises . That ingenious History of Bishop King 's of the Estate of the Protestants in Ireland under King James , makes it out , that the late King feared and hated the increase of Trade , which made him use all means to hinder it ; and all the World fees , that no Absolute Monarch ( as he affects to be , ) likes that his Subjects should grow rich by Trade . But our present King so soon as he can have Peace , will make it his first Care to promote Trade here , as he did in the Country he came from ; and even in the difficult times he had , Trade hath been a great part of his and his Parliaments Care. Finally , if Men can remember the times that are so lately past , when Law and Right was only the King's Pleasure , dictated by Mercenary Judges , when no Party but the Papists flourished , when a general Consternation had stopt all Business , they cannot hope to be happy by his Return , who caused all these Miseries : And they must expect now he hath more perfectly Learned the French Methods ( of making a King the greatest of Monarchs , by making his Subjects the vilest of Slaves , ) that he will practise it with greater Industry and Application than ever , to put it eternally out of his Subjects Power , to protect themselves again : For oppressing his People , which was but expedient before , will now be thought absolutely necessary . So that nothing can be more improbable , not to say impossible , than for England to be happy under him , that attempted to make her Miserable without any provocation , and must return with the same Principles and Designs , the same Counsellors and Interests he had before , and with all the addition that Revenge , Hatred and Fear can make to an angry and implacable Mind : But it may be said , his Dear-bought Experience of the ill success of these Methods , will make him rule more moderately , if he be restored : To which I reply , Coelum , non Animum mutat . The fore-cited Book of Bishop King's demonstrates , that after he had lost England and Scotland , and a great part of Ireland , upon his Return thither from France , he was more Arbitrary and hard to his Protestant Obedient Subjects , than ever he had been before , even though it was against his visible Interest , and tended to disgust all the Protestants who would have served him there . His declaring himself Papist at first here , and all his Actions since shew that he prefers his Will , and an obstinate pursuing his own Methods , far above his true Interest ; whence it follows , that we vainly expect from one of his Temper , that either his past Experience , or his future Interest should teach him Moderation , any longer than till he hath Power to oppress us : And if he should by a Thousand Promises or Oaths engage to rule by Law , his frequent breach of both hath given us no reason to trust him ; and the Religion he professes can so easily dispence with both , that neither of them give us any security from that sort of Obligations . The Interests of Popery and France require he should be Absolute , and his Nature spurs him on to it , and nothing but Fear can for a Moment restrain him from being so . What a shadow of a Dream then must this be of Protestant Subjects , being happy under a bigotted Popish Prince of such a Temper ? Thirdly , Whereas 't is said we have changed our old Hereditary Monarchy into one meerly Elective , and by degrees shall bring it to a Common-wealth ; nor can any thing prevent this , ( which will be of Fatal consequence to the Church , ) but our restoring the late King : I answer , the Position is false , and the Consequence a meer Sham ; the Government of England always was , and ever must be Monarchical ; that Twelve Years when it was endeavoured to make it otherwise , convinced all Men , that all Projects to the contrary must come to nothing . As for this Revolution , 't is not likely a Parliament which made an Entail of the Crown in a Lineal Succession , should be for setting up a Common-wealth , or altering the Hereditary Monarchy . If it be alledged there was a great Breach as to the Person of the Reigning King , 't is replyed , he himself made it , and they did not make , but find the Throne void . And there have been greater Breaches since the Conquest as to the true Lineal Succession , and laying aside , yea deposing the Reigning King , and setting up his Son , or a Remoter Person , which indeed was an Injury to the Kings so Deposed ; but still the Monarchy was called and continued to be Hereditary . In our case the King deserted us , yea , left us without any Government ; but we applied to his next certain Heir , with whom at her Request , and for our Safety and hers , by general consent a Title was given to her Husband and our Deliverer , but this only for Life , though he be much nearer in Blood to the Right of Succession , than either Henry the Fourth , or Henry the Seventh , successively made Kings of England . And the saving the Succession to the Princess of Denmark and her Heirs , shews how far that Parliament was from designing any such thing as a Common-wealth . We see Philip of Spain , who had no Title to be King of England but by his Marriage with Queen Mary , was made King at her Request and in her Right ; but he had not merited so much as our King , and therefore his Title was to cease at her Death . As for the Prince of Wales , there are so clear Indications of his Birth being an Imposture , and the Design of forming that Project is so known to be Revenge on the Princesses for adhering to their Religion , and to get more time to force Popery and Slavery upon us ; yea his Health and Strength make it so unlikely he should proceed from such crazy Parents , that till the Parties concerned prove the Affirmative by better Witnesses and clearer Evidence , and the People of England in Parliament own him for the Heir , we need not go about the unreasonable Task of proving a Negative : Wherefore since the breach in the Succession was the late King 's own Act , and only concerns his Person and a supposed unknown Heir , we are not to answer for that ; and considering the hurry his unexpected Desertion put all things in , and the absolute necessity of a speedy Settlement , the Friends of the old English Monarchy have just cause to rejoyce it was made so near the old Foundation , with a small and only Temporary Variation from it , which was also absolutely necessary in that Juncture of Affairs : And 't is evident that there are many of the best Quality and Interest who hate the notion of a Common-wealth in England , and love Monarchy as well as any of the late King's Abettors , who freely consented , and firmly adhere to this Establishment . If it be objected that King William was bred up in a Common-wealth , and inclines to that Form of Government ; 't is answered , He doth and may like it in Holland , but they must shew some Instances that his Zeal for a Common-wealth is as hot and as blind , as King James's for Popery , before they can prove him so desperate a Foe to his own Interest , as to uncrown himself , and make himself the People's Vassal , when he is and may be their Gracious Lord. If it be urged , that it is a dangerous Precedent for future Kings , to allow the People a Liberty to take away their Princes Right , and set up another , on Pretence of Misgovernment : The Reply is , the late King was the occasion of this Precedent , by first attempting to alter the whole frame of our Laws , Government and Religion , and then Deserting us . And if it be an ill Precedent for the safety of Princes , that the Advantage was taken , it was however necessary to take it for the Safety of the People , for whose good Heaven made Kings . Sure I am , there are as dreadful Consequences of Arbitrary Tyranny , as there are of Rebellion , witness the Misery and Slavery of the poor French at this Day ; and it seems as necessary there should be some Precedents to deter Princes from abusing their Power , as well as to restrain the People from abusing their Liberty : For both Tyranny and Rebellion are great Sins , and of most mischievous Consequence . Wherefore this unexpected Example may make our Kings more Just and more apt to Rule by Law , but it can never hurt the Monarchy it self , or countenance a Rebellion , while a King is in the Throne that will stay to hear and redress his Peoples Grievances , which will never be denied by the present , or any other good King. The last Pretence is the most surprising of all , That there is no way to preserve the Church of England , no nor the Protestant Religion , but by restoring the late King , who its said in his Declaration promises this as liberally as he did at his first Accession to the Throne . If Mankind were not the oddest part of the Creation , one would wonder how 't is possible for Protestants to believe , that the Wolves design good to the Sheep : When the late King was here , he involved himself in infinite Mischiefs , and did the most odious things in the World to destroy the Protestant Religion , and especially to ruin the Church of England ; and hath he given any Evidence of changing his Temper , his Principles , his Zeal , or his Methods ? He shewed in Ireland a greater spite to Protestants than ever ; he hath lived in France ever since , where he hath seen how much it tends to advance his dear absolute Power to Dragoon all Men into the Kings Religion ; his only Motives to draw in this Frenchify'd Pope to lend him Mony to invade us , is by convincing him , he lost all by his Zeal to restore Popery , and by engaging he will use his Power ( if he can regain it ) only to promote the Catholick Interest . His other Ally the French-Persecutor , cannot be endeared by any better Interest , till the Principal of the Sums Lent are repaid by poor England , than by Assurance that he will make one Kingdom in the World as miserable by absolute Empire , and forcing one Religion , as France now is ; that his Barbarity , Cruelty and Treachery may not be the infamous single Instance of such Proceedings ; his Promises to his Allies , his Zeal , his Principles , and his Nature , all engage him to destroy the Protestant Religion . He attempted it when he was not half so deeply obliged , and can we think he will not pursue it now ? 'T is next to Frenzy to think the Pope and King of France furnish him with Mony , Ships , Forces , &c. only to secure the Protestant Religion and Church of England ; he must be tyed in more than ordinary Bonds , to endeavour the Ruin of both , or no such Favours had been shewn by such a Pope , and such a Persecutor : It cannot be Ease to Roman Catholicks he desires ; They are more at Ease under King William , than under any Protestant King ever since the Reformation : It must therefore be the suppressing all other Religions , and setting up that alone , must engage Rome , France and Lucifer in his Restauration : As for his Promises to us in his Declaration , alas he hath already given greater and stronger to the Pope and French King to the contrary ; and though his Interest , and the Hopes that some will be so mad to believe him , put him upon renewing these Promises to England , yet his Consessor can soon resolve him which Promise is to be kept , whether that pious Catholick Promise to the Holy Father , and the Hector of that Cause , or that extorted one to Hereticks : Besides , we should remember the Italian Proverb , God forgive him who deceives me once , but God forgive me if one Man deceives me twice . No Prince in the World ever promised with more Solemnity than the late King to protect the Protestant Religion , or the Church of England ; yet nothing is more clear , than that he designed to gull us only , not to oblige himself by this Protestation ; and the first thing he did was to break it as soon as he durst , and can we be so distracted to believe him again ? He declared in Ireland , that the Church of England stunk in his Nose , and that he abhorred it . He cannot truly love either any person of that Persuasion , or any other Protestant ; he may flatter some of them to get into the Saddle , but when they have mounted him he will ride over their Heads ; his own Friends of the Protestant Religion are very few , and his Revenge on the far greater number who have opposed his Designs , will out-weigh the Kindness of a few inconsiderable Hereticks who abetted his Interest , and who will be told , that it was not Sense of Duty , but despair of obliging his Enemies that forced them into his Quarrel : They had sufficient Experience after Monmouth's Rebellion ( suppressed only by the Church of England Men ) how little any Acts of those he counts Hereticks can oblige him ; his carriage in Ireland to the Loyal Protestants , writ this in Capital Letters , and it must be supposed they have drunk deep of Lethe who can forget all this : But I pray what is it the Church of England wants , or any other Protestant ? This King is as serious and sincere a Protestant , and as true a Lover of that Interest , as King James is a professed Enemy to it ; and why may not he be more likely to preserve the Religion he professes , than the other to maintain that Religion which he vilely deserted , and mortally hates ? The Church-Men say King William is too kind to Dissenters ; but hath he given them any other or more Liberty than King James did ? That King begun with Toleration , and it was not for a new Prince in a troublous State of things to alter any thing of that Nature : Besides , at the same time the Dissenters do think the present King too kind to the established Church , not considering that 't is the National Religion which he found , and keeps in possession of all its Rights , as his Duty and Oath oblige him , yet so as the Dissenters have Ease , and every thing but Empire , which from a prudent King of England they can never expect , being not only a less part of the Nation , but so divided among themselves , that nothing can please all parties of them ; and therefore freedom to Worship in their several ways , is all the Favour they can be capable of in the best times ; and so they are most unreasonable to hope for more now : Besides , let it be considered , that our King is not only the Head and Protector of the Protestants of England , but of all the Reformed Churches in Europe : And the French King ( the main Wheel in this designed Restauration ) is so mortal an Enemy to the whole Reformation , that he desperately weakned himself , and banished 30000 Families of useful Subjects , only to root the whole Profession out of his own Dominions : And now can any rationally pretend , this present King will destroy the English Church , or the French-Persecutor , and his Client the late King of England , uphold it ? My dear Brethren and Country-men , do not so infamously abuse your selves to believe so incredible a Fiction , so manifest a Cheat : Alas , all these good words are only to lull you asleep , till you , at the peril of your Necks , get him Power enough to Extirpate you and your Religion also : I doubt not but for a while he would maintain the established Church , and renew his Indulgence , because he can get Footing no other way ; but it is easie to foresee how short-liv'd all these Sham-Favours will be : They spring from Fear , and desire of Opportunity to be revenged ; and so soon as ever the Fear ceases , and that Opportunity comes , he will most certainly kick down the Ladder by which he ascended , and pull off the Mask , appearing what he is in his Nature and Principles , and not what his Necessities have made him seem to be ; so that if this Disguise be credited , the persons imposed on will and must pay for their Credulity , with the woful price of helping to destroy the most pure and flourishing Church in the World : In assisting to re-instate him , and fighting for him , they fight against their own Religion , which the Primitive Christians for all their Heroick Loyalty would not do , and which no Man ought to do , either for Interest or Revenge : For my part , I think true Religion so far above all worldly Concerns , and the Preservation of it , so principal an advantage of Government , that the Prince who will certainly Suppress that , must be more intolerable than he that would take away my Liberty , Estate , or my Life ; and it must be a damnable Sin in me to assist him in it , or put him into a Capacity to do it : No Oath or Allegiance can bind me to this ; it may oblige me to suffer , but not to act for such a design : Wherefore for Shame , let his Irish and English Popish Subjects alone carry on this impious Design , who can only hope for Advantage by his Restauration , and who are only bound in Conscience to help him : Neuter we must stand at least , and that will suffice to shew how contemptible a party that is , which must be set up on the Nations Ruin , and how impossible it is for him to cut down the Protestant Religion in England , without borrowing a handle from the Tree he would fell : Take warning by what is past , and what must be the inevitable Consequence of your deserting this King , or assisting the late Prince , even the Ruin of this most famous Church of England , and the endangering the whole Estate of Protestantism through all Europe : In vain will you complain of this Consequence , when it is too late to remedy it ; your Guilt , Shame and Sorrow will then only remain , for having had a hand in so deplorable a Mischief : For my part I have delivered my own Soul , and given you fair warning ; God of his infinite Mercy open your Eyes in time , and grant you a right Judgment in this and in all things . FINIS . 
A49360	----	The loyal Protestants vindication, fairly offered to all those sober minds who have the art of using reason, and the power of suppressing passion by a Queen Elizabeth Protestant. Queen Elizabeth Protestant. 1680 Approx. 19 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A49360 Wing L3360 ESTC R5421 12986386 ocm 12986386 96197 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A49360) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 96197) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 719:23) The loyal Protestants vindication, fairly offered to all those sober minds who have the art of using reason, and the power of suppressing passion by a Queen Elizabeth Protestant. Queen Elizabeth Protestant. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [2], 6 p. Printed for Walter Kettilby ..., London : 1680. Attributed to Defoe in the Wrenn catalogue. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Church and state -- England. Protestants -- England. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-08 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Loyal Protestants VINDICATION , FAIRLY Offered to All those Sober Minds WHO Have the Art of Using REASON , AND The Power of Suppressing PASSION . By a Queen Elizabeth Protestant . LONDON , Printed for Walter Kettilby , at the Sign of the Bishops-Head , in S. Paul's Church-yard , 1680. THE Loyal Protestants VINDICATION . Fellow Natives and Brother Protestants . FOR by Birth and Charity we are bound so to call you . And we hope , That ( upon the Ebbs of your heat and humour ) you will out of humility think it fit at last to call Us so too . It cannot de denied , but that ( ever since the Blessed Reformation ) Protestanism is the Common Cause and Interest of England . And that he only is to be reputed Our Enemy , who shall and doth by Plots and Designs endeavour , either to Subvert or Alter our Government , as it now stands by Law established both in Church and State. Now for the Blasting and Defeating of all wicked Conspiracies against Our Established Government , both at present and for the future , I can assure you , that you have our Heads , our Hands and our Hearts . Nor can you be more zealous for the Overthrow of the late discovered Damnable and Hellish Popish Plot , and the suppressing the Growth of Popery , than the true honest-minded Church of England men are . Pardon them only in this ; That they love a Zeal regulated with Prudence , and softned with Moderation . You all very well know , That it hath been of late the great artifice of the Jesuited Party to intrude ( if possible ) their damnable Plot upon that Classis of Protestants call'd Presbyterians . Who I am perswaded have learn'd from their former miscarriages , That it is both theirs and all Protestants Interest , not to disturb our National Government , or disoblige their Prince . And I could heartily wish that the Papists might never have had any colourable pretence for fathering their Brat of Rebellion upon any sort of Protestants amongst Us. And this they would never have had , if the years between 1640. and 60. could be raz'd out of the Book of Time , and the memory of this Age. But whatever things the Papists may Revive to serve their Cause , We are willing to forget them , so it may heal our Breaches , and Cement us together in a Brotherly Assistance of each other , for the saving both of You and Us , and our Protestant Religion . And for the effectual promoting of so considerable and publick a concern , I think all judicious and thoughtful men will allow that there is nothing so essential and necessary as our Union . And though it 's not reasonable to expect , that all the sorts of Protestants in England should in a moment concentre in one mind , in one judgment and opinion : Yet what should hinder , but that they may have a reciprocal kindness and love one for another , and one and the same Loyalty to their Prince ? Unless the Protestant parties in England are like the Princes in Germany , wherein every one is so much wedded to his own interest , that he had rather see the Emperor dethron'd , and the whole Empire lost , than lose one little Regalia of his own to save it . Never were the Papists so full of Plots , and so big with hopes as now . And never was the Wicked one so busie in sowing the Seeds of discord and contention as within this moneth or two last past . For to an observing eye the Print of the Cloven foot hath been easily seen in all the Roads , Cities , Towns and Corporations of England within that time . And whatever Sentiments some Over-zealous and misguided men may have of linking and listing themselves and names , under the form of a Petition ; yet certainly none but the Jesuite , ( who alone hath the Art of out doing the Devil in malice and mischief ) could have invented a more proper and effectual way of setting Protestants in England at a greater variance and distance than ever they were before . The Old weather-beaten course which the Jesuits used to make us Protestants hateful to , and hating one of another , was to cast upon some the name and character of Calvinists , upon some Arminians , upon some Socinians , upon some Pelagians , upon some Cavaliers and Malignants , upon some Covenanters and Round-heads after the old style ; but now Church-men and Fanaticks , or Court and Countrey party , after the style of the newest fashions . But now since the Jesuit perceives that We Protestants begin to smell the device of these Nick-names , and that we are growing so skilful as to discern that these are only bones thrown in amongst us , merely to make us snarl , and bite , and devour one another ; Therefore the Jesuits ( to perpetuate and continue the Protestant fray and scuffle , which is the only advantage to their Cause ) have now at this time ( if not invented ) yet at least set on foot a Form and mode of Petitioning , which must inevitably run us into fearful Broyles , if not timely prevented . For pray observe , With what heat and earnestness did some press the Subscription of it upon others their fellow subjects ? With what Reluctancy and stubbornness did others deny and refuse it ? How passionately and bitterly did many in Coffee-Houses and other places debate and argue the lawfulness and unlawfulness of it ? And it 's to be wisht , that in some Towns , Parishes , and Neighbourhoods it be not the standing cause of irreconcileable feuds and quarrels among the people . For such hath been the imprudence of some Hot-headed men that carried this Petition about for Subscriptions , that they told the un-thinking vulgar , it was the Shibboleth to discern between the Protestants and Papists in England . And hence many of them ( poor Souls ! ) out of fear and ignorance set their Hands , but more their Marks to it : when as they , and those that Prest it upon them , can give no just positive account , whether this Petition , and the Solemn League and Covenant , were invented and fram'd either by a Papist or a Protestant . And now is not this a pretty piece of Sport to our Common enemy the Papist , to see a Leaf of paper set all England in a Flame , and create most desperate Animosities amongst its Protestant natives ? Could there be any Project or Device ( next to the killing of our Gracious Soveraign whom God long preserve ) so essential and proper for the Ruine of Us , and our Protestant Religion as this ? What need have the Papists of Collections from their friends ? or moneys from the Holy Chamber ? or of Armyes from Foreign Popish Princes ? when as our Divisions , which they have set up amongst us , will with good looking after most certainly and inevitably do this work to their hands , without any such cost or trouble . Serious and frequent have been our Addresses to you for a Brotherly Correspondence and Reconciliation , and your Joyning with Us in the Defence and Preservation of the Protestant Religion . Nay we have made it Our Humble Requests to You , that you would do Us that Right and Justice , as to own and allow us to be Protestants as well as your selves . And yet such hath been the hard fate and misfortune of Our Gentleness and Meekness towards you , that like the Grace of God to proud and wanton sinners , they have been scorn'd and rejected . For instead of any Civilities to us for this our Humble Demeanour , you have imperiously ascended the Seat of Judgment , and the Chair of the Scorner : Loading us with Scoffs and Reproaches , and condemning us for Hereticks and Papists . Nay , so mightily Sowr'd are you in your Opinions and Judgments of an English Church-man , that you nauseate him , as you pretend to do a Papist , and shun his converse and sight as much as a man of curdled bloud doth Cheese . But whatever Treatments you are pleased to give us , or whatever Liveries you think fit to Clothe us withal ; yet ( begging your leave ) we shall desire this freedom as to cleanse our Garments from those foul Aspersions thrown upon them from Pulpits in Conventicles , Libels from the Press , and those Scurrilous Reproaches vented by Republican Tools and Tantivy's . And therefore let him that hath Eyes and Learning to read , Consider the Loyal Protestants Vindication , In these following Particulars , FIRST , We do own and love all Protestants of whatever Sort , Title and Name , that do really abominate the Superstitious fooleries and Heretical Doctrines of the Church of Rome . Secondly , We do Approve and Delight in all Persons , which assert and vindicate the King's Supremacy over all Persons and in all Causes both in Church and State. Thirdly , We countenance and commend all such , who mind their own business and study to be quiet , and who out of Duty as well as Modesty have so good and just opinion of their present Soveraign's Art and Judgment in Governing , that they will not presume to prescribe him rules and methods of managing the people which God hath committed to his care and charge . For such hath been his Education , and so much experience hath he learnt in foreign Courts and Countreys , during his Exile , that we can positively say , He is the Wisest King in Christendom , and the best Statesman in all his whole Kingdom . Fourthly , We are for giving all men their just dues according to their Dignities , Places , and Qualities , and do abominate all those harsh and rough methods , which irritate our Superiors anger and displeasure . For certainly of all persons , Governours chiefly are to be oblig'd and not forc't . Fifthly , We do verily believe , that according to the Contents of our New Testament , no man ought to Affront and Vilifie his Princes Person and Authority either in words or deeds . And that if he cannot conform to the Government of his Prince , yet he is bound in Conscience , not to be openly , publickly , and actually disobedient , especially where the Prince is Christian and Protestant too . And where the ground of Subjects Obedience and Disobedience is purely about Things Indifferent , which is a thing that wholly excludes all doubts and scruples of Conscience . Sixthly , We do abominate , and as seasonably and prudentially as we can , rebuke and suppress all sorts of Vices and Immoralities without respect had to persons . And should be heartily glad to see Whoredom , Adultery , Drunkenness , Swearing and Pride , to grow out of fashion in the Kingdom ; as we wish , Malice , Spight , Backbiting , Censuring , Slandering , Railing and Bitterness of Spirit may decay amongst you . Seventhly , We heartily Love , and highly Applaud all plain-hearted and publick-spirited men , who aim and endeavour at things for the Kings Honour and Greatness , and the real good of the whole Kingdom . But we do detest and abhor all self-ended and self-seeking men , especially those who engage a whole Kingdom for a particular disgust ; and study revenge for a private defeat they have received , or who design to make themselves Popular , great and rich under the Pretence of serving the Publick . Eighthly , We heartily pray , and use all the interest we have , that this late Damnable Hellish Popish Plot , ( which God in mercy to us all hath brought to light ) may be daily more and more detected and brought to a final Period . And we joyn with you in our souls , that the Parliament may sit for the Tryal of those Great Conspirators , who cannot be otherwise Tryed but by Parliament . But as for the time , when this Parliament should sit about this weighty affair , we humbly leave it to His Majesties Prudence , who , of all men hath the sole right , and is best able to chuse the seasonableness of doing it . Ninthly , We do firmly believe , that the Present Actings and Designs of Our Enemies the Papists are so wicked and evil , and Our Cause so Good and Just , that we dare ( with the use of lawful and justifiable means ) in an humble confidence refer the whole matter into the hands of Providence , not doubting but that God will so rule the heart of our King , and direct his Councils , that We and Our Religion will at last have as Memorable a Deliverance , as any of those which have been in the Days of our Ancestors . Tenthly , We do affirm , and can justifie it : That the Men of the Church of England are the true , right , and only Protestants . And for this we dare appeal to the known Laws of the Land , to the Hugonots of France , and all the Calvinistical and Lutheran Churches abroad ; for whenever they write or speak of the Church of England , they mean that which is established by Law in our Nation . And because the Memory of Queen Elizabeth is always so fresh and fragrant in your minds , that you keep her Anniversary Coronation-day above all other Protestant Kings of England , with the solemnities of Bonefires and ringing of Bells . We therefore take the opportunity to declare to you ; That it 's not you , but we are the Men , who are not only the Legal , but the true Queen Elizabeth Protestants . And I would advise you , the next time you observe that Day , ( which I shall observe with you ) that you would enquire into your selves , whether you are the Protestants of that mould and stamp , which she loved , and her Laws protected in her Reign . Eleventhly , Though you take a pride or pleasure , or both , to represent us to the Vulgar under those filthy characters of Mungrel Protestants , Half Protestants , Protestants in Masquerade , and Church Papists . Yet under our patient bearing of your Reproaches : We beg your pardon to make this Declaration : That we do abhor and detest those black and odious Titles . And had you but a spark of modesty , or a grain of reason , or the least insight into our Laws , you would have long since forborn to persecute us with this slanderous Accusation . What was Queen Elizabeth a good Protestant , and now must the Queen Elizabeth Protestants be counted no Protestants , or call'd half Protestants , and Protestants in Masquerade ? What doth the Jesuit and Papists hate us , and plot to destroy us , because he finds us the best and truest Protestants ? And must you to Revile us and seek to Root us out : because we are not Protestants according to your standard ? Certainly had you but any wit or Reason about you , you might plainly see ; That whatever you think of us , the Papists take us only to be the truest Protestants , and their greatest Enemies . For it 's against Us that all these malicious Plots are levell'd . And they have only set you up as Tools and Instruments to compleat their design . For alas , there is hardly one amongst all your Parties hath writ so Judiciously and Rationally against the Church of Rome , as to deserve either a Learned Papists reading or answer . And now must our Bishops , Doctors and Divines be the only Champions for the Protestant Religion against the Romanists . And yet must their Hearers and Followers be branded with the Ignominious Names of Half Protestants , Church Papists , and Protestants in Masquerade ? For shame forbear these unchristian slanders ; or else all foreign Protestants will say , that you want both manners and modesty , or which is worse , brains and reason . Go on , if you please , with your trade of Calumniating : But thus plain we will be with you , to acquaint you , that our Eyes are so open , as to see you use one way , and the Papists use another way , to destroy and Ruine the Church of England , with its Protestant professors . And we declare , That from our knowledge of you Both , we expect no Quarter or mercy from either of you . For the Church of England men have already endured two Persecutions , the one of Fire in the Reign of Queen Mary , the other of the Sword in our late Unnatural Wars , when men of your own kidney Plundered , Sequestred , Imprisoned , Hanged and Beheaded many Thousands , for no other Crime , but that they were Loyal Subjects , and Queen Elizabeth Protestants . And now we are Expecting to fall under a Third Persecution : But whether it will come from the Papists , or You , we cannot as yet so easily Discern . Lastly , Because you so arrogantly call your selves The Protestants , and the True Protestants ; and so scoffingly call us the Half Protestants , and Church Papists , and Protestants in Masquerade : We therefore send you this Challenge . Go if you dare with us into Westminster-Hall , to the Assizes and Quarter-Sessions before the Judges and Justices of the Peace ; and there ( if you dare ) take with Us the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy . Renounce with us the Doctrine of Transubstantiation , and the Solemn League and Covenant . Subscribe with us the Declaration of the Unlawfulness of taking up Arms against the King. And bring with us your Certificates of Receiving the Sacrament according to the Church of England . This , This is the Test and Shiboleth to distinguish Protestants from Papists , and not your Form of Petition which lately went in Procession ; and should your boasted multitudes of Subscribers be brought to this Touchstone , we know that three parts of five would run a great danger of being convicted for Recusants by Law ; for many of you who proudly call your selves the True Protestants , will as stifly deny the doing of these things as the Rankest Papist in England . In love therefore I desire you to refrain from the Villifying us with the filthy characters of Protestants in Masquerade , and Church Papists , since that we have been so kind to you for many years , as not to put you upon this Tryal , which we know would be as ungrateful and prejudicial to you as any Papists . And if you cannot out of Modesty and Charity , yet out of Interest learn to be more Sober and Moderate to your fellow Natives and Protestant Brethren ; and do not Calumniate the Honest Church-men of England who Pray for you , and love you better than you do your selves , and would be glad to have you to joyn with them in all lawful and justifiable ways , for the overthrow of all Popish Plots , and the Preservation of that Protestant Religion which is Established by Law. And now let all the World Judge , whether We or You , are Half-Protestants , and Protestants in Masquerade ; since that We will abide by those Legal Tryals and Touch-stones , which are the National Discriminations between Protestants and Papists : and You , or the major-part of You , refuse these Tests as well as the Papists ; and as long as You stand in the Refusal of them , You are but Papists in a Protestant disguise . FINIS . 
A37437	----	Reflections upon the late great revolution written by a lay-hand in the country for the satisfaction of some neighbours. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1689 Approx. 119 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 37 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37437 Wing D844 ESTC R9630 11987869 ocm 11987869 51970 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37437) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 51970) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 63:12) Reflections upon the late great revolution written by a lay-hand in the country for the satisfaction of some neighbours. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [4], 68 p. Printed for Ric. Chiswell ..., London : 1689. "Licensed April 1689, James Fraser"--T.p., verso. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. BM. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. 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Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Great Britain -- History -- Revolution of 1688. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-07 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-08 John Latta Sampled and proofread 2002-08 John Latta Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion REFLECTIONS Upon the Late GREAT REVOLUTION . LICENSED , April 9. 1689. James Fraser . REFLECTIONS UPON THE Late Great Revolution . Written by a LAY-HAND in the COUNTRY . For the Satisfaction of some Neighbours . LONDON : Printed for Ric. Chiswell , at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard . MDCLXXXIX . REFLECTIONS Upon the Late GREAT REVOLUTION . PRovidence having placed me in so low a Sphere , that I have had nothing to do in the great Revolutions of which our Land has lately been the Scene ; I must not pretend to judge of what has past : But altho I have not been an Actor , I cannot say I have been altogether an unconcern'd Spectator of the great Changes these last Three Months have produced : For what I did not know in the Cause , I thought I might yet lawfully admire in the Effects ; which truly have been so miraculous , that 't is as much the Worlds Wonders as ours : So that if ever People had cause to apply the Words of the Psalmist , Psal. 118. ver . 23. we certainly may say , This is the Lord 's doing , and I 'm sure it ought to be marvellous in our Eyes . But alas ! as if we meant to vie Miracles , and to shew that we can be as obstinate as God can be gracious , we are so far from admiring , that we will neither own nor accept the Wonderful Deliverance that God has wrought for us . A sign , I fear , that we are unworthy of so great a Mercy , while we can be so insensible of , and so unthankful for it : And , like the Children of Israel in the Wilderness , instead of going on to possess that Canaan God seems to have design'd for us , we are for making a Captain to return again into Egypt ; and to put our Necks into that Yoke , which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear . And I wish our present Murmurings and Discontents do not provoke God to deal with us as he did with the Israelites , and swear that we shall not enter into , nor enjoy that Rest we so despise . But if Passive Obedience be so necessary a Duty , and we are indispensibly obliged to obey our Kings whatsoever they be ; the Children of Israel had certainly a great deal of reason to quarrel with Moses and Aaron , for making them Rebels , depriving them of the Honour of suffering for a good Cause , and making them do so many ill things . For certainly the Children of Israel were as much , and as truly the Subjects of Pharaoh , as any body can be to any of our Modern Kings . For they were all born in his Land , govern'd by his Laws , and he and his Ancestors had reigned over them by a long Prescription of Four hundred Year ; and if this is not enough to give a King a Title , I doubt most of our Monarchs may despair of shewing a better . But to that I know it will be answer'd , That 't was God Almighty's own Doings ; and that as Abraham might lawfully sacrifice his Son when God commanded it , so they might lawfully Rebel when they had God's Authority for it ; for God being the Great King , may dispose of Kingdoms as he pleases . To which I shall make no other Return , but humbly offer this Quere , ( which I should be glad to see resolved ) Whether God can , or ever did command an unlawful thingg ? For his Proposal to Abraham was only for Trial ; for you see , he would not permit him to kill his Son when it came to it : But the Children of Israel went through with their Design ; therefore if in it self it had been so great a Sin , he would not have commanded , much less assisted the Israelites in the Execution of it . To see Men then murmur against God , and quarrel with Providence , only because it would not suffer them to be opprest as the Israelites were , nay destroy'd and ruin'd ; seems so unaccountable a Ground for Dissatisfaction , that it deserves to be examined into . And I must own , that I have so much both of Esteem and Reverence for some of our Discontents , that I cannot think them so weak , as to have a Platonick Love of Suffering ; or so wilful , as to oppose the Truth if they are convinced of it : Therefore suppose they have ( at least as it seems to them ) some good Reason , which makes them thus not only deny , but resist their own Interest . And here Conscience and Zeal both stand up for them , ( the two best Champions in the World when in the right , but the most unruly and dangerous when in the wrong ; ) and Conscience telling them they cannot comply , Zeal tells them they must oppose and declare against such Proceedings . But yet for all this , how hard a Task soever it seems , I should not fear encountring , nay overcoming these two , had I not two greater Difficulties to contest with , that is Prepossession , and Prejudice . For we daily see by sad experience , that People may be as fully perswaded of , and as zealous for an Error , as 't is possible to be for Truth it self . For which I need go no further for an Instance , than St. Paul , who says , Acts 26.9 . I verily thought with my self , that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth . Of which he gives us an account in the two following Verses ; Being ( as he himself terms it ) exceedingly Mad against them . But that we might not be ignorant what we are to ascribe this extravagant Zeal and extraordinary Fierceness to , he tells in the preceding Verses of this 26 th Chap. and also in the 3 d Verse of the 22 th , That from his Youth up he had been brought up in Jerusalem , at the Feet of Gamaliel , taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the Fathers , and was zealous towards God , as ye all are this day . So that 't is very apparent , it was his Education that inspired him with his Zeal . For the Pharisees were not only the strictest , but the most dogmatical Sect among the Jews ; and while they thought they , and only they , had the Law of their sides , they not only despised , but hated all that were not of their Opinion ; and thought it not enough to instil their own Doctrines and Principles into their Disciples , unless at the same time they imprest upon them an absolute Horror and Detestation of all others : So that here was Prepossession and Prejudice to the height ; and we may see the Effects of it in St. Paul ; for it made him proof against all the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles , ( for living in Jerusalem , it cannot be supposed but that he must both see and hear of them ) so that nothing but a Call from Heaven it self could convince him . But I say not this , that I intend to apply it particularly to any of our Times , but only to shew in general the Unhappiness of such a grounded Prepossession and Prejudice , and the difficulty of treating with it , because Truth it self will appear unwelcome to such , if it contradict their received and admired Opinions . But after all this , it must be allow'd , that never any prejudice was taken up on so justifiable grounds , as that our Church-men may have to the very appearance of Rebellion ; for living in the late War , and seeeing the dismal Effects of it , by the sad ruin it had wrought both in Church and State , they might reasonably think they could not run too far from such pernicious Principles . But alas ! there is an extream of the other hand , which perhaps may be as dangerous , and therefore ought as carefully to be avoided . For if , like some of our over Zealous Reformers in the Church , who having both seen and detested the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome , thought they were to hold nothing in Common with them ; if , I say , like these , our State-Reformers should fling away and abhor and detest all that was done in 41. as the one would soon run us out of our Religion as Christians , so the other would out of our Birth-right and Priviledges as English men . But as I hope no body will reject their Creed because believed by the Papists ; so I think it would be full as unreasonable for a People to despise and destroy their own Rights and Liberties , because they were asserted by a Company of Rebels so long ago . But all this while I have been only skirmishing with some of their Out-Guards , their main Body and Strength too remains yet entire : Which I shall own invincible , if they can make out those two great Points . First , That Monarchy is Jure Divino , properly so call'd ; and Secondly , That if the King Command us any thing contrary to our Laws , we are yet in Conscience obliged to obey , and yield Obedience either Active or Passive . These are indeed the Foundation Stones on which the great Doctrines of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience are built ; and if the Foundation prove firm and true , I cannot , no I dare not deny the Superstructure , but 〈◊〉 yield my self their Convert ; being , I bless God , more desirous to be overcome by Truth , than to conquer without it . And coming with this Resolution , I hope I may , for Argument sake , be allow'd to say what I can for the Cause I have undertaken . To which purpose , I shall desire leave to Consider these two things ; First , From whence Kings in general do derive their Authority ( which answers to the first Point of Monarchy being Jure Divino ; ) and Secondly , What is that particular Authority that is vested in our Kings ( from which I hope to clear the second Point . ) I. But first of the First , And since Jure Divino is the thing pretended to , I think I cannot take a better Method , than to let Gods own Word and Law decide the Question . For I take it to be the best as well as the last Judge in such Points ; and therefore I shall confine my self to the Sacred Scripture , and bring no Proofs nor Argument on this first Head , but what that affords me . And if I can from thence prove these Three things : First , That Monarchy was not at the first Instituted by God Almighty : Secondly , That after Monarchy was permitted and established among the Jews , the People did make and set up their Kings ; and Thirdly , That those Kings which were named and appointed by God himself had not an absolute Power , but were under Conditions and Covenants : If , I say , I can make out these three things , I shall then suppose I have done all that can be expected from me , and that I have sufficiently confuted the Jure Divino Title . And now when I come to treat of my First Point , 't is possible some may expect that I should by History trace Monarchy back to its Original source ; but our present dispute being , Whether it be Jure Divino or no ? I thought ( as I said before ) that Gods Word would be our best Guide ; and therefore shall confine my self to the Sacred Writ , although it must be own'd , that if there be any intimations at all about the Matter we are now in quest of , they are for several Centuries so dark and obscure , that Negative Inferences are the best Proofs we can produce ; but if our Advesaries can bring a piece of Canonical Scripture that is Affirmative on their side , I shall not only be very glad to see it , but also very willing to submit to it ; for I am sure it was never my design to contest either Gods Will , or Gods Word ; and the latter being the surest way to come to the knowledg of the former , ( it being given us for that very end ) I hope it will not be unreasonable in me to expect that the Claims to Jure Divino should be made out by express Scripture , for the Grant ought to be very clear that conveys such an inestimable Privilege . Now I conceive a thing may become Jure Divino two ways ; First , by being immediately Instituted by God Almighty ; and Secondly , by being positively Commanded ; of which the Church both Jew and Christian can afford us Instances , among the which I should reckon the Passover with the Jews , and the Lords Supper with the Christians , they both of them being not only immediately Instituted , but also their observation positively Commanded by God himself . And although I cannot say I rank Kings in that Classis , yet I do own an Order of Men to be Jure Divino , and that is the Bishops ; for that of St. Joh. 17.18 . As thou hast sent me into the World , even so send I them into the World , seems to me so powerful , and so full a Commission , that I dare not reject it . And when our Monarchical Men can shew me a Text of Scripture , wherein our Saviour does as fully make over his Regal Authority to Kings , as he does there his Prophetical to the Apostles , I shall then certainly pay them the same deference . And because Examples do illustrate things much more than simple Positions , I shall now suppose , that some of us of the Church of England went into the Indies in the Nature of Apostles , to Preach and Plant Christianity among them ; and succeeding in the design , I should then ask , Whether it were lawful to set up what sort of Church-Government we pleas'd among these new Converts , or whether they did not think we were obliged to establish Episcopacy ? But of the other side , supposing that we went as Conquerors , and had made an absolute Conquest of a very large Territory , might we not then lawfully set up what kind of Civil Government we pleased , and such as we thought might be most beneficial and agreeable to our new Subjects ? Or are we in Conscience indispensibly obliged to set up Monarchy where-ever we have the Command , although it should happen to be extreamly disadvantageous to the State in its present Circumstances ? And the Answer that every body shall in such a Case be able to give themselves , will I suppose sufficiently clear the Point of Jure Divino . But for all this , the other side are very free to make out their Title to it ; and if they can prove that it was Originally Instituted by God Almighty , or that we are positively Commanded to obey Kings exclusively to all other sort of Government ( for if that , and only that , be Jure Divino , I conceive it would then be a sin to submit to any other . ) If , I say , they can make out both or either of these from Scripture , I yield ; but till that is done , it may not be amiss to see what Account the Historical part of the Bible gives us of the beginning of Monarchy . And here it must on all hands be owned , that for the first Sixteen hundred years , that is , the whole space from the Creation to the Deluge , there is not any mention or least intimation of such a thing as a King ; and yet according to the Calculation of some of the Learned , the World was then as full of People , and consequently there was as much need of Government then as now . But what want there was of it , I know not ; but that there was no such thing as Monarchy then in the World , we have a great deal of reason to believe . For this I can be very sure of , that in the Holy Line , that Branch of the Posterity of Noah wherein the Church was to be preserved , and from whence the Messiah was to spring , there was no King for near Fifteen hundred years after the Flood , and yet one would have guest , that that People that were so particularly favour'd of God , that they had the Enclosure of his other Laws and Ordinances , ( as the Psalmist tells us , Psal. 147.19 , 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob , his Statutes and Ordinances unto Israel . He hath not dealt so with any Nation , neither have the heathen knowledge of his laws ) ; should not have been excluded for so many hundred years from this Jure Divino Ordinance , had it originally been instituted by God. But that it was not commanded to them , is , I think , pretty evident , not only from their being so long without it , but also from the very severe and bitter Reproofs they meet with from Samuel , when they desire a King. And after that God had comply'd with the People , in setting a King over them , he was yet at the expence of a Miracle , as you may find it , 1 Sam. 12.18 . to convince the People of their sin and folly in asking one ; who in the 19th Verse , confess , We have added to all our sins this evil in asking us a King ; which methinks is no very good Argument of its being Jure Divino . It 's answered , I know , to this , That God was their King ; which doth not cross , but confirm what I say ; for he who is the King of all the Earth , did not think fit to govern them by Kings . But how long soever it was before Monarchy was set up in Israel , it must be owned , that it had a much earlier admittance among other Nations ; for Nimrod , who was the first King , at least , the first we find mentioned in Holy Writ , did certainly begin his Kingdom in the Second Century after the Flood . But truly the Character that is given of the Man , would not make us very much in love with the Order to which he gave both Beginning and Name ; for that his Kingdom was founded by Force and Violence , is very clearly intimated ; and that he got the Name of the great Hunter , by his driving Men ( not Beasts ) out of their Possessions : for poor Ashur , the Son of Sem , who had fixt himself in the Land of Shinar , was forced to fly for it , and to get him over Tigris , where indeed he laid the Foundation of another great Monarchy , that of the Assyrians . For Nimrod carrying on his Kingdom by the same means he began it , made it necessary for some that were his Neighbours , to set themselves up Kings , that they might be the better able to oppose him : and Pride and Ambition being very natural to Men , every body began to aspire to Dominion ; so that in a short time every little Village and Hamlet had its particular Monarch : for we find the Land of Canaan pretty well stockt with Kings when Abraham comes to sojourn among them . And this is all the Account that I can from the Scripture collect of the Original of Monarchy . But I think it is a little remarkable , that as the first City was built by Cain , so the first Kingdom was set up by Nimrod , who was of the Posterity of C●am . So that the very Foundations of Monarchy seem to be laid from those Two Persons , who have a particular Curse and Brand upon them in Holy Scripture ; and they that shew'd so little Respect to the Paternal Authority , ( from which some would derive the Original of Monarchy ) are the beginners of the Kingly Power ; which is another very good Proof of its being at first Jure Divino . I could have said a great deal more on this Head ; but my Design being to make an Essay , not a Book , I shall proceed to the Second thing I undertook to prove from Scripture ; that is , That after Monarchy was establish't among the Jews , the People had a share in the Election , and did frequently set up , and make their own Kings . That the Kings of Israel and Judah did owe their Crowns at the first to the Peoples Importunity , is , I think , so evident , by what I have already cited out of Samuel , that I shall suppose it needless to repeat it here ; for although God did comply with the Peoples Request , yet we cannot say he approved it , but barely permitted it , as he did Divorces among them , and perhaps on the same account , the hardness of their hearts ; but from the beginning it was not so , Mat. 19.8 . But 't is not from this Topick that I intend to prove the People had a hand in making their own Kings ; but I shall bring Instances of several Kings , of whom it is said , by Name , they were set up by the People ; and I will set them down in order , as I find them recorded in the Sacred Story . But perhaps you will wonder that I should begin my Catalogue with Saul and David , who being particularly chosen and appointed by God Almighty , one would think the People should have nothing to do in setting them up . But yet you will find they had , if Scripture is Authentick in the Point . For although Saul was solemnly Anointed by Samuel , 1 Sam. 10.1 . chosen by Lot at the Assembly of the Tribes at Mizpeh , ver . 21. and declared King , ver . 24. Yet you may see how soon he was despised , even by those that had desired a King ; for in the 27th Verse of that very Chapter , you will find them asking , How can this man save us ? and they despised him &c. and he was glad to hold his peace , and went home to his own House at Gibeah , where he follows his Rural Imployment ; for in the next Chapter we find him not very like a King , but like a good Husband , driving his Cattel home himself ; Behold Saul came after the herd out of the field , 1 Sam. 11.5 . But after Saul had signalized himself by the Defeat of Nahash , and the People seem'd to have a very warm sense of their late deliverance , Samuel very wisely takes them while they are in good Humour , and says , Come , let us go up to Gilgal , and there renew the Kingdom : And the people went up to Gilgal , and there they made Saul King before the Lord , 1 Sam. 11.14 , 15. Which methinks seems to infer , that Samuel thought the Peoples Approbation necessary for the Confirmation of the Kingdom to Saul ; for after that , they all owned and obeyed him , which they did not before : And although this is a pretty clear Proof as to Saul , yet those that I shall produce about David , are , I think , more strong and pregnant ; for although David was by God Almighty design'd and declar'd King , during Saul's Life-time , and at Saul's Death was in a very good posture to have possest himself of that Kingdom , to which he seem'd to have so good a Title ( for he had a Victorious Army with him , with which he might certainly very easily have vanquish'd the small remainder of Saul's baffled Forces ) ; yet he does nothing like that , but comes and settles himself and Family quietly at Hebron , where the Text says he dwelt , 2 Sam. 2.3 . But how long he was there before the men of Judah came to make him their King , the Story does not express ; but thither they came ( of their own accord , it is to be supposed ) , and there they make him King over the House of Judah , 2 Sam. 2.4 . But for all he had the same Title to the Crown of Israel , God having promised him both , yet he does not pretend to any Dominion over them , till they themselves come and make him their King , as you will find it , 2 Sam. 5.3 . and 1 Chron. 11.3 . but that was not till Seven Years and an half after he was King of Judah : So that it seems Israel took a fair time to consider of it ; for Ishbosheth reigning but Two Years , it must be Five Years and an half after his Death ; and what Government was in that Interregnum , is hard to say , because the Scripture says nothing of it ; but what they did so many years after , is yet call'd the fulfilling of Samuel's Prophecy to David ; for the Text tells you , They anointed David King over Israel , according to the Word of the Lord by Samuel , 1 Chron. 11.3 . From whence we infer , That when God Almighty does the most directly and immediately raise a single Person or Family , the People are his Instruments to do it , and bring it about , as is , I think , very apparent in this Case of David ; as also in that of Jeroboam : for although the Prophet Ahijah had given him Ten Pieces , to signifie the Ten Tribes he should reign over , and had also told him , 1 Kings 11.37 . I will take thee , and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth , and shalt be King over Israel : Yet for all these great Promises , he was glad to run for it , and play least in sight all Solomon's days ; so that he had no advantage by it , but only great hopes , till the People fulfill'd that which was but Prophecy before , 1 Kings 12.20 . And it came to pass , that when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again , that they sent and call'd him to the Congregation , and made him King over all Israel : So true is sometimes that saying , Vox Populi est Vox Dei. But this last Instance does afford us another Observation , which I think ought not to be past over in silence ; and that is , That God does not tye himself to a Family or Line ; For if Jeroboam will serve God , as David did , he will build him as sure a house as he built for David , 1 Kings 11.38 . By which we may see , that God is no Respecter of Persons , and that Kings have no surer Tenor in Gods Favour than other People ; for his Promises are as conditional to them , as to the meanest man ; and if they fail of their Duty , God may , and oftentimes does take the Forfeiture , as we see here both in the Case of David and Jeroboam . But when , and how far those Forfeitures are to be taken , ought to be left to that Almighty Wisdom and Providence , that turns every thing to good . But to return to the Story , from which I think I have not much digrest as to the Matter , though I may have a little Inverted the Order ; for according to that , I should not have treated of Jeroboam before Solomon . But the truth is , I cannot say there is such Proofs of the Peoples setting up Solomon , as for the Two preceding Kings ; and yet there are some Circumstances in the Story , from whence one may infer something of that kind : However , it may prove something which may be of some use in our present Dispute ; and that is , That a King may have a Successor , even while he lives ; for David , you see , commanded Zadock the Priest , and Nathan the Prophet , to anoint Solomon King , &c. that , as David says in the following Verse , he may come and sit upon my throne ; for he shall be King in my stead , 1 Kings 1.34 , 35. Now the occasion of this unusual way of proceeding , I suppose , was this ; David had a mind that Solomon should succeed him , and finding that Adonijah had got a strong Party , thought the best way to secure the Throne to Solomon , was , to put him in present Possession of it : Although , by the way , it must be remarked , that Adonijah was the Elder Brother , and so , according to our Rules of Succession , had the better Title ; from whence it may be inferr'd , That that Rule may sometimes be inverted without sin ; and 't is the more remarkable , because that God had taken such particular care of the Right of the First born in private Families , so that a Father had not power to make a Favourite-Child the Eldest , nor to put by the Son of a hated Mother from that double Portion to which his Birth-right intitled him . And yet the very first time that Succession to the Crown of Israel can be pretended , that Order , you see , is inverted , and Solomon , the Youngest Son set up . But to go on with our Story ; David , on the former account , finding it necessary to turn over the Crown to Solomon , during his own Life , yet thinks it fit to give the People an Account of his Proceedings , and the Reasons of them ; for he tells them , that God had chosen Judah to be the Ruler , and of the house of Judah , the house of my father ; and among the sons of my father , he liked me to make me King over Israel . And of all my sons ( for the Lord hath given me many sons ) he hath chosen Solomon my son , to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel , 1 Chron. 28.4 , 5. And after that David had given Instructions to Solomon about building the Temple , and both the King and People had made their Oblations of what they had which was fit for the Work , the Congregation of the People continuing yet together , 't is said , Chap. 29. ver . 22. And they made Solomon , the son of David , King the second time , and anointed him unto the Lord , to be the chief Governour . So that it seems David thought the Peoples Approbation necessary for the Confirmation of the Crown to Solomon ; else truly that very solemn Sacrifice and Invitation , of a Thousand Bullocks , a Thousand Rams , and a Thousand Lambs , had been a very unnecessary Expence : And then it follows in the 23d Verse , Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord , as King , instead of David his father , and prosper'd , and all Israel obey'd him . And although 't is said of his Son Rehoboam , both 1 Kings 11.43 . and 1 Chron. 9.31 . that he reigned in his Father's stead , yet 1 Kings 12.1 . 1 Chron. 10.1 . we find there was something else necessary to make him his Successor ; for in both places 't is said , all Israel were come to Shechem to make Rehoboam King : And when he was so imprudent as to disoblige them , and would not comply with them , they did not think it their duty to comply with him , nor would they allow him Second Thoughts in the Case , nor admit of any Treaty , but ston'd Adoram , that he sent to them , and immediately made Jeroboam King ; So that of Twelve Tribes , there was but One that made Rehoboam King. But now the Kingdom being divided into Two Branches , perhaps it may be expected that I should speak to them both . But the Succession in the Kingdom of Israel being so broken and confused , although it might afford me more Instances both of the Peoples making and pulling down Kings ; yet I shall , with the Tribe of Judah , adhere to the House of David , and from the Story of that Crown , bring my main Proofs for the Confirmation of the Argument I have in hand ; but since the Story of Israel may afford some very good and useful Observations , I hope I shall not be thought to deviate very much from the Design of this Paper , if I make a little stop here , to pick them up by the way , that so when I return to my Discourse of Judah again , I may meet with no more interruptions . The Observations that might have been made on Jeroboam , I have in part superseded , by taking notice of them in another place ; and therefore shall only repeat the Heads of them ; which were , 1st , That the People were the Instrument of making good God's Promise to him : 2dly , If Jeroboam had served God as sincerely as David , he should have been as great a Favourite : 3dly , That Jeroboam not performing those Conditions on which he was raised to the Crown , it was very just in God to take the Forfeiture , and to extirpate the House of Jeroboam . And although Baasha does seem to come as ill by the Crown as any body recorded in the Sacred Story ; for he not only conspires against , but slays the King his Master , 1 Kings 15.27 , 28. yet for all this he is owned by God Almighty , being the man , that was promis'd , shall I say , or rather threaten'd to Jeroboam ; for old Ahijah tells Jeroboam's Wife , Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a King over Israel , who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam , 1 Kings 14.14 . And although Baasha did take great care to fulfil the latter part of this Prophecy as fast as he could , yet he walking in the way of Jeroboam , and continuing in his sin , God sends his Prophet to upbraid him , and tell him what he had done for him : Forasmuch is I exalted thee out of the dust , and made thee Prince over my people Israel , and thou hast walk't in the way of Jeroboam , &c. behold I will take away the posterity of Baasha , &c. 1 Kings 16.2 , 3. from which we may infer these Two things , 1. That Usurpers are raised by , and may pretend to reign by God's Power ; and therefore may claim the same Obedience that lawful Kings ( so that the Affirmation of St. Paul , There is no power but of God , ought to be taken in the largest and literal sense . ) Our Second Inference is , That Baasha and his Family were rejected , not for his Treason , but his Idolatry ; not for killing Nadab , but for sinning like Jeroboam . And truly this Observation will run through most of the Kings of Israel , who , generally speaking , came to the Crown the same way , and afterwards walk't in the same steps Baasha did : But if any of them had but broken down the Calves , and rooted out Idolatry , no question but their Posterity should have been established ; for you see , that Jehu's imperfect Piety , in destroying Baal , and rooting out the House of Ahab , that first introduced that Worship into Israel , was rewarded with his Sons sitting on the Throne to the 4th generation ; and had he but gone on to do that to the Golden Calves that Josiah afterward did , who knows how long his Posterity might have govern'd Israel ? But after his Promised Succession was at an end , the Crown was never settled in any Family , but the Kingdom so broken by continual Conspiracies , that we hardly meet with any thing else that is remarkable , unless it be God Almightys Justice , who from that time to the end of that Monarchy , suffers the Son to be pull'd down by the very self same method and me ans the Father was set up ; so that there was nothing but Blood and Confusion among them , with which the People were so tired , that they do not seem to concern themselves at all in the matter , but submit to them that were uppermost ; else it would seem pretty strange , that Pekah the Son of Remaliah should with Fifty Men assault and take the Palace Royal in Samaria , kill the King that then Reigned , and put the Crown on his own Head , as you have it , 2 Kings 15.25 . For as it would have been a madness in Pekah to have attempted it with so small a force , if the People had stood by Pekahiah : so on the other side , had the People joyn'd with Pekah , a much greater number would certainly have appeared with him . So that I suppose the People sat Neuters , and did not concern themselves of either side , but obeyed him that proved the strongest . And although that is a method that I should not much recommend , yet we do not find that God or his Prophets do any where reprove them for it ; so that it seems there was no fighting about Titles in those days . There might indeed be a great many more Observations raised from the Story , but any attentive Reader will be so well able to do it for himself , that I shall neither forestal his Diligence , nor tire his Patience with any more at this time ; but resume the thread of my Discourse , and go on with the Story of Judah . And it must be owned , that from the time of Rehoboam ( where we last left ) to Vzziah , or Azariah , which you please to call him , there is no express mention of the Peoples setting up their King's : But , as I observed before in Rehoboam , we are not , from the Texts saying , such an one Reigned in his Fathers stead , to conclude , that he did it without the Peoples suffrage and good will ; and truly for the most part there are some general words , as that the People brought them Presents , as to Jehosaphat , 2 Chron. 17.5 . ( and Presents was the way by which in those days People owned and exprest their Duty and Homage , and the refusing them was an interpretative denying of their Authority , as you see in the Case of Saul , 1 Sam. 10.27 . ) or , when the Kingdom was confirm'd , as they say of Amaziah , 2 Chron. 25.3 . he then slew his Father's Murderers : So that it seems there was something previous , even to the impow'ring him to do that Act of Justice . And altho I cannot say , these Phrases do down-right affirm , yet they do intimate , that there was something to be done by the People . But whether Amaziah was set up by the People , or no , I shall not now dispute ; but sure I am , they pull'd him down , and deprived him , not only of his Crown , but of his Life also , as you may find it in 2 Kings 14.19 . But of that we have a larger Account , 2 Chron. 25.27 . Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the Lord , they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem , and he fled to Lachish , but they sent to Lachish after him , and slew him there . Now that his turning away from following the Lord , did give his Subjects Authority to depose , and to kill him , is that which I should be very loth to affirm , although it seems to be set down there as the ground and occasion of their conspiring against him ; but this , I suppose , I may safely aver , That his forsaking God might be one great Reason why God forsook him , and left him in the Power of his Subjects : For all the Promises to the Jews , being of temporal good things , and the possessing of Canaan , and long life and prosperity in it , their great reward , they might very reasonably make their good or bad success the great Criterion by which they might judge how they stood in God Almighty's Favour , and whether they had pleas'd or displeas'd him . But now among us Christians , whose Promises are of another Nature , I should be very far from making that a general Inference , though from the very same Event . For alas ! it is yet too fresh in some of our Memories , when the best of Kings , and of Men , was deliver'd up to his Subjects : But I think I may borrow the Expression of the Prophet Esay , and say , that not for his own sins , but for the transgression of the People he was stricken : Wherein God's Justice was to be admired , in making their greatest sin the greatest judgment that could have been inflicted on a rebellious People . But to return to Amaziah : I must confess , that I can never read that Story but with wonder , to find , that the People are neither upbraided with it , nor punish't for it . For although we read , that he took vengeance on his Father Joash's Murderers , and that the People of the Land slew all those that conspired against King Amon , 2 Chron. 33.25 . yet we do not find any body so much as call'd in question for his Death : So that certainly there was some Circumstances that did much alleviate it ; and that the Fact was not in it self so foul , as at this distance it appears to us : for although Vzziah , for to get the Crown , might promise them Impunity , yet I question whether God would have confirmed the Sentence : and Isaiah , who prophesied in the Days of Vzziah , should not have been more partial to the People , than he was to the Kings ; for you see he could tell Hezekiah pretty plainly , of his little Vanity , in shewing his Treasures to the King of Babylon's Embassadors ; and not only reproves the Pride of the Women for , but also repeats all the little foolish Toys that belong'd to their Dress in his Days ; and he that was so strict in these lesser matters , methinks should not in silence have past over so foul a Fault as that of King-killing ; and yet , to my great wonder , I do not find any one Passage , either in the Story , or Esay's Prophecy , as does so much as seem to reflect on that Fact , as an ill thing . There is another Prophet indeed ( who lived in his Grandson's time ) who is thought by some to reflect on this Crime very heavily , as the beginning of this sort of sin in Judah ; Amaziah being the first of their Kings who was murder'd , though many had been murder'd in Israel , Mieah 1.13 . I will not therefore insist too much upon this , but go on to observe , That although they would not suffer Amaziah to enjoy his Life ; after he had quitted both Crown and Kingdom , yet they had that Honour and Justice for him too , after he was dead , that they not only interred him in the Royal Sepulcher , but set his Son also on the Royal Seat ; For all the people of Judah took Vzziah , and made him King in the room of Amaziah his Father , 2 Chron. 26.1 . And he is indeed the first King that is so expresly said to be set up by the Authority of the People , although their Suffrages , as I hope I have sufficiently proved , was thought necessary for the establishment of most of them . But altho Vzziah was the first , you will find he was not the last that was so set up . But before we come to speak of them , we will consider one Passage in the Reign of Vzziah ; and that is , his going into the Temple to burn Incense ; which being against the Law , we will see a little how the Priests demean themselves , and whether they thought they were oblig'd to sit still if they could not persuade him off it , and rather suffer him to do it , than resist him . But by the Preparation Azariah the High-Priest makes for a Scuffle , I fancy he did not understand the Doctrine of Passive Obedience ; for the Text tells you , 2 Chron. 26.17 . that Azariah enters after the King , with fourscore Priests which were valiant Men : But what occasion he had for such a Train , or why their Valour should be so particularly taken notice of , if they were to have no use of it , but were to submit , I cannot so easily conceive . But the 18 th Verse says , they did actually oppose the King , and bid him get him out of the Sanctuary , for he had nothing to do there . Nay , in the 20 th Verse they do thrust him out ; but that indeed was after the Leprosie was come out upon him . But altho this Story might afford several Inferences which would not be beside our present Question , yet they are so very obvious , that I may trust my Reader to make them ; therefore shall proceed , and must own , that from Vzziah to Josiah , there is no express mention of the Peoples interposing , or setting up of Kings ; but upon Amon's Murder , you see , they did take upon them ; for you will find it both in 2 Kings 21.24 . and 2 Chro. 33.25 . But the people of the land smote those that had conspired against King Amon ; also the people of the land did make Josiah his Son King in his stead . And I hope it may be said , that God Almighty did approve their Choice , he being the best King and the best Man that we read of in the whole Catalogue of the Kings of Judah ; he performing his Duty both to God and his People so very well , it would have been a shame to his Subjects , if they had not requited him , by paying him all that Observance and Duty to which he could have any Pretence . But altho he may be an Example to the best of Kings , the Scripture giving him this Eulogie , And like unto him there was no King before him , that turned to the Lord with all his heart , and with all his soul , and with all his might , according to the Law of Moses : Neither after him arose there any like him : Yet from him we may best learn what an intolerable Mischief a Wicked King is ; for tho Josiah was so very good , yet there was an old Arrere of his Grandfather Manasseh , that all his Vertue and Goodness could not clear : For , Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath , wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah , because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal : And the Lord said , I will remove Judah out of my sight , as I have removed Israel ; and will cast off this City Jerusalem , which I have chosen , and the House of which I said , My Name shall be there , 2 Kings 23.26 , 27. Therefore what Reasons have both Church and State to deprecate such a King as will infallibly intail Ruine on both ? For you see , that God's House , even that House that he had chose to set his Name there , shall be involved in the common Destruction . Therefore were I to add a new Clause to the Litany , it should be , From such a King as Manasseh , Good Lord , deliver us . But above all , we ought to be fearful of , and pray against an Idolatrous and Bloody King ; for those are the two Crimes with which Manasseh is particularly charged , and which hastned the Captivity of Judah , and consequently shortned the Life and Reign of the good and beloved Josiah , to whom it was particularly promised as a Blessing , that he should not live to see the Ruine and Desolation that was to be brought on the Nation after his Death . After which , the people of the land took Jehoabas the son of Josiah , and made him King in his fathers stead in Jerusalem , 2 Chron. 36.1 . and 2 Kings 23.30 . But altho he inherited his Father's Kingdom , it seems he did not his Vertues ; for it follows in ver . 32. That he did evil in the sight of the Lord , and so his Reign was very short ; for Pharaoh Necho makes him a Prisoner , and carries him into Egypt , and makes his elder Brother Jehoiakim King in his stead ; in whose days the King of Babylon first came up against Judah ; and after his death , Jehoiachin succeeds , whom Nebuchadnezzar carries to Babylon , and makes Zedekiah King , in whom the Succession was quite inverted , ( for he was Uncle , and not in the Direct Line ; ) and the Monarchy also ending with him , I should here have concuded this Part of my Discourse , but that I cannot omit one Observation , and that is , That there were several Kings of Judah alive at the same time : It is certain Two , Jeconiah and Zedekiah ; but for any thing I know , there might be Three ; for we do not read of the Death of Jehoahas , who was carried Prisoner into Egypt ; and by his Age I 'm sure he might survive Zedekiah's carrying to Babylon ; for he was but Twenty three Years old when he began to reign , and his own Reign , with all the Three Kings that succeeded him , do not make Twenty three Years more before the Captivity . But now I would fain know , what the Royalists of our Age would do in such a Case , and which of the Three they would own ? For there was great Variety ; One set up by the People ; the second , as Heir to him whom the King of Egypt had set up ; and the third , set up by the King of Babylon . But I do not find , that the Jews had any such Scruples at that time , but always obey'd them which were in possession ( as long as they were so ) let them be set up by whom they would ; and the Scripture gives them the same Epithete , they are all called Kings , without ever disputing their Titles . Nor are the People reproved for obeying Zedekiah , altho they knew that Jehoiachin ( who had certainly the better Title , and had also reign'd as King ) was alive . But altho the People are not rebuked for submitting to Zedekiah , whom Nebuchanezzar had set over them ; yet Zedekiah is for not obeying the King of Babylon , to whom he had past his Word that he would : So that we may see , that Kings are obliged by their Oaths and Promises , as well as other Men. Which brings me to my third Particular I was to prove , which is , That at the first setting up of Kings among the Jews , their Power was not Absolute ; but that they were obliged to certain Covenants and Conditions . And altho I will not pretend to prove it of every individual King ; yet if I can do it of the first and second , and also the solemn repeating of it after an Interregnum , I shall hope I have done all that can be expected from me : For whoever succeeds to a Crown , is supposed to take it on the same Conditions his Predecessors had it ; which it would be superfluous for the Story to repeat every time . And therefore I shall not make a long Preface to a Point that I hope so easily to dispatch ; for I suppose , that a few plain Scripture-proofs will ( for I 'm sure they ought to ) go farther than a long Rhetorical Discourse : And how few Instances soever I can bring , yet I shall begin at the Spring-head , and make the first Kings , Saul and David , Witnesses to the Truth of what I now assert , and prove , that such a Compact and Agreement between the Prince and People , is the very Corner-stone of Monarchy it self . And that I may do this the more fully and clearly , I must beg my Reader 's Pardon , tho I carry him so far back as the Inauguration of Saul the first King of Israel . But I shall not tire his Patience so much as to repeat all that I have already said of Samuel's displeasure at the People , for rejecting God , and defiring a Man to be set over them for their King , 1 Sam. 10.19 . And tho Samuel , to terrifie them , had represented the King they desired , rather in the shape of a Tyrant , that would destroy and ruine , than of a Prince that was to defend and save them , 1 Sam. 8. from the 11 th to the 19 th ; yet seeing they would not be discouraged , but still persisted in their Resolution , Nay , but we will have a King over us , God was so merciful to them , as to give Rules to this unruly King that Samuel had described : As I think we may safely collect from 1 Sam. 10.25 . Then Samuel told the People the manner of the Kingdom , and wrote it in a Book , and laid it up before the Lord. For had God designed that the King's Will should have been his only Law , it had , I 'm sure , been a very superfluous , if not an impossible Task , for Samuel to have writ that down : And besides , the laying it up before the Lord , does infer somethign of extraordinary weight and sacredness in that Book , that was to be placed in that holy Repository , with the Records of that Covenant which God himself had vouchsafed to make with his People . Now upon these Considerations , I think , I may safely call this the Original Contract that was between the Kings and People of Israel . But we may guess , it was not an Absolute Arbitrary Power ( such as our Neighbour-Prince pretends to over his Subjects ) that was by this made over to Saul ; for altho he saw many of his new Subjects did despise him , yet he was glad to hold his peace ; or , as the Margin says , He was as tho he had been deaf , 1 Sam. 10.27 . So that it seems Samuel thought it necessary the People should be farther obliged , than at present they thought themselves ; and therefore proposes their going up to Gilgal , there to renew the Kingdom , 1 Sam. 11.15 . And all the people went to Gilgal , and there they ( that is , certainly , the People ) made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal , and there they sacrificed Sacrifices of Peace-Offerings before the Lord. And that the joining in a Sacrifice , and both Parties eating and partaking of the same Sacrifice , or at least eating together at what they called a Feast , was both the most usual and solemn way of making Covenants in those days , both among Jews and Gentiles , is a thing so well known , that I need not insist on it ; else both Sacred and Profane Story would furnish us with Proofs enough , were it necessary . But the Agreement which I suppose was then made between King and People , begot such a mutual Kindness and Confidence in one another , that the Text adds , There Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly ; and from that time we never find any Dispute between them . And so I shall proceed to his next Successor , David ; and the Proofs of his making such a Covenant with the People of Israel , are as clear and full as can be desired . Upon what Terms the Men of Judah first admitted him , is not so plainly set down ; but it being their own voluntary Act to make him King , we may suppose , that they would take care to see their own Interest secured . But 't is very apparent , that after Abner designed to revolt to David , he will make his Conditions with him first : And Abner sent Messengers to David , saying , Make thy League with me , and behold my hand shall be with thee , to bring about all Israel to thee . And he said , Well , I will make a League with thee , &c. So Abner came to David to Hebron , and twenty Men with him : And David made Abner , and the Men which were with him , a Feast , 2 Sam. 3.12 , 13 , 20. at which , I suppose , the Bargain was made of both sides ; for , as I before observ'd , few Contracts were concluded without the Ceremony of Eating and Drinking together . And after that , Abner says , I will arise , and go and gather all Israel to my Lord the King , ( for now he owns him to be so , altho he would not call him so before ) that they may make a League with thee , and that thou maist reign over all that thy Heart desireth ; as it follows in Verse 21. So that it seems the King's making a Covenant with the People , was to precede his Reigning over them , altho David had been both chosen by God , and Anointed by Samuel so many years before . And when upon Abner's death , that first Treaty with the Men of Israel was broken off , we do not find that David pretended to any Authority over Israel , till of their own accords , about five years and a half after , All the Elders of Israel came to the King to Hebron , and King David made a Covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord , and they Anointed David King over Israel , 2 Sam. 5.3 . And yet , as I said before , if ever any King could pretend to be Jure Divino , it must be David ; but for all that , he is content to come to the Crown like other Men , and does not assume it to himself till given him by the People . There is another thing also that I desire may be observed ; which is , That the Phrase before the Lord , both in this place , and 1 Sam. 11.15 . is indifferently apply'd both to King and People . For here 't is said , the King made a Covenant with the People before the Lord ; and there , that the people made Saul King before the Lord. From whence I think we may collect , that being mutual , the Promise was as obliging , as it was solemn of both sides , for both are exprest in the same words . And we may also conclude , that when we meet with that Phrase of eating and drinking before the Lord , and making King unto , or before the Lord , as 't is 1 Chron. 29.22 . it is designed to signifie the mutual stipulation between King and People : So that we may infer , that Solomon did take the Crown upon the same Terms his Father David did , altho the word League or Covenant is not exprest . And if the three first Kings did thus receive the Crown from , and oblige themselves to the People , we may safely suppose that their Successors did the same thing , although it is not particularly affirm'd of every one . Nor do we find any more mention of it till King Joash's coming to the Crown . And when the Kingdom was restored ( after the Usurpation , or Interregnum , shall I call it , of Athaliah ) all the old Rights and Customs are both mentioned and repeated , as you may find it , 2 Kings 11.4 , 17. How Jehoiada brought Joash into the House of the Lord to the People , and made a Covenant with them , and took an Oath of them in the House of the Lord ; and in the 17. Verse , And Jehoiada made a Covenant between the Lord , and the King , and the People , that they should be the Lords people ; between the King also and the People ; all which you will find repeated , 2 Chron. 23.3 , 16. And if this is not a pregnant Proof of the Truth of what I have said , that the Kings of Israel and Judah were not Absolute , but were under Obligations and Conditions to their People , as well as subjected to the Laws of God ; if this Instance , I say , with the rest before mentioned , may not be allow'd for Proofs , I shall dispair of bringing a Proof , either for this or any thing else , out of the Bible ; but if these will pass , I suppose they may be sufficient to convince any impartial Reader , therefore shall presume it would be superfluous to multiply Quotations in so plain a Case . And now I have gone through the three things I proposed to clear out of Scripture : How well I have perform'd my undertaking , I shall leave to better Judgments ; and that my Readers may be the better qualified to be my Judges , I desire they would do as the Noble Bereans did , Acts 17.11 . Search the Scripture daily whether these things are so ; for as I advance nothing upon my own Authority , so I do not desire any thing should be credited only because I say it ; for in Points of such importance , 't is very fit every body should judge for themselves . And if these things are so , Kings must be contented to own their Power as well as Birth to be of humane extraction . But yet I must beg leave to deny an Inference that some would make from that , who say , 'T is no act of Disobedience to God , to resist our Prince ; nor of Obedience to God , to submit to him , if he does not derive his Power from God , and act by his Authority and Commission ; for I would fain know whether it is not possible to make a humane Contract so strong , that it shall be a Sin against God to break it ? For according to this way of arguing , I might give away an Estate , and settle it as firm as Law can make it , and yet afterwards I might , without doing the Party any wrong , take it from him again without his consent , because he has no Grant to shew from Heaven for it . And this Instance I think may be pretty applicable to this Case : The People at the first Institution and setting up of Monarchy among them , make over so much of the Power , and such and such Rights and Priviledges to the King , which if afterwards they refuse to make good , they are and ought to be lookt upon as Rebels and Traitors . But on the other side , suppose the Person to whom I had made over some part of my Estate , should upon that pretend a Title to my whole Estate , and would let me enjoy no part of it , might not I lawfully resist him ? And what answer they would give to this , may serve to the other Case ; and that brings me to my second General , What Power and Authority it is , that is actually vested in our Kings ? Under which the Doctrines of Non-resistance and Passive Obedience shall be consider'd . II. Having on the former Head examined both the Original of Monarchy , and also proved that it was Limited and Conditional among the Jews ; and it being agreed on all hands , even by the greatest Assertors of the Prerogative , that our Saviour did not make any Alteration in the Rights of Princes , but what he found them possest of , he gives them leave quietly to enjoy ; I think we may safely conclude , that since he made no augmentation to the Princes Power , he laid no new Obligation on the Subject , but the King is to Govern , and the People to Obey , according to the Rules agreed and establish'd between them ; for the truth is , there can be no universal Rule given in the Case ; for the Magistrates Power , and the Measures of the Subjects subjection , are only to be judged of by the particular Laws and Constitutions of that Kingdom ; for that may be very lawful in one Place which is not so in another : Therefore our Saviour did give not only the Wisest , but the Justest Resolution , to that ensnaring Question of the Jews about Tribute , that ever was , when he said , Render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars , and unto God the things that are Gods , Mat. 22.20 . For although he does by name reserve nothing but Gods dues , yet I think it can hardly be inserved from that Negative Argument , that the People should part with their dues ; for the Command is only in general , to give to Cesar that which of right belongs to Cesar : so that I cannot think this Text gives Princes any Title to what is not their due ; but you see he does not pretend to tell us what is Cesar's due , because no general Rule could be given in that Case , the Rights of Kings and People varying almost in every Country . Therefore 't is from the Statute-Book , not the Bible , that we must judge of the Power our Kings are invested withal , and also of our own Obligations , and the measures of our Subjection . And here I might have a fair opportunity of expatiating , and both tell you the advantages , nay the necessity of Government in generals , and discourse also of the several kinds that are in the World. But my design being Brevity , I shall only take notice of that wherein we are particularly concerned , and that is Monarchy ; which , generally speaking , is the best Government in the World. But of that there are several sorts , as an Elective Monarchy , and an Hereditary one ; and those that Reign by Succession , may be distinguish'd into two kinds more , an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy ; the latter of which I take to be the happiest Constitution under the Heavens : Therefore next being born within the Pale of the true Church , I think to be born an English-Man is one of the greatest Privileges any ones Birth can entitle him to ; a happiness that I am sure is envied by our Neighbours , though I doubt not valued so much as it ought to be by them that enjoy it ; although they have the opportunity of a Comparison , which they say is the only way to judge either of happiness or ease ; for if we look but on our next Neighbours of the other side the Dike , we shall soon see the difference , and what a misfortune it is to be subject to the Arbitrary Power of a lawless and merciless Tyrant . How they came under those unhappy Circumstances at first , is not my business at present to examine ; but I 'm sure it ought to be the business of our whole Lives to bless God that we are not yet under the like ; and next our Thanks to God , we ought to commemorate the Courage of those Noble Patriots , who from the beginning of our Monarchy have opposed the Encroachments that some of our Kings would have made upon our Laws and Liberties , which , blessed be God , were derived intire to us , and I hope we shall transmit them so to our Posterity , notwithstanding all the endeavours that have been used for the subversion of them . For I think I may challenge the whole World to shew so equal and so happy a Constitution of Government as is this day in England , which is so exactly and harmoniously composed , that I know nothing to compare it to but its self : for as Vertue does commonly lie in the mean , so our Legislators have wisely pickt out all the good that was in all sorts of Government , but shun'd the Extreams that any one might have betray'd us to : For here the Populace have liberty without a Democratical Confusion and Fury ; the Nobility have all the Priviledges to which Aristocracy it self could intitle them , without the necessity of running into Factions and Cabals for it ; and the King's Power so equally ballanced between the Two other , that his Power can hardly ever degenerate into Tyranny , nor , on the other side , while he governs by Law , can he ever want Authority , either to protect or correct his Subjects , or means to reward Vertue , or discourage Vice , which are the great Ends for which Civil Government was at first instituted . And as the several parts of our Government have such a mutual dependance one upon the other , so they have the same opportunities of reciprocally endearing and obliging one another : So that I have often thought , with reverence be it spoke , that we have a kind of Trinity in our Government , as well as in our Faith , to which I 'm sure they ought to have another resemblance , and that is their Unity : for their Power is so equal in the great Point of Legislature , that one cannot properly say , that one is greater , or less than another ; for as all have Negative Voices , so neither , nor both the Houses without the King , nor the King without the Two Houses , can do any thing ; but the Consent of the whole Three is necessary both to the making and abrogating a Law ; for all Three Parties being equally obliged to execute , and obey those Laws when made , it was very reasonable they should all give their Consents to them before they were made . And since the Legislative Power is in all Nations esteemed the Supreme , and ours being so divided , it seems to be a little improper to call any One of the Three the Supreme Power . It must be acknowledged indeed , that the Executative Part of the Power is , by the Consent of the other Two , committed to the King , and that only by way of Trust , and under such Limitations , that it cannot properly be call'd the Supreme Power , although he may fitly enough be stiled the Supreme Magistrate of the Nation , because he , and none but he , has the Power to make men keep the Laws , and to punish them for the Breaches of the Law ; but that under such Restrictions and Limitations , that the Title of Chief Magistrate of the Nation is given to him much upon the same account that the Mayor of a Town is call'd the Chief Magistrate of that Town ; for , without all doubt , all the Members of that Corporation , and the Inhabitants of that Town , are obliged to obey their Mayor , when his Commands are according to their Charter ; and he has also power to punish the willful Breaches of it , in any that are within his Jurisdiction ; but yet every body knows his Power is limited : and so truly is our King 's , and that in the most important things , and where he would certainly chuse to shew his Power , were it absolute ; that is , in the raising of Money , and punishing of Capital Offenders ; for of all things the Sword of Justice should be solely in the Power of the supreme Magistrate ( if he were really absolute ) ; but that we know our Kings have not , for he hath no other way to right himself than what the meanest Subjects have : For suppose he should accuse any one of High Treason , he must first Indict him , and then undergo all the tedious Forms and Processes of Law , before he can Convict him : So that I cannot say , that the King has in that particular any priviledge beyond the Subject ; for Traitors are to have as fair play for their Lives as any other Offenders , although the punishment ( as it ought to be ) is more severe when 't is inflicted ; for the King being a publick Person , and one that by his undertaking the Administration of the Law , is more expos'd to danger ; for by the very Execution of Justice , he certainly provokes the Offender , and if he be of any Quality and Rank , his Friends and Relations too : So that truly by the Rules of Equity , both the Law and the People ought to set a double Fence about the King's Person , and take particular care to secure him from those Hazards to which his High Place and Office may render him more liable than more inferiour people . So that those particular Laws which are made in favour of the Prince , are rather the Effects of the Justice and Kindness of the People , than Evidence of the Priviledge and Prerogative of the King ; several Instances of which the Reign of our late King Charles the Second might furnish us with ; but as it would be tedious to repeat them all , so truly all may be comprized in that one , of putting the Militia into the King's Power ; for the remembrance of the late Rebellion , and the sad Effects of it , were then so fresh in every bodies memory , that they thought there could be no greater Inconvenience , than that of the King 's wanting Power to maintain that Authority with which the Law had invested him ; and so for his farther security , they past that , and several other Acts which were extreamly for the King's advantage : And surely none of our Non-Resistance Gentlemen but must own , that they were a considerable Addition to the Prerogative : And whosoever shall pretend they were the Right of the Crown before , teaches the King to be ungrateful as well as unjust . I know it is alledg'd by some , That a Soveraign Prince receives not his Authority from the Laws , but the Laws receive their Authority from him . From which they would infer , That a King is neither subject to , nor bound up by the Laws any farther than he pleases . But I must beg leave to deny both this their minor Proposition , and the Conclusion , although I grant the major , from which they say the other Two will necessarily result ; but for my part , I cannot see the necessity of such Consequences , although I should grant there was a personal Power antecedent to all the Civil Laws ; for that was the Paternal , and not the Regal Authority . For sure none will affirm , that is the Law of Nature , as the former certainly is : for without all doubt the People had power to Elect a King , before there could be any such thing as a Soveraign Prince born in the World. So that 't is evident , that the power of the People is not only antecedent to that of Kings , but also that the Kings did receive and derive their Authority at first from the People . So that 't is no incongruous , much less impossible supposition , That Kings do derive their Authority from the Laws ; for certainly they must owe their power to that which gave it a Being ; and that is that Original Contract which is made between the People and the Person or Family they shall think fit to advance to the Kingship ; which ought to be the Boundary of the Prince's Authority , as also of the Subjects Submission . But however the Case may stand in other Countries , God be thank'd us so in England . For our Ancient History tells us what sad Confusion there was in this poor Island after the Conquest of the Romans , when every little Captain set up for a King ; and there was always such inveterate hatred between those small neighbouring Princes ( if they deserve to be call'd so ) that they would rather call in and submit to Forreigners , who devour'd and enslav'd all sides , than yield to one another : And on this account both Danes and Saxons were at first call'd in . And although the Saxons had establish'd an Heptarchy among us , yet they found they were too many for this small Plat of Ground ; for they were always encroaching , and fighting with one another : wherefore growing weary of that , Horne tells you , in his Mirrour , chap. 1. How they chose themselves One King , to maintain and defend their Persons and Goods in Peace , by Rules of Law , and made him swear , That he would be obedient to suffer Right , as well as his People should be . And these are the Terms on the which our first Monarch , properly so call'd , ( for truly before they did not deserve the Name of Kings ; for I 'm sure their power was not so great , or perhaps so extensive , as that of a Lord Mayor of London ) did ascend the Throne ; and that the same Terms and Conditions were agreed to , and confirmed by his Successors , might be easily proved , would it not take up too much time ; but yet King Edgar thought it worth their while to collect and transcribe them . And we find William the First was willing to wave his Title of Conquerour , and by confirming the Ancient Rights and Priviledges of the People , be receiv'd as their Legal , not their Conquerour , or Arbitrary Governour : For although Conquest may give one power , it cannot of its self give one Right to rule a Nation ; for the Consent of the People , either tacite ( that is , when they like their new Governour so well , that they never offer to resist , but quietly comply and submit to his Government , receive the advantage of his Protection and Laws , and pay him , in return , what his Laws require ) or explicit , ( that is , when they make Conditions and Terms for themselves , before they will submit ) is so necessary , that no King can be long safe without it . And since the way of explicit Contract has been the general Method of our Predecessors , therefore whatever Objections are made against that known saying of Bracton , Lex facit Regem , it will hold good in Law ; and I verily believe none of our Kings would exchange the Title that the Law gives them to the Crown , for all the Evidences the Clergy can furnish them with out of the Gospel , to prove their power absolute and arbitrary . Therefore since 't is the Law that must tell us with what power our Kings are invested , perhaps Bracton may give us as good an account of it as any body , when he says , The whole Power of the King of England is to do good , and not to do hurt ; which he explains , by adding , Nor can he do anything as a King , but what he can legally do , lib. 3. c. 9. From whence , I suppose , the old Maxim , That the King can do no wrong , first sprung . For while he acts by Law , 't is evident he cannot ; and for what he does against Law , he does not do it as a King. Nay , the same Bracton seems to think , That he actually unkings himself by it ; for he says , Non est enim Rex , ubi dominatur Voluntas , & non Lex : By which certainly he does not mean , that he ceased to be a good King ; for that he need not have been at the pains of telling us ; for our own sad Experience would soon have convinced us of it ; but having told us before , That he can do nothing as a King , but what he can legally do ; without all doubt his meaning was , that we are not to look upon him nor obey him as our King , when he commands any thing contrary to Law. But there has been so much writ on this Subject already , that as it would be hard to say any thing new upon it , so it would be both tedious and superfluous to repeat the old . But I suppose I may safely take for granted what all sides allow ; and that is , That ours is a limited Monarchy : For all must own , that if our Kings act as they ought to do , they must keep within the Boundaries of the Laws . And where the Regal Authority is circumscribed , and the King's Power , as King , has its Non ultra ; yet that the Peoples Obedience should know no Measures , but is extended ad infinitum , is to me , I must confess , a very unintelligible Doctrine . For if we are equally obliged to render Obedience , either Active or Passive , to the Kings Commands which are contrary to the Law , as we are to those which are consistent with it , and authorized by it ; I must crave leave to say , that Law is a very superfluous , because a very insignificant thing ; nay , certainly , if the Case be so , it were much better be taken away ; for perhaps it may betray some poor ignorant People , who , 't is possible , may think it gives them some Right , when indeed it gives them none . But if they shall think fit to make any distinction between the Obedience we are to render to the King , when he speaks like a King , by the Consent and Authority of the Laws ; and what we are to pay him when he speaks in his Personal and Private Capacity : If , I say , they shall think fit to make any distinctions in the Case , I should desire them to set the Boundaries ; for truly , according to the Doctrine of Passive Obedience ( in the Latitude they now take it ) I know no body else that can fix them . But I would fain know of them , whether there is not such a Rule in Divinity , That where there is no Law , there is no Transgression . And if no Transgression , certainly no Obligation to undergo any Penalty ; for the same Text tells us , in the same Verse , Rom. 4.15 . That the Law worketh wrath ; that is , that the Law obligeth to the Punishment threatned to the Breakers of it : But , Where there is no Law , there is no Transgression , and consequently , no wrath ; and if they will please to apply this to the Point in hand , I think I need not add any thing to it ; but proceed to shew , that besides the general and implicit Obligation that our Laws lay upon all that have any share in the Government , or any Interest in the State ; our Kings have a more particular and actual Obligation to govern by them , and to submit to them . For that August Ceremony of their Coronation was not intended only to please and amuse the Vulgar with the Gaiety and Splendor of the Shew , but was instituted for Wiser Ends , that by the Magnificence and Solemnity of the Action , it might fix upon the Hearts both of King and People the remembrance of those Vows and Engagements they at that time mutually make to one another ; and I do not at all doubt , but the Custom was derived from the Jews , and is the same thing that I have so largely treated on in my First Part : For here King and People make a solemn Covenant before the Lord ; and that nothing may be wanting to the Resemblance , they partake of a Common Meal together ; which was the ancient way of confirming and ratifying all Compacts and Agreements betwixt Party and Party : And I think I may not improperly stile the Coronation , the Marriage-day between the King and Kingdom ; for altho in Hereditary Monarchies there is a kind of Pre-contract , as there often is between private Persons , which may be so obligatory , that nothing but Death can dissolve it ; yet the Wisdom of the Law does not think that sufficient , but requires a formal and publick owning of it , for these Two Reasons , among many others . First , For the Satisfaction of the Parties themselves , and to give them the greater Confidence in one another . Secondly , That the Number of Witnesses may be some Check to them , and make them think how notorious their Perjury will be , after they had confirm'd their Vows before a Multitude . So that , as we before proved , the King's Power was Limited ; so now I think we may say , it is Conditional also : For I cannot but suppose , that all that shall read this Paper , understand the Nature of a Covenant so well , that I need not tell them , the Obligation is mutual , and that if I break my part of the Covenant , I have no Right to challenge the Performance of the other side . But if Kings have any particular Privilege of breaking their Words , and forswearing themselves , they would do well to produce their Grant of Exemption from the Rules of God and Nature ; for we know where 't is said , I will not hold him guiltless that takes my Name in vain ; in which Law I do not remember any Exception . But I know to this 't will be replied , That they shall answer for it to God , but are not accountable to their Subjects for the Breaches of their Oaths : And if so , I do wonder why they were at first imposed ; for I think I may not improperly urge what St. Paul says , 1 Tim. 1.9 . The Law is not made for the righteous man , but for the lawless , &c. So 't is not a good King that we desire to tie up ; for we know he will be a Law to himself ; but 't is the Lawless King that we would set Bounds to . But if the most sacred and solemn Oaths give the Subject no Right at all to require or expect Performance , I know not of what Use they are , unless it be to Damn the King , which surely will be but small Consolation to a Christian Subject . But this by the by . But since such Covenants have in all Ages and Nations been counted so obligatory and sacred , that the Apostle tells you , Gal. 3.15 . Tho it be but a Mans Covenant , yet if it be confirm'd , no Man disanmilleth , or addeth thereto . Nor can any after-act ( as he proves very well in the 17 th Verse ) make it void : Therefore by this Doctrine I cannot see what Authority any third Person has to acquit either King or People of their Oaths to each other : So that I hope I may without offence say , That Kings are obliged by their Covenants , since God Almighty owns himself to be so ; for Moses desires the People should take particular notice of it , Deut. 7.9 . Know therefore , that the Lord thy God he is God , the faithful God , which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments : That is , God will be sure to perform his part of the Covenant , if the People keep theirs . And in Psal. 89.34 . My Covenant will I not break , says God. And it seems to be a Title wherein he takes more than ordinary delight ; for both Nehemiah and Daniel desiring to procure his Favour , and to make him propitious to his People , begin their Addresses to him in these very words : O Lord God , the great and terrible God , that keepeth Covenant and Mercy , &c. Neh. 1.5 . and Dan. 9.4 . therefore since it is one of the Attributes and Excellencies of God , that he is true and faithful to his word , it should be no part of the Privilege of Kings to be at liberty to break theirs . Now all Covenants being Conditional , where there is a possibility of the Parties breaking their part of the Covenant , there is also a possibility of their forfeiting the advantages of it , and the right they had to claim performance of the other side . Now that Kings can break their Word , and Oath too , as well as meaner Men , we have had a little too late experience . Therefore it is a point of great concern , to know how far , and when it may be lawful for the Subjects to take the forfeiture for their Kings brench of Covenant . And here God forbid that I should attempt to make the Government Precarious , or to make Kings accountable for every little Failure : For as every breach of the Law in a Subject is not Treason , so every violation of it by the Prince is not the forfeiting of his Prerogative . Nay , they are so very few Cases wherein 't is possible to be done , that perhaps our Late unhappy King James is the first Instance of it in our Nation ; not but that we have had as bad Kings , and worse Men to rule over us : But none but himself did ever attempt , in so many Instances to destroy the Constitution , and overturn the very Foundation of our Government . For 't was neither his Mal-administration in general , nor the several particular Injustices that were committed in his Reign , that I look upon as his great Crimes : For although the Proceedings against the Bishops and Magdalen College , were very ill things , and made a very great noise , yet sure none can say that he forseited his Crown by those particular Breaches of the Law. No , there was the time for shewing and exercising true Passive Obedience ; for had the Bishops done any thing but just what they did , they had not done their Duty ; but their Patience and Submission to those Injustices did extreamly well become them : For 't would be a sad World indeed , if every body that thought themselves hardly or unjustly dealt withal , should fly in the face of Publick Authority , and have power to resist the lawful Magistrate . No , I would rather chuse to live under the greatest Tyrant in the World , than in such an Anarchy ; for where there is any Law , private Persons are not , nor ought not to be Judges in their own Causes , and that is one Reason why an unjust Sentence is Obligatory ; for in such Cases private Persons must suffer , rather than by force right themselves . For 't is an old saying , Better a Mischief than an Inconvenience ; that is , Better a private Person should be wrong'd , than the publick Peace disturb'd ; and the calling Authority in question for every little Complaint , would be a greater inconvenience than thousands unjust Sentences against particular Persons ; for although Justice be never so much violated , yet if the Law it self be preserv'd intire , and the Constitution and Basis of the Government remain firm and unshaken , the Subject must be content to suffer , and neither Oppose nor Depose their King. But yet , after all , there is some things that may be done by Princes , which the greatest Asserters of the Monarchical Right hold to be Forfeitures of it ; particularly , the selling of them , or betraying them to a Foreign Power and Jurisdiction : to which I shall crave leave to add two more ; the setting up a False and Spurious Heir in an Hereditary Monarchy ; and the overturning all the Establisht Laws , and setting up Arbitrary Power in a limited one . And if I can prove our late King James to have been guilty of all three , surely I need not say much more to prove that he has forfeited his Right , or that his Subjects are actually freed from their Allegiance to him . 1. And as to the first point , I shall not trouble my self to enquire into the particulars of the Private League , which they say he made with the French King , for we have publick matters of Fact enough , to prove all that is necessary in this Point : For the sending an Ambassador to Rome , and owning of the Popes Authority so far , as to receive his Nuncio and Provincial Romish Bishops , and that against so many Laws and Statutes that are expresly against it ; and not only that , but making Privy Counsellors , and advancing to the Helm of State those very Persons that by our Laws are not allow'd to live in the Kingdom . And to what end could all this tend , but to bring the Nation under the Papal Jurisdiction and Slavery ? 2. The second , of setting up a suspected Child to be Heir ; as 't is a thing of which we have no President in all our Story , so 't is a Sin for which we have yet no name ; but I should call it Civil Adultery ; it being doing that to the Publick , that a false Wife does in a private Family . It is a thing indeed against which there is no Law , because , like that of committing Paricide , the Law-givers thought no body could ever be guilty of it ; and truly I believe he is the first Instance of a Father that ever set up a suspected Child against his own Children . And if this is not an inversion , or rather a subversion of the Succession , I know not what is . And yet , to my wonder , I can see some people pass this by very patiently , who can rail with a very good grace against the Parliament ; I cannot say for giving the present King a Right , but anticipating the Title he had to the Crown , and that with the consent of the next Heirs too ; so that they cannot say there is any wrong done in the Case And yet some make a horrible out-cry , as if both the Constitution of the Government , and the Laws of Succession , were all subverted and broken by it : when they have only set up a Prince of the Blood , for which there is Presidents in our own Chronicles . For Henry the 7th . by Name , had no Right of either side , but what he derived from his Mother ( who was Heir of the House of Lancaster ) and his Wife , who was the true and undoubted Heir of the House of York , and consequently of the Kingdom . But although he Reigned by her , he would not suffer her to Reign with him , for he would allow her neither Power nor Title ; so that this is no new thing among us ; but the setting up of that spurious Brat I am sure has no paralel : And if there was to be Inversion in the Case , surely it should sooner be made for the sake of a Noble Prince , who merited all that could be done for him , than for the setting up of an unknown , but in all probability base-born Child ; the very thoughts of which all true English Men ought to abhor . 3. But how foul soever the two former things may and ought to appear , it is the third that knocks the Nail of the head . But I think I may reasonably suppose it superfluous for me to enter into a long Discourse of the Illegality of the Dispensing Power , which is so fully display'd in the Tryal of the seven Bishops , that it may supersede all that can be said on the point . But although Charles the Second wished he had had the Power of dispensing with tender Consciences on some particular Emergencies ; yet none but our late King James ever pretended to have Authority to dispense with , and silence all the Laws of the Nation . But when he assumed to himself the Power of dispensing with those Laws he could neither make nor abrogate , he did at once both Unking himself and release his Subjects . For as the English Kings have no Right but what the Law gives them ; so the People owe no duty but what the same Law obliges them to ; and when our Kings go about to invalidate the Laws , they destroy that very Power that gives the Monarchy both Being and Authority . And that this was the very Case of the late King James , I dare appeal to any body that knows our Laws , unless it be those vile despicable Wretches , whose names will be Infamous to all Posterity , who pretending to sit to Judge according to Law , gave Sentence contrary to the Law. But it was very much for the honour of that Noble Profession , that there was so many sets of Judges turned out , and that they were so many years before they could pick out Twelve Men that were Rogues enough to be entrusted by them ; and even here they were happily deceived , for among four which I suppose they thought themselves secure of , two of them , when they came to the tryal , approved themselves honest Men. But if we talk of Treason and of Traytors , none sure , since the very Foundation of Monarchy in this Nation , have deserved that Title so well as J. and C. for I am loth to know them by the Names of Lord C. and Lord Bishop of Ch. ( but since there was a Judas among the Apostles , I hope it will be no scandal to our Excellent and Reverend Bishops , that there was one Traytor among them . ) But certainly two such Traytors both to King and Kingdom , Church and State , England never bred . But I hope they will meet with such full rewards for their Treasons in this World , as may deter others from following them , and also secure them from that sadder vengeance in the World to come , which I am sure I heartily wish . I could here add a great deal more on this Head , but that I suppose it needless ; for having proved before , that our King's Power is both Limited and Conditional , and consequently that he can forfeit his Right to the Government ; I think I need not , now I have made out those three things , use any other Arguments to prove King James has actually done so , although I might insist upon his Deserting , as well as subverting the Government . III. But after all that I can say , I do not expect every body should have the same Sentiments I have . But having endeavour'd from the beginning to clear the way before me , and to prove all my Points as I went , that I may not leave my Reader in a Maze at the last , I shall consider and answer , as well as I can , the Chief Objections that may be made against what I have now said , which I think may be reduced to these Four Heads . First , That it is against the receiv'd Opinion of Monarchies being Jure Divino , and being first Instituted by God. Secondly , That it contradicts several plain Texts of Scripture . Thirdly , That having sworn Allegiance to King James , his doing an ill thing will not acquit us . Fourthly , That 't is doing the same thing we condemn'd so in the Rebellion in 41. And I should have added a fifth , but that I hope I have in part anticipated all the Objections can be made against the Succession . 1. Now to the First , I shall only desire them to consider what I have said in my First Part , about the first beginning of Monarchy in the World , and particularly the establishing of it among the Jews . But although I there deny its first Institution to be by God's immediate Appointment and Direction ; yet I would not be understood so , as if I meant to exclude God from having any thing to do in the setting up or making of Kings ; for I know , that by him Kings reign , and 't is by his Counsel and Inspiration that Princes decree just things : For , alas ! without him the mightiest Monarch in the World can neither think a Thought , nor stir a Step ; for in him ( as St. Paul says ) we live , and move , and have our being , Acts 17.28 . So that in some senses God may be said to be the Author of all our Actions ; for the Prophet says , Shall there be evil in the City , and the Lord hath not done it ? Amos 3.6 . And without him we are not able to do any thing ; for St. Paul says , 1 Cor. 3.5 . That we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves , but our sufficiency is of God : And if not able to think , certainly not able to act , without his Concurrence and Assistance . And if a Sparrow shall not fall to the ground without our Father , and the very Hairs of our Head are numbred , as our Saviour tells us , Mat. 10.29 , 30. surely that God that takes such care and notice of little inconsiderable things , will not let Kings and Kingdoms be without his Care and Providence : And yet for all that , they may be , as St. Peter stiles them , an Ordinance of Man. The truth is , some of our Prerogative-men treat the King as the Papists have done the Virgin Mary , think they cannot speak too highly of her ; and so they make her a perfect Goddess , and ascribe Honours to her which are not her due . But altho I have as great Veneration for her as I can or ought to have for a Creature , and acknowledge her to be Blessed among Women ; yet she was but a Woman still : So I must look upon Kings as Men still , and own them to be the Chiefest , I wish I could always say , the Best of Men. And altho God may in his secret Decrees design the making such Persons Kings ; yet he makes the People the Instruments of raising them , and 't is from the People that they immediately receive their Power , as I shew'd at large in the Stories of David and Jeroboam . But tho God do not chuse a King by any miraculous Declaration of his Will in the Case , yet ( if that will satisfie ) I will grant that he may direct and incline the Hearts of the People to chuse one rather than another ; and when they once have chose , God certainly does confirm it , so that 't is not in the Peoples power to chuse again , unless by the King's fault his Power is forfeited , and so it revolves to the People . For I should be very unwilling to live under any Government where God has nothing to do ; but all that I contest is , that Kings are not so immediately set up by God , that upon that score they should be unaccountable to their People , especially where they are not the Supreme Power , as 't is evident they are not in England . And that one Circumstance does make so great an alteration in the Case , that it almost supersedes what I have to say to the several Texts of Scripture that may be urged against what I have here said : But yet that I may both take away all Objections , and give all the Satisfaction imaginable , we will consider all those Texts distinctly , and see how far they may be applicable to our Case . 2. And the properest Method of doing it , I suppose , will be by taking them in order as they lie : And the first that offers it self to our Consideration , is that of our Saviour , Mat. 22.21 . Render therefore to Cesar the things that are Cesar's , &c. But having had occasion in another place to treat of that Text , I shall desire my Reader to turn some few Leaves back , and shall only add to what I have there said , That I do acknowledge it a Duty to render to Cesar , nay to every body , the Things and Dues that belong to them ; but think that we fully discharge our Duty to the King , when we pay him all the Obedience that the Law gives him Right to challenge , or lays any Obligation upon the Subject to perform : And if they can by this Text prove we do not do so , or that we are obliged to render unto Cesar the things which are not Cesar's , they will indeed then say something to the purpose . But this being the only Rule that our Saviour gave in the Case , and it being acknowledged , that our Saviour did not intend to make any Alteration in the Rights of Princes , but leaves them as he found them ; it may not be amiss to consider a little how he found that Matter , and what particular Commands God gave to the Jews concerning their Obedience to Kings . And I must declare , that I have read the Old Testament over with all the attention I am capable of ; and unless it be in the Proverbs , I cannot find one Text that gives us any Direction , much less Command , about Subjection to Kings , but only what our Divines draw by way of Inference from the Fifth Commandment : But whether God intended it in that sense they have now put upon it , I think might bear a Dispute : But if he did , it must be only by way of Prophecy , for there was not a King in Israel for near Five hundred Years after the giving of the Law : And this I 'm sure of , that upon the setting up of Saul , when Samuel had the King and People Face to Face , altho he often repeats their Duty and Obligation of fearing the Lord , and obeying him , yet not one word of Command to the People to obey their new King , which I have sometimes wonder'd at ; and the only Account that I can give of it , is this : That being they were resolv'd they would be like other Nations , and would have a King to reign over them , God comply'd with them in the thing , but would have nothing to do with the Compact between them , but leaves them to agree that Matter between themselves as well as they can ; and accordingly we find , that tho God chose the Person , as in the Case of David , yet they would not admit him King , till they had made a Bargain with him , as I have shew'd at large in the First Part of this . So that upon the whole , and as far as I can discover , the Power that our Saviour found Kings invested with , was what the People first consented to , and afterwards by Laws obliged themselves to : But there can be no Universal Rule , because that the Laws vary according to the differing Constitution of Government that is in several Nations : Therefore our Saviour gave the properest and the fullest Answer , by bidding them render to Kings what by the Municipal Laws of that Kingdom was their Due . The next Text is that of our Saviours rebuking St. Peter , Mat. 26.52 . Then said Jesus unto him , Put up thy Sword into thy place ; for all they that take the Sword , shall perish with the Sword. Now for the better understanding of this Place , it may not be improper to compare the several Relations of this very Passage , as 't is diversly recorded by all Four Evangelists ; and altho it is the most at large in St. Matthew , yet he omits one very necessary and remarkable Particular , which is related by St. Luke , chap. 22.49 . And when they which were about him saw what would follow , they said unto him , Lord , shall we smite with the Sword ? But Peter being a little too zealous , would not stay for his Lord's Answer , as the others did ; but without leave makes use of his , which occasions him this Reprimand from Christ , and upon a double account . First , Striking without his Lord's Commission ; for I do not question but it would have been a fault in him to have cut off any bodys Ear , as well as Malchus's . Secondly , Thinking that Christ wanted his Defence ; and tho Christ had so often foretold , That the Son of Man was to be betray'd , and given up into the hands of Sinners ; yet now he would pretend to rescue him from those very Sufferings he came on purpose into the World to undergo . For St. John lays the stress of the Argument there , Put up thy Sword into the Sheath : The Cup that my Father gives me , shall I not drink it ? Joh. 18.11 . So that the unseasonableness of the Defence is all that he there reproves , and seems to me to be the chief thing aimed at by St. Matthew , when Christ says , Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father , and he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels ? But how then shall the Scripture be fulfilled , that thus it must be ? Mat. 26.53 , 54. But allowing it was unlawful for St. Peter to strike without Christ's leave , yet I cannot see how that Text would support all that they would build upon it ; for the Chief Priest's was not the Supreme Authority of that Nation at that time ; for they own'd to Pilate , Joh. 18.31 . That it was not lawful for them to put any man to death : And whether they had any better Authority to take him , is more than I think can be proved ; for St. Matthew intimates , that they sought to take him by craft and subtilty , and could not have accomplished it but by his Servant's Treachery ; and after they had apprehended him , and brought him to Pilate , who was the Chief Magistrate under Cesar , yet he would not pretend to judge him , because he belong'd to Herod's Jurisdiction , till Herod return'd him to him . So that here is no reason to suppose , that Malchus's being the High Priest's Officer , was an Aggravation to St. Peter's Guilt ; for the High Priest had no Power himself in those Causes ; so that there was no Resistance of the Supreme Magistrate , or Publick Authority in the Case . But our Saviour did very justly condemn Peter's taking so much upon him , as to presume to strike without his Lord's leave , when he stood by . But now the two main Texts of Rom. 13. and 1 Pet. 2.13 . should come to be considered ; but they enterfering a little one with another , we shall endeavour to reconcile them , before we discourse of either ; for nothing can be more directly contrary , than St. Peter's calling that the Ordinance of Man , which St. Paul says is the Ordinance of God. But I must confess I cannot see that there is any greater necessity of bringing St. Peter to St. Paul , than Paul to Peter ; for they are both Canonical , and both equally true ; and were it not that all Texts are to be prest to maintain the Doctrine of Monarchy's being Jure Divino , I should think there were no great difference in the Case : For having before so fully proved , That Kings were at first set up by the People , St. Peter had a great deal of reason to call them the Ordinance of Man ; but after they were establish'd , it was then the Ordinance , Order , or Command of God , call it which you will , that the People should obey them as far as they had obliged themselves by Law to do : And I do and must own , that any Subject who refuses Obedience , either Active or Passive , in any of those Instances which the Laws and Constitution of the Government require him to submit to ; that Man , I say , does actually resist the Ordinance or Command of God , and does deserve the Penalty the Apostle threatens , take the Word in what Latitude you please . And this I take to be the clearest way of reconciling the two Texts . And I will also own , that the Apostles gave very good Advice , and that the Christians of those Times were obliged to follow it ; and if there be now in the World any Christians in the same unhappy Predicament , I should think it their Duty to follow it also : But , God be thank'd , we are in much other Circumstances than they were at that time ; for they were under the Command of Arbitrary Tyrants , whose Will was their only Law : Whereas we are under no Law but what we have made our selves , and our King's Power is both Limited and Conditional , and , properly speaking , we cannot call the King Supreme , for I think I have before shew'd , that there is a possibility for a King to be guilty of Treason , or at least that which is tantamount to it ; for they can forfeit their Regal Authority , as I do not at all doubt but our late King actually did . So that unless they will be pleased to prove , that it is the duty of all Kingdoms and States to put themselves into the same Circumstances , and make themselves Slaves on purpose that they may be oblig'd by this Command of St. Paul's ; I think we may very lawfully plead exemption from some of the Inferences they would draw from it ; not but that I will own there is such a duty as Passive Obedience , a Virtue which even in our Constitution we may have the opportunity of exercising , perhaps oftner than they desire ; although of late it has been so great an Idol , that not only our Laws and Government , but even our Religion and Posterity were to be sacrifis'd to it . But if it was really the effect of a tender Conscience , I would very willingly be informed how they came to be so particularly partial to this Rule of St. Paul's , for there are a great many Commands of our Saviours which seem to be as obliging , to which they do not pay so great deference . For I am sure there is such Precepts , That if any man smite thee on the right Cheek , turn to him the other also ; and that we shall give to him that asketh , and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away ; and of him that taketh away thy goods , ask them not again ; and many such like we shall find in the 5 th . of St. Matthew and 6 th . of St. Luke . Now if these were duties to the Primitive Christians , how come we to be excus'd from them ? and I can think but of two Answers ; the one that they were Temporary ; ( but that will not be allow'd for something I know ) and the other , and I think the better is , that the Circumstances of the Christians are so much alter'd in Worldly respects , that what was a proper means to bring people in , and make them in love with the Gospel , when they saw the great Patience and Meekness of the Professors of it , would not now be so proper a way to preserve it . For now that the Laws have set the Boundaries to every Mans Right , ( which neither Law nor Gospel allows any body to infringe ) to take away those Fences , would be so far from advancing Christianity , or rendring it more Beautiful and Lovely , that on the contrary it would let in Confusion , and authorize Rapine and Disorders : so that a litteral Performance of those Duties , would , in our present Circumstances , destroy one of the great designs of Christianity , and certainly that can never be a Duty which is against the very end for which the Command was at first given ; and whether an illegal and unlimited Obedience in the People would not destroy the very end of Government , which we know is the safety of the People , I shall desire may be a little better consider'd . But now suppose some tender Consciences should think themselves obliged to obey those commands of turning the Cheek , and not asking their Goods again in the very literal sence of the words , yet might they not keep this to themselves , and exercise the Virtue when occasion offer'd it self ? or was it necessary for them to cry this their Opinion in all the Market Towns of the Countries ? Nay , to thunder Damnation against all that were not of their mind . How this may be applyed I believe every body can guess ; and also what , in all probability would be the effect of such Proceedings ; but a word to the Wise is enough . 3. I come now to the 3d. and in appearance the most difficult Objection , how those that have taken the Oaths of Allegiance to King James can be absolved from the Obligation of them ? But if they will allow what I should hope , I have before sufficiently proved that the Kings Power is both Limited and Conditional , I should think this great question might be very easily solved ; for every body knows that a Covenant is a mutual Obligation , and has force no longer than while the Conditions are performed on both sides ; but if one of the Parties shall wilfully break his part of the Covenant , he does not only forfeit the Right he had to challenge the Performance of the other side , but does by his breach actually void the Covenant , and consequently releases the other Party from all the Obligation he was under . But besides this , there is another Consideration , which being of weight ought not to be omitted ; and that it is an uncontestable Maxim of our Law , which makes it Treason for to resist the King de Facto , although it be in defence , and to maintain the Right of the King de Jure . So that Possession is not only , as we used to say , eleven Points of the Law , but is in this Case all twelve . And if any body can think it their Duty to commit Treason , it would be pretty strange ; but if they do , however they may satisfie their Consciences , 't is probable they will not the Law so easily . Nor is this Law , if thoroughly consider'd , so unreasonable in it self , as perhaps it may at first appear : For 't is an acknowledged Aphorism , That the safety of the People is the Supreme Law ; and therefore to be prefered before Titles to Succession . For the Law-makers might easily suppose , that no Person who was actually in Possession of the Throne , would willingly quit it unless forced to it ; for I verily believe our late King James is the first Instance , of any Prince that ever ran away from his Government , and quitted the Crown without striking a stroke for it , and that when he had any Army to defend it ; and truly for that we must own our selves extreamly obliged to him , he having prevented that , which that Law seem'd to fear , and desir'd to avoid ; that is a Civil War. For the Law supposes that a greater Inconvenience to the People , than to be Governed by one that had not a right Title to the Crown : And truly all the Proofs that are brought out of the Gospel for Obedience to Princes , do confirm this Maxim of our Law ; for neither our Saviour nor his Apostles bid Christians enquire into the Right and Title of the Roman Emperors ; but bids them to obey them under whose Government it was their lot to fall : For few of them could pretend a legal Title to the Crown , and sometimes there were several Persons set up by several parts of the Army ; and then he that got the Mastery , proved his Title by his Success ; so that the Right of the King de facto is confirm'd both by Law and Gospel , and therefore must be unquestionable , when there is no such thing as a King de Jure to oppose him : For by the Forfeiture King James made of his Right , I do not at all doubt but our present King is de jure as well as de facto . Nay had King James never done any thing amiss in his whole Reign , but that of deserting the Government at that very nick of time , it would certainly have justified our Compliance with the present King. For although King James had thought it necessary for the security of his Person to withdraw himself , yet sure there was no necessity of his leaving us without all Government and Defence . For might he not have appointed a Vice Roy or Deputy , as he do's in Ireland , that might have kept possession of the Throne in his Name , and to whom the Subject might have resorted , both for Justice and Protection ? But instead of that , he steals away himself , orders his Army to be disbanded , and so abandons the People solely to the mercy of the Foreign Force , whom he leaves in the Possession of the Authority which he quitted . And if silence and submission may be interpreted consent , he did by that resign both Crown and Kingdom to him . But however he meant to dispose of himself , 't is evident he left those of his Subjects , that would have adhered to him ( as there is reason to believe a great many would , if he had stuck to them ) in a very ill Predicament ; they having then no power to resist , and now no right to do it . For all that shall now attempt his restoration , are by the Law made actual Traytors ; and I do not at all question , but that he would take care to see they should be treated as such , if by their means he should recover the Crown : For the resisting of the King de facto , is a Treason that not only makes them liable to that Kings punishment whom they oppose , but leaves them to the discretion of the King they served ; for the Law gives him power to execute them for Traytors , who should now restore him to the Throne : And both the Example and Doctrine of his dear Brother and Ally of France , will soon teach him which is the best , because much the readiest way of requiting those who should procure his Re-establishment . For 't is a dangerous thing to oblige a King of his Principles too much , as we may learn from the Barbarous treatment of the poor Hugonots in France ; who without all dispute gave that King the Power to use them , or rather abuse them so . And such we have a great deal of reason to believe , shall be the requital of those of the Reformed Party , who should do the same thing for King James , that they did for the now Tres Grand Louis , And since we English have no Obligation to our Kings but what the Law lays upon us ; when we are by that set at Liberty , methinks we should not think it our duty to enslave our selves contrary to the Laws , and known Constitutions of the Nation , especially since there is nothing else required of us , but to accept of that Deliverance which God himself hath wrought for us . For there is very few that have had any other part to act in this Great Revolution , than That of standing still ( as Moses says to the Israelites ) and seeing the Salvation of the Lord , Exodus 14.13 . Of which that we may be worthy , pray God make us more sensible of it , and more thankful for it ; and this I suppose may be enough , because a great deal more than I at first intended to have said to the third Objection . And to the Fourth I hope there will be no great occasion of saying much ; for certainly no body that can either consider , or compare , can think the Cases of 1648. and 1688. Parallel . For the great ( I had almost said the only ) fault of that good King , and true Martyr , was his complying too much with his People , ( and yielding that to their importunity which both Law and Conscience told him he should not have consented to ) a fault that I dare say his Son James would never have been guilty of . But it must be acknowledged indeed , that in the Case of the Ship-money he did assume a Power the Law did not allow him ; but 't was the only Instance of his doing it in his whole Reign : And 't is evident , that in that too he did not design his Subjects Wrong ; for no body was forced to pay it ; but they that had a mind to contest the thing , as some did , had liberty so to do : For there were Trials in Westminster-hall about it , and Sentence given against the King : From which we may gather these two things : First , That the Judges were neither over-aw'd nor turn'd out by the King , for doing Justice . Secondly , That the King did not think himself above the Law , but submitted to it ; so that it seems there was no such thing as the Dispensing Power known in those days , but the Rights of the People were preserved inviolate . I wish I could have said , the Rights of the Crown had been so too ; and then perhaps we should never have known the vast difference that there was between the Father and the Son : But whoever will please to compare the Cases , will find full as great difference between the Causes , as the Persons . For in the former , it was the most open and notorions Rebellion that ever was recorded in Story ; whereas all the Fault that the generality of the English can now be charged with , is ( if it be a Fault ) the Complying with the Necessity that King James himself laid on them , of submitting to the Power he left in Possession ; and which I am sure they were not in a Condition to resist . And now methinks it should hardly bear a Dispute , Whether 't is any bodies Duty to make themselves Traytors according to the Rules both of Law and Gospel ( as I have shew'd above ) for the Restitution of him that subverted the Laws , deserted the Government , and I doubt still designs the Destruction of the Nation . And truly the Causes and Occasions of those two great Revolutions in 48 , and 88 , were not more distant than their Designs and Ends were ; the first intending the Subversion , and this latter the Establishment and Preservation of the best and purest Religion in the World. But perhaps some may say , This is not the best way of doing it ; for 't is an Old Saying , and a True , That the Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Church , which , like a Palm-tree , grows fastest when it has the greatest weight upon it : And that 't is a very idle Out-cry that some make , That they would take their Religion from them ; for that dwells in the Heart , and no body can take that from me , unless I please . But altho 't is very true , that the Heart is the Seat of true Religion ; yet I think it savors a little too much of Presumption , for any body to undertake to preserve it there by their own Strength . But suppose that they were , and that they were sure their Faith should not fail under the severest Trials ; yet is the Publick Service of God , the Opportunities of going into the House of God , and there pouring out our Prayers and Praises before him with the Congregation of the Saints ; is this , I say , so despicable a Blessing , that 't is not worth keeping if we can ? We see how holy David bemoans and laments his Banishment from the Temple , and how he longs and languishes for the return of those blessed Privileges , so that he envies the very Birds that were permitted to nest near the Altar ; and yet he had as true a sense of God and Religion , and as plentiful Effusions of the Spirit to supply such a Want , as any of us can pretend to . But alas ! it would not be only a temporary Deprivation that we should bewail ; for whoever now shall attempt to bring back King James , does as much as in him lies , to cut off both himself and his Posterity from the solemn Publick Worship of God for ever . And altho I know God can support under any Condition , yet they will find a great deal of difference between those Sufferings they wilfully bring upon themselves , and those which are of God Almighty's laying : For I can securely rest upon his Word ; for I know that he is faithful , and will not suffer us to be be tempted above that we are able , but will with the temptation make a way to escape , that we may be able to bear it , 1 Cor. 10.13 . But if we will not escape when he affords us the Means , What Promise is there either of Support or Deliverance from those Dangers we wilfully bring upon our selves ? And 't will certainly be very just in God , to suffer us fall under that Ruine we have courted , in which , I doubt , we shall have very little comfort ; for 't is not the Sufferings , but the Cause , that makes the Martyr . Therefore I beg leave to conclude with the Words of St. Paul , 2 Cor. 6.1 , 2 , 3. and beseech you that you receive not the Grace of God in vain ; for as God may truly say , he has heard us in a time accepted ; in the day of salvation he hath succour'd us ; so may I also , Behold , now is the accepted time ; Behold , now is the day of salvation . And let us all be careful that we give no offence in any thing , that the Ministry be not blamed . But that we may all with one Heart and one Mouth bless God for his wonderful Deliverance , and pray for the Prosperity and long Life of King WILLIAM and Queen MARY , whom God grantlong to Reign . Amen . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A37437-e190 I. II. III. 
A37425	----	The Compleat mendicant, or, Unhappy beggar being the life of an unfortunate gentleman ... a comprehensive account of several of the most remarkable adventures that befel him in three and twenty years pilgrimage : also a narrative of his entrance at Oxford ... likewise divers familiar letters, both Latin and English sermons, poems, essays ... 1699 Approx. 178 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 96 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A37425 Wing D830 ESTC R7553 12272718 ocm 12272718 58332 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37425) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 58332) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 179:15) The Compleat mendicant, or, Unhappy beggar being the life of an unfortunate gentleman ... a comprehensive account of several of the most remarkable adventures that befel him in three and twenty years pilgrimage : also a narrative of his entrance at Oxford ... likewise divers familiar letters, both Latin and English sermons, poems, essays ... Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. Price, Thomas. [30], 156 p. Printed for E. Harris ..., London : 1699. Errata on p. [30]. Advertisement on p. [15] and p. [1]-[4] at end. Variously ascribed to Daniel Defoe and to Thomas Price; attribution to Defoe probably erroneous Cf. NUC pre-1956. Reproduction of original in British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Pilgrims and pilgrimages. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Jennifer Kietzman Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Jennifer Kietzman Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Advertisement . ☞ The second Part is now in the Press , and will be publisht with all convenient speed . THE Compleat Mendicant : OR , Unhappy Beggar . BEING The Life of an Unfortunate Gentleman : In which is a Comprehensive Account of several of the most Remarkable Adventures , that befel him in Three and Twenty Years Pilgrimage . Also a Narrative of his entrance at Oxford , his Ordination , his Behaviour and Departure from Court , his taking upon him the habit of a Shepherd , &c. With general Reflections and Observations upon the Men , Manners , Customs and Religions , of the several Countreys he wander'd through . Likewise Divers familiar Letters , both Latin and English , Sermons , Poems , Essays , upon particular occasions , with a singular Character of a Monastick Life ; and the Description of a Monastery , all faithfully Collected from his Original Papers . Quisquis enim duros casus virtutis amore . Vicerit , ille sibi laudemque d●ousque parabit . Virgil. in Fragm . de littera . LONDON , Printed for E. Harris , at the Harrow in Little-Britain . MDCXCIX . THE Epistle Dedicatory . TO THE Lady Mary Charleton . Madam , THE Character you bear every where of an extraordinary Lady , has brought this unhappy Mendicant a great many doleful Miles to throw himself at your Feet ; ` T is true , between New-Castle and London , I presume , he might have some few Friends that would have taken him in and refresht him , but then Madam , he had still wanted some body to have sign`d his Pass , in order to make his Progress , thro` a stubborn Inhospitable World , a little more safe and easy . This indeed it is , that has brought him into the North , to your Ladyship , and tho he comes a stranger , unrecommended , and with all the disadvantages that may be ; yet still the sence he has of your Ladyships Universal Charity , encourages him to believe you will at least examine his Credentials , before you order him to be turn`d out of your Gate . ` T is true Madam , he has no great matters to pretend , to bespeak your Compassion , only a little Artless Modesty and Innocence ; and both those Two are so unhappily sullied , by this last Insolence , that if your Ladyships Goodness does not exert it self beyond the common Degree , he can expect little less than to be treated like a Sturdy Vagrant , and so whipt and sent back into his own Countrey . But let the Success be what it will , the poor Wanderer is under a Necessity once more to take a melancholy Turn into the World : How far your Ladyship may be obliged to protect him , the Sequel of his Narrative must declare . As for my part , what I have done , is by his Direction , and truly I have the same Notion of it that he had , that your Vertue , Piety and Charity , that have render'd you for many Years the Ornament of your Sex , will all plead strongly for your acceptance of these few unworthy sheets , and engage you too to pardon him that has ventur`d to commend `em to your Protection , who is with the most profound respect , Good Madam , Your Obedient Servant . THE PREFACE . TO THE READER . THese few sheets might have taken their chance without the sanction of a Preface , if the Mendicants unhappy Circumstances had not made it a proper Introduction to his future Progress . He`s doom'd to a second Pilgrimage in a dull Censorious uncharitable Age , upon which account , without doubt , he`ll have need enough to be equipt with the utmost Caution ; and after all , I`m affraid too he`ll find it far more difficult for him to wander the World in this Paper Dress , then in his Mendicant , Itinerant , Shepherds , or Monastick habit . The first great objection against him will be , that he`s an absolute stranger , and comes into the World without the assistance of a Name , Place , or Recommendation ; and so consequently may be an Impostor . It must be granted that this is a very material Objection , and will inevitably be the occasion of a great many harsh Reflections ; but for all that he resolves to submit to `em all , rather then betray his own modesty , or be the cause of the least disreputation to his Family . Indeed , for my own part , I cannot see any single Action , through all the Occurrences of his Life , that can any ways reflect upon himself or his Relations , upon which Account I should have been very glad , if it had fall`n within the compass of my directions , to have made his Name publick , but since I`m solemnly forbid that , I can do no less in his behalf , then let his Censurers know , `t is in the Judgment of the most considerate part of Mankind , an Indication of ill manners or ill nature , if not both , to pry into a secret that 's Industriously preserv`d . The great Query of all will be , whether the matters here related are real matters of fact ; and that they are so , I have as good proof as the Nature of the thing is capable of , and he that expects more , would do well to erect a new Scheme of Principles to direct us how to form our belief by ; the whole Narrative is exactly of a piece , all regular , natural and familiar , and withal confirm`d by such a multitude of concuring Circumstances , that in my sence he must be a Person that nothing will go down with , but flat Demonstrations that will object against it . But after all , supposing the worst that can be , that the whole should be a well contriv`d Fable ; I can see no Reason , why the fabulous Life of a Vertuous Mendicant should not be as acceptable to the World as an English Rogue , a Gusman Lazerillo , or any other Romantick History of Villanous Tricks , &c. I`m sure , there can be no reason given for that , unless it be that the present Age is grown more in Love with Vanity and Vice , then with Vertue and Sobriety . There`s enough to be said , if the thing requir`d it , to Vindicate this Unhappy Beggar from the suspicion of an Impostor but for that , I `ll refer you to this and the succeeding parts of his Life , which you need not question but to find gradually confirm'd , by the most Authentick Testimonies . THE CONTENTS . CHAP. I. WHerein by way of Introduction , the Mendicant complains of the Calamities of Humane Life , and makes some short and general Reflections upon Charity . CHAP. II. He gives an Account of his Birth and Parentage , the Death of his Father and Mother , the hardships and Severities he met with in his Childhood , the Kindness of an Aunt , the Manner of his being sent to School , and from thence to Oxford , &c. CHAP. III. He relates the Manner of his leaving the Vniversity , recites a short Copy of Verses he writ at his Departure ; together with his Adventure with the Mountebank . CHAP. IV. He gives a further Account of his Adventure with the Mountebank , who discovers to him the Secrets of his Art. They straggle together into Bedfordshire , where he first Robs him at an Alehouse , and then leaves him in pawn for the Reckoning . CHAP. V. He gives a short Account ef his Rencounter with his Landlords ; writes a begging Copy of Verses , and a Letter to a Gentleman in the Town , who gives him Money to pay his Reckoning , and recommends him afterwards to a School . CHAP. VI. He travels towards Northampton , encounters an Itinerant Parson upon the Road , who Instructs him in several of the Secrets and Mysteries of Begging , and then wheedles him to Ioyn with him , &c. CHAP. VII . The Mendicant and Itinerant straggle together into Leicestershire . The Mendicant writes a Latin Letter to a Lady , and is Plentifully Rewarded . They are both Seiz`d , and carried before a Magistrate . The Itinerant is discover`d to be an Impostor , and the Mendicant Honourably Acquitted . CHAP. VIII . The Mendicant Returns into Northamptonshire , Delivers his Letter to the Clergy-man , by whom he`s Entertain`d as his Usher . He`s Ordain'd a Deacon . The Clergy-man's Sister falls in Love with him : to Avoid which he forsakes his Plaoe , and returns to his former Profession of a Mendicant . CHAP. IX . The Mendicant wanders into Buckinghamshire , is Entertained by a Worthy Old Gentleman for his Curate . He Preaches a singular Sermon upon Humility , which he sets down at length . CHAP. X. Vpon the Restoration of the King he leaves his Curacy , and goes to London , makes several Insuccessful Attempts for Preferment ; and afterwards , in a deep Discontent and Melancholy leaves the Town , with a Resolution to return into the Countrey , in Quest of New Adventures . CHAP. XI . The Mendicant wanders into Dors●tshire , takes upon him the Habit of a Shepherd , and gives a Comprehensive Account of several other things that befell Him in that Adventure . CHAP. XII . The Mendicant is Entertain'd by a Shepherd , as his Servant . He gives a Diverting Relation of the Circumstances of his Admission , and the Manner of his Instructions , &c. CHAP. XIII . The Mendicant makes Reflections upon his former and present Condition , and writes a long Letter of Advice to his Brother in London . CHAP. XIV . The Mendicant Writes another Letter to his Friend in London ; wherein he makes Passionate reflections upon the Town and Court , and gives a further account of a Shepherds Life . CHAP. XV. The Mendicant having left the Shepherd , goes to Shaftsbury , from whence he Writes several Letters , one to his Master , the Shepherd , another to Squire F — and a third to Capt — to whom he sends some short Essays upon the Calamities of Human Life , which he Writ upon the Downs , &c. ESSAY I. Wherein he gives a Comprehensive Account of the General Calamities of Human Life . ESSAY II. He demonstrates Death , simply consider'd as an exit out of the World , to be much preferrable to Li●e , both upon the account of the Evils from which it delivers us , and the Goods into which it Instates us . The Reader is desir`d in the first Line of the 2d Chapter , for 87 , to read 37. and for the rest of the Errors , which are generally Literal , to correct , or pardon `em . THE Compleat Mendicant , OR THE Unhappy Beggar . CHAP. I. Wherein by way of Introduction the Mendicant complains of the Calamities of humane Life , and makes some short and general Reflections upon Charity . BEside the Original Depravation and frailties of Nature , there are so many other Accidents and Misfortunes incorporated and twisted into the very Beings and Const●tutions of Men , that indeed , the Custom Euripides proposes to the World seems to me the most just and reasonable , i. e. to lament those that are born , upon the account of the many Evils among which they enter at their Birth , but when they die , and rest from their Labours , to celebrate their Funerals with rejoicing and Praises ; this the whole Nation of the Thracians , which justly challenge the praise of Wisdom , were wont to do , without being instructed by Teachers , but purely from their own Observation of the state and circumstances of Humane Life , I need not borrow Instances ( I think ) to aggravate the Calamities that are incident to the Life of Man , the Case will appear evident enough from a short view into the present condition of the World ; for considering how many there are that struggle through their Lives in perpetual toil and drudgery ; how many that are oppressed with Slavery , harrass'd with Cruelty , pin'd with Want and Poverty , overwhelm'd with Shame and Infamy , and worn out and consum'd with constant Sorrow , Anxiety and Vexation , it must necessarily be allowed , that the greater part and generality of Mankind are but one bare remove at best from flat and substantial Misery . 'T is true indeed to most of these miserable ones , the Divine Providence indulges frequent Intervals of Ease and Satisfaction : Sweetens the bitter Cup now and then with some grateful Intermixtures , to make the nauseous Draught of Life go down a little the more easily ; yet I dare say , whenever they compare their few Goods with their many Evils , their Fears , Crosses , and Disappointments , with their Successes , Hopes , and Enjoyments , they 'll find the former much out-ballance the latter in a great many Particulars . Well , but my own woful Experiences shall not urge me into complaints , or a long Introduction . I must own indeed , that the Divine Wisdom foresaw that an equality of Conditions would naturally breed confusion and disorder in the World , and therefore without doubt it was that it design'd some for Honour and Riches , and others for Contempt and Poverty ; but yet in this great Division , did not so inseparably dis-unite them , but that they should still have a mutual dependance , and consistence one upon another ; every rich Man being God's Steward , and particularly intrusted to provide for the indigent parts of his Family , such as are the poor and needy ; and his omissions in that Point , is not only a breach of his duty and trust , but withal , an Indication of his unthankfulness , falshood , and ingratitude . God , who is the common Father , as well as Friend to Mankind , cannot be supposed to be so partial to provide for the Pomps and Luxuries of some , and then leave the rest to languish under the want of necessaries convenient for the support of Life ; and yet methinks if we look into the visible Portions of the Poor and Rich ( according to the present practice of the World ) we can perceive very little to the contrary . I must confess the thoughts of this has been my sad Companion through my whole Pilgrimage , and truly 't is a Subject fit for the wonder and Sorrow of any considering Man , that one part of the World should be revelling and gluttonizing , whilst another is languishing thro' Want and Indigence , and the gripings , and pressures of downright Hunger , and Necessity . Iudeed I have been amazed to see with what indifferency and satisfaction some of our wealthy Cormorants have beheld their own humane Nature pining and starving in the Person of their poor Brother , tho' at the same time perhaps they have been burthen'd with an Excess of another kind , and might be relieved against both by a more equal distribution . However , for my own part , I must acknowledg it would be ungrateful in me to make reflections ; I have lived already more than twenty Years upon the common Stock , I mean by the help of my Begging Talent , I have made a doleful Passage through the World ; the manner and Circumstances I intend to relate at large in the following Sheets . CHAP. II. In which he gives an Account of his Birth and Parentage , the death of his Father and Mother , with the severities and hardships he met with in his Childhood , the kindness of his Aunt , the manner of his being sent to School , and from thence to Oxford , &c. I was born in the year 87. my Father was a Gentleman of a considerable Fortune and Figure in his Country , having been twice honoured by King Charles the First with the Character of Envoy Extraordinary to two Foreign Courts , and as I have been often told , behav'd himself not only with a great deal of Prudence and Sincerity in his Negotiations abroad , but likewise acquitted himself like a true English Gentleman , in the Station of a Justice of the Peace , and Deputy-Lieutenant of his County . He was a Member in the long Parliament , and when he saw the Affairs in the House of Commons inclining apace towards Rebellion , &c. with several other Loyal Gentlemen , he entered his Protest against their Proceedings , and retir'd into the Country , where he continued till the unhappy Tumults broke out , and then as ●n early Instance of his Fidelity to his Loyal Master , rais'd a Troop of Horse at ●is own Charge . Not long after , the King was pleased to give him a Regiment of Foot , and appoint him Governour of a Town in the West of England , which he defended to the last Extremity ; but being , through the want of Provisions , or rather by the Treachery of some of the Officers in the Garrison , which the Parliament had Brib'd to betray him , forc'd to surrender the Place upon Discretion , he was immediately made a Prisoner of War , and soon after tryed by a Court Martial , and sentenced to be shot to Death ; however , by the friendship of his Keeper , with the help of a Womans Habit , he made his Escape the Night before his Execution , and got beyond Sea , where he continued till King Charles the Second made his Attempt at Worcester , and there amongst a great many other brave Men , he had the Misfortune to be wounded by a Musket-Sho● in the Shoulder , of which he died within two or three days after , but first got the following Letter conveyed to my Mother ▪ the Particulars of which for secret causes I have set down at large . Coll. — Letter to his Lady , &c. My Dear , BY the Assistance of the Honest Bearer , I have got an Opportunity to give you a short account of our Misfortunes : our whole Army is intirely routed and dispersed , and what 's become of the King I cannot learn ; I pray God deliver him out of the hands of the Rebels ; as to my own part , I have received a scurvy Wound by a Musket-Shot in my Left Shoulder , which the Surgeon tells me is Mortal ; whether it be or not , is no great matter , for it seems they have discovered who I am , and if I should recover of my Wounds , are resolved to take me off afterwards . Well , My Dear , I have a good Cause , and a Gracious God , and so am no otherwise affected for the Loss of my Life , than as it relates to you , and my poor Children . I would advise you if I could , which way to manage your self in this perplexed State , but alas ! my Circumstances are all so entangled , that I know not where to begin ; beside the anguish of my Wound at present is so very great , that I am hardly able to support my self under it . I know , my Dear , your Loyalty will disswade you against Immoderate Grief , and then your Vertue and Conduct in our long Separation has superseded even the necessity of advising you , with regard to your Family . As for poor Peregrine ( for that 's the name I intend to pass under here ) if your Circumstances will permit , and his own Genius inclines him to it , I would have him bred a Schollar , he may live to see the World mended , and be an Instrument to repair the Ruins of his Family . Commend me earnestly to all my Friends , and let my Children know their Father sends them his Blessing . I am , my Dear till we meet again either in this or the next World , affectionately thine . Adieu . About two days after came a Messenger from the Governour of Worcester to my Mother with the heavy News of my Father's Death , and withal , that he had obtained a Grant for her to bury him where she pleased . My Mother receiv'd the Message ( as I have been told ) with a Resolution and Courage beyond the common behaviour of her Sex , and instead of breaking out into passionate Exclamations , and Reflections , which she knew would be of no use at that time of day . Immediately dispatches away a Servant , with a Neighbour or two , and a Hearse , who brought him home , and the Night following he was buried privately in a Vault amongst his Ancestors . The Death of my Father was but ( in some respects ) a Preludium to the rest of my Misfortunes , for in less than a Month , by an Order of State , all we had was seized upon , and my Mother , with four Children , forced out of her House to seek Shelter and Relief where she could find it ; the Creditors to mend the matter , put in their Claims too , so that in a short time all was Sold and tore to pieces . Neither did my Misfortunes stop here , for my Mother being deprived of her Country Habitation , thought London might be the fittest place to fix upon some method for a Livelihood ; but there we had not been , to the best of my Remembrance , above six Weeks , before my Sister Sickens of the Small-Pox , and dies my youngest Brother dies about ten days after of the same Distemper , and my Mother the very Week following , and truly if it had not been for the extraordinary Care , and Charity of an Excellent Woman , in whose House we Lodged , my Brother and I had both Perished with the rest . Here I begun to have a small Sence of our Condition , and accordingly got a Friend to instruct me how I might best recommend it to an Aunt I had in the Country , who no sooner heard of it , but indeed pittied us , and sent for us home to her House , and to speak the Truth , used us both with a Tenderness and Compassion , not very common in such cases . This good Aunt sent us to School , and though my Master was none of the best , yet with his Assistance , and my own Industry , in two Years time I became so far a Proficient in the Latine Tongue , that with the help of a Dictionary , I could Construe some Verses in Ovid's Metamorphosis , and Translate a Dialogue in Erasmus , and turn an easie Sentence into Latin , and make a lame Verse , &c. My Master himself had never been at any University , but was a young Gentleman that had spent his Fortune in the King's Service , and so was forc'd to shelter himself under the Character of a Paedagogue , to be secure from the Suspition of the State , and to get a poor Livelihood ; but yet I must needs do him this Justice , that he acquitted himself to me so much like a Friend as well as a Master , and bestowed so much of his time and pains upon me , that I have reason to believe ▪ that the best Tutor in the Kingdom could not have improv'd me more in so short a time . I was now in my sixteenth year , and my Aunt considering that her Age and her Infirmities together might consequently call her off before she had any ways fixt me in a Capacity to shift for my self , resolves with all the Expedition that could be , to send me to Oxford , and get me admitted into one of the Colledges as a Servitor . This was was not long under debate , but an opportunity offer'd it self , that indeed was of considerable Advantage to me . Sir Alexander — an eminent Cavalier , notwithstanding the present Disturbances and Corruptions of the University , resolves to send his Son to Christ-Church for a Year or two , and withal , at the request of my Aunt , condescended that I should attend upon him as his Servitor , and that he would pay my Tutor , and allow me a Competency to supply me with Commons , &c. according to the custom of the Colledge . This Proposal squar'd exactly with my Aunts Design in every particular ; for though she was a Gentlewoman of as good a Family as most in England , and had formerly been the Mistress of a very plentiful Fortune , yet the Wars , and the Sequestrators together , had reduc'd her to a poor Annuity of Fifty Pound per Annum , which , with all her Prudence and Conduct , was but just enough for the support of her Family ; however , upon Sir Alexander's motion , she strain'd a Point , and equipt me out very decently and gentilely for the University , and withal did me the favour to accompany me thither , to see me conveniently fix'd in the Colledge . I had not been there long , but I perceiv'd , to my great dissatisfaction and concern , my want of Shool Education , and would often reflect upon what I had heard Dr. Hammond tell my Mother ( who did her now and then the Honour to come and condole with her in the absence of my Father ) i. e. That if she intended me for the University , she ought to take particular Care to provide me with a Master that was qualified to instruct me in the grounds and principles of Learning , before she should suffer me to be admitted ; that ( says he ) will make his future Studies easie , and delightful , and will be sure to stick fast to him to the End of his Life ; I found my self sadly at a Loss in that Particular , and was so much affected to see my Fellow-Pupils run through their several Exercises with a great deal of Freedom and pleasantness , whilst I was forc'd to labour and tug for every thing I did ; that I was once resolv'd to quit my Pretensions , and return to my Aunt , and request her to put me to some other Business that I was better qualified to go on with . But my Tutor , that had a singular kindness for me , soon perceiv'd how cases stood , and accordingly one Evening , after he had finisht his Readings , &c. he dismisses the rest , and orders me to stay behind in his Chamber ; Young Man ( says he ) I find you have had a very ill Schoolmaster , and I am satisfied both by your Looks and Actions you are sensible of your own Insufficiency , but come , don't despair , you have Youth and Parts , and those in Conjunction with your Industry , and good Instruction , will soon make up your other defects . The first thing , I think , he enjoyn'd me , was the Translation of one of the hardest Colloquies in Erasmus , the next a Satyr out of Iuvenal , and then some Odes from Horace , and withal confin'd me to a large part in the Greek Grammar every Morning ; but then , what was the greatest advantage of all , he was pleased to allow me a Study in his own Chamber , and would not fail twice a day at least to spend half an hour in giving me particular directions and advice , by which means , in less than a year , I found my self so well Improv'd , that I was able to go through with my business with as much ease and satisfaction as the best of Companions . But this happy Condition did not last long before Fortune begins again to play the Jilt with me ; my Aunt dies , and what was worse , her Sickness was so sudden and violent , that she had no time to make her Will , and so all she had fell in course to a Fanatical Sister , that always mortally hated our Family , upon the Account of their Loyalty , and me for their Sakes . My Master removes from the University to the Inns of Court , and what was as great disappointment to me as either , my worthy Tutor leaves the University , in order to Travel with a young Nobleman into Italy . Here I am all unravell'd again left friendless and desolate , and to aggravate my Misfortunes too , lay under the Character and suspicion of being disaffected to the Common-Wealth of England ( as they call'd it ) and what to do in this hard conjuncture I could not determine ; sometimes I resolv'd to go into my own Country , to try if I had any Friends left there , at other times I propose to follow my Master to London , and see how the Waters would move in that part of the World ; anon I conclude to represent my Condition to the Colledge , and throw my self upon the Charity of the House ; but after all , from a few second thoughts I found there was little good to be expected from either of these . So that in short I thought there was no remedy left , but I must e'en venture to commit my self to the Mercy of my cruel Step-mother , Fortune . This Resolution ( tho' t was the worst ) carried the Cause against all the rest ; and now my next business was to equip my self with materials fit for a Pedegrination ; my Books and other Equipage must be Sold in Course , and indeed I was not long in making my Markets . I think , as near as I can remember , all I could get for the whole , was not above fifty Shillings , the better part of which I laid out in some Travelling Necessaries , and spent together in taking leave of my Acquaintance . CAAP. III. Wherein he gives an Account of his leaving the Vniversity , and recites a short Copy of Verses he writ at his Departure , with his Adventures with a Mountebank , &c. HAving disposed of my Moveables , and furnisht my self with some few Necessaries , which I thought were most convenient for a Pilgrimage . i. e. An Ink-horn , a Pen-knife , a Quire of Paper , Wafers , and a Satchel to carry my little Equipage , and Itinerant Library , which was only a Shirt , two or three Bands , and Handkerchiefs , and a pair of Stockings , an old Horace , and a Virgil , a Terence , and an Erasmus , a Greek Testament , a Greek and Latin Grammar , and a Common-Prayer Book , &c. About Seven a Clock , the tenth of March , in the Year Fifty six , with a heavy Heart , and abundance of Tears and Complaints I left Oxford , steering my Course directly over Magdalen's Bridge , in order ( as I then thought ) to make the best of my Way to Cambridge . I had hardly reach'd Headington-Hill , but I was seiz'd with a deep and profound Melancholy ; the Thoughts of my former Misfortunes , with my present hard Circumstances , fall upon me at once ; and truly the Reflection of what I had already underwent , and the certain Prospect of future Trouble and Misery , together with the peircing Aggravations I was under for the Loss of my University Life , and the opportunity of improving my self in my Studies , the Two only things that hard Fortune had left me , which I thought worth either my owning or regard , put me into such an Agony and Disorder , that I was forc'd to betake me to the shelter of an Hedge , and rest a little before I could recollect my self . Having , though with some difficulty , at length overcome this melancholy Transport , I made up to the Top of the Hill , from whence I took my last View of beloved Oxford , and upon the Stone where the Scholars usually perform the Ceremony of Seasoning their Fresh Men , I sate down again , aad writ the following Verses Farewel dear Oxford ; but since we must part , Here take the sad remainder of my heart , 'T is all thy wretched Son has now to give , A broken heart's his Sole Perogative . Hard fate before had me of Friends depriv'd , And yet me thoughts in you they all reviv'd , You were my Friend , my Mother , nay , my Wife , Whom once , I hop'd , I 'd wedded for my life : Oh , pity me , for could I let you know , With what a strange unwillingness I go , You 'd think 't was hard that fate shou'd Iilt me so . I know not what I am , since our devorce , All my whole frame is Iumbl'd out of course , The World 's a Wilderness , Men are the Beasts of Prey , And seem to me more Rude , and Wilder far than they . I had went on with my Melancholly Rythms a little further , I believe , if I had not discover'd a Traveller pass by me , that from his Garb and Aspect I judg'd , might be in some respects under my own Predicament . In short , I took up my satchel and made all the speed I cou'd in order to recover him , and ( tho' I found he was much a better Footman than I was ) after a hard stretch at the Brow of Shot-over Hill , I came up with him . After we had exchang'd the common Complements of well overtaken and well come Sir , the next thing in course was , whither are you bound , and upon what expedition ? I told him the very truth , that I was an unfortunate Schollar that had met with abundance of Disappointments and Cross Accidents , and for want of longer subsistance , was forc'd to leave the University to try if I could find out some way that might Entitle me to a poor Livelyhood , and that I intended to wander the Countrey till I could be so happy to fix my self in such a condition , and moreover , that I had some Notion of making Cambridge in my way . His Answer was much of the same Nature with mine , and indeed , as he represented his Circumstances , at first sight they look'd very near a-kin , he told me he was a Doctor of Physick , that by a Complication of malitious and adverse fortune , had been unluckily bandied about the World from his Childhood ; and , what was worst of all , he had had the ill fate lately to loose his Horse , and was now upon a hard march to London , to try if he could raise Money among his Friends and Relations , to equip him with another . His Candid Relation , I confess , affected me extreamly , and indeed in a great measure took off the Edge , and abated the Severity of my Reflections upon my own Condition . I began to think that Providence had thrown me into the Company of this unhapyy Stranger , purposely to let me know that there were other Persons in the World as unfortunate as my self ; and truly to see with what chearfulness and fortitude he seem'd to bear up under his pretended Distress , I thought did severely Check and reprimand my present querulity and despondence . I quoted the old Verse to him ; Solamen miseris Socios habuisse doloris . And he replied to me again out of Mr. Chaucer . 'T is vain to Sigh , and make great Moan , For there is help , or there is none . And thus in a mutual Condolement of each others Misfortunes , we trudg'd on till we came to Wheatly , a little Country Town about four Miles from Oxford . Here my new Companion would needs stop and drink , and withal told me that at a Bridge about half a Mile off , the Road divided , and if I held my Resolution for Cambridge , we must consequently separate ; but come , ( says he ) since we are so luckily met , and our Circumstances and Tempers square so naturally , 't is pity methinks we should part so soon , and therefore wee 'll e'en cast lots whether you shall take my way , or I yours . This was no sooner proposed but agreed upon , and the Lot determin'd him to go my way , which he very willingly comply'd with , but first ( says he ) I think it will not be much amiss to let the Town know what Profession I am of , perhaps I may raise three or four Shillings to defray the Travelling Charge . This I must confess did a little surprise me ; I could by no means imagine how a Doctor of Physick could propose the raising three or four Shillings in a strange Place in an hour or two , which was the longest Stay we could pretend to ; but for my better Satisfa-he soon pulls off his Budget , and exposes a mixture of Pills , Powders , and Plaisters , with a bundle of Printed Papers , some of which he immediately delivers to a Runner to be conveniently scatter'd and disper'd about the Town . Here I soon perceiv'd that my Doctor of Physick was nothing else in plain English but a downright Mountebank , and began now to be as uneasie , and disturb'd with his Company , as I was before pleased and rejoic'd in it : However , I thought my self in point of Honour and Promise oblig'd to abide our first Resolution , and so resolv'd to Travel with him a Day or two , till I could find out a handsome Pretence to shake him off . In less than an Hour his Bills had wrought so effectually that the Room where we sate was crowded with Men , Women , and Children , and truly notwithstanding the heavy and pressing Thoughts and Apprehensions that hung upon me , I could not forbear smiling now and then to hear with what profound Nonsence and Impertinence this worthy Doctor entertain'd the Spectators . Sometimes he would cajole 'em with the strange , and almost Blasphemous Relation of the most miraculous Cures and Operations he had perform'd , and the better to incline them to Credit his Report , he shews them several artificial Cancers , Wenns , Stones , &c. At other times he imposes upon 'em the wonders of his Travels , and the foreign names of abundance of Emperours , Kings , and Potentates that he pretended had honoured him with their Letters , and Recommendations ; in short , by his hard words , his Legerdemain Tricks , and impudent Pretences together , he impos'd himself so far upon the Credulity of the foolish People , that there was few went off without buying some of his Paultry Medicines . CAAP. IV. In which he gives a further account of his Travels with the Mountebank , who discovers to him the secrets of their Art ; they straggle into Bedfordshire together , where he Robbs him at an Alehouse , and then leaves him in Pawn for the Reckoning , &c. ABout Twelve a Clock the Doctor makes up his Budget , having disposed of as many of his Pills , &c. ( as he told me ) he had receiv'd twelve Shillings and four-pence for , and so we discharged the Reckoning , and set forward for Tame , which was the Place we had before agreed upon to Lodge at that Night . Upon our March I ask'd him several Questions , but more especially concerning his knowledge in Physick , and Chirurgery , and how , and where he acquir'd it . I found indeed that these kind of Interrogations were something ungrateful at first ; however after a little pausing , and hesitation , he gave me the following short and Comprehensive Account . Young Gentleman , says he , I find you very Inquisitive to know the secrets of my Qualifications , those are Secrets we do not often , and indeed we ought not to discover to any body ; but because you shall see how willing I am to oblige and divert you , I 'll tell you as much of the matter as is convenient , or perhaps you may expect . In short then , I am one of those that the World calls Mountebanks , and truly but a young Practitioner neither , having not been set up for my self above three Months at most ; as for your University Learning I don't pretend to it , nor , to tell you the Truth , much regard it ; Our Business , and our Profit too , depends chiefly upon our vending our Pills , Balsams , Powders , &c. and for that we have a common form ; as to our Chirurgery , and Manual Operations , we have very few but the meaner sort of People to deal with , and those we venture upon right or wrong ; if we happen to Cure 'em , we get Money and Reputation , and dont spare to magnifie our Success , if we kill 'em , we have ways enough to bring our Selves off , and so there is no danger in it at worst . Here I could not forbear interrupting him . Sir , says I , are the Lives of your Fellow-Christians so inconsiderable to you , that you dare venture to trifle 'em away upon every slight occasion ; if I mistake not , this is a sort of deliberate way of committing Murther , and that so inhances and heightens the Sin , that renders it not only without Measure , but almost without Pardon . What strain of wonder and amazement can bear proportion with the desperate Wickedness of Men , that can thus knowingly , and consideringly rush themselves upon such an unaccountable undertaking , and of what a Crimson Colour must that Soul appear before the great Tribunal , that is thus dyed with a continual repetition of Innocent Blood. My Companion was a little startled to hear me reflect so hard upon his Profession , and made several frivolous pretences to acquit himself of the Charge , and indeed , I had some difficulty before I could perswade him to go on with his Relation ; however , after he had walkt himself a little off the Remembrance of what I had said , he proceeds . Sir , I find you are very angry with our Chirurgical Proceedings ; for my own part , I have never had any occasion to make use of them ; but if I had , notwithstanding the Severity of your Allegations , I believe I should be ready enough to venture ; and truly I can see no Reason ( with Submission to your Religious Punctilio's ) why every Man should not make the most of his Practice . I would willingly have reprimanded him here too , if I had not been apprehensive that it would consequently have deterr'd him from finishing his Account , and so I only askt him , that since he had never been concern'd in any Manual Operations , how he came by those Cancers , Wens , &c. which he expos'd at Wheatly . Here he was a little at a stand again : In fine , ( says he ) You have a strong Inclination to know the depth of our Art , for once I 'll gratifie your Curiosity , and tell you the whole . As to this Wen , and Cancered Breast which you saw , I must own they are only Counterfeits , which I borrow'd of one of our Fraternity ; but notwithstanding , they serve the purposes for which they are intended , i. e. To amuse , and impose upon the People , as well as if they were real . These are of considerable use and advantage to us in several Respects , but especially upon the Stage , where we not only expose 'em to the publick View , but sometimes fix them to the Bodies of indigent Persons , which we hire upon such occasions , and then cut them off again with as much Formality , Dexterity , and Caution , as if they were Natural . We draw Teeth after the same Method , and indeed , the generality of the great Cures and Performances which we make such Boasts and Acclamations of , are meer Cheats and Delusions , and for our Medicines , we have them by a sort of Tradition one from another , and in the main , do all use the very same . The gross of our Pills is nothing else but Horse-Aloes , which we sometimes intermix with the Courser sort of Rosin of Jallop , and make up in Liquorice-Powder ; our Balsams are generally made of Hogs-Lard , and Bees Wax , tinctur'd with some sorts of Oyls to give 'em a different Colour ; our Plaisters are the same , with the addition of Burgamy Pitch , or Rosin , to make them draw and stick ; our Powder for the Worms is commonly Powder of Past , and that for the Teeth , Powder of Tobacco-Pipes , and these we make up proportionably into small Parcels , and wrap one of each into a Bill of Directions , and sell for Twelve-pence or Sixpence , according as we find our Markets will best bear . This Relation seem'd so Ingenious and Candid , that I began to have a little better Opinion of my Fellow-Traveller ; I begun to believe that he was some unfortunate Gentleman that was forc'd to take up with this scandalous Profession for want of a Maintenance ; however , I was resolv'd to sound him to the bottom , and therefore desired him to let me know from whence he derived his Knowledge of these occult Mysteries . Indeed he would with all his Heart have evaded an Answer to this , but truly I press'd him so very hard , that at last he told me , he had been several Years a Servant to one of the first Englishmen that Travell'd the Country under the Character of a Mountebank ; and that he had been assistant to him both in his Chamber , and upon the Stage ( as I learnt afterwards he had been his Merry-Andrew ) that he had spoke his Pacquets ( as he Phrased it ) and helpt him to make up his Compositions , and so from the general , and particular Observations he had made , he thought he had gain'd Experience enough to qualify him to set up for himself ; and moreover , he told me he was so well satisfied in his own Perfections , and in the advantages that were consequent to the Employ , that if he were but once able to raise Money to keep some Attendance , and build a Stage or two , he did not question but in a short time he should be able to keep his Coach and Four as well as the best of `em . By this time we were come within half a Mile of Thame , and now the next motion was where to Lodge ; being both strangers , we were resolv'd to strike into the first Substantial Inn we came at , as near as I remember , 't was the Five Bells , where indeed we had very Comfortable Accommodations in all Respects . The next day being Market-day , the Doctor was resolv'd to go out with his Pacquets , and accordingly had a Stool fixt in a convenient place where he could best mount to make his Harangue to the People , but this , notwithstanding 't was a publick day , did not prove so successful as Wheatly , it seems the place ( as he call'd it ) was too young ; his meaning was , there had been one of the same Profession too lately there , and so there was no good to be done . We went from hence to Alesbury , where we staid the Night following , and the next day came to Leighton Buzard , in Bedfordshire , the Doctor still exposing his Pacquets at every Town we stopt at , but with very little success ; this Scurvy Brother that had rang'd the Country before him , had spoil'd all . Well , there was no good to be done at Leighton , neither , and so my Camerade concludes to lay aside his pretensions for the present , and make the best of his way to London , and accordingly told me he would go and send his Satchel with the Carrier , which of a sudden was grown too heavy for him , and then come and drink a parting Cup , and take a Solemn Farewel of me . Having travelled together for three or four days with the greatest Freedom and Familiarity , I could not suspect that he could have any Design to betray me at last , but finding him stay longer than ordinary , I began to be a little Jealous that after all the Doctor had dropt me . To make short of the matter , I got out of Bed where he left me , and from a very small Enquiry , found that he had both pickt my Pocket , and rifled my Satchel , and what was worse , left me in Pawn for the Reckoning too . This I thought was a Miisfortune , at least equal to any of my former . I was wrackt at once with a Thousand dismal terrors , and apprehensions , and that which tormented me most of all , was , how to dis-entangle my self from the Scurvy Ale-house ; sometimes I think upon one Expedient , and sometimes upon another , at last I conclude , Honesty was the best Policy , and the safest way to bring me off , and therefore resolve to declare my Condition to my Landlady , and commit my self intirely to her Charity . CHAP. V. Wherein he gives a short Account of his Rencounter with his Landlady , writes a begging Copy of Verses , and a Letter to a Gentleman in the Town , who gives him Money to pay his Reckoning , and recommends him afterwards to a School , &c. PUrsuant to my former Resolution , after I had put on my Cloaths , with a great deal of trembling and consternation , I call'd for my Landlady , and began to give her a doleful Relation of my Condition : she heard me with some kind of Patience and Pitty at first ; but when I came to that part of it which related to the Reckoning , she grew in a Instant so outragious and violent , that I cannot fancy any thing in Nature so cruel and brutish . The best word I could get from her was Rogue , Thief , Cheat , and Villain , and no punishment less than hanging , or Bridewel , was bad enough for me . I offer'd her all the Equipage and Books my worthy Companion had left me , but all would not do , the Books she said were of no use to her , beside , they were Latine , and might be Popery for what she knew , and so she would not entertain ' em . Nothing would serve but I should be lockt up in my Room till her Husband came home to get a Warrant to carry me before a Justice of Peace ; and indeed there was no Remedy but I must endure this hard Sentence ; however , I had the opportunity of conversing with the Maid in the Interim , that , as good Fortune would have it , was washing in the Yard , directly under the Window , who told me very Compassionately upon the Recital of my Condition , that there was a worthy Gentleman in Town , that in all probability would take Pity of me , and that if I would write a Letter she 'd find a method to get it convey'd to him . This honest Motion I lik'd extreamly , and truly as Cases stood , I thought 't was the best Expedient my unhappy Circumstances would admit of . I must confess indeed that I had a very sharp Conflict with my self before I could so far vanquish my Modesty to settle my Resolutions in that Point , and then too I was as much confounded and disturb'd to think what Method and Terms were most suitable to recommend me , with the greatest Innocence and Advantage ; but this was not long under debate , but the Muse steps in , and offers her Assistance , and indeed I accepted of it , under the notion that the Relation of my Circumstances in a short Copy of Verses might be something out of the Road of Common Begging , and so to work I went , and wrote what follows . From an unhappy Wand'rer in Distress ; Accept , and pardon Sir , this bold Address ; Believe him , 't is a rigid Turn of Fate , Has brought the wretched Pilgrim to your Gate , Oh pity him , for 't is the only time He e're was known to beg Relief in Rhyme . But Peace base Iilt , to urge me on forbear ; Wouldst thou betray me now , in my despair ? Canst thou than this no better way contrive To keep thy poor distressed Friend alive ? No , let him die , for that 's a less offence , Than to incline him thus to Insolence . Besides , already to my Cost I know , That humane Life is so expos'd to Woe , That it can ne'r requite the Pain I 'm at , To forster up the Sickly , peevish brat ; I see , that after all that I can do , Still Grief and Pain , and Secret Ills pursue . But yet methinks before my Iourney 's end , 'T is strange if my hard Fate should not unbend ; Life's but a Lottery , and one good Cast , Makes some amends for all the bad ones past : In spight of Fate there must be some Reserve , Then sure 't is hard in th' interim I should starve . Haste then my Muse to yonder happy place , And humbly there plead thy poor Master's Case . Shew him where he in deep Confusion stands , Hanging his Head , and lifting up his Hands ; Blaming the Cause that brought both him and thee , Thus to transgress the Rules of Modesty . Then for these Rhymes I charge you there be Iust ; Own 't was your fault , for you provok't me First ; And after this — If you perceive no pardon nor relief , Bring the sad news , and to conclude our grief , You to your hill , I 'll to some cave retire , First mourn my rigid State , then Hermit like expire . Upon the back side of the verses I writ this Letter which I thought would be necessary to give a further account of my Condition , &c. SIR , THis Poeta de tristibus , is a Poor unfortunate young Man , that a Conjunction of Cross and Malicious accidents have cast upon your Coast , where for want of subsistance ( like a Person after a Shipwrack ) he 's forc'd to seek relief from the Inhabitants of the place . How he fell into this foolish vein of Rhyming he can give no Account , unless it be that his present extremity ( like one that was wakn'd by the out-cry of fire ) forc'd him to do something for Relief , and the Muse that was always ready enough to be meddling upon other occasions , would needs perswade me now , that this was a little forreign to the ordinary methods of downright Mumping . As for the profound dullness and flatness of my Verse , there 's enough to be said if the thing requir'd it . Poetry and Poverty , tho' they are too commonly convertible terms , yet indeed , they are very Improper Companions . A Poet in distress is seldom known to write good Verses : Ovid himself , that was the greatest Wit of the Age he liv'd in , looseth most of his Natural Temper and Genius in his Banishment ; there 's a strange difference between his nec Jovis ira nec Ignis , the Flights and Raptures of his Metamorphosis , and his Hei mihi quod Domino , in his de tristibus . And Tully too complains passionately of the disturbance of his mind , and charges the roughness of his Stile upon the depression of Spirits he writ under . But Sir , all this is very little to the purpose , I wish it were as easie to excuse the Insolence of this trouble , as it is to plead for a Person that writes bad Verses under my Circumstances ; in this particular I have nothing at all to say , but am forc'd to acknowledge my own guilt , and throw my self intirely upon your mercy . 'T is true , 't is a violent necessity that has urg'd me upon this ungrateful expedient , and that I hope , in Conjunction with your own Charity and Compassion , will interpose a little for this unfortunate stranger , that with all the distance and submission that can be , Subscribes himself , your Obedient Servant , Peregrine . After I had finisht my Letter and the Verses , upon the second reading I thought them so flat and dull , that I had much a do to forbear tearing 'em in Pieces ; however upon the Importunity of the Maid , I Seal'd 'em up , and Subscrib'd 'em , and then deliver'd 'em to her , who according to her promise got 'em instantly Convey'd to the Gentleman . But certainly , never Mortal was in a deeper perplexity for the success of an adventure than I was , but whilst I was sadly Ruminating upon the consequence of what I had done , up comes my Landlady , and with some sort of Jealousy and Concern , told me there was Squire — Footman below wanted to speak with me , and if I pleas'd , I might go down and talk with him , who told me if I was the Person that sent the Letter to his Master , he was order'd to desire me to come to the House as soon as I could . The Boy having deliver'd his message and receiv'd my Answer that I would wait upon him , Immediatly returns ; and now the next thing to be done was to Compound with my Landlady ; who by no means would permit me out of her Doors , without a sufficient Pledge for her reckoning . I offer'd her again all I had , but just the very Cloaths of my back , for security . But all would not do , my Books were but trifles to her , unless I had something of Real value to deposit ; let who would send for me , she 'd keep me till she had her reckoning , which after all this Noise and Combustion was but Poor four and nine pence . To make short of the matter , I was forc'd to go to my Chamber and strip off my shirt , and leave her that , with every thing else that I had , before she 'd suffer me to move ; but just as I was marching out a doors , in comes my Landlord , and supposing I was going quite away , would needs force me back to take his Flagon at parting . We were no sooner come in , but his Wife , with a great many Falshoods and Aggravations , gave him the account of our whole Transactions ; but truly the man was so far from joining with her Barbarity , that when she came to speak of the shirt , I had enough to do to prevent him from falling fowl upon her , however he forc't her immediately to bring me all my things again , and told me he would freely take my word for what was owing , and withal earnestly requested me not to make any Reflections upon his Wife's uncivility and cruelty to me . Having put my shift on again , and committed my satchel to the Custody of the maid , I went directly to the Gentlemans House , who sent for me into his Parlour , where he was playing a Game at Gleek with his Lady and her Mother . He ask'd me several Questions , and indeed I gave him a general Account of my Misfortunes , which I observ'd did very sensibly affect `em all , but more especially the Old Lady . They presently order'd a Servant to shew me into the Pantry , and give me some Victuals , and sent me a bottle of Wine . Whilst I was eating , the good Old Gentlewoman came to me , and with a Tenderness and Respect beyond what I could imagine , told me , with Tears in her Eyes , She Knew my Father Personally , and all his Family ; and was heartily sorry these unhappy Times had reduc'd her to such a low Ebb , that she could not do for me as she would . After all the Expressions of a most Compassionate good Woman , and a great many Sweet and Innocent Apologies for the meanness of the present , she gave me half a Iacobus , and then left me to finish my Dinner . As soon as I had Din'd , I was conducted back to the Parlour , where the Gentleman was Writing me a Letter of Recommendation to a Clergy-man in Northampton-shire , that he had accidentally heard enquiring for a Person to assist him in his School ; the purport of the Letter was , that I was a Young Gentleman of a good Family , that the common calamity had reduc'd to extremity , and if he found me qualify'd for his purpose , he`d engage for my Integrity , &c. With the Letter , he gave me Ten Shillings , and his Lady a Crown , together with a great deal of Friendly , and , I may say , Fatherly Advice , and Admonitions , and what was more , gave me his Word that if ever it should please God to restore the King , he would take particular Care to have him inform'd of the hardships and sufferings of my self and Family . I could not tell what return to make for these Favours , and truly had much ado to contain my self from openly betraying the Weaknesses and Frailties of my Nature ; indeed , I did make a shift to bear up till I had taken my Leave , which I am still jealous of , was not so solemn and decent as it ought to have been upon such an extraordinary Occasion . Being thus refresht and reliev'd , I went back to my Alehouse , and discharg'd my Reckoning , which so softned my Landlady , that nothing now was good enough for me . I soon perceiv'd my Landlord was an honest Cavalier , and after a little further talk and Enquiry , I found withal he had been a Serjeant in the Regiment my Father was Collonel of . When I told him that , I never saw any Person in such a violent Transport , I could hardly force him from returning me my Money , whether I would or not , and beating his Wife for but seeming to refuse it . The poor Man was so strangely affected , that he hardly knew what he said or did , but at length coming to himself , he entertain'd me through the whole Evening , with several remarkable passages of the Wars , and particulars of my Father's Life , which I had never before heard of . CHAP. VI. He Travels towards Northampton , Encounters an Itinerant Parson upon the Road , who instructs him in several of the Secrets and Mysteries of Begging , and then wheedles him to join with him , &c. EArly next Morning I got up , and having made the Maid some small acknowledgments for her Civility , and discharged the House , I set forward towards Northampton ; my Landlord walk'd with me as far as Brickill , where he treated me with the best the Town would afford , and gave me a Token to drink with one of his Acquaintance , that had formerly been a Quarter-Master to my Father , and now kept an Inn upon the Road. 'T was about twelve or one before my Landlord and I parted , so that that Night I went no further then Newport-Pannel . I lay at the George , which was the only House in the Town , where the King's Party frequented , and by vertue of a private Token I had to the Master , I was Conducted into a Room , where a Society of Loyal Gentlemen constantly met two or three times a Week to read the News , and make their Observations and Reflections upon the present Posture of the World. I must confess there was one thing even in this most delectable Company , that render'd it a little ungrateful , I mean their common Custom of hard drinking . This was indeed too much the general Practice of those unhappy times , which I find since very sharply and pathetically reflected upon by one of the greatest Masters that ever adorn`d our English Nation , i. e. the Author of the Whole duty of Man , in his Preface to his Gentleman 's Calling . 'T is ( says he ) sure a far less deplorable Spectacle to see a Gentleman spoil'd of his Fortune by his Conscience than his Luxury , and to behold him under the Stroke of the Headsman , than under those more infamous Executioners , his Lust and Intemperance ; yet I fear if the Martyrology even of those suffering times were duly scann'd , Venus and Bacchus would be found to have had many more Martyrs than God and Loyalty . My Constitution utterly unqualify'd me for a hard Drinker , and so I was forc't to plead Indisposition and Inability , which in consideration of my being a stranger and upon a Journey was allowed of ; I stay'd with 'em till about ten before I went to my Chamber , whither I was attended by the Landlord , who ask'd me several questions in order ( I suppose , as he was directed by the Company ) to discover who I was , but that I thought was useless here , and so I only made him an Answer in the general . Between four and five next Morning I set out , with a resolution to reach Northampton that Night ; and I believe , had been there in good time if I had not been Interrupted by an unlucky accident , which carried me another way , and was the cause of no small trouble and discontent to me afterwards . When I had travelled about eight Miles onwards of my Journey , I overtook a Person upon the Road in the habit of a Clergy-man , and truly , both from his Garb , Behaviour and Dialect , had no grounds to suspect to the contrary . I accosted him with all the distance and regard that I thought was due to his Character ; and indeed , his deportment and Reply was decent and gentile enough , he was bound for Northampton as well as me , he told me , and provided I would not over-walk him , would gladly embrace the benefit of my Company . We walk'd together about two Miles before we stopt , and then we call'd at the Persons House , to whom I had the Token from my honest Landlord at Leighton ; he treated us with a great deal of Civility and Respect , and nothing would serve his turn but we must stay all Night ; whether he took any thing for our Entertainment , I cannot remember , but to the best of my knowledge he did not , and would very willingly have detain'd us for two or three Days longer , and withal , offer'd to lend us Horses to Northampton . By this time my Associate had sufficiently Instructed himself in my Inclinations , and accordingly the more to Ingratiate himself with me , pretends he was one of that unhappy Number , that the Government had malitiously and unjustly depriv'd of his Preferment , for not taking the Covenant ; and , what was worse , that a Conjunction of hard Circumstances had driven him from his Friends and Country , to seek Bread and Liberty among strangers . Here I began to close with him , and gave him a short Account of my Case , which he receiv'd with so much Hypocritical Compassion and Formality , that indeed I thought him one of the most Devout and Pious Persons that I had ever Conversed with , in the whole Course of my Life ; He told me , he was of Hart Hall in Oxford , and gave me such a singular Account of the Manner and Constitution of the University , and the Names and Characters of so many Eminent Persons , that there was not the least ground to suspect him . I must confess , the remembrance of my former Companion often came into my mind , but then , when I came to compare their different Characters and Demeanors , I could not forbear blaming my self for my suspicion . In a few hours we had Contracted a very strict and solemn Friendship , and ( as I thought ) began to deal our minds one to another , with all the Candor and Frankness of true and sincere Friends ; he told me several odd , but Delightful and Pleasant Accidents , that he had been forc'd to Encounter , since he had been reduc'd to the hard State of an Itinerant ; I gave him in return an Account of some of mine , but particularly my late Adventure with the Mountebank : Together with the manner of my Deliverance ; Moreover , I recited the Verses and Letter to him which I writ at Leighton , and gave him a full and particular Relation with what extraordinary Candor they receiv'd 'em , and how kindly the good Gentleman and his Family treated and reliev'd me in all respects . He told me , upon the hearing of the Letter and Verses , Notwithstanding my Misfortunes , I was one of the happiest Men living , and if I would but Actuate that Talent that God had entrusted me with , I need not doubt a subsistance in any part of the Kingdom ; that very Copy of Verses and Letter , says he , if you knew how to apply them rightly , were a sufficient Vade Mecum , to carry you all over England ; but ( says he ) I find you are but a youngster in the secrets of Travelling , and therefore upon our march to Morrow , I 'll give you some General Instructions , by the help of which , you 'll be able to understand your business a little better . To be an exact Master in this kind of Art of Living , I must tell you , requires a great deal , both of Judgment , Discretion and Experience , and when once you 're arriv'd to a tolerable perfection a Person of your Sence and Learning , may make his Passage through the World with abundance of delight and satisfaction . ` T was too late now to descend into particulars , and so we went to our respective Appartments for that Night , with a mutual resolution to be up Early in the Morning in order to Prosecute our Journey , as we accordingly did about seven the next Day . When we came at a convenient distance from the Town , I put him in mind of his promise , i. e. to instruct me in the Secrets and Mysteries of a Travelling Mendicant , which he readily comply`d with , and withal told me , to prevent being mis-understood , it would be necessary to give me a general Idea and Notion of the business . As to the Science and Occupation of begging , ( for that in strictness of sense is the properest Name I can call it by ) `t is in the main , a kind of ars vivendi , a sort of Trade and Profession as well as any of the rest , so that if it be not always nicely conformable to the Rules of Vertue , Justice and Truth , there`s as much if not more to be said for it , than for any other Science or Calling . But Sir , says I , Is it impossible for a Man to be Vertuous and a Mendicant ? We have it from the Mouth of a great Man , that a Man may be Poor or Sick by Mis-fortune , but none can be Vitious or Unjust , but they must be the cause of it themselves ; and truly , I cannot see what tollerable reason can be ascrib'd , Why , an Ingenuous and Faithful Account of our Circumstances , should not be as moving and acceptable as one that is Forg'd and Surreptitious . I grant indeed ( says he ) that the true State of your Condition , provided you had none but Loyal Persons to make your addresses to , were sufficient , But then how would you do , if you should fall into a Country , where there are none of these sort to be found , which you know is not impossible considering the Age we live in ? Beside , if you take up the Trade ( as I said ) quatenus ars vivendi , Why then , I think in point of Prudence , you are oblig'd to make the most of it ; and if there be a little Prevarication upon occasion , I can't perceive where the great sin or harm of it lies ; you know a violent necessity can plead to any thing , even to the breach of the general Rules of Civility and Modesty . But Sir , this is all Forreign to our Case , and if you throw stumbling blocks in my way , you can never expect I should discharge my promise . To go on therefore , if you intend to be a Proficient in the Science of begging ; your first business will be , to consult the Nature and Temper of the Person you are to make your application to , and by what expedient you may best recommend your self to him : our method for this is , commonly to go to some adjacent Ale-house , where for the expence of Six Pence , we may be equipt with the several Characters and Inclinations of all the Gentry and Clergy within four or five Miles round . When you have hit of the Person , the next thing is , to consult whether it be most proper to attend him your self , or send him the nature of your Case in a letter ; if you do the first , you must be sure to fix upon such a time , when you are Morally certain he is not engag'd in business or Company ; if you do the latter , the great difficulty is , to get your Letter handsomly convey'd to him ; my way ( and I think 't is the best ) is to carry it my self and walk about the Hall , &c. Till I have got my Answer . He had went on with his Discourse , if we had not been Interrupted by a third Person , of whom , my Companion enquiring the way to Northampton , we were inform'd that we were come more than Two Miles out of the Road ; and that our way lay directly back again ; which I believe from the Sequel of the Matter , was rather a Design than a Mistake : He ask'd me , If my Occasions at Northampton were so urgent , and particular , that I could not avoid going thither ? If they are , says he , I 'll accompany you with all my Heart ; for my own part , I am not oblig'd to any one place , and shall be willing to dispence with a greater inconveniency than this , for the sake of such good Conversation . I told him my Business was only to carry a Letter of Recommendation to a Loyal Clergy-man in order to request him to accept me as an Assistant in his School , from whence I propos'd some sort of Settlement , till I could be able to guess how it would please God to dispose of the World. If your Resolutions are fix'd to undertake the drudgery of an Usher ( says he ) far be it from me to oppose it ; however , I may tell you as a Friend , 't is but wedding your self to a Life of Slavery , Vexation , and Confinement ; and indeed , were I in your Circumstances , had I your Parts and Youth , and were I Master of so many Qualifications as you are , it should be the last Business in the Kingdom I would take up with . But Sir , ( says I , being alas ! but too easie to be perswaded in that particular ) if I should relinquish my Pretensions , what must be done for a Subsistence ; I have neither Estate , Money , nor Friends , and to be left destitute in such a barbarous Age as this , is a reasonable inducement for me to put my Hand to any thing for an honest Livelyhood , that I am in the least capable of undertaking . I will ( says he ) in no respect interpose in your Affairs ; as for a Subsistence , my Condition in every point is the same with yours , and has been so for divers Years , and yet thanks to my Stars I have never wanted Food and Rayment , and what 's more , have enjoy'd a Freedom and Priviledge which you must not expect under the Capacity of an Usher . Beside I have had the opportunity of seeing several Countries , and making my Observations upon the Men and things , which I must tell you is no inconsiderable advantage to a Man of Parts and Learning . But Sir , supposing all this , I cannot be so vain to believe , that my Parts and Learning ( as you are pleased to intimate ) can any ways entitle me to such extraordinary Priviledges ; neither can I understand , provided I were qualified in all respects as you represent me , how I could be secure of Food and Raiment , and withal enjoy the grateful opportunity of seeing the Country , which I must own seems to me an Advantage as great as any thing else you can morally propose . All that I tell you , saith he , is from my own Experience ; I have already past thro' several happy years in an Itinerant State , and though I had very few of the Perfections you are Master of , to assist me , have made a very comfortable Progress ; but 't is nonsence to multiply Words , and therefore the short of the Case is this , if you think fit to joyn your self with me , you may depend upon a true Friend , and faithful Companion , and then for our Subsistence , I could easily demonstrate to you , that there is not the least Shadow , or Pretence to apprehend the wants or defects of it . CHAP. VII . They straggle together into Leicestershire , try several Adventures in their Passage , the Mendicant writes a Latin Letter to a Lady , and is plentifully rewarded ; they are both seized , and carried before a Magistrate ; the Itinerant is discover'd to be an Impostor , and the Mendicant Honourably Acquitted . WIthout very many second Considerations , I resolv'd upon this new Expedition , i. e. to take a turn about the Country , in Company with this Ingenious and ( as I thought ) honest Itinerant ; about three in the Afternoon we reacht Oundle , where we stay'd all Night ; my Camerade I found was very well known all over the Place , having , as the Woman of the House inform'd me , Preach'd there about half a year before , to the great Satisfaction and applause of the whole Town . To give him his due , he was a Man , as far as can be presum'd , without Learning , a Master of the English Tongue , and truly I was mightily satisfied to see with what Respect and Kindness every body treated him ; we were here Merry and Jocular ; but ( says he ) young Gentleman , you must take this for a general Rule , never to spend of the main Stock , but upon case of Necessity . Come , ( says he ) I have thought of an Adventure , which I am confident will defray the Charge of the Night . About half a Mile out of Town lives an excellent Lady , you shall write out your Verses , and the Letter you repeated yesterday , and I 'll get em convey'd to her , which I am very certain will be a Piece , or at least half a Piece in our way . I had much ado to reconcile my self to this ungratefull Expedient ; however , after a great many intreaties from him , and Reflections upon my self , and withal considering that the thing was not malum in se , I did comply with his Request , and transcrib'd them just in the very words and form as I first writ 'em at Leighton . I 'm sure he had not sent 'em away above an Hour , but comes a Maid Servant with a Letter directed to Mr. Peregine — The Contents were these . Sir , BY your Ingenious Copy of Verses , and Letter , I find you must needs be what you pretend to , an Honest Gentleman in Distress ; Indeed I am truly sorry my present Indisposition will not allow me to see you ; you may depend upon it , it is not want of Respect which your extraordinary Wit and Parts may command from any body . I have sent a Small Token by the bearer , which I hope you 'll do me the favour to accept of , from your humble Servant , W — O The small Token , as the good Lady was pleased to call it , was Thirty Shillings , four or five of which I think we spent that Night , and put the Remainder into a Common Bag ; nothing could be more innocently pleasant and merry than my Companion was through the whole Evening , and truly I was so well satisfied in my new Adventure , that for the present I had utterly forgot all my former Misfortunes . We stay'd here all Sunday , and upon Monday Morning set forward again , resolving to make the best of our way to Bosworth in Leicestershire , where he told me before he went into the South , he left his Horse , and several other Travelling Necessaries . In our way he would be very often discoursing , and commending such a kind of Life , and giving such pleasant Accounts of several diverting Passages he had met with in his Travels , that indeed I was very much affected and rejoic'd in his Conversation . When we had walkt about five Mile , we came to a little Ale-house , and there inquiring as his manner was , what Gentlemen there was near , the Man of the House told him , there was one of the worthiest Men in the whole Country that liv'd within half a Mile ; here he would have had me try'd my Verses again , but that I positively refus'd ; however he would not be denied , but I should write him a Letter , which I did in the following Words , and put his Name to it . Sir , YOu have this from one of the most unhappy Men living , from a poor Clergy-Man , which a harsh and severe Law hath first forc'd out of the Church for refusing the Covenant , and then a Complication of hard Circumstances from his Friends , and Country , to seek Bread and Liberty among Strangers . Sir , The Character you bear , both of a good and great Man , encourages me to believe that you will in some measure commiserate the wretched condition of a most distressed Stranger . Pity and forgive him I beseech you Sir , and accept his Thanks and Prayers , Who shall ever esteem it an Honour and a Happiness to be thought worthy to be admitted into the number of those that are bound to bless you for your Charity and Beneficence . This Letter he carry'd himself , and the Gentleman , as he told me , gave him a Crown ; to the best of my Remembrance we spent two or three Days at this little Ale-house , my Camerade going out every Morning , to fetch in Contribution ( as he called it . ) When we had done there , we set forward again , and the Night following came to a small Market-Town about eight Mile further . Here my Companion discovers a new Adventure , i. e. A Lady that was an excellent Mistress of the Latine Tongue , and very Charitable and Compassionate to all sorts of Strangers , and Travellers , and nothing would serve his turn but I must attack her in a Latine Epistle , which tho' I thought was a very odd Expedient ; yet my former Success , and his Intreaties together , so far prevail'd with me , that I was resolved to try the Event , and so sat down , and with some sort of dis-satisfaction and uneasiness , scribled this hasty Letter . Dignissima Dom. SI quis sit Infaelix hujus Epistolae Portitor quaeras , Peregrinus sum ; si sortem quae huc me adduxit , aversae fortunae Ictus et malitia est . In puerilibus annis bonis literis Educatus , & tandem ad Oxonium missus , ubi per tres faelices annos incubui , at interim amicis perditis & defunctis a Collegio ( hei mihi ) haud invitus discessi . Appropinquans igitur hanc tuaem Ignotam Patriam , humiliter imploro benignitatem , ut aliquid ad sustinendum fragile meum Corpus accipiam . Miserere Iuvenis Magnae spei , Iampridem nunc perituri , sic Divina Clementia tui misereatur in hoc Mundo & in futuro . Peregrinus . In Answer to this , next Morning I receiv'd a gentile Note with ten Shillings , with several neat and pretty Apologies for the smallness of the Present . By the help of these kind of Letters , Letters of Request , Petitions , and other Mendicant Conveniencies my Companion was well furnish'd with , we wander'd the Country for about a Month before we reacht Bosworth , which was the Place my Associate had pitcht upon to continue at for three or four days , in order to Equip us with Necessaries fit for a Summer's Expedition . 'T was about eight a Clock , I believe , before we came to our Quarters ; and truly I think we had not been there above half an Hour , but in comes a Constable with a strong Party of Assistance , and seized us both ; it seems they had discover'd my Itinerant Friend to be a a rank Impostor , and , what was worse , that by an ungrateful piece of Knavery , had cheated an honest Gentleman in Warwickshire out of the Horse he had left here till his Return from his Southern Peregrination . To make short of the Story , we were both immediately carried before Sir B. D. a worthy Justice of the Peace , that liv'd in the Neighbourhood ; my Camerade was called first to his Examination , and tho he made his Defence with the greatest assurance and readiness , yet the Charge against him was so heavy and plain , and confirm'd by so many corroborating Circumstances , that there was no possibility either to stifle , or evade it . They prov'd several very black things upon him , but especially that his Orders , Testimonials , &c. were all forg'd , and Counterfeited , and that he had left his Wife at Falmouth , and had straggled the Country with another Woman , which he either was , or at least pretended to be Married to ; upon the whole , although the Justice was a Gentleman of an extraordinary Temper and Compassion , and would very willingly have Saved him , the Crimes against him were so exaltedly hainous , and Scandalous , and so evidently and clearly proved beside , that he was constrained to order his Clerk to make his Mittimus for Leicester Goal . My turn came next , and truly he was not more ready to plead for , and excuse his Villany , than I was at a loss to defend my Innocence . The good Gentleman perceiving me in such a strange Agony and Disorder , kindly told me , I need not be so mightily terrified , I was not charg'd with any of his Crimes , but only with being in his Company , which so far incourag'd me , that in a sort of perplext manner , I gave a general account of our meeting , and of all our Travels and Transactions , with which the Justice , and all the Company were so well satisfied , that with a great deal of Pity and Advice , I was instantly discharged . CHAP. VIII . The Mendicant returns into Northampton shire , delivers his Letter he had from the Gentleman at Leighton to the Clergy-man , by whom he 's re●eiv'd as an Vsher , he is ordain'd a Deacon ; the Clergy-Man's Sister falls in Love with him , to avoid which he forsakes his Place , and returns to his former Profession of a Mendicant . BEing divided from my Companion by this unlucky Accident , I was in a deep Quandary whether I should carry on my new Profession upon my own bottom , or return into Northampton-shire , and deliver my Letter , which by great accident I had preserv'd ; my former Success , and Encouragement , together with my rambling Itch and Inclination to see the Countrey , had certainly carried the Cause , if the Fate of my late Associate had not happily interpos'd , the Prospect of which was still so dismal and frightful to me , that at length , tho not without some Reluctancy , I conclude upon the latter ; but just as I was packing , up comes a Messenger from the Justice of Peace , with advice , That I must instantly come and speak with him . This put me under fresh Apprehensions ; and notwithstanding I was sensible I had done nothing that could any ways expose me to the Law , yet for all that I was sufficiently terrify`d to think what should be the consequence of this Second Interview ; however , I found there was no Remedy , but I must put it to the venture , and so that I might be out of my pain , as soon as possible , I went up to the house . When I came there , I found the Gentleman and his Lady walking in his Court , who immediately beckened me to come to him . Young Man , says he , I was very sorry to find you in such bad Company , but I hope it will be a caution to you for the future , how you embark your self with Strangers : Says the good Lady , You have had a very happy deliverance , for 't is a thousand to one , if you had continu'd your Rambles with him , but he 'd have drawn you into some Inconveniency that probably might have been the cause of your Destruction . They order'd me to follow 'em into their Garden , and commanded me to sit down with 'em in a Summer-house , and to give 'em a particular Narrative of my Travels and Circumstances ; which I did in as comprehensive a manner as I could ; and withall , repeated to 'em my Verses , Letters , &c. with all the rest of my Transactions since my first departure from Oxford . They were both extreamly pleas'd and affected with my Relation , and the Gentleman gave me ten Shillings to help to bear my Charges into Northamptonshire , and ordered One of his Servants to go Two or Three Miles with me ; to set me in the ready Road ; and moreover , enjoyn'd me to send him a Letter , with an account of my Success , &c. as I did about a month after . The fourth day at night I came to the End of my Journey , and deliver'd my Letter , according to direction ; and indeed , was receiv'd with a Civility and Respect beyond what I could reasonably imagine ; they told me my good Friends at Leighton had sent two other Letters in my behalf , and were under very great Apprehensions and Trouble to find out what was become of me all this while . I pretended something ( I can't tell what ) which pass'd well enough for an excuse ; and so the next thing was ( after some short Examination ) upon what Terms I would consent to live with him ? which I referr'd to himself , and he very candidly offer'd me Twenty Pounds per Annum , Meat , Drink , Washing , and Lodging , and the conveniency of his Books and Study , as often as I had occasion . With this I thankfully comply'd ; and the next Morning he conducted me into his School , where was about Thirty Gentlemens Sons ; the greatest part of which were boarded in his own Family . And now I began to think my self as happy as I could wish ; having , beside the opportunity of a fixt and setled Life , the advantage of a pretty good Library , and the Conversation of a Learned Ingenious Man , that upon all occasions would be ready to give me his Advice and Instructions : We liv'd together like two Brothers ; our Tempers , Inclinations , and Principles squaring so exactly , that in the space of Twenty Months , I don't remember the least jangle or discontent . About half a Year afterwards there came the Worthy Bishop of — to a Nobleman's that liv`d in the Nighbourhood , and nothing would serve my Friend , but I should Embrace the Opportunity , and be Ordain`d a Deacon . This Motion at first I was unwilling to condescend to , suspecting ( as I had good Reason ) my own Insufficiency , and Want of Age and Leaaning . We had several Debates before he could prevail with me to lay my hand to the Plow ; but having convinc`d me from the Canon , which , as he quoted to me , did only oblige me , reddere rationem fidei in Latina Lingua ; and having clear'd up all my other Doubts and Suspicions , by the help of the Character he had given of me , and a Title and Testimonial he had procur'd , upon St. Thomas day following , which happened to fall that Year upon a Sunday , I was Ordain`d . My Lord Examin`d me himself , and withal , told me , I came to him so well recommended , that he should ask me but few Questions . The most material , to the best of my remembrance , were concerning the Three distinct Offices of our Saviour , with some other short matters relating to the Constitution of the Church of England , and Kingly Government . Some time after my Ordination , my Worthy Patron would needs Engage me to Preach in the Parish-Church ; which , after several Intreaties , I was forc`d to comply with . It would look like Vanity in me to tell you with what general Applause I acquitted my self ; I had the Thanks and Caresses of every body for my Sermon ; but from none with so much endearing Sweetness and Friendship as from the Sister of my Friend . And here my Cruel Step-mother , Fortune , begins again to try her Experiments upon me : From this very Instant this poor young Gentlewoman espouses a particular Tenderness and Esteem for me ; which she so long unhappily forsters and cherishes in her breast , that at length by degrees it swell`d into a violent and passionate Love. I should wrong her Memory , and the Judgment of all that knew her , if I should not give her the Character she both enjoy'd and Merited ; i. e. of a Vertuous , Sober and Discreet , and withal , a Beautiful Woman , barring her last mistake in bestowing her Affection upon such an unhappy Wretch as my self . She made a thousand pretty and innocent discoveries of her Passion ; and truly I saw it well enough , though I thought it Prudence not to let her know it ; every body in the house ( especially her Brother ) perceiv'd it as well as my self ; and indeed it grew so violent and rapid at last , that she had enough to do to contain her self within the ordinary bounds and measures of her Sex. I knew not what to do in this difficult conjuncture , and indeed was much more concern'd for the unhappy Gentlewoman than for my self . Marriage I was resolv'd against , being sufficiently convinc'd that neither my Circumstances , nor my Temper would in any respect agree with such a state of Life . Upon one hand lay a large heap of Obligations and Favours I had receiv'd from her Brother ; on the other a compendious chain of her own endearing Kindnesses and Civilities ; and which way to steer a safe course between these two dangerous Rocks , I could not determine ; First , I thought if I should stay here till her Brother or some Friend should move the thing , and then reject it , they could esteem it no less than the height of Baseness and Ingratitude , and resent it as an affront , not to be pardon'd : And , Secondly , I thought if I went off privately , without taking my leave , 't would bring such an Odium upon me , that I should never be able to wipe it out , the remainder of my Life . Well , I found there was no Remedy , but I must instantly resolve upon one of these Expedients ; and truly as cases stood , I thought the latter was the most proper ; and accordingly having furnisht my old Satchel ( which I had still lying by me , as a Reli●● of my former Adventures ) with all sorts of traveling Necessaries . Upon the next Holiday in the Morning , to avoid Suspicion , I set forward upon a new Peregrination ; and at a Village about Four Miles off , I writ this Note , which I got convey'd to 'em by a Messenger , &c. SIR , MY sudden departure I know must necessarily surprise you ; 't is an impetuous gust of hard fortune that will have it so ; the rest I leave to your own Conceptions . Let this commend me earnestly to your worthy Family , to whom I wish all the happiness and blessing of both Worlds . Accept my Thanks and Prayers for your friendly Charity and Compassion to an unhappy Stranger ; whom , by a long Chain of faithful Kindnesses , you have inseparably bound to acknowledge himself for ever . Your most Obliged Usher . PEREGRINE . Here the Muse would needs offer me her help in my Melancholy ; and as I walk'd along , dictated to me this short Ode . Oh Life ! thou' rt nothing but a sound , A weak built Isthmus , that a while does rise Between two vast Eternities ; And then sinks down , and canst no more be found . Alas ! alas ! in vain , With all our Care and Pain We seek the tott'ring Fabrick to maintain . Our utmost Acts are Nonsence all ; 'T is Nonsence all that we can do ; Through Paths unknown vast trains of ills pursue : And Man , the Wretch must undergo 'em all . 'T was a sad Truth spoke by the wisest King , That better is the day of Death , Than that black day that gives us Breath . Since nought below can any Comfort bring . 'T is hard , methinks 't is hard That Man alone should be debarr'd , Even from that ease the Toyls of Brutes reward . But still 't is Nonsence to complain , 'T is better sit and bite the Chain . We must drudge through the Vale , and tamely go Through the strange dismal Weilds and Labirinths of Woe . CHAP. IX . The Mendicant wanders into Buckinghamshire , is entertained by a Worthy old Gentleman for his Curate ; he preaches a singular Sermon upon Humility , the chief heads of which he sets down at large . WHen I had dispatch'd away the Messenger with the Note , and satisfy'd him to his content for the trouble he would be at , I thought it was best , for fear they should endeavour to recover me , to take a by-way cross the Country . I don't know how far I wander'd the first day , neither did I think it proper to ask Questions ; however , I found my self at night upon the edge of Buckinghamshire ; where , at a poor Alehouse in a small Country Village , I took up my Station . Whilst I was sadly reflecting upon the Family I had left , and entertaining my self with the dismal Accounts of my own repeated Misfortunes , in comes a Gentleman to enquire for Lodging , that came , as he pretended , directly from London ; amongst other things I ask'd him the News . News says he Sir ! why , good News for all honest Gentlemen , and especially for those of your Coat ; General Monk is upon a full march with his Army from Scotland , and the People begin to talk publickly of the Restoration of the King. This News pleas'd and diverted me , notwithstanding the piercing Agonies I was under . The Gentleman's Conversation in general was exceeding pleasant and jocular ; we eat and drank together , and indeed were forc'd to lie together too , the House affording no more than one Bed , and that but a scurvy one neither ; however , there was no Remedy , but we must take up with that , or the Hay Mow ; which , as it hapned afterwards , had been the better choice of the two ; to make short of the matter , my Bedfellow prov'd a notorious Highwayman ; and the very day before had committed several Robberies in the Road between Dunstable and Wooborn ; and what was worse , about four a Clock in the Morning came a Constable with a hue and Cry , and seized us both in our Beds . My Companion indeed would willingly have clear'd me by alledging I was an absolute Stranger to him , but Mr. Constable would not Credit him , and so the next Morning we were both carried before a Magistrate , he was committed to Alesbury Goal , and I was remanded back to the Alehouse , under a strong Guard , with Orders to be secur'd for three or four days , till the Persons that were Robbed had view'd me , to try if any of them could give any Evidence against me ; but nothing appearing , and my Innocence growing every day more manifest , I was at last set at liberty . Being now deliver'd from this strange Dilemma , which , notwithstanding , had exhausted all my Stock ; Moneyless , Friendless , and Disconsolate I wander from one place to another , till it began to draw towards Sun-set , and what to do for a little Food , and a Lodging , I could not imagine ; Lying in the Field was a dismal Apprehension , and to venture into an Inn , without Money to pay my Reckoning , was as bad ; but while I was thus ruminating upon my doleful Condition , I observ`d a Shepherd following his Flock not far from me , to whom I made up , in order to enquire where I was , and what Gentleman liv'd near . The good Old Man perceiving by my Looks and Gesture , I was a Person in distress , told me I was in the Vale of Alesbury , and that there were several Gentlemen in the Neighbourhood , but they were all Oliverians , and Common-wealths Men , and good for little the only Gentleman ( says he ) that I know in this part of the Country , is Mr. H. of Abbots Aston , a little Town about a Mile off , and he too has been so often plunder'd and harrass'd since the War , and has a great Family beside , that I 'm afraid things are not so well with him as they have been ; however ; I dare say , ( a Stranger , and a Gentleman as you seem to be ) if you think fit to call upon him , won't want Lodging , and Entertainment for a Night , &c. I thanked the honest Shepherd for his kind Instruction , and withal , resolv'd to take his Advice , and indeed found every thing beyond his Representation . The worthy old Gentleman , upon the very first Recital of my Condition , with a decent Gentleman-like Freedom invited me in , and truly I was entertain'd by himself , and his Family , with so much Friendly Civility , that I had hardly met with the like in the whole course of my Travels . The next Morning , when I came to take my Leave , he gave me Half-a-Crown , and a Letter to a Neighbouring Clergy-man , whom , he told me , if he was not very lately supplied , wanted an honest young Man for a Curate , and in all outward appearance , I seemd to be a Person fit for his turn . One of his Sons did me the Favour to accompany me to the Gentleman's House , who , after a short Examination of my Orders , and other Credentials , was pleased to accept of me . We came to no fixt Agreement , further than that I was to have ten Shillings a Sunday , and stay with him till something happened that might be more to my Advantage . The next Sunday I was obliged to Preach at one of his Churches ▪ and as 't is common in the case of a Stranger , I had a very large and considerable Auditory ; the Substance of my discourse was upon Humility , which my Patron , that was present himself , was so well pleased , and affected with , that he engaged me to write it out , and give him the Copy , the Substance of which you have in the following Abstract . Matth. 11.29 . And learn of me , for I am meek and lowly in Heart . THe Life of the blessed Jesus , as it was altogether a Compendious President of the most Holy and Divine Behaviour , so in nothing more eminent and Exemplary than for his Humility and Complaisance ; he saw doubtless what a stubborn insolent World he should leave behind , and therefore both by his Doctrines , and inimitable Example of his Life , endeavours to leave this God-like Principle deeply Stamp'd , and imprest upon the Minds of Men. Indeed there 's no body that contemplates that miraculous Life with that profound Veneration and Regard , which the nature of the thing deserves , but will soon find it answering the present Character , and withal , that it is the most Innocent and Endearing Original for us , that pretend to be his Disciples , to Copy , and be directed by . Learn of me , for I am meek , and lowly in Heart . Beside this Introduction , after I had made a short Exposition of the Sence , and Coherence of the Text , I divided my Discourse into these three general Considerations . 1 st . I undertook to give a brief Representation of the Nature and Effects of Humility , both with respect to God and our selves . 2 dly . To give a Character of Pride , and the dangerous and mischievous Consequences of it . 3 dly . I propos'd the Life and behaviour of our Blessed Saviour , as the most convincing Argument to perswade us to Charity and Humility . First , For the Nature of Humility , I represented it to consist chiefly in the Reflections upon our selves , in considering our own meanness , and demerit , and putting a modest and Religious Value upon our Persons and Deserts , and being constantly more ready to give others the Honour , and Esteem , than to be affected with the Praises , and Commendation of our selves . Secondly , I briefly demonstrated Humility to be a Noble and Generous Principle , and though it was directly opposite to all Pride , and haughtiness of Disposition , yet was in no respect inconsistent with the Beauties and Ornaments of our Religion , i. e. Christian Courage and Fortitude . Indeed I cannot in any respect conceive , that to be the Nature of true Humility , which consists in a baseness , and lowness of Spirit , but rather an Indication of Cowardice , and Abjectness , by which Men are hurried into the violent transports of Joy or Sorrow , by the happy or adverse Success of every little trifling Accident , or Concern . None had so humble a Spirit as our Blessed Lord himself , and yet none a greater Mind , and a more absolute Resolution ; and truly 't is the grossest Mistake , to conclude a Man of a bold and Heroick Temper , because he 's Proud and Insolent , or of a poor and degenerate Spirit , because he 's humble and Complaisant . This is a common Mistake , 't is true , but still 't is a Mistake , and can proceed from nothing else but from our not understanding a right the true Nature and Effects of Humility . For had we the right Notion of Humility , we should soon perceive the Inestimable happiness of the humble Man ; we should observe him open and free , Serene and Calm , and not to be affected or discompos'd with such mean and low things as the proud Man is , he 's always retired into the sweetness of himself , wears a Soul above the reach of Flattery , or Contempt , and hath a more absolute Dominion and Sway over his Passions and Infirmities , than to suffer himself to be grated or disturb'd by any of ' em . Then for the Effects of Humility , I endeavour'd to prove that the first great Effect of it was , that it puts us in Mind of the common Corruptions , and frailty of our Nature , and consequently urges us to reflect upon that vast distance and disproportion , that is between Almighty God and our Selves , the Consideration of which only can qualifie us to worship him with that Reverence and Prostration of Soul , as becomes the Greatness and Majesty of Heaven ▪ A second effect of Humility that I mentioned , was , that it gives us a quick and strong Sence of the Mercies of God , and discovers to us the several degrees of his Bounty , and Compassion . An humble Man takes notice of every Blessing and Advantage , and then reflects upon God as their Immediate , and direct Author , and the grand Fountain and Original from whence they all Flow. Such a Man believes every Mercy too large for his desert , and with the Holy Psalmist , upon all occasions , is ready to say , What am I ? and what is my House , O Lord , that thou hast brought hitherto ? Still giving every Blessing its just and proper Estimate , by comparing it with his own demerit , and contemplating his own base Original . Thirdly , I observ'd , that Humility teaches , nay , enables Men to undergo the several Troubles and Calamities , that they are liable to be encounter'd with in their passage through Humane Life . The humble Person considers , and is satisfied that God is bound by no obligations to alter and discompose the whole Scheme of his Providence for his Sake , neither doth he expect that every thing in this troublesome and uncertain Vale should fall out just according to his own design ; such a Man rather thinks the Miscarriages of his Affairs to be the Product of his own Negligence , or Imprudence , and upon no account will be seduc'd to charge God foolishly ; besides , he looks upon his Afflictions to be Tokens of Reconcilement between himself and his Maker , and rather blesses and praises , than murmurs and complains against the Hand that Chastiseth him . Fourthly , I argued that Humility composed the Soul and Mind to a pious and universal Resignation , to be satisfied , and acquiesce , whether it be at the upper or lower end of the World , and diretced us to the shadow of the Divine Wings in all our Calamities , and what 's more , proposes to us too , a Serenity and Composedness , not to be shaken or disturb'd by any of the changes , or charges of this Mortal Life . It must be low and humble Thoughts doubtless , that can guide the Minds of Men in making this happy Election , for so long as they look upon themselves with false Opticks , they can never arrive to this God-like disposition , nor never will till they have unbent their Minds , dis-robed them of all their Arrogance , and torn of that ugly Vizor their Pride hath put upon them . Thus far I urg'd the Nature , and effects of Humility , with regard to our more solemn behaviour to Almighty God ; the next thing I proposed was , how requisite it was , with respect to our common Dealings and Conversations in the World. First , I offer'd it as a grand means to restrain us from attempting things above our reach or station , than which nothing can render a Man more absurd , and ridiculous , and this I enforc'd with the Pathetick Instance the Holy Psalmist gives of his Humility . Lord my Heart is not haughty , nor my Eyes lofty , neither do I exercise my self in great matters , nor in things that are too high for me . There 's nothing renders a Man more the Scorn and Laughter of the World , than to see him pretending to the Knowledge and Performance of things that are above his Sphere , which Humility kindly prevents , by composing his Mind to his Condition , and by giving him an honest and just Sence of his own abilities and perfections . Secondly , I briefly shewed that Humility guides us in our receiving Praise and Applause ; it stamps upon our Minds that moderation and gentleness in the bearing of it , that at once intitles us to the Character both of good and wise Men ; and instead of being mounted , and lifted up above our selves by it , Humility directs us to look back , and consider who , and what we are . Humility teacheth us a decent and sweet Behaviour to all Ranks and Degrees . First , It guides the meaner sort how to pay a due regard to their Superiours , and withal directs the Superiour too how he ought to behave himself to his Fellow-Christian ; briefly , it keeps Men from the vain desire of Singularity , it restrains 'em from crowding themselves upon the publick , rebates their furious thoughts of Precedency , makes them modest and cautious how they censure the Actions and Dealings of others , nay , what 's beyond all this , humility does naturally endow us with a quiet Conscience , and a contented Mind , the two best Blessings that humane Nature is capable of . This was the substance of my Discourse upon the first General Proposion , i. e. the Nature , and Effects of Humility , both with respect to God and our Selves . The second thing I propos'd was to give a short Character of Pride , and the mischievous Consequences of it . And first , I endeavour'd to represent Pride as a most Impious , and audacious Vice , a Vice that was branded in divers places of Scripture , as most detestable to God , and most loathsom and obnoxious to Men , and was particularly signaliz'd to be so by the several Punishments it hath been rewarded with . 'T was Pride that turn'd Lucifer out of Heaven , and Nebuchadnezzar out of his Throne , nay , out of all humane Society to boot , and indeed , it seems to have still a great deal of the same Effect , nothing rendring a Man so inconsiderable , hateful , and contemnable , for it sets him ( in his own Imagination at least ) above both his Betters and his Equals , and consequently renders him Intollerable to his Inferiours , and so to compleat the Parallel , seldom leaves him till it has turned him a Grazing , reduc'd him to some kind of Extremity , and by that means to know himself . This Vice is so well known to be an Enemy , and to have a malicious Influence upon the common Conversation of the World , that we find the Wiser part of it very cautious and vigilant how they admit a proud Person into their Society , there being , beside the constant noise and impertinence , a perpetual hazard of wrangling , and quarrels , if not of Murther and Tumults depending upon it . Beside this , in the second place I represented Pride as the Grand Abbettor of most of our Civil , and Ecclesiastical Feuds , and Divisions ; it is indeed a most prolifie Vice , there being few Sins , to which in some respects it is not either a Parent , or a Nurse , but more especially to our Religious Debates and Contentions . If we trace the Heresies and Schisms from Simon Magus , his days , down to our own , we shall find Pride still a principal Actor in every Scene , though perhaps in a different Shape and Dress . There hath been nothing , though never so Sacred , but upon this account hath been prostituted , and mis-used ; when Diotrephes seeks Preheminence , the Dictates of an Apostle must be rejected , nay even the Divinity of our Saviour , God blessed for ever , must be trampled upon when Arius wants a Footstool to climb up to his affected Greatness . In a word , if we could examine the Occurrences of all Ages , we shall find that the Pride of some , animated and supported by the Malice and Revenge of others , hath been the black Original , of all the Wars and Blood that has been shed for these many Years . I urg'd several other things , as a further Representation of the mischievous Consequence of Pride , but those for brevity sake I shall omit here . The last thing I proposed was the Life and behaviour of our Blessed Saviour as the most convincing Argument to perswade us to Charity and Humility . First , I represented his whole Life as one continued Scene of Innocence , Humility , and Holy Actions ; I shew'd from his own words how solemnly he protested against , and disdain'd the Honour and Applause of the World. I seek not my own Glory , saith he , I receive not my Honour from Men , my Doctrine is not mine , but his that sent me ; My Father dwelleth in me , and he doth the Works . He did not do any of his miraculous Actions with any kind of Pomp or Noise , but with an humble Calmness , and Complacency , agreeable to the Prophecy ; no Acclamations could alter , or subvert the composure of his Mind ; the greatest of his Triumphs we ever read of , was that of his riding to Ierusalem , and then too instead of praising and magnifying himself , he only bid them tell the Daughter of Zion , That her King came to her Meek , and sitting upon an Ass , and a Colt the Foal of an Ass , as is Recorded by the Evangelist Mat. 21.5 . He was no less eminent in bearing Affronts , Revilings , and Persecutions . In the great Article of all , his Crucifixion , he was so far from shewing any manner of Passion or Bitterness , even against those that had falsly betrayed and condemned him , that instead of Aggravating their Guilt , he Compassionately intreats his Father to forgive `em , representing it rather as a Sin of their haste and Ignorance , than Revenge ▪ In these , and many other Instances I propos'd the Example of our Saviour's Life and Doctrine , as the most convincing Arguments to Charity and Humility , and then to conclude , I urg'd that the most natural way to express a true Veneration and Esteem for any Person , was to come as near as possible to his Likeness and Similitude . Our utmost Love , without this , looks like Dissimulation and Pretence ; 't is doubtless therefore the highest Concern of any one that pretends to be his Disciple , and to have a Value , and Regard for him , to transcribe his Godlike Copy , to imitate him as far as we can in the several Vertues of his Life , and to observe all his Holy and Divine Precepts , of which this is one of the foremost ; Learn of me , for I am meek , and lowly in Heart . CHAP. X. Vpon the Restoration of King Charles he leaves his Curacy , and goes to London , makes several insuccessful Attempts to get Preferment , and afterwards in a deep discontent , and Melancholly , leaves the Town , with a Resolution to return into the Country , in quest of New Adventures . UPon the delivery of the Copy of my Sermon , the worthy Gentleman made me a very handsom Present , and withal , was pleased ( much beyond my Desert ) to commend the happiness of my Expressions ; the manliness of my Stile , and the contexture of my Discourse , and moreover directed me in my Methods of Study , and gave me a Catalogue of the Books that were most proper to be read to improve my Judgment , and ground me in the true Principles of the Doctrine of the Church of England . In this happy State I pass'd off Divers comfortable Months till the Kings Restoration , and then I thought , considering my Father had first spent his Estate , and afterwards Sacrific`d his Life in the Service of the Crown , upon the Representation of my condition , I could not fail of getting some sort of Preferment . When I came to London , I found Multitudes in my own Circumstances , abundance of worthy Gentlemen that had wasted their whole Fortunes in the Kings cause , and were now watching about Court for some kind of business , that might Entitle them to a subsistance in their declining Years . For my own part , I try'd all the methods that the Nature of my Case would bear , but all to no purpose ; the King was advis'd it seems , to Encourage and Caress his Enemies , and to depend upon the generosity of his Friends , which , as some about him told him , was a high Argument of Policy and Wisdom ; whether it was or not , I think may be easily discern'd from the future success of things ; but that 's Forreign to my purpose . I stay'd in Town , expecting the moving of the Waters , seven or eight months at least , and in the interim had contracted an Acquaintance with several Gentlemen that came thither upon the same Errand ; with one especially , who , above all the rest , I perceiv'd to be a person of extraordinary Parts and Disposition ; with him I often met , and condol'd the Misfortune of Loyal Men , and could hardly refrain , ( among our selves ) from making some Reflections upon our hard Usage . This Gentleman ( as he told me ) had spent Eight Hundred Pound per Annum , in the Wars ; and what was worse , had a Wife and several Children in the Country , that must unavoidably fall into publick Extremity , if the King did not do something for him . It would grieve and surprize a man , to hear him give a Relation of his Sufferings ; and indeed it was a very Melancholly and Astonishing Prospect , to see so many brave Men in a Neglected Starving Condition , whilst those that had been the Grand Instruments of the Rebellion , nay , in some measure , that had been actually engag'd in the Murder of the King , advanc'd to considerable Places of Trust and Profit . In short , I continued in this wretched State of Dependance , till I had eat up all my Books , and worn out my Cloaths ; and after all , perceiving there was no good to be done at this ungrateful , mercenary Court , I pack'd up the poor Remains of my Equipage , and resolv'd once more to commit my self to the blind guidance of my hard Step-mother Fortune ; and in the morning , just before my departure , in a deep and profound Melancholy , I writ the following Eight Verses , and left 'em seal'd up for my Friend . Fly from this Scurvy Town , all Courts despise , And ne'r torment thy Soul with thoughts to rise . Ne'r thenk thy Merits can Preferment get : First be a Knave , and then thou may'st be great . Vertue has no Prerogative at Court , It only serves 'em there for scorn or sport . The Fools and Villains rise , the Loyal fall , And the same rigid fate seems to attend us all . CHAP. XI . The Mendicant leaves London , wanders into Dorsetshire , takes upon him the Habit of a Shepherd , and gives an Account of several other Adventures that befel him . HAving waited six tedious Months in a fruitless Dependance upon an Ungrateful Court , I saw at last 't was in vain to expect Preferment among 'em ; Interest and Flattery , I perceiv'd , carry'd all before 'em , and so I resolve to steer back into the Country , to endeavour to find out some poor Employment that might entitle me to Bread and Liberty . I set forward from London the 20th of March , and the first Night wander'd as far as Vxbridge , about fifteen Miles from London , without any considerable Adventure . I spent the Evening in a melancholy contemplation upon the variety of Accidents and Calamities incident to human Life ; and truly , upon the whole , was ready enough to conclude that Death was much preferable to it , unless it was upon the grand Account , as it is a State of Trial and Probation , for Immortality and Happiness . And indeed I cannot conceive ( excepting the assurance of the Immortality of our Souls ) what it is that can support Men , and encourage 'em with so much Patience aud chearfulness , to undergo the several Turns and Revolutions of unconstant Fortune , to submit so tamely to be bandyed , like Tennis-Balls , to and fro , upon the Racquets of every cross and malicious Accident , from Pain to Pleasure , from Fullness to Want , from Honour to Infamy , and so back again , till the Game is play'd out , and then to return into Eternal Silence and Insensibility . With such kind of Reflections I spent the Night , and the next Morning early I set forward again , bending my course still Westward , resolving not to make any Attempts for a Settlement , till I had remov'd my self a considerable distance from London . The sixth day , at night , upon enquiry , I found my self in Dorsetshire ; and , what was worse , was unhappily straggled so far upon the Hills , that 't was impossible for me to recover a Town to lodg at , before 't was dark ; and so I was forced to betake my self to the shelter of one of the little Hats the Shepherds had thrown up in the fields , to defend 'em from the Rain and Heat . This unlucky Accident mightily terrified and discontented me ; however , I found there was no Remedy , but I must endure it ; therefore laying my Satchel under my head , for my Pillow , and putting my self in the best posture I could contrive , to defend me from the cold , I laid me down upon one of the Seats , which was only Stones and Earth , covered with a Turf , and endeavour'd to compose my self to rest . I know not how it came to pass , whether it was my Weariness or Discontent or both together , but betwixt 'em they threw me into a deep sleep , which lasted till break of day the next morning , and truly I was extreamly rejoyc't I had past off a doleful night with so much ease and safety . The Lark was upon the Wing , singing her welcome to the morning , before I turn'd out of the Earthen Habitation ; and what was more , and indeed what I have often thought upon with the highest and most profound Thankfulness and Admiration , notwithstanding the Night was very cold , and the Wind blew exactly into the mouth of the Cabin , I did not find my self in the least afflicted or disorder'd afterwards . In my passage over the Downs , I met several Shepherds trudging chearfully to their Folds ; and indeed their Looks and Gestures methought bespoke so much honest Satisfaction , and true Content , that I could not forbear wishing my self in the same Condition . The more I reflected upon their harmless and inoffensive manner of Living , the more still it seem'd to please and delight me , till at last I grew so much affected , that I resolve to use my utmost Endeavours to qualifie my self to undertake the Occupation of a Shepherd . To fit my self for this odd Adventure , I perceiv'd there was Three Things to be done in course : First , To provide me with a suitable Habit. Secondly , To instruct my self in the methods of ordering the Sheep , and setting the Folds . And Thirdly , To find out some sober , prudent person for a Master , that had the Reputation of a Man of Honesty and Sence , and a good Governour of his Family . As to the first , I went directly to Dorchester , and bought a coarse Frock , and other Accoutrements , as near as I could remember , answerable to those I observ'd the day before with the Shepherds ; but then I was at a great Loss to contrive how to dispose of my Satchel , aud the Cloaths I pull'd off ; which , after a great many thoughts and resolutions , I was forc'd , after all , to commit to the protection of an hollow Tree . Next to this , my business was to find out a means to get some general Instructious how to remove the Fold , and manage the Sheep ; and truly , here I found there was no Remedy , but I must e'en apply my self to some honest Shepherd . I took several turns upon the Downs , before I could meet with a Swain , whose Face and Deportment spoke him fit for my purpose . At last , having pitch'd upon One , whose Answers , &c. shew'd him to have a little more Generosity and Understanding than is common among such sort of Illiterate People , I gave him a short Account of my condition , to this effect , Viz. That I was a poor Vnfortunate Young Man , out of all manner of Business ; that my Stock began to waste apace ; that I had a Particular Desire to fall into the Employ of a Shepherd , and should be glad , for a Beginning , to accept of a Place , tho never so inconsiderable , that would but defend me from Publick Extremity . The good man at the very first sight seem'd mightily affected with my hard Circumstances , and withal told me , 't was almost impossible for a Lusty Young Man to want an Employment at that time of the Year ; and , moreover , asked me , if I understood the business of a Shepherd ? Says he , There are several other things necessary to make a man a compleat Shepherd , beside following the Sheep , and shifting the Fold , which I don't question your Judgment in . But then the great Inconveniency of all , is , your being an absolute stranger ; so that unless you can give a very good Account of your self , you 'll find it a difficult matter to prevail with any body to take you into their house . I could not very well tell what to say to the honest Shepherd's Objection ; at last I told him , I was sensible my being a stranger would consequently be very prejudicial to me ; But then I told him too , That I did not question , if I could be once so happy to get a Place , but by my Diligence and Integrity , in a little time to recommend my self beyond exception . As for my own part , says the Shepherd , I am fully satisfied ; you have the Looks and Behaviour of an Honest Man ; and you may depend upon 't , I 'll do my best to get you some business ; and therefore if you 'll come to morrow , and tend my Sheep , I 'll go to some of the Neighbouring Towns , and try what can be done . I told him the only business I was desirous of at present , was a Shepherd's Place , and if he could assist me in that particular , I should endeavour , by some means or other , to make him amends . His Answer was very pertinent , and unexpected , That without any dependance of amends , &c. he had always a pity for poor men in distress , especially for those that seem'd to be honest , as I did . If you deceive me , says he , 't is your fault , you have a good Look ; but if there be a Woolf within , who can help it ? However , I 'll expect you to morrow ; and in the mean time , I shall be sure to have you in my remembrance . CHAP. XII . The Mendicant is Entertain'd by a Shepherd , as his Servant : He gives a Diverting Relation of the Circumstances of his Admission , and the manner of his Instructions , &c. ACcording to our Appointment , I was with the Shepherd early next morning , who I found busy in changing his Fold , and disposing every thing in order , that I might have nothing to do , but Just to follow the Sheep , and keep `em from intermixing with other Flocks . He left me his Dog , his Scrip and his Crook , with Orders to lead 'em to a particular place , upon an adjacent Plain , where ( as he express'd it ) he us'd to drive 'em to Lare about Noon . The Friendly Shepherd had no sooner left me , but several of the Swains that belong'd to the Downs , came about me , being very inquisitive to know who I was , and from whence I came , as 't is their common custom , when a Stranger comes among ' em . They ask'd me several questions , which indeed I was sufficiently puzl'd to get over ; however , with a great deal of difficulty , I did blunder through most of 'em , being still very cautious how I directed my Answers , apprehending , that if I should mistake their Dialect , or use any Terms that did not square with their Rustick way of expressing themselves , I should perhaps offer 'em some occasion of Suspicion , which might consequently ruin my future design . In short , we had soon done with our Questions and Ceremonies , and in a little time began to grow as familiar , and well acquainted as possible . My business was to learn as many of their Calls and Whistles to their Sheep , and as much of their Language as the time and opportunity would permit ; and truly , in three or four hours ( as I found afterwards ) I had gather'd up several of their most usual Expressions . About Four the Old Shepherd returns , and found me by the Flock leaning upon his Crook , a posture which I had observed very common among ' em . Well , honest Friend ( says he ) I see you are very diligent , and truly I han't been altogether idle neither . I 'll tell you what I have done , and if you approve of it , and think good of my Proposals , why then the business is over . He told me he had undertaken for Twenty Shillings a month to tend Squire F — 's Sheep till Michaelmas , and that he would give me Two Shillings per Week , Meat and Lodging , and I should look after one of the Flocks , till I could find out a place that would be more advantageous to me . I was much affected with the Generous Offer of the honest Old Man , and told him , I should never trouble my self to seek after any other place , but did Joyfully accept of his Proposals , and should do my best to discharge my business , and be always ready to signify how much I was oblig'd to him for his Just and Fair Offer . Without more to do , it was agreed that I should go home with him , and stay there till Monday , when he was to take the Squire 's Flock into his custody . I need not tell you how exactly all these Circumstances fell out to my Wish . In these three or four days Interval , I had opportunity to Equip my self with Instructions requisite to carry on my design ; which would have been almost impossible for me without . About Seven we put the Sheep into the Fold ; and so , with as much satisfaction as the Nature of my Case would bear , I trudg'd Joyfully home with my honest Master . When we came home , the good woman was at first a little surpriz'd , to see her Husband bring in a Stranger ; but that was soon over , by his telling her the Substance of our Agreement . Upon which she bid me wellcome ; and the next thing in course was the Supper ; which , I think was put upon the Table in less than half an hour after we came into the House ; 't was a good cleanly Dish of Bacon and Carrots ; which I eat of with as good a gust , and as much content as if I had been at the greatest Entertainment . VVhile we were at Supper , in comes the Son , and a Boy that drove the Plow , that it seems had been in the Field a sowing Barley , a little later than ordinary : At the Table his Father gave him an Account of our Proceedings . The young man seem'd at first to make some Objections against 'em , but his Father soon over-rul'd ; and so every thing was adjusted beyond Expectation . After Supper , the young man takes down a Book , as 't was customary , and read divers pages in it : I have forgot the Title of it now ; but I remember it was one that was writ by a Presbyterian Preacher , for the use of Country Families ; and contain'd Little in it beside Enthusiasm and Nonsence . This was the most ungrateful Scene in the whole Adventure : However , I did not think it proper for me , as Cases stood , to make any Remarks ; and yet , when I observ'd how zealously the Fellow read , and how intent his Father and Mother were to him , I had much a-do to contain my self . The next thing was , whether I could read or no ? Yes , I told 'em , I could . The Old Man would not be satisfied till he had heard me ; and so I took a Bible that lay upon a Shelf , at the End of the Table , and read Two Chapters in the Lamentations of Ieremiah , but withal , was forc'd to change my Voice , and alter my Pronunciation , that I might come a little near to their Country Tone . I 'll warrant you , says the Old Man , you can write and cast Accompt too : I told him I could do a little of both . Samuel , says he to his Son , Peregrine will assist you : when I first cast my Eye upon him on the Downs , I durst have swore , by his Behaviour , he was well bred : Come , Wife , says he , I think we should not make a Bargain with dry Lips ; give us a Jug of the best Beer . I can't recollect every particular Occurrence that past , but this I remember , that we had two or three large Jugs of very strong well-brew'd Ale , that both the Mother and her Son spoke very pleasantly and freely to me , and told me , tho I was a Stranger , they lik'd me so well , that they would be helpful to me in any thing that lay in their power . About Nine we went to bed ; but I should have told you , in the first place , That the Old Man Liv'd in his own Estate , which was about Twenty Pounds per Annum : And that the Sheep he looked after , were all his own ; and that he approv'd a Shepherd's Life beyond any other ; and therefore made it his choice to tend his Flock himself , being indeed a little lame ; and so not so well qualified to undertake any Laborious Business . As to my bed , I must confess , there were several things , with respect to that , that I had much ado to undergo , but particularly , the ungrateful Smells of my Bed-fellows Body and Feet . The young man , the Son , with whom I lay , tho he was as Cleanly a Fellow as most in the Country , yet his hard Labour occasion'd him to sweat , and consequently to smell rank and nauseous ; however , in a weeks time all things grew customary , and I slept as naturally as if I had been bred up among ' em . In the morning , between Four and Five , the Old Man constantly rises , and calls up the Family ; puts some Victuals in his S●rip , and some Drink in his Bottle , and so to his Fold . I went along with him , observing all his Motions very narrowly , that I might get what Instructions I could against Monday ; and truly , barring their Sheering and Taging , and some such kind of business , I found my self as well qualified as the best Shepherd of 'em all . Upon Munday the Old Man committed his own Flock to my charge , being betixt two and three Hundred ; and truly I was extreamly vigilant to govern 'em directly according to his Method and Prescription . In a little time I grew acquainted with several of the Shepherds , and indeed had soon made my self an Exact Master of the whole Profession . The business grew very easy and delightful to me too , and the manner of Life was so inoffensive in it self , that I began to think it one of the most quiet and comfortable States that ever I was in . The next thing now ( being so throughly fixt ) was to recover my books , and to dispose of 'em , so that there might be no discovery . I found I had abundance of time upon my hands , which I could hardly pass away without their help ; and therefore I resolv'd , by some means or other , to fetch 'em out of the Custody of the hollow Tree , to some place nearer to me . In order to which I thought it most proper to tell my Dame , that I had some Linnen ▪ and other Necessaries , that lay upon the Road till I call'd for 'em , and that ( with my Master's Permission ) I would go in a day or two , and fetch 'em : but then I wanted a box to lock 'em up in , which she procur'd for me , and so the next day I fetch'd home my Satchel , and convey'd my books privately into the box . Every thing being thus dispos'd of , and settled , my next business was to think upon a Method how I might pass away the spare hours I had upon the Downs , with the most advantage . I foresaw if I suffer'd the Shepherds to come to a close Familiarity , their Conversation would soon grow burthensom ; and therefore thought it proper to carry my self with a little more Sowrness than usual , that I might by no means give 'em encouragement . I found that the toylsome part of a Shepherd's business , did not commonly take up above two hours of the day , and that all the rest I had nothing to do but to walk about after the Sheep , the only inconvenience that I perceiv'd in a Shepherd's Life : However , to fence against this as well as I could , I apply'd my self to my Books , and my Meditations , till at length I had drawn all my Affairs into such a regular posture , that I must needs say , I was never in a more perfect and compleat state of quiet and satisfaction in the whole course of my Life . The Old Shepherd was a very sober discreet man , and an excellent Governour of his Family ; and indeed both his Wife and his Son , extreamly good natur'd and inoffensive : The only Objection I had against 'em , was , that the mischievous times had spic'd'em with Phanaticism and Commonwealth Principles ; but those too in a little time I convinc'd 'em of , and withal perswaded 'em against the Presbyterian's book the Son us'd to read in before bed-time , and introduc'd , in the room of it , the King's Meditations in his Confinement : At last , I had wrought upon 'em so far by gentle Arguments and Admonitions ( which , with submission , I presume will appear the most regular and successful way to reform an Error of any sort ) that they admitted of the Common Prayer-book , and particularly they gave me leave to read the Litany , as I did constantly every night during my stay among `em . CHAP. XIII . The Mendicant entertains himself with some short Reflections upon his present Condition , and writes a Letter of Advice to his Brother in London . NOtwithstanding I had fixt my self in my Shepherds State , with as much ease and advantage as `twas possible for me to imagine , yet still I could not resign my self so effectually , but now and then some melancholy Reflections would break in upon me . Indeed I did my utmost to fence against `em , but for all that I could not so intirely vanquish the Defects of human Nature ; but I must often be sadly ruminating upon my former and present condition . The utter Ruine and Destruction of my Family was a very heavy and piercing Consideration : and what was worse , I could not apprehend the least Prospect of a Possibility to retrieve it ; and then again , the hard Circumstances , and severe Usage I had been encounter`d with , since my cruel Step-mother Fortune first drove me into the wide World to shift for my self , were very sharp and grievous Aggravations ; to find my self destitute of all manner of Friends and Relations , slighted and rejected by those that had promised me , and indeed , were in point of Honour , Justice and Gratitude , oblig`d to assist me ; to find my self sunk to the Lowest Ebb of Life , the mean condition of a Shepherd ; and what was the most tormenting consideration of all , in a great measure depriv`d of the advantages of Books , Study and Conversation ; were such embittering , cruel Reflections , that I was very often , I must own , unable to bear up under `em . As to my Shepherd`s State , `twas truly the best that could be , of that kind ; and indeed the melancholy Opportunities suited so well with my Inclinations , and the fixt aversion I had taken against the World , together , that they had almost perswaded me to resolve to make my way thro` the Briers and Thorns of human life in the same capacity . But to go on with my Account : After I had fixt my self in all respects , according to my former Relation , I thought now it was high time to write to London , to deliver my Friends from those doubts and apprehensions which I knew my private departure must necessarily occasion . We had every day Carriers travelling over the Downs for London : So that I had conveniency enough by that means to send my Letters with as much privacy as I pleas`d . The first I sent was to my Brother , that by the assistance of some Friends , was plac`d with an Attorney of Staples-Inn in Holborn ; and was in effect as follows . The Mendicant's Letter of Advice to his Brother . My Dear Alexander , I know my hasty and private departure from London , must necessarily occasion the Apprehension of some , and the Surprise of most of my Acquaintance . As for thy own part , I am very sensible thou hast been particularly affected ; but by this thou wilt see I am among the Living however ; and I tell thee that , in a far better capacity of ease and satisfaction , than that scurvy Town thou art doom'd to inhabit , can pretend to : Where I am , or what I 'm about , is no great matter to thee , only this thou mayst depend upon , I am doing nothing that 's unjust : I 'm in pursuit of a quiet Life , where I may breath with freedom , and get a little Food and Rayment , which is all I want or wish , without being expos'd to the Perplexities and Hurries , the Scramblings , Cheats and Undermining of a base , mercenary World ; and this thou may`st tell my Friends , if I have any that think me worth their Enquiry : and now I`m writing , I conjure thee not to take it ill , if from the truest Dictates of Brotherly Friendship , I send thee a few hasty Admonitions ; I 'm confident , if they do thee no good , they can do thee no harm ; and so at worst thou must look upon 'em as a well intended Impertinence . First then , I caution thee as a Brother and a Friend , not to disquiet and torment thy self about the success o`things ; do but thy duty , and let God dispose of thy Affairs as he thinks fit ; if thou disturbs thy self never so much , thou canst never remedy their course ; but , like a wild Beast in a Net , the more thou strugglest and flouncest , the more still thou entanglest thy self , and at last , perhaps wilt hamper thy self so effectually , that thou art never to be extricated afterwards . Thou art of a good Family , `t is true ; but then don`t let the Notion of that make thee haughty , or ill-natur'd ; `t is thy Vertue and Modesty that will give the Richest Tincture to thy Blood , and will stamp a Character upon thy Name , large as thy Wish , and lasting as the World. Let the Honour of our Family be a Memento to thee against all Vicious Actions , and be constantly in thy View , to deter thee from any thing that 's either base or mercenary , or can give the least stain to the Reputation of our Worthy Ancestors . I have already read thee several Lectures upon the Vices and Follies of the Town , which I hope thou hast not yet forgot ; and I must tell thee again , that `twill require thy utmost caution and defence to guard thy self against ' em . There thou wilt be expos'd to all degrees of Villany and Vice , to Cheats and Prostitutes , to Knaves , Bullies and Sharpers , in almost all conditions and capacities . Thou wilt find ( my Dear Alexander ) in that Lewd Town , whither thy unhappy circumstances have drawn thee , little else but Herds of Wild Beasts and Monsters ; so that if thou should'st ever be so unlucky to neglect thy grand Defence , I mean thy Vertue , they will be sure to attack thee upon the first discovery , in thy unguarded part ; and then 't is the greatest odds but they wound thee mortally . As to the Law , the business that thou art confin'd to march through thy Life in , 't is in it self a very honest and reputable Profession ; but then 't is so strangely corrupted , by cunning Wiles and Tricks , by Covetousness , Bribery , Extortion , and sinister Ends , that there 's but little of its Native Design to be discovered . I know thou will 't Pardon thy Brther , if he should by chance say any thing to thee , that did not so exactly suite thy temper and Inclination , and under that Notion I will Venture to caution thee of one thing , which indeed I cannot mention without Dissatisfaction ; don't let the furious desire of getting money distort thee from thy proper frame , or urge thee upon any unjust or Irregular Practice ; and take this along with thee too , that one penny well got , will do thee more good in the end than a Million otherways . I must commend indeed thy generous resolution to attempt the recovery of the Ancient seat of our Family , but yet I would not have it purchas'd at the dear Price of fraud or avarice ; I have observ'd thee with the deepest discontent in my Judgment , too fierce and eager in the persuit of Advantage ; but don't let the dangerous distemper grow too far upon thee , least at length it get the Mastership , and so make thee a Wretch in both Worlds . As to thy Religion , I 'm sure thou 'rt well Principl'd , I have heard thee give a very Handsome account of the Articles of Faith , and Doctrines of thy Church , and let those be thy guides to conduct thee through all the Labyrinths and turns of thy Life . For Loyalty , `twas a Principle our Father Liv'd and dy'd in , it cost him both his Estate and his Life , t' was the cause of the Destruction of his Family , and has driven thee and I Naked and defenceless into an ungratfuell World , but what then ? He did no more then his Duty and what the Laws of God and Nature requir'd ; he fell a Martyr to a Glorious Cause , and left a lasting Character of his fidelity to his Prince behind him , which I hope both you and I shall do our best to preserve to our selves , and then awfully deliver the sacred depositum to be Religiously handed down to his Posterity . For thy conversation I have often caution'd thee to have a special regar'd to that ; our Companions are a sort of Looking-Glasses to us , by which we Dress our selves and shape our Actions and behaviour ; so that if the Mirror be false the Garb and equipage will consequently be wrong put on : and then be they never so Rich and costly we make but an aukward tawdry Figure . Beware of contracting a sudden Familiarity with Strangers , or plunging your self at a Venture into mixt Societies . A few Acquaintance and a few books , Provided they are both true , are enough ; and if they are not they are too many , you 'll find the forming a proper conversation to be one of the highest Indications of a prudent Person , and if you mistake in that you 'll find too t' will be a difficult matter , for you , to manage your self in London . Your Education and Diversion will require a great deal of your Circumspection ; the one should be neither formal nor pedantick , nor the other lewd or Extravagant ; but they should be both Genteel and usefull , and adapted intirely to the comfort and quiet , or the advantage of human Life . Well , Alexander , I will not trouble thee any more now , but reserve the rest of my admonitions till another opportunity ; as for my own part , I am accidentually fall'n into a bye Corner of the World , where , if some spiteful Accident does not remove me , I intend to fix my non Vltra . Greatness I despise and abhor , next the Falshoods and flatteries of the Court ; the Town I abominate too , and truly am heartily sorry thy hard fate has confin'd thee to it . Bread and Liberty I have , and the plentifull opportunity of wholesome Air , and Innocent Company . I want nothing but a little Library and one Learned Friend upon whom I could depend for advice and assistance : and were these ensur'd to me for Life , I 'd freely quit all future pretentions . Let all my Friends know I send 'em my Prayers , and Love ; take a double Portion of 'em to thy self , and believe me to be in all Capacities , thy affectionate Friend and Brother . Peregrine . CHAP. XIV . The Mendicant Writes a Letter to his Friend in London ; wherein he makes Passionate reflections vpon the Town and Court , and gives a further account of a Shepherds Life . Dear Capt. My sudden departure from London , I perceive has been the Subject of no small reflection amongst my Friends ; but why they should be so much Surpriz'd and concern'd at it , I can't Imagine . Indeed I 'm as much at a stand , what it can be that can influence them to undergo , so long , the Din's and Impertinencies , the Dangers and Disappointments , and the contagious stinks and Smoaks of a fulsome beastly Town . I know the pretence is preferment from Court , but why they should be so blinded to exspect any thing from thence , I profess is a greater Mistery to me , than either of the former . A Person with half an Eye may easily see which way the game is like to go , Knavery and Hypocrisy are the two only thriveing qualifications at Court , and poor passive Loyaltie is doom'd to rags and contempt , or to subsist upon its own Primitive excellence . Alas ! my Friend , Vertue has utterly lost her Perogative , and unless she will condescend so low to sneak and cringe to the Knave , and the Fool , she may Perish at Court ; and who but a Coward or a Natural can stand by with Patience , and see her starving to Death ? I potest I stay'd shivering upon the Brink of the Waters as long as I was able , and there I might have stay'd till Doom's Day before any Body would have push'd me in , unless a deceitful look , or a false promise would have done it . But thanks to providence , I am remov'd out of the Verge of your ungrateful Court , and the Noise and filth of your Town . Where I am , or in what Post , is nothing to the purpose , I Live and enjoy bread and Retirement , and what I Value equal to 'em both , I am remov'd not only out of the reach , but even from the pain of exspecting any manner of greatness or preferment . 'T is true I ought to have taken my leave of you and some other Friends , but Indeed my Distemper was grown so Hectick , I could not stay to do it . Sir , you 're the only Man that know the true State of my condition , and therefore I think I must depend upon you to get me excused . Since my absence , I have composed a few short Essays , upon the Calamities of Human Life , which I intend to trouble you with , as soon as I have time to Write 'em out ; in the mean time by Vertue of our Old true Friendship , let me advise you to remove your self from Court , with the first opportunity : it 's a Dangerous Place ; and if you Venture to stay long there , it 's ten to one but you 'll have cause to repent it when `t is too late ; in my next , you may exspect a more Particular account , from your true Friend and Fellow sufferer . Peregrine May 25. 1662. To return to my Former Narrative ▪ I kept my Shepherds post about five Months , in which time I had so effectually learnt the whole Mystery , that , as the General report of me went , I was one of the best shepherds upon the Down ; My honest Master was extreamly obliging and courteous to me , and so indeed was his Wife and his Son ; nay , the whole Village , by Vertue of the Old Mans Character , behav'd themselves to me , with a respect and distance , as I thought , much beyond what they did to other Shepherds . But still my unlucky Fate pursues me ; my Industry among the Shepherds , in teaching of 'em to read , and Reprimanding 'em as often as I found 'em in any manner of Vice , or Irregularity , had not only gain'd me a sort of respect among themselves , but likewlse urg'd 'em , much beyond my desert , to spread my Character all about the Neighbourhood . Squire F — it seems had heard of me among the rest , and nothing would serve his turn , but I must needs come to him . The Innocent Old Man my Master was apprehensive ; at first it was only to hire me for his Shepherd , and so made abundance of excuses and objections against it , but all to no purpose . Within a day comes the Bayliff with Positive orders that he and his Man Peregrine must come next Sunday , to the Hall , to Dinner . In the Interim I discover'd , by one of the Shepherds , that the common Censures and Conjectures concerning me run very high ; some were of Opinion that I was a Jesuit in Masquerade , and come down into the Country for a Spy ; others that I was some discontented Person , or a Person that some Crosses or disappointments had driven out of my own Country , and that I had taken upon me the business of a Shepherd , the better to keep my self conceal'd . The Squire and his Family were of Opinion that I was a Gentleman , in disguise , and had taken up a Shepherd's habit , purely to Gratifie a Curiosity , or a humour , which was strongly confirm'd to them by the report the Shepherds made , that I was often observ'd to desire to be by my self , where I might Write , read , and Meditate with the lesser Disturbance ; which I suppose was the cause that made 'em so earnest to see me , that they might attempt to learn who I was , and upon what account I came into Dorset-shire . All this the Old Shepherd at last knew well enough , and yet never once Mention'd it to me , nor suffer'd his son or his Wife to take the least Notice . In short , I found this was no abiding place for me ; if I Stay'd here I foresaw it would be Impossible for me to escape , being discover'd , which I was resolv'd to prevent at all Hazards : But then the next consideration was how I should bring it about , and at the same time acquit my self Handsomely and fairly , to the honest Shepherd and his Family . In order to which I could think of no better expedient , than to pretend some accidental business at Dorchester , which would require me to be there for a Day at least . The Old Man readily comply'd with my request in this Particular , and withal offer'd me one of his Horses , to carry me thither ; which I rejected ; However he told me his Son should tend my Sheep in my absence . Having thus far settl'd the manner of my Departure ▪ the next thing was how to convey away my Satchell , Books &c. Which was no other way to be effected , but by waiting an opportunity when all the Family was gone abroad ; and then taking `em out , and putting them in a secret place at a convenient distance from the House . This hapned to my Wish , and upon Fryday Morning I set out , and when I had recover`d my Satchell , instead of Dorchester I directed my course for Shaftsbury . I need not tell you what a Contest I had in my mind upon the resignation of my Shepherds Profession . The Friendly Entertainment I had receiv`d from the good Old Man and his Family , pierc`d me to the Soul , insomuch that I was sometimes almost resolv`d , to return and Venture a discovery ; and I believe I had done it too , if it had not been upon the account of some Relations I had in the County , to whom Notwithstanding their unkindness ( indeed I might say unjustice ) I was loth to give occasion of scandal or reflection . CHAP. XV. The Mendicant having left the Shepherd goes to Shaftsbury , from whence he Writes several Letters , one to his Master , the Shepherd , another to Squire F — and a third to Capt — to whom he sends some short Essays upon the Calamities of Human Life , which he Writ upon the Downs &c. About twelve a Clock I reach'd Shaftsbury , which as I was Inform'd was Nine Miles from my former Habitation . To prevent discoveries I had disrob'd my self of my Shepherds habit , and put on that I came from London in , but 't was so rumpl'd and disorder'd by being Cram'd up so long together in my Satchel , that I look'd so very ruff and Particular , that I was both affraid and asham'd to go into the Town with it ; however I got into a little Ale House , as far out of all observation as I could , and after I had refresh'd my self , Pursuant to my resolution upon my walk , I Writ the following Letters . The Mendicants Letter to his Master . Good Master . THis comes to Inform you I have quitted your Service , but not out of any dislike to you or your Family . I must own you have us'd me with the highest Frendship and Civility , the remembrance of which I shall preserve with the greatest Solemnity through every Capacity . I need not tell you the cause that forc'd me to leave you privately ; you 're sensible of that already , but why your Neighbours should grow so very Inquisitive to know what I am , which is a secret that at present I don't think convenient to discover , that I can't conceive ; but for their better Satisfaction you may tell 'em , I am no Iesuite in Masquerade , nor a Person that has run his Country for Debt ; but an Unfortunate young Man , that a great many unhappy accidents , & several cross turns of Fortune have driven into this part of the Kingdom . I may Live to see you again ; but if I never should , I hope you won't forget the Instructions , your poor Servant Peregine left you ; I mean , those in Particular relating to your Religion and the Government of your Family . As to the Rubrick of the Church of England , I have so well Instructed my Bedfellow in it , that I hope t' will be needless now to put him in mind of our Method , i. e. To read the Psalms and Chapters for the day , every Night , with the Litany , and some other proper Collects which I have mark'd , in your common Prayer-Book : you will excuse me I presume that I did not formally take my leave of you , and attribute the reason of it to some secret cause ; pray all possible thanks and service to my good Dame and her Son , and in return for all your kindness and Civility , accept the Prayers and acknowledgments of Your faithful Servant , Peregrine . Shaftsbury Aug. 27. 62. The Letter to Squire F — SIR IT seems the Character of an unfortunate Shepherd has spred it self as far as your Family ; poor Peregrine is become the common talk of the Country ; some Censure him , others Judg and condem him , and every Body mistakes him , so that to be out of the general clamour , he 's constrain'd to withdraw himself from the service of a most honest worthy Master . Who and what he is , is the Grand Query . Some will have him a Jesuite ; some a Cheat , others an humorist , when in short he 's nothing else but the neglected off-spring of deceas'd Cavalier , whom a conjunction of cross Circumstances , have bandyed hither in the quest of bread , &c. I know , Sir , my private departure will inflame the reports , and perhaps may occasion some reflections upon my Master ; That indeed I would prevent at any Hazard , and rather than he shall suffer the least Injury , Notwithstanding my solemn resolutions to the contrary , will discover my self to your Worship . Sir , I beseech you to Pardon this Insolent trouble from an unfortunate Stranger that with the utmost distance and Submission , Subscribes Shaftsbury Aug. 27. 62. Peregrine The Letter to Capt. M — with a short Essay upon the Calamities of Human Life . Dear Capt. I Promis'd you some short Essays upon the Calamities of Human Life , which I have here enclos'd . I know upon the first sight you will be apt to conclude that I have stretcht the point a little too far ; Experience is our best Mistress in such Cases , and I dare be bold , if the Generality of Men consider their Birth simply as an entrance into Humane Life , and their Death as an exit out of it , they 'll find in the main , without the enforcement of Philosophy , that the assertion of the Wise King is a great truth , that the Day of our Death is upon many accounts much preferable to the Day of our Birth . I have some other Melancholy observations which I intend to trouble you with , but those I 'll reserve till my next . Accept of these lame and defective as they are , and allow their unworthy Author some low place amongst the Catalogue of your Friends , who shall ever esteem it his happiness to be thought fit to be , Your Affectionate , Peregrine . Shaftsbury August 27. 62. ESSAY I. Vpon the General Calamities of Human Life . IN all Accounts of Wise Men , we find every thing esteem'd more or less , according as it most Imports to their Interest or Happiness ; and so far Humane Life , considering it simply , Quatenus Humane Life , only , is either good or ill in proportion to the advances it makes towards a State of Wretchedness or Felicity . To take a proper Estimate therefore of Humane Life , it will be necessary to examine whether there be not in the general , more Loss than Gain , more Pain then Pleasure , and more Evil than Good , attending upon it ; which I suppose will be easy to Demonstrate , according to the common Rules of proving any thing of that kind . Look but into the Original of Nature , and you 'll find her very Being and Constitution Engrafted with so many Solid and Substantial Ills , and has so many Seeds of Mortality scattered all over her , that at the very first sight , if you don't look with false Opticks , you must needs perceive her condition to be far too wretched to be reliev'd , by the most Powerful Advantages of this Life . I know this will seem a very odd Paradox to those , that perhaps have neither sence nor Grace to reflect in earnest upon the Circumstances of Human Life , but for all that , they 'll find it at last a sad truth , and be forc'd to conclude with Valerius Maximus , that the Thracians were a very Wise People , in establishing a Custom to celebrate the Birth of Men with Mourning , and their Death with Joy ; which they did without any manner of Instructions or advice , but as it were from the very Motions and dictates of Nature , or from the common observations of the troubles and Calamities of it . The Original depravation of Nature is an Invincible Argument against the felicity of Humane Life ; from thence spring up such an Infinit multitude of pains , sorrows , Disappointments , deseases &c. That from wofull experiences make it too plain that Life with all the additions that this World can offer , is at the very best but a Wretched disconsolate comfortless thing : for let us consider how many there are that are opprest with Slavery , or pine'd with want , worn out with sickness , and consum'd with Vexation , wrack'd and alarmed with fears and dismal apprehensions , and stung with the Guilt and remorses of Conscience , I make no doubt but we shall find the Latter much out-ballance the former ; that the Evils of Humane Life , do in the main Surmount the Goods , and then 't is a plain case that if we take it in the sence , I am now discoursing of it in , that Death is much perferable to it . Alas ! what have we here that can engage us to be fond of Life with any reasonable pretence ; our pleasure , our profit , our health and our Liberty , are all Dependent and precarious ; we are at best but Tenants at Will to 'em , and by any rough turn of fate , or at least upon the first disobliging of our Landlord , may be forc'd out of third Possession in a Moment . Happyness and contentment we all pretend to search after , we toyle and tug for 'em , and pursue 'em through abundance of Dangerous Wilds and Labyrinths , but after all , but few , I 'm affraid , none of us overtake 'em in earnest . 'T is true , 't is in our own power to make our selves happy , but then our Natures are so Stubborn and restive , so deprav'd , aukward and defective , that they never cease Jilting us into some sort of Vice or Vanity : Man 's born to Trouble , to Pain , Danger , Diseases and Folly too ; all , or some of which constantly twist themselves about his Life , like the Treacherous Ivy round the Oak , till they have suck'd up , and exhausted all his Felicity , and then , after a great many Pangs and struggles , forc't him to wither away and die . He comes into the World screching and strugling , and goes out of it again Groaning , and Gnashing his Teeth ; his Youth is nothing else but a mixture of Danger and folly , and his Age a Composition of pains , diseases , troubles , sorrows , disappointments , and altogether ; and his Manhood too stands between 'em like a Parenthesis of Woe , and can by no means be Instated in any tolerable condition of Indolence or ease . He 's born to sin and Vanitie , and indeed expos'd to so many Hazards between his Cradle and his Crutches , that his preservation amidst 'em , to a reasonable Man , seems almost as miraculous as his Creation . Homer calls him a Leaf , and Pindar the Dream of a shadow ; and another that spoke with a better Spirit then 'em both , say's his Life is but a vapour ; he 's a Creature so unfixt and perishing , that in all the Memoirs of God's Creation , we hardly find any thing more exaltedly wretched and deplorable ; Alas Vain Men , we know not what we are , or upon what account it is we put such a value upon our selves ; a few days more will put an end to all our foolish dependancies ; the Grave and the Winding-sheet will do it effectually , and 't is those and nothing else can secure us from the Calamities of Human Life , and defend us from the Cares and Troubles , the sorrows and perplexities of the World. To have done : the general experience we have of the Calamities of Humane Life , sufficiently supercede the even necessity of future enlargements , 't is at best but a dismal Vale full of briers and thorns ; and there`s none of us must expect to make our passage through it without being torn and scratch't and Tormented by ' em . This , or something like it , is most certainly the Condition of Humane Life ; but let it be so , 't is still Insolent in us to Murmure , and without doubt our best way will be to take up the Poets resolution . Praetulerim — delirus inersque videri , Dum mea delectant mala me , vel denique fallant . Quam sapere & ringi . Horat. lib. 2. ESSAY II. He demonstrates Death simply , consider'd as an exit out of the World , to be much preferrable to Life , both upon the account of the Evils from which it delivers us , and the Goods into which it Instates us . Life considered under the simple Notion of self Activity , is so far a good or ill , as 't is actuated by a Greater or Lesser sence of Pain and Pleasure , so that those Persons only that are sensible of more Pleasure then Pain , Life , consider'd barely in it self , can be any ways desirable , and then I 'm affraid too when we come to make the Parallel , we shall find that the Latter in General does so much out Ballance the former , that an exit out of the World , both upon the Account of the Evil from which it delivers us , and the good , into which it Instates us , is in most , if not in every thing , preferable to a continuance in it . 'T is true indeed Humane Life may now and then enjoy some feeble short liv'd pleasures , but what then , they are so short and so uncertain beside ; Nay , and what 's worse , are so apt to cloy us to boot ; that in all their narrow Circle the greatest part is little else but a mere privation of pain and Misery . Most of the pleasures of Humane Life , are but as it were some small reprieves from Grief and trouble , a sort of Intermissions from pain and Miserie , of which , if we had never Liv'd we had never been sensible . And besides all this too , our Insensibility of Misery , is but partial and Imperfect , there allways clings some unlucky Circumstance to our chiefest pleasure , that gives our sweetest Gust a bitter farewell . But Death cures us at once , when we go down to make our Beds in the Dust , there we sleep on and rest our selves , not only , out of the reach of a vain turbulent Noisy World , but even out of the distance of the frailty and depravation of our own Humane Nature . Seeing therefore that Death renders us intirely Insensible of pain and Misery , and that Life in its best and most Improv'd state , is constantly expos'd to so many Dangerous Ills , it naturaly follows , that Death considered in it self , without any respect to the consequence , is really preferable to Life . What it is that engages Men to be so much in Love with a little Paultry Flesh and Blood , I cannot guess , I am loath to think 't is Cowardice or Inconsideration ; and yet when I come to take the matter into peices , and put it together again , I must own I can hardly believe to the Contrary , they must either want a right state of their Condition , have a wrong notion of Life , in General , or else be afraid to quit the World , and die , for besides those , I cannot Imagine what it is that Inclines 'em to doat so passionately upon their own Infelicity . And Pray , after all , what mighty advantages are there that they can morally propose to themselves in Living ? Is it that they may have a little time longer to Pamper their lusts , entertain their Voluptuousness , and appease the raging Importunities of an unbounded appetite , if that be all , there 's nothing but a Mouthfull of Earth will do their business , that Indeed will quench the flame of their Impatience , and mitigage the pain of their desires together ; and then I appeal to any Man of sence , if it be not far better to be depriv'd of their pain of a furious Expectation , then to be gratify'd with a troublesome Enjoyment that commonly grows flat and loathsome as soon as 't is in our possession . Or perhaps they 'd Live longer that they may get greater Estates , and so remove themselves further out of the reach of wretched Indigence , and be more secure from uneasyness and fatigue . But alas Poor man ! if that 's thy meaning , thou must e'en seek repose in the Grave , or no where . This World 's so full of Noise and Nonscence : the Vanity is so Incorporated with the Vexation of Spirit , and thy own Nature is so Giddy and loose , so frail and so Imperfect beside ; That 't is the Vainest thing , a kind of folly exalted into madness to expect any tolerable Satisfaction in this Life . When you go to the Grave indeed , you 'll want your Friends to advise and comfort you , and your Companions and Acquaintance , to laugh and rejoyce with you , and you must be lay'd up in an Eternal state of separation . But what then , as you have no Friends to assist you , nor no Companions to divert you , so you 'll want none , and then what mighty Injury will it be to be depriv'd of that you have no use for ; beside you 'll be deliver'd from the Danger of false Friends , from sly Acquaintance and Injurious Companions , which I must tell you , by the way , is no Inconsiderable Advantage ; you 'll be out of the reach of Treachery , Peevishness and Insolence , be deliver'd from Impertinence , vexation and discord , and all the rest of the Inconveniencies that perpetually await Human Society . What if you do cease to laugh and to be merry , you 'll cease to weep and to be sad too , and truely I am apt to think that upon a fair Survey , that the sorrows of our Lives do so much out Number our Joys , that by exchanging the one for the other , we should be very great Gainers by the Bargain . But then when you come to die you must undergo many a fierce Pang , many a bitter Agony ; you must go out of the World thro extremity of Torture , Raving , & Foaming , Groaning , and Gnashing your Teeth ; this is often true indeed , and the Consideration is dismal enough ; but , what , is there no Torments in Life as well as in Death ? is there no Wracks of mind , no Tortures , nor Stings of conscience , no ungrateful Jealousies , or dreadful apprehensions ? Is there no Pains nor Aches , no Gout , nor Stone , nor Strangury , appendant to our Mortality ? Yes , yes ; they 're all the sad Appendages of our Humanity , and from Woful Experience , might convince us , if we had not lost our Sense of Feeling , that Life , drest up with all the Advantages that Humane Nature is capable of , is , at the very best , a most painful and dolorous thing . What if we did enjoy a competent share of the Trifles of this World , or rather suppose , that all the Elements of Outward Happiness were amas'd together , and thrown upon us at once , what good would they do us , if we could not form from 'em a satisfaction of Mind ; and that 's almost impossible too , considering how many embittering Circumstances are entwisted and grafted into our very Being and Constitution . Dic homo , vas Cinerum , quid confert flos facierum ? Copiae quid rerum , Mors ultima meta dierum . I must own , it has been often the Subject both of my Wonder and Sorrow , that the Fear of Death , for I can imagine it to be nothing else , should so weaken and defeat the Courage , nay , the Understanding of Men , that they should be afraid to suffer the Grand Remedy of all their Calamities ; the Cause of it must be this or nothing , they have liv'd Immoral Vicious Lives , and so are frighted at the consequence . There is indeed one thing in Humane Life , and but one , that renders it a little comfortable , I mean Vertue , without which 't is all a perfect Wilderness , a meer Weild of Misery , only a flat Parenthesis of Time , encompass'd on both sides with Dangers , Sorrow , Vanity and Vexation . The Vertuous Man alone can be said to live ; the Vicious does but suck in and breathe out a little Air , as the rest of the Insensible Animals do ; but he that lives vertuously , lives a Life worth being born for : and yet even a vertuous Life too is made more eligible and advantageous by Death , upon the account it makes our Happiness more compleat , our Enjoyments more extensive , and our possessions of 'em more fixt and permanent . In the highest Enjoyments of Humane Life there is still more of Phantastry than of Real Good ; our Expectations commonly over-run our Reason , and swell our Notions of things beyoud what they will Naturally bear : such wretched Cheats and Delusions are most of our Temporary Goods , that they will hardly endure the Test of a Fruition ; so that from the repeated Tryals of the Truth of this , methinks we should at least grow a weary of this tiresome Scene of Vanity and Misery . Upon the whole , Life seems to me to be a strange Composition of Good and Ill , some grateful Intermixtures there are indeed that make it a little the more pallatable : but yet for all that , if we consider it only under the Notion of self-activity , or rather as an Entrance into , or an Exit out of the World , Death , I 'm sure , must be judg'd preferable to it upon many accounts . While we continue here , we are in a continual flow and reflow of things ; to day Great , and Rich , and at ease ; to morrow poor , and in contempt , and pain ; now advanc'd to the top , anon crusht underneath the Wheel , and so secure of nothing but misery . Mors ipsa beatior inde est● Quod per crutia mina Lethi Via panditur ardua Iustis , Et ad astra doloribus Itur . FINIS . Books Printed for E. Harris at the Harrow in Little Britain . MEdicina Practica : Or , Practical Physick , shewing the Method of Curing the most usual diseases happening to Humane Bodies , as all sort of Aches , and pains , Appoplexies , Agues , Bleeding , Fluxes , Gripings , Wind , Shortness of Breath , diseases of the Breast and Lungs , Abortion , want of Appetite , loss of the use of Limbs , Cholick , or Belly-Ach , Apostems , Thrushes , Quinfies , Deafness , Buboes , Chachexia , Stone in the Reins and Bladder , with the Preparation of the Praecipiolum , or the Universal Medicine of Paracelsus , to which is added the Phylosophick works of Hermes Trismegistis , Kalid Persicus , Geber Arabs , Artesius Longaevus , Nicholas Flammel , Roger Bachon and George Ripley ; All translated out of the best Latine Editions , and carefully claus'd or divided into Chapters and Sections , for the more pleasant reading and easier understanding those Authors , together with a singular comment upon the first Book of Hermes , the most ancient of the Phylosophers , the whole compleated in three Books , by William Salmon , Professor of Physick , Price 5 s. Panarithmologia , being a Mirrour for Merchants , a Breviate for Bankers , a Treasure for Tradesmen , a Mate for Mechanicks , or a sure guide for Purchasers , Sellers , or Mortgagers , Land-Leasers , Annuities , Rents , Pensions , &c. In present Possession or Reversion , and a constant concomitant fitted fot all Men's Occasions . In three parts ; all perform'd by Tables ready cast up , whereby all Questions relating to any of the Forementioned Particulars , are easily and exactly resolv'd , without the Aid of Arithmetick , for the most part by Inspection into the Table only : and ( in any Case ) by common Addition and Substraction . All which Tables are made easie by Variety of Examples . Calculated and Published by W. Leybourn . To which is added a necessary Appendix , containing Heads of Daily Use to all Traders . Price 5 s. An Account of the first Voyages and Discoveries made by the Spaniards in America ; containing the most Exact Relation hitherto publish'd , of their unparallel'd Cruelties on the Indians , in the Destruction of above . Forty Millions of People . With the Propositions offer'd to the King of Spain to prevent the further Ruin of the West Indies . By Don Bartholomew de las Casas , Bishop of Chiapa , who was an Eye-witness of their Cruelties . Illustrated with Cuts . To which is added , The Art of Travelling , shewing how a man may dispose of his Travels to the best Advantage , Price 4 s. The Country Gentleman's Vade Mecum : Or his Companion for the Town . In Eighteen Letters , from a Gentleman in London , to his Friend in the Country , wherein he Passionately disswades him against coming to London , and Represents to him the Advantages of a Country Life , in Opposition to the Follies and Vices of the Town . He discovers to him most of the Humours , Tricks and Cheats of the Town , which as a Gentleman and a stranger he is exposed to . And gives him some general Advice and Instructions how he may best in his Absence dispose of his Affairs in the Country , and manage himself with the most Security and Satisfaction when he comes to London . The Stage condemned , and the Encouragement given to the Immoralities and Prophaness of the Theatre , in the English Schools , Universities and Pulpits . King Charles I's Sundays Mark , and Declaration for Sports and Pastimes on the Sabbath , largely related and animadverted upon . The Arguments of all the Authors that have writ in defence of the Stage , against Mr. Collier ; Collier's , and the Sense of all the Fathers , Councils , Ancient , Philosophers and Poets , and of the Greek and Roman States , and the first Christian Emperors , concerning the Drama ; Faithfully delivered . Together with the Censure of the English State , and of several Ancient and Modern Divines of the Church of England upon the Stage ; and Remarks upon divers late Plays : as also upon those presented by the two Universities to K. Char. I. 
A48420	----	The Life of that incomparable princess, Mary, our late sovereign lady, of ever blessed memory who departed this life, at her royal pallace at Kensington, the 28th of December, 1694. 1695 Approx. 102 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 61 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A48420 Wing L2036 ESTC R12336 12254563 ocm 12254563 57305 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A48420) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 57305) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 154:5) The Life of that incomparable princess, Mary, our late sovereign lady, of ever blessed memory who departed this life, at her royal pallace at Kensington, the 28th of December, 1694. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [13], 108 p. Printed for Daniel Dring ..., London : 1695. Tentatively attributed to Daniel Defoe by W.P. Trent and others. "Threnodium Britannicum, to the sacred memory of that most excellent princess, Mary the Second": p. 83-108. Reproduction of original in British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Mary -- II, -- Queen of England, 1662-1694. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE LIFE OF THAT Incomparable PRINCESS , MARY , OUR LATE Sovereign Lady , Of ever Blessed Memory . Who departed this Life , at her Royal Pallace at Kensington , the 28 th of December , 1694. LONDON , Printed for Daniel Dring , at the Harrow in Fleetstreet , at the Corner of Chancery Lane , 1695. TO THE Right Honourable THE COUNTESS OF DARBY . Madam , AS the Memory of so dear a Royal Mistriss , Your own more particular , and the Worlds no less Universal Loss , is that most sacred Amulet that You wear nearest your heart ; so every Pourtrait of that divine Original , tho' never so faint an Essay , carries some pretension to your Ladyships favourable Acceptance . I confess , indeed the weakness and unworthiness of my own attempting Hand in so bold an Undertaking : And to excuse my Blushes , could only wish that the World would as easily pardon the Intrusion of so poor a Pen , into the hallow'd Memoirs of that Most Excellent Princess's LIFE ; as her Funeral State will do the poorest melting Eye and bending Knee that shall approach there : 'T is but the same Attractions that must inspire all Pens to be her Historians , as it makes all Knees her Homagers . But not to make my own want of Deserts a bar to your Ladiships good Graces , towards this duteous Offering I make You , I must only remind You , That Medals are stampt in Copper as well as Gold , whilst the Royal Effigies both values and illustrates , at once , the meaness of the Lineaments that draw it , and the Courseness of the Mettal that bears it : And therefore 't is from that Merit alone that I presume to make your Ladiship this Presentation ; whilst my endeavours however short of performance , in delineating the unexampled Virtues of that more than Royal that Heavenly Life , the great Theme before me , may in some measure be a venial Fault , for all Hands must be ambitious to strow Flowers upon that Grave . But whilst so large a portion of those Royal Smiles , that have so kindly and so warmly shined on her most Darling Favourite , the Countess of DARBY , have so justly entituled You to this Dedication , I need not look back either to your Illustrious Descent or Alliance , those great Names of Ormond and Darby , to blazon the Worth of so truly Honourable a Patroness : Your Ladiship has those later Records , the fair Plumes to enrich your Coronet : For 't is sufficient the World is too sensible , That it must be some extraordinary Merit only coud lodge You so near that Royal Bosom , a Hand that ever weigh'd where she chose ; whilst nothing less than a very near Affinity to her own Exalted Virtues , coud recommend or Qualify for her Favourite . And Madam , your Ladiship thus cherisht , and thus advanced to no less an Honour than that of the dearest Cabinet Confident of the fair Majesty of Britain , a Renown that must give your Ladiship so lasting a Name , as shall live with Hers : This single Glory of it self alone , is not only a Panegyrick to your Fame , but likewise entitles it to a Chronicle . But Madam , as glorious a Record as so fair a Theme must furnish You ; however 't is but a very melancholly One : For in recounting those envied Blessings You possest in so many Royal Smiles and Embraces , I am the unhappy Remembrancer of those You have lost : A Loss so irreparable , and withal so heavy , as cannot receive even that common Consolation of Sorrow , viz. That to have Companions in Misery , is some Ease to the Pain of it . On the contrary , not all the Thousand Sharers with You can lessen this infinite Affliction . Thus whilst I endeavour to twine your Laurels , I wreath your Cypress too ; for in telling You , That You once was the Dearest of Minions , I only publish You the deepest of Mourners . I shall therefore quit this melancholy Subject , being Madam , Your Ladyships Most humble and most dutiful Servant , THE LIFE OF THAT Incomparable PRINCESS , MARY , OUR LATE Sovereign Lady , &c. A White-Hall-Scaffold , and a Royal Martyrdom , with all the dreadful Effects of that hideous and unnatural Regicide , hung so louring over the English Heads , that all the Horrours and Calamities of a Twelve Years Anarchy and Confusion , were but too justly our succeeding Portion . Here the whole Royalty of England groaned under a total Eclipse , whilst so many upstart Changes of Government , all like the Births of Nile , every Year new Monsters , so polluted and defiled the Throne , that under their Barbarous Usurpation all Honour , Honesty and Conscience seemed to have wholly abandoned and forsaken us , excepting this one single surviving Justice , viz. That Vipers bred Vipers , Stings for their own Hearts ; and Traytors betrayed Traytors , the natural , and indeed only honest Gratitude of Villany . After this long melancholy Face of Affairs , whether the Divine Justice had satisfied it self with that short Twelve Years Scourge , or rather it s more gracious Mercy with-held the pouring any farther Vials upon us ; so it pleased the Almighty Providence , that by a Revolution wholly made up of Wonders , and by a Hand entirely his own , the Royal Exiles were re-called ; whilst the whole ecchoing Nation strewed the Palms and Olaves , and tuned the Hosannah's for their Reception , whilst such a Glut of popular Transport and Extacy attended their glorious Restauration , that Triumphal Arches were but faint Monuments of those Joys that rose higher than Pinnacles and Pyramids . The Royal Brothers , the Illustrious Remains of the Great Martyr , the now happy , though late Darlings of Providence , had all the Homage that Hearts or Knees could yield them , whilst our whole industrious and even studied Loyalty , by a kind of common Rivalship and Emulation , who should kneel longest , or bend lowest , could not pay fast enough our new and chearful Tenders of Zeal and Veneration , towards making ( if possible ) some part of a Reparation for our old shameful Arrears . In fine , All Things shined and dazled round us ; so heartily did the Fair and Smiling SIXTY endeavour the Atonement of the Black and Rueful FORTY EIGHT . 'T is true , the Universal Joy was seon after clouded by the Death of Henry Duke of Gloucester , who , a short Sharer of his Brother's Triumphs , and the People's Love , made his much lamented Transit to Immortality on the 13th of September , 1660. After the most splendid and dazling Entry , and no less magnificent Coronation of King Charles the Second ; the publick Satisfaction , not wholly founded in the present Felicities and Blessings they enjoyed , had yet farther Vows to offer up to Heaven ; viz. For a fair Race of Heirs from this Illustrious Royal Stock , that glorious Succession that might fill the Throne for ever , and bless even latest Posterity , as the entire Consummation of the whole English Happiness . But in all our Desires of this last Satisfaction , the unfortunate Barrenness of His Majesty's Royal Consort , our now Gracious Queen Dowager , in a short Time shut out our Expectation , and render'd our Prayers succeness on that side : Insomuch that the whole Nation 's Hope 's were now entirely center'd in the more fruitful , and so more happy Second Royal Line , the Lineage of His Royal Highness the Duke of York . Accordingly , on the 30th of April , in the Year 1662. Providence was pleased to bless this longing Nation with the Auspicious Birth of a young Princess , MARY , our present sacred Theme , His Royal Highness's First-born ; the Father's Joy , and the ample Reward of a Mother's grateful Pain . This Illustrious Cradle , and Sacred Nursery , in very few Years after , ( the not long Life of her Royal Mother , ) was enriched by the fair Increase of three Royal Brothers , Dukes of Cambridge and Kendal , and two more Sisters , Anne and Henrietta . But of all this Royal Progeny , the Great Dispenser thought fit , by a too hasty Call of the others too early Setting Infancy , to leave us the only Pledges of smiling Heaven in the two Princely Sisters , Mary and Anne . She was Born at the Royal Pallace of St. Iames's , at Westminster : At her Baptism she had for God-Father , Prince Rupert , and her God-mothers were the Dutchess of Buckingham and Dutchess of Ormond . And now to commence the History of her Life , from her first Seal of Christianity : Her Godfathers and Godmothers stood very easie Guarrantees for their fair Charge , whilst their Vows and Promises made for her at the Font were so early answered and performed on her Part , that even her first Dawn of Reason and Discretion were enlightned with all the most forward Beams of Heaven . The Divine Instructions , even in her budding Infancy , were received with so sensible an Affection and Delight , that the Principles of Religion were never planted in a more fruitful , or more hopeful Soil . As her Years and her Vertues grew up together , and every Heavenly Grace , her ever improving Ornaments , shined daily brighter and brighter ; the Almighty Justice , to have her whole universal ▪ Perfections equally matched , took Care that the Casket should be no ways unworthy of the rich and ample Treasure it held . For , without the least Shadow of Flattery , such lovely Sweetness , an Air so entirely charming , and a Form made up of every Thing that both to the Poet and Painter might sit for an Original , were so wholly her own , that never more personal Advantages appeared , than in this young and truly beautiful Princess . To all these , she had a Wit so lively , and so penetrating , and consequently a Conversation entirely grateful to those who had the Honour to enjoy it : For , withall , she had that natural Goodness , Condescention and Affability , ( Graces that Wit is not always accompanied with ) which opened that Freedom to an ingenious Conversation ; as if she resolved to bless where she favoured , not satisfied to be the Mistress so many Excellencies , only for a distant Admiration . But as if all these admirable Qualifications were not enough to compleat a Master-piece ; for one yet finishing-stroke more , she had all the Addition of Education to embellish her natural Accomplishments . She carried the Glory as well at the Ball and the Masque , as in the Presence and the Drawing-Room ; and she was that absolute Mistriss of the French Tongue , that her French Tutor , the famous Peter de Laine gives her this Character , That she had all those excellent Endowments , which not only himself , but all that had been honoured with any instrumental share in her Princely Education , had so fortunately found in her , to the preventing both of their Endeavours and Expectations . That Aptitude of Nature , quickness of Apprehension , Faithfulness of Memory , and obliging Readiness to comply with whatever good instructions were set before her , that these , and a thousand more were certainly Born and Bred up with her , and now arrived to that height of Perfection she had attained . And all this fair Character so far from false Incense and Flattery ; that in the most sacred Truth , her Highness was the most Accomplisht , not only of Princesses , but of her Sex ; and among all those Epithetes of Great , of Beautiful , or Witty ; above that August Air , that Majestick Presence , which inspired us at the first sight with the highest Sense of Respect and Veneration : She possest , and that in a most eminent Degree , a Virtue , which she valued so much the more , as that it out-shined and transcended all the rest . Having arrived at the Age of about Fifteen , with all this fair Train of Attendants waiting her thither , with all Eyes upon her , and indeed all Knees before her ; her Attractions had still a larger Influence , and more spacious Field than three narrow Kingdoms only could afford her , whilst the Fame alone of such transcendent Merits , were sufficient to inspire a warmer Devotion in Foreign Princely Homagers , than that of her humbler Vassals at home . Of these , the Illustrious WILLIAM , Prince of Orange , our now Gracious Soveraign , resolved to be her boldest Addressor ; for having Communicated his Intentions to Sir William Temple , his Majesty of Great Britain's then Ambassador at the Hague , whom the Prince so far honoured , as to make him a Counsellor and Confident in this Affair , the Prince was so frank as to express his whole Sentiments of Marriage in this kind , viz. That the greatest Thing he considered , were the Person and Disposition of the young Lady : For though it would not pass in the World , for a Prince to seem concerned in those Particulars ; yet for himself , without Affectation , he declared , that he was so ; and in such a degeee , that no Circumstances of Fortune or Interest could Engage him , without those of the Person , especially those of Humour and Dispositions . That he might perhaps be not very easy for a Wife to live with ; he was sure he should not be so to such Wives , as were generally in the Courts of this Age. That if he should meet with one to give him Trouble at Home , 't was what he should not be able to bear , who was like to have enough Abroad in the Course of his Life : And that after the man●●r ●e was resolved to live with a Wife , which should be the best he could , he would have one that he thought likely to live well with him , which he thought chiefly depended upon their Disposition and Education . Here we see the rich Cabinet of a fair Soul unlockt ; and whilst the Prince publishes so worthy , so generous , and glorious a Declaration , of what a faithful and good Husband he intended to make himself , and consequently what equal and suitable Returns he expected from a Wife ; 't was from his entire Satisfaction that all those great , and indeed only honourable , Ends of Marriage would be fully answered in the Person of the Princess ; that of the whole Choice of Europe , ( for several Offers in Germany had already been made him ) he had sixt his Thoughts only on the Daughter of England , the fair Mark of his Ambition , where he was confident the highest Expectation of all the fore-mentioned Qualifications of a Wife would be amply gratified . In his prosecution of so honourable a Design , as the Prince proposed to himself some higher Felicities than in the generality of Marriages of Princes , so he resolved likewise not to follow the general Practises of Courting by Envoys and Proxies , too common on such Occasions ; but , if I may so say , to be his own Ambassador on this Subject , and make his own personal Addresses to the Princess . And accordingly , having smooth'd his Way by some Letters to beg Leave to visit England , upon their favourable Answer received , he prepared to set forth accordingly . Upon the Prince's intended Voyage for England , eighteen Deputies , with the Pensionary Fagel at the head of them , in the Name of the Nobles , and the respective Towns of Holland , Complemented his Highness with their Wishes of his good Voyage , as all the Members of the States of Holland did the like ; and the next Morning , when his Highness took Leave of the States General , he received the Complements of the several Colleges by formal Deputations , and of all the foreign Ministers there , and then Embarkt on the Yatches and Men of War that attended him in the Maese , accompanied by many Persons of Quality , and Gentlemen of Note , to the number of above Forty . On the Morrow being Tuesday , the 9th . of October , 1677. His Highness , with all this honourable Attendance , the King and Duke at that time being at New-Market , whither his Highness and his Retinue , in his Majesty's Coaches arrived about Seven in the Evening , was received by his Majesty with all the Marks of Tenderness and Affection . On the Thursday following , the Prince , and all the Persons of Quality that came over with him , were honoured with his Majesty's and his Royal Highness's Company to my Lord Chamberlan's House at Euston , where they were nobly Entertained , and lay that Night , and the next Morning returned to New-Market ; and on Saturday , with the King , and the whole Court , his Highness came to Whitehall . But not to dwell upon Ceremony and State , the Caresses and Reception he met here , let it suffice , that his Highness having not only proved a successful Lover in his own personal Addresses to the Princess , but likewise a prevailing Oratour with his Majesty , the Royal Assent was obtained , and accordingly his Majesty was pleased , on the 24th . of October , to declare to the Lords of his Privy Council , ( whom he had caused to meet extraordinary for that purpose ) that his Majesty had concluded a Marriage between her Highness the Lady Mary , and his Highness the Prince of Orange ; upon which their Lordships , about Three in the Afternoon , went in a Body , to make their Complements to her Highness , and afterwards to the Prince . The News of which being spread in the Town , was followed at night with Bone-fires , Ringing of Bells , and all the other Demonstrations of Joy. And the same Day the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of London , went to preform their humble Congratulations , by the Mouth of their Recorder , to his Majesty , and his Royal Highness , and afterwards to the Princess and Prince on so happy an Occasion . On the 29th . of October following , their Majesties , accompanied with his Royal Highness , their Highnesses the Lady Mary , and the Lady Anne , and his Highness the Prince of Orange , attended by a great many of the principal Nobility , and other Persons of Quality , having been pleased , upon the humble Invitation of the City , to honour them with their Presence , first at the Show in Cheapside , ( it being that Day , the Entrance of Sir Francis Chaplin to the Mayoralty ) where placed in a Balcony under a Canopy of State , at the House of Sir Edward Waldo ( upon whom his Majesty was then pleased to conferr the Honour of Knighthood ) and afterwards at the Guild-hall at Dinner , where the Entertainment was very Noble and Magnificent , his Majesty being highly pleased with those great Demonstrations of Duty and Affection , with which the City received the Honour of this Royal Presence at this Day 's Solemnity . This Declaration of the Princess's Marriage was so gratefully , and indeed so Universally received , that particularly in Scotland , his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale , Lord President of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council of that Kingdom , appointed a Meeting of such of the Lords of the Council as were in and near the City of Edinburgh , ( having in the mean time given Notice thereof to the Magistrates ) to acquaint them with it , to the end such Resolutions as the shortness of the time would permit might be taken , for expressing their extraordinary Joy on this happy Occasion ; and having at their Meeting ordered a Congratulatory Letter to be prepared to be sent to his Majesty , on the 30th . of October at Four in the Afternoon , his Grace accompanied by the Lords of the Council , and the rest of the Nobility then in Town , came from the Pallace in their Coaches to the chief Gate of the City , where they were met by the Lord Provost and Bayliffs in their Scarlet Robes , and the Town Council in their Gowns , with the Sword and Mace carried before them , followed by a Guard of Partisans , through which ( with Trumpets sounding and Drums beating ) they walked all on Foot to the Cross hung with Tapestry ( whereupon was placed an Arbour hung with many hundreds of Oranges ) which his Grace and the Lord Provost ascending , with as many of the Nobility as it could hold , ( the rest of the Magistrates , with the other persons of Quality , placing themselves upon a Stage erected before the Cross for that purpose ) they drank the Good Healths of their Highnesses the Prince and Princess , next of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Dutchess , then the Queen's , and last of all his Majesty's Health , during which the Cannon plaid from the Castle , all the Conduits upon the Cross ran Wine in great abundance , and many Voiders of Sweet-meats were thrown among the people , who were filled with a general Joy since they first heard they happy News , which then was exprest by their loud and frequent Acclamations . After which , the Bonefires being kindled , and the Bells ringing , his Grace and the Nobility retired to their Lodgings , leaving the Magistrates , who at Eight of the Clock at Night went down to the great Bonefire that was in the outward Court of the Pallace , where his Grace , and many of the Nobility that were to sup with him , met them , and drank the Healths again . And were the next Day invited to Dine with his Grace in an Apartment of the Pallace , where with the Nobility and Ladies , the Clergy , the Judges , and all the Gentlemen of Quality , they were splendidly entertained by His Grace . To compleat the mutual Felicities of this happy Royal Pair , on Sunday the 4th of November their Marriage was privately solemnized at St. Iames's , by the Bishop of London , in the prefence of His Majesty , Their Royal Highnesses , and some of the chiefest of the Nobility . It was remarkable , that when the Bishop came to these Words of Form , Who gives this Woman ? That His Majesty answered , I do . Upon which , Their Majesties , Their Royal Highnesses , and Their Highnesses received the Complements and Congratulations of the Ambassadors of the States General of the United Provinces , and of the other Foreign Ministers residing in the Court. And the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen the next Morning made likewise their dutiful Congratulations . 'T was the 5th of November before the News of His Majesty's Intentions of the Marriage arrived at Dublin : And the First of December before the Consummation was published there ; which filled the Place with that extraordinary Joy , that on Monday the Third of December , His Grace the Duke of Ormond , Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom , and all the Nobility and Gentry in Town , met in great Splendour at the Play , where there pass'd a general Invitation of all the Company to spend that Evening at the Castle . And whilst the Streets were every where filled with Bone-fires , the Bells ringing , and all the Great Guns of the City firing round ; at the Castle was a very splendid Ball , and in the Long Gallery a magnificent Banquet prepared for the whole Company ; who parted not till Two a Clock in the Morning . The Prince and Princess were now preparing for their Departure for Holland ; during their whole Stay in England having been highly caressed by the whole Court and Kingdom . The Prince had the particular Honour to stand Partner with His Majesty , as Godfathers , together with the Lady Isabella , represented by her Governess the Lady Villers , to a young Brother ; Her Royal Highness , on the 7th of November , being brought to Bed of a young Prince ▪ Christned by the Bishop of Durham , by the Name of Charles . On the 19th of November , about Nine in the Morning , Their Highnesses parted from White-Hall , in order to their Embarking on the Yatchts appointed to transport them for Holland ; His Majesty and His Royal Highness being pleased to accompany them as far as Erith , where Their Highnesses went on Board ; but being several Days detained by contrary Winds , they arrived not in Holland till the 29th . I shall here beg my Reader 's Pardon for this short Digression from our History , by reciting an ingenious Poem , by Nat. Lee , on this memorable Occasion . To the Prince and Princess of Orange , upon their Marriage . HAil , happy Warrior ! hail ! whose Arms have won The fairest Iewel in the English Crown . Happy in famous Dangers in the Field , Happy in Courts which brightest Beauties yield . Oh Prince ! whose Soul is known so justly great , As if that Heav'n took Leisure to create ; First , the rich Oar refin'd , then did allay , Stampt thee his own , not shufft'd thee away . With wonder thus we all thy temper prize , Not but th' art bold and brave , as thou ar●t wise . Like the cool English , who approach their Fate With 〈◊〉 and gravely first with Death debate . They kindle slowly , but when once on fire , Burn on , and in the blaze of Fame expire . Hail Princess ! hail ! thou fairest of thy Kind ! Thou shape of Angels , with an Angel's Mind ! Whose Vertues shine , but so as to be born , Clear as the Sun , and gentle as the Morn . Whose brighter Eyes like lambent Glories move , And ev'ry Glance moves like a Dart of Love. How well , O Prince , how nobly hast thou fought , Since to thy Arms the Fates such Beauty brought . Methinks I hear thee in thy Nuptial Bed , When o're the Royal Maid thy Arms were spread . Enough , kind Heaven , well was my Sword employd , Since all the Bliss Earth holds shall be enjoy'd . Pains I remember now with vast delight , Well have I brav'd the thund'ring French in fight , My Hazards now are Gains , and if my Blood In Battel mix and raise the vulgar Flood , Her Tears ( for sure she 'll be so good to mourn ) Like Balm , shall heal the Wounds when I return . But hark , 't is rumour'd that this happy Pair Must go ; the Prince for Holland does declare , Call'd to the Business of Important War. Go then , if thy Departure be agreed ; Your Friends must weep , your Enemies shall bleed . And if in Poets Minds , those vaster Souls , Where all at once the vast Creation rouls , To whom the Warrior is as much oblig'd , As to Relievers Towns that are besieg'd . ( For Death would to their Acts an end afford , Did not Immortal Verse out-do the Sword ) If ought of Prophesie their Souls inspire , And if their fury gives a solid Fire , Soft shall the Waftage be , the Seas and Wind , Calm as the Prince , and as the Princess kind . The World , why should not Dreams of Poets take As well as Prophets who but Dream awake ? I saw them launch , the Prince the Princess bore , While the sad Court stood crowding on the Shoar , The Prince still bowing on the Deck did stand , And held his weeping Princess by the hand . Which waving oft , she bid them all farewell , And wept as if she wou'd the Ocean swell . Farewel ! thou best of Fathers , best of Friends ! While the mov'd Duke , with a heav'd Sigh commends , To Heav'n the Care ; in Tears his Eyes wou'd swim , But Manly Vertue binds them to the brim . Farewel ( she cry'd ) my Sister , thou dear part . Thou sweetest half , of my divided Heart . To whom I all my Secrets did unfold , Dear Casket ! who did all my Treasures hold , My little Love ! her Sighs she did renew , Once more ( oh Heavens ) a long and last adieu ! Part ▪ must I ever lose those pretty Charms ? Then ●woons , and sinks into the Prince's Arms. The Court beheld , and wept . Streight from their Griefs the pompo●● Navy fled So fast , as if our Sighs increas'd their speed . When of a sudden , from the Reedy Court , The Tritons all with their griev'd God resort ; In Troops upon the wandring Waves they glide , And round their lifted Lord in Triumph ride . At their first Call the singing Mermaids come , While the crown'd Dolphins lash the silver Foam . Thus waited , the glad Prince beheld from far The Belgick Shoar , and heard the sound of War. Some Hand unseen Heav'ns Azure Curtains dr●w , To make a mighty Triumph Great and New ▪ A thousand golden Heads peep'd forth to ●iew Cries , Shouts , and clapping Hands , all Extasie , An hundred Cannons thundred to the Skie : The Thunder answering did my Dream destroy , And wak'd me from the Visionary Ioy. It was with great Satisfaction , that having with so much impatience expected the Arrival of their Highnesses , that the News was received at the Hague , that their Highnesses who sailed before in his Majesty's Yatchts from Margate , attended by several English , as well as Dutch Men of War , were safely landed at a Village called Terihyde , the Ice hindring their Entrance into the Maese , and from thence went directly to Honslaerdyke , whither the States General immediately sent their Hoff Meester the Sieur Dinter , to Complement their Highnesses , and to know of them when it would be seasonable to repeat the same in a formal Manner , by a solemn Deputation out of their Body , as well from the Council of State , as the other supreme Colleges . On Monday the 14th . of December , their Highnesses made their Publick Entry into the Hague , with more than ordinary Magnificence . For besides that the Twelve Companies of Burghers were in Arms , drawn up under their distinct Ensigns , the Bridge of the Hague was adorned with green Garlands , under which were written these Words , UXORI ET BATAVIS VIVAT NASSOVIUS HECTOR , AURIACO ET PATRIAE VIVAT BRITANNICA PRINCEPS . Thus rendred in English. Live sacred Worthy , blest in that rich Bed , At once thy MARY and thy Belgia wed . And long long live thy fair Britannick Bride , Her Orange , and her Country's equal pride ▪ Having past the Bridge , they were met by four and twenty Virgins , that walked two by two on each side their Highnesses Coach , singing and strewing green Herbs all the way . When their Highnesses came before the Town-House , they past through a Triumphal Arch adorned with Foliage and Grotesco Work , with the Arms of both their Highnesses , and over them two Hands clap'd together with this Motto , AURIACI HIS THALAMIS BATAVIS DOS REGIA PAX EST. Thus rendred in English. What Halcyon Ayrs this Royal Hymen sings ! The Olive-branch of Peace her Dowr she brings . From whence crossing over the Market-place into the Hoogstraet , another Triumphal Arch stood ready to receive them , with these Words , INGREDERE AUSPICIIS BATAVIS FOELICIBUS AULAM. Thus rendred in English. To the Batavian Court with Heavens best smile , Approach fair Guest , and blest this happy Pile . In the Evening they were entertained with a preparation of Fire-Works , in which were represented several Figures , as that of a Drake , a Lion , a St. George on Horse back , Fountains , Pyramids , Flower-Pots , Castles , Triumphal Chariots , and Iupiter and Mars as descending out of the Air , &c. And in all the Streets were a great number of pitch Barrels , provided for the several lofty piles of Bonefires prepared for the Solemnity of the Day , which ended in Rejoicing and Feasting , and all other Testimonies of the Universal Joy. The next day the Heer Van Ghent , the Heer Werchendam , the Heer Steesn , the Heer Odyke , the Heer Kenswoude , the Heer Bootsma , and others , Complemented their Highnesses in the Name of the States General , which Complement was soon after performed by the States in Body . This Marriage thus concluded to universal Satisfaction of the Kingdom , 't is worth our Consideration to examine the chief Movements in an Affair of this Importance . Of all the Court Sollicitors in the Prince's behalf , the then Lord Treasurer , his Grace the now Duke of Leeds , was one of the chief and most prevailing Orators . That worthy Patriot , possibly one of the fairest Phosphers to our present Rising Sun ; was ever an indefatigable Zealot for the English true Interest and Honour , and the Protestant Religion ; and consequently amongst his many memorable Services , must not a little glory in being instrumental in so auspicious an Alliance . To this the King 's particular Esteem and Respects for the Person of the Prince , not a little contributed ; when , as Sir William Temple tells us in his Memoirs , his Majesty was pleased to express his Opinion of the Prince in these Words . I never yet was deceived in judging of a Man's Honesty by his Looks , ( of which he gave some Examples ) and if I am not deceived in the Prince's face , he is the honestest Man in the World , and therefore I will trust him : He shall have her , &c. But in truth , above all other Arguments , the then growing Jealousies of the Parliament carried the Cause : For at that time 't was highly adviseable for hushing the Quiet of the Nation , that the Eldest-Daughter of the Crown should sleep in Protestant Arms. Whilst in reality the Concession was rather more for the People's , than the Prince's Gratification : A Concession , in which the King poss●bly acted with a Resolution more than ordinary , as being contrary to the General Conduct and Measures of that Reign , as where neither the Duke nor the French Ambassador were called to the Consult ; the first being much surprized when he received the King's Command for his Concurrence and Consent in the Matter , and the latter not a little disgusted , as not knowing how he should Answer it to his Master , That an Affair of that Importance should pass without his Communication , much less Advice , in a Court where nothing before had done so , for many Years . But for a more particular Inquiry into her Father's Inclination in the Business of this Match , I shall only quote Mr. Secretary Coleman's long Letter to Father La Chaise , the French King's Confessor , where he tells him , That to propose the Lady Mary , Eldest Daughter to his Royal Highness , in a Match for the Prince of Orange , was not only without the Consent , but against the good Liking of his Royal Highness , insomuch that they must Excuse him with this Distinction : That the said Lady was not to be l●●ked upon as the Duke's Daughter , but as the Kings , and a Child of the State , and so the Duke's Consent not to be much considered in the Disposal of her , but the Interest only of State. Nay , this Marriage of the Duke's Daughter , and the Protestant Prince of Orange , was a Matter of that Weight and Moment , as wanted no less than an Excusatory Epistle sent as far as Rome . His Royal Highness ( as the Secretary tells us in another of his papers ) having sent a Letter to the Pope on that Subject , which he tells us was delivered , and that the Pope remained satisfied , that the Duke was in no Fault . But whatever Apology was wanting on this Occasion , how uneasy a Guest soever his Royal Highness had been , at this unrelisht Marriage Feast , nevertheless I may justly say , how strong soever his own private Aversion might be , yet still even himself was so far highly Instrumental towards the making this Alliance , that his own Conduct contracted the Necessity of it , and that Necessity in reality was the strongest Hinge it moved on . Upon this Match of the presumptive Heiress of England with the Prince of Orange , ever , even from his Infancy , so jealous and vigorous a Zealot for the Common Interest of Christendom , in opposition to the then formidable Growth and too aspiring Ambition of France , the Expectations of Europe had now , in all Reason and probability , the very fair Hopes of some speedy Alteration of Councils , and change of Measures , towards the Dissolving , or at least slackning , the too strong , and I may say too fatal , I am certain , too inglorious Links and Ties of England and France ; of having I say , at least some leading Influence towards awakning the Lethargy of the Crown of England , which with so long , and no less shameful Easiness ( to give it no harder a Name ) Hinc illae Lachrymae — had hitherto in every point , so highly contributed to the whole Grandeur of that incroaching Monarch , as to lend a Helping-hand even to the very Foundation of it . All this might reasonably have been expected from this Marriage , had Providence thought us worthy of such Blessings , at least at that Season , whatever later Blessings it had in store for us . On the contrary , notwithstanding the forementioned Magnificent Reception of the Prince and Princess by the whole States of Holland , so Welcomed and Caressed , even to a Torrent of Joys amongst them ; nevertheless there wanted not those Engines of France , who in a very few Months after so turned the Tide , as to poison the whole Universal Faith of Holland with those Jealoasies of the Prince's Match , viz. That the Prince instead of bringing the English Court over to His and Their Interest by his Alliance , had on the contrary , himself been lured and drawn into the English Interest and Party by it ; nay , and not only so , but through his own private Ambition and the English Encouragement , had upon the Foundation of this Match , formed some aspiring Designs , even upon Holland it self . Insomuch , that instead of their former Hopes of having strengthned the Prince's Arm in their Cause by this Alliance , it was the general popular Fear , that they had rather lost a Champion by it , than gained one . Whilst the injured Prince's Glory was shaded by all those false and villanous Imputations , it was at this time , and partly through these Jeaulousies , that the Peace at Nim●gu●n was shuffled together , so dishonourable to England , and so pernicious to the Confederacy . Insomuch , that this Match of the Princess , that was thought to have given so great a Blow to France , was by Dint of Conduct and Management turned wholly to the French Advantage . Thus far indeed this Match was for the French Advantage ; the Destined Hour was not yet come for the Prince of Orange to stand up the Champion of Christendom ; the over-ruling Providence had not yet signed him that Commission , being reserved perhaps for a later Execution ; at a Season , when the greater danger and difficulty of the performance shall heighten the Glory . But now to open the new Scene of her Life , her Entry into the Marriage State : Here we have so Dazling a prospect before us , so vast a Subject both for Praises and Admiration , that her very Enemies ( if such Goodness could have any ) must join in her Panegyricks upon that Theme : For as 't is in this Feild only , that the Fair Sex have their Laurels to gather , so never were richer Bridal Chapplets worn than on that ●row ; whilst between those only Pillars of Nuptial Happiness , Resignation and Endearment , the three great Matrimonial Vows to Love , Honour and Obey , were engraved in that Tables she wore next her heart ; not ( as too often ) the Right Ceremony of a Bridal Morning , but the constant Exercise of a Life , her whole Life but one long ( to our sorrow too short ) Nuptial Day : Those three Divine Graces that shined through her whole Deportment and Conduct , I might say , with equal Lustre ; unless that ( like the three Theological Virtues , Faith , Hope and Charity , ) the last were the Greatest . For to pay her Memory this sacred Right , she was that Tenderness , that Gentleness , that Sweetness , that intire Submission and Obedience ; that though she had all the Royalty of such high Veins , the Majesty of such a lovely Personage , and the Birth-right to three fair Diadems ; yet instead of the least Wedlock Insult or Elevation , from Beauty , Honours or Dignities , or any thing the World calls Great and Fair ; on the contrary , they were only so many brighter Plumes to enrich and furnish out the Houshold Dove . But this we must the less wonder at : For to give exalted Virtue its due , Love is the fairest Off-spring , where 't is the Child of Piety : For if there be Eloquence or Harmony in all the Caresses of Faith and Affection , 't is undoubtedly there where they flow from that Heart and that Tongue that is toucht with an Altar Cole . For true Religion and Virtue , not only pull down so many Blessings from Heaven , as their own fair Reward , upon the honourable Bed of Marriage , but likewise bring that ample Dowr of Blessings of their own along with them , by enlightening the Soul to the performance of the whole Duties of Marriage , which crown the whole Felicities of it : Love may join Hands and Hearts , but it is Heaven alone that truly ties them . Nor was the Princess enricht only with all the Gifts of Heavenly Grace , to make her the best of Wives ; but likewise all the Gifts of Nature too , to make her such ; whilst the freer Gayety of her Temper , and Fluence of Conversation , in conjunction with the more Reservedness of the Prince , so enlivened their Society , and cheered their Embraces , as to make them the Lovingest , and thereby the happiest Pair in the World. In fine , to summ her whole Character upon this spacious Subject : The famous Examples of Antiquity , such as a Portia , or a Camilla , those old Roman Presidents of the highest Nuptial Fidelity , came so far short of the more dazling perfections here ; by so much , as that above that rigid Feminine Honour , their only shining Guides , here was that infinite Addition of all the brighter Luminaries of Christianity , a more beauteous and more sacred Constellation , for her leading Lights . 'T is thus we find her in her narrower Pallace at the Hague , with her little English Court about her , either melting in Complacence and Tenderness to her ever loved Lord , when at home with her ; or else wafting her no less melting Sighs , Tears and Prayers after him , when exposed to remoter Toils and Hazards abroad : For in truth , the Prince was never facing of Dangers , or pushing for Glory , but the Princess was as ardently wrestling of Heaven for his preservation . When after the toil of a Campaign , and the fatigues of the Feild , the prevalence of her own prayers , and the Justice of his own Cause , as the good Genii that still hover'd round him , had brought him back to her Arms again , she flew with all the wings of Love to receive him ; ever the forwardest of the whole Congratulating Train to meet him ; and so inexpressible her Joys and Indearments that welcomed him , that still she had new work for a bended Knee , those yet new Vows to offer up , that her Thanks to Heaven for his Protection were as important a part of her tendrest Devotion , as the Prayers to implore it . Though her chief Residence and principal Court in Holland was at the Hague , yet she had several other Pallaces , the Hereditary Princely Seats of the House of Orange , as at Honsla●rdyke , Loo , Dieren , Hoosdyke , &c. much in the nature of our Kensington , Windsor , Hampton-Court , or any other of the Royal Pallaces here in England ; all which she made use of , dividing the Favour of her Royal Presence amongst them , at particular Seasons , for her Country Retirement and Recreation . But in all these places , her whole Entertainment was , in a manner , only under her own Roof . For notwithstanding her natural Goodness , she had all the Condescension and Courteous Disposition imaginable , yet still she owed so much to her own High Birth , that as she lived in a Re-publick , there wanted that high Quality amongst them , worthy a Princess particular Intimacy and Familiarity : insomuch that out of an indispensible point of State , she could neither make Visits abroad nor Confidants ; so that , as I said before , her whole Conversation was altogether at home . But whilst the narrowness of her Court , almost to a Recluseness and Solitude took from her so great a part of that Grandeur , State and Homage , the usual Attendance of Royal Veins , and which so many transcendent Excellencies of the Princess so highly merited ; nevertheless it afforded her those particular Advantages , that repaid that unregretted Loss . For , to her Glory , the Closet and Altar had so much the more of her Company , as the Throne had the less . The less of the Hurry ▪ and Pomps of Life , it gave her so much the fairer Occasion ( an Occasion always embraced ) of more closely following the great Original of her own Name , viz. In choosing the better part . However , as much Restrained or Reserved as her own princely Character obliged her to live there , yet still her extraordinary Civility and Caress to the Burgher-Master's Ladies , or any of the more eminent Grandees of State , upon any occasions of Complement , Visit or Address made to her , gained her that Veneration and Esteem amongst them , that it is almost incredible to imagine , how entirely she carried the Hearts of the whole United Provinces . The visible Charms in her Person , and no less in her Carriage , with her exalted Piety , equally visible to the whole Eyes of the World , were those Attractions that all joined together to dazle and astonish , such as obliged them to pay her the most Cordial LOVE , HONOUR and RESPECTS . Besides for one Contentment still , which extracted a particular sweetness from this Recluser sort of Life , she was too passionate a Lover of her Dear LORD , even for that single Consideration alone , to affect a more noisy or more popular Court. Her Worldly Delights were wholly circled in his Embraces : A Prince so worthy of the most tender conjugal Affection , as being adorned with so many surpassing Virtues to attract and secure that Affection : Of whom a great Minister of State , and one who had been long acquainted with his excellent Endowments gives this noble Character . A PRINCE , who joined to the great Qualities of his Royal Blood , possesses all the popular Virtues of his Country : Silent and Thoughtfull : Given to Hear and Enquire : Of a Sound and Steddy Understanding : Much Firmness in what he once Resolves , or once Denies : Great . Industry and Application to his Business : Little to his Pleasure : Piery in the Religion of his Country , but with Charity to others : Temperance unusual to his Youth , and to the Climate : Frugal in the common Management of his Fortune , and yet Magnificent upon Occasion : Of a great Spirit and Heart , aspiring to the Glory of Military Actions ; with strong Ambition to grow Great , but rather by the Service than the Servitude of his Country . In short , a Prince of many Virtues , without any appearing Mixture of Vice. But though the Princess in her Holland Court , had not those high qualified Guests at Home to Welcome : However she had sometimes the happiness of more Illustrious Royal Visitants , that came a little farther Abroad to honour her Court : For on Tuesday , the First of October , 1678. Her Royal Highness the Dutchess of York , and the Princess Anne began a Journey from White-hall to the Hague , to visit the Princess of Orange : A Visit so extraordinary grateful to her , that she received them with all the highest Marks of Respect and Affection , and with all the Entertainment suitable . Particularly the Transports of Caresses and Endearments between the two Princely Sisters was inexpressible : But the Felicity the Princess enjoyed was no lasting Blessing , for they made but a short stay there , whilst the parting of the two Princesses , was little less than a ●ivorce between them ; so fond and tender a Love and Friendship had linked their Hearts . Not long after , Providence was pleased to send her another Royal , though then unexpected , Visitant more . For in February , 1678 / 9. at that time , when the prophetick Fears of England , from the Duke 's suspected Inclinations and Adherence to the Romish Faith and Interest ( for hitherto they were only suspicions ) had made that Ferment in the English Blood , that the Nation 's pulse beat high ; his protecting Royal Brother his constant Sheild against the Assault of Fortune , had sent him over , with his Dutchess and Family , to the Hague ; in hopes , that Distance and Absence , the common Cure of Jealousie might at least have wrought that Medicinal Operation , as , in some measure , to allay the Ferment , and cool the then too threatning Heats against him . But whatever this Expedient might work towards the End desired , the Duke found an extraordinary and affectionate Reception from the true filial Duty of the Princess , and a very hospitable Roof from the generous Prince , whilst the Princess melted into all the tendrest Condolance and Pity on the mournful Occasion of his Visit there . 'T is true , the Belgian Populace gave him but a colder Welcome ; and , to say truth , afforded him very little more Civility , than the Herd does the wounded Deer : An ungrateful Remembrance of the too long and too warm Zeal of the Crown of England , for the Interest of theirs , and the common . Enemy , the French ; together with an unhappy Surmize and Reflection that a great part of the Malignancy of that raigning English Disease was influenced , by his Royal Highness's Sway and Steerage at the English Helm : Those unlucky Suggestions shrunk them into those languid and faint Embraces to this Royal Guest amongst them , though so nearly related to their darling Princess , that the Duke not insensible of his poor Welcome in so unsociable a Climate , removed his Court a little further , to Brussels . Now for one further Observation upon this happy Marriage , if it were not a sort of Superstition , from the concurrence of any eminent Actions , or Accidents , done or befaln on such ticular Days , to ground any Omens , or Presages of Fortune from any such fou●●l●tion ; otherwise I should propo●●●●t to the Curious , as a thing stra●●●●y remarkable , That the Prince of Orange's Wedding-Day , being the Fourth of November , was likewise his Birth-Day too ; and not only so , but also the Birth-Day of his own Mother , the Princess Royal , Mary , the Daughte●● to King Charles the First , Nay , if be ●ot too nice a Critiscime to add any further Remarks of this kind , 't was on the Fourth of November too that afterwards , in his Expedition for England , he approacht the English Coast , as the Assertor of our Common Liberties . 'T is true , he set not foot on English Ground till the Day following : However that may give us a Matter of Observation , as Curious as the other , viz. That on the Fifth of November , a Day so famous in the English Annals , and possibly as infamous in some other remoter Chronicles , that England Dates her Deliverance from Popery , Twice from the same DAY . As this Course of her Life in her Court abroad ( being indeed all little else but one unvaried Scene ) affords us but little Matter of particular Memoirs worthy a peculiar Relation ; there happened nothing of Importance or Weight , at least such as might make any Change in the Face of her Court , till the Death of her Royal Uncle , King Charles the Second . Here amongst all the Sighs and Tears pay'd to that expiring Prince , none certainly could be a truer or heartier Mourner than the Princess of Orange . 'T is true , his lamented Death advanced the Princess so much the nearer to a Crown . But so far were her Thoughts from pluming her self with that gay Trifle added to her Scutcheon , that on the contrary , not only her natural and passionate Tenderness for so near , so great , and so honoured a Relation , but likewise those for the Religion and Liberties of her Country , infinitely out-weighed all private Considerations , if it were possible for her diminutive Ambition to have any such : For Empire and Soveraignty weighed but light in her Ballance . But as we have endeavoured to play the Divine Historian , in recounting the inimitable Vertues and Piety of this most excellent Lady ; so we find her not only so zealous a Professor , but rank'd also in that higher Class , the Champions of Religion too ; witness her several Letters from Holland to her ever-darling Sister the Princess Ann of Denmark ; in which , to copy from her Grand-father's Original , I may truly say she drew her own Eicon Basilice , whilst out of some little Fears of that too dangerous Influence , Regis ad Exemplum , together with the prevailing Paternal Authority of a then Crowned Head , she acted that truly Christian GAMALIEL , in those strennous and labour'd Arguments in Defence of the Church of England against the Errors of Rome , for her Royal Highness's Confirmation , as were wholly beyond the common Capacity of her Sex. 'T is true , 't was all a Work of Supererrogation , as being addrest to the Princess Anne , the Mistress of that settled Resolution , and those steady Grounds of Faith , as wholly unshaken as her own . Nevertheless , 't was an innocent Tenderness of Affection , and Warmth of Zeal on the right side ; and her ingenious Prosecution of so noble a Theme must stand no little Monument of her Glory . But as mine is too unhallowed a ●●n for so Divine a Theme as such transcendent Piety , and true Zeal for the Church of England , I shall borrow her fairer Character from a more deserving Historian , the Reverend Dr. Lake , her Royal Highness's sometimes Chaplain ; whilst in his Preface to his Officium Eucharisticum , a Present truly worthy so sacred a Hand as the Princess's , he justly tells the World , That She is become her own Theatre ; every Scene of her Life is so generally known , ( whilst the World is a Spectator to applaud and admire her ) that it were even an unpardonable Arrogance , either to think of adding any thing to her Highness's Luster , or to believe he need open his Reader 's Eyes . The Gravity and Sweetness of her Miene , the Affability of all her Comportments ; the Vertue , Innocence and Goodness of her Life ; her resolved Constancy in adhering to the Religion of our Church ; her frequent and devout Retirements into her Closet ; her unwearied Attendance at her Chappel and Altar , are sufficiently obvious ; that the bare Knowledg of her Highness has been enough to render her beloved , with the most profound Respect . And that he 's encouraged to tell her , that these Endowments will ever more import and stead her than any external or worldly ones , wherewith too she is abundantly provided . The Celsitude of her Descent only enrolls her Name in the Catalogue of the Great , is secular and transitory , calculated for this World ; but it is her Grace and Vertue that writes it in the Book of Life . Beauty is fading , Grandure is fugitive , the Wreathes of Civil Honour are withering ; but her Godliness is a Crown that shall not fade away , gloriously set off with a diffusive Charity , a great Humility , and an exemplary Devotion . But to return to our History : As we left that sleeping Prince ( the much lamented Charles the Second ) in his Tomb , and find his Brother in the Throne : When after the first fair Dawn of this new Reign ( a Morning that smiled so kind and promising , even to the dispelling almost all our past Frights ) the growing Day soon clouded , and our whole Hemisphere began to lowr : When Religion and Zeal ( not to be too long on so unpleasing a Subject ) had superseded all other Obligations of Trust , Faith , Vows , Honour , and every thing that ought to be binding or sacred ; and all the fatal Consequences were but too visible ; insomuch that our Religion and Liberties bore but a Melancholy Face under the black Storms above them : 'T was then when the reviving and increasing Terrors of the Nation from their impending Calamities , call'd and invited over the Prince of Orange for his relieving Hand , &c. To describe the Prince's glorious Entry into England , so late and so fresh in all Memories , were a needless Repetition . Let it suffice that He wore the two Tablets of the Law engraven upon his Sword , RELIGION and RIGHTS , a Sword that , with so poten● a Commission , and such a Cause , even unsheathed , carried all before it , whilst the Gates of Castles , Towns , Garisons , &c. without either Siege or Blockcade , unlock'd to the very Name of ORANGE . The poor unhappy King seeing his whole Power thus dropt from him , ( all the too dismal Effects of his own misguided Counsels ) and thereby his long flatter'd Hopes for ever defeated ; whether through Blushes or Fears , or both , ( I will not determine ) abandon'd his deserted Crown and Kingdom ; by which Vacancy of the Throne , so large a Jewel as the English Diadem , being returned into their own Hands , the Gratitude of the Nation was pleased to bestow it on the Prince and Princess of Orange , made Co-Partners in the Soveraignty , the Administration lodged in the Prince ; and all with those universal Transports of Joy , as want not so poor a Trumpet as mine to sound them . I remember a short but very emphatical Line on His Majesty's Accession to the Crown , not unworthy my Repetition on this glorious Occasion . NON RAPIT IMPERIVM VIS TVA , SED RECIPIT . Which shall thus speak English : A Crown unsought thou foundst ; th●t Gem was given By grateful Man , and by rewarding Heaven . And now to compleat the whole Nation 's impatient Desires , there wanted only the Presence of her Royal Highness , who accordingly upon a solemn Invitation of the Estates embarked for England , attended by a Squadron of English and Dutch Men of War , and arrived safely at White-hall on the 12 th of February 1688. to the inexpressible Joy of the People , having been also saluted all the way her Yatch passed , by the Forts and Ships in the Road , as also by the Tower-Guns . The same Day she received the Complements of the whole Nobility ; and the next Day Their Titles were proclaimed , only with all the Customary Formality of Proclamations of that kind , viz. That the Gates at Temple-Bar were shut , where the Lord-Mayor , Aldermen , Recorder and Sheriffs attended , till the Heraulds at Arms came to the Gates , and there informed the occasion of their coming , before they were opened for their Admission into the City . On the 11 th of April following was celebrated their happy Coronation ; which added that fairer Glory to the Triumphs of the Day , as the Nation had conceived those fairer and more than common Hopes from the Illustrious Royal Pair that then received the Crown . And to conclude the Ceremony by the universal Satisfaction that finish'd it , I can only say , if Excess be a Fault , there wanted even a General Pardon for the Joys of that Day . And here in Relation to her Majesty's share of Glory , I must now remark , as an everlasting Trophy to her never-dying Honour , a Record that shall keep her Memory fragrant to the end of the World : That not only our Altars , the whole Church of England owes its Supporters and Bulwarks to Her ; his now Majesty's double Alliance ( through her Marriage ) to the Crown of Great Britain , being the greatest Invitation and Encouragement to the People of England to call him over for their Deliverer : But likewise 't was this Royal Conjunction in our Ascendant that has taken up the Ballance of Christendom , which the Un-British Effeminacy , Coldness and Negligence of the foregoing Reigns had so weakly , so poorly , and so unkindly let fall . The before so long Titular , and only Titular Blazon in the Royal Scutcheon of Arbiter of Europe , is now become ( and that a Work I may say so far of her own fair Creation ) a true and massy Jewel in the English Crown , whilst her propitious Marriage alone has lent this happy Kingdom that Hand and that Heart , that dare put in Execution what his Predecessors made only a Feint and Shadow ; has crown'd us that Sovereign Prince , who in the Head of an Army dares speak true English again , true Royal English. A Prince , whose publick Benefits and Obligations to Mankind have reconciled those almost incompatible Names , the Protestant Deliverer , and yet at the same time the Romish Darling ; whilst his indefatigable and active Services in Relief of the common Distresses of Christendom , have made even the most rigid Royal Sons of the Vatican Mother both love , embrace and honour him . The next Year after their Majesties Coronation , his Majesty's Personal Appearance being required in Ireland for the Reduction of that Kingdom to his Obedience , ( a Work that appeared too difficult for any other Conduct but his own ) the Parliament by a Statute made for that purpose , settled the Royal Administration in the Queen , to hold for such time during his Majesty's Absence . By virtue of this Act , whenever his Majesty's leading Sword in the common Cause of Christendom has been called abroad , and thereby the Regency devolved into the Queen's Hand ; as all those times of his Majesty's Absence were ever at that active Season of the Year , as required the most vigorous and most vigilant Councils of England ; so the Royal Helm , tho steered by a Female Hand , was never better guided ▪ or more firmly , by the most Manly Royal Pilot. I may truly say , that as she was a second Elizabeth in the Church , so she was no less in the Council-Chamber . But as highly qualified as she was for Exercise of Sovereign Power ; how she affected it , I shall refer my Reader to the Reverend Dean of St. Paul's his more eminent Authority , where in the Enumeration of her several other Vertues , he is pleased to leave us this Record of her . She was the Glory of her Sex , and an Ornament to the Crown she wore , made truly Great by Nature , Birth and Education . She had a large and capacious Mind , a quick and lively Apprehension , and a piercing and solid Iudgment ; she had a Strength and Firmness of Mind beyond her Sex , and such a Dexterity in managing the greatest Affairs , as would have become the greatest and most experienced Ministers . Never was there greater Skill in Government with less Fondness for it , which she could take up and lay down with the same Equality of Mind : Tho , I doubt , I must unsay that , for she was always grieved at the occasion of taking the Government , and as glad to resign it . Never was Majesty better temper'd with Easiness and Sweetness ; She knew how to be familiar without making her self cheap ; and to condescend without Meanness : She had all the Greatness of Majesty , with all the Vertues of Conversation , and knew very well what became her Table , and what became her Council-Board , &c. In short , her greatest and most implacable Enemies ( for Vertue it self will meet with Enemies in the World ) had no other fault to charge her with , but her Throne ; which is the only thing for which most Princes are valuable . She ascended the Throne indeed before she desired it , but was thrust into it , not by an hasty Ambition , but to save a sinking Church and Kingdom : And I hope England will always have Reason to say , That an empty Throne could never have been filled with a nobler Pair . As the heighth of her Birth , and the depth of her Conduct and Capacity , so every ways suted to her Place and Character ( her little Ambition of Power only excepted ) had so signally enrich'd her for a Sovereign Head : And to all this the bountiful Riches of Nature in so many Personal Accomplishments , had mark'd her out as well for the leading Court-Star too ; yet either of these Claims and Prerogatives were so little her Concern , that the only Study of her Life was that Exemplary Piety , as should render her the leading Vertue that shin'd there . For so free was she from the least Pride and Vanity , those too common Taints both of Greatness and Beauty ; that if it were possible for her to glory in any of her illustrious Perfections or Acquisitions , it was not in the Beauties of her fair Eyes , or the Glories of her exalted Station , but those of her more exalted Mind : so far was she from being transported or delighted with what her Crown or her Glass reflected her , that on the contrary , she only looked upward for the Lustre to adorn her , and inward for the Mirror to please her . And altho three Diadems were a very alluring Birth-right , a fair Portion of Worldly Felicity , yet she had still a higher Ambition : The Crown she aspired to was enrich'd with far brighter Lustre than that of Pearls and Diamonds ; and so little was she elevated with her first , that she waited only for her later and dearer Coronation . But not only to survey her in this higher Sphere of Piety and Religion , but descend from her Communication with Heaven , to her Converse with Man , and describe her Morals as well as Divinity : She was the kindest and most constant Patroness to her Friends . And to keep up no less to the great Christian Maxim of returning Good for Evil ; so she was a Protectress even to her Enemies , whilst many a just Blow from too many deserving Heads has been shielded off by her interposing Mercy . Then for another of her shining Vertues , she was Charitable ( if that Doctrine might hold in our Church ) even to Merit . And as so many hundred poor Widows are now provided for mourning Attendants at her Funeral ; so in her Life-time she has made many more hundreds of them smile at her Gate , than those are now order'd to mourn at her Hearse ; when so many Mouths have been fed , and Backs clothed by her Majesty's Royal Bounty . And whilst so many living Monuments of her Honour shall ever sing her Praises ; so the cheerful and thankful Prayers of the Poor are of all , the loudest Trumps of Fame ; for their Sound reaches Heaven , and makes the sweetest and most grateful Musick there . Take her in all Capacities , she was a Wife so tender , that all her Sex might take Pattern from : A Princess so gracious , that all Mankind could do no less than reverence : A Mistress so obliging , that even the poorest of her Menials could not but doat upon her : And a Companion so cheerful , ( where ever she vouchsafed her Friendship and Conversation ) that made all Harmony where-ever she spoke ; every thing smiled round her , Heaven only excepted , when it so early snatch'd her away . Yet pardon that Expression , Heaven smiled not less on her , in advancing her to that brighter Crown of Glory she so long aspired to , and was so well prepared for ; but on us , when we were thought unworthy the longer Blessings of such a Princess . To all her more Princely Perfections , those superiour Ornaments , ( for we have still new Subject of her Praises , in a yet lower Class of Vertues ) she thought it no Disgrace to wear the humbler Feminine Badg even of common Domestick Housewifery , whilst that Hand that graced a Royal Scepter , condescended to the poor Needle ; as if she resolved to make her Life a Pattern to Woman-kind , as well to the Cottage as the Court ; and by this particular Humility , to shame the Idleness of the highest and proudest , as well as lead and encourage it from so Royal an Example , even the lowest and the meanest . And now to descend to the humblest , and at least the most neglected part of her Life , her Diversions , the Hours she rarely stole from Books or Devotion . The Theatres have sometimes ( but very rarely ) prevailed , and that by Dint of Address and Supplication , for the Honour of her Royal Presence . The Muses ( for whom both her Person and her Life were the fairest Scene ) have now and then obtain'd the Grace of her Royal Encouragement . And besides the several Balls and Masks at Court upon the Anniversaries of her Coronation , or those of her own or his Majesty's Birth-days , her Majesty was twice publickly entertain'd by the City of London ; the first was on the 29 th of October , in 1689 , being the Festival Day of Sir Thomas Pilkington's Instalment into his Mayoralty ; and the second on the same Day in the Year 1692 , the like Festival Triumph at Sir Iohn Fleet 's Accession to the Chair . At the first of these Invitations from the City , their Majesties , with both the High Courts of Parliament ( then sitting ) with all the Chief Ministers of State , Foreign Ministers , their Majesties Privy-Council , the Judges , Ladies of the Court , &c. besides the Pageantry of the Day , were treated at a splendid and magnificent Dinner at Guild-hall . At the second Entertainment there was much the like Splendor and Magnificence repeated , excepting that the Parliament not then sitting , that part of their Honourable Guests were wanting . Both which were attended with the universal Shouts and Acclamations of the People , in Gratitude for the Honour the City , and the Satisfaction they themselves received from their Majesties Royal Presence there ; both through their Entry into the City , and also their Return to White-hall . I shall only recite some part of the Solemnity . Upon the Hastings at the upper End of the Hall ( where , under a Royal Canopy of State , the Table for their Majesties was seated ) being erected a stately Structure , supported with noble Columns and Pillasters of Egyptian Marble , the Base and Capitals of Gold , bearing a large Etableture of Silver , with Banners , Trophies , Escutcheons , Statues , all sutable to the Grandure of the Royal Guests , and the Solemnity of their Reception ; upon a large Shield was excellently painted the Poetical Story of Perseus and Andromeda , with this Inscription ; HVC VOLAT , HOC FVGAT , HANC SOLVENS CVPIENTE POTITVR : Thus English'd , Hither he flew , this Monster he destroy'd , And his deer Care the grateful Nymph enjoy'd . Under their Majesties Effigies was written this Motto , FIDEI STATORES : Thus Paraphrased , T' our Faith's Defenders , let our Homage bow : Those Titular Names are solid Glories now . Round the two middle Columns were enwreathed these words , REX & REGINA BEATI . Our LION and our ROSE , the Great and Fair ; Live ever happy this Imperial Pair . In a long Scroll under their Majesties Arms was inscribed , IMPERIVM OCEANO FAMAM NON TERMINET ASTRIS . Let the wide Ocean his Dominion bound ; But his loud Fame beyond the Stars resound . On a large Target , on which was painted the memorable Naval Victory gain'd over the French Fleet at La Hogue , was under written , EXTINCTO SOLE , VICTA INVINCIBILI . When Power meets Pride , thus Insolence subdued ; Their Sun extinct , Invincible subdued . On another piece of Triumph was this Inscription ; NASSOVIAE NIL NON EFFICIENT MANVS . What Glories are for NASSAU's Arms decreed , His own Steel Pen shall write , and Ages read . But now to come to the most mournful part of our History . On Thursday the 20 th of December , her Majesty felt an Indisposition , which at first she did not think of moment enough for Application to her Physicians . The Day following her Illness increasing , the worthy Dr. Millington , and Dr. Ratcliff were called ; and upon the growing Danger , Dr. Brown , Dr. Cox , Dr. Gibbons , Dr. Robinson , and Dr. Cole , and some other learned Gentlemen were added to the Consult of Physicians . On Saturday the Symptoms of the Small Pox appeared . At the same time for her Ghostly Physicians , the most Reverend the Bishop of Canterbury , the Right Reverend the Bishops of Worcester , Ely , Sarum , and Bath and Wells , paid her their Religious Attendance . These worthy Prelats , the ever most delightful Society of her Life , are now the mournful Assistants to conduct her out of it . And tho 't is easily to be imagined what a more melancholy , tho Christian , Office they undertook in this last duteous Service to their most gracious Royal Mistress , their best of Friends and Patronesses : Yet as afflicted as they were at the too visible Face of that King of Terrors , DEATH , that so imminently threatned that Sacred Life ; however , on the other side , they could not but be as extraordinary pleased to find her so well and so richly prepared to receive him . His Grace of Canterbury , who was the most constant Attendant even to her last Breath , was one day ask'd by her Majesty , What her Physicians Opinion of her was ? To which his Grace ingeniously replying to this Effect , that they despaired of her Recovery : Her Majesty , wholly unstartled , with her natural Sweetness , was pleased to answer in these words , God be praised , I am provided . That constant Tranquillity and Composure of Mind attended her through her whole Sickness , ( her Preparation for Eternity being not the Work of her Death-bed ) that all along she express'd a perfect Resignation to the Pleasure of Heaven ; and seem'd to have nothing in this World , that she should be concern'd to part from but her dear Lord , to whom , amongst many other affectionate and tender Expressions , she was pleased to utter this kind and most passionate Wish , viz. That his Subjects might all love him as she had done . His Majesty during her whole Sickness , was that pious and constant Mourner over her , and such his extraordinary Tenderness and Fondness , that no Perswasions could draw him a moment from her , whilst he lay upon a Camp-Bed all the while by her in the same Room . The Day before her Death she join'd in Communion with the Reverend Bishops , and took her Viaticum for Eternity , the Blessed Sacrament . In fine ; her Religious Deportment through her whole Sickness was such , that her Reverend and pious Heavenly Guides found occasion to learn more than instruct ; insomuch that the Bishop of Canterbury was heard to say , That when it pleased God to call him , he pray'd that he might be found so well prepared to die . During her whole Sickness no Endeavours were wanting , if possible , to save so pretious a Life ; but as Human Art and Care cannot fence against the Will and Pleasure of Heaven , both the Physicians Industry , and the Nation 's Prayers were wholly successless : for on Friday the 28 th of December , about One in the Morning , her attending Divines resigned their Charge to her ministring Angels , at which time she breathed out her Soul into the Arms of Heaven . It was observable , that not the least Pang of Death was seen in her Face , whilst she breathed her last , as if she had rather seem'd to have lain down to sleep , than die . If our Christian Creed will allow us that Latitude of Faith , as to give Credit and Reputation to Omens and Propheticks , as the Presages or Fore-runners to the Deaths of Royal Heads , we have some very signal Occurrences that either happened before , or about the time of the Queen's Departure , worthy some particular Observation . For instance : First ; His Majesty upon his going in his Royal Robes to the House of Lords for signing the two last Acts , viz. for the continuance of Tunnage and Poundage , and the frequent Session of Parliaments , his George was so missing as not possible to be found , insomuch that he was forced to borrow that of the Lord Chamberlain , the Earl of Dorset's , to wear on that occasion . Upon the Queen's first Indisposition , the great and eldest Lion in the Tower , who had been about twenty Years there , commonly call'd King Charles the Second's Lion , sickned with her , and died the Wednesday Night after Christmas-Day , about Midnight , 48 Hours before her Majesty ; which affords us so much the more matter of Curiosity , as that the like happened at the Death of King Charles the Second , when another of those Royal Beasts much in the like manner made the same Exit with that Prince . From Bristol we have a certain Account that a Keeper of Sir Iohn Smith's Park shot an Eagle flying some very few days before the Queen's Death , being a Bird of that extraordinary Size , that her extended Wings reach'd three Yards wanting two Inches ; and what adds to the Surprize and Wonder of this Relation , is , That the very same Keeper likewise shot another Eagle of very large Dimension in the Duke of Bolton's Park three days before King Charles the Second his Death . I dare not attempt the describing the Royal Sorrows , those of the afflicted King at this staggering Shock . But as the Painter of old drew the Mourning Agamemnon vailed , the Royal Face of Grief being above his Pencil's Reach : So not daring to venture on so bold a Theme , I shall only presume to say , Tho the Queen was so well prepared for her Death , his Majesty was not prepared for it . And altho she left the World without the least expiring Pangs , by dying even in Smiles ; his Majesty , a mournful Spectator , stood by in little less than Convulsions to behold her . The publick Addresses of Condolance which the two Houses of Parliament have since presented to his Majesty on so deplorable a Subject , in which they were truly the Nation 's Representatives , ( for they spoke but the universal Voice of Sorrow ) have amply testified the sensible Loss of so excellent a Princess . Nor has the City been wanting in the like melancholy Duty , having likewise resolved the immediate erecting their Majesties Statues in their Royal Exchange . I shall only remark upon this National Calamity . The Learned affirm , that as in the loss of an Eye the kind concentring optick Nerves unite and convey their double force to the other remaining Light : so may we live to see the same verified in the Royal surviving Luminary of these Kingdoms . And let it be no less the Nation 's particular Care and Duty to be tender of that great surviving Light , because 't is our ALL. The Solemnities of her intended Funeral ( in which both Houses of Parliament resolve to make a part of the Mourning Cavalcade ) are such as , The Body to lie in State in her Majesty's Bed-Chamber at White-hall , all hung with Purple Velvet , &c. the several Ladies of the best Quality the attending Mourners there , &c. the Bed of State , and the Ornaments of Plumes , Banners , &c. the several other State-Rooms in White-hall likewise hung in Mourning , and their Majesties Houshold Servants planted there as Mourners , &c. From thence the whole intended Funeral March , where His Majesties Houshold Servants , all the Judges , Serjeants at Law , Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City , but above all , both Houses of Parliament are to attend the Corps drawn by eight Horses in an open Chariot with a black Velvet Canopy , &c. from White-hall to Henry the Seventh's Chappel . The stately Pyramid of prodigious height designed to be erected in the middle of Westminster-Abbey to repose the Body in during the Funeral Sermon , &c. with infinite more Splendor than I can pretend to recount or describe , will be all perform'd with that Grandure and Magnificence , sutable to the passionate and highest Affection the Nation pay'd to so truly matchless a Princess . Nor will the publick Mournings for so lamented a Sovereign Head , be confined only to three Kingdoms . The States of Holland , no less sensible of this common Loss , have resolved to express their universal Afflictions for their dear Princely Mistress in an extraordinary manner ; when besides their going into a general Mourning , Orders are given , that through all the Provinces , the Bells of every Church shall toll three times every Day for the space of an Hour , and this to be continued six Weeks . But in all the wet Eyes and sad Hearts on this deplorable Occasion , I shall only add one farther Set of no less passionate , tho a lower degree of Mourners : And those are the infinite Number of her poor Pensioners , and other Objects of her Royal Charity , amongst whom , to her never-dying Honour , she distributed near 30000 l. per Annum , all out of her own Revenue . These , tho the poorest Mourners , will yet be the richest Tears , whilst the occasion that sheds them must more than embalm her Memory . To conclude , I shall endeavour to sum up our Loss by the Pen of the Reverend Dr. Wake . If a Queen so vertuous , that her very Example was enough to convert a Libertine , and to reform an Age : So Courteous and so Affable , as to be the Wonder and Delight of All that knew Her : So great a Lover of her Country , and the Interests of it , as to be willing to hazard what , next her Conscience , she the most valued , her good Name , and good Opinion in the World , for the Preservation of them : So firm and constant in her Mind , as not to have ever known , no not in Death it self , what it was to fear : So happy in Business , as to astonish rather than satisfy , those who were the best versed in it . I say , that to have been deprived of such a Queen as this , and that at such an Age , when our Expectations were at the highest from her , be a Loss above the power of Words to express , then such is our Loss : The Greatness of which we are so far from being able sufficiently to declare , that we cannot yet make an Estimate of it . I shall only add , Though the Great WILLIAM , through the Blessing of Heaven , lives to preserve us the LION , Supporter of the English Scutcheon ; yet in the Person of our Deceased Queen , I may truly affirm , we have lost the Royal ROSE of England . Threnodium Britannicum , TO THE Sacred Memory Of that Most Excellent PRINCESS ; MARY the Second , &c. THE Great Inexorable seals his Ears , Deaf to our Cries , unmelted by our Tears . Th' irrevocable posting Mandate flies , Torn from Three Kingdoms grasping Arms , She dies . Amongst his furrough'd Cheeks and Heads of Snow , Knees that ev'n bent half way to meet the Blow ; Had not the Tyrant Work enough for Graves In all that Legion of his Hoary Slaves ! But all this Pride of Youth , the flowry Bloom Of thousand thousand Sweets ( too partial Doom ! ) So fair our Hopes , so bright our Mid-day Sun , Has her whole finish'd Race of Glory run . Oh thou Eternal Foe * of Beauty , Thou Who to the smooth soft Cheek , and lovely Brow , With all the sharpest Teeth of Malice steel'd , Plough'st up the Lilly and the Rosy Field ; Was 't not enough , enough thy Spite conspires , 'Gainst that Fair Form to arm thy spotted Fires ! Against her Life ! Her precious Life t' invade , What Tyranny have those dread Ruines play'd ? Hadst thou a keener Shaft , or Bloodier Dart , Levell'd at sweet MARIA's tender Heart ; Then all the louder Bolts of Fate before , Against her dear lov'd LORD durst ever pour ! Wars Thunder , and the Cannon's fiery Breath , And Balls of Iron wrapt in Smoak and Death , Aw'd and asham'd that Life forbore to spill ; There Bullets graz'd ; but here thy Rage must kill . But now to sum the Tears this Blow must cost , And weigh the shining Mass that we have lost : Vertues so infinite ! to what vast ' count Must that rich Caskets number'd Treasures mount ! Each Spark of Heav'n which that fair Soul array'd , By Pens unreach'd , and Pencils undisplay'd ! For , O , so thick the cluster'd Glories lay , Thy Constellation was the Milky Way . Such vast Attractions to our dazled view That Duty , and uncommon Homage drew : The bended Knees that almost block'd her way , And all the prostrate Hearts before her lay , Warm'd with such Charms that Veneration felt , Till they mistook the QVEEN , and to the SAINT they knelt . Too excellently Good , Heaven's unkind Call , In thy bright flaming Chariot snatch'd thee ALL : Thou hadst , alas ! no spirited Mantle fall . Yet thousands , who thy Vertues shall admire , ( What can such Piety less than inspire ! ) Conversions by such leading Wonders wrought , All Pupils by that fair GAMALIEL taught , Their following Steps , dear Angel Guide , 't is true , Shall thy bright Track of Endless Light pursue : But never , never reach thy swifter Pace , But lag far short of thy prodigious Race . When so much Piety in Dust lies down , Mourn equally the Mitre and the Crown . Scepters and broken Crosiers on each Hand , At once the Moses Rod and Aaron's Wand . In such unmatch'd Perfections we possest The PHENIX only , not the Phenix Nest ; Of that Divine Original bereft , The envying Heav'ns have no kind Copy left . From that fair Tree of Life , no Scyens shoot ; No living Branches from that dying Root . Had Providence vouchsaf'd us but an Heir , From the rich Veins of that Imperial Pair ; Some lovely Stamp from thy own Angel-Mould , As might those transmigrated Vertues hold ; Tho not our Grief , yet our Despair to save , And make the Cradle ev'n defeat the Grave , Then fair Britannia's Sighs , a Work once done , Had hop'd t' have seen their finish'd Circle run : But this dire Loss brings an Entail of Woe , And ev'n Posterity shall wail this Blow . To ward the Shock this fatal Stroke has given ; O that 't were possible to have brib'd Heav'n , Either t' have lengthen'd out thy smiling Reign , Or else have shorten'd our too killing Pain . Longer t' enjoy , or not so long deplore , We lov'd Thee less , or had deserv'd Thee more ! But have Death's gloomy Shades , a long long Night , Shut from our Eyes that ever setting Light ! Set , did I say ! no , when such Beauty dies The Grave is but th' Eclipse to those fair Eyes . The interposing Dust , that Earthy Skreen , Has only vail'd our lovely Albion Queen . And when the last Great Trump shall sound so loud , To ease those lab'ring Lights , and burst their Cloud : When those fair Twins , their dark'ning Earth remove , They 'll smile in endless Joys , and endless Love. Her fair Seraphick MIND already crown'd , Waiting and longing moves her Starry Round , Till the dear sleeping Half she left behind , Those bright Co-heirs of Deathless Glory join'd , ( Her finish'd Rites ) a larger Wreath Divine The consummated Saints rich Brow shall twine . But now if any of the Nine , so bold , ( For the whole Scene of Fate must all unfold ) Dares draw the Curtains of the dying Fair , And tell the World the mournful Story there : Here if disorder'd Sighs , a broken Start , The Fears and Tremblings of an aking Heart ; If these sad Objects thou expect'st to have , The common Terrors of th' approaching Grave , Thou must look round her for that sight alone ; Thou 'lt read 'em in All Faces but Her own . But there , there all Celestial Harmony , That chearful Air , so all in tune to die , Tir'd with the empty Dross she leaves behind , And rapt up in the Joys she goes to find , Not the expecting Bride more sweetly lies . Thou 'lt find her half in Heav'n before she dies . Those lovely Graces sure were all at strife To make her Death as charming as her Life . But when ( the fatal Minute come ) too weak Her yielding Heart's last Strings of Life must break ; So calm her Brow , that easy parting Breath , No ruffling Pang unsmooths that Face of Death : Thus hush'd in Smiles laid down to endless Rest , Her dying Bed a perfect Halcion Nest. Her Looks like her fair Soul serene appear ; Peace sent to Peace is all Death's Business here . Death sure with his own Shaft ne're pierc'd that Heart ; But borrow'd from soft Love his Golden Dart. Thus lull'd to Rest thy peaceful Requiem take : But when thou goest to sleep , Thou bidst Vs wake . Those fair seal'd Eyes meet their long sweet Repose , Whilst our's , alas , are too brim full to close . From this sad Scene , my Muse , turn thy wet Eyes To a new Prospect , her Great Exequies ; The Funeral Pomp must her last Rites conclude , The Publick Debt of Grief and Gratitude . Here the fair Britain's CORONETS , and You Her Great Five Hundred , all the Sons of Woe , Those Representing Heads in Night and Shade March , her whole Albion in one Cavalcade . And thou RICH HEARSE with all thy Glories spread , To bear the Fair Remains of this GREAT DEAD ; Drive heavily thy sable Chariot , strong Thy rolling Wheels ; for , O , thou drag'st along Three wailing Nations , whilst thy Passage lies , Through thousand bleeding Hearts , and drowning Eyes . And thou proud Minster , thou , who not alone Beholdst her Setting , once her Rising-Sun : Sawst the Rich Drops , and circling wreath of Gold , Those shining , but now shaded Brows enfold . To crown the State her Funeral Pomp shall bear , Call down thy Patron , thy Great Peter there ▪ By his own Hand th' unfolded Portal spread , For the Reception of this Royal Dead , Beyond this last dear Charge he has no more ; His Brighter Gates he had open'd her before . And thou Illustrious Pyramid shalt stand , Erected by Britannia's pious Hand , T' enrich the proud Magnificence of Woe , And hold the hallow'd Sweets that sleep below , If made of melting Marble-mould thou be Ioin in her Tears , and weep as well as she . And thou Sev'nth Henry's ever sacred Pile Where Royal Heads from Empires Care and Toile , In their last Resting-bed of Dust lay down The Load of Pow'r , and Burthen of a Crown : To this Imperial welcom'd Guest unfold Thy Gates of Brass , or burnish them with Gold. Round thy gay Roof a thousand Lamps shall burn All fun'ral Tapers to this Royal Urn : Ioin all your Lights to grace a Pomp so fair ; Her own all blazing Fame the brightest there . Odours and burning Sweets our Senses feast , The richest Compounds of her spicy Nest ; Whilst Aromatick smoking Clouds around , With their rich falling Dew scent all the hallow'd Ground , And to all these her sweeter Memory . With that ascending Fragrance mount so high : Those but her Tomb , but this perfume the vaulted Sky . And proud Augusta , in thy Royal Byrse , Pay thy last Rites to dear MARIA's Herse ; The Royal Pair , by some Apelles hand , In monumental Scepter'd Marble stand . WILLIAM and MARY thy great Tutelar Pow'rs , The Guardians of thy Walls , and Genii of thy Tow'rs , Let those rich Shrines no common Homage share : Thou holdst thy Troynovant's Palladium there . And you once Royal * Plants , her little Grove , Twixt Heav'ns and William's dear divided Love , Her contemplating Walk , close by whose side . Did the pleas'd Thames his silver Currents glide ; Proud that his swelling Tide so high cou'd rise To be the Mirrour to those Smiling Eyes ; Break all your Urns ; root up your flowry Beds , No verdant Greens , where those , now drooping heads The Pink and Rose , and sweeter Jas'mine grew , Plant the sad Cypress , and the rueful Yew . And thou great Viceroy of the float - Thrones The Watry God , and all thy Triton Sons , Who , scarce seven circling Planets of the Year , That glorious Yesterday in our bright Sphere , Borest thy proud Mistriss o're her Vassal Main The Waves her dancing , those her singing Train , Now break your vocal Shells those Trumps-Marine , And drown your Eyes in more than Ocean Brine . Bid the commission'd Seas our Loss deplore , And waft our Sighs to the World 's utmost Shoar . If this sad face the Publick Sorrow bears , What are her Royal Closet-Mourner's Tears . Those delug'd Eyes for his dear darling Queen , That more than dismal Scene — But be 't unseen . No opening , no unhallow'd hand dare draw The widow'd Curtains of her Lov'd NASSAU . Despair , Death , Horrour ! Oh , be strong great Heart , Thou 'st now to play thy mightiest Hero's part . Yes , Great Nassau , the Parting-Call was giv'n : ( Too dire Divorce ! ) Thy happier Rival Heav'n T' its own Embrace has snatch that darling Fair , Translated to Immortal Spousals there . But must this narrow Isle the Sorrows bound , Only to move the sad Britannick round . Albion is here a Mourner , but in chief ; Hers is a whole Confed'racy of Grief . All the fair Austrian Eagles hang their Wings , Nay the whole Europe her sad Tribute brings . But in the Hecatombs pay'd to that Urn , What Incense must the mourning Belgia burn . To what vast Height thy flowing Sorrows swell , A whole long Lent * for thy sad Funeral Knell . Beneath this Stroke thy fainting Courage stoops , The Belgick with the British LION droops . But when such dazling Excellence must dye , What 's all our empty Funeral Pageantry ? Can unbraced Drums , or broken Trumpets sound , And dusty Standards trail'd upon the ground , Thy Rites perform ! No , thy rich Herse t' attend To mourn such PIETY , Temple Veils shall rend . Ev'n widow'd Altars shall thy Loss bemoan , And untun'd Sphears thy Funeral Dirges groan . Albion to pay , what here her Sorrows owe , Her Tears must , like her Ocean , round her flow . Her ever open'd Founts must pour those streams Of Grief for Thee , like her own flowing Thames ; To the vast Deep the sliding Currents born , And wasted back in swelling Tides return . Nor Albion's Tears alone , ev'n Albion's Foes : The very Lillies droop for such a ROSE . The Viper's Tooth unedg'd to hurt that Fair , Ev'n Gallick spight has lost its Poison there . Well , if th' empov'risht World must yield to Fate , Thy Loss too early , but deplor'd too late . Go then to the Bright Region of the Blest , Yes mount fair Saint , but come no Stranger-Guest . The Heaven-crown'd Heads their Royal-partner meet , And Angel-Trains the welcom'd Angel greet . To the Seraphick-Songs thou add'st no more , Thy Life was tun'd to that High Quire before . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A48420-e7730 * The Small Pox. * Her Majesty's Terras Garden at the Privy-Stairs . * Their Bells ordered to Tole six Weeks together . 
A54794	----	Speculum crape-gownorum, or, An old looking-glass for the young academicks, new foyl'd with reflections on some of the late high-flown sermons : to which is added, An essay towards a sermon of the newest fashion / by a guide to the inferiour clergy. Phillips, John, 1631-1706. 1682 Approx. 65 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A54794 Wing P2112 ESTC R20961 12610815 ocm 12610815 64370 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A54794) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 64370) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 772:12) Speculum crape-gownorum, or, An old looking-glass for the young academicks, new foyl'd with reflections on some of the late high-flown sermons : to which is added, An essay towards a sermon of the newest fashion / by a guide to the inferiour clergy. Phillips, John, 1631-1706. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. The second edition corrected and enlarged. [2], 34 p. Printed for E. Rydal, London : 1682. Wrongly ascribed to Daniel Defoe. An attack on the Tory clergy. Advertisement: p. 34. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Clergy -- England. 2002-09 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-11 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-12 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2002-12 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Speculum Crape-Gownorum : OR , AN OLD Looking-Glass FOR THE Young Academicks , new Foyl'd : WITH REFLECTIONS On some of the late HIGH-FLOWN SERMONS ▪ To which is added , An ESSAY towards a SERMON of the Newest Fashion . By a Guide to the Inferiour Clergy . The Second Edition Corrected and Enlarged . — Ridentem dicere Verum Quis Vetat ? — LONDON , Printed for E. Rydal . 1682. WE find there are a so●t of people very much troubled to behold their deformities in this Looking-Glass , and have therefore hired that Musty-brain'd Fool Heraclitus , to bestow some of his Carman like● Thames-street Raillery upon it . But in re●ard that all unbyas●ed Readers , cannot but perceive that the thing was never intended to be otherwise than what it is , a mixture of old and new ; since the mixture of ●olly and extravagance in the Young Clergy is still the ●ame ; therefore that Iack-Pudding to the Bear-Garden , Heraclitus , might have spared his bank-side yest and froth till he had met with something● that he might have done more prejudice to ▪ than he can do to this Looking-Glass , a Porter like-Droll , whose . — ●riste Caput fastidia vespillonum Et miseri meruit tedia Carnificis . 'T IS a mistake — They that should Guide and Conduct the Conversation of others , run in shoals to learn Loyalty from the heavenly Discourses of Roger L'Estrange ; and happy is he that can nearest approach to his directions in thei● Pulpit Harangues . There is no question to be made , but that all who understand the excellency and perfection of Church● Discipline , must confess the Church of England , under its present Constitution , to be the most Orthodox , the most pure , without the Phylacteries of Hypocritical Ceremonies , and the closest to primitive Institution of any Religion in the World. And this is further to be said for the Protestant English Clergy , that you rarely hear of any that fall under those publick Scandals and Reproaches , for which the Romish Clergy , from the highest to the lowell , are loudly and so generally taxed , so tha● they sin more out of Vanity than Wickedness . But the Nation is so overstocked with Crape Gowns , that 't is impossible but that in such a number there must be failings among them , subject to great Remark and Observation : An ill Omen of sick Divinity when it comes to be mantled in the shrouds appropriated for the dead . Now these men in Crape , as they are generally young , so they are generally very highly conceited . A character which they will much more advance , if they refuse to receive the Admonishments of others , as they undertake to be the Instructers of others themselves . And therefore they will do well kindly to accept of this Mirror here presented them , new foyl'd and furbish'd up , to be placed in their Studies , and look'd in every morning , by which means they will be able to find the reason why some of their Churches are so empty , others so numerously thronged , and by reforming their own contemplated blemishes , gain an esteem , both of their persons and their Doctrine , more operative upon the good Opinions of the People . No P●agiary Looking-glass , as that Coxcomb Heraclitus has with a debauch'd , and ridiculous mummery intimated to the World. 'T is most certain then , that there is something which does lessen the value of many of our Clergy , and render them less serviceable to the Church , than might be reasonably hoped for : And this may be referred to two very plain things , the Ignorance of some , and the Poverty of others . This proceeds in part from the old fashioned Methods and Discipline of Schooling itself : by vertue of which Lads are kept till Sixteen on Seventeen Years of Age ▪ in a pure slavery to a few Latine and Greek words , tormented with a tedious story how Phaeton brake his Neck , or how many Nuts and Apples Tityrus had for his Supper ; and instead of being ●nticed and charmed into a Love of Learning , are well lashed into an abhorrency of their Studies . Add to this the inconsiderate sending of all sorts of Lads to the Universities , let their par●s be never so low and mean , the Instructions they have been ●u●ored withal never so Pedantick and contemptible , and the Purses of their friends never so bare and● short to maintain them there , if they have but the commendation of some lamentable Soul , or pitiful const●uing● Pedant , it passes for a most undoubted Approbation of the Striplings Learning , and that they will prove persons very eminent in the Church : as much as to say , if a Lad ▪ though otherwise a Jo●thead , have but so much memory as to sing over to a lamentable Tune Three or Four Scanzas of Lilly's Poetry ; if he be quick and ready to tell what 's latine for all the Implements in his Fathers Shop , or his Mothers Kitchen , if he can but tell a Sponde from a Dactyl ; lastly , if he can give ready answers to the usual Catechism , of What is his n●me ? Where went he to School ; What Books he has learn'd ? I profess a Notable Wit , cries the Pedagogue : a hopeful Youth , 't is a Thousand pities but he should be a Scholar ; he 'l prove a brave Clergy man , and an excellent Preacher I warrant ye . Then away with him presently to the University , where he learns a little Logick , and a little Ethicks , and to speak Truth and shame the Devil , a very little of every thing else , and then the next time you meet him , whip ! he 's got into the Pulpit . Well , when they have him at the Universitie , what do they do with him there ? There , if he be of the inferior sort , that he may not over-heat his Brains with Study , he is put to Bed making , Chamber-sweeping , and Water-fetching , which are no question great preservatives against vain Philosophy . However , the Fellow whom he serves , cannot but in pitie , if not for Conscience sake , let him glean some small morsels of his Knowledge , which costs him no more then only the expence of that time while the young ●●zar is pulling off his Masters Stockins , or warming his Nightcap : From thence he learns , Quid est Logica ? Qua sunt Virtutes morales ? and to number the Predicaments in their order . This being done , he takes his leave of the University , and by the first Carrier , upon a Pack , away he goes by ●low Marches into his nown Country , with a common place Book , and a Medulla Theologiae , and then have at a Parsonage ; for the Gentlemen is put to his choice , either of Preaching or Starving . Now what a Champion for Truth can we expect from such a one as this ? What a Raiser of Doctrines , what a Confounder of Heresie will he be ? What an expounder of difficult Tex●s ? What a Resolver of Cases of Conscience ? And what a prudent Shepherd to his whole ●●ock ? Now as there are some who think that Two or Three Years continuance at the University , to be time sufficient to fit a young man for being a great Instrument in the Church , so others we have so moderate , as to believe , that a solemn admission , and the paying Colledge-Duties ( without the trouble of Philosophical Discourses and Disp●tations , and the like ) are virtues that will influence as far as Cumberland , and improve though it be as far as St. Michael's Mou●t . So strangely are some People possessed , with the easiness and the small p●●parations required for the undertaking of the Ministry , that though in other Professions they plainly see what considerable time is spent by young Students , before they have any hopes of at●aining to experience and Knowledge enough to practise ; yet to preach to ord●nary People , and govern a Country ●●ock , is usually deem'd such an easie Task , that every one thinks himself fit for the employment ; and that as for the knack of Preaching , as they call it , it is a perfection so easily attained , that he is esteemed a Dunce indeed , that is not able at a very small warning , to fasten upon any Text of Scripture , and to ●eize and tumble it for an hour , till the Glass be fairly run out , without the Clerks jogging ▪ Though indeed a man had better commit himself to the Instructions and Teaching of an approved Cobler or Tinker , whereby he may be duly respected according to his Art and Condition of Life , than to live only a disesteem'd Emperick in Divinity . To supply this want of Education , many of our Youngsters seek to advance their Reputation by affected words or affected and obscure Notions : Believing either out of simple , fantastick , vain Glory , and a great ambition of being admired at , as if getting into the Pulpit were a kind of Staging , that nothing is more to be by them consider'd ▪ than how much the Sermon procures them the gaping and staring of the People ; or else to gain a respect and Reverence from the Auditors , think it convenient to puzzle them , and carry them as it were into the Clouds : Judging , that should the Ministers words be such as comes to the common Ma●ket , plain and practical , he might pass probably for an honest and well meaning man , but by no●means for that thing which he would be thought to be , a Scholar ▪ Whereas if he give a spring now● and then in high Raptures towards the uppermost Heavens , dashing here and there an All● amazing word if he soars aloft in bombasti●●● Huffs , preaches Points de●p and mystical , and delivers the● as dark and Phantastical ; This is the way to be admired , and accounted a most able and profound ●nstructer . Others there are that spice , and besprinkle their Harangues with Greek , and Latin Sentences . In doing of which , though they seem by their ready naming their Authors , to be very conversant with them , yet it many times proves but the gleaning of a quotation happen'd upon by chance ; and sometimes it appears that they are better acquainted with the Character than the sence , like the Parson that being to Preach before his Diocesan , and aspiring to be more learned then ordinary at such a great time , thunderd forth in the middle of his Sermon out of Museus ▪ an amorous piece of Courtship between Hero and Leander ▪ quite from the matter . A strange piece of ostentation to jargonize before Farmers , and Shepherds , or the Patron of the Parish specially if invested with his Lac'd-coated London Visitants ; as if plain words , useful , and intelligible matter were not as good for an Esquire , or one that is in Commission of the Peace ▪ as for him that holds the Plough , or mends Hedges . Another sort there are ●hat stuff their Sermons with frightful metaphors ; flie to both the Indies , ransack Heaven and Earth ; down to the bottom of the Sea ; romage all the Shops and Ware●houses , spare neither Camp nor City , but they will have them . Nay so injudicious and impudent will they be sometimes , that the Almighty himself is often in danger of being dishonour'd ; but then to make amends for their unhallowed expressions , they screw in an as it were , or as I may so say : or else they come in hobling with their ●ame Submission , or with Reverence be it spoken , as if it were not better to leave out what they foresee will be interpreted for extravagancy , than to utter that , for which their own consciences ●ell them they must be forc'd to lay in an Excuse before●hand . Some there are whose metaphorical Knack is all for the Sea , and then you shall hear of nothing but Star-board and Larr●board ; Stemms , Sterns and Forecastles , and such sort of Salt●water Language . Another supposes himself to be some great General , and he divides his Text into the Right and Left Wing ; then he Rears it , ●lanks it , I●trenches it , S●orms it ; then he musters all again , to see what words we●e lost in the Skirmish ▪ and so falls on again , charges through and through , routs , kills , takes , and then Gentlemen as you were . Others there are that are all for lacing their Discourses with Simili●udes , which are not onely of little force in Argument , but very trifling and childish ; especially if you consider the choiceness of the Authors out of which they are furnish'd . There is the never to be enough commended Lic●sthenes ▪ There is that exquisite and most elaborate Piece , The Second Part of Wits Commonwealth ( mind it I pray , the Second Part , not the First . ) There is besides a Book wholly consisting of Similitudes , ready fitted and apply'd to all Preaching Subjects , for the help of young beginners , which nevertheless they make to hit but very odly sometimes . 'T is reported of a Tree that grows by the River Euphrates , the Great River Euphrates , which brings forth an Apple , to the eye very fair and tempting , but inwardly is fill'd with nothing but tempting and deceitful dust : Even so dust are we , and to dust we shall go . Our Souls gape after thee , O Lord , even as the O●●ter gapes . God has knit the hearts of his People in a holy Conspiracy to besiege Heaven . God has taken off the Bridle of Restraint from the Lips of the People . God was never so tempted to bow the Heavens and come down to rescue his People . Others drop into Obscenity like Him , who was alwaies comparing the sinfulness of Man into Menstruous Clouts . Others fetch their Similitudes from the Skies . The mercy of God in sending his Son into the world ▪ was a signal mercy , it was Zodiacal mercy . I say , it was truly Zodiacal . For Christ keeps within the Tropicks : he never goes out of the Pale of the Church . But yet he is not alwaies at the same distance from a Believer ▪ Sometimes he withdraws himself into the Apogeum of doubt , ●orrow and despair ; but then he comes again into the Perigeum of Ioy , content and assurance : but as for Heathens and Vnbelievers , they are Arctic ●nd Antarctic Reprobates . A true Believer , my Beloved is like a Cat , throw a Cat up , throw her down , she will still light upon her Legs : So let Affl●ctions ●oss a Believer any way , he will still light upon the Legs of Faith. The blots and blurs of our 〈◊〉 must be taken away by the Aqua-fortis of our tears ; a most Chymical expression . Can any man imagine how the People sigh'd and cry'd , when the Parson made this Metaphysical Confession for them ? Omnipotent All , Thou art Onely , because Thou art All , and because thou Onely art . As for us , We are not ; for we are but Mites of Entity , and Crumbs of something . As if the Common People were bound to understand Suarez , and the School Divines . Did not he do well who taught that Christ was a Shop-keeper , a Treasury of all sorts of Wares and Commodities , and thereupon tearing his wide Throat , cry'd ●ut , Good People , what d' ye lack , what d' ye buy ? Will ye have any Balm of Gilead , any Eye salve , any Myrrh , Aloes , or Cassia ? Shall I fit ye with a Robe of Righteousness , or with a white Garmen● ▪ see here , what is 't you want ▪ here 's a choice Armory ▪ Shall I shew you a Helmet of Salvation , a Shield , or Breast plate of Faith ? Or will you please to walk in , and see some precious Stones , a Iasper , a Saphyr , or a Calced●n ; what d' ye buy ? It would be an endless thing to reckon up all the follies that have been Preach'd and Printed of this kind . Yet th●re is one of a Person that pretended to great Eloquence in his time , who advising the People to run to the Lord , told them , they could not run to the Lord , much less go without feet . There are therefore two feet , to run to the Lord : Fai●● , and Prayer . 'T is plain that Faith is a foot , for 2 Cor. 1. By Faith we stand ; and that Prayer is a Spiritual ●eg ▪ appears from Ionah 2. 7. My Prayer came into thy Holy T●mple . Heb. 4. 16. Let us therefore go unto the Throne of 〈◊〉 : there being no coming , and going to the Lord without the Leg of Prayer . The same Person added , now that these feet may be able to bear us thither , we must put on the Hose of Faith. For the Apostle says , Our feet must be shod with the preparation of the Gospel . Was it not elegantly observ'd , That Goodness was the milky way to Jupiter 's Pallace . But that which follows was far more neat and curious , full of fancy , and worthy imitation upon those words of St. Iohn ; These things I write unto you , that ye sin not . The observation was , That it is the purpose of the Scripture to drive men to Heaven , which he made out thus ; The Scriptures contain Doctrines , Precepts , Promises , Threatnings , and Histories . Now take these five Stones , and put them into the scrip of the heart , and throw them with the sling of Faith by the hand of a strong resolution , against the forehead of sin , and we shall see it fall before us like Goliah . Now if these things flow naturally , or that a young Levite can blow 'em out of his Nose , how happy is he that can s●oop in his Pulpit , and make use of his Hankerchief , how easie a thing is it to drill out an hour in tickling the Auditors Ears with Parables . But it they come hard , Heav'ns bless us ! how does that poor man labour to make an Ass of himself ? for Similitudes without Judgment are the most ridiculous things in the world : as for example , the Round Earth cannot fill the Triangular Heart of Man. A most pithy expression to set forth the ambition of Mankind . An Errour to be laught at by the Butchers Boys , who know that the heart is no more triangular than a Town-Top . The next Ornament of modern Preaching is , Chiming of words , as Faith , Hope and Charity , Hope , Faith and Charity . Or thus , like the second Peal-changes at St. Pulchers , Revelation's a Lady , Reason the Handmaid , Revelation's the Esquire , Reason the Handmaid , Revelation's the Sun , Reason the Moon : Then by and by Reason leads , Reason is good , but Revelation much better ; Reason is a Counsellor , Revelation is a Lawgiver ; Reason is the Candle ; Revelation the Snuffer . Not unlike this was the jingling determination between the old Covenant and the new . The old Covenant was of works , the new one of Faith ; the old Covenant was by Moses , the new by Christ ; the old Covenant was before , the new one afterwards . The old was first , the new one was second . All which being undeniable Truths , there was an end of the business . To come now to the method of Preaching , you would think they came into the Pulpit to vent their whimsies and conceits , rather than to Preach sound Doctrine . First , before the division of the Text , there must be a Preface , wherein it is of great consequence to make the Text like something or other , according to the dictates of his ingenious fancy . One simpers upon his Auditory , and now methinks , quo he , My Text , like an ingenious Picture , looks upon all here present ; in which both Nobles and People may behold their sin and danger represented . This was a Text taken out of Hosea ; but what if it had been taken out of any other place ? why still it might have been an ingenious Picture , had the Gentleman so pleas'd . For it was a conceit calculated for the meridian of any Text. And truly in my opinion so were all these that follow . Says one , I might compare my Text to the Mountains of Bether , where the Lord disports himself as a young Hart , or a pleasant Roe among the Spices . And there was no question but he did so ; for 't is to be suppos'd there was no body so unmannerly as to hinder him . Saies another , My Text is like the Rod of Moses , to divide the waves of sorrow ; or like the Mantle of Elijah , to restrain the swelling floods of Grief . The first man's Text for my mony ; what say you ? I say this man's — no , you are out — the first man's allusion runs higher . You shall have another climb up to his Text , as thus ; As Solomon went up six steps to the Throne of Ivory ▪ so must I as●end six degrees to come to the high meaning of my Text. Cries another , as Deborah arose ▪ and went with Barak to Kadesh ; so if you will go with me and call in at the third verse of the Chapter I will shew you the meaning of my Text. I assure ye , very pretty conceits , both ; it would gravel a man which to choose . There are besides these several other sorts of Texts ; and truly 't is well there are , for store is no sore . One like an Orchard of Pome-Granates . Another like St. Matthew sitting at the receit of Custom ; a third like the Dove that Noah sent out of his Ark. There have been several Texts like Rachel and Leah ▪ there is one Genesis more wonderful , like a pair of Compasses stradling ; and another much more wonderful then that , Like a Man going to Iericho . The Text being thus chosen , and ascertain'd what it is like , must in the next place be divided , and by and by you shall see an Orchard of Pome-Granates so strangely transinogrify'd , that you would never think it the same thing , and a man going to Iericho so mangled and minc'd that 't would grieve ye to see 't . Nevertheless you must know there is a great difference in the nature of Texts , for some naturally fall asunder , some drip asunder , some dr●p asunder ▪ and some melt . There are some Texts that untwist ; and in others the words are so willing to be parted , that they divide themselves . On the other side sometimes they meet with a sort of Texts , so like Logwood , that they are forced to divide 'em six or seven times before they can make 'em split to their minds . But then , O then , there 's the delight of their Souls , when the sentence ends with a jingling Rhyme , and crys clink i' the close ; as accusatio vera comminatio severa : D●i Amor , Diaboli clamor ; miraculum in modo , miraculum in ●●do . These were Ticklers : But commend me to him that took these words for his Text. Mat. 12. 43. 44. 45. When the unclean Spirit is gone out of a man , be walketh thorow dry places , seeking rest and finding none ; Then he saith , I will return , &c. In which words wonderful things were found out almost past imagination , first there was a Captain and a Castle . Then there was an Ingress , an Egress , a Regress , and Reingre●s ; all these things followed of consequence , in regard of the Castle . But then there was unroosting , and unresting ; for the Castle was taken . Then there was number and name ; that was in reference to the Garrison . Then their was Manner , & Measure , Trouble , and Tryal ▪ Resolution and Revolution , Assault , and Assassination , Voydness , and Vacuity . Thus you see by the lucky finding out that Captain , and that Castle , what a world of other business fell in course . This 't is to have an exuberant fancy , and to have one Eye i' the Air , and another upon his Text. But more to be admired was he , that out of these eight words , Weep not for me , but for your selves , spun out no less then eight parts . 1. Weep not , 2. But Weep . 3. Weep not , but Weep . 4. Weep for me . 5. For your selves . 6. For me , for your selves . 7. Weep not for me . 8. But for your selves . This Gentleman had a strange Command of his tears , Nay he could weep and not weep , he was Weeping Master General of England . Every Man to his calling : the Souldier to his , Prime your Pan , cock your Match , blow your Cole , Present , &c. The Weeper to his , Weep , weep not , weep not for me , for your selves , weep and not weep ; Who would not go to this Gentlemans grieving School for an hour or so , to hear how prettily these words of command run ? Nor was he to be less respected , who taking his Text out of Gen. 48. 2. And one told Iacob , and said , Behold thy Son Ioseph ●ometh unto thee , presently made it out to the People that his Text was a Spiritual Dyal For said he , Here are in my Text twelve words , which do plainly ▪ represent the twelve Hours ▪ Twelve words and one told Jacob , behold thy Son Ioseph cometh unto thee , Here is farther , behold , which is the Dyal that turns & points at every word in the Text. Behold And , behold one , behold I told , behold Iacob , Again behold , And , behold Said , behold , behold , which is the reason that this word behold is placed in the middle of the twelve words , indifferently pointing at each . Now for the Doctrines , Observations , and Inferences raised from their Texts , they are without all Compare . One takes for his Text , that of Isaiah 41. 14 , 15. Fear not thou worm Jacob , &c. thou shalt thresh the Mountains . Whence he observed that the Worm Jacob was a threshing Worm . A second from the Text Gen. 44. 1. And he commanded the Steward of his house , saying , fill the mens Sacks with Corn , as much as they can carry , plaid this division upon the plain song , That great Sacks and more Sacks , would hold more than few Sacks and little Sacks : For look , said he as they came prepared with Sacks and Beasts , so they were sent back with Corn. The greater and the more Sacks they had prepared , the more Corn they carried away , the lesser and fewer they had , the less Corn they carried away ▪ Let the World judge whether this Gentleman was not resolv'd to speak truth . No less careful of uttering truth was he , that upon Iohn 2. v. 15. And when he had made a Scourge of small Cords , he drave them all out of the Temple , made this Discovery ; 1. That a Scourge might be made in the Church or Temple , And when he had made a Scourge . 2. That it might be made use of , ● he drove them out of the Temple . Upon Matth. 4. 25. And there followed him great multitudes of People from Galilee , he proved another Columbus , thus , I discover , saies he , when Iesus prevails with us , we shall leave our Galilees . 2. I discover also a great Miracle , that the way after Jesus being streight , that such a multitude● should follow him . But never was Hawk more quick ●ighted than he upon Matth. 5. 1. And seeing the multitude , he went up into the mountain ; where he discovered , 1. That Christ went from the Multitude ; 2. That it was safe● taking warning by our Eyes ; for seeing the multitude he went up . 3. That it was not always fit to be upon plains and flats with the Multitude : Then upon the latter part of the words , And when he was set , his D●sciples came unto him ; he discovered , 1st , That Christ was not always in motion . 2dly , That he did not walk upon the Mountain but ●at ; from whence , in the 3d place , he raised this Admonition to the People , That when they were teaching , they should not move too much , for that was to be carried away with every wind of Doctrine : unheard of curiosities ! O these University Wits ! there are no men in the World like ' em . Will ye have a short & witty Discovery ? mind this upon Mat. 6. 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one Cubit to his Stature ? The Discovery was ▪ That whilst the Disciples were taking thought for a Cubit , Christ thought fit to take them down a Cubit lower . How divinely was he inspired , that made the following Discoveries upon Matth. 8. 2. When he came down from the Mountain great Multitudes followed him . 1. That Christ came down , as well as he went up . 2 ▪ That the Multitude did not go hail fellow well met with him . Such a man as this deserved a good Living ; for he spoke nothing but upon solid grounds . But now here 's a discovery deserves to be recorded in History . Matth. 12. 47. Then one said unto him , behold , thy Mother ▪ and thy Brethren stand without ; but he answered and said , who is my Mother , and who are my Brethren ? upon which he discovered , that Jesus was upon Business . Others there are , who being appointed , or chusing to preach upon some point of Divinity , avoid the plain and easie places , tending or relating to that Subject ▪ and fetch it in by Head and Shoulders out of foreign Texts nothing at all to the purpose ; which shews a great Master piece of Learning ; for then the People cry , I could not Imagine what Mr. such a one drove at ; but yet at length how cunningly he brought it in . — He 's a quaint man. Suppose for Example , that a young Gentleman were to preach up Episcopacy , you shall have him baulk all other Texts and take this , Sirs , what shall I do to be saved ? For the Greek word for Sirs , being Lords , therefore they were bishops that were spoken to . Another being to preach up Kingly Government , forsook all other Topicks , and chose that of the Evangelist , Seek first the Kingdom of God. From whence he prov'd that Kingly Government was most pleasing to God ▪ And indeed , but that some men are not so apprehensive as others , the thing is plain ; for the Text does not say the Common-Wealth of God , nor the Aristocracy of God , but the Kingdom of God. But what could be more quaint than this ? Suppose I were to preach against non Residence ; I would scorn the common road●● Why ? What would you do ? Oh! I have it i' my head already , I would chuse that of Matth. 1. 2. Abraham begat Isaac . For ( and I wonder how a man could miss it ) had Abra●am gone a gadding abroad , and not resided with Sarah , he had never done his business , he had never begat Isaac . If there be any who think I enumerate these things out of disaffection , they have as little Charity for me , as they have for themselves , there being nothing more frequent among them , than Envy , Passion , Repining , and supplanting of each other . There is certainly a most profound and awful Reverence to be paid to a true , ●ound , and Orthodox Teacher and Expounder of sacred Writ ; but for every Whiffler in Divinity to arrogate that esteem to himself , meerly for his Habits sake , without intrinsecal worth , is a meer presumption . They should labour by imitation of their betters , to gain that esteem , which would be then their due . But instead of following their Studies , as they ought to do , you shall find some idleing away their time in Coffee Houses , and chattering State Affairs , which nothing belong to them . Others you shall meet handing young brisk Ladies in the street ; a most unseemly ●ight to see long Gowns and Petticoats together ; as if there were not lac'd Cravats and Ruffles enough about the Town for that amorous employment : To say truth , we have too much pratin● in England , especially in great Cities , where the Bells never lie still all the Week long , from Six a Clock in the morning , till Five at night . And all this to feed the Qstentation of our Pulpit-Thrashers . And yet all this while even Preaching itself , is , without all doubt , not to be accounted so essential a part of Divine Worship , as Prayer is . In which assertion I take the greater boldness , knowing that Sermons are only well studied Exhortations , and methodiz'd Instructions , whose chiefest end is but to incite men to the duty of Prayer , or ●each 'em the right use thereof . An Exercise confin'd within the narrow limits only of Industry and sound Learning ; of which great Perfections there are but ●ew of your common Hackny Sermon-makers , that are too too much guilty . Were Sermons therefore less frequent , they would be much more valued : For then would men have time to meditate , and their abortive Irreverences would not drop so often from their Mouths , without Soul or Life , as not having staid their time in the Womb of Meditation . I will appeal● to the reason of any man , whether it be within the Verge of Mortality , for a person to Preach at Six of the Clock in the Morning in Cornhil , by Ten at St. Martins Outwich , and in the Afternoon to be posted out of Town Six or Seven Miles with a Job of Journy work , to please a Benefactor in the Country . Nor is this all , three or four casts of his Office on the Week days , and his hand always open at an hours warning for a Funeral Fee besides ▪ Surely such a one must have a large stock of ready cut and dry●d to set up withal , or must be a great Conner of other mens works , or else it is impossible that such a superabundance should be other than the riff●raff , and quicquid in Buccam venerit of a mercena●y Brain . Neither is this one single Doctors opinion . I find that Reverend and Learned Prelate , Bishop Andrews , confessing his own insufficiency to Preach twice in one day , and giving to his Afternoon Exercises the severe appellation of Prating . Which shall we follow then ? The light of such a Star of the first Magnitude in the Firmament of the Church of England ? Or the Clouded Reflections of meer Divinity Meteors , that run whisking up and down to vent their undigested conceits , as the Wind of their Phantastical Doctrines agitates ' em ? What a strange peice of ridiculous Devotions it is , that half a Score Astrologizing Conjurers cannot meet over a Leg of Mutton● and Colli-●lowers , but they must have a pickl'd Sermon to prepare their Stomachs . A Usurer cannot die , a man perhaps that got the very Reward of his Funeral Oration over the Devils Back , but he must have a Sermon forsooth , in praise of what he never had , his laudable Virtues . But these are accounted helps , or additions , to an ordinary living . And truly if double diligence were a Trade , this double Diligence and carking good Husbandry might be excus'd , to satisfie the clamours o● a Wife for a new Gown , or a fine Petticoat . But it is not for those unjustifiable expences , or to maintain the Pride of Parsons Wives , that there should be a due , and competent maintenance allowed the Clergy , but to preserve them from that contempt that falls upon poverty . For , Nil habet inf●lix paupertas durius in se Quam quod ridiculos homines facit . — 'T is a sad thing to see so many young Officers in Divinity sneaking in several Villages of the Nation with a lamentable exhibition of ten or fifteen pounds p. Annum , and either teaching the meanest of the Parish , or learning themselves to drink Ale , and smoak Tobacco i' the Chimney-corner at old ●ammer such a ones House , while he that enjoys the larger profits of the same Parish , is taking his pleasure in some place of more benefit , and better a dorn'd with pleasing Society . And indeed there is nothing can be thought to have more hinder'd the People from a due estimation of the ●ommon-Prayer or Liturgy of the Church , than the employing so many pit●●ul striplings , and illiterate old mumblers to read those sacred Forms of Prayer : Not does any thing more keep back the dissatisfi'd People of the Nation , from coming to Church till the Service be over , than that it is hurried over by some underling twelve pound a year Disciple , with whose Education they are so well acquainted as to know him scarce able to read the Lessons without conning them over . For though the Office of a Reader be only to read word for word , yet People love he should be a person that understands what he reads . But if such a one ventures into the Pulpit , 't is then a hundred to one but he pra●es all the Congregation asleep ; for 't is a hard matter for the people to believe that such a one can talk any thing to the purpose , that wants ordinary food for his Family , whose best meal all the week is the Tanners Beef and Pudding for his empty Sermon on ●unday ▪ or that his advice and admonitions can come from Heaven , of whom Providence seems to have taken so little care . Were true vertue and right Judgment reigning in the hearts of men , such idle prejudices would vainly be suppos'd , and the Doctrine that proceeded from the most tatter'd habit , would be as acceptable as the sayings that flow'd from he mouth of one clad in Silk . But in regard the world is not so absolutely perfect , it is never to be question'd whether the Alms-Man-Teacher of a Parish can be respected by those to whom he is beholding for his daily Bread. Whether the that cant look out of his Pulpit into the Church but that he spies one or other , upon whom he depends , and for want of mony has not confidence to reprehend his Sex●on , can utter with courage any thing that can be so benefical to his people , as to render them his diligent hearers , and hearty respecters . The Divine Service 't is true is the same , whether read in a Cathedral , or a Thatch'd Church ; whether read by an Archbishop , or the meanest of his Priests . But as the Solemnity of the place has a great influence upon the peoples devotion , so likewise the condition , and quality of the person that reads it , whose circumstances , as to this life are so bad , and low in this world . Nor do they delight to confess their sins , or sing praises to God with him who sighs more for want of mony , and Victuals , than for his trespasses , and offences . Nor indeed can this well otherwise be . For where the Minister is hard pinch'd as to the tolerable conveniences of this life ; the chief of his care must be spent , not in considering what Text to take , what Doctrine to Preach , what Authors to make use of ; but the chief of his though●s must be how to live , and provide for his Family . He is musing when the next comfortable , and seasonable Goose , or the next Basket of bak'd Pears will come to cherish his forlorn Stomach : and how he shall hold out till his small offerings come in . He is pining after the consolations of the next Christning Cakes , and the comforts of the next Marriage , or Funeral . In the midst of these fears , disasters of great consequence attacque him . The uncompassionate Kite surprizes two of his unfortunate Chickens out of the number of three : his only Sow miscarries : His Neighbours Horse breaks his Hedge , and devours the sustenance of his si●gle Cow. To him the los●es of a Spanish Merchant , and far more distracting ; nay we 'll suppose him sometimes forc'd to mount his slow●pac'd Pegasus , between a pair of Dossers , to carry his brace of Geese to Market , for the return of a brown Loaf , and a hard Cheese : Cares which are altogether incompatible with Study . The other are considerations befitting a poor mans thoughts . For a Family cannot be govern'd by Texts and Contexts ▪ not will the Infant that lies crying in the Cradle be satisfied without a little milk , and perhaps a little Sugar too , though there should be some short System of Divinity in the House . But grant that our Diminutive Divine be at somewhat more rest in his mind , and that he have some kind of competency to answer the cravings of Humane Nature ; yet not being able to purchase the necessary helps of good Books , it is impossible he should eve● attain to those accomplishments which are requisite to gain him that esteem which should give him credit in his Preaching ▪ For it is not a small six●peny Concordance , nor a Latin Book of Sentences , no● Caryl upon Pin●da , nor Dod upon the Commandments , not Clarks lives of Famous Men , wherein many things are taken upon trust , that will do the work . Divinity is a copious study ; and there are so many great men that have writ upon the Subject in all its parts , as require the purchase of more Languages than one : so that they who are disenabled from the purchasing part , are no way to be entrusted with the teaching par● . A great pity no doubt , that thus it should be , for there are certainly no doubt , several in this condition , whose better parts and ingenuities are curb'd and depress'd by these Domestick necessities . For , Ha●d facile emergunt , quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi — But such is the eagerness , and ambition that some people have of going in●o Orders , that though the Churches , and Chappels we have , are enough , considering the bigness of the Nation , yet in respect of that infinite number that are in holy Orders , there is a very great want ▪ Now whether it be most convenient to make Ministers for Churches , or Churches for Ministers is the Question . But the Proverb is , talk of any thing but building of Churches . For if we build more Churches , we must make more Land for their endowment : which cannot be done without drying up the Sea , and that 's a very difficult Task . However they will get into Orders ▪ come what will of it , though perhaps they understand neither their message nor their business . For some are hugely in love with the meer Title of a Priest , or Minister ; others fancy tha● a●long Crape Gown and Cassock is a handsome garment , though it be in the Winter , and never paid for . But if they get but a Scarf about their Necks , by vertue of a Chaplainship in some Noble Family , then how big they look in an English Booksellers Shop ? for the Latin ones they ●eldom haunt , as being out of their sphear . From thence they cluster to the Coffee House , there to order the Government , and rail against the Dissenters , men of far more understanding than themselves , and shew an equal composition of discretion , learning , and Charity , of each two drams ; their discretion in medling with those things that nothing concern them ▪ their learning in the management of their Arguments , and their Charity in the continual invectives against they know not who themselves , and of whom they know no more by due proof , but that they are their fellow Christians . 'T was a happy invention for the Crape Gown Men this setting up of Coffe●Houses ; For to drink in Taverns was scandalous , to be seen in an Alehouse more unbeseeming ; but to sit idling away their time in a Coffee●House , like the Disciples of H●ly and Mahomet , till it be time to go to farthing Lantralew with a young Gentlewoman , that 's an employment without the verge of reprehension : Especially if they can be heard to rail loud enough , like the Popes white Boyes , against Heresie , Schism , and Fanaticism . But what 's become of Rome , and the so much exclaim'd against Babylon ? Those are Airy Notions now , Fanaticism and Dissenterism is the mode now , and as they are modish in their Habits , they think it more convenient to be modish in their Sermons . Besides the Papists are a sort of cunning Fellows , they argue shrewdly , they dispute Philosophically and Metaphysically . And there be many knotty points in controversie between them and the Church of England , which cost King Iames , Archbishop Laud , and several others , much pains and labour in those days to re●ute , and of late have put Bp. Gunning , Bp. Barlow , and Dr. Stilling fleet to look to their Hits : And therefore our Crape Gown men think it more convenient to let them alone , than to betray their folly and their ignorance . But for the Fanaticks , they are more easily dealt with : 'T is but going into a Pulpit and calling a man Fanatick , and he 's presently confuted with a jerk ; 't is but calling a Dissenter Schismatick ; 't is but calling Religion Division , and there 's an end of the business . The Observator's learned half Sheets come easily at a Penny a piece ; but Grotiu's Works will cost Four Pounds odd mony , and that will go far in a new Crape Gown , and a narrow brim'd Hat , with a Perriwig to boot . And therefore who would not chuse a lazy Coffee●drinking Life , with the pleasure of good Company , and suffer themselves to be deluded back to the vomit of Popery , though to their own destruction , than undergo the labour of a studious Life , and improving themselves in the soundness of that Doctrine which they outwardly profess ? But let them consider how vainly they contend to suffocate what God has so miraculously detected ; let them consider the inconveniences of being led astray by mercenary Scriblers against the discoveries of Heaven ; let them consider how wonderfully Providence has protected the Church of England , of which they pretend themselves the Sons and Children , against all the various and bloody Machinations of Popery against it , ever since the first dawn of Reformation ; and upon these considerations let them at length give over their cologuing adherence to the Fascinations of Rome , bearing in mind that assertion of sacred Writ , That there is no Enchantment against Jacob , nor Divination against Israel , the lot of Gods Inheritance , and his peculiar care . But then again , how strangely conceited are they , that after a long consideration , serious meditation , and recollection of mind , are so vain as to put their Conumdrums , their Quibbles , and their Quibus's in Print ? I met the other day with the quaintest Raptures and Extasies in a Bathonian Sermon , Preached and Printed by a Golden Minister , that certainly the Wit of Man never invented spr●cer , 'T was a Plot upon himself , to make himself the Chrysostom● of the Age. You shall see how he plays with the Greek , as a Cat plays with a Mouse . H●st thou a Kepha●algia , does thy Head ache ? Hast thou an Opthalmia , are thine Eyes infl●m'd ? Hast thou an Aphonia , is thy Speech taken from the ? Hast thou an Osphyalgia , do thy Loyns chasten thee in the night season ? Mark ▪ my Beloved , that Seraphick Interpretation of the word Osphyalgia . Hast thou a Volvulus Inte●●●●orum , a Miserere me● , and forced to cry out , Oh , my Bowels , my Bowels ! Hast thou a Kakocroia , is thy Body turned black and sallow ? Hast thou a Paralysis , is the use of thy Limbs taken from thee ? This is called playing at Shittlecock with Greek words . What man of sence could have refrained from laughing in the Church , to have heard such a piece of Pulpit Buffon●y . The same Person from Iob. 26. 21. undertakes to prove that the Bill of Exclusion was contrary to Scripture , and that the Parliament were a Company of hot Headed fellows , for reprimanding and making Thompson kneel at their Bar. Now would I fain know what Iob had to do with the Bill of Exclusion , or the Parliaments severity . But Heavens bless us , when some men get into a Pulpit , they are so rampant , so hoytie toytie , they know not where their Tails hang. In the next place commend me to that incomparable and admirable Translation of a piece of Latine , printed by the Ludgate Excommunicator , Nunquam nec Albiani ▪ nec Nigriani , nec Cassiani ▪ inveniri ▪ potuerunt Christiani : that is , Never was true Christian found a Traitor to his Prince . This 't is to have a sharpness and accuteness of Wit beyond the common reach of Mankind . Now lastly , I cannot but admire at that delicate Inscription that ▪ was printed upon the Portigo of a Nuptial Harangue . The Royal Merchant , or a Sermon , by which you are to understand , that the two married couple were to take a Trading Voyage to Matrimony , and that Matrimony is a Trading Voyage . Whether what hath been said will have any operation upon our Crape Gown men ▪ or no , I know not ; But that they may see how ridiculous they are when they stand fretting , and fuming , and heating themselves about State Affairs in their Pulpits , they are desired to read the short Sermon that follows , which if it be not altogether their own words , I am sure is altogether their own sence . The SERMON . RABLAIS , Chap. 32. Vertu nescio quo . The Grandgousier sending to know what the matter was , found that some of his people had taken certain Simnels from the Subjects of Picrochol . MAn of all Creatures is the onely creature that proposes to himself an Aim and an End in what he does . For Man is the onely Creature that Thinks . Yet there be some that say the Beasts do think as well as he . Rorarius for one : Who that Rararius was , I cannot tell : I must confess I never read him , but I have heard say so , and that 's enough . Neither do I believe a word he says : And my great Argument is this ; for that it is impossible that a Beast should have Reason . You 'll say perhaps , What is this to the purpose ? I come not here to extol my own parts , as being the meanest of my Tribe . But the sight of so many Worthy persons as I behold in this Assembly , inspi●es me , methinks , with higher thoughts . Therefore it is that I have led ye out of the way , that I might have the happiness to lead ye into the way : therefore it is that I have carried ye afar off , that I might have the opportunity to take ye all by the hands & lead ye home again to my Text. My Text , that is like a shady gloomy Wood ; where , as I may say , a man cannot see Wood from Trees . Here is in my Text a certain Meaning and profound Sence to be found out , that lies concealed among Bushes and Underwoods . And thus it is a frequent thing among us , after a long hunting to start a Hare in a Wood ; and then we pursue the little Animal with a full Crie . And thus , my beloved , as I have brought ye into a Wood , so I must endeavour to help ye out again . Here is a certain person in a brown Study , pondering , and meditating , and considering with himself ; and at length , after a serious exercise of his Thoughts , he found there was something in the Wind : And therefore he sent to know what was the matter . So then ▪ my beloved , here is the Hoti , and the Dioti . Here is the Hoti , because he found there was something in the Wind : And here is the Dioti , therefore he sent to know what was the matter : Then Grandgousier ▪ sending to know what was the matter , found , &c. Here is then the Person , Grandgousier : Here is the person that sent : Here is the person that sent to know : Here is the person that sent to know what was the matter . Then here is the person that found : Here is the person that found out , the person that found out that some of his Subjects ; that some of his Subjects had taken away the Simnels from Picrochols people . Then here is Grandgousier the King ; a King that sought , a King that sent , a King that found , a King that found out what was the matter : In a word ▪ a King that made a great discovery . He was a King , for he had power : He sent ; he sent and found out ; he did not send by the Penny-post-men of little value , he sent persons of Wisdom and Discretion ; persons that sought ▪ persons that sought and found . Verum enim vero quando quidem dubio procul quoniam ita certe● res se habet , quoth St. Bernard ; and therefore in the management of State-affairs , as it behoves a Prince to have wise and discreet Counsellors about him ; So that Prince who has not , shall never make those Discoveries which otherwise he might . For it is plain from my Text , that a King did , and a King may make a Discovery . But forsooth , we have a sort of people in this Nation that will have the King make no discoveries ; that would have him be altogether in the dark : I have 'em in my eye , and I shall have a touch with 'em presently . Well then , here is a Discovery made by Grandgousier , that his Subjects , that his Subjects had taken away , that they had taken away the Simnels from Picrochol's people : Then Grandgousier , sending to know what the matter was , found that some of his people had taken certain Simnels from Picrochol's people . Leaving therefore the first part of my Text , I shall come to the Discovery , the Discovery made of the Simnels being taken away by Picrochol's people . Of all which in their order . The word Discovery , in the Hebrew Ietour , in the Greek Apocalypsis , in the Latine Detectio , signifies the disclosing of a thing concealed : and indeed we have had of late years strange Discoveries . Discoveries of Popish Plots , Meal●tub Plots , and Presbyterian Plots . As for the two first , I believe nothing of them : For Rome and we are agreed : And why the Pope or the Papists should plot against us , I neither can nor will understand . And besides it is contrary to the Doctrine of Sam 's Coffee-house : But for the Presbyterian Plot , I believe it from my heart : For the Presbyterians , my beloved , are the Subjects of Grandgousier , and so are all the rest of the Dissenters , and Fanaticks . Grandgousier signifies Rebellion in the original : and therefore saith that Famous Origen , Sufficit nobis quod cognoscimus Patrem Ga●agantuae , & abolebitur nomen eju● . Now then Grandgousier's Subjects are discovered ; and so there 's the first thing made out , that is the Discovery . And here I must tell ye , my beloved , that there is a great contention between the Subjects of Grandgousier ▪ and us that are the people of Picrochol , concerning the Succession . Now we have disputed and argued the Case among our selves , and we find the Succession to be as plain as the Sun at noon-day : For David begat Solomon , Solomon begat Rehoboam , and so onward , and still you see they succeeded one another . And though I will not be so severe as to blame every particular Parliament man ; yet this I dare be bold to say , they carried the business higher than they needed to have done : For Loyalty is Loyalty , according to the words of St. Cyprian ; Toyaute taute Foberot●ton Hapantoon tan tan toon toon . Neither can Loyalty be Disloyalty , not Disloyalty be Loyalty . Now as there are signs of Grace , so there are certain ●igns of Loyalty . In the first place , for a man to wear ● Scarlet Twist under his Hat-band , is a great ●ign of Loyalty : For there is a strange Sympathy between the Heart and the Hat. As the Heart moves , so the Hat moves : If the Heart be dutiful and respectful , off goes the Hat. A disloyal Heart , a disloyal Hat : Which we find too true by the Quakers themselves ; who will neither put off their Hats , nor Swear before a Magistrate , Two great marks of Disloyalty . I remember , my beloved , that Pantagr●el dreamt a Dream , and his Dream was this : he dreamt that he was beloved and caressed by a fair ●ady ; but at length , that he was metamorphos'd into a Drum , and the Lady into Madam Madge Howlet . So it is with the Quakers , while the Lady Faction caresses them in their fond Dreams : but the time is coming , and I hope to see it , when they shall be turned into Drums ; that is , be ratled and thumped till they roar again ; and Faction shall be turned into a Female . Buzzard , according to that of the Poet ; Hystero● , tantomen megalopton otera whyon . Again , my beloved , Scarlet is a Royal Colour : The Robes are Scarlet ; and therefore they that wear Scarlet Twists i' their Hats , must of necessity be true blue , as they say . For the Twist signifies Allegiance ; and Scarlet signifies Cordial , as being the colour of the Heart . So put both together , the Twist and the Scarlet , and there 's Cordial Allegeance . The second mark of Loyalty , is to drink the D.'s health , and cry Huzzah — If you stamp upon your Hat at the same time , 't is still a sign of a more transported Loyalty . For by tra●pling upon your Hats , you shew you readiness to throw your Lives and Fortunes at his Feet . But to return to the word Huzzah — It is a word of a most sublime signification — It was invented for the use of the Knights of the Order of St. Dive Bo●●eille , as you may read in Iosephus's Antiquities of the Iews . Some derive it from the Hebrew word Hoz , which signifies Wealth or Riches , to shew that when you drink the D.'s Health , and cry Huzzah , you drink it out of the abundance of your Loyalty . Others derive this Seraphic Huzzah from the Hebrew word Hazah , to snore or be sleepie ; and then it carries with it this signification : That no man ought to snore or sleep when the D.'s Health is drinking ; or if he do , that he ought to be waked i' the Devils Name with a Huzzah . — There is one more sign of Loyalty , and that is when you hear a quaint Notion stream from our lips , or the Fanaticks run down with a powerful Sa sa , and a whipping , quipping jerk , to cry Hum , — hum , — hum , — We love Humming mightily — nay , we 'll give you liberty to cry Huzzah , — i'the Church too , so it be out of a cordinal affection to Humming . Thus you have the Discovery , and the Discovery made . And now I come to the Third part , and that is the Sim●els , or the taking away of the Simnels . Upon the opening of these Words , the Cabinet of my Text discloses unto you three things . First , That the Simnels were taken away . Secondly , The persons that did take them away , viz. The Subjects of Grandgousier . And thirdly , from whom ; from the people of Picrochol . And first of the first , That is , of the taking away of the Simnels . Here it is plain , from the Words of my Text , that there was a wrong and injury done ; the Simnels were taken away . Not willingly , you may be sure ; for else there had been no c●use of complaint ; but by force , by violence , against Law , and against Reason these Simnels were taken away , Violentia extra modum est violentia Carnalis , saith Origen ; the fittest Author in the World to be quoted u●on this Subject . For as he made himself an E●nuch and guelt himself ; so would the Subjects of Grandgousier , the Subjects of Rebellion , geld us of our Simnels , take away our Simnels by ●orce and violence . Now , my beloved , me thinks I hear you asking me what these Simnels are ? These Simnels , my beloved , are the Rights and Priviledges of us Church-men . These are the Simnels which the Subject of Grandgousier , the Fanaticks and Dissenters , men that will not crie Huzzah — nor wear Scarlet Twists in their Hats , would take away from us . There is our Simnel of Bowing at the Altar : There is our Simnel of the Surplice : There is our Simnel of Eccles●astical Jurisdiction , and that has many Plum● in it . The Plums of Commendation : The Plums of Excommunication : The Plums of Endictments , Fining and Imprisonment for Conscience sake . Then there is our choicest Simnel of all , the Simnel of our Livings and Tythes . And lastly , there is our Simnel of Succession : For the Dukes Case is a hard Case , my beloved ; the Scripture tells us so . All these Simnels , my beloved would the Fanaticks , the Subjects of Grandgousier , take from us by force and violence . Now if the King and the Council , and the Lord Mayor , and the Justices of the Peace , will not mind these things , we are to put them in mind of their duty , and their neglect of the Church . And then again , if the State do think the Fanaticks to be ill Members of the Nation , disturbers of the Government , and do prosecute them for that reason , then are we to encourage the State , to bring Texts of Scripture for the State ; then are we to run with the Stream of publick business , to Glose and Flatter like true Politicians , and all this that we may not lose another Simnel of ours , which is the sweet Simnel of Preferment . Were I now to preach before a great Magistrate that had the Power in his hands , I would say , My Lord , you bear not the Sword in vain — The Fanaticks , the Fanaticks , the Subjects of Grandgousier , the Sons of Rebellion , my Lord , would take our Simnels , our Rites and Priviledges from us . Where are all your Penal Statutes , your Fines , and Imprisonments ? Let 'em be fin'd and imprison'd , nay hang'd my Lord. Let 'em be excommunicated . Do you send 'em to us , and we 'll excommunicate 'em , and then we 'll send 'em to you again , and do you send 'em to 〈◊〉 , my Lord. What 's the reason we have not Juries and Common-council-men for our turn ? The Land mourns for the sins of Juries and Common-council-men . And it is your , and other Magistrates duty to look after these things . Now if my Lord should say , Trouble not your heads with these things that nothing concern ye ; Do you endeavour to refute and convince them of their Errours by sound Doctrine and good example of Life : Then would I say , No , my Lord , they will never be convinced by us ; for we have not Wit nor Learning enough to do it , neither can we take so much pains . 'T is easier to talk an hour about State-affairs , and make Satyrs against the Fanaticks , than to preach convincing and sound Doctrine . The Fanaticks therefore must be confuted by Bolts and Shackles , by Fines and Imprisonments , by Excomunications and Exterminations ; And therefore pray , my Lord , let 〈◊〉 be scourg'd out of the Temple ; let 'em be whipp'd out of the Nation ; and let us not lost our Simnels through Os●itancy and Spanish Consideration . And so I come to the last part of my Text , the People of Pi●rochol . Who are they ? The People of Pi●rochol , my beloved , are our selves : Picros in the original signifies bitter , slingie , sharp ; and Ko●e signifies anger . And have not we reason to be bitte●ly angry , stingily angry , sharply angry with those that would take away our Simnels ? So have I seen , when a young Child has carelesly held a piece of Bread and Butter in his hand and looked another way , that a Grandgousier Dog has come and snatch'd away the Childs Bread and Butter , the Child 's Simnel , and run away with it . Thus we are not to hold our Simnels carelesly in our hands ; but we are to watch and take care that our Simnels , our Rights , and our Priviledges be not taken away . Fears and Jealousies ; Jealousies and Fears : Strange Fears , strange Jealousies are among us . The City is ill principled ; our Sheriffs are Whiggs ; our Common Council and Jury-men are rotten at Core. Hence our Fears , hence our Jealousies ; hence our Jealousies , hence our Fears ; our Simnels are in danger . But 〈…〉 In the mean time , you have heard what Loyalty is . Do you continue your Loyalty ; Remember Forty One ; wear Scarlet Twists ; cry Huzzah . — and Hum in the Church . And leave the rest to our care . FINIS . Advertisement . A Pleasant Conference upon the Observator and Heraclitus , &c. by the Author of this Speculum . 
A54793	----	Speculum crape-gownorum, the second part, or, A continuation of observations and reflections upon the late sermons of some that would be thought Goliah's for the Church of England by the same author. Phillips, John, 1631-1706. 1682 Approx. 95 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A54793 Wing P2111 ESTC R21006 12610820 ocm 12610820 64372 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A54793) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 64372) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 772:11) Speculum crape-gownorum, the second part, or, A continuation of observations and reflections upon the late sermons of some that would be thought Goliah's for the Church of England by the same author. Phillips, John, 1631-1706. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 40 p. Printed for R. Baldwin, London : 1682. First edition. Has been erroneously attributed to Daniel Defoe. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Clergy -- England. 2004-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-09 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-10 Jonathan Blaney Sampled and proofread 2004-10 Jonathan Blaney Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Speculum Crape-Gownorum , THE SECOND PART . Or a Continuation of OBSERVATIONS and REFLECTIONS Upon the Late SERMONS Of some that would be thought GOLIAH's FOR THE Church of England . By the same AUTHOR . LONDON : Printed for R. Baldwin . 1682. The Second Part of Speculum Crapegownorum , in a Dialogue between Priestlove and Meryweather . Priestlove , I Say , and I still say , that had it not been for the Observator and Heraclitus , the Nation had been ruin'd ere this . Mery. How Friend Priestlove ? Priestlove . Nay , how me no how 's , for 't is very true . Mery. Not so hasty — For will you prefer a Brace of Quacks to a whole Colledge of able Physitians ? Priestlove . I prefer no Quacks . Mery. Yes , you do — For the Observator and Heraclitus are a couple of meer pretending Quacks ; they find the Nation labours under a Scorbutick distemper , and they come with their French Congies , and cry , Me cure de State. Me cure de State , when they know no more of State-Physick , unless it be to Draw a Blister , than Horse-Leeches . Priest. I care not for that , I stand to my first Assertion still . Mery. This 't is , not to consider : for in so saying , you dishonour the whole Society of the Crape-Gown Order of D. D's , and B. D's . and the more inferior sort of Rectors and Vicars , who have now undertaken to be the State Physitians themselves . And do you think that the Applications of Bow Church Sermons , Guild-hall Sermons , Assize Sermons , and Anniversary Sermons are not much more wholesome for the present distempers of the State , than the Euphorbucum and Cantharides of the Observator and Heraclitus ? Priest. Both Applications may be good in their kinds . Mery. Oh Sir , but the Levites pretend their Licences from Heaven , which th' other can never lay claim to : So that the other are meer Intruders ; and whether the Levites do not practice beyond their Skill and Commission is much to be question'd . Priest. The Scripture commands obedience and submission to the Government ; they are commanded to Preach the Scripture , therefore they are commanded to Preach Obedience to the Government . Mery. That is to say , in Civil affairs , they are to Preach General Obedience to the Laws and the Government ; but thence it does not follow they are to be Judges of the breaches of that Obedience : For were it otherwise , they were to take their Texts out of Polton , and not out of the Bible . For example , were the difference between the People and the Magistrate , whither the Statute of Jeofails , or the Habeas Corpus Act were to be Repeal'd ; what have they to do with that ? No more than the Pinner of Wakefield . Would it not be fine sport , to hear the Pulpits ring with the Habeas Corpus Act , or the Statute of Jeofails ? You are commanded to obey the Statute of Jeofailes , you are commanded to obey the Habeas Corpus Act , Job 36.21 . In like-manner , what have they to do with Associatians and Addresses , as they are the Disputes of State ? For let them talk till their Lungs ake , they can never prove by Scripture , that either political Associations or Addresses are forbidden , in reference to the English Government . But if the Prince shall once declare his particular dislike to such proceedings , then are they to press a general Obedience to his Will and Pleasure , so far as is consentaneous to Divine Writ . Priest. Who shall be Judge of that ? Mery. The very definition of a Christian Loyalty it self : That is to say , That vertuous and inviolable Fidelity which the Subject ows to his Lawful Prince , by vertue of the same Obligations and Ties by which he is bound to God : And this is that true Christian Obedience which every true Minister of the Church ought to inculcate into the hearts of their Hearers by the force of pure Divinity , not Arguments of State , which are fluctuating and inconstant ; in regard that Reason of State , and alteration of Government may alter the case of Obedience upon various occasions ; in so much , that in the quick Turns and Revolutions of the latter end of H. 8. Ed. 6. Queen Mary and Elisabeth , some of the greatest promoters and Practisers of Politick Obedience , were asham'd at last of their frequent compliance , and retir'd out of the way ; as you may Read in the History of the Reformation it self . Priest. You have given a nice Distinction of Loyalty , pray make it out . Mery. The first is that Christian Obedience which is due to the supreme power by the Law of God , so far as may stand with the Sacred Interest of Salvation . The second is an Obedience upon the moral motives of Human Interest to the Law of Man , which may sometimes impose commands which a sincere and upright Conscience may in some measure scruple at , nay positively deny a submission to : as in the case of the Three Children ; or by a late fresh example in the case of the late times , when even temporal obedience was refus'd by all that adheard to the King whom dire necessity did not compel to it . Priest. The late Times , what d' ye talk of those Usurpers . Mery. However to talk like a Divine , it was a Supreme Power , tho' set over us for our sins and our punishment : And most certain it is , that both we and the Calvinists agree in this , That , Etiam Infideli Magistratui obediendum est , with safety of Conscience . I only speak this to shew , that men are not to urge upon the Conscience so severely , that were so nice of it themselves . Priest. Well , but then to the second . Mery. The second , which is an Obedience to commands enjoined by the Politick Constitution and Frame of Government , I think there is no Dissenter in England , that would not be accounted a Rebel , but would confirm it to his Prince with his Heart , his Hand and his Purse . And this is properly call'd Loyalty , Loyaute , Legalidad , ( all from the Latin word Lex ) which acts according to the Laws of Nature and Policy , as being due first to those Laws , and then to the Minister of those Laws , as the derivation of the Word plainly implies . Which being the chief satisfaction to the Civil Magistrate , it seems hard that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction should make such a heavy clutter for her far less inconsiderable mite of a coercive power . Just as if one and the same man owed the secular claim a Hundred thousand pound , and the Ecclesiastical pretensions Twenty pound ; the Secular Magistrate should be bound to give no Release for the whole Hundred thousand pound , because the same person requested the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to abate Five pound of her Twenty . Priest. Is there nothing then due to the Church of England . Mery. Yes — the Noblest Tithes of the World — the Tithes of Unity , Love and Charity . Priest. Why do they not pay them ? Mery. Pay ' em ! They dare not come nere ye . Up ye get into your Pulpits , as into so many Beacons ; where ye raise such a Flame , that they 're afraid of the Countries coming in upon ' em . But doubtless had that method been us'd by those who have taken another course , of teaching true Christian obedience , without reflexions , flames , and virulency , that Vnion had been long since accomplish'd , which the Protestant Interest at present so much laments ? Priest. Tush — they 're a stiffneck'd Generation that will never conform . Mery. No ? There 's one , Mr. Read by name , has fairly lead the way . You will not let him read the Liturgy of England in a Church , where would you have him read it ? upon the top of the Monument ? Or what would you have him do with those Souls that have commited themselves to his charge , and are so well satisfi'd of his conduct to Heaven ? Will you hear his own words ? He tells ye , first , That he has advis'd with his Brethren in the Ministry , who did acknowledg the lawfulness of using the Liturgy in the Ordinary Lords-day-Service . That his Principles are these , That Obedience to the Majestrate in things Lawful is a duty . That a form of Prayer is lawful . And that Communion in such Churches is lawful . Now why must Grand-Juries , and Petty-Juries be put to the trouble to vex and torment such men as these , and deter them from their good intentions ? Priest. Because of the Law. Mery. As to that Law ( for I know you mean the last Law against seditious Meetings . ) I have this to say : First , I do not find that the makers of that Law do assign the least breach of Political Obedience against the Dissenters : only there is a Supposition , that an Insurrection may be hatch'd at such a Meeting : So that as long as there is no such thing done as the Law supposes , where there is no Transgression there can be no Punishment . So then it remains , that this Law was obtain'd by some part of the Clergy for their own advantage , and to render themselves the more formidable to their Dissenting Brethren . In the second place , it was never yet known in this World , that ever any Civil Magistrate , or Supreme Power , made a Law , with an intent to punish any good man. This Law against Dissenters punishes many a good man , therefore never intended by the Supreme Power against the Dissenters . Now , that the Dissenters are good men , I prove from David's own description of a good man in Psalm 15. where putting the Question to himself , Vir bonus est Quis ? He answers , first as to the Civil Government , Qui ambulat integre , exercetque justitiam ; That is , He that behaves himself dutifully and obediently toward the Civil Magistrate , and justly toward his Neighbour . Now that the Dissenters are , at least outwardly , under the guard of these descriptions of good men , is plain , for that no Informer complains against them for the least breach of Civil Obedience either in Word or Deed as to any other Law , but only the single act of Nonconformity to this Statute . So then the Statute not being intended against them , as being good and vertuous men , and conformable to the Civil Government , they can be guilty of no Nonconformity to the commands of the Civil Power : For the Civil Power , by this Act , enjoyns nothing but Peace to be kept ; with the breach of which , no Informer as yet hath taxed them . That the Dissenters are not guilty of any Nonconformity to this Act , in referrence to the Ecclesiastical Power , I offer thus : The Statute enjoyns the Exercise of Religion , according to the Liturgy of the Church of England , which contains no more than only Truth . If then the Dissenters speak and pray according to Truth , they exercise according to the Liturgy of the Church of England . The Psalmist therefore proceeding in the next words , after he has declared who does well in Civils , tels us who does well in Spirituals ; That is to say , Qui loquitur veritatem ex animo suo , He that speaks Truth from his heart : But the Dissenters do speak Truth , nay the Truth of Truth , Divine Truth , and therefore exercise according to the Liturgy , and as such they are good men , and so to be accompted , in foro Ecclesiastico . Now then put it thus . Never any Law-givers ever made a Law , with an intent to punish any man that speaks Divine Truth ; But this Law against Dissenters punishes many a man that speaks Divine Truth : Therefore never any Law-givers intended this Law against the Dissenters . And the same Argument holds for the Hearers , as well as the Speakers , for that the hearing of Divine Truth is as Lawful as to speak it . So then , if the Dissenters , as intended by the Act , were to be punished , they are Transgressors ; but the Dissenters not being intended by the Act are no Transgressors : Therefore the Dissenters are not to be punished by the Act. Or thus : If the Dissenters , as not intended by the Act , are not to be punished , they are Innocent ; but the Dissenters , as not intended by the Act , are not to be punished : Therefore the Dissenters are Innocent . The reason why they are not intended by the Act ; is because they are Loyal to the Civil Government , and Obedient to the Spiritual , for that they Speak and Preach Divine Truth . And then , That the Dissenters Preach Divine Truth is easily thus proved ; The Church of England Teaches Divine Truth , the Dissenters teach the same Doctrine with the Church of England : Therefore the Dissenters teach Divine Truth . From whence we may inferr , that to persue such Vast Numbers of People under the Notion of Dissenters with the Lash of a Law , that assignes no breach of publick disobedience or Publick disturbance , no detriment to the Publick Revenue , or forbidden Acts of private injury , but only the supposition of an Offence deduced and inferred from the bare separate Excercise of Divine Worship , seems an extremity too much simpathizing with uncharitable , worldly Interrest , that misses more the separated Purse than the seperated Person . The moderate Party themselves confess , that as to those who purely and out of Conscience refuse to conform , their Circumstances are hard . And it is as hard , that of all the Penal statutes , these that have the fairest plea to soften them , should be so loudly awakened to their Offices , when those against the crying sins of the Nation and more destructive to Government , lye dreaming out a Lazy Being for want of Employment . And indeed Friend Priestlove the case seems much the harder , in regard that the Turk in the present height of his Tyranny and Popular reverence of his Mahumatisme , yet lets the disconsolate Greeks have the free Exercise of their own Religion which is all the happiness they have to boast of in this World. Priestlove . I care not for your Greeks or your Jews neither ; I tell you the Presbyterians are a company of Traytors and Plotters . Does not the Observator and Heraclitus tell yee so ? and do not the streets ring of their Plots ? Merry . Truly you are well hope up with two special Fathers of the Church of England . What if they should tell you that the Moon were made of Green-Cheese , would you believe ' em ? Priest. Yes , that I would , so long as they wrote against the Presbyterians . Merry . Well , but where are these Presbyterian Plotters ? You see the Popish-Plotters have been visible enough , at the Old Bayly , Westminster-hall , Tower hill and the Gallows ; where be these Presbyterian-Plotters ? Do they walk in the Clouds ? or have they got every one a Gyges's Ring in their Pockets ? Has your Observator been all this while observing , and observed none of 'em yet ? Whoever they be , let 'em be brought to the Stake , and let the Observator and Heraclitus have the pleasure of Roasting 'em to death , the next burning of the Pope , for the reward of their great pains . However , I will not undertake to justifie every individual Dissenter ; there may be Turbulent , Factious and Ambitious persons of all Professions , and under all Masks of Religion . Nevertheless , I hope you would think it a great peice of Imprudence , for a man to throw away a whole Quarter of Wheat , for the mixture of a Peck of Tares . If your Observator and your Heraclitus would bring their Winnows and their Skreens , and separate tke Corn from the Chaff , they might then gain some applause perhaps for that , which now runs about the World only for scandal and impertinence . Priest. I must tell ye , they have no decency , no decorum in their Worship . Mery. As how ? Priest. Why you shall come into a Meeting-House , and while the Minister is in his Pulpit , there you shall see a company of People , Young and Old , Rich and Poor , sitting upon their Bums , their Hats pull'd over their Eyebrows , with their Pens , and their Books , and their Blotting-Papers , all so busily employed , as if they were so many men Copying of News-Letters , and this in such a strange Ethiopic Character , that no-body can tell what they Write : They may be setting down their last Weeks Gains and Expences for ought I know . Nay , I saw one so wedded to his Hat , that after the Minister was in his last Prayer , he would not stir it from his Head , till he had concluded what he had to Write , wiped his Pen , screw'd his Inkhorn , fix'd his Blotting-Paper , clasp'd his Book , and put it in his Pocket : and by that time the Minister had almost done . Mery. All this while , this is no disobedience to the Law. However , I wish there were no greater obstacle of Protestant Unity than this , since it would discover a very extravagant obstinacy indeed , if the promise and performance of the Reformation of such an inconsiderable scandal as this should be refus'd . For indeed , Friend Priestlove , I must here close with you , that it seems to me a very indecent thing for the Ambassador of so Almighty a Prince , as the King of Heaven , to be uncover'd , and that the Hearers should receive the glad tidings of Salvation in so unthankful a Posture . I speak not this so much out of respect or veneration to the Walls , or the Pillars , or the place it self , but to the Message deliver'd , the Deliverer , and the Time of Delivery . But now to retaliate your Indecorum , I will tell ye of another Indecency , which I take to surpass yours , from which , I can except no Parish-Church within the Lines of Communication ; and which I look upon to be the mischeif of Pews , not us'd in other Reformed Churches ; and that is the hideous noise and clatter in the time of Divine-Service . For it behoves Mr. Sexton , or Mrs. Sextoness , to have a vigilant eye that day , knowing that Christmas will come : And the greater the reputation of the Minister that Preaches that day , the worse it fares with mortal Ear and disturb'd Devotion . At one end of the Church come in Two or Three Women , and then perhaps in the midst of the Absolution , slap — slap — slap ; by and by come in Three or four men together , and then 't is , Our Father which art in Heaven , slap — slap — slap ; and if the Lock be a little refractory , then three or four slaps more into the bargain . By and by comes a whole shole of Slugabeds , and then 't is , We beseech ye to hear us good Lord ; slap here , and slap there , slap there , and slap here ; slap a that side , and slap a this side ; slap — slap slap . Anon come in two or three gay Peticoats , then upstarts Mrs. Ginglekey from her Hassock , opens this Pew , and that Pew , and then 't is , Lord encline our hearts , &c. Slap here , and slap there : And thus there is no end of Slapping all the whole Prayer-time ; as if the Pew dores had been ordain'd to supply the place of Organ Responsories ; a confusion that would not be endur'd at a common Musick-meeting . Priest. This is so customary , that no-body minds it ; and besides , it may be very advantageous to keep people from falling asleep . Mery. Then keep your Dores open while Prayers are done , and slap 'em in Sermon-time . Priest. But how will you help it ? Mery. Nay , look you to that ; I am sure 't is a very great Indecorum . Go to the Observator and Heraclitus , they are wise men , perhaps they 'l advise you to Oil your Locks every Saturday night , and line your . Pew-dore with Cony-skin Furr . But I 'le tell you of a greater inconvenience than this , and that is the Translation of Hopkins and Sternhold . I may call it a Common Nusance to the Service of the Church ; a Translation ( to use Mr. Abraham Cowley's expression ) that hath revil'd David worse than Shimei . You shall find the famous Dr. Don bewailing the scandal that attends the Church by reason of their permission , and utterring his complaint in these passionate Expressions : For I must not rejoyce as I would do , When I behold that these Psalms are become So well attir'd abroad , so ill at home . Dr. Patrick gives this Character of it , That the words are mean & uncouth , and that the sence of the Prophet is often mistaken . To say truth , the words are opprobrious to the present Language , to all Rhime , Reason and common Sence . To satisfie your Judgement , I will give you a tast of some passages , but not so commonly taken notice of , beside those already obvious . But Lord , out of my Mothers Womb I came by thy request . Do you believe now , that ever David was so unmannerly , as to tell God Almighty , that his Mother had never brought him into the World , unless he had desir'd it ? Now for down-right Barbarisme , Lord , when wilt thou amend this gear ? Why dost thou stay and pause ? This seems to me to be a kind of expostulating with God for taking too much consideration . This that follows is quite out of season : I shall depend thy Grace upon ; With all my heart and Lust. What use young and illiterate persons may make of such a provocative as this , I leave you to consider : For they are ignorant that Lust had two significations before , and now but one . In another place he would make you believe that the Universe was govern'd by some ordinary Mechanick . For , saith he , — Their hearts were nothing bent To him nor to his Trade . It put me rather in mind of the Shoemakers Saint , and the Knight of the Burning-Pestle , that run away from their Master Take this peice of modesty or immodesty , which you will , for 't is as you please to interpret it , and then I have done . Her inward parts are wicked plain . These and a whole Regiment of horrid Barbarismes of the same nature , together with the sordid Nonsence and villanous Rhimes that attend 'em ( if they may be so call'd , because so intended , such as Piller and Hopper , and a thousand more ) are accusations and proofes sufficient to prove 'em guilty , and to condemn 'em ad Cloacam , as a dishonour to all Divine Worship . Priest. All this is nothing , the people will sing ; and should you bring in new ones , they will say we are bringing in Popery . Mery. This , indeed , is the common Crape-gown excuse : Much like what was alleadg'd in the Council of Trent , That no alteration in Divine-worship was to be made , tho' for the better , for fear of intimating a fallibility before . But I hope our young Crape-Gowners are better taught at Sam 's Coffee-house than so ; or else they keep their Sanhedrims there to little purpose . But there is another reason , these Gentlemen are so addicted to Haranguing , that they have no time to spend in mending Psalms ; as if the gingling of an Alamode Sermon were the only Musick that pierced Heaven . And thus you see I am as much for the honour of the Liturgy of the Church of England , as you can be for your life . Priest. Well , because you clos'd with me before , I will close with you now : For I must confess I never look'd upon Sternhold and Hopkins to be Poet Laureats , of all the men in the World. But you know , Sir , now-a-days , there 's more got by one Play , than by Twenty Volumes of Divine Poetry . Mery. And then another thing is this too , your Crape-Gown men sit musing i' th' Vestry over the Church-Wardens Half-pint , till the beginning of the last Stave of all ; and so never hearing the Old , what should they concern themselves with a New-Translation ? Besides , they have most of them very ill voices , or such an aversion to Harmony and Concord , that they care not a straw for singing ; believing farther , that God gave them their voices only to baul , and not to sing . Priest. Well , well , jeer on , you 'l get nothing by 't , Heraclitus will pay ye off ; he 's a parlous man : He and the Observator are to take upon 'em shortly the Title of Subdefenders of the Church . Mery. There is one Indecorum yet remaining which I have frequently met with , and desire you to give me your judgement of it . It proceeds from the pride and vanity of several Crape-Gown men , that Preach more out of Ostentation than Instruction . Priest. What 's that ? Mery. Why , 't is your Church-Huzzaing , or Hum-humming in the Church . To this end you shall have the Popular Chrysostom , would be cantonize his Oration into so many parts , as he may think it proper , so expect Hums . Each of these parcels of sublime Eloquence are tipt at the end with a most glorious Euphonema that cries chink i' th' close , which charms your ears and dazles your understanding both at a time , and then the Gentleman makes a Sembrief rest , and looks about him . Priest. And what then ? Mery. Why , the signal being thus given , the Church is streight in an uproar , Hum , hum , hum ; Hum , hum , hum ; in so much that you would even admire the Bells don't ring backwards of themselves . To these kind of Sermons , there are wanting only a Prologue and an Epilogue to entitle 'em either to the Buskin or the Socc , according to the quality of the Subject . Priest. Oh , I find where you are , you would not have an Eloquent , Orthodox Minister encourag'd . Mery. Yes , but not like a Player : For by the same rule , you may as well hiss 'em , when they displease , as hum 'em up , when they tickle your ears . And besides , it shews very ill , at the same time , to reproach a Meeting-house , and make a Theater of the Church . Priest. Well — I shall tell the Observator and Heraclitus what you say , they 'l give you an answer I 'le warrant ye ; I remember your three Accusations , Pew-clapping , Sternhold and Hopkins , and Church-Huzzaing . Mery. Do so , and commend my Service to 'em , and tell 'em , there 's no-body ever car'd a straw for 'em yet , that had either Wit or Sence in their Heads . Priest. But you were talking , I remember , a little while a-go of Size Sermons , Anniversary Sermons : and Guild-hall Sermons , What have you to say against them ? Mery. I say still , I do not like your State-Sermons ; 't is such a piece of Pageantry as was formerly us'd to Preach up the Titles of Princes : Sometimes the Scripture was for the House of York , sometimes for the House of Lancaster ; 'T is such a Spiritual Agency in Secular Affairs , that nothing can be more Jesuitical . You may know what a Clock 't is , by the Chiming of the Cathedral Pulpit . Priest. Oh Sir , upon extraordinary occasions , and in extraordinary places , men come to shew their Parts and their Learning , not their Divinity . Mery. There you say something indeed ; For now-a-days , down-right Divinity , is accounted no more than down-right Dunstable : Which you may gather from the usual answers to the common Questions . What is such a one ? A good , honest , plain , down-right man. What is such a one ? Ay , marry Sir ! there 's a Quaint man indeed ! He 's a yerker ye saith ; He claws of your Fanaticks . Good God! what a strange itch of being accounted a Quaint Man has infected our Crape-gown Gentility ! And yet there is no understanding man , but will give more attention to one of Gifford's plain Sermons , than to a Hundred Theological Orations , that make the Pulpits roar like so many Matrasses of Aurum Fulminans , under the Guard of an ignorant Chymist . Priest. What of all this ? Mery. Why , I say , that Satyr and Divinity are ill-match'd ; they look like a White and black Horse i' th' same Coach. Satyr is one thing , Reproof another ; the latter for the Pulpit , the former for the Stage . And therefore the Booksellers have a pretty good Prospect of the Business , while they lay out so exactly Play and Sermon , Sermon and Play , that a Man might almost play at Chess upon their Stalls ; and in the course of the Game , here snap a Rook upon a Play , there a Pawn upon a Sermon . Nay , it is come to that pass too , that Plays and Sermons are both of a known value ; Twelve Pence one , Six Pence t' other , come as many as will : Nothing so certain as Plays at Twelve Pence , Sermons at Six Pence a piece , and Long Thread Laces , two a Penny. Priestl . I see whereabouts you are ; You are for a dull , heavy , flat , insipid Sermon , without Salt. Salt savours all Things , saith Salomon the wise ; and if All Things , Sermons . Eene eat your Shoulder of Veal by your self for me , if you will give me neither Butter nor Oranges . Merr. Why then , it seems , Rayling against the Phanaticks , as you call 'em , is Sawce for a Modern Sermon . Priestl . It both embellishes , and takes to boot . And besides the Phanaticks are now the onely People , that have Abettors and Upholders ; Alas , as for the Pope or Anti-christ , as ye call him , he ( good Man ) is in a sinking condition ; the King of France is tearing from his Head the Third Part of his Triple Crown ; And would it not be an ungentile Act , to trample upon the Unfortunate ? But the Fanaticks are Rampant , and headstrong : They are for Petitions and Associations ; They are followed by Throngs , and Multitudes . Merr. That 's no fault of theirs ; if the People finding their Doctrine to be as good as Yours , are more taken with their Plainness , than with your Flashes , your Extasies , and Raptures . Priestl What should the People follow them for , like a Company of Phanaticks , as they are ? Merr. What They d'ye mean ? Priestl . Why I mean the Phanaticks . Merr. Who are the Fanaticks ? Priestl . Why — the Fanaticks are the Fanaticks . Merr. Very well — I see you do go to Church sometimes , you repeat so well . What a happy thing 't is , to hear an A-la-mode Sermon ? A Man may bring away the greatest and chiefest Part of it in a smart Epitome , without the troublesome help of that Mark of the Beast , call'd Short-hand . — But what sort of things are these Phanaticks ? are they Men or Mice ? Priestl . They are such as the Observator and Heraclitus call Phanaticks . Merr. They ! Why , they don't know themselves who they are . Priestl . I care not for that ; I believe in Them ; and whoever They be , that they call so , are so . Merr. Y' are a Fool. — They get their bread by calling Men Phanaticks — They 'l call you Fanatick if you vex ' em . Priestl . Gad — if they do . — Merr. What then ? Priestl . I 'le tell 'em , I love the King. — Merr. So do Thousands and Thousands of those they call Phanaticks , more to the purpose , and more Substantially , than ever they did , or ever will do , or are able to do ▪ Priestl . What d' ye mean by Serving the King Substantially , and to the purpose ? Merr. I mean , They that obey all His Civil Commands exactly , and both can and do pay their Taxes , and their Duties well ; and are as ready to serve Him with their Swords i' their Hands ; Not Beggars , that cry God Damn 'em , God Bless the King , that live only upon the spoiles o● His Bounty . Priestl . Well , but for all that I will not see my Parsons abus'd . — Merr. Your Crape-Gown men , d' ye mean ? Priestl . Yes . Merr. There 's no body abuses 'em , they abuse themselves . — Priestl . As how ? Merr. Well — now I come to them — 'T is to me the greatest wonder in the World , that so many Six Penny Cuts should buz about your Eares like Dor-Flies in Summer ; ( for their impatience is such , that they cannot stay till they amount to a Volume ) considering nevertheless , as if they lay under the Engagement of the Self-denying Ordinance ; with what a strange Reluctancy , what an inestable Unwillingness , what an unspeakable Constraint , they are forc'd , press'd , and urg'd to expose the Six Penny Embryo , either an Obliging , Caressing , endearing , bountiful , munificent Lady , that cannot , must not , will not , be deny'd , obliges , under the high , and never to-be forgiven Penalties of Ingratitude . — Or else the most Beneficial Patron beseeches , obsecrates , entreats , implores , nay will have it so ; or else Authority Commands ; Subscrib'd Wag-staff — And then out comes the Sermon , like Oyl of sweet Almonds , squeez'd between two Tin Plates — sometimes it slips forth like a wet Cherry-stone between your Thumb , and fore Finger , without their knowledg . — Priestl . You 'l tax 'em with Hypocrisy , by and by . Merr. By no means , Dear Sir — I onely shew ye , what plunges they are put to , to get rid of their Modesty — Self conceit crys , Out with your Sermon , Sir , — No pray , Sir , don't , cries Modesty ; And then she lays before him a hundred Arguments of Infirmities , Unworthiness , want of timely Notice , alias Surprize , and the like — Out with it crys Vain-glory , 't is as good as ever was tipp'd over Tongue , Sir — And this is the poor Man so tortur'd and tormented , that he can take no rest ; till at length Eager desire of Applause , plause , pittying his Condition , fetches one great Person or other to sollicite for her , and so Friendless Modesty is forc'd to withdraw behind the Curtain . Priestl . I tell ye , Sir , these Sermons are the Lights , by which we discover the Gentlemens Parts . How should we see the Gentlemens Parts , if they hid their Lights under a Bushel ; that is to say , if they did not Print their Sermons ? Merr. Prithee let 'em Print their Sermons , till Fools Cap be Five Pound a Ream if they please , but then let 'em Print 'em without Epistles and Dedications , or such at least wherein 't is plain their words , and their minds have as little Coherence , as their Texts , and their Sermons . Priestl . Hoyty-toyty , — They shall come to You , to know what Epistles and Dedications they shall make ! Merr. No-no , Sir , I never expect it — They have a Guide of their own , that knows how to apply himself to Ladys and Gentlemen of all sorts and Conditions . Priest. Well then , pray set your Heart at rest — I say they shall make what Epistles and Dedications they please , so they Preach against Forty One. Merr. Hush — you don't consider how the Observator has of Late disturb'd the sweet sleep of Forty One ; and therefore , prethee be thou more merciful . Priestl . Merciful ! what to Forty One ? I 'le wake him and wake him , and keep him awake like a Lancashire Witch — but I le make him Confess . — Merr. What ? Priestl . That the Presbiterians hold King-killing Doctrine , like the Jesuits . — Merr. — Good now harp no more upon that string . Priestl . Harp no more upon that string ? Gad I 'll go and do your Errand to the Observator and Heraclitus immediately . — Merr. Do so — but in the mean time harp no more , I say upon that string — For if the Presbyterians do hold King-killing Doctrine , They Learnt it from the Church of England Men. Priestl . Ye Lye. — Merr. Patience — or I 'le call the Constable . — Priestl . Call the Devil — I say ye Lye. — Merr. Govern your Passion , Sir , d' ye understand Heraldry ? Priestl . Yes . Merr. Why then , Observe — Edward the Sixth's Church of England - men begat Queen Elizabeth's Church of England - men — Queen Elizabeth's Church of England - men begat King James's Church of England - men — King James's Church of England - men begat Charles the Firsts's Church of England men — Charles the First 's Church of England men begat Charles the Second's Church of England men . — Priestl . Begat , and Begat ? Why ; I don't think the Church of England men dropt out of the Skie . — Merr. That 's not the point . — Priestl . — What then ? Merr. Why , then I say , you do not Read in any Story , since the Growth of Christianity , that ever any Crowned Head was ever brought to a Formal Barr of Justice , till MARY Queen of Scots was Arraigned , Try'd , Convicted , Sentenc'd , and formally Beheaded by Queen Elizabeth ; and the Clergy were a part of the Body , that pressed and urged the Queen to hasten her Execution . Priest-l . The Interest of the Protestant Religion then requir'd it . Merr. Oh! but your Bathonian Doctor tells ye , you must not do ill , that good may come of it . How strangely the Case is alter'd ? Queen Elizabeth mig●●●ut a Sovereign Prince to Death to secure the Protestant Religion , but now 't is a crime to exclude a Popish Succession that menaces the destruction of it . Priest-l . What d' ye talk ? now I think on 't , she was a Plotter against the Queen . Merr. Could ye blame her for Plotting ( though she absolutely deny'd it ) against a Person that kept her from the Enjoyment of her Kingdom ? One that had deceiv'd her with Chains and Imprisonments , after she had made choice of her Kingdom for Sanctuary and Assistance . Priest-l . Well but now I think on 't again , I have something to whisper in your Ear , in the behalf of Queen Elizabeth . Did not Jehu and Jehoiadah cause Jezebel and Athaliah to be put to death ? Merr. That won't serve your Turn . — They were neither of 'em Sovereign Princes . The Queen of Scots was an Absolute Princess ; nay , She insisted upon Her Sovereignty too , and Her not being Accountable to any , but God : But nothing would do ; She that came for Succour , met with a Heads-man for all that . Priest●l . Well , I 'll say this for Queen Elizabeth , tho She be dead and gone , That I am confident She would never have done it , could She have told how to have avoided it . Merr. That may very well be ; for we find , that the Nobility , and Chief of the Clergy would never let Her be at quiet , till She had given Order for the Execution . And therefore 't is plain , that the Church of England-Men did hold King-Killing , or Queen-Killing Doctrine , which is the same thing . So that , if Knox , Buchanan , or Calvin first taught the speculative Part , the T'other first put it in Practice , and set the Fatal President , that Others follow'd . Priest-l . Grant it were so , — the Case is alter'd now . — Tempora mutantur & Nos mutamur ; What our Fore-Fathers did , is nothing to Vs. Merr. The same thing may be said of the Presbyterians , who always disclaim'd the Fact , were the First that endeavour'd to prevent the Vnfortunate Tragedy , and the First that put their helping Hands to the Restauration of the Right Heir . It cannot be imagined , but that the Queen of England , Restless as She was , what to do at that Conjuncture , consulted the Choicest of Her Divines and Her Chaplains , in point of Conscience ; and it is as evident , that they in some measure satisfied Her , by the Event . So that either they spoke against their Consciences , or else they were of that Opinion , which you condemn in others , but cannot discover in your selves . Therefore keep close to Your Texts , and let Six Hundred Forty One sleep in the Bed of Oblivion , lest you wake Five Hundred Eighty Seven about your Ears : Who , should he be once conjur'd up , will hardly be laid again by all the Skill of Sam 's Coffee-House . Priest-l . Well , well . — Leave it to Them. — They 'll find out a way to salve all this Business , I warrant ye . Merr. This I only speak ( Neighbour ) to put you in mind , that there were formerly , certain People in the World , called Pharisees , Persons that always extoll'd their Own Holiness and Vertues , and laid Crimes and Miscarriages to the Charge of Other Men ; perhaps , not so guilty as Themselves . More than this , I find by one of the great Satyrists against the Late Times , Nebuchadnezzar but very odly justifi'd , for putting out Zedechiah's Eyes . We do not wonder at the Ruin of Zedechiah , nor was the Ruining of him a Crime on Nebuchadnezzar's Part. Priest-l . He gives ye a Reason , I warrant ye . Merr. A notable one . For ( says he ) Absolute Princes are Co-ordinate , and stand upon the same Level ; and if upon sufficient Provocations the one happens to gain his Neighbour's Crown , the Fact is Just by Right of Conquest . Priest-l . Well — what think you of it now ? Merr. Truly I wonder I did not meet with this Argument in the King of France's Declaration , to Justifie his Invasion of Flanders . But how does this justifie the Ruining of Zedechia ? For if the King of France should Conquer the King of Spain , it does not presently follow , that the one must put out the others Eyes . Priest-l . But if the one be Subordinate to the other , which was clearly the Case of Zedechia , the recovery of the Crown is in the Supream Prince an Act of Justice , and the punishment of an inferior Prince who abjureth his Fealty , is by all Nations allow'd to be a Righteous Act of Vengeance . Priest-l . Could an Angel have said more ? Merr. An Angel ! Why I say this is all nonsence . For there was never any such thing as Subordinate Soveraign in the World. A Soveraign Prince though meaner in Power , is equal in Priviledge and Dignity to the most puissant . When he becomes Tributary , he is only Titular , and no Soveraign . If Zedechia were Monarch of Judea , he was equal to the Assyrian Monarch , and it was a crime in Nebuchadnezzar to ruin him , and put out his Eyes . And I would fain know , what Nation i' the World , ever thought it a Righteous Act of Vengeance , to punish a Tributary Prince for endeavouring to recover his People and himself , from Thraldom and Sworn homage , to which the Fortune of War had reduc'd him . If Zedechia were only Nebuchadnezzars Slave , his Viceroy , or Substitute , then the Case alters in●eed ; but to talk of punishing Subordinate Soveraigns , is to countenance the crime , against which the Gentleman was exclaiming all his Sermon along . Priest-l . But Nebuchadnezzar all this while did not cut off Zedechiah's Head. Merr. Truly much at one — For Chains and a Head without Eyes , could be no extraordinary comforts to a meaner Man then Zedechia . Priest-l . Well Sir , the Sermon was a good Sermon , and the Gentleman meant well . Merr. And I wish him the Honour he deserves , that Nebuchadnezzar were now alive to make him his Chaplain . Priest-l . There 's no need of that ; He is already Chaplain to a Great Person , and serves a fine Gentleman . Merr. That he does with a Vengeance — For you may read him acknowledging himself the most abject Slave in the World , to pin a piece of Flattery upon his Patron . Priest-l . Where have you pick'd up that ? Merr. In the Dedication of the Sermon before mention'd to the D. of S. in these Words . So far am I from owning that Principle , That man is born free , That I Confess my self and all that bear my Name , to have inherited such a State of servitude to your Lordship , as if according to the Mosaical Custom , Your Noble Ancestors had bor'd the Ears not of our Progenitors only , but of their whole Issue . Priest-l . Will ye blame him for his gratitude ? Merr. By no means ; but this is such a piece of gratitude , as never was heard of , to disown himself Born free , to involve his whole Generation without their consent , and entail a perpetual slavery upon his Succession , for Chaplain-Entertainment , and admission to the First Course . I cannot tell what large possessions he may hold from his Patron in soccage ( For he will not allow 'em in Frank Almonage ) but certainly they cannot be so great as to entitle Him and his Posterity to such a Servitude as he would fain aspire to . For if he disown his Freedom in a Theological Sense , he denies the Scripture ; if either in the Ethical or Political Sense , let him have what Opinion of himself he pleases ; we are not bound to believe his Paradoxes , and deny our selves one of the chiefest Blessings that Heaven and Nature has afforded us . — Licet , ut volo , vivere ; non sim Liberior Bruto ? Priest-l . Don't tell me , I 'de not give a rush now adays for a Complement without a Hyperbole . Merr. That 's as much as to say , Your Worship loves to be Flatter'd — May that happiness attend your Worship — 'T is Prince-like indeed — But for my part , I am for none of your Hyperbolical Complements , especially in Dedications to Sermons . For it shews there may be much of Poetical License in the Sermon too , that follows . But wee 'l leave the Gentleman to have his Ears bor'd by his Patron ; and consequently mark'd for what he professes himself to be ; and pass on to the Quintessence of Courtship ; such a piece that I do not find the like in all the Academy of Complements . His first Oblations are to the Mother in this Seraphick Phrase . For as for your Ladiship , I must beg Pardon of your Modesty to say , That your great Prudence and Piety is a sufficient guard against all Temptations to those sins , which in this following Discourse are found guilty of all the Miseries and Mischiefs of mankind . Prist-l . Bless me ! What 's here but a Zealous Complement ? Merr. A Complement , Sir ! Why 't is the Elixir of the Miseries of Love and Eloquence . It ought to have been written with the Quill of an Angels wing in Letters of Gold , and sent upon the Wings of a Lark to St. Winifreid . Priest-l . Do you know Sir , what the Lady is , or what her Vertues are ? Merr. No Sir , neither will I derogate from them . She may be a Lady after Gods own Heart , for ought I know : But I am sure it was such a sufficiency , that neither David nor Solomon with all their Prudence and Piety could ever boast of . And therefore it argues a high piece of Sycophantism , to attribute those praises and sufficiencies to Mortal Frailty , which are meerly supernatural ; and for which the Person himself is forc'd to beg pardon of the Ladys Modesty before he can proclaim ' em . 'T is palpable he strain'd hard , and that his Brains were upon the Tenterhooks for a piece of purse-opening Sublimity . Priestl . Why , what if it did produce him Twenty broad Pieces , or so ? what then ? Merr. Nay , he deserv'd it double for what he afterwards gives to the Son. Of whom ( says he ) I think , I may without Complement , say , That he seems to be so made by Nature , as if God had on purpose fram'd him , to demonstrate the Beauty and Lovelyness of Virtue , to those of his Quality , in this Degenerate Age. Priestl . And all this may be real — For ( he says ) he speaks it without a Complement . Merr. Nay , by your leave he does but think so neither . — For my part , I wish the Dedication may not have prais'd the young Gentleman out of the World — For 't is the General Observation , that Persons of such rare perfections seldom live long — I remember a Gentlewoman that lost a hopeful Child once , and the Nurse gave that reason for it . But you do not Observe , Sir ; Here 's a young Gentleman made by Nature , and Fram'd by God , and the Master-piece of both it seems . So that if there should be never another such a Pattern in all His Majesties Dominions , you must not think it strange . Priestl . Truly , I must confess , this is something an Incomprehensible Complement . Merr. Nay , he goes higher yet . Priest-l . 'T is impossible ! Merr. Yes he does ; and that most soaringly too . For ( says he , speaking of the aforesaid Gentleman ) so naturally is he inclin'd to all good , and averse from any thing that is evil , that one would almost think that he alone was exempted from that General Corruption and Depravity of Nature , which all other men derive from Adam . Priestl . 'T was well that Almost came in , in Time — My Hair began to stand an end . Merr. You see he has made the young Gentleman Almost a God upon Earth . Had it not been for that Almost , and one single Imperfection more in the Gentleman , that he suffer'd this Complement to be made him , not much more could have been attributed to the Humanity of Christ himself : and you are also to mind the word alone , upon which the stress of the Complement lyes . Priestl . 'T is ill plac'd — I don't deny it — But yet I would fain find out an Excuse for this Gentleman — because I believe him to be a Tory. — Merr. Do you believe this to be a Hyperbole , or no ? Priestl . Yes — I tell ye . — Merr. Why then you must believe it be a sublime Piece of Flattery : And yet this was done by one that arraign'd and convicted all the Sins of Mankind — Your Humble Servant , Robert Wensley . Priest-l . Well — but you shall make an excuse for this Gentleman . — Merr. Troth , I can't do it — you must e'en go to the Great Excuse-Forge in Ludgate-street — there you will find the Lay-Chairman of the Crape-Gown Committee , whom you may first Fee , and then Employ — But the jest is this , that after the Gentleman has Seraphim'd and Cherubim'd the Lady and her Son , he wishes them all the Happinessess of this World , and that which is to come ; as if the Latter could be deny'd to Persons so supernaturaliz'd , and fitted for Heaven . Priest-l . And thence you infer , that the Gentleman spoil'd his own Complement . — Merr. I do so . — Priest-l . — I am glad on 't withall my Heart — For now will I make that pass for a good excuse , as I 'le manage the business . — Merr. — Well make your best on 't — for I am now proceeding to other matter — Can you Preach before the Artillery Company ? Priestl . Not I , in good Truth . — Merr. Why then , I 'le tell ye — If you would Preach before the Artillery Company — Priest-l . Prithee why can 't the Artillery Company March to the hewing down half a score Chines of Beef , but they must have a Sermon , like a Generals Speech to encourage 'em to the Battel ? Merr. Nay — I can give you no great Reason for that ; but if you will Preach before the Artillery Company , you must make a Military Sermon , I 'me sure of That . — Priest-l . As how ? — Merr. Why — you must be certain to take a Text first , wherein you find the word Soldiers ; that Common sense will teach ye . — Priest-l . — And what then . — Merr. Why then Ephes. 6. will help ye very much . But because that Chapter is too well known you may pass it by cursorily , and come to the more Novel terms of Art , as Drums , and Beats : For Example , if you would give 'em a hint of the Late Times , as it is very expedient to do , you must say thus , — When the Pulpit was the Drum , and Curse ye Meroz the Beat. By way of Reproof you may tax 'em for Cashiering their Honour by Vice , and suffering themselves to be beleaguerd by their Lusts. A Wing of Miscreants , the Muzzle of a Gun , or the Swords Point are very proper Expressions . Forewarn 'em too , that they be not Pioneers to blow up Religion . Priest-l . That 's an Improper Expression . — Merr. 'T is no matter for that — 't will do well enough in a Pulpit — And besides you 'l find most of the Red Feather men asleep — Then you may compare a good Conscience to a Sentinel ; and be sure to bid the Souldiers take great care of Leaping over the Lines , and breaking their Ranks . Priest-l . But where are the Blunderbusses , and the Bandeleers all this while — Merr. I believe they were forgot — but I found that the Souldiers came to John the Baptist like a Forlorn-Hope , and that they came in the Rear too . Priest-l . O but I would have had Bandeleers and Blunderbusses in . — Merr. Why Sir , I believe there might be some sort of Blunderbusses among ' em . — Priest-l . I do not mean such Blunderbusses — I mean discharging , Firing Blunderbusses , such as will kill a Man of Ten Thousand a year . — Merr. What would you have had him done with ' em . — Priest-l . Discharg'd 'em , ( had their been a hundred ) against the Phanaticks . Merr. Why there were a sort of People , that the Parson was very angry with ; but he charged them so furiously himself , that there was no need of any other assistance . Priest-l . Well , but where are the Culverin , and the Demiculverin ? were there none of them neither ? Merr. They never March with them — They are too troublesome i' the street . Priest-l . Well , — but the Gentleman might have put two or three into his Sermon , tho — Merr. Why , Sir — He did as well . — He had several Thundering Expressions . — Priest-l . Had he so ? And he was truly angry , you say ? Merr. Truly angry , Sir ! as a Man ought to be , that preaches before Souldiers . — Well , but would you now Preach acutely among the Lawyers ? — Priest-l . What then ? Merr. Why then , you must use another sort of Dialect , as thus : God resents the Treason , grants a particular Commission of OYER and TERMINER , Finds the Bill , and presently gives Sentence . In an Assize-Sermon you ought to be very Quaint , and Magisterial — To tell the Judges their Duties , the Counsel their's , the Jury-men their's , and the Plaintiff and Defendant their's . Then you are to give the Judges particular Directions about the Giving of Oaths in this manner , That they ought to take care , that Oaths be administer'd in all Courts of Judicature by those of greatest Authority present ; and not by the Cryers , who are generally young , heedless Clerks , and only mind their Groats . — Nay , you may tell 'em , if you please , that No Man ought to take an Oath , after he has eaten his Breakfast . If you speak of a thing doubtful , you may say , You will Return a Jury of Twelve Primitive Bishops , or more , ( and then , I suppose , it must be a Grand Jury ) all good Men and true , to prove it . Or thus : If these things be so , I require him to prove it ; if not , St. Paul's Doctrine will be found Billa Vera in Heaven . Priest-l . But what need of all this ? — What necessity for a Size-Sermon . Merr. Only to give the Counsel time to take their Fees , and read over their Breviates — I could never find any other Reason — And therefore I have known some Judges pretend haste of business , and desire the Gentleman to keep his Sermon Cold till another time . Others I have known , when the Gentleman has been too tediously wrapt up in his own conceits , that have gone out of the Church ( and you know the Croud follows the Scarlet ) and left him to talk out the rest to the Pillars . There was one Young Stripling was mighty severe upon the Judges , and their Clerks ; but when the Judge came to the Mayors House , whither he was that day invited , he found ( by a fatal mischance ) the same Sermon in the Mayors Window , Printed long before . Priestl . However there may be some benefits reap'd by these Sermons . Merr. Which way ? As for Example in the Case of Judicial Swearing , to talk of the Pythagoreans , the Grecian Laws , the Ancient Germans , Jupiters Old Priests , and Kata tou Meizo nos Homnyousi , to the Judges , they are too well qualified , as to understand much more than their Teacher ; and for the Vnder-Sheriff and his Talis-men , as they understand not what was said , so they regard it as little . I would fain know how far the League between Hannibal , and the King of Macedon will affect them ? or how far it will operate upon a gaping Country Fellow , to bid him not Swear in vain ? because Tertullian disallows it ? These things are to be press'd upon the People in plain home-spun-Kersey Sermons ; not in finical Flanders , lac'd Harangues to the Judges . Either they preach to the People , or the Judges . — But they don't Preach to the People , for they can't understand ' em . — Therefore they Preach to the Judges ; and that 's but Ill Manners . Lastly , You are to terrifie 'em with the Day of Judgment ; which , to put in proper Terms , you may call The Grand Assize , where all Writs of Error shall be rectified . Priest-l . Well , but if they will Preach , I think t is very proper , that they should use Words and Expressions adapted to the Subject . Merr. 'T is very right , Sir. — It tickles the Fancy , as you would tickle ones Eare with a Straw : however to knock terms of Art out of joynt among Artists , seldom produces more then Laughter and Dinner-Discourse . Priestl . I must confess , I would not have a man in an Assize Sermon tell the Judges a Story of the good Samaritan ? Merr. That 's very proper , Sir , — For a Judge may poure the Balsome of Recovery upon a Gentleman 's almost Lost Estate . That will hold , Sir. Priestl . Nor would I have a Man talk to a Company of Seamen , like a Dancing Master . Merr. That 's very well too , Sir — For a man may say , the Ship Dances in a rough Sea , very properly — nothing better . I tell ye Sir , a man of Art and dexterity ( to speak in Theology , like a Seaman ) may bring any Text to bear upon any point of a Subject he pleases . — As for Example , to prove the Power of King's , and particularly of the British Monarchy . A Gentleman takes this Text , Psalm 51. vers . 4. Against thee only have I sinned . Priestl . This is a great Argument — For he that can only sin against God , is accomptable to none but God. Merr. Sir , I do not here go about to dispute the Power or Absolutenless of the British Monarchy . For we have Secular Arguments of greater force to prove that Thesis , were the Pulpit ( as it ought to be ) silent as to those matters ; but only to shew , that it cannot be prov'd from this Text , notwithstanding the dexterity of the Gentleman to traverse it , and to make it bear upon that Subject . Priestl . Well — proceed . — Merr. In the first place , I would fain know , why David should aim at that time , more particularly in the 51 Psalm , to assert the Power of the British , than of the Spanish Monarchy . For my part , I am apt to believe he was otherwise emyloy'd , then to think of either . In the next place , I conceive the Gentleman does not take the Interpretation of the words right . For the words L'ke L'babka Chatathi ; Against Thee , against Thee only have I sinned , were without Question utter'd in reference to the privacy of the Fact committed , which lay conceal'd from all the World but God ( Joab being then an Accomplice ) and David having recompenc'd the Injur'd Lady by Marriage . Which the very next words , explanatory of the first , and to them annexed , and made part of the sentence , by the Coputative Ve , seem to demonstrate . V ' Harang B'gneneka Gnasithi : And the evil I have done in thy sight ; not in the sight of any other . And therefore he makes this Confession ; to what end ? not to shew that he was unaccountable to none but God , but to justify the Almighty in what punishment he should inflict upon him ; as the last words of the Text demonstratively imply ; L'magnan tit sd●k b'dabreka , tizkeb b'shaphreka , To the end thou maist be justify'd in thy Word , and pure in thy Judgment . And therefore these words seem to be grounded , more likely , upon Davids calling to mind the Words of the Prophet Nathan , Sam. 12. v. 12. Thou didst it secretly — but I , &c. To which this Confession seems to have referrence . For there was then no difference between the King and his People , nor my reason for the King to Appeal to Heaven , about his Power . And this is that which makes me believe , there is no more ground , to prove the Power of the British Monarchy , from this sorrowful Ejaculation of David , so dreadfully alarum'd by the King of Kings himself ; then there is to prove the Jurisdiction of the British Parliaments from the 2. Sam. c. 5. v. 3. So all the Elders of Israel came to the King to Hebron , and David made a League with them in Hebron before the Lord. I would wish the Gentleman for Arguments sake next time to take this Text in hand , and try what he can do with it : For if he can but find out what that League was that King David made with the People , we should sooner find by that , whither David were accountable to none but God or no , then by his Text. Priestl . I must confess , I don't understand your Hebrew , not I ; but my thinks 't is a very pretty Text. Merr. The Text is a very good Text , but you can't think the fellows that are hang'd were accountable to none but God , because they sing the very words at the Gallows . — But I suppose you have heard of another Gentleman , and he 's a Sharper — I mean He that undertakes to prove the Unlawfulness of the Bill of Exelusion from Job . the 36. c. 21. v. upon this Ground , That it is not Lawful for a Man to do evil , that good may come of it . Priestl . Yes , I have hear'd of him , and I suppose you are of the same Opinion . Merr. Truly , I belive there are many things which that Gentleman may call Evil , which Reason of State will not allow to be so . And I believe , that State Policy , is not bound to be confin'd , to his more narrow approhension of things , nor to take his Direction in things , wherein he has nothing to do to give it . It may be said , that it was not Lawful for Queen Elizabeth to assist the Prince of Orange , to advance the Protestant Religion ; but yet she did it , without taking notice of his Maxim - ▪ A Captain of a Man of War being too hotly engag'd , and like to be taken by the Enemy , is bound to sink his Ship , and blow up , it may be , three or four hundred Men , rather than deliver his Charge to the Enemy . One would think it were an evil in it self to destroy so many Innocent Souls , and Subjects of the King , yet unless this evil be committed , that good may come of it , that is to say , the Preservation of the Princes and the Nations Honour ; that Captain shall be shot to Death , by the Laws of War , if he do not do it . So that in what is evil , or what is good , They who are managers of the Publick Government of Kingdoms and Principalities , are not to be guided by the Little Rectors of Parishes . Priestl . Well , I must grant , this was a little too farr strain'd — And truly I think the Texts were ill chosen too ; the one from the words of a Suppliant to God , and the other from an Exhortation to a Person , Permissively under the Clutches of the Devil ; but now I shall never have done with ye . — Merr. Upon my word , Sir , I 'le give ye but one more of this Nature . — Priestl . Well proceed . Merr. A Parson not long since Preaching at Chertsey , Sir , having undertaken to prove the Excellency of Monarchy , takes his Text Judg. 17. vers . 6. In those days there was no King in Israel , but every man did that which was right in his own Eyes . Priestl . How could this be ? A Government without a King , and yet an Excellent Monarchy ! Merr. Oh Sir — you see they have the Art of doing these things . Priestl . Well , but how did he do it ? for I am in great Expectation . Merr. Why , Sir , he prov'd it from several evil accidents , that happen'd at that time , for want of a Monarch . — Priestl . O' my word — a very good way . — Merr. First — Micah made a Molten and a Graven Image , and an Ephod , and a Teraphim ; which was , because there was no King in Israel ; for had there been a King in Israel , there had been no Idolatry . Priest-l . This is but an ill Beginning . Merr. Secondly , The Levites taking a Concubine , and her playing the Whore against him , was , because there was no King in Israel . Thirdly , The Ravishing of the Levites Concubine was , because there was no King in Israel , for had there been a King in Israel , the Levites Concubine had not been Ravished . Priest-l . Enough . — Merr. Nay , Sir , I have no more at present . — Priest-l . Gad , I smell a Rat ; this is some Whig-Story of your own Invention . Merr. Whigg me no Whiggs ; — I understand no such Names of Distinction . — But I know more than one , or two , or three , that heard him . — Priest-l . Then he is — Merr. Why , Sir , he keeps his Foot-man . Priest-l . Does he ? Then he 's high enough ; what need he Play the Fool , for Church-Preferment ? — Merr. But what d' ye think of that Bathonian Squire , ( for I can hardly call him Minister ) that rides Tantivy , Tantivy , against Jack Presbyter , as he calls him , with his Lance couch'd in his Rest , like Don Bellianis of Greece , as if he would overturn him at the first course ? Priest-l . Why truly , I find him in a very great Passion . Merr. Yes , in such a Passion , that you may read his whole Book in his Title-Page , and discover the Rancor of his Mind in Thirteen Capital Letters . Priest-l . But they affronted him , it seems — Merr. Affronted him ! Where was his Christian Charity ? Because a single Person Topham'd him in the Bath , therefore must he , like a pretended Attorney-General of a Minister , undertake to impeach a whole Order of Men , that contend with him in Principles of Divinity and Morality , and most certainly out-do him in Preaching . Priest-l . But you know , There are some things ( as the Proverb says ) will vex a Saint . Merr. And truly , it was a most Saint-like Designe , to revenge himself upon the Presbyterians , by endeavouring to prove the Vnlawfulness of the Bill of Exclusion , from the Afflictions of Job . Priest-l . As to the Revenge , I can say little ; but as to the Ingenuity of the Business , I find you do not apprehend it . Merr. As how ? Priest-l . For had the Bill pass'd , it might have been an Affliction to the Parties concern'd . Merr. I 'le swear , Friend Priest-love , you have hit it ; I did not apprehend it before . Priest-l . Well , — but what say you to the Sermon it self ? — Merr. I think it not worth the Name of a Sermon . — In short , it is such a meer Tongue-Granado , such a Composition of Brim-stone and Fire , that I wonder it does not kindle of it self , and fire the Book-sellers Shop . And , in a word , the Author may be call'd the Tory's Hick●ringhil . Priest-l . Well — have ye done now ? Merr. I have only one Request t' ye , because I know y' are a great Frequenter of Sam 's Coffee-House , to desire those Gentlemen , ( especially the Historians ) either to let alone their Quotations ; or else to cite 'em so , that we may find 'em to be Men of Reading — Priest-l . Why , what Exceptions do you make against their Quotations ? Merr. Why , Sir , I find the Author of the Present Miseries of Sin , telling my Lord Mayor the dreadful Example of Sylla , who in a violent Fit of Rage , vomited up his Soul , mixed with Blood and Threatnings . For which he cites Valerius Maximus , whom he calls a Historian . In the first place , Valerius Maximus was no Historian ; but only a Collector of History . In the second place , Plutarch and Pliny would have told him , That he did not die of a Violent Passion , but of a Phthiriasis , or the Disease call'd Morbus Pediculosus . Priest-l . But you see Valerius Maximus was best for his Turn . Merr. That 's true indeed ; — and I would have allow'd it at Paul's School . In the next place , he tells ye of Alexander the Great 's killing of Clitus . And for this he cites Oliverius's Notes upon Valerius Maximus ; whereas he might have quoted Plutarch or Arrianus for the same thing ; and that had been done like a Schollar . The Story of Ptolomy , King of Cyprus , is in Plutarch's Life of Cato ; so that he need not have been beholding to Oliverius's Notes upon Valerius Maximus for it . Priest-l . What 's that to you , if the Gentleman had a peculiar Kindness for Valerius Maximus ? Merr. Dear Mr. Priest-love , I bear no Malice to Valerius Maximus in the least : Only I say , 'T is somewhat pedantick , to quote an Index , when a Man may cite the Book it self . But I more wonder , that a Doctor should cite Cicero , for a piece of History ; about the Romans enacting Laws against the Worship of strange Gods , when he might have adorn'd his Margent much more to the purpose , and more properly out of Livy himself . Priest-l . Why should you be angry at this ? Merr. You mistake , Sir ; I am so far from being angry , that since Quotation and Margent-filling are only Acts of Vain-glory and Ostentation , I would not have Gentlemen unwarily lose their Applause by ill Management . — I promise ye , I expect that some of 'em should Thank me for this good Advice . Priest-l . Ha' ye done now ? — Merr. Yes , Sir. — Priest-l . Why now then let me ask thee , What is the Meaning of all this Clutter and Hurly-burly ? Certainly , it must be the Phanaticks , that make it . — Merr. Faith , Sir , I can give no Account of it ; but I find the Church of England-men are very Angry . — You cannot come to hear or read a Sermon made upon any publick Occasion , but let the Text be what it will , half the Sermon is Matter of State. — One cries out against the Popish Protestants ; another cries , Pope Populus in Parliament ; another , no less than a Parson-Justice , lifts up the Weavers-Beam of his Indignation , and lays upon the Parliament of the whole Nation , as if he had engaged all his Divinity for the Certainty of the Mortal Stroke . The Weight of his Text was Two Hundred Shekels of Silver — By me Kings reign . — The Weight of his Doctrine , a Hundred and Fifty : — That Monarchy is Jure Divino . — The Weight of the rest , you may guess by what follows : — They that Reign , ought to be Kings ; not Commonwealths , not Lords and Commons ; not Parliaments , ( especially Parliaments , that by bare Votes would abrogate Laws ) not Parliaments , that by Arbitrary Proceedings would infringe the Liberty of the Subject ; not Parliaments , that would Exclude the Right Heir from the Crown ; not Parliaments , that are Guilty of High Treason . — Was it not well now the Parliament was not at Thetford ? Else , for ought I know , they might have been Committed . — Priest-l . I confess , Zeal may sometimes a little exceed . — However , they are Men , and Rational Men ; and sure they would not do this , but that they have some Reason for it . Merr. Why truly , Sir , I believe some think it pleases , and therefore they do it in hopes of preferment . Others , out of an over-weaning pride , and conceit of Themselves , and contempt of their Brethren . And then , i' the next place , there is such a Numerous Fry , that Hunger and Thirst after Maintenance , and so few Bones i' the Nation , that they snarte at all , who pretend to share with ' em . If you will hear their own Acknowledgment , the Author of the Properties of Heavenly Wisdom , confesses , that the Quarrels are sleeveless , de Lana Caprina , as he calls it , about Habits , Gestures , Days , and other Ceremonials . Priest-l . Why then , one would think , such Differences as these , might easily be laid asleep , by a Charitable Condescension on both Sides . Merr. Ay — but then again , says the same Author , the Confused Noise of Pro and Con , Ob and Sol , I may add Whigg and Tory , drowns the Voice behind us , which tells us , This is the Right Way , walk in it . We find also , that some Men are obstinately attack'd to their own Opinions ; and these are a sort of People , who believe that mutual Love and Charity are only owing to those of their own Sect. Priest-l . That 's contrary , I am sure , to the Scope of Christian Perfection , and the Precepts of Christ , and His Apostles . Merr. What care some Men for that ? especially they , who are guided by that Maxim of Hell , divide & impera . Interest , you know , Sir , has Govern'd the World , how long d' ye think ? Priest-l . Why truly , I believe , ever since I can remember . Merr. Why , there 's the Grand Cause of all our Misfortunes . If you would but remove that Obstacle — Priestl . Why then I 'le propose a way — What think ye of a National Council ? Merr. I dare not undertake to propose it , Sir ; But as to that I 'le give ye the words of the Author of the Old Way of ending new Controversies . A National Council ought more especially Oblige us , to determine the Controversies among us ; because their Decrees are our own Acts , as having chosen the Persons who represent us in it . Priestl . Very honestly spoken , what think you ? — Merr. That 's a thing to be left wholly to Authority — I have nothing to do with it — But in my Opinion , there is a Worthy Gentleman has put your Friends into an Extraordinary Method . Whither they will follow it or no , I cannot tell ; but I am apt to believe it is much more wholsome advice , than is given them by their adored Guide , to whom they bow at Sam 's Coffee-House . And therefore because they shall not be offended with me , I will give them the Gentleman 's own words . It is not material ( says he , ) from whence bad Men derive their Principles of Disloyalty , since it is too certain , they owe all their Success and Advantages to our sins ; as these increase , so do they ; they have both one Common Fate , they multiply and decrease together . Our prophaneness and Contempt of Religion , begets in them a Contempt of Authority and the Laws ; and the neglect of that Holy Service we pretend to extol , adds greater Numbers to our Enemies than all their Art and Industry can pervert . If we would weaken that Faction , let us take away the support they have among our selves , the Open Scandal and Viciousness of our Lives , and then they are left without pretence , and fall without our trouble . Let us confute their Reproaches by a Reformation of our manners , and detect their Hypocrisy , not by washing off the paint with Satyr , but by confronting their pretence and form with solid and sincere Piety . Without this , all other means will be to little purpose . Without this Loyalty is but affectation , a thing no less unserviceable than it will be uncertain . And with this I will conclude ; firmly believing , if this advice were follow'd , all Thundering in Pulpits , and Caballing in Coffee-Houses , would soon be at an End. FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A54793-e70 Smith , de Graecae Ecclesiae bodierno statu . Preface t● his Pindarick Odes . Poem upon Sir Philip Sidneys Translation . Friendly Debate . Psal. 22.9 . Ps. 35.18 . Ps. 55.26 . Ps. 78.37 . Ps. 55.12 . Psal. 78. Sermon Preached on the Anniversary of that most Execrable Murder of K. Charles , the First Royal Martyr . 1682. p. 6. Sermon call'd The present Miseries and Mischiefs of Sin. Humble Plea for the Quiet Rest of God's Ark. Assize Sermon , Preached at York , call'd the Nature , &c. of Solemn Judicial Swearing , &c. Mark of the Beast , p. 26. Primitive Christian. p. 26. Sermon Preached at Wakefield Octo. 30th . 1681. pag. 13. pag. 19. Sermon Preach'd At Bow - Church , Jan. 30. 1682. Bow-Church . Bath-Church . Thetford-Sizes . pag. 28. P. 32. M. Maurices Sermon , Preached before the King , Jan. 30. 1681. 
A63456	----	Taxes no charge in a letter from a gentleman, to a person of quality, shewing the nature, use, and benefit of taxes in this kingdom, and compared with the impositions of foreign states : together with their improvement of trade in time of war. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1690 Approx. 74 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A63456 Wing T258 ESTC R18037 12167089 ocm 12167089 55344 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A63456) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 55344) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 827:10) Taxes no charge in a letter from a gentleman, to a person of quality, shewing the nature, use, and benefit of taxes in this kingdom, and compared with the impositions of foreign states : together with their improvement of trade in time of war. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [8], 28 p. Printed for R. Chiswell ..., London : 1690. Reproduction of original in Duke University Library. Attributed to Daniel Defoe by the Kress Lib. Cat. Table of contents: p. [7]-[8] Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Taxation -- Early works to 1800. Taxation -- Great Britain. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-08 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-09 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2002-09 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Taxes no Charge : IN A LETTER from a GENTLEMAN , TO A PERSON of QUALITY . SHEWING The Nature ▪ Use , and Benefit of TAXES in this Kingdom ; and compared with the Impositions of Foreign States . Together with their Improvement of TRADE in Time of WAR . LICENS'D , Nov. 11. 1689. LONDON , Printed for R. Chiswell , at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard . MDCXC . THE PREFACE TO THE READER . UPON the receipt of the following Letter concerning the nature of Taxes , and levying of Mony upon the Subject , I immediately resolv'd to commit it to the Press ; as conceiving that it might be instrumental towards the removal of that popular Argument , which the Mal-contents of the Age are so industrious to instil into the Minds of the common sort ▪ viz. That frequent Taxes are an ins●pportable grievance and oppression to the Nation ; and this by so much they the more successfully propagate , by how much 't is a received Opinion among the Populace , and such as either for want of parts , or not accu●●om'd to serious reflections , have not throughly consider'd this Affair ; whence 't is come to pass , that this vulgar Error has obtained so general a consent and approbation , that it needs not to be much inculcated . This the disaffected Party to the present Government are sufficiently sensible of , and therefore are not unactive in the establishment of an untruth , which has the advantage of making a deep impression upon such , whose byass'd and prejudicate sentiments render them fit Objects of their design : Sed dato , & non concesso , allowing , but not granting , that Taxes were really a burthen to the Nation ; yet if it be true that è malis minimum , of two evils , the least is to be chosen . It will thence follow , that 't is better for the Kingdom to have purchas'd its redemption from Popery and Arbitrary Power , though at the price of some part of the Estates and Fortunes of the Subject ; rather than to have lost all at one throw , by a Tyrannical Invasion upon their Religion , Laws , and Liberties . I presume that even some of those busie Agents who sow these seeds of Discord and Division among us , would have been content to have bought their safety almost at any rate , whilest the Storm was imminent ; and now that 't is happily blown over , and nothing appears at present , but a s●rene Skie , and fair Weather : Why should they either endeavour a reduction both of themselves and others to their former danger , to which their turbulent devices do immediately tend ; or strive to create unreasonable dissatisfactions against so just an expedient , as each ones discharging a few pence for an ensurance of the publick Peace , and quiet settlement of the Nation ? 'T is surely very unaccountable , that those Men , who discovered so great an alacrity and forwardness in opposing of Popish Tyranny and Arbitrary Power , should now endeavour to enslave us under the same uneasie Yoke ; but with this additional aggravation to our former servitude , that whereas we were then allowed some , we must now make Brick without Straw . This seems so wild a notion of Obedience ( the result of the Passive Doctrine ) and that the chief Wheel in that unaccountable Engine of absolute Sover●ignty , as is destructive of all Government ; inasmuch as 't is utterly irreconcileable with the preservation , and com●●n interest of humane Society . But these murmuring , seditious Spirits , after shamefully retracting from their early officiousness , in their encouragement of the late Expedition of the then Prince of Orange , are not content with a compleat enjoyment of their Properties , under the even steerage of this great and skilful Pilot , who so justly manages the Helm of the present Government , as not to invade the Rights of any Man ; nor yet to retain their particular sentiments within their own breasts , but they must needs vent and divulge them to others , by which t●ey become the publick Incendiaries of the Nation . But as I cannot enough admire both the folly and ingratitude of these Men , who strive to disseminate so poysonous a Contagion ; so have I not room left for wonder and surprize , to observe divers innocent well-meaning Persons so unwarily catch'd and infected by it , when not many Months ago , their Lives , Religion , Liberties , all that was dear or acceptable unto them , lay apparently at stake . For which , I pray , do they account the more advantagious , whether their ●roperties to be infring'd , their Religion violated , their Laws subverted , their Estates confiscated , and they , with their Wives , Children , and Relations , to be expos'd to the Fiery Tryal , or to be seasonably freed from these amazing terrours , ready to overwhelm them in a full carrere , when they received a signal and miraculous , as well as a gracious deliverance , and that as much above their hopes , as it has since appeared to be beyond their desert ? What would not every honest Man , or good Christian , have given at that time to have had that security under his own Vine , and under his own Fig tree , the liberty of his Religion , the full enjoyment of his Property , and an equal and just administration of the Laws , which he now enjoys under the benign influence and protection of the present Government ? And then with what face can he deny to contribute his respective share , and proportion , not only to the assuring of his own particular right , but also that of the general interest , together with what is infinitely preserable to either , the Protestant Religion in the three Kingdoms . All this , and much more , which might be offered , and insisted upon ( were not prolixity improper in a Preface , espe●ially to so small a Discourse , as is that of the following Letter ) seems exceeding reasonable upon the former Hypothesis , if Taxes were really a burthen and oppression to the Nation , which the following Sheets do abundantly evince that they are not , by shewing that they are so far from being a diminution of , that they really add to the Trade and Riches of a State. This the Auth●r has fully prov'd from the opulent condition of those Countries where Taxes are most numerous , and after several copious parallel instances deriv'd from Foreign Monarchies and Rep●blicks , shewing their great advancement by Tax●s , and frequent levies upon the Subject , he undertakes to demonstrate the practicableness , as well as equal advantage of the same to these Kingdoms . This I thought to be of such seasonable and publick importance , in reference to the present state of affairs , as well in order to the rectifying the afore mention'd general prejudice and mistake , as to silencing of all intemperate and unreasonable murmurers against the proceedings of the Grand Council of the Nation , in the methods taken for a supply of the Naval and Land-forces , that I thought fit to usher it into publick view , as considering that if these Men who most inveigh against Taxes , could be brought to believe , that they naturally tend to the advantage and interest of the State , and do really conduce to the enriching and improvement of it ; they must needs cease from their Seditious clamours against , and Satyrical reflections upon the Government in this respect ; and that this would not be the sole advantage which would accrew from the clearing up of this mistake , but that all honest and good Men will joyn more cordially than ever in their unanimous and chearful contributions to its support , when they are made sensible , that not only the common duty of Subjects , that indispensable Obligation of a perpetual gratitude which they owe to their Deliverer , and the nat●ral instinct of self-preservation ought to quicken and excite them thereunto ; but besides all this , that they are really gainers by this co●rse , and consequently what they expend upon that account , does after a due circulation retu●n to them with a considerable improvement and a●gmentation . THE CONTENTS . THE manner and use of Taxes among the Ancient Romans . Page 1 , 2 Numerous Taxes a great advantage to the Commonwealth of Venice . p. 3 — And to the United Provinces . ibid. The contrary shewn to be a great occasion of Poverty , both in the Empire and Spain . p. 4 Portugals exceeding them in Taxes , an occasion of its greater riches , than either . ibid. The present state of France represented as to this particular . p. 4 , 5 The method of imposing Taxes in Germany , Spa●n , France , Mo●covy , Florence , Swe●eland , Poland , Denmark and the Common-wealth of Venice , compared with that of England , &c. p. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 The use and employment of Taxes in other Kingdoms shewn to be different from those in this . p. 9 Taxes prov'd no Charge , but a Gain , both to the Publick and Private Interest , from Seven Particulars . p. 10 I. From the Persons who pay the greatest share of them . ibid. II. From their use and circulation . p. 11 III. From their improvement of Trade , and therein a description of the nature of Trade . p. 11 , 12 IV. Fro● the Poors being employ'd by them . p. 13 , 14 V. From their making Men of no use in the Kingdom , profitable to the Commonwealth . p. 15 VI. From the● us●fu●n●ss in time of War , for the encouragement of T●ade and Manufactories within the Kingdom . p. 16 VII . From their dispersing as much Treasure in the Nation in time of War , as T●ade d●es in Peace . p. 16 , 17 A late Paper Confuted , entitled [ Proposals humbly ●ffered to the Consideration of this present Parliament , &c. ] p. 20 Of Taxes uneasie t● the S●bject . ibid. 1. Such as are levy'd by way of Fees in Offices . ibid. 2. By Poll Mony. p. 21 3. Benevolence . p. 22 4. Such as are impos'd for liberty in Religion . p. 23 5. Monop●lies . p. 23 6. Alterati●n in the value of Mony. p. 24 7. Raising Mony from Travellers , as in Holland , &c. ibid. Of Taxes accounted most adviseable in other Kingdoms . p. 25 1. Excise . ibid. 2. Impositions on the Jews . p. 26 3. On Play-houses , &c. ibid. 4. A Tax of labour upon such Malefactors as we punish with Death : The reasonableness of this , and the severi●y and unprofitableness of our own Law , in this respect . p. 26 , 27 , 28 Taxes no Charge : IN A LETTER from a GENTLEMAN , TO A Person of QUALITY . Worthy Sir , PUrsuant to my Promise , at our late Conference , I here present you with a short Essay , concerning Taxes , which I su●mit to y●ur private Censure , and sh●ll 〈◊〉 limit you from sending it to the Press , if in your Op●●io● it may prove serviceable to the Publick . That T●i●ute , or as we now ca●l it , Customs , Taxes , & ● . were Originally a Mark of Servitude , is evidenc'd by the Interrogatory of an infa●ible Author , Of whom do the princes of t●e earth take tribute ? But as Government became more humane , the Sav●ge Exaction upon Strangers was less rigid , and the Romans , who were then Masters of Civil Government in the World , sound it conducing to the Establishment of that overgrown , and prodig●ous Empire , to mak● every part of t●eir 〈◊〉 easie to the People , and that in point of Taxes they should be universally equal ; which seems to be confirmed by that of August●s , when he ordered all the World to be Taxed ; wherein we 〈◊〉 no exemption of a 〈◊〉 above ot●e●s . They were indeed invested in divers 〈◊〉 pr●viledges , but in 〈…〉 Taxes , we find the Wisdom of that Empire to make a distinction from any that were under their Conquest and Government . In imitation of whose equal , and prudent conduct , all su●ceeding Governments have been guided in tempering of th●ir co●q●ests , and not as in the first Ages , making both Persons and Estates the 〈◊〉 of Victory . By this means , Civilities , Laws , and Christianity have been propagated in the World with that advantagiou● success , to which they could never have attain'd , if conquest had been pursued , and employ'd as in former Ages , in all the i●humane acts of Slavery , Violence and Rapine . The Romans were the first we read of , that regularly paid their Armies : before them , the Barbarians might sometimes divide the Spoil of their Enemies , and other savage ways they had , to satisfie their Herds of Men , but no exact payments were in use , until the Romans ; and for the maintenance and encouragement of so good a Gov●rnment , they imposed Taxes , that so in intervals of Peace , their Armies might not be exposed to the nec●ssi●y of committing the like ravage , they did in times of War , and publi●k Hostility . They soon became Artists in Taxing the People , inventing ways to bring in Mony. That of Augustus Caesar , in Taxing the whole Empire , seemed to be in the manner of a Poll with us . There was also a Tribute imposed upon Passengers , going from place to place , and a custom levy'd upon Goods and Merchandize . They had also an Art of raising Mony , from Aliens , upon the account of being admitted to the priviledge of Romans ; and many other ways , and devices they had to advance Mony , which if duly considered , was the chief , if not only reason why they were so fam'd in the World for good Government , because that they paid their Army , and Ministers of State so well , that they lay not under the temptation of Violence or Bribery . I shall here come to a close in relation to Tax●s , and impositions , under the Heathen Roman Emperours ; and only in order to the making good my position , That Taxes are no Charge , infer from this done by the Ro●ans , that 't was none in their days , inasmuch as it kept the People from violence , and ravage of the Soldiers , and the worse Exactions and Corruptions of Civil Magistrates . We will now make an Enquiry into the Taxes , and Impositions of Christian Princes , and then compare them with those of these Kingdoms . First , Then let us look into the Impositions of Common-wealths , the greatest and most antient is Venice . No●e will say that they are a poor State , though all must own that they lie under heavy Taxes , insomuch that 't is believed in those Countries , that the C●ristians under the Turks are subject to less Impositions , than such as live under the Venetians , where besides great Customs upon all Merchandize , they pay Excise for every bit of Bread and Meat , nay for the very Salt they eat ; and after all thi● , the poorest Labourer pays his Poll-mony : and yet where is there a Richer People ? and no Government , either Christian or Heath●n in the known World of such Antiquity , and without charge , though pester'd with continual Wars , at one time for the space of Seven Years , had all the Christian Princes in Europe in a League , and War against them , except England . We will mention the next Commonwealth in P●wer and Riche● , the Vnited Provinces : I need not particularize their Taxes , few there are of our Kingdoms , but know them , and that they are so great , that 't is believed the poorest labouring Man in Holland adds to their Intrado● four pounds Sterling a Year , so great is the Excise on every ●●ing they eat or drink : besides upon the occasion of any War , it is usual to raise the fortieth peny upon th●i● whole Esta●●s ; yet these People vye with all Nations in matter of Trade and Riches , and ' ●is matter of Controversie which of the two , whether they or Venice , in proportion to their extents of Land , are the Richer . T●ey of Holland out-do them in their Common People as to Wealth and Coin. Now then it must be allowed that Taxes there do no harm , since the very Peas●nts ( Bores t●ey call them ) are so Rich , as frequently to give a Tun of Gold , which is Ten thousand pounds of our Mony , in Portion with their D●ug●ters . The naming of these Two Commonwealths may serve for all under that distinction . I shall now come to Taxes under Monarchs . To nominate some few , as instances to supply the r●st , 〈◊〉 begin with the Empire , where Taxes are generally low , and consequently the People poor : for it will be so ( as I shall hereafter demonstrate ) where-ever the Rich Gentry , and others have nothing to fetch Mony out of their Coffers , but their own expence ; by which the Commonalty can have little opportunity to i●prove themselves . Spain follows much the steps of the Empire in their Taxes , and although there are numerous causes assigned for the poverty of that part particularly under the name of Spain ; yet that of their irregular and uncertain Taxes do powerfully contribute to the indigent State of that Kingdom ; for that the Country cannot be Planted by reason of the Armies living upon the Spoyl of it , not having a Penny pay for Six Months together ; by which means the Country feels little difference from the Conquest of their Enemies , and the Quartering their own Forces . Portugal is more craving in its Taxes , Impositions being heavy on Importations which are of the worst sort ; yet better than none : and seeing it raises a considerable Reven●e , their Army and Officers of State are well paid , and their Country much richer , and more populous than Spain , that borders upon them . I shall put a period to that part of my Discourse referring to the Taxes of Foreign Princes , with that of France , which is rather the abhorrence , than example of any Christian Prince ; his Tyrannical Impositions being grown to an unlimited exaction upon all Men , both Sacred and Civil and yet so , if the barbarity of the thing could have been separated from the effect , those unbounded Taxes would not have impoverished the Country ; if the Mony had not been spent out of his own Dominions in Foreign Conquests , which rarely prove benefi●ial to the Country th●t invades . If we consider France , in the beginning of their Invasions on their Neighbours , we shall find them no● so Rich as they were Sev●n years after , notwithstanding that great part of their Taxes were sent out of the Kingdom to raise Men , and more spent in paying the Army in the Enemies Country , and buying of Towns. Now , at first view this may seem strange and unaccountable , That Impositions upon a People , and a great part of them carried out of their Country , should make them thrive : Yet , notwithstanding this seeming Paradox , ' ●is a certain Truth , as in the sequel of the Discourse will be fully evident : And , that France might have managed a War with all Europe , and not have begger'd the Kingdom , as now it is , if they had not destroy'd it by their fierce persecution of the Hugonots ; for that has evidently been the Ruin of that Kingdom . Whereas had the French ●rotestants been encouraged and maintained in their Rights and Religion , they would have been their best and most loyal men , both in Peace and War ; for so they prov'd in the Minority of this King , in the general defection of France ; and had they been now possest of their Religion and Rights in France , it is to be fear'd , we had not so easily commanded the Seas , most of the French Seamen being of that Profession . We now come to compare the Taxes of these Kingdoms with those of Foreign Princes ; and to save multiplying of words , will reduce all under two Heads : First , the Laws , and manner of imposing Taxes upon their Subjects ; and , Secondly , the quantum and duration of such Taxes . For the First , the Laws and Manner of Imposing Taxes ; that is as different as the Climates which they are under . I shall not trouble my self , or the Reader , with naming of all the Kingdoms in Europe , but shall only instance some of the most considerable : in order whereunto , I shall begin with Germany ▪ the Impositions of which Country may be brought under two Heads ; that of the Tenure and Obligation of the Princes , Nobility , and Free Cities , to furnish a certain number of Men in the Wars against the Turk . The Second , by levying Money in the Dyets , neither of which , if compared with those of England , can be thought easie . That of furnishing Men , is little better than tyrannical in the Lords and Nobles , who arbitrarily force thei● Tenants , and perhaps Neighbours to compleat their numbers , without any relief in the greatest abuse , having none to make complaint or application to , to redress their Grievances and Violent Usage . Then , for their ●yets , they are so few for the Commonalty , and so much influenc'd and overpower'd by the predominant Interest of their Grandees , that the Impositions can hardly be laid with any ●qual or just regard to , or right consideration of the Poor . Taxes in Spain are yet more arbitrarily imposed , the People having no Vote there , but all the Duties laid in effect by the King and his Council : In some Cases they will advise with the Nobility and other Communities , but 't is no more than meer Complement , or matter of form : for whatsoever the King and Council enact , that they must acquiesce and agree to ; and the truth is , it appears so by their irregular , vexatious , and yet most unprofitable way of Taxes , in which they are much short , and in●eriour to any Government in Europe . France makes a fair shew to the People , and yet makes a better market for the King : He imposes Duties un●er th● pretence of the Parliaments of each Province laying it on the People ; but at the same time , 't is only the King's Word that makes the Ordinance of Parliament : Not as here in England , where it comes last to the King , for the Royal Assent : But there the King sends the Parliament word , t●at he will have so much Money ; and all the favour that they can obtain from him , is , to place it on such Commoditi●s , or way● , as they think most expedient . And , 't is not unworthy observation to remark , T●at these Parliaments of France are in eff●ct no more than Courts of Iudicature , in Matters of Right betwixt man and man , hearing and judging Causes , and their Places bought from t●e King , not elected by the People . So that from such Parliaments nothing can be expected but the King 's Dict●tes . The great Duke of Muscovia is above all tyrannical in his ●mpositions , charging on the Subject what he pleases ; and yet which is more oppressive to his People , forestalls the chief Commodities of the Kingdom , or what comes from others , and sets what price he thinks sit upon them , by which he destroys his own Merchants and Dealers ; and , where other Kings make themselves and their Subjects rich , by raising Money on them , he makes himself Poor , and his Subjects miserable Slaves , barring them all Industry , by shutting them out from Trade , and agreeably to such Oppressions , his vast Dominions are thinly planted , and poor to a Prodigy ; and had they the liberty of seeing other Countries , he would yet have a smaller Stock of Inhabitants : but he keeps what he has , by making it Death for all the Kindred of such as go out of his Dominions without his Licence and Permission . Next to him in Arbitrary Impositions , is the Duke of Florence , who is not bounded in his Taxes , and likewise ingrosses several Trades , and sets what price he pleases upon his own Commodities ; by which his Country would also be made Poor , but that he has the opportunity of other Help , which the great Duke of Muscovia is not assisted with , ( viz. ) a Country placed in the Garden of the World ; and by his making Legorn a Free Port , made it the Centre of Trade , and by that got the start of all Princes in Europe . The Kingdom of Swedel●nd has many Advantages of raising Money from the Country , rather than People , and yet they are not exempt from Taxes ; all which contributes to the inriching of that Kingdom , which has little of Arts or Trade to improve it , only that which Nature produces : and She indeed has been liberal to that great Kingdom , in Min●s of all sorts , though least of Gold or Silver , but abounds in Copper , Tin , Iron , &c. of all which , the King has a tenth , as also of Cattel and Corn ; he has likewise the vast demeans of Bishops and Church-Lands , out of which he only allows a small Competency to his own Bishops ; and a●ter all this , he has liberty , by the Laws of the Land , to raise Money on the Subject , in case of War. The King of Poland is restrain'd , and can do nothing but by the 〈◊〉 of the Dy●t ; yet has by that , Power ( upon occasion of sudden Straits and Emergencies in War ) to raise Money upon the People by his own Comman , without assembling the Dyet . Denmark has a Provision for its support above any Kingdom in Europe , God Almighty having ( as it were ) out of a particular Providence , supplied that Kingdom out of its own production , seeing there is little in it either of Arts or Nature . The Toll of the Sound is a considerable Revenue to the Crown , and , as before mentio●'d , such as no Prince in Europe has the like , for that in all other Kingdoms ▪ Taxes are raised on themselves ; but this of the Toll front Ships passing the Sound , is from Strangers , that only pass by his Country , and cannot reimburse themselves there : Whereas Duties imposed on Foreigners , that bring in their Commodities to another Country , is no more than laying it on themselves , only with 〈◊〉 diff●rence , That they make Foreigners the first Collectors of it . The other Duties on Denmark are not considerable ; that on Ca●●el which they sell in Germany , is of most value ; as their Intrado is not great , so is their Country poor . I need not mention the manner of laying Taxes in Common-wealths , 't is alwaies with the Consent of the People , who are too apt to censure their Representatives , if they give not satisfaction to the popul●ce . And , not withstanding that of Venice is A●istocratical , yet have they such numbers in their Senate , that no Tax can be laid , but for the good of the Common-wealth , there being , at least , two thousan● five hundred Gentlemen of Venice , which are all of the Senate ; and although many of them are engaged in the Wars , and Foreign Employments , yet there can never be less , if but one quarter of them , than our great Council the Parliament . Thus I have given but a succinct account of the nature a●d imposition of Taxes in Foreign K●ngdoms , which now in as few words let us compare ou●s with , and we shall see how happy a People we are above the best of our N●ighbour● . And first , let us consider who it is that lay Impositions upon us ; 'T is Men chose by our selves . The difference indeed is great in the modus of our Taxes , from other Kingdoms , and also in the use of them . For the Modus in other Kingdoms , they generally consider only the Nobility and Gentry , that Impositions may not touch or affect them , and care not how insupportable or grievous they are to the Commonalty : But with us the Taxes reach every man in proportion to his Quality and Expence . In other Kingdoms they place Taxes only to raise Money , and have no regard to the Trade of their Kingdom , that so their Taxes may not prejudice their Commerce . But in England care is alwaies had , that Impositions may not impede our Trade and Manufactories . Now , as to the Use and Employment of Taxes in other Kingdoms , they also differ much from ours . In some Kingdoms 〈◊〉 are imposed to enslave the People , and keep them poor , as in Muscovy ; in other parts Taxes are laid to enrich the Nobility , as in Poland ; in others , to fill the Coffers of the Prince , as in Florence . Whereas none of these Uses take up our Taxes ; they are with great Care and Caution lain out , and by the same Law that raises them , appropriated for a particular service , and last no longer upon the People , than the necessity of the Nation requires ; for that we never have Money raised , but for the defence of the Kingdom ; tho' as I shall shew in the close of this Discourse , 't would re● dound to the advantage of the Kingdom , if there were more Taxes raised , and these assigned to publick Uses in Peace as well as War. I shall now come to the chief design of this Discourse , which is , to demonstrate , That Taxes are no Charge either to the Kingdom in general , or to particular Persons ; but on the contrary a Gain to all . But to render this matter the more plain and intelligible , I shall proceed after the following method . I. Shew who in the Kingdom pay the greatest part of the Taxes . II. What Use is made of these Taxes ; and how they circulate in the Kingdom . III. How Trade is improved by Taxes . IV. That the Poor are imployed by them . V. That a Sett of Men of no use in the Kingdom , are by Taxes made profitable in the Common-wealth . VI. That Taxes , especially when Trade is stopped by War , is the only Remedy to keep the Trading and Mechanick hands of the Kingdom employed . VII . That Taxes will enrich the Nation , and disperse in it as much Treasure , when there is no Foreign Trade , as when 't is open . To begin then with the First Head , Who it is that pay most of the Taxes : They are the worst Members in the Common-wealth ( viz. ) The Extravagant and Debauch'd . The greatest Duties are , or should be laid upon Commodities for Pleasure and Sumptuousness , as Silks , Gold and Silver Lace , &c. Now these are wore in the greatest Excess , by the Extravagant of the Kingdom , both Men and Women . A D●b●shee shall spend more out of an Estate of a Thousand pounds a year , than a regular man will from the annual Income of five times that proportion ; and a Miss lay out more on Clothes than a Countess : So in the Excess to indulge the Belly , as well as providing for the Back . The vast consumption of Wines and strong Liquors , is by this sort of Men ; nay , the poorest Debauch , that can rise no higher than to Beer and Tabaco , pays ten times as much in the year , in proportion to his Income , as the greatest Peer . 'T will hardly gain belief , that there is many of the meaner People , Labourers and Mechanicks , that by their Expence , when they are ( as too many be ) extravagant , pay to the publick Taxes above one tenth of their daily profit : As , supposing that a labouring man may earn Sixte●n pounds a year , he will expend , though not very extraordinarily profuse , one half of it in Drink and Tabaco , upon which , the Duty of Customs and Excise is , at least , two pounds of the eight , which he lays out in idle Expences . Now , it would be vehemently decried and exclaimed against , as the greatest Oppression upon the Poor imaginable , if by a Poll or Land-Tax , this man , that vertually pays Forty Shillings , should actually , and above-board , pay so many pence by the year . Thus we see ▪ that most of the Duties and Impositions on the Kingdom light upon such as do least good with their Substance ; and since they imprudently fling it away upon their Extravagancies : 't is certainly a Benefit to the Kingdom , that there are Taxes , to catch something out of it , for the improvement of better disposed men ; as we shall see in the next Paragraph . The Second Particular is , What use is made of these Taxes ; and how they circulate in the Kingdom : In order to which , there are but two waies , in which they are employed ; one is for the King's Court , the other for Provisions of War , in the maintenance of Naval and Land Forces . Now , both these are as well the Employment of Trade and Artizans , as they resolve into the Security of the Kingdom , and the preservation of the Publick Peace . There is no Money which circulates so fast , as that which comes into the hands of Seamen and Souldiers . Other men , that get Money , frequently lay it up , and so it becomes of no use or benefit in the Kingdom ; But , Men that live by their Pay , generally spend it faster than it comes in , by which means the Money of the Kingdom , like the Blood in the Veins , has its regular , circular motion , and every Member in the Body is warm'd and refreshed by it , which gives Life and Motion in the whole . And thus I presume , this Second Instance of the Use of Taxes proves , That they are of Advantage and Profit to the Kingdom . Thirdly , How Trade is improved by Taxes . Upon this Head there is much to be said ; and first , It will be requisite to say something of the nature of Trade , how it affects the Kingdom ; for that Trade may in some Cases prejudice a Nation , and make it poor ; as the Trade of Spain does that Kingdom . Trade may also effeminate and debauch a Country , as it does Italy . Now , 't is certain , that we are not free from both these publick Mischiefs and Inconveniencies in England ; though our Fortune is such , that being Islanders , and Masters of one Commodity , which no Kingdom has in that perfection as our selves , which is Wool that hath put our People upon Manufactories , which is the Treasure of this Nation , and keeps our Exports to a ballance with our Imports ; otherwise this Kingdom would have been as Poor as Spain , and as effeminate as Italy ; but the Employment of our milder sort in Manufactories at home , and the more robust at Sea abroad , keeps us a People in action , and so preserv'd from the Luxury and Effeminateness of Italy , and the Poverty of Spain . I need not spend time to prove how far we are tainted with the Mischiefs before mentioned . Our Trade with France , in all Ages past , sufficiently proves , That a Kingdom may be made poor by Trade ; as we should have been by the vast treasure their Linnens , Wine , Silks , Toys , and Salt , drew from this Kingdom , if our other Commerce in the World , had not ballanced our loss there . Nor are we free from the Effeminateness of Italy , which I take to be the Returns of our Gentry's travels , a mischief to be lamented , rather than expected a Reformation of , since we are arriv'd to that height of Vanity , as to think that man not accomplished who is not become Master of the Delicacies of Italy , and extravagant Modes of France . But to return to my Province , How Trade is improved by Taxes , for the Proof of which Assertion it seems plain , That some Trade may impair a Kingdom , and such Taxes and Impositions may abate by imposing such Duties as they cannot bear . So far then it will be allowed , that they improve Trade , as we commonly say , Saving is Gain ; so , if we keep out a destructive Trade by Duties , we may allow that an Improvement of our own . But to come nearer to the matter ; Taxes improve Trade by employing numbers of idle Men in Naval , and Land-service , that would otherwise be of no use ; but on the contrary a Pest , and Charge to the Commonwealth . We seldom see any inlisted into the Army , that are Men of Industry , or Labour ; such persons are the Wens and Excrescencies of the Commonwealth , that de●orm , but not strengthen the Body ; and these being paid by the Taxes of another sort of Creatures as ( before I mention'd ) are of no use in the State ; but to throw abroad the Treasure left them by their Fathers , is virtually an improvement of Trade : for that all like the Rivers in the Sea , terminate in the hands of Industry and Trade ; and perhaps , if duly con●idered , more Men , and with more certain profit make Voyages within this Island upon this Fund , than there do to most of our Foreign Trades . And in this place I must touch again upon the nature of Trade , to shew that private hands may raise their Fortunes by a Trade , that may yet be a loss to a Kingdom , as in that of France , already insisted upon , many , I was like to say , too many have acquired great Estates by . Now all the hands empl●y'd in that Trade were no better than Robbers of the Kingdom , in carrying away our Treasure , as we use the Moors , giving us Gold for Glass-●eads . There is another sort of Trade , that though it may not immediately carry away any of the Stock of the Kingdom , yet it does hurt in taking off Hands , that might be employ'd to the advantage of the Kingdom . Now in both these the Trade of Taxes , for so I will call it for the future , has the advantage , for that it carries nothing out of the Kingdom , nor yet takes off hands that would be better employ'd , but on the contrary takes away the disease of the Country , idlers , and makes 'em at least so profitable , as to spend Mony , which they would not be able to do , if the Publick Revenue were not their Stock . Fourthly , The poor are employed by Taxes , and are by that means taken off from being a Charge to the Kingdom ; many Men of broken Fortunes are brought into the Hospital of the Revenue , which may be so accounted , since 't is generally fill'd with persons that are reduc'd to such necessities , as qualifie them for Charity . This is one way , that Taxes employ the Poor , but not the main thing I mean ; which is , That the Trade of Taxes employs the poor Artizans , and Mechanicks , and that in a greater measure , than our Virginia , and Plantation-trade , we with so little reason so much boast of , in these Kingdoms . By the Observations I have always made in my Traversing the World , I find , that those parts have been most opulent , and the People safest ; that filled their own Hives and kept their Swarms at home . That little Commonwealth of Luca to me seems a pattern for all the Princes of Europe , and is as practicable in the greatest Dominions , as that little Sp●t , whose Land and Cities ( having Luna joyned to it ) are all circumscribed within the limits of Six or Seven Miles square ; yet in that compass they are able to raise about Twenty thousand Horse and Foot : a thing almost incredible , but known by all that have travelled that way , and were curious into such Enquiries . These People are of wonderful Industry , and enrich themselves by their Manufactories , which they go not abroad to seek a Market for , but mind their Work at home , and so become more considerable , than those that spend their time in Travels , being by their settl'd living , able to afford their Commodities they make , cheaper , than the Genoese and Florentines , their Neighbours . When I see in Foreign Parts , how rich and powerful a little Siegniory , Commonwealth , or State is made by husbanding their People , I often lament the misfortunes of my Native Country , that might certainly abound with the greatest , and most formidable People in Europe , if they followed their Steps . I have taken up some of your time in this Discourse of Trade ; which may seem Foreign to my Subject of Taxes , yet I must be obliged to do it in all my future Arguments , because Taxes both arise out of Trade , and maintain Trade . To return then to where I left off , That the poor are employed by them in their several Occupations : how many Thousands of Tradesmen have we , that are supported by our Land and Sea-forces , which could have no vent for their Commodities , if they were not taken off at home ? Saddles , Bridles , Sword● , Guns , &c. have no Foreign Market ; yet these employ Thousands of Hands , who are pay'd by Taxes . Fifthly , There is a Set of Men , who like Rats in a Cieling , live upon Prey , and do no good in a Commonwealth , which these Taxes ferret out of their Holes ; Those impositions , I mean , which our Parliament has , with great Wisdom , now laid on Stocks by Pole : for nothing but Land-taxes will reach Vsurers and Misers , who spend nothing but for the supply of the necessities of Nature . Now these Men are the Moths of the Country , it being more mischievous to the Kingdom in general to hoo●d up Money , than for Robbers to take it by force ; and though the Law protects these silent Thieves , yet they are real Criminals , that lock up the Tools of the Industrious , many suffering through want , that could be profitable both to themselves and others , had they but Mony to set them at work . Usurers are by too many thought a Vermin in the Commonwealth ; I cannot but have a better opinion of them , and think that the Pest and Plague of the Nation is a sort of pious Extortioners , who declaim against Usury as unlawful Gain , but will Buy for half Value any thing they can meet with from a Person in Extremity : and next unto these , are such as adore their Bags , and will upon no Terms part with these Deities : their Bags are no Thorough-fair , only a way in , but none out . These Men are by Taxes made against their wills small Benefactors to their Country , and it were to be wished that our great and wise Council of the Nation would yet pursue them farther , and lay a double imposition upon Mony locked up in Chests , more than what is out at Vsury , which being employed , is on the duty it was made for ; but the other is in Captivity ; and the Paltroon should be punish'd for his Cruelty . Sixthly , Taxes , especially in time of War , are the only preservation of all Men employ'd in Trades and Manufactories ; and perhaps not much inferiour to Foreign Trade , if in all respects considered : for as to what is spent in the Kingdom , if it bring nothing in , yet it carries nothing out ; and so far Taxes are profitable , in that the Kingdom is not the poorer for Mony so raised , and so spent ; and in times of War , and prohibition of Trade abroad , if Money were not raised by Taxes , and that employed among our Mechanicks and Manufactories , Men would be forc'd to seek their bread abroad , and the loss of Men , is the greatest misfortune that can befal a● Kingdom . The practice of the Dutch in burning their Spices when they have such quantities as would lower the Price , might be something of direction in this case , and seems a better Government to employ all our hands in time of War , as fully in their Manufactories , as ever they were in a Free Trade , though when they were made , they were burnt , it being of dangerous consequence to discontinue Trade . There is no adjourning labour , and Mechanical Arts in a few Months will either lose the Men , or they their Trade by some other course of Life . Seventhly , That Taxes make the Kingdom rich , and in time of War disperse as much Mony in the Nation , as Trade does in time of Peace . Here I must touch again upon Trade , and enquire what Trade brings us in Bullion , Gold , or Coin ; for we have some of all , though considering the Value of our Native Commodities , 't is wonderful that we should have so little ; and that of those numerous Trades , which our Navigation entitles us to , that we should by carrying in our Ships , our own Manufactories , out of all those advantages add so little to the Treasure of the Kingdom , and bring home no Bullion , but by our Trade to Spain , and some little from the Levant , our Guinea Trade , and for some years past , Buckaneers in the West-Indies . But that which is our best Fund , is the Trade of Spain and Portugal ; the former is made considerable to us by our East-India Commodities , which fetch from Spain , more than we send out in Specie , though some believe the East-India Company does us hurt , by carrying out the Gold of the Kingdom . Now then if the greatest part of our Trade consists in bringing in Commodity for Commodity , then all the benefit o● that Trade is , That it gives employment to our common People in their Mechanick Arts ; and if we can do that by our own expence at home , 't is more the profit of the Kingdom , than by sending them abroad ; for that we avoid the hazard of the Sea , and other accidents abroad : it seems then that Taxes do that , since they issue forth Mony for payment of our Artizans , and Mechanicks , that are employed in making Commodities for our own use , and at the same time enough for that Foreign Trade , which furnishes us with Bullion : and by that it appears that we are much greater gainers by the Trade of Taxes , than by all our Foreign Trade , which brings in nothing but Commodity for our own expence . We see that the Care of our Parliament is , to prevent the Importation of Foreign Commodities , and to encourage that Commerce , which brings us in Money for our own . This then is the surest Trade I know for that purpose , of laying such impositions as may fetch out the M●sers hoords , which are as remote and foreign to the employments of the Kingdom , as those in the Mines at the Indies ; and I know no difference betwixt bringing Treasure out of an Iron Chest by a good Law , and plowing the Seas by long and dangerous Voyages ; only the advantage seems greater , by getting it from an Enemy at home , than a Friend abroad . But undoubted it is , that the Kingdom is as much increased in its Common Stock , as is brought out from the Mony'd Men : it would exceed the limits of a Letter to evince what I am morally sure of , that the Pole and Land-taxes , passed this last Session , has actually brought into the bank of Trade , more ready Mony than came into th● Kingdom , during the late Kings unhappy Reign ; and 't is a vulgar error to believe that T●xes , even to the meanes● Man is a Charge , for that his Mite is with increase return'd by the expence of that , which would never have seen day , but by the force of a Law ; so that publick Taxes , expended in our own Country , may be accounted the poor and the M●chanick's bank , by which they are employed , and maintained : and as the meaner Sort have advantage by Taxes , so have they of better quality : the Land-Lord has his Rent the better paid by the quick returns of Mony : the Merchants , and other Traders , find it in their payments , and receipts ; the Country Farmer in the sale of his Corn and Cattle : for this is certain , that most Mens expence either in Cloaths or Food , is according to their Mony or Fortune , not Appetite or Vanity : many Men content , or rather confine themselves to a Threepenny Ordinary , that would spend Twelve Pence , if they had it . So that after all the noise and clamour that is made in the Kingdom , inveighing literally against the heavy Taxes , which are on the Subject ; this unreasonable declaiming is made for them that no Man loves , the griping Misers , that hoord up Mony : for he indeed seems only aggrieved , that pays out to support Trade , in which he never had the Heart to do good ; and even this Man would be a gainer too by Taxes , if he were not separate from humane Society , and trusted neither God , nor Man ; whatever he has to do in the World , is to see that he runs no hazard in it , and whoever he deals with must be sure to him , though he cannot be so to himself . And besides this extream Earth-worm that hoords , there is another Se● of Men that do little good in the Commonwealth , and that is such as have more Mony by them , than they can employ , and perhaps would gladly put it out to Interest , but cannot : These are less faulty than the former , yet should be obliged to do some good with their Treasures , and the best way seems to lay a round Tax upon that Mony. 'T is with reason believed that there is now ten times the proportion of Mony in the Kingdom , as was in the Reign of King Iames the First ; yet not more stirring in the Kingdom , but what is brought out by Customes and Duties ; then would it not be as beneficial to Trade by Taxes upon the Misers and Hoorders of Mony before-mentioned , to fetch it out from them , as with S●ips to get it from Foriegners : we have rich Mines at home that may keep us in full Trade these Ten Years , if we had none abroad ; and nothing but such impositions as may supply the want of Trade , can keep our Artizans and Manufactories together . Thus I have huddl'd together a mixt Discourse , which I ●ear may be troublesome to collect , and shape , for your apprehension ; but your greater judgment will unite its incongruities : I can only justifie the matter to be in the main of it , Collections from the practice and usage of other places ; for what relates to this Nation , you are a better Iudge than I am , who am guided by the practice of Trade , and that is , I doubt , too often exploded by Ministers of State. I confess the Fatigues of Government , are above the Conduct of a Mercantine head , and therefore I acquiesce without much enquiry in to them , only sit often down with doubtful conjectures of the issue of our present Affairs . I mean not of the present distractions which an inconsiderable number of Mal contents fling among us , whose profession more immediately obliges them to the Characters of Peace-makers , than it does other Christians : these will cease with the Romish Interest , that masks it self under them ; but that which I fear , is , a distraction of the Trades , Manufactories , and Industry of the Nation , because I see none concerned for it . The Tumour of the times , looks more like the ris●ing of a Camp , than improvement of Trade and Commerce ; most Men in Court and City pursuing employments , Civil or Military , which I take to be an ill Omen , and doubly to be blamed ; First , For Men of Fortune and Employment in Trade , to take away that which should be bread for the decay'd Man. And then , Secondly , It is mischievous to the Commonwealth to have Men that can employ themselves in it , to be taken off from promoting the publick in their proper Station . Having thus run through the Nature and Vse of Taxes , with the reasons that seem perswasive , as to the great help they are to the support of this Kingdom ; you may perhaps expect I should say something of the way , how Taxes may be most beneficially , and easily layn , but in that I am bar●'d by some impertinent pens , who are every day printing their Follies ; to which is added an unaccountable boldness , not to say more , by their designing to direct the Great Council of the Nation . I could name several that have taken pains in this matter , but omitting others , I cannot but name a Paper I saw the other day , Entituled , Proposals humbly offered to the Consideration of this present Parliament , being a soft and easie way for raising of Mony in order to the prepetual maintaining , and defending of this Kingdom . The Author there tells you , how the Nation shall be supported by a Miracle ; and if it were only so , I might not think it impossible : but as our Faith must be above reason , yet not against it , so I think are miracles ; but perhaps that Gentleman has another fund for his Invention out of the Turks Opinion , That Lunaticks and Idiots are inspired , and such may be thought so , that propose to break the most ancient Tenure of England , and to raise up a Treasure , which , to use his own words , No body ever thought of before ; a Stock of honesty to pay Fleets and Armies ; he 's only short in not proposing a way , how to make that Treasure Sailable ; for he that has it , will not part with it : and they who have it not , are seldom in love with it , nor will take it in payment without the Gentleman's token , that found out this unknown Treasure . I beg pardon for this Digression , which I make only to shew the cause , why I am loth to crowd in among the Politicks , as he that gives this advice to the Parliament often mentions . But though I dare not presume to direct the best and most pro●itable way of Taxes ; yet I will here name such as I think are not the most desireable , and then mention such as in other parts of the World are thought most agreeable . For , such as I take to be uneasie to the People , and not most profitable to the State , are , First , Those that are levied on the Subject by way of Fees in Offices . This , that in its original was either to be a profit to the Crown , in bringing in Money to the King's Exchequer , or an ease to the Crown , in saving the Charge of Salleries for Officers about the Law , &c. is now become neither . Perhaps , if an Estimate was made , there would be ●ound some Millions Sterling raised in this Kingdom on Offices , of which there comes not the Thousandth part into the King's Treasury ; nor , that which is more strange , not a Penny saved of the King's Charge in maintaining those Officers . Some have thousands a year in Fees and Perquisites , that yet have a large Sallary from the King. Others have Offices , whose Fees , when first establisht , would but afford an honest Livelihood to the Officer that o●●ficiated ; but in process of time 't is advanced to ten times that value , and now is managed by a Deputy , perhaps for less than a twentieth part of the profit of the Office. This seems a grievous Tax , and would be thought so , if appropriated to any particular use of the Crown : As for example ; If the Parliament should give a certain Tax to the King , for maintaining a War with France , and this Tax , contrary to expectation , amounted to five times ▪ the Charge of that War , would it be thought reasonable for the King to demand a farther Supply from the People ? Or rather , Would it not be thought equal , to ease the Subject of so much of that Tax , as is surplus to the Charge . The Case seems Parallel in Offices , and if enquired into , there may be thought almost enough there to save the Kingdom from other Taxes ; but I would not be understood to invade any Mans Property . The wisdom of the Nation might find Expedients to do a general Good , without a particular injury to any man. Secondly , Poll Money seems an unequal and unprofitable Tax ; unequal , if it be by a general way , all Heads to pay alike , the Cobler with the Lord ; and unprofitable , if it be by distinction of Qualities : for that it gives great opportunity of Frauds in Collection , and not without some in point of Estate and Quality , broken men thinking it , and too often affecting a Credit , by being returned in the Poll-book of that value , which in truth they may not be . Thirdly , Such as are raised by Benevolence , are the worst of Taxes , and this of Free Gift is of double consideration . First , as it is from the Subj●ct to the Prince , and then as it is from the People one to another . Benevolence from the Subject to the Prince is dangerous , in that it brings men under discrimination ; he that gives not largely , perhaps beyond his ability , will be looked upon as diss●ff●cted . And such is the unlimitedness of this way of taxing , that Men have no Rule whereby they may be safe , but shall , it may be , be compared to Men of twice their Estates , or that which is worse , with Sycophants , Fools of the times , who are extravagant in their Contributions to that Government , which refunds them equally to their Service . That of Benevolence one to the other is a frequent Tax in the Kingdom , and in my opinion one of the greatest Mistakes in our Government . There is nothing more common than this , given by Authority , for Losses by Five , and other general Calamities . I seldom see it for Losses at Sea , though they are yearly much greater than those by Fire . But to return , this way of raising Money by Benevolence to relieve one another , is a Tax on the best men , and an impu●ity on the worst . Good men are apt to commiserate the Necessities of their Neighbours , when bad men too often rejoice at them , and seldome give any thing to relieve them ; 't is God only that can regulate the Affections ; Man can compel the outward Conformity . And there seems in nothing a greater want of the aid of Government , than in this of Payments to any publick use , the want of which renders honest men a Sacrifice for uncharitable Misers . I have sometimes 〈◊〉 the Collection for the Poor at Church-doors no better ; for , till all men be alike virtu●us o● 〈◊〉 , that can be no equal Levy that leaves Men at liberty . The Government are best Judges of what the Poor should receive , and the Rich pay ; and if that were thought convenient , it seems to me most equall , where every one should give to the Relief of his distressed Neighbour , according to his Worldly Substance , not Christian Charity . Fourthly , Impositions upon Men for their Religion , seems no good way of Taxes . Indeed the truly conscientious Man will think that well bestow'd which purchases the Exercise of his Religion , but that is no warrant for imposing it . We may say , under the Gospel , that which David could not under the L●w , That ●e would not serve God with that which cost him nothing . I so much doubt my Judgment in my own Province , that I dare not intrude into that Sacred one of Divinity : but think it allowable to take any choice of Opinions in this matter , and with those I join that think no Errour in Fundamentals should be allowed in a Christian Church , nor any difference in Circumstantials purchased by Money . Fifthly , Monopolies are an ill way of raising Money ; for any Set of People to have the particular selling of any Commodity , or using any Arts , though they pay a great Rent to the Government , is yet a great Prejudice and Tax to the People , where no Industry should be restrained . Yet I am of Opinion against them that think the Turkey , Hamborough , ●ast-India , and other Companies , for Foreign Trade , a Monopoly . The Ca●e is vastly differing , and so far from hindering a Publick Good , that they preserve those Trades in the Kingdom , which would be torn to pieces by a con●used and general Trade : It was evident in the time , when the East India Trade was at large ; but this requires an ample Discourse of it self . Sixthly , I take the Alteration in the value of Money to be a Tax , and no good one . We are less afflicted with that than any People in the World ; yet some little touches we have had , rather by accident than design , so needs the less to be said on them ; but whereever 't is used , the Subject is the Sufferer ; for , call Money what you will , it has its Standard in the World , and is no more than what other Nations account it , according to its Intrinsick Value , not what Name any King or Government gives it . Now , if a Prince , as the French often do , raise Money in Name , the Landlord and Officer , that receive Fees and Pensions , are the Losers . The Merchant and Tradesmen lose but once , by as much as they have in their hands , at first coming out of the Charge ; but those men of real Estates are Losers , as long as it lasts , for that they must take it for what the Government calls it ; but the Merchant and Tradesmen will not , because they put a value upon their Commodities accordingly . If the Government makes twenty shillings three and twenty , the Merchant will have three and twenty shillings for twenty shillings worth of Commodities : So that he must value it according as it bears with the Intrinsick Value ; for in proportion to that he buys and sells throughout the World , however Kings and Governments give Names to their several Coins . So we see it in France and Holland , where they reckon their Cash by Livres or Crowns , and in Holland by Gilders , and Pound Flemish ; yet still the Merchant rules himself by the Standard in England , which is thought the best in Europe . Seventhly , Raising Money from Travellers and Passengers over Bridges and through Cities , as they do much in Holland , seems an unequal Tax , and subject to great Frauds . I take it to be unequal , because generally 't is the poorest and most industrious that are liable to it , and perhaps it often reaches those that are travailing to find out Charity , or labour for a Living . Now , to exact from them , before they have purcha●ed it , is a Severity equal to that of making Brick without Straw or Stubble . 'T is liable to great Frauds , since ' ●is impossible to have a check ; so that the Gatherers are under great temptations , and the Collectors being men of mean quality , are ap●er to be seduced . Those Taxes seem most beneficial to the Government which pass through few and most solvent hands . And , as 't is secure for the State , so 't is most easie for the People ; and the better that Impositions are collected , the more are the People disburthened from new Levies . I sh●ll now come to shew what are thought in other Kingdoms most advisable , and they are these . First , That of Excise , which is most used in the Vnited Provinces , which we should here think intolerable , to be laid on every Bit which we eat ; but there it is found useful , and time has made it natural to the People ▪ so in Venice and other parts . The great Duke of Florence does the same , by raising most of his Revenue upon Consumptions in his own Dominions , which indeed seems of all Taxes the most equal : for that no man by it can be said to be oppressed , he being his own Assessor , and pays but what he pleases , according to his Expence : But laying it , as they do in the Vnited Provinces , upon the food of the Poor , might be thought a Grievance . If that , and one Defect more , could be remedied , there could be nothing said against this Tax ; and that is , the Rich Miser ( who starves his miserable Body ) goes most free ; therefore , as to him , I have before given my Opinion , how he might be reached . Where this Excise is most used , Importations and Exportations are most eased , by which means Trade is greatly improved , and at the same time , the Levies to the King or State much augmented ; for that the expence of those Merchants and Seamen that repair thither , tho' they often sell nothing , but come to see a Market , is considerable . Secondly , In other Countries Iews are particularly tax'd , and for which there seems good reason , for that no Tax hardly reaches them , but like the Misers before spoken of , they are indeed beyond them , for that Excise toucheth not them ; they neither eat nor drink with Christians ; a few Eggs or Herbs are most of their Food ; live sordidly , and spend little ; have no Lands or Rents to be reached by any Tax : Nor is their Trade profitable to a Kingdom , or advantagious to the Revenue , dealing most in Bills of Exchange , Iewels , and concealable Commodities , that pay no Duty . These men should be reached by a particular Tax , and so made profitable to a Kingdom . Thirdly , In some places the Government maintains Playhouses and Matters of Sport and Recreation , paying the Actors Salaries , and taking the profit into their Treasures : and in other parts , as in Holland , the Publick have one that takes part of what is given by Spectators ; so that they make a Gain out of that waste Money , for no better can I term it . If a Calculation was made of all the Money spent in England , by such Diversions , it might be thought , a round Sum might be raised to the King. Does it not seem an omission , That a Playhouse which receives twenty thousand pounds a year , should pay nothing to the Publick ; when a Coffeehouse , that receives not one thousand per annum , pays twenty pounds ? And so it is in Musick houses , Bear-gardens , and Plays in Fairs , &c. Fourthly , In some parts of the World , as Italy , France , and Spain , a Tax of Labour upon Malefactors condemns such as we here punish with Death , to the Gall●es and Mines , which is a Punishment of greater terror and longer example than Death , and at the same time , of profit to the Kingd●m I have often thought upon this particular , and spent hours in debate with my self , and therefore shall beg your patience , if I trouble you with a tedious Harangue o● 〈◊〉 part of my Conceptions . I have enquired first into the Law of God , then into that of other Kingdoms , and find that we differ from both in our punishment for Felonies . The Law of Muses , which is more severe than ours in many things , ( as that of Adultery and Disobedience to Parents , the latter of which is by our Law not so penal as a broken Head ) yet in Felonies n●t so extream as we are ; so far from making it Death , as not to i●flict a Corporal Punishment . The restoring of four-fold was directed by the Great Judge of Heaven and Earth ; and if the Thief had nothing to make satisfaction with , he was to be sold. But our Laws and Customs differ much , when we punish the Kingdom for the fault of an evil Member . It will not be denied , but that the Treasure of Men is of more value than that of Money . Now , to take away the Life of a Man , is in its proportion , equal to a mans cutting off a Limb , because it is sore . A Thief is a Diseased Member , better to be cured than destroyed . 'T will be thought an extravagant fancy , yet to me it seems a real truth , That a Thief is less mischievous to a Body Politi●k , than a Miser ; for he only makes a wrong transferring of Riches , the other ( I mean the Miser ) keeps all buried , so that the Community is wronged by him , and only particular Persons by the other ; and , as the taking away the Life of a Man weakens the Kingdom , so does it injure the person robbed ; for that if the Thief were not able to pay , then might he be sold , and kept at work in Mines , or other Penal Labour , both for satisfaction to the Person injured , and Corporal Punishment to the Offender : And , it may be thought to be of more terror , to have a Spectacle for many years labouring with a shaved Head in Chains , than an Execution of half an hour , that is oftentimes soon forott ● I have named but these four Heads for all the Foreign Use in Taxes , because I do not remember amongst the 〈◊〉 waies they have , any other practicable and profitable in these Kingdoms . The two later of these we do not use ; but I presume , if they were taken into the consideration of better Heads than mine , they might find a way to make something out of them : forasmuch as I am able to judge , a great Revenue might be made to accrew to the Kingdom , out of the Vermin of the Nation , lewd Persons of both Sexes , which now pass as if tolerated in their Enormities ; and only one Sett of them that the Law seems severe against , punishing them with Death : which by so much appears to be the worse , by how much we suppose nothing too rigo●ous for Offences against our selves , and nothing too little or indulgent for Crimes committed against God. I am , SIR , Your most humble Servant . 
A65414	----	An answer to the late K. James's last declaration, dated at St. Germains, April 17. s.n. 1693 Welwood, James, 1652-1727. 1693 Approx. 56 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 22 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A65414 Wing W1302 ESTC R204539 12369610 ocm 12369610 60534 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A65414) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 60534) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 906:9) An answer to the late K. James's last declaration, dated at St. Germains, April 17. s.n. 1693 Welwood, James, 1652-1727. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [2], 40 p. Printed for Richard Baldwin ..., London : 1693. Reproduction of original in Union Theological Seminary Library, New York. Attributed to James Wellwood. cf. NUC pre-1956. Also attributed to Daniel Defoe. cf. Moore, J.R. : A checklist of the writings of Daniel Defoe. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng James -- II, -- King of England, 1633-1701. -- His Majesties most gratious declaration to all his loving subjects, 17 April 1693. Great Britain -- History -- 1660-1714. 2002-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-09 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-10 Chris Scherer Sampled and proofread 2002-10 Chris Scherer Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion This may be Printed , Iune 5. 1693. J. Trenchard . AN ANSWER To the Late K. JAMES's Last Declaration , Dated at St. Germains , April 17. S. N. 1693. LONDON , Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-lane . MDCXCIII . AN ANSWER To the LATE K. JAMES's Last Declaration . IT seems we are yearly to expect a New Declaration of the Late King 's , and ev'ry one of them is to be of a quite different Strain from another . In that published the last Year , K. Iames was pleas'd to pull off the Mask , and give us his own genuine Intentions what he had a mind to do with us , when once he came to be our Master . Then he was firmly resolved to remount the Throne by force of Arms , and to sap its new foundation with English Blood. This Kingdom was adjudged a Hecatomb to his Revenge ; And indeed the whole Nation was by a fair consequence excepted out of his Indemnity , and nothing but Axes and Gibbets were to Attone for the Wrongs we had done him ; but now it 's thought fit the Mask should once more be put on , and the Thunder of the Last Year be hush'd up in the Serene Temper of This. Here he desires rather to be beholding to his Subjects Love to him , than to any other expedient whatever , for his Restauration : But the last year he was to use no gentler methods to regain us , than a French Army sent him by his dearest Brother the French King , that is in plain English , He was to render us Slaves in the Right of Conquest . A wonderful change in Stile ! And the first Essay in Politicks of a New Ministry at St. Germains . But Good God! What a low Opinion must the Contrivers of this Declaration entertain of the whole Nation of England , if they imagin'd in good earnest such a gross Sham could take with them ! When these Kingdoms have so severely felt the overthrow of their Laws , Religion and Liberties , brought upon them in spight of the most solemn Promises , and the Sanction of an Oath to the contrary ; when an unexpected Providence had broke the Yoke from off our Necks , and secured to us all those valuable things we were upon the point of losing for ever , by changing our King , without changing the Line or the Monarchy ; to imagine that after all this , they can be wheedled in to trust the same Prince once more with their All , meerly because forsooth He , or some in his Name , emits a kind of faint Promise to do otherwise than we know to our Fatal Experience he did before , is at the same time to suppose this Island to be Inhabited by a Herd of Brutes , and not Reasonable thinking Creatures . I challenge all the Late King's Declarationmakers , and even the suppos'd Contriver of this last , for whose Parts I have a just Esteem , to give me but one single instance from History , That ever a free People , who from a just and recent sence of an Invasion made by a limited Monarch upon their Laws and Fundamental Constitution , had thereupon withdrawn their Allegiance from him , and confer'd it upon another , did ever afterwards willingly and tamely submit to His Government again . No , there is not one instance of this kind in all the Records of time : For tho' scarce one Age has past without some remarkable Revolution in Kingdoms and States , yet a thing of this nature was never yet heard of since the World was . This appears one of the most universally received Principles of Humane Society , Never to trust the Promises of one that has broke with us before ; especially if those former were back'd with the Religious Sanction of an Oath . To break through this Principle in some trivial matter , may be perhaps pardonable in a Philosopher , or some good-natur'd man that ventures thereby no more than what he is content to lose . But to submit the dearest and most sacred things that Men can possess on Earth , the Liberties , Laws , and Fundamental Constitutions of his Countrey , all that either he , or his Children after him , can call , or wish their own : To submit all these , I say , to a few feeble Promises of one that has broke to us much more solemn ones before , were a madness that never a Nation under Heaven was yet guilty of . As it is the easiest thing in the world to promise largely , when a man finds it his interest so to do ; So it is ordinarily the last Refuge weak minds have their recourse to , when all other means of compulsion or persuasion fail . But at the same time , he that threatens highly , when he thinks he has power in his hands to make his Threats good , and comes thereafter to cajole with soft Promises of good Treatment , when that Power is gone ; one must divest himself of all common sence , if he believe that that man's mind is really chang'd to the better , and does not ascribe the change of his manner of treating with us , to the change of his Fortune . To bring this close to King Iames's Case ; Last year all things were in a readiness in France for a formidable Descent upon us , and indeed it was within an ace of taking effect . We were ev'ry minute in hazard of seeing a French Army land upon our Coasts , and King Iames with them . Matters were so ripened for them in the Neighbouring Kingdom , that an Insurrection was to break out there , as soon as they set foot ashore here . In a word , The great Design of carrying a War into the Bowels of this island by the Power of France , in conjunction with our Malcontents at home , was well enough laid , and wanted but little of Execution . Then was a time for a Generous Prince to tell the People of England , He desir'd rather to be beholden to his Subjects Love , than to any other expedient whatsoever for his Restauration . This had look'd plausible indeed , and one would have been tempted almost to believe he was in earnest . But alas ! the Late King thought there was no obligation upon him then to hide or dissemble his Intentions . Buoy'd up with the hopes of an Infallible Success , he spoke his mind plain out , and in his Declaration at that time emitted , ( to which I refer the Reader for brevity sake ) he talk'd in a loftier strain from St. Germains , and his Camp in Normandy , than ever yet he had done at the top of his Glory at White-hall . Full with the mighty things he was to do at the head of a French Army , he was pleas'd not to treat with us , but to treat us as Slaves he had a mind to conquer with his Sword : Nor could we have expected higher Language if we had been already lying groveling at a Conqueror's Feet . But , God be thanked , the Scene is much alter'd with respect to King Iames since last Year . All the Designs of the French Court for this Year , are levell'd elsewhere , and we know of no Preparations for invading England this Summer . Scotland has not only put it self into a posture of defence , but the whole face of Affairs there are wonderfully changed by this Session of Parliament to the better , and the Late King's Party sufficiently humbled . It 's from the consideration of this change of Affairs in England and Scotland , the Late King has been induc'd to change his Stile : And to this alone , instead of the Threats of the former , we are beholding for this last Whining Declaration . But to come to the Declaration it self , to let the World see how little we fear its being capable to influence any body of common sense to their Party ; we shall give the express words of it Paragraph by Paragraph , with some short Reflections on ev'ry one of them . His Majesties most Gracious Declaration to all his Loving Subjects . JAMES R. WHereas We are most sensible that nothing has contributed so much to our Misfortunes , and our Peoples Miseries , as the false and malicious Calumnies of our Enemies . Strange ! Might not one have reasonably expected , that in four years retirement the Late King should have been able to attain the knowledge of the real Causes of his own Misfortunes , and his Peoples Miseries ? And is he yet to learn what all Europe is long since sufficiently persuaded of ? If he has , We have not yet forgot , the breach of reiterated Promises , and a Coronation Oath , the setting up a Dispensing Power above , and contrary to Law ; the bringing over an Army of Irish Papists amongst us ; the employing those , and almost only those that by Acts of Parliament were incapable ; the turning men out of their Freeholds for not obeying Commands directly contrary to an Oath they had taken before ; the endeavours made , and methods us'd , for overturning the Religion establish'd by Law , and bringing in another by the same Law abolish'd ; with a thousand other bare fac'd Violations of our Rights and Constitution . All these were not the Calumnies of his Enemies . No! It was under those real and felt Evils we groan'd in the last Reign ; And to a wilful and formed Design of bringing all these , and more upon us , King Iames is only to ascribe the loss of Three Crowns . Therefore we have always been , and still are , most willing to condescend to such things , as after mature deliberation We have thought most proper for removing thereof , and most likely to give the fullest satisfaction and clearest Prospect of the greatest Security to all ranks and degrees of our People . What a wonderful Stock of Confidence was there required to pen this one single Period ? A Period , which though consisting but of two Lines , yet contains no less than five Superlatives to make up an Assertion that all England knows to be false . Has the Late King been always most willing to condescend to such things as were thought most proper , and most likely to give the fullest Satisfaction , and clearest Security to his People ? What then meant his stiff Denial to comply with a Parliament that had exprest the firmest Loyalty to him in his greatest Exigence , when they came only to address him with all Expressions of humility , not to break in upon the Law , by employing those whom the Law incapacitated ? Why sent he that Loyal Parliament a packing immediatly upon the back of this Address ; And told them plainly , he would do the quite contrary to what they advised him ? Was this to be most willing to give the fullest satisfaction to his People ? When he would needs invade the uncontroverted Rights of Magdalen Colledge , there was not wanting some , even then , to advise him of the danger and Illegality of that Design . How willing he was to hear any Terms of Moderation in that Affair , all the World knows ; And the thrusting out the Master and Fellows of that House , merely because they would not comply with an illegal Command , is not yet quite lost in the memory of man. The sending the Bishops to the Tower was another convincing Evidence of his being always most willing to give the clearest prospect of the greatest Security to all Ranks and Degrees of People . And to add one Instance more to a great many others that might be nam'd , His refusal afterwards to call a Parliament upon the Address of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal , in his greatest Exigence , and when his own Affairs most requir'd it , did scarce bespeak him a Prince most willing to give his People Satisfaction . So that if one had been to advise the Contrivers of this Declaration which way to make the whole look more ridiculous , it had been to put in this Period , That he still is most willing to satisfy all Ranks and Degrees of People , in the same sense he has always been so , which we are very inclinable to believe : And so in that point we are agreed . And because we desire rather to be beholding to our Subjects Love to us , than to any other expedient whatever , for our Restoration ; We have thought fit to let them know before-hand our Royal and sincere Intentions ; and that whenever our Peoples United Desires , and our Circumstances give us the opportunity to come and assert our Right , We will come with the Declaration that follows . JAMES R. The Writer has stumbled here upon two unlucky Expressions , Our Sincere Intentions , and our Peoples United Desires . When he fell upon the first , it seems he had in his thoughts how naturally the people of England would be inclin'd to doubt the Sincerity of those Promises he makes them in the late King's name ; and even the very moment the Words were dropping from his Pen , he himself was thinking how little credit they would obtain . By this he can scarcely be judg'd a fit Amanuensis for a King. It is infinitely below the Majesty and Honour of a Monarch to use the word sincere in speaking of his Intentions . Among Gentlemen 〈◊〉 interlarding their Discourse with such an expression , As what I say is true , is not fashionable ; for the very saying so , derogates from that just sense every virtuous man has of his own Honour and Veracity , which puts him beyond the suspicion of telling an untruth . But for a Minister to tell the people in his Prince's Name , That his Master's Intentions towards them are Sincere , is yet more ridiculous , by how much more the Word of a Prince ought to be more Sacred , and less liable to be suspected than that of private men . The other Expression , The united Desires of his People , is as unluckily chose . If the late King come not to assert his Right till his People's United Desires give him an opportunity , we are in no great danger of seeing him in England , or of making a trial how far he has a mind to keep his Word . United Desires is a very comprehensive Word ; and it must be some Ages hence that such a thing can happen : For it will be hard enough for the Teeth of one Age at least , to eat out the Remembrance of the late Reign ; and while that is not forgot , there is no great probability of the People of England's Uniting in their Desires to bring back King Iames. All that we have hitherto given of the Declaration , being it seems intended only for a Preface to another within the Belly of it ; the other follows thus : JAMES R. WHEN We reflect upon the Calamities of our Kingdoms , We are not willing to leave any thing unattempted whereby We may reconcile our Subjects to their Duty ; And tho' we cannot enter into all the particulars of Grace and Goodness , which We shall be willing to grant ; yet we do hereby assure all our Loving Subjects , that they may depend upon every thing that their own Representatives shall offer , to make our Kingdoms happy . For We have set it before our Eyes , as our Noblest Aim , to do yet more for their Constitution , than the most Renowned of our Ancestors ; And , as our chiefest Interest , to leave no umbrage for Iealousy , in relation to Religion , Liberty , and Property . King Iames has all the reason in the world to reflect upon the Calamities of these Kingdoms , since He was so very careful to bring them upon us . The Calamities we groan'd under in his Reign , have been hinted at before . Where to lay the causes of the Calamities of this Reign ( which we believe is principally , if not only here meant ) , is worthy of our Enquiry ; and we need not go far to find them out . It must be acknowledged , that War in it self deserves well the name of a Calamity , and a great one too . But this we are at present engaged in , is a War of Necessity , and to save us from Calamities vastly greater than it self . It 's a War for Defence of our Countrey , our Religion , our Liberties , and all that can be dear to us in the world ; all which must stand or fall by the Success of it . If the exorbitant Greatness and Power of France should happen to prove fatal to us in the upshot , ( which Heaven forbid ! ) We know whom to thank for it : And all Europe , even those of the late King's Religion , lay both it and all the direful effects of it , with heaviest Execrations , at his door . It 's a truth as conspicuous as a Ray of the Sun , That the two great Designs which took up the thoughts of a certain Prince both before and after his Accession to the Throne , were , How to make France formidable abroad , and these Three Nations Slaves at home . It 's only in these two Noble Designs , he can yet be call'd a Successful Prince ; and for the first , instead of a Sanctuary in France , he deserves well the best Province of that Kingdom . He tells us , He is not willing to leave anything unattempted whereby he may reconcile his Subjects to their Duty . So we find neither foul nor fair means have been neglected , that 's certain . Sometimes we have been tryed with Threats , and now there 's another tryal how far Promises may work upon us . Sometimes the Late King has a mind to reconcile us to our Duty by an Army of French and Irish ; even those generous Gentlemen that have Signaliz'd themselves in their own Country for their singular kindness to those of our Religion : And sometimes when the other fails , he designs to be beholding only to his peoples Love for his Restoration , and to come over , it seems , with only a few that shall be thought necessary to attend his Person . But we are fairly told , We have been , and are still out of our Duty ; otherwise there were no need of Reconciling us to it . That is in plain English , We are in his sense a pack of Villains and Traytors , That would not timely submit our Religion , Laws and Liberties to be overturn'd at his caprice , nor yield up our selves Slaves at discretion : But quite contrary , either concurr'd with , or accepted of our Deliverance , when Heaven was pleased to bring it home to our door . By this we may clearly judge of the Late King's Opinion of us , and be better able to make a shrewd conjecture of the sincerity of his intentions towards us . In this word of Reconciling us to our Duty , is still the old Passive-Obedience Principle trump'd up upon us , which was once within an ace of ruining us all . And King Iames being still of Opinion , that we fail'd in our Duty when we left that Principle ; It was not only altogether needless for him to make all those Promises , but we are Knaves if we receive him not again without them ; since according to that Doctrine we are oblig'd to submit to him to day , though we were sure he would sell us all for Slaves to morrow . We are told , We may depend upon every thing that our Representatives shall offer to make us happy . How willing the Late King was to Grant what our Representatives did offer to him for our necessary security only , I have mention'd before . He kick'd them out of doors merely because they presum'd humbly to Advise him to Govern according to Law ; that is , To Employ only those the Law capacitated for Employments . With what sort of Representatives he aim'd afterwards during the whole course of his Reign , to fill St. Stephen's Chappel , The Regulations of Corporations , the Closettings of Members , the Questions put to almost every man in England that had a Voice in Elections ; and all the rest of the means us'd to get a pack'd House of Commons , were too publick witnesses . So that indeed King Iames may safely enough promise to grant what our Representatives shall offer , if he means such Representatives as those he was once minded to palm upon the Nation . But he tells us , He has set before his eyes as his noblest aim , to do yet more for our Constitution than the most Renown'd of his Ancestors . This is not the first time we have been told so : And indeed these words appear to come of course . For in a Speech he made to the Parliament in May 1685. he thought fit to tell them , That he pleas'd himself with the hopes , that by God's Blessing , and their Assiistance , he might carry the Reputation of this Nation higher in the world , than ever it had been in the time of any of his Ancestors . The truth is , it was a severe proof enough of our Faith , even then , to believe the days of King Iames the 2d . should come to eclipse those of Edward the 3d. or Henry the 5th . and it will be yet much more so now . Every body was at that time upon the enquiry , How his Late Majesty's hopes were then grounded , and what were the wonderful steps by which he expected to arrive at so high a pitch of Glory . We have been sufficiently enabled since to unriddle the Mystery : For instead of Conquests abroad , which has render'd the Reigns of some of his Ancestors so illustrious to Posterity ; he had hopes to perpetuate the Memory of his , by much more remarkable , and in his opinion , much more glorious Conquests at home , even those he had a mind to obtain over our Laws , Religion , and Liberties . Neither in this design was he altogether inexcusable ; since upon his Principles , to subdue the Northern Heresy , carry'd more of true Glory along with it , than the Conquest of any one side of the Globe . If then he unluckily fail'd at that time to surpass the renown of his Ancestors by making the Conquests I have hinted at , it 's not to be doubted but he will push the harder for it the next time we give him an opportunity of doing it . And to encourage all our Loving Subjects , of what degree or quality soever , to set their Hearts and Hands to the perfecting of so good a Work , and to unite themselves in this only means of Establishing the future Peace and Prosperity of these Kingdoms , We have thought fit to publish and declare ; That , on our part , We are ready and willing wholly to lay aside all thoughts of Animosity or Resentment for what is past ; desiring nothing more , than that it should be buried in perpetual Oblivion . They must indeed be his Loving Subjects that set their hearts and hands to the perfecting the work of the Late King's Restoration ; for none that have a true love for their Country will venture upon it . If this work of Restoring him to the Throne , be the only means of establishing the peace and happiness of these Kingdoms ; Then Popery and Slavery must be quite other things than we took them to be . We fondly imagin'd our Lives and Estates could not be better bestow'd than in warding off from our selves , our Country and Posterity , those two . But now our late Declarationmakers have found out the secret ; for instead of being such affrightful things as we believ'd , they are the only means to establish our peace and happiness ; and indeed they , and the Restoring of King Iames are reciprocal , and must of necessity go hand in hand together . He is ready and willing to lay aside all Resentments for what is past , desiring nothing more than that it should be buried in perpetual oblivion . It 's hop'd we may without offence believe him to be willing to lay aside all Resentments , in the same sense as we believe him to have been always most willing to condescend to such things as might give fullest satisfaction to his people ; and the rather , that in believing this last , we arrive at the highest pitch of Faith , even that of belieivng against sense . But does he really desire that all that 's past should be buried in oblivion ? Certainly he has all the reason in the world so to do ; and they deserve to be branded for fools that doubt his Sincerity in that point . But though the Late King should , yet it s hop'd the people of England are not yet willing to bury in oblivion what 's past . The sense of the hazards they were in , was too great to be so soon forgot : And yet we are heartily content they should be no otherwise remembred , than as the Shipwrack'd Mariner retains the impression of the Shelve on which he once was in danger to split ; that is , in order to shun it for the time to come . And do therefore by this our Declaration , under our Great Seal , solemnly promise our free 〈◊〉 and Indemnity to all our Loving Subjects , of 〈◊〉 degree or quality soever , who shall not by Land or 〈◊〉 oppose Us and those we shall think necessary to accompany our own Person in this just attempt to recover our Right ; or ( in such a number of days after our Landing , as we shall hereafter express ) shall not resist those who in any parts of our Dominions shall according to their Duty assert and maintain the Iustice of our Cause : Beseeching God to incline the Hearts of our People , that all effusion of Blood may be prevented , and Righteousness and Mercy take place . And for that end , We further promise to all such as shall come to , and assist us , That We will reward them according to their respective Degrees and Merits . Here is a touch of that mighty Act of Indemnity we are to be blest with , upon the late King's Restoration . An Indemnity which it 's hop'd we shall never stand in need of , and yet one express'd in such words , as would stand us in no stead , tho we should come to plead it . He pardons all but such as shall oppose him by Sea or Land. A comprehensive Exception , and fully as wide as that Universal one mention'd in his Declaration last year . The word Oppose , may receive a thousand different Interpretations at the Bar ; and God have mercy on us , if ever it come to that ! For the late King was always careful enough to pick out Judges sufficiently inclin'd to put what Interpretations on Words or Things best pleased their Master . However it be , we know above One hundred thousand people excepted by this Clause at one blow , all our Army by Land , and all our Fleet at Sea : They will certainly fall under the word Oppose , tho they should never strike a stroke in the Quarrel ; the receiving a Commission to Oppose Him , among the rest of Their Majesties Enemies , will admit of no favourable sense in the case . How far all the rest of the Nation may fall under the Exception , it 's only to stretch the meaning of the words a little , and they are all in the same Category with those that appear in Arms against him ; for there is an opposing of him in the Parliament-House , in the Pulpit , in one's Chamber , and in a thousand other ways which a clear witted bene placito Judge can easily find out . As to his Promise of Rewarding those that shall come in to him , he has been always very careful that no body repent their good Service to him . Witness the Parliament that had stuck so close to him in the affair of Monmouth's Insurrection , whom he turn'd out of doors when the Danger was over ; and the Prelates of the Church of England , who had adher'd to his Interest in the matter of the Bill of Exclusion , upon whom afterwards he rubb'd all the Affronts were in his power ; and , in fine , witness a great many Protestants that had serv'd him effectually against Monmouth , in keeping the Crown on his Head , whom he afterwards turn'd out of their Employments , to make way for his Rascally beloved Irish. We do further declare , That we will , with all speed , call together the Representative Body of our Kingdom ; And therein will inform our selves what are the united Interests and Inclinations of our People ; and with their concurrence will be ready to redress all their Grievances , and give all those Securities of which they shall stand in need . What sort of Representatives the late King aim'd at , when he sat on the Throne , we have hinted at before : They were only such as would break in upon our Laws and Constitutions , to favour those that were design'd to be our Executioners , at least the Instruments of our Slavery . A Principle to have such and only such Representatives , was so rooted in the breast of that Prince , that even when the greatest danger came afterwards to threaten him , he could not bring himself to the Temper of calling any other , tho most of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal begg'd him earnestly so to do , as the only means to settle the then troubled state of his Affairs . The difficulties that then environ'd him , forc'd from him indeed a faint kind of Compliance with their desire at first ; he made a show of Issuing out Writs for calling a Free Parliament ; but so strong was his Inclination to have none but such a pack'd House of Commons , as might serve the Great Turn he had so long aim'd at , that before half the Writs were sealed , all the Scheme was altered in a moment , and things went on in the old channel again . Here was a demonstration with a witness , how far the late King was inclin'd to call together the Representative Body of the Kingdom : And he that could not be brought to it at so pinching a juncture as that was , can never in reason be thought a hearty Friend to Free Parliaments . Upon calling this Representative Body , he will inform himself what are the United Interests and Inclinations of his people . Sure he cannot be yet to learn what those are ; and he has had too many and too remarkable occasions not to be ignorant of them . He could not but be so much acquainted with the Interests and Inclinations of the People of England , as to see a rooted Principle of Liberty in opposition to Slavery , predominant in every English breast ; and yet all that did not hinder him from a form'd Design of overturning the very fundamental Constitution that rendred that Principle of theirs warrantable . He could not but know that the Inclinations of the Generality of the People of England were averse to the Religion of Rome , and that their Interests were quite opposite to that Hierarchy : Yet this did not dissuade him from making more steps in four years time towards the reconciling this Nation ( as the then Court-Phrase was ) to the Church of Rome , than was made in France it self from the Death of Henry 4th . till about three years before the Edict of Nants was revok'd for good and all . But with the Concurrence of this Representative-Body he will be ready to redress all Grievances , and give all those Securities of which we shall stand in need . There was a time when scarce one single step was made in the Government , but what deserv'd well the name of a Grievance ; and how well these Grievances were redress'd , is worthy of our Enquiry : The late King was not warm in the Throne when he ventur'd fairly to give us a taste of what he was afterwards to do : He order'd a part of the Revenue that expired with his Brother's Death , to be levied for his own use ; and that by virtue of his own Edict , without an Act of Parliament . A little after this , he would needs send a solemn Ambassy to Rome , to lay his Crown and Kingdoms at the Pope's Feet : A Compliment few Kings ever made , lest it should be taken in good earnest . The Slights his Ambassador met with there , were not able to mortify his Zeal in the least degree : As he had sent a Splendid Ambassy to the Pope , so he could not rest till he obtained the Glory of seeing a Nuncio sent hither , whom he not only caressed himself , but made it a Crime even in the greatest Peers of the Kingdom , to refuse to attend at his Publick Entry , a Minister whose Character was in it self High-Treason by the Law of England . After the Storm rais'd by Monmouth was over , he plainly tells the Parliament then sitting , That he will employ Roman - Catholicks in his Army ; that was as much in plain English , as if he had said , Gentlemen , I judge it fit to tell you , I think not my self obliged to govern any longer according to Law , now that by your kind Assistance I am rid of a Competitor in the Throne . After this we were not to expect any fair Weather ; all that followed was Thunder and Lightning : The Penal Laws and Test must be taken off ; and the Dissenters cajol'd to consent to what at last was to ruin them as well as the Church of England . Till a packt Parliament could be got to do this Job , a Dispensing Power was set up , that upon the matter was to supply the place of an Act of Parliament . This devouring Monster , altogether unknown to our Ancestors , was not only to swallow up all Laws that stood in the late King's way towards the Grand Design , but was to have the Force of a Law in it self as strong as any ever made by King , Lords , and Commons . It was this Paramount , All devouring Power , claim'd by King Iames , that produc'd afterwards the Ecclesiastical Commission ; the Suspension of the first Bishop of England ; the dashing in pieces the Ancient Rights of Magdalen College ; the Imprisonment of the Bishops in the Tower ; and a great many other things too long to be mention'd here . All these were Grievances of a deep dye , and yet neither Prayers nor Tears , Submissions nor remonstrances could prevail with him to mitigate the weight of any of these blows . They were heavy Grievances , and he knew and was told every day they were so ; And how ready he was to redress them , the whole course of that Reign testifies . In the same sence he is willing to redress our grievances , he may perhaps be willing to give us those securities we stand in need off . Thanks to his love for what we do not want . We know no better , nor more natural securities than our Laws are ; they are the only sence , next to Providence , we trust in ; and while they are not violated , we are safe . But had not we those Securities before ; and did not the Late King break through them ? Could any Law in the world be exprest in more positive terms than that of the Test ? And yet this well-twisted rope , like that of Sampson's of old , prov'd but a thred of towe , when the fury of King James 's Zeal came to touch it . We likewise declare , upon our Royal Word , that We will protect and defend the Church of England , as it is now established by Law ; And secure to the Members of it , all the Churches , Universities , Colledges , and Schools , together with their Immunities , Rights , and Priviledges . This is not the first time the Late King has promis'd all this , and done quite otherwise . King Charles the 2d . was scarce yet cold clay , when in the speech he made to his New Councel , He told them , He would make it his endeavours to preserve the Government both in Church and State as it was then established by Law : And afterwards adds , That he shall always defend and support the Church of England and the Members of it . I cannot see how larger promises could have been made : And this last is but a repetition of the former . Yet how well they were kept , we have number'd up instances enough already . Thanks to Heaven , and to the Laws already made , the Church of England , and the Members of it , are much better secured , than King Iames's Royal word can possibly do it , though he had never given us ground to call the truth of it in question . Having so strong Barriers already , we were errant fools to trust our safety to so weak props that have fail'd us so often before . We also declare , We will with all earnestness recommend to that Parliament such an impartial Liberty of Conscience , as they shall think necessary for the Happiness of these Nations . We have not altogether forgot what kind of Liberty of Conscience the Late King always aim'd at ; a Liberty fatal to , and inconsistent with the safety of the Protestant Religion , and infallibly destructive to the Church of England . A Liberty that was to end in the exalting the Romish Religion to a pitch in England that was not even the interest of wise Roman-Catholicks themselves to wish . But why recommend to a Parliament Liberty of Conscience ? Might not the Dispensing Power supply all defects as it did before : And if the Late King has an unquestion'd right to emit a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience when and how he pleaseth , which was Treason in effect to Controvert some years ago ; then it 's altogether a piece of folly to trouble a Parliament with it . This one Engine was like Goliah's Sword , has none like to it , and it would indeed be a disparagement to use any other when that is so ready at hand on all occasions . But alas ! the word Impartial Liberty has unluckily slip'd in in the Declaration . How came any body to dream that an Impartial Liberty of Conscience would ever please the Protestants of England ? An impartial Liberty , is a Liberty of equal extent to all : And does King Iames think the people of England would be willing there should be a Liberty of Conscience granted to the Roman Catholicks , equal to what the Laws have already secured in favour of the Protestants ? In this sence all the Bishopricks and Livings of England must be divided Impartially into equal parts ; we must have one Roman-Catholick Archbishop , and the other a Protestant , and thus it must be with the rest of the Dignities and Livings of the Church . The truth is , when King Iames comes back , we shall be heartily content with this division , and think we well escape too , if he takes no more than one half : But who shall be security to us we shall lose no more ? We further declare , We will not dispense with , or violate the Test. And , as for the dispensing power in other matters , we leave it to be explained and limited by that Parliament . A very Gracious Promise , and a mighty Condescention He will not dispense with the Test , as he did before , tho still he has a Right so to do if he pleases ; for we were often told in the last Reign , That this Dispensing Power was one of the brightest Iewels of the Crown ; and in a Royal Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to the Neighbouring Kingdom , he told them plainly he dispensed with all Laws to the contrary , by virtue of that Absolute Power every body was obliged to obey without reserve . So that here is indeed no more than a simple Promise not to make use of that Power to dispense with the Test , which he has an undoubted Right to still ; whereas the Law and the People of England say , there is no such Power lodg'd any where ; and nothing but an Act of Parliament can suspend or make void an Act of Parliament in this case : But pray how does this Promise , Not to violate the Test , agree with the Notion the late King always express'd he had of it ? He was pleas'd in his Closettings of Gentlemen , constantly to inculcate into them , the unjustness of the Test in it self , how contradictory it was to that Christian Charity which ought to be among his Subjects ; how contrary to the very Law of Nature it self , that any body should be incapacitated to serve their Countrey upon the account of their Religion . These were the Common Places the late King had constant recourse to , in all his Arguments for taking off the Test : And in a great many Papers publish'd at that time by Publick Authority , the same frightful Ideas were again and again represented . If this Test then be such an unjust thing in it self , if it be so contradictory to the Rules of Charity and the Law of Nature , how comes it about now , that he is resolv'd not to violate that , which according to his Principles he is indeed obliged to abolish ? But Promises cost nothing , especially when the Performance is never intended . We declare also , That we will give our Royal Assent to all such Bills as are necessary to secure the frequent calling and holding of Parliaments ; The free Elections , and fair Returns of Members ; And provide for impartial Trials : And that we will ratifie and confirm all such Laws made under the present Vsurpation , as shall be tendred to us by that Parliament . Here is a very comprehensive Paragraph , and deserves well to be taken into consideration by pieces . He will give his Royal Assent to all such Bills as are necessary to secure the frequent Calling and Sitting of Parliaments . We all know the reason of putting in this Clause at this time : But instead of frequent Parliaments , if King Iames were once again upon the Throne , we would rather there were none at all ; Since nothing can be of more dangerous consequence to England , than the sitting of such kind of Parliaments as that which King Iames always aim'd at . Doubtless we should then have a Representative Body ( to give it in his own Words ) that would render all Representations of the People in Parliament for the time to come utterly needless . We might expect to see our Liberties and Laws given up to the Will of a Prince all at once , and all the struggles between the Prerogative and Rights of the Subject put an end to at one blow , in the entire resigning up all Pretences to these last for ever . So far then would the calling of Parliaments be a terror to us , that ev'ry Session of them would be but so many new Links added to our Chain , till all remaining impressions of our former Liberty were intirely swallowed up in an irrecoverable Slavery . The Freedom of Election , and fair Returns of Members , are two things diametrically opposite to the late King 's former Measures : And he does , or at least may know the Temper of this Nation better , than to hope to succeed in his Designs by the means of a Parliament freely constituted of true Englishmen . Slavery is a Pill will never go down with them ; And it 's only to a pack't House of Commons that those of King Iames's Religion can ever owe their long experienced Triumphs . That he will provide for Impartial Trials , we do not at all doubt , if he mean Trials without favour or prospect of mercy ; for of those , the last Reign was but one continued Instance ; and indeed no body can blame the late King for not executing Justice to the full . But this is not all ; There are yet greater Blessings in store for us ; He will Ratify and Confirm all such Laws made under the present Vsurpation , as shall be tender'd him by that Parliament . Good God! where have we been all this time with our distinction of a King de Facto , that some People have coin'd to save both their Credit and Estates ! Our Law says expresly , That whatever is done by a King in Possession , is sufficiently valid . But here the late King at one dash ( and I believe , without thinking on what he had promis'd us a few lines before ) does plainly insinuate , that he is resolv'd to stand to what has been Enacted by a King in Possession , not because it 's Law , but out of meer compliment to his new Parliament . So we have here a standing Law since the days of Henry the 7th , torn up by the Roots , and one of the most necessary provisions for the Publick Safety unhing'd : And if this be not all over the Dispensing Power , or rather worse , I refer it to every body of common Sense . However , if if it be any mitigation of sorrow to have Companions in it , we shall have the pleasure to see our de Facto Gentlemen come in for their share of a Publick Calamity , in which their nice distinction will stand them in no stead , as probably some of them vainly hop'd . And in that Parliament We will also consent to every thing they shall think necessary , to re-establish the late Act of Settlement of Ireland made in the Reign of our Dearest Brother ; And will advise with them , how to recompence such of that Nation as have followed us to the last , and who may suffer by the said Re-establishment , according to the degree of their Sufferings thereby ; Yet so as that the said Act of Settlement may always remain Intire . And , if Chimny-money , or any other part of the Revenue of the Crown , has been burthen some to our Subjects , We shall be ready to exchange it for any other Assesment that shall be thought more easie . There was certainly a great measure of confidence requir'd to mention the first part of this period without a Blush . The Abolishing the Act of Settlement in Ireland was the Late King's Master-piece . In England he made only one step after another in order to overthrow our Legal Constitution : But in Ireland he was pleas'd , and that in a Parliamentary way at one blow to overturn the Great Charter by which the Protestants of that Island enjoy'd their Estates . The true reason of this difference in his treating them and us , was because here he had not yet been able to get a Parliament according to his mind ; but there he found just such a one as he wish'd for . They went thorough-stitch without the least hesitation , and struck home at the Root of the English Liberty , in making void the Act of Settlement , which was the only Pillar it lean'd upon . But now he will consent to the re-establishing that Act of Settlement . Very probable the only best time for a man to shew his real Inclinations is , when he is Master , and may do it without controul . By what the Late King did in Ireland , we may best judge what he inclines to do of himself ; for there he was Master of his own designs , having few or none but those of his own Religion and Principles about him , and consequently none to oppose him . If then it was that he shewed such an open Hatred against the Protestants of Ireland , as at one dash to send some Hundred Thousands of them a Beging , by making void the Fundamental Law to which they ow'd their Bread , what are we justly to expect from him in England if we by an unexampled piece of Folly bring him back to be our Master here ? But tho he designs to re establish the Act of Settlement in Ireland , He will not permit his dear Irish to suffer by it , no , they are to be recompenced according to the degree of their sufferings . This period must certainly be a very reli●ning one to the many Thousand Protestants of that Kingdom who have been ruin'd by the Irish , and who cannot think of them without a just horrour for the Barbarities they committed in the two last Rebellions . We are to have Golden Days , when those whose Hands are yet reeking in Protestant Blood , are to be recompenc'd for shedding it : Strange ! We must be the most abject Slaves that ever were , if we can hear this with Patience . And what signs has the Engl●sh Nation yet given of so gross stupidity , that incouraged the Contrivers of this Declaration to banter us at this rate ? it had been time enough to have told us this , when the wreath is about our Necks , and we groaning under the weight of our Chains ; but beforehand , while we are yet free , to entertain us with such a dismal prospect , is a piece of Policy I believe very few are able to fathom . He puts a mighty Obligation upon us in being ready to exchange the Chimney money for any other Assesment that shall be thought more easy . The truth is , this is wisely enough propos'd , and upon a very reasonable foresight . If ever the Late King return , Chimney-money must certainly sink ; no Protestant that can flee , will be very desirous to stay in England , and consequently from that and a thousand other Calamities wasting us , there must necessarily come to be a vast number of Houses without Fire or Smoke , for want of Inhabitants . Thus ●e have sincerely declared our Royal Intentions , in terms we think necessary , for setling our Subjects minds ; and according to the advice and intimations we have received from great numbers of our Loving Subjects of all ranks and degrees , who have adjusted the manner of our coming to regain our own Right , and to relieve our People from Oppression and Slavery . After this , we supp●se it will not be necessary to enumerate the Tyrannical Violations and Burthens with which our Kingdoms have been oppressed , and are now like to be destroyed . We have a great many too too recent grounds to know the late King 's Royal Intentions towards us , without running to this Declaration to search for them . The truth was , he could not in some sense be call'd a dangerous Prince , as people are inclinable to call those that hide their Designs from publick view . He was open enough in all he aim'd at ; and whether it was from his Natural Temper , or that he thought himself sure of Success , he was never at much pains to disguise his Intentions , but instead of working under ground our ruin , he push'd it on with a high hand , and like Alexander the Great ( tho upon a more ignoble occasion ) he scorn'd to steal upon us a Victory . But all this openness was only when he was upon the Throne , at the Head of a good Army ; now the case is quite alter'd , and a little disguising is thought proper in his present Circumstances . We know of no Oppression and Slavery we lye under at present . If our Taxes be thought heavy in themselves , they are not so , if we consider they are given to ward off the greatest Miseries that can befal a Nation ; and we must be a base People indeed , if we think our Religion and Liberty can be too dear bought . Now , we pay a part , and we have a right to call the rest our own ; but if our Enemies had their Wills of us , instead of a Part , they would make themselves Masters of our All. Herein we make a Composition , that a great many of our Neighbours envy us for , who would be heartity willing to part with the Quota of their Estates we retain , provided they might be suffer'd to enjoy the Proportion but of what we pay . And whereas our Enemies endeavour to assright our Subjects , with the apprehensions of great Sums which must he repaid to France ; We positively assure them , That our Dearest Brother , the Most Christian King , expects no other Compensation for what he has done for us , than meerly the Glory of having Succor'd an Injur'd Prince . To tell us at this time of day of the Generosity of his dearest Brother , the Most Christian King , is news indeed . All Europe , and his own Subjects , are sufficiently sensible how well that Name becomes him . Tho he had mortally hated the late King , he did no more but what his own proper Interest obliged him to , in protecting him : And never had a Prince a larger prospect of Advantage , than the French King has at present from King Iames ; since it 's by his means he intends , if possible to make these three Kingdoms slaves to France . But how comes the Late King to make us so large Promises for his dearest Brother ? Is it because he supposes no body will be prevail'd with to believe the French King upon his own word ; and if so , he is much in the right on 't : Or is it , that he expects we will rely more upon his word , when he promises for another , than for himself : If so , he is mistaken , for we believe 'em both alike . The King of Spain has more reason on many Accounts to call the French King his dearest Brother , being indeed so , in more senses than one ; And yet he has found to his sad experience , that no Oath nor Treaty could tie him up from Pretentions less plausible then those he has against England upon the Account of King Iames. He renounc'd again and again by his solemn Oath , and upon the Sacrament , all Pretences to Flanders in right of his Mother or Wife ; and yet every time he swore so , he broke it as soon as he was in a Condition so to do . Shall King Iames or we expect better Treatment from the French King , than the King of Spain his Cousin-German , and Brother-in-law , that never wrong'd him , has met with ? We to whom he imputes his having been put to the Charges of a long War , and King Iames who has been upon the matter the Original Cause of it ? We only add , That We come to vindicate our own Right , and to establish the Liberties of our People . And may GOD give us Success in the prosecution of the one , as We sincerely intend the Confirmation of the other . IAMES R. Given at St. Germaines en Laye , April 17th S. N. 1693. And in the Ninth Year of our Reign . God Save the King. The Contrivers of this Declaration have made pretty bold with the Late King , in palming upon him a kind of Oath or Execration , that it 's probable he knows nothing of . Methinks they deserve but little thanks that put thus upon their Master , what they themselves believe he would not approve of ; unless they think , after the breach of a Coronation-Oath , all other Promises may be broken of course ; and so they may coyn as many Oaths and Promises in his Name as they please , if it serve their turn . Well! for our part , we are once willing to say , Amen to the late King's Prayers ; and so perswaded are we of his real Intentions towards England , That in his own words , We wish him Success in the Prosecution of his pretended Right , as he sincerely intends the Confirmation of our Liberty . Thus have I fought with a Phantosm , appearing in the likeness of a Declaration from K. Iames , but for ought I know , A Paper contriv'd , writ , and printed here without his direction , and perhaps his knowledg . I pretend to no Honour in so inglorious a Cause ; tho I must acknowledge the decency that 's due to a Prince whose Name is affixt to it , has hinder'd me from treating the Party that contriv'd it , so ill as they deserve . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A65414-e180 Declarat . 〈◊〉 Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . Declarat . 
A88029	----	A letter to a member of Parliament, shewing, that a restraint on the press is inconsistent with the Protestant religion, and dangerous to the liberties of the nation 1700 Approx. 67 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 24 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A88029 Wing L1681 ESTC R230390 99899582 99899582 154037 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A88029) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 154037) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 2394:11) A letter to a member of Parliament, shewing, that a restraint on the press is inconsistent with the Protestant religion, and dangerous to the liberties of the nation Tindal, Matthew, 1653?-1633. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. The second impression. 32 p. printed by J. Darby, and sold by A. B[ell]. at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhil, London : 1700. Attributed to Matthew Tindal by. S. Parks; see also "Four discourses on the following subjects ... IV. Of the liberty of the press. London, 1709"; attributed also to Daniel Defoe. Bookseller's name from Wing (CD-ROM edition). Reproduction of original in the Folger Shakespeare Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Freedom of the press -- England -- Early works to 1800. 2007-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-09 Elspeth Healey Sampled and proofread 2007-09 Elspeth Healey Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER TO A Member of Parliament , Shewing , that a RESTRAINT ON THE PRESS Is inconsistent with the Protestant Religion , and dangerous to the Liberties of the Nation . The Second Impression . LONDON , Printed by J. Darby , and sold by A. B. at the Cross Keys and Bible in Cornhil . 1700. A LETTER TO A Member of Parliament . SIR , ACcording to your Command , I here present you with those Reasons that oblige me to oppose the Restraining the Press , as inconsistent with the Protestant Religion , and dangerous to the Liberties of the Nation : Both which I undertake to shew . And in order to prove the first , I beg leave to premise , First , That which makes a Man to differ from a Brute , wholly uncapable of forming any Notion of Religion , is his Reason ; which is the only Light God has given him , not only to discover , that there is a Religion , but to distinguish the true from the many false ones . He therefore that employs his Reason to the best of his Ability to find out Religious Truths , in order to practise it , does all that God desires : For God , who will not command Impossibilities , can require no more of him , than that he impartially searches after , and endeavours to discover Religious Truth , by the use of that Reason which was given him for that end . He that does this , may have the satisfaction of doing his Duty as a rational Creature , and may be sure , tho he misses Truth , he shall not miss the Reward that is due to him who obeys his Maker , in following as well as he could , and no more could be his Duty , the only Guide God has given him to judge of Truth and Falshood . On the contrary , he that neglects to do this , is disobedient to his Maker , in misusing his rational Faculties ; and tho he should light on Truth , the luckiness of the Accident will not excuse his Disobedience : For God will judge us as we are accountable ( that is , rational ) Creatures ; and consequently our reward from him , whether we hit or miss of Truth , will be in an exact proportion to the use we make of our Reason : And if God has oblig'd us to use it as the only means to distinguish Truth from Falshood , that alone must be the way to find the one , and avoid the other . Now the way that a Man's Reason does this , is by examining those Proofs , Arguments , or Mediums , that either himself or others have found out , and by comparing them with his common and self-evident Notions , by means of which he finds out the agreement or disagreement of any proposition with those Standards and Tests of Truth . Tho this is the only way to discover Truth , yet if a Man was left wholly to himself , without any to informe his Judgment , he would make but a very small Discovery in Religious , or any other Truths : Therefore it's Mens mutual Duty to inform each other in those Propositions they apprehend to be true , and the Arguments by which they endeavour to prove them ; which cannot be done so well as by Printing them , ten thousand Books , after the Letters are once set , being sooner Printed than one Transcribed : By the Advantage of which , Men , tho at never so great distance , may , with a great deal of Ease and little Charge , be exactly acquainted with each others Sentiments . And it 's wholly owing to Printing , that Knowledge is become , not only much more diffusive , but that a great deal of more useful Knowledge has been discovered , in a short time since that Invention , than in many Ages before . And if it has not had as great effect in most places with respect to Religious as to other Knowledge , it can only be , because the Liberty of Printing , as to the former , has been more restrained ; for Men have the same way of judging of that , as of all other Matters . This being premised , 't is clear that the Press ought not to be restrained . 1. Because it tends to make Men blindly submit to the Religion they chance to be educated in : For if 't is once suppos'd unlawful to publish any Arguments against that Religion , it cannot be denied but that 't is as unlawful to read and examine those Arguments , that being the sole Reason of forbidding the Printing them ; which necessarily supposeth they are to take their Religion on trust , without any trial , which is the greatest Fault that can be , next to having no Religion at all : For I cannot see any ground a Man has to hope to go to Heaven , that will not be at the pains to examine what it is that God requires of him in order to his coming thither . 2. Because it deprives Men of the most proper and best means to discover Truth , by hindering them from seeing and examining the different Opinions , and the Arguments alledg'd for them . I can see no Reason why 't is more necessary for him that judges for others , than 't is for him who judges for himself , to see the Arguments on all sides ; this being the only evidence by which any Man is to judge . The suppressing the Evidence in a Cause where Mens eternal Happiness is concerned , is ( I take it ) much more criminal than in a Cause of a temporal Interest . So that a Law to oblige the Judges to hear the Proofs but of one side , is not as bad as to trust the Clergy of any one Sect with the Press ; who , to be sure , will suffer nothing to be printed but of their own side ; and who too , in all probability , will misrepresent their Adversaries , and their Opinions , more than a Pleader will the Party or Cause against which he is engaged . And are not the People ( for instance ) amongst the Papists , where the Press is effectually restrained , as ignorant of what can be alledged against the Popish Doctrines , as a Judge that has heard but one side can be of the Defence the other is to make ? 3. Because it hinders Truth from having any great influence on Mens Minds : which is owing chiefly to Examination , because the more rational That makes an Opinion appear , the greater power it will have on the Affections ; which are not moved without some sensible connexion between the Cause and Effect ; for what does not convince the Understanding , will have but little or no effect on the Will : Which is one reason why Men are obliged to try all things , because when they see the reasonableness of any Opinion , it will oblige them to act according to it more heartily than when they take it on trust : and nothing more endears Truth to us , than that its discovery is the effect of our own Industry and Observation . 4. Because it tends to make us hold the Truth ( should we chance to light on it ) guiltily : for that ( as I have already proved ) will not be accepted , if it be not the Effect of an impartial Examination ; which makes Error it self innocent : for if any thing in that case be a fault , it must be the Examination , because That might have been prevented ; but the Opinion that 's caused by it could not , That being a necessary Consequence of the other . Men when they are left to themselves without any Clergy at all , are more likely not only to judge for themselves , but to make a truer and a more impartial Judgment , than when they are permitted to know the Sentiments of the Clergy but of one Sect , who then may impose on them what ever out of Interest they think fit . 5. One Reason why God hath so formed Mankind , that each alone without the help of others cannot well subsist , is to oblige them to mutual love and kindness , and to contribute to one anothers happiness . And they want each others assistance for things of the Mind as well as of the Body . For a Man would be in a miserable state of darkness and Ignorance , were it not for the Light that others afford him : and therefore they are obliged to increase as much as they can each others Knowledge , especially in Religion , which they can no otherwise do , than by communicating to one another what they think is the Truth , and the Reason by which they endeavour to prove it . To oblige Men to do this , God has not only implanted in them a strong desire to find out Religious Truth , but as great an inclination to teach others what they apprehend to be so ; and there is no Man who believes a Doctrine to be true , but would be very glad to get it owned by others . Whosoever therefore endeavours to hinder Men from communicating their Thoughts , ( as they notoriously do that are for restraining the Press ) invade the natural Rights of Mankind , and destroy the common Ties of Humanity . If we must , early and late , according to the Wise Man's direction , seek after Wisdom as after a hidden Treasure ; I cannot see how it will become the Wisdom of a-Nation to endeavour by a Law to hinder us from knowing more than the scanty Measure a Party-Licenser will afford us . Not only the Light of Nature , but the written Word ( Levit . 19. 17. 1 Thess . 5. 14. Heb. 3. 13. ) obliges every one , Lay as well as Clergy , to exhort , warn , rebuke , and use all means possible to bring his mistaken Brother into the right way ; which he can no otherwise do , than by first judging himself what is right and wrong ; and then by using Arguments to perswade him whom he judges in the wrong , to desist from it . And if , as the Scripture supposeth , no Man can neglect to do this without hating his Brother ; every one has a right to print his Sentiments as the best , if not the only way to exhort , rebuke , reprove Myriads of Brethren at the same time . In short , in all Ages the greater Mens Zeal hath been towards God , and the more inflamed their Love to their Neighbours , the more they have thought it their Duty ( tho with the hazard of their Lives ) to communicate to others what they judged to be the Truth . And all Sects , how different so ever in all other things , do agree in thinking themselves bound thereto , as to the greatest Act of Charity ; and consequently there is no Sect that hinders others from publishing what they believe to be Truth , but sins against the natural and revealed Law , and breaks that golden Rule ( the Foundation of all Morality ) of doing as they would be done unto . For tho they look upon it as impious and tyrannical for any to hinder them from imparting to others those Doctrines they judge to be true , yet they themselves would hinder all others , who have as much right to judge for themselves , and are as much obliged to communicate to others what they judge to be a Religious Truth . What can be more inhumane , as well as ungrateful , than to punish that Person who out of love to Truth , and charity to the Souls of his Brethren , bestows his Time , perhaps to the detriment of his Health and Fortune , in publishing what he judges to be for their eternal Good ? If this be a just Reward for such an Undertaking , I cannot see how the Clergy can deserve such Riches and Honours for doing but the same thing ; that is , for instructing others in that they judge to be true . Nothing can be more unbecoming the Dignity of a rational Nature , than to bar up the way to religious Knowledge and Wisdom , which Men have no way to propagate , but by offering one another Reasons and Arguments : And there can be no Pretence to hinder Men from doing this by restraining the Press , but what will as strongly forbid them doing it any other way . In a word , Men have the same right to communicate their Thoughts , as to think themselves ; and where the one is denied , the other is seldom used , or to little purpose : For , Men as they are more or less hindred from communicating their Thoughts , are more or less stupid and ignorant , and their Religion more or less corrupted : And this is not only true with relation to Mahometans and Pagans , who suffer no Printing at all , except the Chinese , ( whose Knowledge above other Eastern Nations seems to be owing to that Art , tho among them wonderfully rude and imperfect ) but with respect to Christians , amongst whom one would think it almost impossible , considering what Light and Knowledge the Gospel brought into the World , that any should be so grosly ignorant and superstitious as the Papists are , or that the Christian Religion should be so much depraved as it is amongst them : and what is this owing to , but the denying the People the Liberty of the Press , and all other ways of freely debating matters of Religion ? And had it not been for this Invention , whereby men had such an easy way of communicating their Thoughts , nothing but a second Revelation could have freed them from that mass of Ignorance and Superstition the Christian World lay under ; and which was every day increasing , and does still remain in a very high degree in those Countries that groan under Restraint , as Portugal , Spain , Italy ; which last , sutably to the Freedom once it enjoyed , abounded with Men eminent in all Learning and Knowledge , as well as Vertue and Bravery : and that it is so much degenerated now ( the Climate and the make of their Bodies being still the same ) is owing to nothing but that Priest-craft which forbids all Freedom ; contrary to the practice of antient Rome , where to think on what one had a mind to , and to speak ones thoughts as freely as to think them , was looked on as one of the chief Blessings of a Free Government . It 's not only in Popish , but in Protestant Countries too , that according to the Restraint Men lay under , Ignorance , Superstition , and Bigotry does more or less abound . Denmark , Sweden , and several other Countries , are undenyable Instances of this ; and it cannot be otherwise , for there is little difference between having no Reason , and not exercising it . And it 's evident that the Clergy themselves are not only more knowing , and reason much better , but are much more sober , careful and exemplary , where Liberty of Debating is allowed , than where denied . From what has been urged , I think I may safely conclude , that Men , if they regard the employing their rational Faculties as God requires , and ( the Consequence of it ) the discovery of Truth in Religion , and their being influenced by it as they ought to be , are obliged to allow one another an entire liberty in communicating their Thoughts , which was never forbidden but where Interest supplanted Religion . 6. There 's no medium between Mens judging for themselves , and giving up their Judgments to others . If the first be their Duty , the Press ought not to be restrained , because it debars them from seeing those Allegations by which they are to inform their Judgments . All the Arguments that are or can be urged for the regulating the Press , have no other Foundation than that of People's being liable to mistake , and subject to be imposed on by fallacious Arguments and specious Pretences : which in stead of proving what they design , only shows the greater Necessity for the freedom of the Press ; for the more apt Men are to mistake and to be deceiv'd , the less reason there is for their relying on any one Party , but the more to examine with all care and diligence the Reasons on all sides , and consequently for the Press being open to all Parties , one as well as the other . So that those that are for allowing Men the liberty of judging for themselves ( if any such can be for regulating the Press ) are very unhappy in their Arguments , because they all make against themselves , and out of their own Mouths they are condemned . But if Men are to give up their Reason to the Clergy , of whatsoever Denomination , there 's nothing , I confess , more inconsistent with that blind Obedience than the Liberty of the Press , because it gives them an opportunity to see what can be said against that or any other Darling Notion of the Priests ; and then it 's a great odds but that rational Creatures will be governed by their own Reason , and no longer endure the Clergy to be Lords of their Faith. 7. In fine , if it be unlawful to let the Press continue free , lest it furnish Men with the Reasons of one Party as well as the other , it must be as unlawful to examine those Reasons : for if the last be a Duty , the first cannot be unlawful , because it 's only a Means to the last in providing those Reasons which Men are bound to try and examine ; except an implicit Belief be a Duty , which must necessarily bring Men back again to Popery . For if it be now unlawful to examine the Reasons on all sides , for fear of having other Sentiments than those the Clergy approves , it was no less unlawful at the time of the Reformation , which was wholly built upon this freedom of examining the Opinions of the Priests , and rejecting them if they judged them false . This the brave Luther did singly and by himself in defiance of the whole Church , and this any Man now hath the same right to do : So that it 's evident the Freedom or Restraint of the Press depends on this single Question , Whether we ought to be free , or Slaves in our Understandings ? or , in other words , Protestants or Papists ? If the first , there cannot be the least colour for leaving the Conduct of Religion so wholly to a few Priests , that nothing shall be published about it but what they think fit , than which nothing can savour more of a Popish , slavish , and prostitute Compliance . What , Sir , could be more surprizing to that Honourable House , whereof you are a most worthy Member , than a Motion to this purpose ; That because making of Laws is a thing of great Consequence , and Country Gentlemen are subject to mistake , that therefore the House ought to be regulated , by appointing a Licenser to judge what should be spoke in it ? As ridiculous as such a Motion would be , I would willingly know why 't is not as unacountable to hinder a whole Nation the freedom of debating Matters of Religion , which ( since they are not able , like their Representatives , to assemble in one Room ) cannot well be done but by letting the Press be open to every one to publish his Reasons ; which ought not to be denied , as long as every one in the Nation has as much a right , not only to judge for himself in religious , as any Legislators can have to judge for him in Civil Matters , but is as much obliged to use all possible means to inform his Judgment ; and consequently there is as little reason to deny Liberty of debating in one Cause as the other . 8. The Reformation is wholly owing to the Press : For tho there were several able Men who , before Printing was known , most vigorously opposed the growing Errors of the Western Church ; yet all they could do was to little or no purpose , because they had no easy and ready way to communicate their thoughts to any great Number : But no sooner was the Invention of Printing made useful , but a poor Monk who discovered at least the grosser Cheats of the Priesthood , was made capable of imparting those Notions , which drew almost a Moiety from the Romish Superstition , which lost ground every where , as the Press was either more or less free . Therefore it was not strange that the Popish Clergy , since they could not confound the Art of Printing , should endeavour to turn it to their own Advantage , not only by hindring any new Book from being printed , but by expunging out of old ones whatever did not serve their turn : And herein they acted consistent with their Principles , which allows no Liberty of examining , and consequently denies all Freedom of the Press , which of all things does engage Men the most to do it . But what Pretence can the Protestants have for restraining it , who as they owe their Religion to its Liberty , so they cannot hinder it without destroying that Religion which has no other Foundation than that of every ones having a Right to examine those Reasons that are for or against any Opinion , in order to make a true and impartial Judgment ? which can never be Justified , if it be unlawful to permit the Press to be open for all Men to propose their Reasons to one another , in order to their examining them . And it cannot be denied , but that the Protestant Clergy , who are as ambitious for the most part as the Papists themselves to impose on the Consciences of the People , have by Persecution , Restraint of the Press , and other such methods , given the Papists ( who have scarce any thing to plead for themselves but the Practice of their Adversaries ) too just an occasion to insult them , who are ( they say ) no other than a pack of Hypocrites , in doing the very same things they so loudly condemn ; and that it 's little less than a Demonstration , that the Principles by which ●hey pretend to justify their Separation , are very absurd , since hey are forced to Act contrary to them in every point . And what was it in truth but these shameful Practices , that put a stop to the Reformation , which at first , like a mighty Torrent , overwhelmed all that oppos'd it , but has ever since gone back both in esteem and interest , and at least , if Men do not change their conduct , will be quite lost ? For how can it be otherwise , since that method ( Protestantism and Popery being so opposite ) that preserves the one , must necessarily destroy the other ? The taking a contrary method not only hinder'd the further spreading of the Reformation , but was the cause that where it did prevail it was no more perfect : For tho the Reformers deserve just Condemnation for what they did , yet being bred up in so much Ignorance and Superstition , they could not remove those vast loads of Corruptions which had been so long a gathering . But if those that succeeded them had taken the same liberty in examining theirs , as they did their Predecessors Opinions , it 's impossible but that time must have discover'd the Truth , and made them agree at least in all matters of moment . But instead of this , they became as guilty of a blind Obedience as the Papists ; and it was a sufficient proof of any thing amongst the different Sects , if Luther , Calvin , Church of England , said so : Nothing more common than that I submit all to Mother Church , and such like Phrases ; which that Men should effectually do , there were Penal Laws enacted to force them , and no Printing or Preaching allow'd to those that durst see further than the first Reformers ( whose Eyes at the best were but half open , tho they saw very well for those times of Darkness , and in respect of the Papists who may justly be reckon'd to be quite blind ) the consequence of which was , that the Differences between the several Sects were widened , and they all run daily farther and farther into Uncharitableness , Ignorance , Superstition , and Fanaticism . 9. Whosoever observes with what Zeal our Divines condemn the Popish Clergy for not suffering their Laity to read Protestant Authors , would hardly think it possible for them to be so disingenuous as to appoint some spiritual Dragons to watch the Press , lest any thing should steal from thence that 's not for their turn . Let us hear only ( for they all write after the same manner ) the learned Dr. Clegget , who in his Persuasive to an ingenuous Trial , p. 28. tells us , They that have a good Cause will not fright Men from considering what their Adversaries say by denouncing Damnation against them , nor forbid them to read their Books , but rather encourage them so to do , that they may see the difference between Truth and Error , Reason and Sophistry , with their own eyes . This is the effect of a well grounded confidence in Truth , and there 's this sign of a good Cause apparently discernable in the Application of the Clergy of this Church ( of England ) both to their Friends and Enemies , they desire the one and the other to consider impartially what is said for us as well as against us . And whatsoever Guides of a Party do otherwise , they give just cause to those that follow them to examine their Doctrines so much the more carefully , by how much they are unwilling to have them examined . It 's a bad sign when Men are loth to have their Opinions seen in the day , but love Darkness more than Light. If the Church of England will own this to be a just Character of them , they ought to be so far from endeavouring to obtain a Law to restrain the Press , that they are obliged , did they apprehend any such design , to oppose it to their utmost , and to encourage their Adversaries to print their Sentiments , and the People to read them , that they may see the difference between Truth and Error , Reason and Sophistry , Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy , Dissenting and Comforming , with their own eyes . Taking a contrary method only affords a new Argument for the Liberty of the Press , because they give their Followers a just Cause to examine their Doctrines so much the more carefully , by how much more unwilling they are to have them examined . It 's a bad sign , &c. In a word , did the Protestant Guides act as such , instead of frighting Men from considering what their Adversaries say by denouncing Damnation against them , they would tell their Auditors the great sin of being biass'd by them in the choice of their Opinions , and that the more important any Controversy is , the more Reason there is for the Liberty of the Press , that they may examine with all the diligence imaginable the Tenets of their Adversaries as well as of their Guides ; and that the more they heard the one Party , the more they should read the other ; and that if they should fall into any Error by so doing , they would not be accountable for it . For tho there is not ( as the Papists vainly imagine ) such a Guide as would infallibly lead every Man into every Truth , yet that every ones Reason as a Guide is infallible , because God that designs that all Men ( if it be not their own fault ) should be for ever happy , has given them no other Guide but their Reason to bring them to that Happiness ; and therefore as sure as God himself is infallible , the following that Guide must bring them to that happy state God designed the following it should bring them to . And on the contrary , that God , who is the Rewarder of those only that diligently seek him , would condemn them as unprofitable Servants , who instead of using their Talents to find out his Will , did abandon themselves to the uncertain chance of Education and the Religion in fashion , which varies with every Age and every Countrey . As thus they ought to preach to the People , so they should as little scruple to tell the Magistrate , that by permitting an entire Liberty , he did nothing but his Duty ; but by a Restraint of the Press , he did not only shew himself guilty of a blind Obedience , but did endeavour to make a whole Nation so , and was to answer not only for all the Errors , and other ill Consequences himself caused by a Restraint , but likewise of abetting all other Magistrates that think themselves in the right in doing the like ; and that tho he should chance to be in the right himself , yet he could not know how many he was the caufe of being all their Lives in the wrong , who might be so only , because , not having liberty to publish the Reasons they had to embrace such Opinions , they could not meet with any that could give them Satisfaction ; and in truth , writing against any Opinion where Men have not the liberty to shew the Reasons why they hold it , is but writing at random , because Mens Reasons cannot be confuted till they are known . Such Arguments as these a Protestant Clergy , that 's true to their own Principles , ought to use both to the Prince and People , and not prevaricate with God and Man , and talk backward and forward just as it serves their turns . If Baal be God , serve him ; if not , serve the Lord. 10. I can see no reason why they that are for tying Men to that Interpretation of Scripture a Licenser shall approve , and therefore put it in his power to hinder all others from being published , can with any justice condemn the Popish Clergy for not licensing the Bible it self for the Laity to read it . For if the Bible is to be translated into the vulgar Tongue , to what end is it , but that the People by reading it may judge what is their Duty in the most obscure and difficult places ? Ought they not then to see the different Translations and Explications ? If they are to be denied this , lest they apprehend it in a Sense different from that of the Licenser and his Party , the same Reason will restrain the People from promiscuously reading the Bible , because they may , and frequently do apprehend it in such a Sense as their Guides do not approve ; and if that be a Crime , all the means that are necessary to hinder it must be a Duty ; and therefore if it cannot be prevented without hindring the Laity from reading the Bible , it 's Crime to suffer them to read it . 11. This Restraint gives a great handle to those that believe only Natural Religion to argue against the Christian ; for , say they , 't is no small Presumption that the Clergy themselves are conscious of the Falseness of their Religion , because they dare not suffer it to undergo a fair Trial , but do what they can to stifle all the Reasons that can be urged against it . The Clergy , say they , are so learned , and withal so numerous , that amongst them they could not fail to expose and confound any thing that 's writ against them , had they but Truth on their side , which they know is , next to the Almighty , strong , and therefore needs no licensing Tricks , or Stratagems , to make it victorious : These are the mean Shifts that Error is forced to use against its Power . These Men further add , That if Christ and his Apostles obliged Men to try all things , how can they that pretend to be his Successors ( did they believe the Scriptures ) hinder a fair Trial of any thing relating to Religion ? And can there be a fair Trial when all Parties have not the liberty to publish their Reasons , that the People may compare and examine them by their common Notions , those Tests and Standards of all Truths ? Has the Protestant Religion a fair Trial in Italy , where nothing can be heard in its defence ? Thus 't is that some Men expose our Religion on the one hand to the Insults of Unbelievers , and on the other of Papists ; which can never be avoided but by granting to all Sects an entire Liberty of the Press . All other methods equally serve to promote Error as Truth , and consequently can never be the way that God ordained to distinguish the one from the other . 12. It may be objected , That by such a latitude as this People may be seduced into false Religions , or into Heresies and Schisms . None can profess a Religion , but either , because upon examination he judges it to be true , or , that some by Interest makes him do so contrary to his Judgment , or else , because he takes it on trust without examining it . As to the first , If two Persons profess different Religions , one the true , the other a false one , yet if they have been equally sincere in their examination , they are equally in the way to Heaven ; because in following their Reason , they both have done what God requires ; so two Men that equally act against their Judgment , the one professing the Truth , the other not , are alike guilty : so also are they who equally take their Religion on trust ; and such perverse holding of a Religion , whether true or false , is Heresy , as the other is Hypocrisy : and according as Men are more or less partial in examining , they are more or less heretical . So that 't is not what a Man professeth , but how , that justifies or condemns him before God. Aud there would be few , either Hereticks or Hypocrites , were there not Bribes annexed to some , and Awes to other religious Tenets ; for then Men would not be afraid to examine Those for fear of finding them false , nor These lest they should be true , nor to own or disown either , according as they judge them true or false . And an entire Liberty of the Press would by degrees establish religious Truth , because that is supported by better , plainer , and more cogent Proofs than any false Opinions are ; which are either mischievous or burdensome , or at the least useless , whilst the other by its Excellency and Usefulness carries Evidence and Conviction with it . As to Schisms , they are caused by Mens imposing their own Interpretations , instead of the express Word of God , as necessary terms of Communion : which makes Protestant Imposers not only Schismaticks but Hereticks , because having laid down as a Fundamental of their Religion , that every one is to interpret Scripture for himself , they most obstinately and perversly ( not to say knowingly ) act against that Fundamental . 13. The most material Objection against the Liberty of the Press is , That without Licensers , Atheism , Profaneness , and Immorality , as well as Sedition and Treason , may be published . The Commonwealth has the same reason to punish Men for those as for these , because they are all alike pernicious to humane Societies . And 't is all the reason in the world that whoever asserts any such Notions , whether in Discourse , or from the Pulpit or Press , should be severely punished . But this can be no more a reason to appoint Licensers for the one than for the other ; nor would it hinder the printing things contrary to Law , for none will be so mad as to desire an Imprimatur for them : so that such Pamphlets , whether there are or are not Licensers , will come out only by stealth ; and 't is evident there were more of them printed when the Law for regulating the Press was in being , than since . To make the Laws against such things severer , and to oblige either the Printer or Bookseller to set his Name to all Books whatever , will take away all pretence for appointing Licensers , and will be the most effectual way to prevent publishing such Books . But before I leave this Head , I cannot but remark that they are no way guilty of Prophaneness who out of Conscience ( to which Prophane and Atheistical Persons have no pretence ) worship God after a mistaken manner , because all the honour Men are capable of giving an Almighty and Alknowing Being , consist in the Intention of Design ; and therefore to punish those , who out of a holy Intention and pious Design worship God aster that manner they judge acceptable to his Will , as profane Persons or Blasphemers , is the greatest Crime next to Blasphemy , because 't is punishing Men for no other reason but for expressing their Zeal for the Honour of God , which they can no otherwise do than by worshipping him as their Reason dictates , which they must either do , or not worship him at all , or else but with a mock Worship . And they that by force are made to break the ties of Conscience , tho never so erroneous , cannot be good Subjects neither to God nor King : so that Profaneness and Immorality cannot be destroy'd but by all Sects doing as they would be done unto ; which must establish an entire and universal Liberty , since they have all the same right to judge for themselves , and are equally oblig'd to act according to that Judgment , and to communicate to others what they judge to be true : which perhaps was the reason that the House of Commons so unanimously threw out the Bill for restraining the Press immediately before their addressing the King against Profaneness and Immortality . But to return , If it be once thought unlawful to have nothing printed but of the side of the Church in fashion , the same reason will at least as strongly hold against any thing being preached but of that side ; because if any thing is printed against that Church , there are ten thoufand Clergy ( whom one would think a sufficient Guard for Truth ) to expose its Folly and Weakness , but 't is not so easy for them to know , and consequently to apply an Antidote to what is preached against them : wherefore they who are not for destroying that just and righteous Law that follows Liberty of Conscience , ought to be very careful of the Freedom of the Press , as the only means to guard and defend the other ; and both being built on the same Foundation , cannot ( as has been already proved ) be destroyed but by stricking at the Foundation of the Protestant Religion . And , Therefore it cannot be suppos'd that the chief Support of it , the Honourable House of Commons , will ever consent to the one or the other , especially considering how much the Popish Interest increaseth , and what Advantage of late it has got in France , Germany , and Savoy ▪ And if the Popish Princes ( as 't is suppos'd ) have enter'd into a Confederacy among themselves to extirpate the Protestant Cause , ought not all Protestants ( and all that are not for a blind Obedience deserve that Name , that being the essential difference between it and Popery ) instead of using restraint on one another , unite against the common Enemy ? Besides , let it be consider'd , 't is not certain we shall be always blest with the Government of a Prince so entirely a Protestant as our Great and Glorious Deliverer . And if the Papists should pervert one , and by that means get the publishing their Doctrines without contradiction , they might by degrees confound the Protestant Religion , so much weakned already by its Professors acting so inconsistently with their own Principles . But were that Scandal removed , by allowing as intire a Liberty as the Protestant Principles require , there could be no danger of the prevailing of the Popish , or any other Superstition . And 't is remarkable , that nothing has been writ in behalf of Popery since the Expiration of the Act of Regulating the Press , so little is Liberty a Friend to that Superstition . 14. But if , after all , there must be some appointed to determine the Fate of Religious Books , the Clergy , of all Men , ought not to be trusted with this Employ , because they ( not content with the Right they have from the Society of exercising the Ecclesiastical Function ) do claim Power and Government distinct and independent of it , which they pretend is sounded in Scripture ; and consequently they have no way , as Clergy , of gaining any Dominion , Power , or Riches , more than what the Society will give them , but by wresting the Holy Writ : And if , besides the Pulpits , where they may preach what gainful Doctrines they please , without contradiction , they do so far engross the Press , as to hinder any thing from being printed but what favours their Design ; What may not such a body of Men , ( well vers'd in all the Arts of perswasion by their frequent Opportunities in displaying them , impose on the too credulous People , especially when all the ways to disabuse them are stopt up ? And if the Clergy in the more easie and primitive times , perhaps ever since they were forbid to lord it over the Heritage of God , have made it their business to pervert Religion to advance their own Power ; what reason is there to imagine that they would not do the same in these latter and degenerate Ages ? How , I pray , did the Clergy , who at first subsisted by the Charity of the people , arrive to such immense Grandeur and prodigious Riches , but by a constant Confederacy from time to time , carried on at the Expense of Religion ? which ( as their own Historians shew ) was proportionably corrupted , as they encreased in Power and Riches , the one being made a step to the other ; and 't is as evident where they are now most potent , their Religion is most perverted , and the People most enslaved . The chief way they effected this , was by perswading the People to a blind Obedience , the consequence of which was , that they must take the Clergy's own Word for all the Powers they thought fit to say the Scripture had given them , and to submit to whatever they would determine in their own Cause , and for their own Interest . And there never was a Synod , whether Orthodox or not , but were for imposing on the Laity , not only by Excommunicating , Anathematizing , and Damning , but by making the Magistrate use violence on all that would not , contrary to their Consciences , comply with their Determinations ; by which means they at last arrived to such an excess of power over the Magistrate as well as the People , that one was no better than their Hangman , and the other than their Slaves . And have not the Protestant Clergy ( from whom one ought to expect better things ) taken the same method to make People blindly submit to their Determination ? Nay , have they not outdone the Popish Clergy , in wresting the Holy Writ to destroy the English Constitution , and enslave the Nation , and in preaching up the Doctrine of Absolute Obedience , than which nothing can be more inconsistent with the goodness of God , and the happiness of Humane Societies , as knowing the only way to secure Tyranny in the Church was to get it established in the State ? So that if the Protestant Clergy do not keep the People in as vile a Subjection as the Popish do , 't is not owing to their good will ; and therefore none that have any value for Religion , or any kindness for their Liberties , will trust those that lie under such Temptation to pervert the Scripture , with the sole licensing Books of Religion . As we pray not to be led into Temptation , so we should avoid leading others into it , especially such as in all probability they cannot withstand . 15. The Discovery of Printing seems to have been design'd by Providence to free Men from that Tyranny of the Clergy they then groan'd under . And shall that which was intended by divine Goodness to deliver all from Sacerdotal Slavery , be made the means of bringing it in again ? And if our Ancestors could not defend themselves from more than Egyptian Bondage , which the Pulpits brought on them , without the assistance of the Press , it 's scarce possible that we should be able to secure our Liberties against both , when by the help of the latter the Clergy have got better Abilities , as well as Opportunities , to impose on the Understanding of the People : And when Men are once enslaved in their Understanding ( which of all things ought to be most free ) it 's scarce possible to preserve any other Liberty . The trusting not only the Pulpits but the Press in the hands of the Clergy , is causing the Blind to lead the blind , because the generality of them are more likely to be guilty of a blind Obedience than the Laity , since they are obliged , as they value their Subsistence , right or wrong , to assert those Religious Tenets they find establish'd by Law ; the truth of which they cannot any more be presum'd to have impartially examin'd , than a mercenary Soldier the Justice of the Cause he is engag'd in ; being sent by their Friends to the Universities not to try the establish'd Religion , whether 't is right or wrong , but to prosess it as a Trade they are to earn their bread by : and lest they should examine it , they are , even before they are capable , shackled with early Oaths and Subscriptions . Which is the reason that the Priests are wondrous hot in every Countrey for the Opinions to which their Preferments are annexed ; in one place fierce Calvinists , in another violent Lutherans , in a third bigotted Papists ; which could not so universally happen , did they in the least examine those Opinions they are engag'd to profess . And therefore there can be no reason to trust the Press in hands of men so biass'd and prejudic'd , who cannot but be highly affronted to see the Laity do , what they durst not , judge for themselves , and not be blindly guided by them , who ( poor men ) are not trusted to guide themselves . Yet for all this extraordinary precaution to keep the Clergy right and tight , and the great disproportion of numbers between the Laity and them , 't is evident that almost all the Errors and wrong Notions in Religion have had their rise and chief Support from them . So that upon the whole , if the Press should be trusted with any , it ought to be with Lay-men , who have no Powers , Prerogatives , or Priviledges to gain by perverting the Scripture , since they pretend to none but what they receive from the Society . Tho I cannot but presume that our Legislators , were there no other reason , yet out of respect to the Clergy , would not enact such a Law as supposeth the greatest and most learned of them not fit to be trusted with the printing but a Half-sheet in Religion without consent of a Lay Licenser , who is to have an arbitrary Power over their Works . And there 's no doubt but the Clergy would highly resent such a Law ; tho I cannot see but the appointing Licensers , whether of the Laity or Clergy , equally reflects on their Body , because it equally supposeth they are unfit to be trusted . But if they are content with that Disgrace , it must be because either they cannot defend themselves against their Adversaries , or that they have a mind to give themselves up to Laziness and Idleness , and not trouble themselves with the laborious work of controversial Divinity . But I shall say no more on this Point , having already sufficiently shewed how destructive the restraining the Press is to Religion , which it cannot be without being in general prejudicial to Civil Societies , for whose good it was instituted , but especially when it is perverted on purpose to enslave them : and there never was a Nation which lost their religious Rights that could long maintain their civil ones , for Priestcraft and Slavery go hand in hand . Therefore I shall be the shorter on what I have to say on a civil account , especially considering that most of those Reasons that shew how destructive a Restraint of the Press is to Religious , will equally prove it to be so in Civil Affairs . 16. The greatest Enjoyment that rational and sociable Creatures are capable of , is to employ their Thoughts on what Subjects they please , and to communicate them to one another as freely as they think them ; and herein consists the Dignity and Freedom of humane Nature , without which no other Liberty can be secure : for what is it that enables a few Tyrants to keep almost all Mankind in Slavery , but their narrow and wrong Notions about Government ? which is owing to the Discouragement they lie under of mutually communicating , and consequently of employing their Thoughts on political matters ; which did they do , 't is impossible that the bulk of Mankind should have suffered themselves to be enslaved from Generation to Generation . But the Arts of State , in most Countries , being to enslave the People , or to keep them in Slavery , it became a Crime to talk , much more to write about political Matters : and ever since Printing has been invented , there have been , in most places , State-Licensers , to hinder men from freely writing about Government ; for which there can be no other Reason , but to prevent the Defects of either the Government , or the Management of it , from being discovered and amended . 17. Fame , Reputation , and Honour , as they are the greatest Incentives to all good and vertuous Actions , so they as much terrify Men from committing base and unworthy ones . And it cannot be reasonably presumed , considering the general Corruption of Mankind , but that the rich and powerful would frequently oppress those beneath them , were they not afraid of losing their Reputation , and exposing themselves either to the Contempt or Hatred of the People : for this Law of Reputation ( if I may so call it ) influences Men more than all other Laws whatever . But if there were a Licenser of the Press , he might be prevailed on not only to hinder the injured from appealing to the People by publishing their Grievances , but to license such Stories only as mercenary Scriblers would write to justify the Oppressors , and to condemn the Opprest : which , as it would be the greatest Encouragement for those Men that are above the ordinary Remedies of Law to crush whom they please , so it would be the highest Injustice to deny the injured the last satisfaction of justifying their innocence to the World , which would be sure to pass a just Censure on the Oppressors ; and this they would the more dread , because if once they lose their Credit with the People , they will be very unfit Instruments for a Court to use . Therefore 't is no wonder if all that make an ill use of their Power , especially those who have cheated the Government as well as abused the People , do endeavour with all their might to have the Press regulated , lest their Crimes being exposed in Print , may not only render them odious to the People , but to the Government . In a word , All sorts of Men whose Interest it is not to have their Actions exposed to the Publick ( which I am afraid are no small number ) will be for restraining the Press , and perhaps will add Iniquity to Iniquity , by pretending they do it out of Conscience to suppress Immorality and Profaneness . 18. But this is not the worst that may happen , because the Press may be so managed , as to become a most powerful Engine to overturn and subvert the very Constitution : for should a Magistrate arise with Arbitrary Designs in his head , no Papers that plead the Rights and just Priviledges of the People would be stamp'd with an Imprimatur : Then the Press would be employed only to extend the Prerogative beyond all bounds , and to extol the Promoters of Arbitrary Power as the chief Patriots of their Countrey , and to expose and traduce those that were really so ; which would be the greatest Discouragement not only to all brave and vertuous Actions , but would be apt to make the People mistake their Friends , when they had not the Liberty to publish a Vindication of their Principles or Actions , for their Enemies . In a word , if the Pulpits and Westminster-Hall ( as we have lately seen it ) should chime in with an Arbitrary Court , what can warn the People of their Danger , except the Press ? But if that too be wholly against them , they may easily be so blinded as not to see the Chains that are preparing for them , till they are fettered beyond all power of Redemption ; for there can never be wanting a thousand plausible Stories , and seemingly fair Pretences , to amuse and divert them from perceiving their real Danger . And if we look into the History of Europe , we shall find more Nations wheedled than forced out of their Liberties ; tho Force afterward was necessary to maintain what was got at first by Fraud . 19. 'T is so far from being impossible , that a People may be thus imposed on to their utter ruine ; that 't is probable another Generation seeing nothing but the Royal Prerogative highly magnified , may be bred up with the Opinion of being born Slaves . And were we not almost brought to that pass in the late Reigns ? when nothing came out with Allowance but what was to justify such Opinions ; and if some good men ( not to mention the Prince of Orange's third Declaration ) especially about the time of the Revolution , had not had the Courage privately to print some Treatises to undeceive the People , and to make them see the fatal Consequences of those Doctrines which by the Restraint of the Press pass'd for divine and sacred Truths ; the Nation had tamely submitted to the yoke . And as it cannot be denyed but that those Papers in a great measure opened our eyes , so it may justly be hoped that none that saw the miserable Condition that the Act for regulating the Press would have brought us into , will be instrumental in reestablishing that Law. No , those Men sure who so much exclaimed against it in the late Reigns , will take all care imaginable to prevent it now . But if these very men who may justly be said to be written into their places , and owe their Preserments to the freedom of examining those slavish Doctrines of the former Reigns ; if these Men , I say , can so far forget themselves as to be for a Law which till themselves were uppermost they thought tended only to inslave us , there cannot be , I think , a greater Argument for all others to oppose . We are , God be thanked , blest with the Government of the best of Kings , who as he hazarded every thing to rescue our Liberties when in the extremest Danger , so he places the Glory of his Reign in preserving them entire , and transmitting them so to Posterity . And therefore none that love his Glory can be for restraining the Press , which now as it can serve to no other end than to create Jealousies in the People , who cannot forget what former Reigns design'd by it , so it may hereafter hazard all our Liberties , Under a good King we may justly expect such Laws as will not expose us to , but secure us from the Oppressions of an ill one . The best things when perverted become the very worst ; as Religion it self , when it degenerates into Superstition , so Printing , which in it self is no small Advantage to Mankind , when it is abused , may be of most fatal consequence . Secure but the Liberty of the Press , and that will , in all probability , secure all other Liberty ; but if that once falls into the hands of ill designing Men , nothing that we hold dear or precious is safe . And experience manifests , that wheresoever That of the Press is denied , there no other is preserved . Most Countries in Europe maintained their Freedom tolerably well till the Invention of Printing ; but when that was suffered to speak nothing but Court-Language , People were by degrees gull'd and cheated of their Liberty . Had not the late King tack'd Popery to Slavery ▪ he might with the greatest ease imaginable have enslav'd us ; and methinks the danger we have so miraculously escaped , should fright us from ever enacting any of those Methods into a Law that so much contributed to that danger . 20. That which alone would engage me , were I a Senator , to oppose the Restraint of the Press , is , that a Parliament is to take cognizance of all sorts of things which some Men of Gentlemen-like Education may not have much considered ; and therefore the perusing what those without doors , who have made such things their business , have writ , may be none of the worst means of informing themselves ; but a Restraint of the Press may in a great measure hinder them from receiving this Satisfaction , because Licensers might be prevailed on to suffer but one side to publish their Sentiments even in Matters of the greatest Consequence . I have met with some Members who have frankly owned that the incomparable Argument against the Standing Army gave them great ●nsight into that grand Point , which , said they , had not the Press been open , would never have appeared , nor any thing on that side , tho a number of Pamphlets on the other , which , with the noise of self-interested Perfons , would in all probability have carried things quite otherwise : And seeing they could not foresee how frequently such things might happen , this alone , said they , was enough to convince them of the necessity of the Liberty of the Press , since they could not be too secure of that inestimable Jewel Liberty , which , if once lost , was scarce ever to be recovered , especially if seized by a domestick Power . 21. I doubt not but there are several well-meaning Men for regulating the Press ; who , did they consider how subject all things are to change , could not be apprehensive that this Engine of their own contriving might be turned upon themselves , and made to ruin those very Designs they thought to promote by it . For the Press ( as a witty Gentleman observes ) is like a Jackanapes , he who has him in his hands may make him bite whom he pleases , and therefore 't is their fasest way to keep their Jackanapes in their own hands . And it cannot but shew a great deal of hardiness to make such a Law as may produce very fatal Consequences even to the Makers themselves , who will then deserve no pity , since they are scourg'd with Rods of their own providing ; And 't is the more probable this may happen so hereafter , since even at present such a Law has but an untoward Aspect upon most Parties ; for one Party , tho he is pleased with it in religious , yet dislikes it in civil Matters ; another thinks the contrary to be his Interest ; a third is satisfied with having such or such Sects restrained from Printing , but would be glad that others had that Liberty ; a fourth , who cares not how all the Sectaries are dealt with , is yet afraid that if the Press be in the hands of moderate Church-men , none will be suffered to write any more Letters to a Convocation-man , or a Manicipium Ecclesiasticum , or such like Books ; a fifth is afraid lest this power should get into the hands of the rigid ones , for then the others will be run down as Trimmers , Latitudinarians and what not . The same may be said with respect to other Religious Opinions , about which Men of the same Church are divided , and the like may be as well observed in civil Matters , but I leave every one to make that Remark for himself ; so that if all Parties cast up their accounts , there are very few of them but will find a Restraint of the Press to be against even their present Interest . 22. I might add a great number of other Reasons , because as many things are worth knowing , so many Arguments there are for the Liberty of the Press ; what can be more useful than History , and the Knowledge of our Ancestors Actions ? A faithful account of which can scarce be expected in a Reign that has a design to disguise Truth , and to keep us in ignorance of those noble and generous Notions our Ancestors had of Liberty , and how they asserted theirs upon all occasions . As for what concerns the present time , I shall only say , that for my own part I should be glad , especially when at a distance from London , ( and I suppose other Country Gentlemen may be of the same mind ) to divert my self with some other New-papers besides the Gazette , which would hardly be permitted if the Press were regulated . As for Books of Philosophy , and of other Arts and Sciences , I can see no reason why there should be any Restraint on them , or why the licensing them should be intrusted with the Clergy , as by the late Act , except it be to hinder such Books from being printed as tend most to inform Mens Judgment , and make them reason clearly , things very dangerous to a blind implicit Obedience Besides , an excellent discovery in Nature may be hindered from being publish'd , on pretence that 't is inconsistent with Religion : for the time has been when asserting the Antipodes has been no less than Heresie ; and the Motion of the Earth a Crime worthy the Inquisition , and with as little Reason ( not to mention Dr. Burnet's ingenious Tracts ) has the most useful Book that ever was written in Philosophy , the Essay of humane Understanding , been condemned as inconsistent with the Articles of the Christian Religion . As for Physick , tho the licensing Books therein were wholly trusted with some of the Colledge , the most useful Piece in that Science , either because the Licensers were engaged in another Method of Practice , or because it may take from their Advantage , by prescribing a cheaper and easier way of Cure , or out of Envy , or a thousand other Reasons , might be hindered from seeing the Light , to the no small detriment not only of the Present , but future Ages . As to Law , I shall only say , If there are any Abuses crept into it , the likeliest way to have them reformed is not by restraining the Press . 23. Were Licensers unbiast , uncorrupt , and infallible , there might be good Reason to trust them with an Arbitrary Power to pass what Sentences they pleas'd on Books : but if we are to judge of the future by the past , they are almost as likely to be one as the other , Men of Sense , ( and others ought not to be trusted with it ) without being resolved to make the most of it , will not care to be condemned to the drudgery of reading all the Trash that comes to be printed , nothing but necessity will make such Persons submit to it , and that necessity will make them less able to withstand Temptation . So that the appointing Licensers will be as bad as laying a Tax on Learning , since by delaying to look over Books , especially those that require haste to be printed , and by other tricks ( for there are Mysteries in all Trades ) they may make People pay what they please for their Allowance . 24. But this is not the worst , it will be a great hindrance to the promoting of Knowledge and Truth , by discouraging the ablest Men from writing for such Persons , especially after having once had the liberty of publishing their own Thoughts , will not be content to have their Works lie at the Mercy of an ignorant , or at the best of an unleisured Licenser , who upon a cursory view may either condemn the whole to perpetual Darkness , or strike out what he pleaseth , perhaps the most material things . And tho a living Author may subject himself to this , yet none will be content that the Labours of a deceased Friend should be so served ; so that the Works of such a Person , tho never so famous in his Life-time , shall be lost to all Posterity . Besides , is it not intolerable , that every time a Man has a mind to make any Alteration or Addition between the licensing of the Copy , and the printing it off , that he must as often hunt after the same Licenser to obtain his leave , for the Printer could not go beyond his licensed Copy , when in the mean time the Press , to his no small damage , must stand still ? In short , tho there might seem to be some reason to condemn a Person that upon a fair Trial had been found guilty of writing immoral things , or against the Government , to the Punishment of never writing again but under the Authority of an Examiner ; yet what reason can there be that those that never offended , nay that the whole Commonwealth of Learning should be subject to so severe Usage , which too is the way to have none but Fools and Blockheads plague the World with their Impertinence , and make an Imprimatur ( as it did formerly ) signify no more than that such a Book is foolish enough to be printed ? 'T is objected , that without Licensers any one may reflect on whom he has a mind to , so as that most People shall be sensible whom he means , tho he mention but two Letters of his Name , or useth some other Description , by which means he is out of the reach of the Law. This may be an Argument for the forbidding all Printing , but none for appointing Licensers ; for 't is much more reasonable for all to have the Liberty to vindicate themselves the same way they chance to be aspersed , than to let the Licenser's Party abuse all others , and the Press not open for them to justify themselves . But if any one reflects upon another after this manner , let him make appear whom it is he means , or else let him be esteemed in Law to intend that Person that takes it to himself . This I think is all that can be objected as to Civil Matters , except what relates to Sedition and Treason , for an Answer to which I refer the Reader to § . 13. I have no more to add , but that my greatest Ambition next to serving the Publick , ( which here I have endeavoured to do without so much as once thinking how it may affect me in my own private Concerns ) is to approve my self to be , SIR , Your most faithful and devoted humble Servant . 
A69440	----	An account of Monsieur De Quesne's late expedition at Chio together with the negotiation of Monsieur Guilleragues, the French ambassadour at the port / in a letter written by an officer of the Grand Vizir's to a pacha ; translated into English. Officer of the Grand Vizir. 1683 Approx. 116 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 29 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2006-06 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A69440 Wing A211 ESTC R6119 12904393 ocm 12904393 95291 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A69440) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 95291) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 2:24 or 444:2) An account of Monsieur De Quesne's late expedition at Chio together with the negotiation of Monsieur Guilleragues, the French ambassadour at the port / in a letter written by an officer of the Grand Vizir's to a pacha ; translated into English. Officer of the Grand Vizir. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. [7], 50 p. Printed for Richard Tonson ... and Jacob Tonson ..., London : 1683. Translation attributed to Daniel Defoe (in manuscript on t.p.). Probably a translation of: Substance d'une lettre écrite par un Officier du Grand Vizir un pacha, touchant l'expedition de Monsr du Quesne à Chio et la négotiation de Monsr de Guilleragues avec la Port. [Paris?] : 1683. Cf. BM. Copy at reel 444:2 incorrectly identified in reel guide as A212 (second ed.). 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Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Duquesne, Abraham, 1610-1688. Guilleragues, Gabriel Joseph de Lavergne, -- vicomte de, 1628-1685. France -- Foreign relations -- Turkey. Turkey -- Foreign relations -- France. 2005-12 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-01 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2006-01 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion AN ACCOUNT OF Monsieur De Quesne's Late Expedition at CHIO ; TOGETHER With the Negotiation of Monsieur Guilleragues the French Ambassadour at the PORT . In a Letter Written by an Officer of the Grand Vizir's to a Pacha . Translated into English LONDON , Printed for Richard Tonson at Grays-Inn-Gate in Grays-Inn-Lane : And Jacob Tonson at the Judge's-Head in Chancery-Lane near Fleet-street , 1683. To the Right Honourable GEORGE Lord MARQUESS OF HALLIFAX Lord PRIVY-SEAL , &c. My LORD , IT is not that this little Piece is thought to deserve so Great a Patron , that it presumes to wear your Lordships Livery : But as Epicurus neither Worship'd the Gods for any good he expected from them , nor feared them for any harm they could do him , but Ador'd them for the Excellency of their Natures : So for the same reason is your Lordship chosen the Object of this Dedication . It is a Novelty , so may be indur'd ; short , therefore cannot be extremely Troublesom : And relating to Affairs of State , knows not where so Naturally to apply it self , as to your Lordship , whose steddy Maxims , and direct Counsels , have in a short time put out of breath , a Head-strong , Pamper'd , and unruly Faction , more then all the Doublings , Windings and Turnings of some Apish Politicians could have done in an Age. Your Services to the Crown , and Merits from the Nation are so great , that Time and the Memory of them must be of equal Durance : And but to mention them here , would appear gross Flattery ; a Crime , which could the Dedicator be guilty of , it must be meerly for guilt sake ; since Fortune has placed him below Hope , and his small Philosophy beyond Fear : But your Lordship's Admirers being no fewer then all those who wish well to their King and Country ; He presumes in that huge Crowd to place himself , being Your Lordships Devoted Servant . TO THE READER . IT seems to be a kind of Law of our Natures , that our Minds should be often busied about things , which do not immediately , or perhaps not at all , relate to our own proper Happiness , which is an Extravagancy we find nothing but Man infected with ; Other Creatures desires , and indeavours being confin'd to their Necessities or Pleasures : But this afflicting quality of ours , never appears so much a Disease amongst us , as when it is imployed unseasonably in matters of Government ; nor never , I believe , was more Infectious in one Nation , then it hath been lately in ours . To search for the Cause , or prescribe a Remedy , would in a Man of my Station only prove it Epidemical , and my self full of the Tokens : But however being one of these thinking things , I have followed the Dictates of my Being . And meeting with this Letter in French , have made the Sense of it English , I had no purpose in doing so , but that being retir'd and indispos'd , I had nothing else to do ; I publish it , as well to shew the Pride and Insolence of Humane Nature , when Ignorance is possest of Absolute Power , as the Dissimulation , Fraud , and Corruption of any Sect , who pretend to be God's Elect , or only chosen People , which the Mumelans do : Such ever claim , by the Title of Gods Children , a right to every thing ; and consequently think nothing unjust that puts them in possession of their own . There may too by this piece ( as the French Translator saith ) be seen , the perfect manner of Negotiating with the Turks ; their Pride and good Fortune ; and the Judgment of God upon the Christians , who contribute so unreasonably to the increase of a Power which tends to nothing so much as to their own Destruction . The Government of that People , though Arbitrary , shall not be censured by me , since I never read they imployed the Terrible Mute and Bow-string on any Man , who like my self , pretended to no Power amongst them . Nor indeed can I discern the difference of being Nooz'd without noise or with it : for if I am unjustly to be put to Death , Twelve Mutes or Twelve sworn Enemies to me or my Principles , who can talk me to a Hangman , are all one . And I have cause to believe some wretches we have heard of , might have been making Silver Bullets , and charging Guns without Powder there till Dooms-day , before their Names had been Registred amongst unfortunate Statesmen : But it is no miracle in England , that poor crawling Creatures should be rankt amongst Politicians , and busie their no Brains about Turning of States and Kingdoms ; since it is to such , under the notion of the People , that all our half-witted Republicans Appeal , in their whims of Reformation : But that Pestilence being a little stopt at present , I hope will never in my time so rage again , as to be the most devouring of Plagues , which it prov'd to be within these last Fourty Years . So Farewell . A LETTER FROM One of the Principal Officers of the GRAND VIZIR , Written to a PACHA , Concerning the Business of Monsieur Guilleragues . HAVING prostrated my Face to the Ground , and being Rub'd with the dust of the Feet of my very good and happy Lord ; to whom God will grant a prosperous End : I shall give him an Account of what hath Arrived to the Glory of our most Invincible Emperour , King of Kings , Mehemet Khan ; to whom the Divine Bounty will subject all the Countries of Infidels , to place him at last in Paradice , with his Glorious Ancestors . You know , my most fortunate Lord , that the French Infidels , whom God will Extirpate ; a restless People , being never quiet , came to Chio , under the Command of an Old Captain , in a brave Gallion , Guarded by five or six others , where they Fired during four or five hours on the Vessels of Tripoly in Barbary : They also damaged the Fortress and the Mosques ; nor had they then ceased , but that the Cannon of the Faithful ( with Bodies of Brass , and Wings of Draggons Vomiting Flames and Bullets ) accomplish't upon them this Expression of the Noble Scriptures ; He threw Fear into their hearts . Terror having in this manner seized on these Accursed ; to whom Hell must be the last Stage ; they were no longer able to use open Force ; yet ceased not however to keep their Station before the Port of Chio , stopping all Merchant Ships that brought assistance to the Tripolines ; there sayling up and down like Mad-men , making mighty Threats . But their Brains seemed to be more settled , when the Capoudan Pacha , absolute Lieutenant to the Emperor of the seven Climates , over the Seas of this vast World , had honoured the Rode of Chio , by bringing thither the Galleys of the Emperour of the Earth , whose Glory shall be perpetual . This Soveraign of the Seas , whom God will always favour with Winds and Happiness ; for the propagation of Muslemanisme , and the Grandure of the Invincible Rewarder our Master , had no sooner stopt his Conquering and Formidable Course , by casting Anchor , but the French Admiral ( that the end of his days which are not far off might be happy ) sent one of his principal and most trusty Captains , to deliver his Submissions and Respects , as well as to discourse him of some important Affairs ; and to assure him , of his desires to do nothing that might make the least breach of their Amity , which had for more then one Age been Establish'd , between the Great and Sovereign Emperor of the habitable World ; and the Greatest Emperor of all the Potentates of the belief of the Messia ; to whom be Salvation . This Ambassador , an able Man , and worthy so fair an Imployment , having rub'd his Face on the Vest of the Lieutenant Sovereign of the Sea ; and well acquitted himself of his Commission , appeared not at all astonish'd , when after the welcome of the Safa Gueldy , pronounced with that gravity and decency , peculiar to him , and which makes him be obeyed by Sea ; he heard these words : What sign of Amity dost thou bring us , to have rashly affronted the Mosques , where we Adore the great God of Heaven and Earth , without giving him Companions , or defacing his Worship by Idolatry : And where is the proofs of that Respect you boast ? Is it to have Fired on the Fortress of the Emperor , refuge to the Princes of the World ? You may perhaps be able to batter down a corner or two ; but God by the Faith of Abraham , which we defend , and from whom we draw our Original , can from those tumbling Stones raise many Thousand invincible Defenders . Tell thy Commander , I advise him as a Friend to have recourse to the Imperial Clemency , by procuring the French Ambassador to supplicate for him at the Port of Felicity . The Christian Captain Accused the Tripolines of all the misfortune , who being Enemies to the French , violated on their Merchants the surety of the Capitulations . Then promising to consider of the Advice had been given him , he intreated the Capoudan Pacha to Negotiate at the Port , as well concerning those of Barbary , and the damage at Chio , as about the Audience of Monsieur Guilleragues ; desiring him besides , to dispose the Tripolines to make Peace . During this , the Grand Vizir ( who is the Rule and Order of the World , and who can fully finish all Causes , to whom God perpetuate his Grandure , and redouble his Power ) was in dispute with the French Ambassador about the Sofa ; it being the Grand Dowanier that Conducted that Affair , who likewise serv'd himself of other Persons therein , which were the French Interpreters : It being below the Dignity of the Emperour of the World , that one of his considerable Officers should go to an Ambassador , unless it were to conclude a business . It was a long time , that this Mediator had amused the Ambassador , by sending him Discourses , that the second generally destroyed the first ; repairing those again , perhaps by a third , which just signified nothing : Sometimes the Interpreters would tell him , That the Dowanier saluted him , and said , he had good hopes : The next time they would bring him word , That he appeared Shagrin , thô he failed not to salute him ; and perhaps might have some particular Affair of his own that disquieted him ; but that he had too insinuated , that the Ambassador did himself no good Office by being so Obstinate in the Point of the Sofa ; for that Kieupruli the Father proceeded as the Vizir pretends : And though Kieupruli the Son did give the Sofa during his latter time , it was at Constantinople , where he was in a manner Incognito ; and not at Adrianople , where indeed there is no Sofa in the Chamber of Audience : Another day would bring him news , That the Dowanier appeared very merry , and did not cease his indeavours , but returned him thanks too for the Wine he sent him daily . He likewise sent his Interpreters to the * Kaihaia of the Vizir and the Lord of the Clerks , who bid them Salute the Ambassador on their parts , and assure him , they took pains for him ; saying too , That the Dowanier was his sure Friend , as well as themselves . The Interpreters coming another time from these Officers , would tell the Ambassador , that they could not yet find a proper time to speak to the Vizir , because that Minister is ever busied about the great Affairs of the World ; which tumble in upon him every moment of the day ; sometimes like the Waves of the Sea , assaulting him with fury ; but are by him resisted , and drove back , as by an unshaken Rock , surmounting all difficulties by his Grand Genius , which penetrates and resolves , with ease , the most Mysterious and Doubtful Matters : That it was necessary , great Affairs should precede small ones , and that this of the Ambassadors , would have its time ; for which he should not be impatient . The Ambassadour knock't too at other Doors , as at that of the Chief Gardiners ; who likewise amused him , and found his account in this Negotiation : He attempted the Mediation of the most Illustrious * Kaimmakam , formerly Kahaia or Chief Secretary to the Sovereign Vizir , who appeared with a frowning Countenance to the Interpreters , with difficulty permitting them the Honor to kiss the bottom of his Vest , and deliver the Complement of their Master ; which when he heard , appearing astonish't , though he knew all the business before : How ! saith he , have you not yet finish't this matter ? On what can you think , that you make not your Ambassador resolve ? He cannot of himself be so Obstinate ; it must be you that give him ill Counsel , contrary to your own proper knowledge ; for you cannot be ignorant , how things have past , at former Audiences : beware of your heads . They excus'd themselves by saying , Their Master was resolved rather to dye , then be wanting to the Orders of the Emperor of France : And that for themselves , they were only poor Interpreters , always ready to receive the high Commands of the Sublime Port ; and to report back , the most humble Reasons of their Ambassador ; to whom they would most faithfully Relate what it pleased the most Illustrious Kaimmakam to Command them , who stroking his Beard brought it together ; then pulling it a little , and casting down his Eyes , as if he were thinking , Very well , says he , Salute the Lord Ambassador on my part ; bid him be Obstinate no longer , for it is not his best way of Serving the Emperor of France . They were forced to return to the Kehaia of the Vizir and the * Reiseffend , who told them they had spoken to their Master in Favour of the Ambassador , ( God knows in what manner , ) and that his Answer was , He would speak to the Sultan Emperor of the World ; the Issue whereof they expected with good hopes . The Interpreter of the Port of Felicity was moved in it too , who Imployed all his Eloquence to ingage the prudence of the Ambassador , to take the best course ; assuring him there was no better then to yield ; for in giving satisfaction to the Vizir in this , he would oblidge a Lord , able to return it a hundred times double in other occasions . One could make the Ambassie of Monsieur Guilleragues Glorious , so as to deface the Memory of all his Predecessors : In fine , this was no longer the business of the Grand Vizir , but the Sultans . The return again to the Kehaia and Reiseffend , who told them their Master had not yet spoke to his Highness ; The Clerks too sent some Complements to the Ambassador ; from whom one of his Interpreters came one day to tell him , as a thing had been Communicated in good Will : That if he would relax his pretence to the Sofa in all other things , he would have more honour then he could desire . Sometimes the Interpreters told the Ambassador , that having been delivering the Petitions to the Grand Vizir , concerning the ordinary Affairs , they had been well received by him , who had asked News of their Master , and made some advances , which seem'd Demonstrations of plain dealing : So that if things were not ended before his going to Adrianople , all would be agreed at his return . In fine , my most Honoured Lord , whilst this Affair remained in t he Clouds of Retardment , even after the Vizir's return , we had the news of what had past at Chio. The Grand Vizir was in a Rage , but as his great Soul never yields to the extreamest difficulties , so it submitted not at all to this , which was but of the middle ones : He expos'd it at the Foot of the Throne , of the Soveraign Master of the World , where having prostrated himself , and received his Orders , he returned to his House , and sent for the Grand Dowanier , Commanding him to let the French Ambassador be told , That it was no longer his business ( at least at present ) to dispute the Sofa , but to repair the Mischiefs done at Chio , as well to the Mosques , as Fortress ; and to try by all manner of Submissions to obtain a Pardon From the King of Kings , for that Action : And that in the first place he should begin by a Letter to the French Admiral concerning what he had done ; and to Command him to do no more , nor come nearer Constantinople , till they tryed to obtain his Pardon : For if not , the Sultan would let loose his just Indignation , and stop his Ears to Mercy , to the utter Destruction of him the Ambassador and the whole French Nation : That they knew he had exceeded his Orders ; The Emperor of France being too great an Emperor , too Just , and too Good a Friend to Command an Enterprise so contrary to the Antient Amity . The Dowanier Replyed , That the Head of our Invincible Master , and yours , may be at Repose ; I dare answer for the Embassador in this : I can oblige him to submit to any thing you please : If he make some seeming Resistance , it will only be for Form-Sake . He hath no desire to Ingage himself in any thing may put him out of his Imployment : He is for getting of Money , as his Profession , and manner of Living demonstrate ; and has been here too small a time , to desire to be gone so fast . These words were not given in vain , for the Embassador writ divers times to the Admiral , who thereupon remained without doing any thing , like a Lyon bound in Chains ; These Letters were full of real Fear , and perfect Terror lest his doing more , might displease the Sultan in the least . But to hasten things the Embassador went himself to the Kehaia of the Grand Vizir , who made him thoroughly sensible of the mighty Crime the French Admiral had Committed , able to overturn the whole Negotiation , and reduce into Captivity all the French within the Ottoman Empire ; was there not some reason to hope that he as a Prudent Ambassador , would procure Mercy , and Forgiveness from the most happy and most Invincible Emperor of the Earth . The Ambassador would have defended himself , by pretending that nothing past at Chio , could in the least be interpreted to intend a Breach of the Antient Amity : That if they had Fired on the Fortress , and hurt some Houses , it was but by accident , and in a Just defence : since those from thence , had first Fired on the Ships , belonging to the Emperor of France . That this Storm of the Just Indignation of his Master , had been restrained for a long time by his Natural Moderation ; but must at last , by Gods permission , fall upon the heads of those Thieves , Rebels to the Grand Seignior himself ; The Trippolins unworthy to injoy the Protection of his Highness ; They who had taken the Merchants Goods and Vessels of the French , entring the Ports of the Ottoman Empire ; Nay , in the very Ports themselves , and under the Command of the Sultans Forts . That these Pirates only were responsible for all pretended Damage , since only they were true occasions of it . But the Kehaia made answer to the Ambassador , Let us seperate the Tripolins from the injury done to the Sultan , they are your Enemies I allow : But the Emperor of the World , is he your Enemy ? Doth he not give you daily convincing proofs of the contrary , by his Imperial benefits ? You are you say , carried on by the Force and heat of a Just vengeance to persue your Enemies : But on the other side , could not the Respect due to the King of Kings , our invincible Master , who had protected the Tripolins under his Forts , stop it ? was there no middle way to be found , as well to preserve the Submissions due to the Soveraign of the World , who has the Universe in his Guard ; As likewise to prevent the escape of your Enemies ? There appears to me one , very easy , persues the Kehaia , which is to have kept the Tripolins Besieged , till you had sent to the Port of Felicity , to Implore the High and Sublime Justice against them : Then had that been refused , there had been some pretence of Reason perhaps , for coming to that extremity you have done . The Ambassador strove to support himself by many weak reasons ; And tho' he often protested he had something Essential to offer : All he could say appeared meer Amusements , which obliged the Kehaia , to stop his Mouth , with these words . The Emperor of France , which we distinguish Infinitely beyond other Potontates , as the most Powerful , best Born , and ancienest Friend to the Port of Felicity , the end of whose days be happy , who surpasses all his Ancestors in Strength , Wisdom , and every sort of Merit ; and who is formidable to all Christendom : Would he take it well , if we should do to him , as his Admiral hath done , to the true Kalisé , or Successor , to the greatest of all the Prophets : the Sultan Elbarrein , and Khaijan , and Bahrein , King of the two Continents , and Emperor of the two Seas , the Cayzar Cezar , the Distributer of the Crowns of Cozroes . To whom God perpetuate his Grandure , to the very day of Judgement . If one of our Invincible Armies ( as Numerous as the Sands in the Sea ) should Attaque our Enemies , under one of your Masters Forts , what would he say ? What Complaints had he not reason to make ? Is it not known , that the Commander of our Galleyes , let escape from his Fury , the Ships of the Enemies of Cheincha , King of Kings , because they took Sanctuary , under the Standard of Padicha , Emperor of France ? And was it not done as it should be ? Could I , Lord Ambassador , produce a more pertinent Example ? But yet take another , that may guide you to take right measures , in seriously thinking , how to conclude this , and to bring your self out of the present danger : We have heard by certain Confus'd reports , That some Souldiers , belonging to a Spanish Garrison in Flanders ( a Land of Vices ) Incouraged by the strength of the Place , which they thought Impregnable , had grown so Insolently Foolish , as to go forth like Furies , Meriting Hell , to Attaque and Rob some French Souldiers , immediately Retiring with their Booty , into that Center of their Cowardice ; much mistaken in thinking they were there Safe : For the Emperor of France , resolving that this Injury , which hurt the Peace should be repaired : Reserved the Conquest of the Place , whence it was done , to another time ; It being not yet predestinated to be his : Therefore remaining Embarrast in the Clouds of certain delays , he contented himself , that they should make amends for the Rashness of these Madmen , undoubted Limbs of the Devil , by Money . We know , continued the Kehaia , that the Governors of this Country , by Order of their Master , thinking themselves happy , in not seeing Roll in upon them , the mighty Forces of the Emperor of France , whose very shadows make them Tremble ; delivered Hostage , and sent the money agreed upon , with Solemn Presents : which he was pleased to accept , not for their Value , but as proofs of their Homage , Submissions , and Reparation they were forced to make : He made this little Sacrifice Considerable by his acceptance , and Imperial Clemency : Here was nothing but a few French Plundered to contest about , but we have the Faithful Kill'd and Wounded , who call for Revenge , and the Holy Stones that demand it , which are Rent from some of our Mosques : There must be Blood , or Repentance , by Submissions , Exposed to the view of the Publick , or your Person must answer all , and be Lyable to great extremities : Therefore think well of all these Circumstances . Thus ended the Discourse of the Kehaia to the Ambassador , who pretended , that the last example , was not truly Reported : He affirmed that the Emperor of France , always Invincible , never amused himself about trifling Presents : And that he knew how to make his Enemies , render true Homage , and ever punish't those , that violated his Amity without a cause , by Fire and Sword ; Not forgeting neither a Generous Clemency , truly Noble , and dissinterested , when he thought it convenient to suppress his Anger . In fine , the Ambassador concluded , That he had no fear for his Person , sufficiently protected by the Power of his Master , and the Right of Nations : Saying , He had nothing to give . The Kehaia told him , He had time to think , because the Soveraign Vizir , stayed for the Answer of the Capoudan Pacha , Admiral of the Seas , to know truly how all things past at Chio ; Whereupon he would receive the Orders , given at the Fleet of the Soveraign , who pronounces the destiny of the Universe : There upon the Ambassador Retired to his House at Pera. The most Serene and Illustrious Vizir , who knows how to make use of his Prudence , and his Force , as is most proper , contented himself not to hasten the Matter . His faithful Councellor the Grand Dowanier Negotiated constantly by the usual Persons with the Ambassador , who gave him positive assurances of his yielding ; and that he would oblige him to submit , assuring him , he had made the Ambassador sufficiently apprehend a Rupture , as a thing would be of little advantage to the Affairs of France in General , or his own in particular . But during these delays , the Capoudon Pacha , obedient to the Orders of the Soveraign Vizir , had entred the Port of Chio , the better to understand the cause of the Disorder ; and fully to inform himself of every particular , that he might the sooner Contribute to the Peace he intended : There he was informed the that Cursed Old Admiral of the French , who surely knows how to live by Air , and takes pleasure to dance on the most Inraged Waves of a Tempestuous Sea ; living on them as on the most Firm Ground ; and like a perfect Fish values neither Winter nor Summer . This Man who ceases not to Live , tho' a hundred years Old ; and four score of them hath made good provision in the Market , where they Sell Cheats , Tricks , and Fourberies cheap : Took advantage of the Narrow entrance into the Port of Chio. And after having made so many Compliments and Civilities to the Capoudan Pacha , did now intreat him , not to think of stirring out till he had Surrendred the Tripolins , or obliged them to submit . Nay more , this daring Old Man , who seems to forget Death , and yet remains in Life , by the permission of God , meerly to augment his Crimes , the more to Burn in Hell , had the presumption to search several Turkish Galleys . The Capoudan Pacha had not fail'd to go out to punish his Insupportable Insolence , had not the Sea and Season Inconvenient for Galleys prevented it ; so he could do no more then give Advice of all , to that High Tribunal whose Foundations are unmovable . The Grand Vizir whose Angellick understanding knows a perfect remedy for every thing , had no sooner notice of the vain Glory , Presumption and Ill-Built Pride of this Old Commander of the French Galliens , in presuming to keep ( as it were Imprisoned ) the Admiral and Galleys of the Emperor of the World ; but he sent for the Grand Dowanier to debate the Business , between whom it was thought convenient , that the Ambassador should be Frighted ; they both being Confident he would yield , rather then expose himself to the Affronts to which Revenge too much Ingaged their Master ; and that all the Pride of which he made so great appearance , was only to save his Honour , and preserve a Profitable Imployment . We now ended the Moon worthy of Blessing , which is that of our Fast of Ramazan ; it being the Eve of the Feast of Bairan , which is begun by rendring thanks to God for giving us the Grace to Fast thirty days compleat : The Grand Vizir Indefatigable in the Obedience he pays , as well to the Great Master of Nature , who has no Companions , as to his Lieutenant on Earth , his most Perfect Image ; the Emperor of the Mussulmans , Revenger of the Divine Unity : This Grand Vizir having kept so long a Fast , was come to the thirtieth day , which he had past , without Eating or Drinking , from the Rising of the Sun to its going down : ceased not however to preserve his full Strength and Prudence , of which he gave convincing proofs to the French Ambassador . He sent for him in the Evening before the Feast of Bairan , just as the Canons ending their Fast , denounced the next days Solemnity ; so that he who doth not too well understand our customs arrived at the Grand Vizir's in the midst of that Thunder , sufficient to terrifie him , as being the presage of that Rage and Threats , was going to fall upon him . They made him attend above an hour in a Chamber , whilst the Grand Vizir was doing his Devotions ; where some mov'd him to accrept his Audience below the Sofa , which he absoutely refused , proposing to remain where he was , or in some other Room , from whence he would answer the Vizir by Message . But this Lieutenant to the Emperor of the World was resolved to discourse him face to face ; that he might dart at him , Glances like Lightning from that Majestick Presence , Adorn'd with Eagles Eyes . He placed himself on a Seat prepared on the Sofa , having first Gravely returned , by an almost Imperceptible declining of his head , the Submissive Reverence the Ambassador made him : You must know this Christian had but few with him , many not deserving to enter that Place : he was invited to sit below ; But having Generously resisted several Motions , something Violent , by which they attempted to Constrain him ; and seeming as if he would Revenge by Blows the Force , they desisted : By which he had Liberty to deliver a Letter from the Emperor of France , to the Vizir , concerning the Sofa ; It was considered too , that remaining standing as he was , it seem'd to be in a posture more Respectfull , and readier to obey the Orders he was about to receive : It was then agreed , that the Interpreter of the Port should explain for the Vizir , and the Ambassadors for him . The Discourse of the Vizir touched the Grandeur of the Emperor of the Mussulmans , of the respect due to him , of the Danger to offend him ; of the necessity readily to make Satisfaction for such a Crime : And Lastly , Of the Goodness and Clemency of the Master of the World , willing always to Pardon those that humble themselves , and repair the Injuries done to his Slaves : Adding these words , It is for thee therefore * Estchibeig , as the Surety of the * Gadicha of France , thy Master ; and Hostage residing at the Soveraign Port of Felicity , for confirmation of the Peace , to repair all that weaknes it , during the Embassie . It is for thee then to pay the Damage at Chio , for the death of some Faithful : The Breaches in the Mosques , and the Mischief done to the Cittadel ; I demand of thee for this , three hundred and fifty thousand Crowns : And a due Submission to such an Emperor as my Master , who is Protector of the true Belief . This thou must perform or go to the seven Towers , I tell thee as a Friend , thou must obey the Inevitable Doom of the Great Master of the World , pronounced to me , when prostrated as his Slave at the Foot of his Throne , the perfect and bright Resemblance of the Celestial one . The Ambassador by Amusements sought to alter the Vizir's Resolution , alledging the necessity of obeying the Emperor of France , who had Commanded his Admiral to persue to Death , the Thieving Tripolins , Enemies to France , and Rebels to the Port ; a People unworthy the Protection of his Highness , having Seized the Merchants under the Forts of the Ottoman Empire : And taken the Consul of Cyprus out of his House , where he ought by the Capitulations of Peace to have been safe : He then alledged , that if he was to be consider'd as a Hostage to Answer for what should happen on the Emperor of Frances part ; It could only be Intended to relate to things Ordinary , and not to those that were out of his Power , as the business of Chio was : The Circumstances too of which , he say'd , were aggravated : He professed himself troubled , that Chance and a Lawful defence against the Fort , which had first Fired on the Standard of his Master , should produce some Disorder ; But protested too that he cou'd promise nothing was demanded for it , and had only power write to France the true State of things , and wait his Answer thence . That as to the Seven Towers , it was easy to send him thither , but it was the way to make a Rupture : He then declared he would medle no more in any thing , for a Prisoner contrary to the Laws of Nations , was no longer Capable of Negotiating : The Vizir having declared he knew nothing of the business of Cyprus , said , they might have Besieged the Tripolins in the Port of Chio without Fyring into it ; and that during his Imprisonment , the Commerce should continue , provided there arrived no other Acts of Hostility ; telling him too , that other French Ambassadors had been Imprisoned , which the Emperor of France had not taken ill . The Ambassador Reply'd , That his Master had not foreseen this Accident , which was indeed Morally Impossible he should ; that if the same usage had been to some of his Predecessors , it was not totally without cause , as in the Case of Monsieur La Haye , who was Imprisoned , as a Spye for the Venetians : But for himself he had Prerogatives above other Ambassadors , and had been ever Faithful to the Port : That , in fine , He was Ambassador of France , and it behov'd them to consider well , before they did any thing might wrong that Character . The Grand Vizir demanded Proofs of this great Fidelity he boasted ; doth it , saith he , consist in Consederating with the French Admiral ? to demean himself as Enemy to the Grand Sultan of the Osmans : And how shall we discern this mighty Prerogative above other Ambassadors , in one who can meerly complain concerning Trifles , with which the Port hath such constant Troubles ; and pretends no Power to treat about an Affair of Importance , wherein they had Just cause to complain . The Ambassador urged , That the business of Cyprus , and many others , concerning which he had delivered Memorials to the Vizirs Officers , were no Trifling matters ; and that he had no knowledge of the Orders which the French Admiral had , more then what he had received from him , by Letters . But the Vizir remained firm to his Resolution , repeating to him , Pay or thou goest to Prison : what I say to thee , is nothing but an effect of my Friendship ; take time to consider of it , and do thy best , before there happens to thee some great affront . But the Ambassador persisting in the same useless Reasoning ; was by the Grand Vizir thus admonished . It becomes a Servant like thee , who Mediates Affairs , between a Mighty and Invincible Emperor , and thy Master the King of France , whom we distinguish much before all other Christian Kings , to behave himself with all Care and Wisdom , having ever before his Eyes the danger of suffering any thing to slip between them , might occasion Enmity or Coldness ; to the end that the Subjects of two such great Monarchies may be free from Trouble : think therefore of Submitting , and speedily paying , or thou goest to the Seven Towers . The Ambassadour having no more to say , retired ; but instead of sending him to the Seven Towers , they convey'd him to the little Lobby of the Chamber belonging to the Chiaoux Barhy : So he stirred not out of the Vizir's House , but there remained Prisoner , soon comforting himself , as we may think in that Consinement , since he boasted , that he had prevented being sent to the Seven Towers : One may indeed rationally conclude , That he thought of nothing but the Prison , with which he was threatned ; and therefore seemed not to resent the other , in which he was kept . He seem'd to be pleas'd , and studied to appear free , refusing all was sent him from the Vizir's Kitchin , and eating nothing but what came from his own . He shew'd too a kind of false Resolution , to be steddy , against all the Overtures were made him , to accommodate the matter , declaring by Reiterated Protestations , that he neither could nor would give any thing , except some Curiosities he had by him : Whereupon the Vizir sent him this Message , The Amity I bear thee , and my most earnest Solicitations , have almost prevailed to make acceptible thy most humble Discourses , before the Foot of the Imperial Throne ; an Object worthy all the submissions and respect of Mortals : Thou shalt therefore within six Months of this time , cause to be brought hither some Curiosities of France , worthy the Acceptance of the Sublime Majesty of the Emperor of the Believers ; with a Letter from the Padicha of France , by which he shall declare to the Sultan his ignorance of the Fact that hath 〈◊〉 committed ; and that he did never intend his Ships should have done any thing , could alter the Ancient Friendship : And that if by chance something had happen'd at Chio , contrary to his intention , he was troubled at it . The Ambassador explain'd himself on the Message , not allowing any Crime , but said he would procure such a Letter as was proper in the Case : And that for the Presents , they should be in his own Name , and not in that of his Masters . Things being thus prepared , they brought the Ambassador , the fourth day of his Imprisonment , to a Chamber of Liberty , which was that of the Kehaia , to which the Interpreter of the Port conducted him : There he met the Kehaia and the Chiaux Barhy , who first magnified the kindness of the Vizir , and his dexterity in appeasing the Rage of the Sultan ; and then mutually fell to commending their own , as well as the endeavours of the Dowanier . They seem'd to approve too , the Conduct of the Ambassador , but would not confide in his word , saying , it was necessary to be cautious in things relating to the Great Emperor of the Osmans : And therefore the promise of the Ambassador must be in Writing under his Hand and Seal . There hap'ned some dispute in forming it , but at last it was agreed , That the satisfaction should be exprest , to intend a reparation for the mischief done by the Emperor of France's Ships at Chio : They would have ascertain'd the Presents , but the Ambassadour would only promise they should be honest or proper ; and undertook too , for a Letter from the Emperor of France , in which consisted the Matter of the Writing he gave for his Liberty ; whereupon he departed to his own House ; however protesting before he went , That he would perform nothing , except the Sofa were granted him : And that the Tripolins were obliged to make a Peace : They bid him be contented , and not doubt of satisfaction . There was , indeed , effectual Orders sent to the Capoudon Pacha , to conclude the Treaty with the Tripolins , since the Ambassador had promised to repair the damage at Chio ; the Treaty was Concluded at the Foot of the Throne of Heroes who have the World in Wardship ; and ended to the satisfaction of the Old Admiral of the French Fleet ; whom it had been well to have sent dead into his Country ; for instead of retiring thereupon as was expected , he demonstrated a Resolution of making a longer stay , and of keeping in the Gallys , covering however his actions with a pretence of Civility and Fair dealing ; sending word to the Capoudan Pacha , that after so sure a proof of his great Genius , in reconciling him and the Tripolines , it was unjust he should be stayed longer there , desiring him therefore to procure satisfaction might be given to the Ambassador , or that he might have leave to return , declaring he was bound to stay till one or the other was granted . The Vizir consider'd , as he ought , the Resolution and Boundless Obstinacy , of this Old Captain ; who though he had many causes hourly to fear death ; yet acted as if death were afraid of him ; negotiating like one of Thirty or Fourty , that had hopes of many years to live . The Grand Vizir making just reflexions on the steddy Obstinacy , meriting Hell of this Old Seaman , sent for the Domanier , who as a Secret , I must needs say , my most Honor'd Lord , is a true Devil Incarnate ; to whom this Illustrious and Fortunate Lieutenant to the Emperor of the World thus expressed himself : If all the French were as Resolute as this Old Admiral , we should be hard put to 't to find the Moments of their wavering , and ordinary inconstancy . But if on the one side , the great God gives us this proof of their steddiness ; he shews us too on the other their Natural Genius , in the facility of changing the Ambassador . Should we imploy the Invincible Naval Forces of the King of Kings , the success would be doubtful , for the French lye too far from us ; but easily approach our Fortresses , having the Christians Harbours for their Succours : This makes me think my self predestinated for another Conduct , which will be more to the purpose then hazard , or to say better , the assistance of God , which is never wanting to the Faithful , will divide the French Councils , and make them Combat one another , as they did at Candia : Do you therefore to this purpose Negotiate with the Ambassador , who believes you his friend , serve your self with all your understanding , upon his Credulous Temper , to divide him from this other French-man , who is a thorough-pac'd Infidel , covetous of Blood and Slaughter , and one who seems to have forgot his Country , so Jealousie between the two Infidels . The Dowanier is one full of the Slights and Tricks , natural to those of his Race , being by Birth a Chinquene , who has improv'd his Subtleties and Fourberies by his Imployment in the Customs ; so he received the Orders of the Sovereign Vizir , with great Submission , promising , at the peril of his Head , to execute them . He made it be told the Ambassador , that now things were in a good way , this Old Mad Admiral would spoil all ; and it was to be feared by his restless Temper , produce an absolute Rupture : That he was an Ambitious , and Aspiring kind of Genius , that could not be contented to have ended the Affair of the Tripolines which only concerned him , to his own hearts desire , but must now be medling too with that of the Embassie , that the glory of gaining all Points might seem to be his ; and that since all things were adjusted , only that Point of the Sofa , which the Vizir was resolved to grant too , it was necessary to remove this busie Obstacle , to a perfect Reconciliation . The Ambassador gave credit to this Man , whom the Musulman's themselves believe but by force ; he therefore writ to the French Admiral to depart to Milo , on pretence of refitting , and to return again , if things were not accommodated as he expected : This Letter made him separate from the Sea of Chio , which he seem'd before to have espoused ; first sending his humble request to the Capoudan Pacha , that he would Mediate at the Foot of the Sublime Throne , that satisfaction might be given to the French Ambassador . The most fortunate Vizir , whom God will always prosper , was not a little pleas'd , to see enter into Constantinople the Fleet which had been so long detain'd at Chio : And was extremely well satisfied with the Conduct of the Dowanier , whom he ordered to continue his usual Amusements to the Ambassador ; who for four or five Months was perpetually Imbarrast with delays : He boasted mightily of his Fidelity to the Sublime Port , in having put a stop to the violent Resolutions of the French Admiral ( though before he had pretended to have no power over him ) he therefore continually urged their keeping promise with him about the Sofa ; sometimes it would be promised him , and then again made doubtful : Then it would he suggested as designed in a Chamber without Sofa , to be purposely dedicated to the Audiences of the French Ambassador : But at last he was plainly told , nothing at all could be done in it , till he had performed his promise concerning the Presents ; and that then they would think of contenting him . The French Admiral , during these delays , was returned again , near to Chio , being at the Isles of Ourlar , on the Coast of Smyrna : where the wise Vizir by the help of the Grand Dowanier found means a long time to amuse him . But the Ambassador beginning to discover , that he was deluded , writ to this old Madman , to approach to the Cape of Janissaries , near Smyrna : But commanded him too not to come nearer the Dardanelloes , those Keys of the World , assuring him if he did , it would prove the destruction of all the French Fleet ; And then these would be no Quarter for the Merchants , nor Ambassador himself We knew these Circumstances by reason the Dowanier , at the beginning , whilest the Matter of Chio depended , had so possest the French Ambassador with the assurance of that danger ; that , that terror still possest him , which had prevented the French Admiral coming nearer them before : And was now again the Cause that he only came to an Anchor , as I said before , at the Cape of Janissaries , which is the entrance of that Gulf which Conducts one by a space of seven or eight Miles to these Castles , which are the first Keys of this vast and strong City : the desire of Kings , the splendid and proud Town of Constantinople . The Dowanier had likewise receiv'd intelligence from Smyrna , that the French Admiral was troubled , he had obey'd the Ambassador , declaring he knew that was not the way to do themselves good . You must know too , my most Honoured Lord , that the Grand Vizir was assured that this French Admiral , had received Orders to make a speedy return Home , to go against Algier . The Theater of War and Foyle of a Mighty d' Gachar of Germany who now burns in Hell. But be it as it will , as a secret I assure you , the most Serene and Illuminated Vizir resented the whole matter with great satisfactions , in having it Conducted so that he hazarded not the Reputations of these two Castles , which are the Jaws of this great Giant of Constantines : But that they appeared Formidable to the very French , the most powerful of all Infidels ; who seem to fear neither Storms , Famine , Fire nor Water . Their Admiral being thus as it were Chain'd from passing the Cape of Janissaries , was certainly as we are inform'd all fury for being forced to return so soon ; and that he must be reduced to Prayers for having been obedient to an Embassy . He therefore against his will Writ a most submissive Letter to the Supreme Vizir , Intreating him that satisfaction might be given to the Ambassador by having Audience on the Sofa , or that he might take his leave ; He being obliged to stay to carry him back . The Messenger who brought the Letter was one of the Captains of the Gallions , and one we knew to be a most particular Friend to the Ambassador . This Envoy came to Constantinople well perpar'd with many good reasons to have offer'd to the Supream Arbitrator of the affairs of Mankind , the Lieutenant to the Emperor of the World. But being unworthy to appear in his Presence , that Honor was refused him , and he was referred to the Chief Steward of the Houshold of this Councellor , full of the Glory of the King of Kings . The Grand Vizir who knows well how to preserve the Honor of his Supream Dignity , refused to receive the Letter from the French Admiral , declaring he would have no business with him . And as to two sent him by the Ambassador of France , wherein he desires leave to depart except he might have Audience on the Sofa , Alledging it was the Order of his Master : He made no other Answer but commanded him to send him those Orders of the Emperor of France . But the most Illuminated Vizir having made them to be Interpreted to him , returned them without saying one word ; which obliged the Ambassador to a Third : Wherein with Counterfeit earnestness he desires leave to retire , pretending that the French Admiral was bound to stay for him . This useless refinement caused the Grand Vizir to smile , who knew that General was immediately to depart , and that the Envoy from him hourly pressed the Ambassador to dispatch him away . The Wise Vizir perceiving the subtile design of the Ambassador , who made not the least mention of discharging the Obligation he had given in Writing , sent him this Answer . The most happy Port , which is the Sanctuary of the Empires of the Age , is ever open to all those who desire the Glory to enter : And those that would have the shame to depart , we never detain by Force , except they be Debtors . Thou mayest then be gone ; But first think of Paying thy Debts , comply with thy obligation ; make thy Money and Presents to the value of three Hundred and fifty Thousand Crowns be laid at the Feet of the Emperor of the Osmans . And with this Attonement , for the business of Chio ( unworthy our Master , but which he is pleased to accept as a Mark of thy Humility ) thou shalt have leave to be gone . The Ambassador , who it seems , had not before , well consider'd the consequence of his promise , not dreaming perhaps it extended so far ; protested he had nothing came near those demands . They told him he was bound by his Writing to make honest Presents to the Grand Seignior ; demanding of him , what that word Honest Imply'd : Declaring to him in Fine , that since the six Months time agreed upon was past , he was obliged to perform his promise . He declared that those Curiosities he had provided were rare and rich , worthy the acceptance of the Invincible Emperor . It was then required that they might be View'd ; to which purpose some Persons were sent by the Soveraign Vizir : But upon their description contain'd in a Catalogue upon the first sight of them , the value the Ambassador set upon them , and his offer of some small Summ to Augment them , were both rejected . But there being no other way to conclude : The Envoy of the French Admiral was forced to be gone without taking with him the Ambassador , whom he was constrained to leave as a Debtor at the Port of Felicity . The Grand Vizir whom nothing escapes , understanding the hasty departure of the French Captain , to joyn his Admiral to Sail with him for France : was then Confirm'd in the advice had been given him of the speedy departure of the French Fleet ; and though he knew well enough that the Embassador did not intend to fly stript away , yet he counterfeited a care to prevent it , as a thing unjust that he should go without paying . The time came on which makes it necessary that the Naval Force of the Emperor of the World should go forth ; Of which the Grand Vizir took particular Care ; going himself divers times to the Arsinal about it : So when it was ready to Sail and Salute with all its Cannon and Artillery , the Soveraign of the Earth sitting upon his Throne of Felicity , the Admiral went to prostrate himself before the Invincible Emperor , and to receive his Orders . He was commanded to shape his Course for the Archipellagues , and to receive the submissions of the French Admiral as he past : who would not as the Ambassador promised , ( fail to do his Duty : ) After which he was to proceed as occasions required . All was performed as was Order'd . The Capoudan Pacha doubled the Point of the Seraglio with his Fleet : and having past the Jaws or old Castles , came to an Anchor at the Mouth of the Gulf , where having received the Respects of the old French Admiral , he weighed and continued his way : It seem'd as if this French Admiral only waited for that happy moment , for it was no sooner past but he hoysted Sail for his own Countrey : very joyful no doubt to escape that just punishment his rashness had merited . The most honor'd Vizir well satisfied so to have mortified the Old Man , applied all his Thoughts in contriving the reparation was in Publick and Solemn Pomp , to be made in the presence of the August Monarch of the Universe : To which purpose he sent for the Grand Dowanier , merrily asking him , when he would make an end of his very good Friends business ; adding , though with Authority , that it must now be dispatcht . They both were of opinion there would be little difficulty in bringing it about , being certain the Ambassador would not be sorry to get forth of the trouble ; especially now , when the Admiral was gone : But they thought some Arguments would be necessary to persuade him ; as first , That he was obliged by his promise , made as Ambassador , to repair the damage done by his Master's Ships : That there was an appearance too of Orders come from France , which left it to his discretion , as things should occur upon the place ; upon which , and other Arguments , they both concluded , that if he was prest and threat'ned he would yield . But the Dowanier went on with the Discourse to the Vizir in these Terms : I can assure you , my most happy Master , that the Ambassador demurs not but only for appearances ; he disputes of the quality of the Presents and quantity of Money , that it may not be supposed in France he yields too easily ; give him a little time to please his fancy with feigned resistance , and he will make the less Reflection on the manner he is to make his Submissions ; he desires to have it thought , that he gives no Money , and desires extremely to have that remitted or conceal'd ; but how can that be , when it must be borrowed of the English and Hollanders ? He would have it likewise thought , that he Augments not his Presents , when already they are increas'd , and trust to me shall be more yet ; I know besides , says the Dowanier , that there is a Letter come from the Emperor of France , containing excuses for the business of Chio ; therefore there will be no more to do but to hasten him : They then consulted the manner of proceeding ; first , he had been told beforehand , that it was a Custom to send to Debtors , even Ambassadors themselves , a Chiaux to mind them of what was expected from them , that they might comply : But to amuse the Ambassador , they concluded to give him occasion to feed his vanity , by the quality of the Messenger was sent unto him , which would be a little comfort to him , for what he was to suffer . They sent therefore an Officer , that is , him who is Judge of the Chiauxes ; which indeed was contriv'd to make the business more publick : When he came to the Ambassador , accompanied by the Interpreter of the Port , and had Communicated to him the Imperial Orders for payment , and the necessity of appeasing the Sultan's wrath , by publick Submissions and Satisfactions , capable to procure the effects of his Clemency : He again flew back to his former Allegations and Imaginations , desiring to defer the business , protesting he would not in the least increase his Presents . But they being sensible of his dissimulation , advis'd him as soon as might be , to get out of the difficulty : Which done the Judge of the Ushers , and the Interpreter of the Port left him : His Interpreters too , received daily the same advice , with frequent Threats of the Seven Towers : yet still the Ambassadour seem'd both by Discourse , and a Letter he writ to the Kehaia , to be ready to suffer every thing , even death it self , rather then give ready Money , or indeed any other Presents , then what he had offer'd . But the Dowanier assuring the contrary , made it be judged a fit time for Conclusion , which it was necessary should be made with Solemnity . And because it was judged to be too much honour for the Ambassador to agree it with the Vizir , it was resolved it should be with the Prime Secretary to this Lieutenant to the Emperor of the World. Your Lordship is to consider , that the Ambassadors of France did not use to attend the Kehaia , but Incognito , and Clothed in Turkish Habit , with few followers , pretending it to be a Condescention below them , only comply'd with to expedite business . But now it was judged necessary to change that Custom , and oblige the Ambassadour to come in his own Habit , with his Interpreters , Secretaries , Merchants , and Foot-men ; that all the Town might know it was the French Ambassador , who came publickly to attend the Secretary of the Vizir , to end the business about the Pardon for the attempt at Chio , and to agree the reparations for the damage done there . He made no difficulty to come publickly as was desir'd , though perhaps he might be ignorant of the Cause . The Kehaia propos'd to him the Augmentation of his Presents , which he pretended to refuse ; they seemed earnestly to press him , and he as earnestly to resist ; but all his seeming Obstinacy , and their Reiterated Instances to perswade him , was no more but a meer Comedy , for the Sum to be presented the Sultan was adjusted before : And the Dowanier had undertaken for the Augmentation of the Presents . So the Ambassador went back with an Imaginary satisfaction of a Mock-bravery : He had caused a Rumor to be spread , that he was to be sent to the Seven Towers ; that coming back to his House , it might be thought his Conduct had preserved him , which would make both that , and his Courage be admir'd at by Strangers : To which vapour of Vain-Glory for his comfort we may quietly leave him ; whilst the most prudent Vizir thought of nothing more then the manner to make most visible , most submissive , and most acceptible , his Sacrifice of Expiation for the attempt at Chio : It was first resolved to take the opportunity to reduce the French Ambassador , by this occasion , to a custom refused by all his Predecessors , and to which none of them would ever submit ; which was , to have their Presents seen and valued before they were offer'd : It was supposed the Ambassador would hardly refuse it , if his Interpreters did but tell him it was the Custom ; And we were very desirous he should yield to it at this time , the more because the People would the sooner think he was ready to Augment his Presents , in case the Sultan should not in his Clemency agree to accept those he had prepar'd : He yielded the Point , and now nothing was in dispute but the place where the Presents , the Money , and the French Emperors Letter should be receiv'd , who should receive them , who should carry them , and in what manner they should be presented . The Great Divan was thought one , as the place where Ambassadors are receiv'd , the Army paid , and Justice distributed : But this proposition was rejected , as not publick enough ; and because that things , which were to pass in the Submission , might be confounded with the Ceremonies of the Ambassadors Audience , which he ought not to receive till some time after he had expiated that disorder at Chio , the only thing able to render him worthy the presence of the Emperor of the World. There were divers other places propos'd , but after full Consideration , that the injury for which Reparation was to be made , had been done on the Sea , in the Port of Chio , in the sight of many Nations , and in a manner at the very Gates of Constantinople ; it was by all agreed , That no place was more proper to receive satisfaction in , then the Palace of Cara Mustapha , most advantageously situated on the Sea side , at the Entrance of the safest and largest Port in the known World ; a Port which is the Theatre of the Maritine Strength of the Great Sultan of the Osmans , and the Refuge of the French , English , Holland , and Venetian Merchant Ships ; a Port , which is at least a third part of it , incompast about by the incomparable City of Constantinople , standing in manner of an Amphitheatre for five Miles together on its Banks ; on the other side being seen many Cities and Towns fit for Capital Cities to great Realms : On the Waters whereof may be constantly seen an infinite number of Vessels fill'd with People from every Nation of the World. All these Reasons made the Dome of Cara Mustapha favoured with so advantageous a situation , and expos'd to the view of most of the Ambassadors , Ministers , Residents , and Agents of the Christian Princes , be thought most proper ; that they as well as all the People and Grandees of the Empire might see , that none could with impunity offend the Sovereign Majesty of the Emperor of the World. They likewise the sooner agreed on the choice of that place , as being a sumptuous Palace , including the Maritine Throne of the Emperor of the two Seas ; where the Musick that diverts him , is that of Trumpets , Kettle-Drums , and Cannons ; which , with the noise of Oars , and continual hurry of Ships and Galleys , fills the Air with an agreeable Confusion : It is in this place too the Admirals pay their Homage , bringing thither the proofs of their Victories , in the Spoils of the Enemies of the Faith. So there being no place more proper for the Design of the Supreme Vizir , it was agreed , that if the Sultan did not chuse it of himself , it should be proposed to him . It was then debated , who should receive the Submissions of the French Ambassador ; and some propos'd either the Kehaia or Intendant of the Grand Vizir : But because the Enterprise , for which Pardon was to be demanded , regarded directly the Person of the Sultan ; and that it belong'd to none but him , to sit upon the Throne of the Sea , the Vizir resolved to take the time when this Sovereign of the World was come ( as he often did ) to this Dome of Cara Mustapha : That he would know in the mean time , if His Highness were ready to receive the most humble Repentance of the French Ambassador , who till then should be kept in suspence of that happy Moment : It rested then to determine , how the Ambassador should perform his Duty : about which some were of Opinion he should do it in Person ; But because he had not yet receiv'd Publick Audience from the Vizir , it was concluded he should send his Principal Officer , that was his Secretary , to make satisfaction , by carrying and exposing the Presents , and Money , and to deliver the Letter from the Emperor of France . They had a President of the like nature with the * Bailo of Venice , about the Vallone , where the Venetians had attack't those of Barbary . As likewise the yearly practice of the Secretary of that Republick , when he brings the Tribute of five thousand Chiquins . In fine , they promis'd , the Vizir so to conduct all things , that it should appear a perfect Submission , or Publick Penance for what had past at Chio. The Grand Dowanier , who had charged himself with every thing , Congratulated the Soveraign Vizir that the business was so well adjusted : You have , saith he , My Lord , part of what you desire , and shall have the rest ; whilest we leave the Ambassador the vain satisfaction to repent and say , That his Condescentions are only Personal , and his Negotiation as a private Man , That it was for his own proper account he made his Presents ; That the Money is for another occasion , and that he hath Writ nothing to France of all this bustle , All these Pretences are but bad Colours , and worse shadows , agreeing ill with the quality of him they are designed to serve : For if he be not Ambassador , can he be worthy to rub his Face with the Dust of the Feet of the Invincible Sultan , whose Grandeur God will increase to the very Day of Judgment ? Is it not certain , it was not the Ambassador who fired the Cannons against Chio , but the Emperor of France's General , pursued the Dorwanier ? And is it not as plain , that he for this , as Ambassador must submit ? He is obliged to it by Writing , in which he engages to procure his Masters Letter of excuse , and in six Months time to have Presents brought from France ? These are here and not intended for his Audience : he has too procur'd the Summ of Money agreed upon . I know he boasts that all has been done is agreeable to the Emperor of France : From whence may be concluded that his Imprisonment , his promise of Presents , and of a Letter of excuse to the Sultan , are agreeable to the Emperor of France : And that it is time therefore to come to a Conclusion . Let the Ambassador then , say what he pleases , and form to himself pleasant Chymera's : Provided the Reality of his Submissions conformable to our Customs and Manners , which ought to be a Law to the World ; clears away the shadow from the true Throne which is the Sanctuary to the Emperors of the Age ; surrounded by those Mountains on which stands the Capital City , from whence the Noise and Reputation of the Action will fly to the rest of the Earth . This was very near the Discourse of the Dowanier , who said too that he would go and send for the French Interpreters , and command them to insinuate to their Master ; that all things were contriv'd for his Honor , as would appear to the astonishments of all Strangers ; that the Presents and Respects would be receiv'd by the great Emperor of the Osmans , and that perhaps he would come for that purpose to a place where he only goeth for extraordinary Ceremonies , they shall advise him too , that for his greater Glory he must intreat as a signal favour , to have his Presents carried by his own People , as his Secretary and some Merchants . The Dowanier having said this kist the Vest of the Soveraign Vizir , and retir'd . He performed all . The Interpreters found the Ambassador ready to put in Action every thing he advis'd him , and extreamly earnest quickly to receive the imaginary Glory was promis'd him . There were some days past since the visit of the Ambassador to the Kehara of the Vizir : That he might not therefore be in doubt , word was sent him that his Affairs were in so good a posture , and so near a Conclusion , that he would soon see a glorious end of them : It was then insinuated to him that the grand Dowanier was one of the most considerable Officers of the Empire ; That he commanded all the Seas , from the Basphore to Smyrna and Chio : That all Merchandizes and every Slave of the World , as well Male as Female paid him Tribute : That he had the Honor to provide for the pleasures of the Sultan , by whom he was sometimes visited , being lookt upon as one of his Favourites . This was suggested to make the Ambassdor know , that if the Dowanier visited him , it was a particular Favour , and a Prerogative with which the P●rt would honour him : And that though the Merchandize and Wealth of all the World found Legs to attend this Officer to obtain leave to be Sold , or the Honour to be detain'd for the Sultan : He himself would come to the Ambassador to see and examin his Presents , and to contribute all he could to make them in some measure worthy the acceptance and clemency of the Invincible Emperor : The conclusion was , That he was not only to receive the Grand Dowanier with demonstrations of acknowledgment and Friendship ; but with all kind of Honor , being to be attended by his principal Officers , Turks and Jews ; that is to say , those of his Tribunal , proper for the business he was sent about . The Interpreters that were instructed in the main Circumstances , were the first that by Order of their Master , put them in execution : One of them went to fetch the Dowanier from his House ; bringing with him a Horse of the Ambassadors . He was receiv'd at the Gate of the French Palace by the Secretary , Chief Interpreter , and other Domesticks ; the Ambassador met him in the Hall , and led him upon the Sofa , where being placed in a Seat of Honor , the first Interpreter having kist his Vest , said to him : That the Ambassador considering him as one of his best Friends , bid him heartily welcom , That he was extreamly pleas'd to see him , after all the trouble he had given him , That he might personally return him thanks , which he did sincerely ; That he had often , and would continue to inform the Emperor of France of all the good Offices he daily did his Subjects , in point of Commerce : That all the Factory as well as the Ambassador himself , were indebted to him for the conclusion of a business , had made so much noise . To which the Dowanier made Answer ; I boast , saith he , nothing , but am a Friend at need ; God knows what I have done , and shall do : you have many Enemies , those of your own Religion , and Francs , as you are , do not much love you , nor are they much troubled to see the French ill us'd , some of them gave continual Intelligence of things might have anger'd the Vizir , if his Moderation and Prudence had not retain'd him : He has not long since had assurances , that the Padicha of France sent to the Emperor of Germany ; offering him assistance , in case our Master the Invincible Sultan , broke with that Prince , or to make him if he could declare War by way of Advance against us : Others on the contrary side would perswade us , That the French would suddenly be at War , both with the Germans , and most part of Christendom : But the Grand Vizir confider'd all these reports as the meer effects of base Envy , and sordid Jealousie , being resolved ( pursued the Dowanier ) to give you proofs of his Friendship ; I come therefore to tell you , he as presented the offer of your Submissions to the Imperial Estrier ; and conjectures they may be near acceptance , that is , of being acceptible . The Ambassador denied all those things which seem'd to wound the Reputation of his Master : And the Dowanier seeming to believe him , changed the discourse , saying , come let 's to work , I have brought hither my Officers that value the Customs , to make Estimation of your Presents according to usage ; and offer you my advice , as a friend , wherein to augment them , that they may in some degree be worthy to be offer'd the Emperor , Supporter of the World ; and that we may the better prevail with him to accept them . They thereupon brought the Dowanier into the fairest Chamber of the French Seraglio , where he was much surprised not to see the Principal Wall garnish'd with Looking-Glasses : But applying himself to the Observation of the Presents , and advising with the Praisers , he told the Ambassador that these he brought with him , but he must add to them those he had since sent for from France , besides some Jewels : These last the Ambassador desired him to buy for him , which he promised to do : He mention'd too the ready Money , but the Ambassador protested he had none , and intreated him to lend him some ; which he consented to do : But the Ambassador desiring that the Money might be delivered secretly , could obtain only a doubtful answer from the Dowanier ; though to comfort him he readily granted him another request , which was , That his Presents might be carried to the Sultan by his own People . This , though the surest proof of his Submission , was by the Dowanier magnified to him as an exceeding favour , who told him , it must be done then by his Kehaia , Clerks , and some Merchants ; who must be well Instructed , to comply with all the Ceremonies would be taught them ; and to behave themselves with Modesty , Silence , and Gravity . He then mention'd the Letter from the Emperor of France , which the Ambassador would have excused , but at last promised to deliver . This whole Intertainment , and great Negotiation , was mingled with those ordinary ones of Cahu , Sherbet , and Sweet-water , and more then one Collation of Fruit. The Ambassador often reiterated his Protestations of Friendship and Acknowledgment to the Dowanier ; the Praisers neither were not forgotten : So when it was time to part , the Dowanier bid him fear nothing , for he would go to the Grand Vizir , to know whether he had received Orders from the invincible Emperor , for ending the business : The same honours were done him going , as when he came , with repeated intreaties for a speedy Conclusion : He came immediately to the Sovereign Vizir , and gave him a pleasant account of all had past ; but above all , they were pleas'd at the Ambassadors hast , whom therefore they agreed should be made solicite some days ; which he did to the Dawanier earnestly for the three following , receiving only dilatory Answers : But then the Dowanier went to his House again , and carried with him the Jewels he had bought with the ready money , receiving the same Honours , as at first , but could not appoint a positive day for a Conclusion ; pretending the Sultan had not yet appointed one ; but he perswaded the Ambassador not to be discouraged , but in the mean time send the Letter and Presents to the Grand Vizir's , that the manner of carrying them might be Regulated , which was immediately done : They brought too the ready money , having in some manner agreed it should be received privately . There was in the mean time a certain Memorial presented to the Emperor of the World , sent him by the Grand Vizir in this Form : My most Magnanimous , most Valiant , and most Happy Emperor , be pleased to behold what is brought before you by the greatest of your Slaves ; It is that your Slave the Ambassador of France makes continual Supplications , to implore Pardon for what past at Chio : He hath never since that misfortune ceased to use his utmost endeavours , to escape the terrible Grief of Chastisement , so great a rashness Merited ; and to preserve the whole French Nation from the extirpating furious Sword of the Monarch of the World : To which purpose he is fled to the Cittadel of Submission , and there humbly waits for the happy Moment , wherein he may be admitted to rub his Face with the dust of the Feet of your Invincible , and ever Triumphant Highness : He begs you would be pleased to cast an Eye tending towards acceptance , both on the Letter of the Emperor his Master ; and on the Money and Presents he ( according to the Orders he hath received ) is ready to expose at the Foot of Your Sublime Throne : And which at present are in the possession of me , who has the honour to be Your Slave : He confesses them to be mean , if consider'd with the Majesty of the Person they are designed to , but hopes they may become of value by the Acceptance , being sure proofs of his Vassalage , and Testimonies of his most Submissive and respectful Repentance , for the disorder at Chio. It remains in the breast of your Highness to Command any other thing you please , which your Slave the Ambassador is ready to perform . The wise Emperor , who penetrates into the most secret and difficult things , to whom the Almighty God grant for ever a Happy and Glorious Reign , Commanded the Grand Vizir to appear at his Foot ; of whom he Inquired , Whether all he writ was sincere ; and whether there was no Trick , by which those Infidels might shelter themselves in the Valley of Treachery and Insolence . The Grand Vizir assured him he had reason to believe , that the Ambassador was in earnest : Whereupon this Sovereign , who is the Delight and Glory of the World , spoke thus : The French , though obstinate in Error , are nevertheless protected by our High and Imperial Power , in hopes we may one day reduce them to receive the true Faith : Their Emperour boasts to be our most Ancient Friend , yet have they acted like Traytors , and Enemies at Chio : But because they readily humble themselves , I submit to the most high and absolute Commands of the holy Prophet , which saith , When you have Power over your Enemy , pay me the Tithes of the Victory , by the Pardon you shall give him . I am therefore disposed to Pardon and forget the Ingratitude of these Infidels , whom I have loaded with my Sublime Favours ; having granted to their last Ambassadour , with considerable advantages , the Renovation of the Capitulations denied to so many of his Predecessors . The Emperor paused a little , and then addressing it to the Grand Vizir , who durst not yet speak , pursued thus : Let the Ambassador be well instructed in the Glory he is going to receive by his Submissions , Humility , and Publick Repentance ; whereby he not only disarms our Rage ; but procures to his Master the Confirmation of a Friendship , and Alliance , to him so Glorious , that it will render him terrible to his Enemies . The Grand Vizir with a most submissive bow , intreated the mighty Sultan of the Osmans to appoint the place , where he would have his Slave the Ambassador make publick to the World , his Repentance and most submissive Respects , with the proofs of a Fidelity , should be no more subject to a change the Emperor Replied , he would send his pleasure in Writing ; which came in this Form : I shall God willing , to morrow , and next day divert my self with the noise of the Waves of the Sea ; to reflect my Grandure in that Liquid Crystal Miroir ; and to delight my ears with the Artificial Thunder and confusion of Voices , which Reigns usually on that Element . I go to Seat my self at the Entrance of the Port on my Maritime Throne , in the Kieusk of Mustapha Pasha ; where the Sea seems to be summon'd into a long and large Court , only to do Homage to my Imperial Seat , the vast City of Constantinople . It is there , its natural inconstancy cannot hinder it from rendring me perpetual Homage , in the name of other Seas : And to glory in bringing me Tributes and Submissions constantly , from all the Princes of the World. There I inspire my Officers , with power of Gaining Victories with ease , in granting them the glory at setting forth , to prostrate themselves at my feet : And there at their return I receive the proofs of those Victories they have gain'd in my name . It may be truly called the Abridgment of the World ; Being the refuge of all the Nations of the seven Climates , who think themselves happy in bringing thither their most precious Merchandizes , for the use of me and my Slaves . Nature alone contriv'd this Royal Port , which is constantly cover'd with vast numbers of Ships and Galleys , and Beautified by those Mountains cloath'd with Mosques , Towns and Forrests which encompass it about ; Whilest I there divert my self , true Emperor of the World , and make reflections of what I owe to God , the unchangeable Lord ; for giving me so beautiful a Residence in this perishing World ; as an earnest of that he hath prepar'd for me in the other , which shall never end : You may cause to be brought before me , the submissions of the French Ambassador ; in a manner , as much proportion'd as can be to our Grandure , and ●he quality of Protector of the true Faith , a Title we more esteem than that of all our Dominions : This is what we Ordain ; And thou who art our Grand Vizir , and Counsellor , full of Glory , must give odedience to this . The most discerning and prudent Vizir , was extreamly pleas'd , that a Soul like his , so much Inferior to that of our most invincible Master ; should enter into Sentiments so agreeable to the clear thoughts of that incomparable Emperor . He sent presently for the Dowanier , and Communicated those Orders to him , which none must disobey without the danger of being lost : He assured the Grand Vizir , that he was continually sollicited for a dispatch by the French Interpreters , who were scarcely ever from him . So it was concerted that the next day but one all should be finisht ; of which the principal Officers of the Port had notice : And things were so order'd that the Common People might not be ignorant neither . The Emperor of the two Seas , being accordingly come to the Kieusk of Mustapha Pasha , there took for some time the pleasure of a true Emperor ; and being set at Dinner , they caused the French Ambassadors Presents to be brought from the Grand Vizir's ; where , as I before told your happy Lordship , they had been deposited three or four days ; and placed them in a House near the Palace , under the conduct of an Officer of the Port ; And over against the Kendi , were expos'd to publick view the Ambassadors People , his Secretary and chief Clerk , a Merchant and three Interpreters , who were the principal together with ten or twelve Footmen : These had waited with great impatience from day break , expecting this happy moment ; Then by Order of the Principal Usher , and Master of the Caftans , the six first had each of them a Castau or Vest of honour delivered them ; Thus with the Interpreter of the Port , and a Turkish Officer , in Caftans at the head of them , they marched followed by the Footmen . These eight in Robes with the rest of the Ambassadors People , took each of them a part of the Present , and fyled one after the other , with all the Gravity , Modesty and Silence , becoming a business of that nature : They were made stop at one of the corners of the Pallace : And being drawn into a Rank , with their Backs towards the Seraglio , and Faces to the Sea , Eyes cast down , their Feet streight and closed to one another , each man held his part of the Present , elevated with both his hands , as high , and as much expos'd to the publick as might be ; in which humble posture having stood a sufficient time for the People to view and distinguish every thing , they were discharged from that honour by the Officers of the Emperor , supporter of the World. It is not certainly known , how many Purses of Money were amongst the Presents , but some there were , and these carried to his Highness , by him who had Order'd the whole Ceremony , which is the Telkedgi . The Emperor of the World cast one corner of his Eye upon them , which Communicated to them all their value and esteem they ought to have : This Corifee and Master of the Kings of the World , This mighty Emperor of the Osmanli ; had the pleasure to read the excuses of the Emperor of France , in his Letter deliver'd him by the Grand Vizir ; in which he assures him , he had given no Orders to his Admiral to disturb the Antient Alliance , but on the contrary to strengthen it ; But if in pursuing and fighting the Tripolins his Enemies there had happened any wrong to his Highness's Territories , he was troubled at it , and desired him not to take it ill ; but consider that those Thieves had before set upon the French Merchants in his Highness's Ports : That though he had great reason to complain that the Fort of Chio had fired upon his Flag , yet he freely forgot it , to shew to what degree he would be a Friend to the most invincible Emperor of the Musulmans . Whilest his Highness was accepting these protestations of Fidelity , which he believed sincere ; to prove them so , the Telkedgi and Interpreter of the Port appeared , followed by the three Interpreters of France ; who being come to a certain distance stayed , and had the honour to touch the Ground of the Field , before the Sultans Throne with their Faces ; there holding them as long a time as is required to boyl an Egg : In this manner , without being held , they saluted the Emperor ; being by Birth Slaves to the Grand Seignior : But the Kahaia , and Clerk to the Ambassador , with the French Merchant , who are only to be reckoned Slaves by Force , and Representers of their Master ; were held by two Ushers , each in Vests of Ceremonies , who extended their Arms with one hand , and carried in the other Silver Staves which they often rub'd on the ground with great noise , and a certain Motion of Grandure and Ostentation . These Conductors who led their Slaves like Victimes in seeming hast , made them stop as suddenly ; saying to them in a rude Tone * Dour . When the Telkedgi , and Interpreter of the Port , with the three French Interpreters had done prostrating ; then might be seen these chief Porters or Ushers , like Maskers of Ceremonies , so well instruct their French-men , that without quitting their Shoulders or prejudicing the extension of their Arms , they all kneeled softly down , and imprinted their Faces in the Dust , in the open view of the Sun , remaining in that posture so long as it pleased the Emperor of the World ; who being well satisfyed with so full a reparation , made a sign almost imperceptible for taking them away . The Capidges are so perfectly instructed in these Ceremonies , that the least motion of the Field is to them enough , so they rais'd hastily these prostrated Slaves , and made them return back without giving them time to behold the sublime Majesty of the Emperor of the World , who was seated at a great disttance . Thus the French-men performed their Commission in representing the true submissions of their Ambassador . The August and terrible Sultan of the Osmanli , was Seated on his Throne at the entrance of the open Gallery , which Ranges on that side of the Kieusk , which is towards the Sea : The * Chesade was by him ; For tho the Emperor his Father doth not yet admit him to his Councels or Divan , but keeps him in a plain Equipage , having him only often with him at Hunting , Walking , Riding , and other diversions ; yet his Highness would have him with him , to be a Witness of the respects , submission and publick Repentance of the French Ambassador ; to make this young Prince sensible how much the name of Osman , which he must one day support , was rever'd through the whole World , since the Emperor of France , the greatest Monarch of the belief of the Messia , and terror to the rest of those Infidel Princes , whose Armies and Garrisons are innumerable , and Treasures inexhaustible , did permit this Ambassador to make such full satisfaction for what past at Chio : There was beside ranged about the Throne in respectful posture the principal * Itheoglans : The Grand Vizir attended too on oneside near a corner of the Gallery , with his hands clos'd , his Feet streight and joyn'd , and his Eyes cast down : there was neither * Kalibulick , Noise , Croud or Confusion , but an awful silence , which exprest that it belonged to none but the Master to speak or give leave to them that should . Thus my most honoured Lord , you see the particulars of this most remarkable Affair : the chief Circumstances whereof are Recorded in the Registers of the Empire . The great ones , nay the very People talk of it with delight in Constantinople , and the news of it is gone to Persia , Armenia , and the Indies ; the * Droguemans of our Friends Allies , and Tributaries of the Law of Messia , are well instructed in all particulars , to the end they may inform their several Masters ; many of the Secretaries and Clerks of the Imperial Register ▪ have writ exactly to the Pachas and Beglarbeigs of this vast Empire , preserved by God , concerning it . And I think my self happy to have been chosen to Communicate all these glorious circumstances to my most honoured Lord. The matter is in it self so splendid , that it needs no more but the pure and simple relation to make it be admir'd ; and Eloquence would but serve to hide some part of the Luster : I have therefore used no disguises , nor indeed hesitated to mix some particulars in my relation which deserve to be kept secret ; so that I have made this rather a little Book then a Letter , nor have I yet fully done , having forgot to relate to you the satisfaction of the Ambassador in having got out of so difficult an Employment : he magnifies his own Conduct , and has writ about it to his Countrey , as well as given an account thereof to the Ministers residing from other Princes , at the happy Port. And he is so strongly perswaded that he hath done his Master considerable Service ; that he hath sent proofs of his acknowledgment to all those he thought instrumental in procuring so mighty an advantage as the Pardon of the most invincible Emperor of the Musulmans . The most discerning Vizir , so conducted this whole affair , to the sole Glory of our invincible Suitan ; that there is not the least Circumstance , or most minute passage can be Interpreted to the contrary , except by men of shatter'd understandings ; we are therefore confirmed by it , in that esteem which is due to his Merit : and may avow with justice the most submissive acknowledgments and thanks given him by the Ambassador , which were accompanied with Presents that testified the Gratitude due to this Minister , for so well re-establishing the Negotiation , Trade and Alliance with the French , which without his Mediation to his Highness , was in hazard to have broke : The effects whereof could not have been otherways then Bloody . The Ambassador believ'd himself much honoured by certain words of Gratitude , which lookt a little like thanks from the Grand Vizir : Nor has he wanted to acknowledge the pains and endeavours of the most illustrious Kehaia , the Resefendi Lord of the Clerks of the two * Teskeredgis , Chaoux Pacha , Principal Usher of the Interpreter of the Port , and many others of whose Friendships he makes sure account . The Dowanier who mediated all , did not labour for nothing : his reward was not forgotten , nor will be wanting hereafter for the proofs he will daily give the French , Merchants of his Friendship to them , or rather that he bears to himself . I must , My Lord , say one word or two concerning the many mercies which God pours forth , on the Mighty Sultan of the Osmanli ; of which , though we have a thousand Examples , in my opinion none are more visible or stronger proofs , then the Jealousie he is pleased to sow amongst Christian Princes : We know some of the effects this passion produces in the Countries of those Infidels : But if our Grandure and Power , which is arriv'd to so great a height , makes us not neglect to enter into the thoughts of this Subject , in certain particulars , which we have now before us , and which will instruct us in many things ; we shall easily perceive it to be the perfect hand of God , which in Mercy to us so blinds the Christians , that most of their Princes are reduced to the necessity of seeking the friendship of the Port , to divert from them the fury of those Armies which Command Victory . And there may be discerned amongst the Christian Ambassadors a most particular Application for the destruction of one another . They seem indeed only so many spyes , not upon our Government , but of what passes in the Countreys of their Neighbours : And above all of any weakness amongst them , of which they think themselves so happy to Inform us , that they even make us deaf with their news ; and so the Glory of our Master , which permits not that we should have Ambassadors rende in their Courts , doth not the least prejudice to his Affairs . This Curse of God upon the Christians has gained us many Victories , and gives us easie Conquests : And you may discern a part of their Conduct , by what I have said about the business of Chio ; and I may add truly , that there never appear'd so much Zeal amongst the Christian Ministers against those of France as then . They would come and tell us . That the Emperor of France is an Ambitious and restless Prince , very Powerful and Fortunate , who disturbs all his Neighbours , and gives them great trouble by his Victories and Money , that he would seem to be a friend to the Port , whilst he gives great Succours in all places against it ; that he values himself to the Pope by the great designs he hath against the Turks ; that we ought to consider him as a dangerous Enemy , and the greatest Politician of the World ; that all the rest of Christendom was Confederating against him ; and that the King of Germany expected but the renewing of the Truce with us , to put himself in the Head of the League against him . The Venetians , though for their particular Interest they should desire a War between us and the Germans , yet nevertheless have not ceased to excite as much as possible , the hatred of his Highness to the French ; and it is certain the Hollanders and others did the same : They would all have ingaged us in a Rupture with France ; but the most discerning Vizir , who knows how to make his advantage of every thing , is very well pleased with the Reparation of the French Ambassador . He can likewise , when he pleases , sell very dear to the German Minister , the Renewing the Truce ; and in appearance preferrs doing so to that of the War , notwithstanding the interests of those would perswade the contrary : He will Attaque the Venetians sooner then they dream of , and not fail to draw Money from the others : He hears when he pleases , and sometimes lends an Ear to a business of which he will seem to understand nothing : He will cast out hopes , when necessary , the more easily to deceive believing that most of those Negotiate with him , do but watch for opportunities to Cozen him ; so it is very difficult to please him with any thing : Delays , spinning out time ; a hastiness like Anger , and haughty Fierceness are to him Natural , and of great Advantage : He never Treats directly , in the beginning of a Negotiation , but leaves it to be managed by his most experienced Creatures , the better to take his Measures , for its Conclusion : If he loves Money it is to Augment the Treasures of his Master ; As his reason is Infinite , and capable of discerning what is in his Power , and what not , so he governs with an absolute Authority , and cuts off the heads of any dare oppose him ; and this way cannot chuse but be good , and pleasing to God , since it is for the Preservation and Propagation of the true Faith , and for increasing the Glory , and Prosperity of the Emperor , who is the Protector and Defender of the Divine Unity ; and the most worthy Successor of the greatest of the Prophets , Mouhamet Moustafa : I have thus weakly mention'd a few of those Qualities , which recommend our Grand Vizir ; and I is may safely add , that it impossible but he should be a very able Man ; having been Educated under the Conduct and Authority of the blessed Kedgia Mhammed Pacha , and of his Son Ahmet deceased , which were the Two Kieupruli's ; He Acted and Govern'd under these two great Men : But to compleat his Character , we need only say , he is the Choice of the Emperor of the two Continents and two Seas ; the Possessor of the two most August Cities , our Master ; the Kalise of the Age , who has Conquer'd the Realm of Candia ; and the most Impregnable Fortress of Cameniek , whose Grandure God will increase , and give him a blessed end : See my most honor'd Lord all I have to write to you : I beseech the most High God to fill you with his Grace , and to grant me that of ever serving You. AN OBSERVATION By way of Continuation of the former Letter , concerning the Negotiation of Monsieur Guilleragues . THe Affairs of the Port may justly occasion very serious Reflections , since it is very visible , That the Motions of the Sultan , and his Grand Vizir , do hold all the Christian part of Europe in suspence : We have seen on the one side the Emperor hope with a little too much Confidence the renewing the Truce ; but he had certainly obtained it without all those pains he hath taken , if he had not so long given Ear to those Politicks , which advis'd him not to draw the Forces of the Ottoman Emperor too hastily upon him : His Imperial Majesty without this fear , had vigorously opposed the Progress of the Male-contents in Hungary : A Resolution so necessary had subdued those Rebels , and made the Infidels know he was ready to receive them : but whilst that Court became Ballanced with a desire of carrying the War another way , they delayed both ; and through an untimely Fear of the most remote danger , stood still in an unactive Speculation , which perhaps may draw upon them Enemies from all sides . Sultan Mehemet the Fourth is in Warlike Pomp set forth from his Capital City , followed by Count Alberte Caprara , whose Negotiation appears to be brought to Extremity : But because there is often seen strange Changes in great Affairs ; he flatters himself with hopes that some remedy prepared upon the Frontiers , may work effectually , even when the Disease appears most desperate : The Grand Seignior in the mean time , has remained certain days in the Camp of Davont Pacha ; and notwithstanding his obstinacy of remaining in his Tents , in defiance of Eighteen hours violent Rain , he was at last forced to quit them , and the danger he ran of being drown'd , fell upon three or four of his People , who were lost at a passage through certain Waters , where the Bridge was broken down : There was also lost several rich things , both of his Highness and other great ones , who accompanied him ; but this Emperor after a little rest , to give time to the Waters to fall , continued his march to Adrianople . The Grand Vizir , who has been in his Tents ever since the march of the Emperor from Constantinople , began to follow on the Nineteenth of October very early in the Morning , to joyn his Highness ; carrying with him the satisfaction of having deluded Monsieur Guillerdgues to the very last : But may not one think that this Minister deceives himself in that pleasure , since it is apparent , that Ambassador hath contributed more then he to his being cheated by him . He Negotiates no longer about the Firing at Chio , that business was determined sufficiently to his Glory , if you will credit the Paris Gazette ; Or as it is well Explain'd by another , It is the business of the Sofa continues . We must remember that whilst Monsieur De Quesne , besieged the Galleys in the Port of Chio , to oblige the Vizir to grant the Sofa ; that Minister being much astonish'd discours'd as if he was resolved to give that honour , as soon as the Galleys were returned to Constantinople : Monsieur Guilleragues , who believ'd him , procured them liberty to come ; but the Promise , which was the Foundation of all , remained unperform'd . See then how this Minister deceived himself in letting escape a sure way of obtaining his desires ; and in believing the Turks capable of fair dealing in a nice Rancounter . It is known how long the time was delay'd before they came to an end of the business of the Presents , that is to say , the Reparation for the attempt upon Chio : But the more we perceive the Turkish Ministers to have a desire to finish it , the more , it is evident , he should have refused to put an end to that fine business , without having first the Sofa : But Monsieur Guilleragues is content with the words they gave him on this Subject , and post pones the matter , till after delivery of the Presents , which was executed ; he remaining still without the Sofa : There we see him cozen himself the second time . There has past a long time since the glorious Victory on the 21st of May , the day on which they Triumph over the Grand Seignior , in forcing him to come himself to receive their Trifles , even to the Sea side ; and since the fifth of June , the happy day on which Monsieur Gilleragues's promise in writing was restored ; and the 29th of the same Month when the Presents were sent by him to the Grand Vizir ; to the 19th of October , the day whereon this Minister began his march for Adrianople . All this time of five or six Months was vainly imployed to soften this Minister in the point of the Sofa : Monsieur Guilleragues the more prest it , to the end he might obtain it before the departure of the Vizir : And being necessitated to use all Peaceful ways , having let slip those of Force , which struck at the Interest and Glory of the Turks : He hath not Hesitated to hazard a second Letter of his King 's , which remains as well without Effect as Answer : He delivered the first himself , and had a verbal Answer to this purpose , That he ought to be contented with the great Honor the Sultan had done him in receiving his Presents , and not to pretend to a thing so extraordinary as that of the Sofa ; and that it was not usual with the Port to grant so many advantages at one time . It is true , he insinuated that his Masters Fleet would return to fetch him back ; But he that had sent it away before , and render'd it useless when there , where it might have procured his pleasure , had not his Bravadoes much valued ; but at the same time there was a certain Rumor spread , as if he was to repair the Subjects losses at Chio , pretending that was distinct from the satisfaction made the Grand Seignior . All this was not able to discourage him ; he applies again to his incomparable friend the Dowanier , who as readily undertakes to cheat him ; so his Interpreters must make many useless Journeys to the Vizir's Camp , in the last of which they presented a Request from the Ambassador , wherein he Remonstrates to that Minister the necessity of his Retiring , for which purpose the King's Fleet would come to the Dardanelloes to fetch him ; he therefore intreats Order might be given to the Kaimmakam of Constantinople , not to hinder his departure , grounded upon so indispensible Necessity , it being not just , that the Ambassador from the greatest , and most powerful Monarch of Christendom , and the Antientest Friend of the Port , should stay longer without those distinctions of Honour and Prerogatives , which were his due ; that in all things besides the Vizir might use his pleasure . The Grand Vizir took this as a conclusion for all requests , and thereupon plainly declared his pleasure , That he would neither grant the Sofa , nor should the Ambassador go till the Grand Seignior pleased ; and in case he continued obstinate , they should take good order about him . The Interpreters hearing these angry Menaces , found a way to soften them by the Kehaia , who , as was pretended , had moderated the Vizir , so that he declared himself willing to give him Audience in his Pavillion upon equal place , to let it be seen , That he understood well the Grandure and Power of the Emperor of France , above other Christian Princes : But for granting Audience , on the Sofa , it was not in his Power ; The Grand Seignior , having order'd that Ambassadors should receive it , below , even all , not excepting that of France . They pretend too , That the Grand Vizir after his Avowing , this indeed wilful want of Power ; should say he would try to alter his Highnesse's Resolution , as soon as he came to Adrianople ; where he was going to find that Emperor : And that in the mean time he intreated Monsieur Guilleragues , that as he had not come to the Port without leave of his Highness , so he would not go without it : finishing all this fine Discourse with many offers of Service to the Ambassador ; as well relating to his own particular , as to that of Trade . Monsieur Guilleragues , came not of his Embassy by leave of the Grand Seignior , nor is the Vizir accustomed to intreat this Ambassador ; such Discourses are not common with that haughty Minister , no more than his offers of Service : And promise of Audience on equal Seats : Nor can we unriddle the Mystery of saying , The French Ships should come to the Dardanelloes ; since why not to Constantinople ? But in fine we may conclude , That if Monsieur Guilleragues expects the Vizir should intercede for the Sofa , he is cheated the third time . For it is certain , the depriving him so long of it can justly be imputed to none but himself , who in that is Master . Therefore his best excuse will be to say that his Interpreters surpriz'd him : But all these Cheats would appear but Trifles , so he be not cheated too by the renewing the Truce with the Emperor . And should there be a War , it would advantage him but little ; and it is plain , nothing would be of more use to him , then the playing again , the Cannon of his King ; It must not be forgotten that the Ambassador would have it believ'd , that he had ended the great Business at Chio , for Baubles , even just nothing : And that he had in a manner forc't the Grand Seignior to give Audience to his Servants . This ridiculous Report , and groundless Vanity , is come to the Ears of the Grand Vizir , to whom they Interpreted the Paris Gazets , that are fill'd with the Glory of Monsieur Guilleragues ; and seem to insinuate a low Condescension in the Port : But since this Infidel Minister knows the folly of these Brags ; which he sees destroy'd by the Relations Printed in other Countries : They serve only , for a Subject to augment his Pride ; and gives him a Pleasure , the mor to Chagrine and Mortifie the French Ambassador . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A69440-e390 Turkish Admiral . Chief Customer . Two last Gand Vizirs . Chief Secretary . * Governor of Constantinople . * Or Lord of the Clerks . * L. Embassador . * Emperor Chief Usher . Emperor . Gipsie , or Fortune-Teller . Caesar Charles the Fifth . Or Ambassador . So the Turks call all Western - Christiars . Pallace . Master of the Robes . Master of Kequests . * Stand. Porter● . His eldest Son. * Boys of the Court. * Whispering . * Interpr●ters . * Registers . 
A70272	----	A free discourse wherein the doctrines which make for tyranny are display'd the title of our rightful and lawful King William vindicated, and the unreasonableness and mischievous tendency of the odious distinction of a king de facto, and de jure, discover'd / by a Person of Honour. Person of honour. 1697 Approx. 129 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 66 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A70272 Wing H2995A ESTC R10075 12148485 ocm 12148485 55015 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A70272) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 55015) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 91:11 or 1673:11) A free discourse wherein the doctrines which make for tyranny are display'd the title of our rightful and lawful King William vindicated, and the unreasonableness and mischievous tendency of the odious distinction of a king de facto, and de jure, discover'd / by a Person of Honour. Person of honour. Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. Howard, Robert, Sir, 1626-1698. [2], 122, [4] p. Printed for John Lawrence ... and Richard Baldwin ..., London : 1697. Ascribed to Daniel Defoe in Wing (1st ed.), but not included in Dottin's or in Hutchins' lists of Defoe's works; ascribed to Sir Robert Howard in Wing (2nd ed.). Pages 60 and 61 misnumbered as 61 and 60 respectively. Page 7 lacking with page 9 bound in its place in Wing H2995A. Includes advertisements: p. [1]-[4] at end. Item at reel 91:11 identified as Wing D833 (number cancelled). Reproduction of originals in Yale University Library and University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign Campus). Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. 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Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng William -- III, -- King of England, 1650-1702. Kings and rulers. Despotism. 2005-03 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-03 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-04 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2005-04 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A FREE DISCOURSE Wherein the DOCTRINES Which make for TYRANNY Are Display'd . The TITLE of our Rightful and Lawful King WILLIAM Vindicated . And the unreasonableness and mischievous Tendency of the odious distinction of a King de Facto , and de Jure , discover'd . By a Person of Honour . Quo sis Africane alacrior ad tutandam Rempublicam , sic habeto , Omnibus qui Patriam conservaverint , adjuverint , auxerint , certum esse in Coelo , ac definitum locum , ubi beati sempiterno aevo fruantur . Somn. Scip. è l. 6. Ciceronis de Republica . London : Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey , and Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane . 1697. A FREE DISCOURSE Wherein the DOCTRINES Which make for TYRANNY Are Display'd . I HAVE never been Conscious to my self , that the Temptation of any base Interest , or the Apprehension of any threatning Danger , could corrupt me to betray , or force me to decline , that which I well knew to be the true Interest of my King and Country ; and therefore have I constantly look'd upon those , that made it their Business to break in upon the just Rights of the one , or the other , as unhappy Contrivers to involve the Nation , in a consuming Debt to Tyranny , or Confusion , which the People shall be sure to pay , out of their Enjoyments in Life , Liberty , and Property . Of Consequence therefore , I must with grating Affliction have observ'd , how strenously this vile Design has been labour'd , from towards the latter end of King Charles the 2d , to this present time . Under the screening shelter of that Prince , Popery and Arbitrary Power were favour'd , and cherish'd with all the Art and Industry , which Men of slavish Principles , and profligate Consciences , could devise and apply , till the twin Monsters were thought arriv'd at that fulness of prodigious Stature , as no longer to need his Life , for their Concealment or Protection . As a good Preparative for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power , in which are all the hopes of Popery , pernicious * Pamphlets were publish'd , in which it was magisterially asserted , That the Realm of England was such a compleat Imperial Soveraignty , as wherein the King had full , perfect , and intire Jurisdiction from God alone ; and that his Subjects ought rather to suffer Death wrongfully , than resist him . It was speciously granted indeed , That there were Political Laws to secure the Rights of the Subject : but it was stifly maintain'd , That the Imperial Laws , which ascertain'd the Rights of the Sovereign Prince , were superiour to the Political , and might and ought to determine when the Political Laws should be observ'd , when not . As much as to say , The Rights of the Subject should be secure from all Invasion , but that of their King. Well! that 's worth something , tho' the Clown in the Greek Epigram , would not have much valued it ; For , said he , a little irreverently indeed , but very plainly , and to the purpose , — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hercules , that defends my Flock from the Wolf , has ever and anon , a fat Sheep for Sacrifice , the Wolf has no more for prey . I lose on both sides ; for 't is all one to me , whether the God has it roasted , or Isgrim raw . The Judges , in King James's time , very leernedly stated , and decided the Matter ; pronouncing , That in Cases of Necessity , the King might dispense with the Laws , and that he was Judge of the Necessity . These Gentlemen seem to have had some Modesty , tho' no more Conscience than the other ; or , perhaps this little show of Modesty , was a cast of their Wit , they made use of the Fowler 's cunning , stalkt under shelter , to get a full shoot at the Peoples Liberties , which was the Quarry they aim'd at ; and dead they laid it , beshrew their hearts for their pains . But 't was a sorry piece of cunning , which would never have taken , but that the Game they shot , was ' tangled in a Net before . Who sees not , that if the King may dispense with the Laws in Cases of Necessity , and be Judge of the Necessity , he may dispense with them as often as he pleases ? wherefore his learned Sages of the Law might have spar'd their Wit , and more ingenuously with open boldness , have asserted and declar'd like Richard the 2d , That the King's Will was the Law. This is what the false Coiners of the cheating distinction of Imperial and Political Laws , and the corrupt Putters of Necessity-Cases [ which makes the People's Slavery the one thing necessary ] would fain be at . But the Design is so wicked and odious , that to own it in plain words , were the way to overthrow it : In truth , subtle Distinctions , and Cases which have never happen'd , are like to make the most of this bad Market . Thus all in the Land of Metaphysicks , where every Period or Page of famous School-Divinity , harbours wild Notions of Religion , which cannot be explain'd , and made intelligible , much less prov'd and ascertain'd by clear Reason ; the Sons of Science supernatural , the Mystic Adepti introduce them , with proper Terms of Art , [ Terms useless to any other purpose ] and settle and ' stablish them for ever , [ i.e. as long as ever they can be settled and establish'd ] on the unexamin'd Foundation of perplexing Distinctions . There were not wanting among the eminent Clergy , who , as if they would go a length K. Richard never dream't on , seem'd to intimate , That the King's Will was not only the Law , but the Religion of the Country too ; and Passive Obedience , the only wretched Portion of the unpeopled People ; for then they were no longer a People , but a plunder'd and enslav'd Rabble , left only Tenants at Will for their Lives , Liberties , and Properties . In such a wretched Case , it would become the unpeopled People , to have always their Loins girt , Shoes on their Feet , and Staves in their Hands ; not like Israelites taking leave of their hard Masters , and going to set up for themselves ; but like the Shepherds of Cremona , waiting for the terrible Sentence — Veteres migrate coloni . Be gone ye old English Race of strubborn Free-holders , ne're trouble your selves how ye shall drive your Flocks , but leave such things behind you ; haste , haste , you have nothing to pack up , unless your old Wives , and young Children ; haste , and make room for naked Colonies of tres humble Monsieur Serviteurs , that shall not dare to call their Wooden Shoes their own ; but Soul and Body become all Obedience , let [ with Spiritual Curb , or Temporal Snaffle ] Priest or Tyrant ride them . The design of changing our Legal , into an Arbitrary Government , was copy'd from the French Original . In France t was laid in the Reign of Lewis the XI . and took effect to the destruction of the Rights of the People , by destroying the Power of Parliaments . The destruction of the Power of Parliaments was carried on by very sober paces , by the most easie and modest Encroachments , that People weary of their Liberties could have wish'd for . The King did not pretend to raise Money , when he pleas'd , — by himself , — and without his Parliament ; no , — good Prince , — not He. All that he desir'd , was only to be permitted to raise Money , — now and then , — upon occasion , — in the Intervals of Parliament ; and not that neither , but in Cases of pure Necessity , when the Safety of his good Subjects absolutely requir'd it . And how could it be deny'd him , who lov'd his People so well , to judge of Cases of Necessity . But the Power of raising Money being once gone , the deluded People presently perceiv'd , that they had purchas'd their Slavery with it . For now all Power fell easily into the Hands of the King. In vain it was to dispute with him any Civil Rights not yet parted with by name , or even the publick Profession of Religion . For the Power of Raising Money is , in effect , the Power of doing all things ; just so is it with the Article of Infallibility , admit but that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that first false Article , and you must stand with his Holiness for nothing , but believe thro' thick and thin , in spight of Sense and Reason . Well! the French King became , by the abovesaid Artifice , at perfect Liberty to be , or not be a Tyrant , which he pleas'd . Let no one ask how he govern'd himself ; for , did ever Man grasp at the Power to do Mischief , without the purpose ? If there have been such mysterious Riddles of irregular Vertue , yet the French King 's after Lewis XI . were no instances of it . In them it plainly appear'd how effectually the temptation of unlimited Power works on Ambitious Nature . Ambitious Nature seldom or never esteems any thing enough , if there be any thing at all out of her Possession . It has not been enough for Lewis the XIV . to be the Law , but he must be the Religion also of his Slaves . With a great many it was Argument enough to be of the Religion he requir'd , because it was his : while his Spiritual Dragoons disputed more forcibly with those of a more backward Faith ; The Priests had stood altogether idle , and unconcern'd in this Conversion , but for the merit of that flattering Doctrine . A King is accountable to none but God , but to make amends for their being less serviceable than the Military Men , their unaccountable King shall be stil'd , the Vicegerent of God , nay the very Image of the Most High , tho' they spoil the Argument in the First Chapter to the Hebrews , for the Divinity of Christ. I wonder they do not maintain , That their King is accountable to none but himself . For if he prescribes them their Religion , as well as dictates their Law , he is their Idol God , as well as their Royal Tyrant . But , as I noted , Ambitious Nature never esteems any thing enough , when there is yet something out of her possession , therefore Lewis the XIV . is for advancing his Tyranny over his Neighbours also . To this purpose , his method has long time been to corrupt the Courts of Princes by his Lovis d'Ors ; to surprize Un-armed Countries , and Ill-provided Forts , by breach of his Oaths : Thus his Treachery has many Years purvey'd for his Cruelty , and his Cruelty shed Torrents of Blood to quench the raging Thirst of his Ambition . He has plunder'd the Monuments of the Dead , and the Altars of his own Gods , nor Fearing , nor Reverencing one more than the other . He has broke his Leagues with Christian Princes , as long as they would trust him ; has kept them , something better indeed , with the Turk , for it was his Interest , tho' the Turk is not his only Allie , for he has the Devil , and the Pope beside . What good understanding there is between him and the Pope , the World sees , and he that will not grant him to be in League with the Foul Fiend also , must believe that there 's no Devil in Hell , or no Monkish Conjurer in France , to bring those mighty Potentates together . Is there any difference between Neighbouring States ? Lewis will interpose to settle it , and never leave 'till he has settled , or made it wider . Is any Prince or Princess to be Married ? He proposes a Match for them , some Bastard Son , or Daughter of his own , well pre-instructed what returns to make him , for their Preferment . Is there any Candidate labouring for a Sovereign Bishoprick , or Coadjutorship , who has very little reason to support his pretences ? Lewis the Grand will serve his hopeless interest , out of his own free mischievous Generosity . When he prospers , he fights for the glory of his Majesty ; When his Affairs are in some danger , he labours only to extirpate Heresie ; but in neither of these Cases , thinks it improper to assist an Heretical Noble Revolter against his Catholick Lord and Master . In sending abroad Embassadors , he choses Huguenot Ravigni for England , a stout Toper for Germany , a bold Marquess for Rome , a grave Clergy-man for Spain . In short he makes himself all things for all , that he may confound all Nations , and turn the World into a Wilderness . This is the French Original , which some unhappy men among us have studiously set themselves to Copy . Now in the First place God be prais'd , then due thanks paid to King William our Deliverer , and every Noble Afferter of our English Liberties in the Convention-Parliament , for that , the work of those unhappy Copyers was disturb'd , and so they could never finish their Piece ; but they gave us a plaguy sketch of it in the last Reign . But there is another Original Draught of a Tyrant , set forth in that excellent History of the Revolution in Sweden , wherein many particulars bear a perfect resemblance of our Late Times , as to the great Transactions both in France and England , which is not to be wonder'd at , but rather to be consider'd as a good Evidence , that all Tyranny is alike ; for tho' the Streams from the same Fountain may run in several Ways , and Channels , yet they all tend to the same Ocean of Blood. After the Death of the Brave Steno , the Worthy Administratour of Sweden , Christiern II. succeeded his Father in the Kingdom of Denmark , and obtain'd the Crown of Sweden by Conquest . This Prince was not more ambitious to make others his Slaves , than he was , himself to become the Slave of Sigebrite , a Woman who had neither the Charms of Youth , or Beauty to Captivate him . But this notwithstanding , her Power was as great over him , as if she had seem'd intit'led to it , by all the Perfections , which Nature could have bestow'd upon her . It is hard to be imagin'd how an Old Dutch Woman could obtain this absolute Dominion over a haughty Monarch , unless it were by perswading him to assume the same over others . The Inhumane Polities of this She-Favourite were extremely agreeable to the fierce and cruel Disposition of Christiern ; He look'd upon the Antient Liberties of his Subjects , as inconsistent with his Royal Honour and Dignity ; and she tempted him to sacrifice a whole Senate to his Arbitrary Ambition . This , this was the pleasing Conjuration , that charm'd him , whose Nature was not so pardonably wicked , as to dote on Youth and Beauty ; The Tyrant receiv'd the Malitious Addresses of his furious Mistress , as Testimonies of her passionate Fondness for him , and so gave her that dominion over himself , which he resolv'd to have over the Swedes . He found the Pulse of the Church beat as high as his own , they were even impatient to make their King , their Tyrant , supposing that their share in the Ecclesiastical part would be as Flourishing , as his in the Civil ; and the violent Arch-Bishop of Vpsal fancied he should not be much the lesser Monarch of the two . Christiern ill enough dispos'd of himself , and always animated to mischief by his Hellish Erinnys , quickly came to a resolution of destroying all the Senatours and Principal Noblemen , that had been , or were like to be Enemies of his Imperial Arbitrary Authority . To facilitate the fatal Execution , he put on a better countenance , than the Withered Hagg his Spightful Favourite wore , no cloud sate on his Royal Brow ; but all was clear and calm there , proper as could be to perswade them to trust , who once suspected him . With this show of Gentleness and Affection then , he invites the Lords to a Magnificent Feast at Sockholm , Two Days they were highly treated , and on the Third Massacred . Yet was not the Imperial Tyrannick Thirst of Christiern satisfied , for the Great Gustavus , with some few Illustrious Patriots escap'd the Slaughter , wherefore he sends fresh bloody Orders to his Troops , who presently put the whole Town to the Sword , sparing none except the Old and Ugly , but them , perhaps in Complement to Sigebrite . Nay so utterly averse did this Tyrant then show himself to all Humanity , that when a Swedish Gentleman could not restrain his Grief , beholding such a Scene of Horrour , he had him fastned to a Gibbet , and his Bowels torn forth , because of his tenderness and compassion . This surprizing Bloody Start from a King to a Tyrant , terrified the People so extreamly , that it dispos'd them to do their parts to free themselves from their deplorable Condition . Slavery may be the misfortune of a People , but to submit to it , can never be their Duty ; And I much question whether in the like Case , our Advocates of Imperial absolute Sovereignty would not have been of the same mind with the Swedes ; and not by their Passive Obedience have acknowledg'd their ruine for their Religion . Well! in a short time , what the Swedes long'd for , a Deliverer appear'd . He was the injur'd Gustavus Ericson , descended from the Ancient Kings of Sweden , and Nephew to King Canutson . Christiern had now not only Abdicated his Government , by his Tyranny , in the utter subversion of the Laws , Rights , and Properties of the People , but being generally Hated , Beaten , and Forsaken , he Consumated his Abdication by Flight , and Gustavus the Generous Deliverer , was by a Convention of the Estates , with the Joy of the People chosen King of Sweden , which he govern'd happily all the days of his Life . A Philosopher being ask'd , which was the most dangerous of all Beasts , Answer'd , of Wild Ones , a Tyrant ; of Tame Ones , a Flatterer ▪ These Tame Ones hunt the Game like Jacalls , and with their plaguy yelping excite , and guide the Wild Ones to the Prey ; and this they do , in hopes , that , when their Lawless Masters are cloy'd , they may satisfie their own Appetites with Reliques of that Destruction , in which they had been instrumental . This Jacall yalping in England was never more Fierce , Eager , and Loud , than in the Reign of King Charles II. and it was a proper time for the Enemies of England , and the Protestant Religion , with the advantage of the shelter which he gave them , to make preparation for the Triumphant Entrance of Popery and Slavery . And at that time they did not neglect the opportunity , witness the Dover Treaty ; The Popish Plot discover'd by Doctor Oates , and many a bantering Sham , that could not be brought to pass upon the People ; but then something that could make its one way came on , Quo Warranto's like Bombs were thrown into Corporations , which miserably destroy'd their Antient Charters ; Dispensing Judges were advanc'd ; Proper Sheriffs chosen , and all unjust Arts used to dispose things for the easier plundering the Nation of their Liberties , Properties , and Religion . These unrighteous Proceedings would hardly have been ventur'd on , but for the Countenance that was giv'n them by the Doctrine of Passive Obedience , a Doctrine not reveal'd by Jesus Christ , nor recorded in his Gospel , but stamp'd by latter Creation , under the protection of which , any King may play the Christiern , or the Lewis safely , and without controul . This Creation stamped Doctrine grew in such Credit , and Esteem , that not a Man , who did not give his Assent and Consent to the same , could be allow'd to be a true Son of the Church , scarcely to be a Christian. The unlimited Power of a King having been so strenuously asserted , and so sucessfully in the Proceedings of those Times , seem'd to make the death of King Charles very seasonable for the opening the Execution of the Grand Design , in a barefac'd Subversion of the Religion and Laws of England . King James at his first coming to the Crown seem'd to endeavour to take away the Apprehension , and Terrour that was justly imagin'd to fill the Minds of People . And in his first Speech declar'd so much tenderness for them , and such a respect for the preservation of their Liberties and Properties , that the cajol'd Parliament from an excess of Satisfaction , shew , [ I may safely say ] more Affection to him , than ever Parliament did to a Protestant Prince , and gave Money , till he himself put a stop to the profuse and excessive Expressions of their Satisfaction . It must be granted that the lives of some Professors are not so bad as the consequences of their erroneous Opinions : And it was charitably thought by the Parliament , that King James , tho' a Papist , would not Govern so Arbitrary , as the encourag'd Doctrines of the Age gave him leave ; but they quickly perceiv'd their Error , and found to their Sorrow , that Popery , and Arbitrary Power could no more be seperated , than the double Monster that was shown in London of two Brothers , one growing out of the side of the other , who were so intimately conjoyn'd , that the Life , Decay , or Death of the one was equally the Concern , and Fate of the other . For now he began to put his Imperial Laws in Execution , and by dispensing with , fairly abrogated all the Political , which should have secur'd the Rights of the People , but alas ! they were betray'd into his hands , and he without Mercy dispatch'd them . To me it seems almost impossible , but that the Spiritual Defenders of the Absolute Power of an English King — who deliver'd that Power to be Gospel , and the Slavish Judges who declar'd it to be Law , should have deplor'd the Wounds they have given to the Religion , and Laws of their Country , unless the hopes of a share in the Spoiles had prevail'd above all honest Considerations , and unless they had been themselves as ready to embrace the Popish Religion , as they had been instrumental to set it up . Together with the first Exercise of an Arbitrary Power , the Popish Religion began to appear on the Stage ; and the Monks and Friars enter'd to act in their proper Habits ; Seminaries were set up in several places , and Houses fill'd with those Religious Furies ; Father Peter , a Jesuit was made of the Privy Council , and reign'd Chief Minister . Thus from the Spring of Imperial [ i.e. Arbitrary ] Power , an over-flowing Deluge broke forth , threatning miserable occasions for the Religious Exercise of that Fatal Duty , Passive Obedience . King James no sooner altered from what he seem'd to be in his first Speech , but the People alter'd from what they were . Their Satisfaction in their new King vanish'd , and from the hopes of living happy Subjects under him , they sank into the Apprehensions of becoming despis'd , and ear-boar'd Slaves . A general Consternation fell upon the whole Body of the People ; and even those Clergy-men that were the Tools to Subvert their own Religion , and the Civil Rights of their Brethren , were afraid that themselves should feel the Thunder with which they had arm'd their Tyrant . This brought them quickly to interpret away the grammatical , plain , mischievous Sense of Passive Obedience ; and as for the Exercise of it , that they were so far from practising [ being above their own Ordinances ] that no honest Men were more forward to invite and joyn with a Deliverer , than these Shifters . The miserable Condition of England at that time , did not only move Compassion in our Neighbours , but [ as we have reason to believe ] put them in mind , that the Disease we labour'd under was catching ; and if it was not timely repell'd by their Assistance , it would not be long before they lamented their own Fate . They were therefore , for our , and for their own sakes , aiding and assisting to our rightful and lawful King , the then Prince of Orange , whom God and his own Vertue prompted to attempt our Deliverance . The difficulties that threatned this attempt were great and discouraging , but he , who was incapable of fear , despis'd the Dangers , Landed some Forces at Torbay , and met a Success answerable to the justness of his Cause , and the greatness of his Courage . But before he set forward , to take off all Suspicions that might reasonably arise , where an Army came , that might pretend to Conquer , as well as to relieve , he put forth a glorious Declaration Proclaiming that his Expedition was intended for no other end , but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled , soon as possible , to secure to the whole Nation the free enjoyment of their Laws , Rights , and Liberties , to preserve the Protestant Religion , and cover such as would live peaceably under the Government , [ as becomes good Subjects ] from all persecution on the account of Religion , Papists themselves not excepted . King James was now reduc'd , to that , wherein he seem'd always to place his greatest trust , an Army , [ for the Preachers had forsook him , and their own Slavish Doctrines sometime before ] with the Army then he advanced to Salisbury , but found that they were a part of injur'd English Men ; seeing himself therefore deserted by them , as well as by his Chaplains [ who invested him with his illegal Arbitrary Power , ] and all the honest English ; he left the Kingdom , thus he did , as it were , Sign and Seal his own Abdication , which was grown as full and perfect as obstinate Tyranny could make it ; And as his Act and Deed the Nation took it , then the Lords , and the Commons represented in their chosen Trustees , settled the Crown and Royal Dignity on King William and Queen Mary , the exercise of Regal Power , on their glorious Deliverer only . Thus did they restore the Old Constitution of redem'd England in King , Lords , and Commons . There was before the settlement of the Crown , ( Feb. 4. 1688. ) a great Conference between the Lords , and Commons , chiefly on two Particulars Voted by the Commons . 1. That King James had Abdicated the Government . 2. That thereby the Throne became vacant . The Lords insisted on altering the Word , Abdicated , and in the place thereof , to insert Deserted . Also they were not willing to willing to admit those Words — The Throne is thereby become vacant . The exception against the Word Abdicated was , that in the common acceptation of the Civil Law , it imports a voluntary express Act of Renuntiation , which was not in this case , and did not follow from the Premises . To this the Commons answer'd , that the doing an Act inconsistent with the being and end of a thing about which it is conversant , or which shall not answer the end of that thing , but go quite contrary , That Act shall be construed an Abdication , and formal Renunciation of that thing . This they exemplified . Thus the Government is under a Trust , and any acting contrary to that Trust , is a Renuntiation of that Trust , tho' it be not a Renuntiation thereof by a formal Deed. For Act and Deed is as plain and full a Declaration , as a Writing can be . He that acts contrary to a Trust is a Disclaimer of that Trust , tho' he does not disclaim it by a formal Deed. From all this they drew these just Consequences — That King James having Acted contrary to his Trust , had Abdicated his Government ; and that having Abdicated it , the Throne is thereby become Vacant . But the Lords insisted , that the Throne could not be Vacant , because there was an Heir , and that in a Successive Kingdom , an Abdication of the Government by a Tyrannous breach of Trust , could be a forfeiture only as to that Person , who Tyrannically breaking his Trust , does Abdicate the Government ; but not as to the next Heir , so as to put him by , and make the Government elective . Therefore the Abdication of King James the II. could not prejudice the next Heir , and then by consequence the Throne was not vacant . The Commons upon this demanded , that the Lords would tell them , with whom the Throne was fill'd . The Lords only answer'd in general , that it was sufficient to know , that there were Heirs to take by lineal Succession , tho' they did not , or could not expressly name the particular Person , whose right it was to fill the Throne . And therefore tho' they could not say who fill'd the Throne , yet they had reason to conclude , it was not Vacant . The Commons then represented to the Lords , that their Lordships would neither agree , that the Throne was Vacant , nor say how it was full , and desir'd to know who was King , if King James was not , or were they to be always in that doubtful Condition ? For none could be King James his Heir , during his Life , the Crown could not descend till his Death . The Lords replied , That tho' the King be not dead Naturally , yet if he is so Civilly , the next of course ought to come in as by Hereditary Succession . The Commons replied , That their Lordships held it a difficult thing , to go upon the examination who is Heir , and demanded , if that was not clear , whether they were always to remain under the difficulty . As for the Commons , they were not concern'd what Words were us'd , Fill up , Nominate , or Elect , 'T was the Thing they were to take care of , and 't was high time it were done . It was farther demanded of the Lords , whither , if there had been an Heir , to whom the Crown had descended in the Line of Succession , and this Heir certainly known , their Lordships would have assembled without his calling ? Or would have either administer'd the Government themselves , or advis'd the Prince of Orange to take it upon him ? A known Successor being in Possession of the Throne , this would amount to High Treason , and such a one must be in Possession if the Throne were not vacant . Their Lordships were press'd to consider that they had concurr'd with the Commons in this Vote — That it is inconsistent with our Religion and our Laws to have a Papist to reign over us . Upon this it was askt , Must not we come to an Election if the next Heir be a Papist ? The concluding Stroke was , That if their Lordships would not allow the Throne to be vacant , nor name the Heir who fill'd it , the Nation would be left in in Confusion and Distraction ; but the Lords were not willing that should be left at their Doors , therefore , after they return to their House , they sent a Message to the Commons on Febr. 7. 1688. That they had agreed to the above said Votes of the Commons without any Alteration . I thought it necessary to the chief Purpose of this Discourse , to set down some General Arguments of this Conference , which is to be seen at large in Print , and is most worthy to be read by all that think it worth their while to look into the Constitution of the English Government , and to understand the Reason and Grounds of our late Settlement . I would now demand of any one , that had not given double Security to the Goddess of Errour , by Swearing first to be always of his present Opinion ; and secondly , never to examine the Reasons of it ; I would , I say , demand of any , but such an over-prejudic'd Man , by what other way , or means , the Nation could have been justly settled , besides that way , and those means , by which the Representatives of the People conventionally assembled did settle it . The Commons came to a Vote , Jan. 28. 1688. That King James the Second , having endeavoured to Subvert the Constitution of the Kingdom , by breaking the Original Contract between King and People ; and by the advice of the Jesuites , and other wicked Persons , having violated the Fundamental Laws , and having withdrawn himself out of the Kingdom , hath abdicated the Government , and that the Throne is thereby become vacant . And after a long Conference betwixt the Lords and Commons , the Lords on Febr. the 7th , next following , sent a Message to the Commons , to acquaint them , That they had agreed to the Vote sent them up of the 28th of January , without any Alterations . Here now was the whole Body of the Nation , the Lords by themselves , in their own Persons , and the People by their Representatives , agreed , That King James had Abdicated the Government , and that the Throne was vacant ; by which it is evident , that there was as great a necessity to provide a Supply , and that by way of Election , as there was to have any Government at all ; for if a People without Government , and desirous to settle a Government , must not choose for themselves , I would fain know who must ? It is not to be expected that God should miraculously interpose , and for any Enemies or Neighbours to intermeddle , is against the Nature of the thing ; because the end which the People seek in Government , is to secure themselves against all that are , or may be Enemies . It remains therefore , that they must choose for themselves , both who shall govern them , and by what measures . The Lords indeed , in the great Conference , spake much of an Heir , and argued strenuously for his Rights ; but knew not who that Heir was , nor where to find him ; and there 's no being govern'd by the Lord knows who , that is to be found the Lord knows where ; or , as old Maynard phras'd it , in the Clouds . If the Lords had known of any Heir , they had not admitted a Vacancy ; if the Votes of the Majority of the Representatives of the People had not supplied the Vacancy by resetling the old Constitution , or framing a new [ which at that time they were at liberty to have done ] every one of them must have been left in a state of Nature , which 't is every Man's Interest to get out of as soon as he can : For tho' in a State of Nature , no Man has a Lisence to do what he pleases , every one being under obligation to the Dictates of Reason , which is the Law of Nature ; yet , in that State , no Man has the Advantage of more than his single Wit and Strength to do himself Justice when he happens to be injur'd , which Inconvenience is the great Motive that inclines Men to unite in Society , and put themselves under such Form of Government as they like best . When the Representatives of the People were conven'd to supply the Vacancy , [ after that King James had sufficiently published that he would have nothing to do with the Government upon the Terms of the Constitution , and according to the original Contract ] the Condition of the Nation seem'd to be the same , as when the Original Contract was first made , the People choosing their Ruler , and agreeing the Laws , by which he should rule them ; which Original Right can never be justly taken from them , until the Champions of the Imperial Laws of a Tyrant , and the Preachers of Passive Obedience Slavery , can prove , that the People were made for the Advantage of their Kingly Ruler , and not the Kingly Ruler for their Advantage . I know it has been affirm'd , that breaking the Original Contract , is a Language that hath not been long in use , nor is known in any of our Law-Books , or Publick Records ; but is taken from some late Authors , and those none of the best received . 'T is strange with what confidence some Men by the help of a little Artifice will advance the denial of Truths obvious and evident enough , presuming , that at the same time , they shall by their Intimations and Insinuations , establish their own wild , pernicious , and novel Notions . Imperial Laws controuling the Political , Jure divino Tyranny , quiet Submission to illegal Violence , commonly called Non-resistance , sometimes disguis'd under the absurd Phrase of Passive Obedience , this without Controversy is barbarous Language , no Man ever yet in our Law-Books or Publick Records could find either name or thing . Of what antiquity these Doctrines may be in the Writings of some Clergymen , is not material , for neither Christ , nor his Apostles , nor natural Reason requires any Man quietly to submit to illegal Violence , and look upon a Tyrant as the Ordinance of God. But yet there are among the Clergy some good Men who abhor these unchristian and unnatural Doctrines , and none among them that can bring themselves up to the Practice of the same ; but even the Apologists are now fain to trim the matter with loose general talk , and softning Interpretations . But then the Sense of Original Contract runs thro' all our Law-Books , the unanswerable Mr. Johnson has cited so many , so clear Testimonies of this , that I will only mention the Confession of an English Monarch , King James I. who , tho' he uses not the Word Contract , yet he does a Synonimous , if Paction signifies the same as Contract : In his Speech to the Parliament 1603. he sets down the just Distinction between a King and a Parliament : But in his Speech to them 1609. he hath these Words : The King binds himself by a double Oath to the Observation of the Fundamental Laws of his Kingdom ; tacitly , as by being King , and so bound to protect , as well the People , as the Laws of his Kingdom ; and expresly , by his Oath at his Coronation : So as every just King , in a setled Kingdom , is bound to observe that Paction made to his People by his Laws , in framing his Government agreeable thereunto . But he that is most a stranger to our Law-books , may easily be able to prove , that the beginnings of all Forms of Government could not but proceed from the Choice or Consent of the People . It is true , God is the Fountain of all Power , but he does not communicate it immediately to Man , at least he has not done so in these later Ages ; Nay , in the Designation of Saul , and David , which is recorded to have been from God , 't is remarkable that after the Divine Unction , the People assembled , and by their Votes freely chose them , and before the Peoples Choice they were not actually Kings of Israel . But I will make short of this matter — Original Contract there must have been between King and People , wherever lawful Power is exercised by a King , because Kings are not immediately chose of God : But such a thing , as a Power to do mischief , which ought not to be resisted , never could be , because 't is against the Nature of God to give such a Power to any Man , and that which inclines People to set up a King over them , restrains them from giving him such a Power . If this be a Digression , I beg the Readers pardon , but I hope I have fully prov'd that at the time of the Convention , [ when 't is confess'd we were without a setled Form of Government ; so that the Lords of their own free Motion address'd the Prince of Orange to take upon him the Administration for a while ] the Government could not have been setled otherways than it was setled , viz. by the choice of the Community ; and if they had not made so wise a Choice as they did in the Person of King William ; yet his Title would have been Lawful and Rightful , because his Person was the free Choice of the Community at that time when they had no King. But notwithstanding this plain state of the Case , and , as I presume to think , these unanswerable reasons , the Old Tyrannical Doctrine had still a spreading root , and tho' the common Sense and Honesty of the Nation , long provok'd , and almost undone by it , was ready to check the incouragements formerly given it , and blast its open growth , yet now it began to shoot forth its baneful branches under the sheltring distinction of a King DE FACTO , and a King DE IVRE . Of all the mischievous Doctrines , that ever were topt upon a Nation by holy Priestcraft , none ever stood more in need of Shelter . The Doctrines of Popery commit but slight depredations on the Liberties , and Properties of a People : but by IMPERIAL LAWS controuling the Political , by quiet Submission to illegal Violence , they are with a vengeance swept quite and clean away . Our comfort is , that no Parliament Men can possibly believe , that the People have no right to their Liberties , because the People chuse Knights , and Burgesses to defend their Liberties and Properties , and 't were the most disingenuous injustice in the World , for Gentlemen to accept such a Trust , if they are of opinion , that the People are not rightfully possess's of their Liberties and Properties : No Parliament Men can possibly believe , that King William is only a King DE FACTO , because it were the most Infamous Self-contradiction to joyn with a King to make Laws , in whom they did not own a right to give them a Sanction . Indeed when I look back on the beginning of this King's Reign . I call to mind those things , which somewhat amaze , and puzzle me . For who can take notice , without some extraordinary emotion , that any of the King 's Chief Councellours should urge him not to insist on his Title DE IVRE , or that , when the owning him rightful and lawful King was started , and propos'd in the House of Commons , it should be coldly received and rejected . For if the King shall not hold his Title to be DE IURE , he must be an Enemy to his own quiet Possession , and if the Commons shall not own him for their rightful and lawful King , they must needs look upon themselves as Slaves , not Subjects , holding their Honours , Estates , and Interests precariously . For my part I cannot but conceive , that when the Lords and Commons in the Grand Convention , declared the Prince and Princess of Orange , King and Queen of England , &c. and setled the full and sole exercise of Regal Power on the Prince , they made him their Lawful and Rightful King. They made him their Lawful and Rightful King , or they made him nothing . Can any Man think or talk so absurdly , as that the Lords , and Representatives of the People chose the Prince of Orange to the infamous honour of an Usurper and a Tyrant , praying him to play the Tyrant , and Administer that Government , which he had no right to meddle with ? or that , at one and the same time they own'd King James his right to govern them , and would not admit him to exercise that right ? These are absurd Contradictions , which cannot consist with the Honour and Wisdom of English Senators . But whatever any Enemy of our Settlement may pretend was meant by the Convention , who made choice of the Prince and Princess of Orange to be King and Queen of England , &c. and of the Prince alone to exercise the Regal Power , this I am sure that the distinction of a King DE IVRE , and a King DE FACTO , is ill-grounded , and mischievous . 1. It is ill-grounded . This distinction can be trac'd no higher than Edw. the IV. and his first Parliament invented , and made use of it , not as a Salvo , for the justification of any thing done by , and under the Kings of the House of Lancaster , but in contra-distinction to a King DE IVRE , and that Parliament did thereby denote that they held a King in Possession , to be a King falsly so call'd only , and to have no right to the Allegiance of the People . But our Ancient Common Lawyers , Bracton , Fortescue , &c. knew nothing of this distinction . A DE FACTO KING OF ENGLAND , according to their sense of Words , is as perfect Nonsense and Contradiction , as ever was made use of , to illustrate the Romish Anti-evangelical Mysteries of Priestcraft . A KING DE FACTO is just as much as a Rightful and Lawful Usurper , or a Mild and Gracious Tyrant . Our honest Ancient Lawyers were not wont to flatter Ambitious Princes with such odd , and wickedly devis'd Distinctions , at the expence of their Countries Honour and Safety . A King , with them , was but of one sort , Viz. The Creature of the Law , The Ordinance of the People . The King , says Bracton , has a Superiour , God , also the Law , by which he is made King. A King is made , and ordain'd , says Fortescue , for the Defence , or Guardianship of the Laws of his Subjects , and of their Bodies , and Goods , whereunto he receiveth power of his People . Let Kings therefore [ it is the monition of Bracton ] temper their power by the Law , which is the Bridle of Power . These Famous , and Learned Lawyers would certainly have thought it very ridiculous , that the Title of a KING , should be deriv'd only from the Notion of a Fact ; and the Exercise of his Kingship made to consist in the Execution of the Imperial Law of his Will. Between such a King as this , and a People , there can never be a good Understanding , but they will be eternally at variance , for their Interests are distinct , and separate , and cannot but often happen to be directly contrary to one another . I wish the Clergy Advocates of Imperial Power , would but well weigh the reasoning of the Reverend Mr. Hooker , a justly celebrated Writer , and I hope they will take his Word , for more than a Ceremony . I will Transcribe a Passage , they that like it not , let them answer it . He says , That for any Prince , or Potentate on Earth , of what kind soever , to exercise Government , and not either by express Commission immediately , and personally receiv'd from God , or else by the Authority deriv'd at first from the consent of the People , upon whom he imposes Laws , is no better than meer Tyranny , for Laws they are not , which Poitical Approbation hath not made so , but , approbation they only give , who personally declare their consent , or by others in their Names , by right originally deriv'd from them , as in Parliaments , &c. But all of this Learned , Wise , and Good Man's order are not of his excellent true Christian Spirit , some of them , among those that best understand this matter , in spight of Reason , and common use of Speaking , will set themselves up for such imperious Dictators of Words , that the word King must needs signifie an Absolute Monarch . But what if it should be admitted to signifie so sometimes in some Countries , yet this is plain and undeniable , it does not signifie so always , nor so at all , in England . The bare Word or Title KING does not distinstly inform us , what Power belongs to him , that must be known by examining the Constitution of the State , wherein he presides . Perhaps some may object , that if a King has not an Absolute Power , he is dignified with a name which does not belong to him . But this is like all the rest , a positive stroke of Arbitrary Philosophy . Words signifie as custom , and common consent make them , there is nothing in the nature of Words themselves , but that TYRANT might have signified a Just , a Gracious Prince , a Father of his Country ; and KING , a faithless cruel Tyrant , a Lewis , or a James . The Gibberish of a KING DE FACTO , and the Cant of an IMPERIAL LAW , are of the same nature and design , levell'd at the two Northern , equal , and equally hated Heresies , the Protestant Religion , and Monarchy limited by Law. Mr. Johnson observing how long , and how troublesomely the Nation had been haunted with the Word DE FACTO , out of pure kindness to his Countrymen try'd to lay the Goblin ; but tho' he had exercis'd many a stubborn Devil in his time , nay once not only rescued , and restor'd some possess'd Creatures , but thrown the very Devil himself into flames , yet has he not been able to lay this DE FACTO Goblin . Perhaps I ought not to pretend to more powerful Charmes than he , however I will repeat the Exorcism , there may be something in that : And who knows but 't is towards day-break with the Common People , if they once begin to discern the Priestcraft , and State-craft of the distinction , a little matter will rid all King WILLIAM's Dominions of the Mischeivous Phantom . The plain English of a KING DE FACTO is of , or from Fact , or Deed. A KING DE FACTO must denote one , that by the means of some Fact , or Deed , is denominated a KING . DE FACTO in contradistinction to DE IVRE implies an unrighteous forcible , an illegal violent Act. A KING DE FACTO then is a false King , a wrong King , a King who carries Usurpation , and Tyranny in his very Title . A King so far remov'd from Rightful and Lawful , that he has not , no , not a right by Law , unless the Law of his Sword ; a King that has no right to govern the People , but the People a very good one to take away his DE FACTOSHIP from him . But there is nothing in this false , and dishonourable Title of a King DE FACTO , that can be affix'd to King WILLIAM , without the most impudent and malicious injustice : tho more of it , than the Advocates of the late King are well aware of , really agrees to their Abdicatour . If they who administred the Coronation Oath to the late King left out the Provision in the Ancient Oath , for the Peoples enjoying St. Edward's Laws , and added a special clause in favour of the Clergy's , Canonical Priviledges ; if they Clogg'd the promise of securing the Civil Rights of the Nation with a Salvo for Kingly Prerogative , then we may safely say that the late King was no more than a King DE FACTO from the very first , and all the Oaths that were made to him , are of no Obligation , he not being the Person he was taken for . But supposing that the late King did oblige himself by solemn Oath to Govern according to Law , without any unrighteous Omission , Addition or Salvo ; yet when he notoriously violated that sacred Oath , by claiming an imperial arbitrary Power , above and contrary to Law , and by exercising the same in very many , and those the most dangerous Instances that could be , then he disclaimed all the Legal Title he could ever be supposed to have had , tho' he continued indeed but too long afterwards a King De Facto , a King in Possession doing all the despight he could to our Old English Constitution , and our Holy Reform'd Religion . But this false and dishonourable Title of a King de facto [ as I said just now ] cannot be affix'd to King William without the most impudent and malicious Injustice ; for he came over upon the earnest Sollicitation of Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Subjects of all Ranks , to deliver the Nation from Popery and Slavery : To this purpose he declar'd himself in Words , the Truth of which was clear enough from matter of fact , for the Forces he brought over with him were proportion'd to the Design of Relief and Assistance , not of Invasion and Conquest . He took not on him the Administration of Affairs for a time , but at the Request of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal assembled in the House of Lords , and of those Parliament Men that had serv'd in the Reign of Charles II. being assembled in the House of Commons : and at the meeting of the Convention he gave up that Trust , which had been committed to him but for a time , and and left it to the Convention to lay such a Foundation for the Security of their Religion , Laws and Liberties , as they themselves should think good . It was never yet objected to him by his most inveterate Enemies , that by any Acts of Force , or Arts of Corruption , he endeavour'd to work on the Members of either House to labour his own Advancement : But that was the free Election of the Majority , after long Debates and Consultations on other Expedients : He did not lay violent hands on the Crown , but only accepted it when offer'd , and upon the Conditions offer'd with it . It is a Truth undeniably manifest , that King William did not purchase to himself the Title of a King by any Fact of his own , save that by his Vertue and his Merit he recommended himself to the Community , and their Choice it was that made him King , that 's the Fact and Deed he claims by , and 't is the most Righteous and Lawful that can be , without a Miracle , which I think the Jure Divino Doctors do not pretend that we ought to wait for , that so we may have a lawful King. The Election of the Prince of Orange to supply the Vacancy of the Throne gives him as Rightful and Lawful a Title , as the Election of any Community ever gave to the first elected King. There 's nothing in the nature of a King De Facto , but King William has shown his abhorrence of it ; when he took the Oath , together with the Crown offer'd him by the Scotch Commissioners , he demurr'd at one dubious Expression , and call'd Witnesses that he did not intend by it to oblige himself to be a Persecutor , as if he had said , He would not be obliged by any means , to Govern in any Instances as a Tyrant , he would be no other than a Legal King. In short , if the Choice of a People , whose King has broke the Original Contract , and will not govern by Law , but be the Law himself , or nothing ; if this Choice cannot create a Rightful and Lawful King , then the Fault must be in the Office ; but if the Office has no Fault in it , and it has none that I know of , I am sure there is no Flaw in the present Possessor's Title . It is impossible that every Member of the Community should be pleas'd with the Settlement of the Crown : but if a Party think much to be concluded by the Votes of the Majority , they ought to withdraw their Persons from this Kingdom thus setled contrary to their likings , and seek out some Country where Government is model'd more to their Mind : For while they stay here and question the Right of King William , what do they but ridicule and reproach their own Act ? In their Supposition , that they have set up a King DE FACTO , and no more , they suppose that they have given a Man Authority to play the Tyrant and do Mischief , they suppose that they have made Slaves of themselves , and given away their Liberties and Properties , they suppose they have done all that against their own Interest , which they were angry that the late King attempted to do : They will never vindicate their Honour , unless they renounce their Distinction , which I have prov'd ill-grounded . I will next show the mischievous Consequences of it . The mischievous Consequences of it are these : I. It lessens the Honour of the King. This Distinction was reviv'd in the first Infancy of our present Settlement , by some disappointed Persons , who , when they found they could not serve their turns of the Prince of Orange , [ whom with humble Supplications they had call'd in to their rescue from Popery and Slavery ] nor prevent his Election to the Crown , presum'd that they should take from him , by Artifice , that which was confirm'd upon him [ maugre all their Opposition ] by Law. It would have pleas'd them well , to have been screen'd from the Tyranny of King James , and protected in their Tyranny over their Brethren ; but missing their point there , they thought they might safely restore the Divine Right to their late King , who could no longer hurt them ; and as for the new elected Successor , who seem'd not made to serve their Party-interest , before all things else , he should be to them but as an Usurper , not have more than the empty Name of a King. De Facto , and De Jure nick'd this Contrivance to an hair , impair'd the Fame of their envied Deliverer , and gave them the ravishing Hopes of having their old Master again upon their own Terms . They could not have started , had they studied for it , a more mischievous Reproach than this against their generous Deliverer ; for thus they charg'd his honest and well aim'd Declarations with want of Truth and Sincerity , they rob'd his heroick Actions of their Civic Garland , they plunder'd his happy Successes of much of the just Welcom and Esteem , which was due to them from every free-born English-man . Every dissatisfied Person that reviles the King's Honour with this illegal De Facto Title , Assassinates his glorious Fame , and comes but little behind [ if he does not exceed nor equal ] a Granvil , Friend or Perkins . We have reason to believe that our glorious King William values his honourable Fame more than his Life ; his honourable Fame may last thro' many Ages , his Life cannot ; the Nation indeed is most concern'd in his Life , Posterity in his Fame : But we ought to be tender of the last , for they who hold him but a King De Facto , appear by their common Discourses very tender even of the Fame of his murderous Assassines , what little Stains a Brace of those Miscreants had contracted , are thought to have been done away by a Triumvirate of Absolvers . I should be glad to see that Affront to the Government reproved by other Arguments , besides what our Reverend Teachers use . The Vncanonicalness and Vnrubricalness of the bold Deed , not but that it might be Uncanonical and Unrubrical too , for ought I know ; but I will swear that the Publick Absolution of Traytors , who are not pretended to have declar'd their Sorrow for that devillish Treason which brought them to the Gallows , no , not so much as in the Ear of the Absolver , was a more impudent piece of Roguery , than ever was committed by the Gown , in the Face of the Sun , with a Reverend Grace and Solemnity . I am afraid I digress , but I hope I am within the Purlues of the Forest. It is the Distinction of De Facto and De Jure which I am to arraign , and I charge it to be Mischievous , because it lessens the Honour of the King , it draws King WILLIAM's Picture too like that of King James ; there 's Difference enough , let but an ordinary Painter have the Shadowing it , between a Tyrant that will not be limited by Law , and a Rightful King who pretends to no Power but what the Law gives him . Between the sternness of the one awing the Poor Scholars of Maudlin , and the Martial heat of the other forcing proud Boufflers out of Namur . It ought not to be forgot , that this DE FACTO injury to King WILLIAM's Honour , is an instance of unparalell'd ingratitude , for he ventur'd Life , and Fortunes for the Deliverance of our enthrall'd Nation , and that , upon the humble requests of the Chief of those very Men , who now requite him , with this Wicked , Shameful , and Ingrateful Distinction . One would think it was not politickly done of them , as it is plain , was not done honestly ; for , who would serve their interest another time , if this be their way of Testifying their Sense of the Obligation ? They are a Generation difficult , and hard to be pleas'd , and possibly it were easier to teach them their Duty , and make them Subscribe to RIGHTFUL AND LAWFUL KING , than to gratifie all their Pretensions , for , whether they know it or no , the honest English Men , who were enough to carry it , for the Election of King WILLIAM to supply the vacant Throne , are enough to defend his Right , and establish his Throne , maugre all their restless endeavours to supplant him . II. As their malevolent distinction lessens the honour of the King , so it weakens the Government . Unto a King DE FACTO only , there is no esteem , no Thanks , no Allegiance due . We may admire a difficult , and great Atchievment , but it must be a Vertuous , Honest , and Beneficent , which wins our Esteem , and Love ; we must be the better for it , if it deserves our thanks , we must have paid our thanks in giving the Hero the Right of a King or he can have no just claim to our Allegiance . Some Men teach , [ and pretend the Authority of the Church of England for it , but therein they wrong their holy Mother ] that Allegiance is due to successful Usurpers , and that Providence , together with success , grants them that Authority , which the People ought to obey for Conscience sake . When an unhappy interest with-holds us from professing our assent to an evident Truth , we are many times tempted to profess , and defend an evident and shameful untruth : So it is in the case before us . The De facto Men refusing to own the rightful , and lawful Title of King WILLIAM , are forc'd to say that Allegiance is due to Usurpers , for well they know , should they pursue their Principle as far as it would carry them , they could have no pretence at all to his protection ; besides , open and declar'd enmity against the Government under King WILLIAM's Administration , was too much in all conscience to be endur'd . Hence they found it requisite to labour to perswade the King , that they were oblig'd to obey him , tho' he had no right to govern them . 'T was a strange Paradox this , so very strange , that , had they not been endued with the uncommon wit , and bouldness of guilding and varnishing it at the expence of the honour of God Almighty , they had made bold with the honour of the King to very little purpose . But it is my business to wash off the guilt and varnish , and show the odd Paradox naked , that no Consciencious weak mind be cheated thereby hereafter . They would perswade the King , that they were oblig'd to obey him , tho' he had no right to govern them . This is pretended , first to have been the Opinion of some of the best Lawyers of former days , and Instance is offer'd in Sir Edw. Coke , the Judges in Baggett's Case , the Lord Chief Justice Hales and the Lord Chief Baron Bridgman . But the Lord Chief Justice Hales for what he says , quotes Sir Ed. Coke only , against Sir Edw. Coke's Authority many things are obvious , besides that it stands singly on Baggett's Case ; the Parliament Roll recited in that Case , is pointed directly against what Sir Edw. Coke is suppos'd to have asserted ; Lord Chief Baron Bridgman has said nothing in favour , but much against the Paradox . For a fair and full illustration of these particulars , I refer to the Review of Dr. Sherlock 's Case of Allegiance , Printed in the Year 1691. As our Law is not chargeable with so foolish and unrighteous an injunction , as that , which requires obedience to Kings in possession , Kings falsely so call'd , who have no right to govern ; so much less is it to be defended from the words of Holy Scripture . But as it sometimes happens in other Cases , so in this , where Men have the least reason for it , there they put the greatest trust . There is not a Text in the Bible which commands Obedience to Tyrants or Usurpers . The Scope of the places , and the evident reason of things all along evinces , that the Kings , Magistrates , and other Superiours , whom we are commanded to obey , have a lawful Authority to govern . Yet by artifice , and dextrous shifting the Sails , our De facto Men hope to weather the point . Their method is , to refer all events to the over-ruling disposals of Providence ; so as if Providence left nothing to the free will of Man. Indeed if it were the positive Will of God , that Ambitious Men should grasp Sceptres , and Arbitrarily Lord it over cheated or conquer'd People , then we ought to obey Tyrants , and Usurpers for Conscience-sake , but then the Argument would prove too much , for such Ambitious Men being the Ministers of God's Providence , and executing only what he would have them , they ought not to be called Tyrants and Usurpers , they have according to this reasoning , from Providence , a lawful Tittle . But the Sophistry , in this way of arguing from Providence , is plainly discover'd , and refuted by distinguishing between the Will , and the Permission of God Almighty . When those things , that ought to be done and which are just and good , are done , then the Will of God is complied with ; when contrary things are done , then the Will of God is resisted , and oppos'd , for as Dr. Sherlock has excellently observ'd , We are to learn our duty from the law of God , not from his Providence ; the Providence of God will never justify any action which his Law forbids . Let me add , nor can we , without the highest impiety , ascribe an unlawful action , to his over-ruling influence ; he does not so much as give leave to the attempts of Ambitious Men , he is not pleas'd with Usurpation and Tyranny , and therefore it is impossible for him to require , that Obedience be paid to Usurpers and Tyrants . God , for many wise Reasons , permits the Affairs of the World to go on , as they are mov'd by the force of Natural Causes , thence it comes to pass ; that Craft , and Cruelty often prevail over Right , and Innocence : But God has not made the misfortunes of honest Men their Duty ; neither Reason , nor Revelation forecloses them , from using the lawful means to free themselves from Oppression and Slavery . When the Calvinists are charg'd with making God the Author of Sin , they commonly answer , that the Divine Decrees do indeed necessitate every Action , taken materially , not formally ; I acknowledge this Distinction , to be an empty nominal distinction , not containing any sound reason to invalidate the heavy charge brought against them ; But however , it showes that the Men have some modesty , for , whatever may be the Consequence of their Doctrines , which they pretend not to see , they will not charge God so foolishly , as to say in direct terms , that he is the Author of Sin ; But the Defenders of the De facto Notion applied to King WILLIAM , are not afraid to make God the Author of Usurpation . They Blasphemously affirm , That Allegiance is due , not to legal Right only , but to the Authority of God who sets up Kings , without any regard to legal Right , or humane Laws . If there be any Doctrine which more than another deserves to be call'd a Doctrine of Devils , it must be this , which boldly flies in the Face of God himself , and in downright terms proclaims , that the Judge of all the World does wrong . The publishing and defending such Notions as this , naturally tends to promote all flagitious and unjust attempts , and thereby to bring Confusion and Ruin upon a Nation . The Great God has a just Authority over all Men , for He made them ; they ought to obey him , for his commands are just , when he expostulates with Disobedient Sinners , he appeals to them , whether his Laws are not reasonable . He gives none but reasonable commands , but to obey Usurpers and Tyrants is not reasonable , nor any command of his . The success of Ambitious Usurpers is not promoted by any favourable assistance from Heaven ; but is only the consequence of the Wit , Vigour , and industry of those Usurpers , the Almighty permiting , and leaving the course of things to the force of Natural Causes . It is a most impious thought to imagin , that the Righteous God should require us to be aiding , and assisting to wicked Usurpations . It might as well be thought , that he should bid us disobey lawful Powers , as bid us to obey Usurpers . In short , even the De facto Men themselves have granted all this , in their Discourses of God and Providence , when they have not had a By-cause to serve . What I have now mention'd and censur'd , was all , which for some while , Envy and Ingratitude against our Glorious Deliverer , and Rightful King , could advance in behalf of that shameful Paradox — which requires Allegiance to be paid to a successful Usurper , a King DE FACTO , who has no right to govern . But when it was observ'd , that neither our Law-Books , nor Bibles , by all the artful application of ill-affected Lawyers , and Priests , could be perswaded to spread a sheltring Umbrage over that shameful Paradox of theirs , which the denial of King WILLIAM's Right forc'd them to devise , some more refin'd Phoilosophers , with a particular Court-like Address , thought to save its Credit . The Throne ( say they ) being fill'd , [ no matter how ] we are protected by it , and the benefit of Protection requires the reciprocal duty of Obedience . By this one Argument , they would have us believe , that all Differences may be compromiz'd , their Consciences sav'd , and the Government in no danger . But by their Favour , tho' perhaps their Consciences may shift well enough , come what will ; yet I think the Government cannot be safely ventur'd upon their gratitude , we have had so many Plots , and Trayterous Correspondencies of Discontented Men , who were not only protected , but some of them trusted , and honour'd ; that there 's no avoiding such a suspicious thought . But to speak close to their Argument : They make possession of the Throne , tho' obtain'd by bloody , and violent Mischiefs , the same thing as Protection ; to an Usurper's Administration they give the name of a Benefit , and to such a Violent Benefit obtruded upon Men against their wills , they would have Obedience paid , as Duty . More Absurdities cannot well be crowded into so few words . A violent Possessour is like to give but an odd sort of Protection to them , who do not uphold his violent Possession , as far as they are able ; his dealing to all but the Friends of his Usurpation will look more like Tyranny than Protection , and must more properly be called an Injury than a Benefit . A violent Possessor does , by his first unjust Violence a present great Injury , to all them on whom he imposes his Yoke ; and how should they expect any future Benefit from him ? For , by his Usurpation , they are depriv'd of all Right to claim , or expect it by any Obligation of Laws , or claim of Justice ; what they shall chance to meet with of that kind , they must have from his unconfin'd Will and arbitrary Power , which is a very Capricious and Fortuitous thing . Are we oblig'd to obey a Prince , whom not our Law , but his own Might advanc'd over us ? Then it must be his Might that obliges us , and the Obedience which we pay , is Obedience per Force , Obedience falsly so call'd , in truth , it is no more Obedience than Possession is Protection , and Governing us whither we will or no , a Benefit ; true Obedience is from choice , and always paid for real and valuable Considerations . The due Allegiance of Subjects is paid for the Enjoyment of Life , Liberty and Property , defended by such Laws as the Subjects have consented to , the Execution of which Laws is committed to his Trust , who is by due Course of Law made their Governor , under what high Character or Title soever . He that is advanc'd to the Throne by due course of Law and Consent of the People , becomes a King De Jure , a Rightful and Lawful King , and to him Obedience is really due ; for , from his legal Possession , we have a real and not an imaginary Benefit under his Government ; we have a Protection from certain and known Laws , not from uncertain and unknown Will and Power . From this plain and clear state of the Case it appears , That our refin'd Philosophers in their neat Argument are guilty of a wilful or weak Mistake in putting one Word for another , in calling violent Possession Protection , an Injury , a Benefit , Suffering Obedience : Whether I should call it a wilful or weak Mistake , I know not , for ' t is not plain to me which they value most , their Wit , or Honesty , but a manifest Mistake it is , and will not pass upon the Nation , unless they who take such pains to dress things in Disguises , had that Command in Rhetorical Sophistry which the old Declamators at Athens so valued themselves upon , pretending to be able to make the worst Cause look well ; unless they could by artificial studied Words , and Strains of Wit , make the People esteem it as great a Benefit to live in the Apprehension and Expectation of being Slaves , as in the Condition of Subjects ; unless they could by wheedling Amusements , persuade them , that their Lives , Liberties and Properties are as safe under uncontrouled and Arbitrary Power , as under a Power limited by those Laws , which they themselves had a share in making . In short , if this be good Reasoning , he that fills a Throne , tho' he has no right to fill it , does , by filling it , give Protection to the People ; and by governing them without their Consent , bestows a Benefit upon them , in return for which they are oblig'd to obey him : Then Thieves that break open a House , and spare the Lives of the Family , may be said to give them Protection , and in disposing the Goods at their own Pleasure , to bestow a Benefit on the true Owners , and what the Owners suffer under such a Terror , may be called Obedience : Nay , according to these Measures , the Man that is hang'd may be said to pay Obedience , and he that trusses him up , right or wrong , is his Ruler De Facto . The Preachers of Passive Obedience made it their Business to abuse the People with a very pernicious false Doctrine , but they gave it a proper , agreeable , and true Name ; for , the plain signification of Passive Obedience is , Suffering , Actual Suffering , Irremediable Suffering : With a bareface it teaches , that if we receive no manner of Protection or Benefit by the Laws of the Land , but on the contrary , are depriv'd of our Liberties and Properties , yet we must submit and suffer : But the Authors of the Argument which I am reproving , are pleas'd to call Suffering , Obedience ; the one would enslave us by a confident belying of Religion , the other by a subtle misuse of seeming Reason . I have prov'd in General , that the distinction of a King De Jure and De Facto , as applied to King William , weakens the Government . I will now exemplisy the same in some Particulars . I. They that do not believe King William to be their King De Jure , i. e. their True and Lawful King , are not like to bear true Faith and Allegiance to him . They have no Motive , no Temptation to induce them : If they bear true Faith and Allegiance to a King , in their Opinion , an Usurper , they must contradict the Principles which God and Nature have implanted in them , they must cross their own present Inclinations without the Prospect of a future Advantage . It is as much as ever our Preachers can do , to keep Men from indulging their present Inclinations by the Hopes of a Recompence hereafter ; but 't would puzzle all their Eloquence to persuade them to this , when the Instance is not a moral Action fit to be done , nor any thing to be got by it . The wonderful and unreasonable Confidence of those Jacobizing Authors , who would persuade their Readers , that Allegiance ought to be paid to a King , whom they believe to have no Right to require it , made me with a strict Thoughtfulness consider , on what Bottom they could pretend to ground the Obligation ; but Bottom could I find none , save that from the Christian Precept of loving Enemies , a merry Man might make a Jest on 't . By the way , this most difficult of Christian Precepts , had been recommended to the World before our Blessed Master's Time , by wise Heathens , Grotius in his Book De Ver. Rel. Christianae , quotes several , but no wise Heathen or Christian , ever explain'd that Precept so far , as to exact the Payment of good Offices to an Enemy at the Expence of the just Rights of a Friend , or Allegiance to an arbitrary King in Possession , to the Wrong of the lawful King unhappily dispossess'd : And I am Opinion , that the Consideration of this , or a less justifiable cause mov'd a good Doctor to mince the matter thus : It is our Duty to pray for the King in Possession , while we take care to do it in such terms , as not to pray against the dispossess'd Prince . Which is as much as to say , We may pray that God would do such a King some small Personal Kindnesses , or so ; but not to discomfit his Enemies , or establish his Throne , and this justifies my Position . That they who do not believe King William to be their King De Jure , are not like to bear him true Faith and Allegiance ; we have but too long seen the Effects of the Doctor 's Caution , one while many were contented to pray for King William only from the Desk in appointed Forms , they abstain'd from mentioning his Name in the Pulpit ; the most thought it enough in General Terms to pray God to be Gracious to King William ; not one of a hundred at this Day dares pronounce him Rightful and Lawful King ; they will , 't is true , not grudge to call him the King that God has set over them ; but that 's an oblique Reflexion , for , the same is their Phrase also for an Usurper . The questioning King William's Title , was always the profess'd Cause of the Refusal of Swearing to bear Faith and true Allegiance to him . Indeed the above mention'd Doctor was pleas'd to tell the Nation , That he did not refuse the Oaths out of any Fondness for the Government of King James , nor Zeal for his Return : But I am confident he did not refuse them out of any Persuasion of the Right of King William , nor Zeal for his Establishment ; in Truth , his Refusal of the Oaths , was a plain Declaration of his Sense against King William's Right ; but when he took the Oaths , then to insinuate that King William had no Legal Right — hic nigrae succus soliginis , haec est aerugo mera . Yet this Doctor is a Saint , in Comparison with that Loyal Rector , who essay'd to prove , that notwithstanding his Oath to King William and Queen Mary , he had not put himself out of a Capacity to perform what he swore to the late King : Which makes it plain that they who are not persuaded of King William's Rightful Title , cannot be willing to give him , no , not their Oaths , unless it be for the better Opportunity to betray him . In short , I would sooner hope to find an Atheist , zealous to promote the practise of Vertue and Piety , than that the Government under King William should be rightly serv'd , by those that are persuaded of the Right of the late King. When the late King sent Forces against the late Duke of Monmouth he was in the right , not to put his trust in the County Troops , for he look'd upon many of them to have no opinion of his Title , but rather to think well of the cause of the Invader . 'T is the ordinary Policy of every Tyrant to oppress his own People with Mercenary Foreigners , or such Subjects of his own , as are Souldiers , who have nothing but Fortune , and his Bounty to trust to ; 't were as foolish to go about to suppress them by other Instruments , as 't is wicked to oppress them at all . Perhaps a hungry Lawyer may plead for his Fee against his Conscience , but a lover of his Country will not be the Chief Justice of an Arbitrary Monarch . II. They that do not believe King WILLIAM to be their Righful and Lawful King , are bound in Conscience to endeavour to dispossess him . I know there be some Casuists , who contend earnestly , that an Erroneous Conscience does not oblige a Man to follow it ; in proof of their Negative , they muster many Zealous , and some Witty Pleadings , proper to amuse , and entertain one sort of Readers , but no Man can be convinc'd by them . For God gave us Conscience to be our Guide , and Nature will have us to follow it , whether in the doing good or evil . I prove it by this plain Reason — if we are not oblig'd to obey an Erroneous Conscience , then we are not oblig'd to obey a right and well perswaded Conscience , for the Erroneous Conscience thinks it self in the right , as well as the Conscience that both thinks so , and is so . A Man who is Erroneously perswaded in Moral Matters cannot but sin ; he sins in following his Erroneous Conscience , when it prompts him to an Immoral Action , because by the Word of God , and Right Reason , he might have inform'd his Conscience better : He sins most audaciously when he acts against his Conscience , because he thinks it his Duty to obey it . Bishop Taylor teaches , That it is a greater sin to do a good Action against our Conscience , than to do an evil Action in obedience to it . The Example he brings answers exactly but to one part of his Rule , but comes near the other , and leads to our purpose . Fryar Clement the Jacobine thinks Erroneously , that it is lawful to kill his King : The poor Damosel Faucette thinks it unlawful to spit in the Church ; but it happen'd , that one day she did it against her Conscience ; and the Fryar one day with his Conscience and a long Knife kill'd the King. If the Question be here who sinn'd most , the disparity is next to infinite , the poor Woman was to be chidden for doing against her Conscience , and the other to be hang'd for doing according to his . Thus say I , those Assasines deserve to be hang'd who attempt to kill , and those also who consult , and labour to disposses our Rightful and Lawful King WILLIAM ; but while with an Erroneous Conscience , they believe him to be only King DE FACTO , i.e. a false King , but a real Usurper , I do not see how they can avoid Treason , and the danger of the Gallows . Now , bless us ! and deliver us ! Some Friends of the Party may say , from so barbarous Doctrine as this . What! Hang Men for obeying their Consciences ? and doing what in their Circumstances they could not avoid . But to abate their Wonder , and let them into the cruel Mystery , I reply , it is but a Just , Reasonable , and Necessary Doctrine ; for why should their Consciences disturb our Settlement , and endanger the Life of our King. They should labour to inform their Consciences better , or carry them to some other Country , where our Government , and the Life of our King , may be as safe from the treacherous practices of their Consciences , as their Consciences from the Just , and but too slow , Vengeance of the Government ; For , as Mr. Johnson told them long agoe . He ought not to live under any Government , who refuses to give it the customary and legal caution . They shall put you out of the Synagogues , said Christ to his Apostles , yea the time cometh , that whosoever killeth you , will think , that be doth God good service . Friend , and Perkins , and their Fellow Assassines thought themselves oblig'd in Conscience to take off King WILLIAM , because they look'd upon him only as a King DE FACTO , a meer Usurper : In Conscience they held themselves oblig'd to endeavour the Restoration of the late King , because they look'd on him as King DE IVRE . And rather than not effect these Purposes they engage to promote a French Invasion , which would have made bloody Work among us , but what car'd they for that , as long as it was to reinstate the right Heir . A more Mischievous Distinction cannot be imagin'd than this of a King DE IVRE , and DE FACTO , the former being applied to the late King , the latter to King WILLIAM ; but I will descend to some particular Instances . This wicked Distinction , thus Mischievously applied , long encourag'd troublesom Commotions in Scotland , but more fatally delay'd the Reduction of Ireland . It famish'd some Thousands in London-Derry , kept a gallant Army from Action One Summer for Six Weeks , that was , till the Season for Action was over ; so that the Victory of the next Year cost the King some of his own Blood , and the Life of his brave General . It betray'd our Councils , and brought the French Fleet into our Channel , prevented the pushing on our Successes , so that our dishonour is not yet reveng'd , as it ought , and perhaps might be , it expos'd our Merchants , and ruin'd our Trade , it hatch'd many a Hellish Plot in Ireland , in Flanders , in England , against the Life of King WILLIAM and Queen MART , against the Liberties of this Nation , and the Lives of all honest Protestants , it hinder'd the due Examination of discover'd Plots , and rescued Traytors convict , without obliging them to Confession . This Wicked , and Mischievously applied distinction contriv'd the last Hellish Conspiracy , laid it deep , and spread it wide , urg'd it on with a steddy Zeal , and unwearied Application under the Auspices of an exil'd Tyrant , and at the vast expence of his proud Protector , watch'd all opportunities to begin the Bloody Execution ; conceal'd it obstinately , pursued it after disappointments , and we have reason to believe , that we are not got so far into the horrid Secret , but they have their hopes to retrieve it . However , blessed be God , who has brought so much of it to light , that we shall not perish — that we shall not perish , — unless it be our own fault ; — if we please , — the Sun may be let in upon it , the Law may effectually spppress it , and then , — and not till then , we shall be safe , both we , and our King. The undantedly honest Mr. Johnson , and one or two more , out of dry love to their Country , some Years ago oppos'd this Wretched , Mischievous , and Misapplied Distinction , with Learning , Wit , and Reason ; but the Friends of the late King James could endure that Opposition , and reply little , while they met with no Penal Opposition from the Government : But when one or two of the Conspirators , averse to so horrid a Villany , as was in agitation among them , reveal'd the design to the King , and the King laid it before the House of Commons ; of a sudden the Spirits of that Honourable Body , the Representatives of the People of England , were rouz'd from the confus'd Lethargy of a doubtful Opinion , into a clear discerning Sense of the danger , into which the Sacred Life of KING WILLIAM , and all the dearest Interest of all true Englishmen were betray'd by the distinction of a King DE IVRE , and a King DE FACTO . Immediately therefore to repair their Errour , with a just warmth , they declar'd the right of their King , that so they might on a stable Rock , build their own defence , which had been vilely shaken by the rotten Foundation of an Usurper , daub'd over with the empty name only of a King. A very great Majority of that August Assembly , presently cheerfully subscrib'd the Association , wherein , after they Sincerely , and Solemnly Profess , Testifie , and declare , That his present Majesty King WILLIAM is Rightful , and Lawful King of these Realms ; they mutually promise and engage to stand by , and assist each other to the utmost of their Power , in the support and defence of his Majesties most Sacred Person , and Government , against the late King James and his Adherents . Further they oblige themselves , if the King should come to any violent and untimely death , which God forbid , to revenge the same on his Enemies , and their Adherents , Lastly , To support the Succession of the Crown according to an Act made in the First Year of KING WILLIAM and QUEEN MARY . The House of Lords also , moved by the same amazing occasion , as the Commons , damn'd the Mischievous distinction DE FACTO , and DE IVRE , declaring that His present Majesty King WILLIAM hath A Right by Law to the Crown , which Words one might be afraid of , but that their Lordships , ever Honourable , and Sincere , took care to secure them from Exception , by the next Plain , Righteous and Decretory Sentence , — And that neither the late King James , nor the pretended Prince of Wales , nor any other Person , hath any right whatsoever to the same . I can't see wherein this Declaration comes short of that of the House of Commons , for here the Lords determine , that King WILLIAM hath a Right by Law to the Crown , and such a Right by Law , that neither the late King , nor the pretended Prince of Wales , nor any other Person hath any Right whatsoever to the same ; then of Consequence , He hath all the right to the Crown that can be , all the right that ever Prince had , or can have . And is in their Lordships Judgments , what the Commons have declar'd him , Viz. our Rightful and Lawful King. I am glad the Houses are so well agreed . But alas ! neither has their happy Agreement , nor the following hearty and just Votes of the Commons carried the Association of the Commons thro' the Kingdom , with that success as might have been expected , and as was due to so well advised a Sanction for the Publick good . The reason of which disappointment I cannot imagine , for I hope , that Commoner's Chaplain was not in the right , who openly told an Acquaintance , that the Penalties inforcing the Association were only In terrorem . But as if he had been able to give the Refusers Security , many stood off , and began to frame Exceptions against it . To pass by the little Cavils , and impertient Sarcasms , started by vain and unquiet Men , who are proud to tell the World with what unfair Equivocation they swallow'd the Oaths of Allegiance , and consonant to that Scandalous Wickedness , will affix a sense of their own devising to the Parliament Association , or else Associate in a cold empty Form of their own drawing up ; to pass by every thing of this nature , I shall only reflect on the grand Exception , which is so common in the mouths of all the De facto Men. And that is this — They have as their bounden duty does require , that awful regard for the Divine Prohibition of Revenge , that they can by no means agree to oblige themselves to revenge the King 's violent death upon his Treacherous Enemies . To this I have several things to reply . 1. Tho' with some Men the Blood of a King is so cheap that it may be spilt like Water on the Ground , and they never trouble their hearts about it : Yet I make no question , but were it the Blood but of an Arch-Bishop of St. Andrew , they would be very active to hunt the Murtherers from their Coverts , and bring them to condign Punishment . That these words may not be wrested , I do avow , that it was a necessary piece of Justice , the Punishment of that Arch-Bishop's Murtherers . But I argue a fortiori , how necessary then is it to punish Wicked Regicides ? II. when a Noble Peer is impeach'd in Parliament for High-Treason , the Lords Spiritual pretend to a Right of Siting , and Voting among his Judges , so that Clergy-Men are not willing to be wholly Sequestred from their share in legal Revenges . III. When the House of Commons declar'd , [ upon the occasion of the Popish Plot , discover'd by Doctor Oates , ] that if His Majesty , King Charles , that then was , should come to any violent Death , [ which they pray'd God to prevent , tho' [ as 't is thought , ] they were not heard ] they would revenge it to the utmost on the Papists . None of this Clan of Non-Associators bawl'd against that Vote , as unchristian ; and yet I do not see , but King WILLIAM's Life is as precious , and ought to be as dear to the Nation as ever King Charles's was ; besides , I perswade my self , that popish Assassines deserve not to be more severely treated , than — than any other Assassines . IV. When any private Person unites with the House of Commons , to revenge the Violent death of the King , [ which God prevent , ] he unites with the Representatives of the Body of the People , for the just Execution of a legal Revenge . V. He that is not willing to do his part towards the bringing the Assassines of the King to suffer the Law , may be justly suspected as an Abettor of the Assassination , [ if such a thing should happen , which God prevent ] and if he be treated accordingly , he is not worse treated , than the old Lady Lisle . VI. In a state of Nature , every Man has a Right to preserve all his honest Interests against the Injuries of others , and to punish such Injuries according as he judges they deserve to be punish'd . In political Society every Man resigns up this natural right to the Community , who intrust some chosen Man or Men to govern them , by setled Laws made with their own Consent : Now if wicked Assassines shall traiterously take off the chief Head or Heads that govern , and so reduce the People to the unhappy Necessity of a new Choice , from whence may arise infinite Mischiefs , by Reason of the Differences of ambitious Pretenders , the People seem reduc'd to a state of Nature , and then every particular individual Person has a Right to be reveng'd of the Assassines . It is true , the English Government is Hereditary , and by Act of Parliament setled after the Death or demise of King William , on the Princess Ann and the Heirs of her Body , but then there is Danger that Jacobite Zeal may wade thro' more Blood to make a clear Vacancy for a Royal Abdicator ; and if so , there 's Reason for every true Englishman , by the Parliaments Association to denounce Vengeance against the Assassines ; but the single loss of King William alone by violent , sudden Treachery , might chance to throw us into those Confusions , that it is just and prudent to associate to be aveng'd of them , that shall tear that dear Interest from us . VII . Let who will refuse the Association , yet it is honestly and wisely done of them who enter into it ; for thereby they not only discharge the Duty which they owe to the King ; but also do that which has a powerful Influence to deter execrable Assassines from attempting the desperate Villany ; for it is the hope of Impunity that confirms the bold Nonjurers in their declar'd Enmity to King William ; the hope of Impunity that animates the sneaking perjur'd Jurors to abide by their mischievous Distinction of a King De Facto and De Jure ; the hope of Impunity that hatches Conspiracies , and carries on Correspondencies with France ; and no doubt King-killers hereafter will be harder to be hired , because that particular Villany has the least hope of Mercy ; to say no more , 't is the hope of Impunity that hardens a perverse Conscience , and makes so many Non-associators . VIII . 'T is not indeed unwisely done of the Non-associators , that they may put the best Colour they can upon their Refusal , to pretend that they are Christians , and cannot be reveng'd , no not upon their most mischievous Enemies ; but then it is easy to see thro' this Pretence ; a wet Finger will fetch off the false Varnish ; for tho' they dare not for the World Associate to revenge the violent Death of King William ; yet they are well contented to give up Three Nations to the Vengeance of the late King , who if ever he returns , [ which God of his Infinite Mercy , I beseech him , prevent ] will return like the Evil Spirit in the Gospel , with Seven other Spirits more wicked than himself , and the last state of our Nation shall be worse than the first : For , as it is said by the Apostle , It had been better never to have known the way of righteousness , than having known , to depart therefrom : So it had been better for us never to have been deliver'd from the Yoke of the late King's Tyranny , than to submit our Necks to it again ; if he hooks us under his Power a second time , it will be a Mercy to dispatch us ; he will hamper us so sufficiently , that our next Deliverer must be that sure Conqueror , who makes the ill figure in Churches with his Scythe and Hour-glass . IX . Among the rest of the Mischiefs whereof the De Jure and De Facto distinction is the procuring Cause , set it down for one , That it keeps them who falsly and maliciously apply it to King WILLIAM , from associating with their Representatives in Parliament . It comes into my Mind now , very opportunely , I think , That their Tyrant De Jure , just upon his departure , [ and the Words of departing Friends we know sink deep into the Minds of good Christian People ] advis'd his Loyal Officers and Soldiers expresly , and all his other Well-wishers [ not worth naming ] tacitly , not to expose themseves by resisting a foreign Enemy , and a poison'd Nation [ that was his Complement to Old England ] but to keep themselves free from Associations and such pernicious things . Our mischievous Distinguishers have observ'd this Advice most exactly , they have not yet rashly ventur'd their Carcasses in the Field against our King and Government . Their Treachery must succeed before they try their Valour ; and as for Associations , and such pernicious things , they most religiously keep themselves pure and undefil'd . For another particular Instance of the Mischief caus'd by the wretched Distinction , I might mention , That it encourages the Attempts of the French King , to re-impose on us the late King James as his Deputy , [ for that 's the most the late King in his vainest hopes can expect ; nay , if it should rain Crowns and Miracles on his Head , who may have more Faith to believe the latter , than Strength to bear the former ; he must govern by the imperious Dictates of his Protectors Arbitrary Will , he must be but the prime Minister of a superior Tyrant , nay , hardly that , for Lewis would not trust him but under French School-masters , and having first deliver'd up cautionary Towns. ] If King Lewis were not well assur'd that the mischievous Distinction was suffer'd among us with impunity , he would not be at the Expence of a Livre to make a Descent upon us , but rather be glad to secure his own Shoars , which indeed is more than he can do now , Rebus sic stantibus . But that I may not on this Head chance to touch on some things said before , I am content to dismiss it with this bare mentioning , only let me take my leave of the De Facto Men with one question upon the whole matter : Since they vex their Wits to serve the Fury of a Prince whose Tyranny t' other day themselves could not brook , let them tell the World , Is Tyranny one of those Blessings whose value we can never enough esteem till we begin to want it ? I make haste to conclude my Discourse , and therefore shall wholly pass by some little Inconveniences caus'd by the Distinction of a King De Facto and De Jure , such as that it hinders the late King's Devotions ; if it were not for the vain hope of returning to be reveng'd of a certain poison'd Nation ; why , he might retire to a Religious House , and spend the Remnant of his Life in Prayers , Mass it early and late , for the Soul of his Elder Brother , or any of the unlucky Assassines that t'other day fell in his Cause , and might for ought he knows drop into Purgatory notwithstanding their Absolution : Or if a Court is the thing with which his Heart is ravish'd , he might e'en betake himself to his Holy Father , the Blessed Pope's Holy Court , where he might be forgiven , submitting to Penance , all the Improvidences and Cowardize in his frustrated pious Attempt to Massacre a Nation or two of Hereticks . As a Corallary to the foregoing Discourse , take this — The Impunity of them who own King WILLIAM only as a King De Facto , discourages the Friends of the Government , who own him , and believe him to be our Rightful and Lawful King. It is true , a Man of steddy Vertue will not be put by the Practice of those Duties which serve the Interest of his Country , by any Neglects from the Government , or Apprehensions of Danger likely to happen : But surely their Number , who have wrought themselves up to such consummate Excellence , bears no Proportion , either with their own Friends , who are but [ more or less ] well inclin'd , or with their Enemies who are mischievously bent : Of the most of them that sincerely believe King WILLIAM to be rightful and lawful King ; I fear this is the extent of their Praise : They are ready to defend the Government as far as the Government is willing to defend it self and them ; but cautiously do they abstain from an over-active Zeal , which is not well accepted , for fear it should be visited upon them and their Children in another Revolution . For my part , I believe it as impossible for our late King James , to recover his forfeited and abdicated Crowns , as for the intreaguing King of France to make himself Monarch Universal : But the annual Succession , and thickning of Jacobite Plots , and the last refusal of a Bill to be brought in , obliging certain persons to abjure King James ; convince me , that Men of good and bad Principles , have , the one hop'd for , the other suspected and fear'd such a new dismal Scene of Affairs . And , for ought I know , the Establishment and Security of the Government under King WILLIAM , may be owing more to what has been done against it , than to what has been done for it . Perîssem nisi perîssem : I think it was the Saying of the brave Themistocles , by which I suppose he design'd to declare that it was his Opinion , he had not arriv'd at that Heighth of Greatness , if he had not been ruffled , oppos'd and banish'd ; and I am very fully satisfied , that if it had not been for this last devillish Invasion and Assassination-Plot , we had not in haste declar'd King WILLIAM our Rightful and Lawful King , nor associated for the Preservation of his Life , by threatning to revenge his violent Death . There is a difference between those that were to have had their part in the Assassination , and those that were concern'd only in the Invasion . The Assassines are not able to devise any the least colour to take off from the Heinousness of their intended Villany . Perkins was a little asham'd of this infamous Design ; but as for the Promoters of the Invasion , their Treason was but Consonant to their old mischievous Distinction of a King De Facto and De Jure : Some of the Assassines have met their deserv'd Fate , but the simple Invaders have hardly been scar'd ; yet if they shall not be call'd to an Account also [ who bid fair for slaying Ten Thousands of the People , and so making up in Numbers , a Sacrifice equal to that of their King ] they will not only be confirm'd that they have distinguish'd well , but prompted more vigorously to pursue the fatal end and purpose of their threatning Distinction . And this indeed is enough and enough to cool the Zeal , and to discourage the Endeavours of them that are otherwise very well dispos'd to serve the Interests of King WILLIAM , their Country , and the Protestant Religion . Our King himself is not capable of endangering his own just Rights , or the Safety of the People of England , unless by his singular Mercy and Goodness , which like his fearless Valour , knows no Bounds : as for the Representatives of the People , it may be Reasonably presum'd , they will at last provide , that the De Facto Jacobites shall not have the Temptation of Impunity to attempt to subvert the Liberties of the Nation , and to destroy the Lives of all that love their Liberties . They have indeed , according to the Trust reposed in them , honestly endeavour'd and advanc'd some Paces towards such a necessary Provision , by their Noble , Just , and Righteous Association : But there remains a great deal more for them to do still , lest what they have already done , be frustrated , and render'd all together ineffectual ; for their Association is no sooner drawn up , subscrib'd by a great Majority , and the Session prorogu'd . But Ante-Associations are form'd against it by some of the Clergy , not indeed in broad Words directly contrary , but in cold and empty Flourishes of their own devising , and such borrowed Expressions as they imagine capable of an interpretation , that will not utterly subvert their Distinction of a KING DE FACTO , and DE IVRE , Which Distinction while it Reigns unpunish'd , KING WILLIAM does not reign secure . Several of the Ante-Associations were drawn up so little favouring the Title of His present MAJESTY , so little consulting the Security of his Administration , that it was scandalously manifest , the Subscribers associated only in lewd Hypocisy , to avoid the Envy of Non-associating , to sham the Authority of the Nation with some deceitful Complements , but in Reality and Truth , to preserve their dear Distinction . Such Associations therefore as these , were rejected , as they well deserved , nor could all the Academic Elegance bestowed upon them , help them through the officious Hands of Friends , to his Majesty's gracious Acceptance : But these Gentlemen carried it highly , if his Majesty would not accept such Association as they had drawn up , he should have none at all from them . This being observ'd by other Persons of the same Order , they wisely consider'd what Inconveniences might possibly happen from not Associating at all , and therefore determin'd to comply , but resolv'd to come off as cheap as they could . They would venture to Associate , but not with their Parishoners in the Form prescrib'd by the House of Commons [ except here and there an honest Parson that had no Priestcraft in him ] wherefore they carefully abstain from declaring it to be their perswasion , that His present Majesty King WILLIAM , is Rightful and Lawful King of these Realms ; and as for his Violent and untimely death , should it happen , which God prevent , they oblige not themselves to revenge it upon his Enemies and their Adherents . But let us see ! What do they give us in the room of RIGHTFUL AND LAWFUL KING , and instead of making it the utmost danger to kill him ? Why ? They borrow some words from the Association of the House Lords , and insert the same among some empty Flourishes of their own ; upon which I note , that , altho' the Form of the Association of the House of Lords , be in the Literal , Plain , and Obvious Sense , and in the Sense by them intended , Truly , Just , and Highly Loyal , yet when Clergy-men , who are represented by the House of Commons , and not by the House of Lords , shall Associate in the Language of the latter , and not of the former , it is a manifest sign , that they dislike the Association of the House of Commons , and that , tho' the Association of the Lords tends to the same Just , Noble and Necessary Purposes , yet in their Opinion it may be interpreted to signifie something less . It cannot be imagin'd , that any of the Clergy should decline the Association of the House of Commons , by whom they are represented , if they were perswaded that the same was a Just , and Righteous Association ; it cannot be imagin'd that they should prefer the Phrase of the House of Lords , by whom they are not represented , if they were firmly perswaded [ as I declare my self to be ] that , that Phrase did come fully up , to the Sense of the House of Commons , and could not possibly be interpreted to signifie , with a Jacobite abatement , something favourable to their mischievously applied distinction of a King De Facto , and De Jure . Now in this their Practise they do a great injury to both Houses , they audaciously slight the one , and wickedly traduce the other . What reward so high a Misdemeanour may deserve , I take not upon me to pronounce ; but I hope I may have leave to say , that these Clergy-Association-Separatists have not that unquestionable fair pretence to His Majesties Special Graces and Favours , as the voluntary Subscribers of the Association of the House of Commons ; indeed they may , considering the Wonderful Generosity of the King , expect as much Forgiveness as they shall need , and more Grace and Favour than they are dispos'd to deserve : But it were a Presumption very like Impudence in them , to hope that His Majesty King WILLIAM should prefer them before his best affected Liege People , who Associate , [ as is most Just and Proper , Fair and Unexceptionable ] with their Representatives in Parliament , Heartily , Sincerely , and Solemnly Professing , Testifying and Declaring , that His Present Majesty King WILLIAM is Rightful and Lawful King of these Realms , &c. And that they will stand by one another , in revenging his untimely death , [ which God prevent ] upon His Enemies and their Adherents . It was a very sharp Reflection , and , I would very fain perswade my self , an unjust one , that of Mr. Dryden , For Priests of all Religions are the same ; but it grieves my Soul to think , that so necessary an order of Men , Protestants , as well as Papists , should be so generally given to oppose the Proceedings of the State. Old and Crazy is the Body , I cannot say , which I carry about with me , but which is carried about for me ; but yet , I am in hopes , that it will hold out , till all His Majesties Subjects represented by the Commons , be taught the necessity of Subscribing the Association of the House of Commons ; for , I well remember , how before the end of their last Sessions , they set their own Members a day to Subscribe it , or declare their Refusal ; also the Names of Refusers were requir'd to be return'd , from all or most Towns of the Kingdom ; which was setting and a distinguishing Mark upon them ; and it is not reasonable to suppose , that they will suffer their August Assembly , and Wise Councils to be so contemptuously us'd , as they must be , if that Form of Association , which their Wisdom judg'd absolutely necessary to save the Honour and Life of the King ; the Lives , Liberties , and Religion of the Subject , happen to be disappointed by particular Forms of Association , devis'd by some Discontented Ecclesiasticks , who refuse to declare , that His present Majesty King WILLIAM is Rightful and Lawful King of these Realms ; and have so very little love for His Person , that who as will may Assassinate him , for all them , with impunity . O the Christianity of these Gentlemen ! Whose Consciences will not serve them to be aiding and assisting any just Orders of Legal Revenge ! If this be Christianity , commend me to the Manners , and Doctrine of Heathens . But why should Christianity be reproach'd for their sakes ? That Holy Institution neither injures the Civil Rights of particular Persons , nor alters the Grand Reason on which Political Societies , Kingdoms , and Commonwealths are founded , and preserv'd . Salus populi the good of the People is the grand Reason on which Political Societies are founded ; the good of the People requires that Enormous Wickednesses should not escape unpunished ; he that has it in his power , but will not contribute to the Legal Punishment of an Infamous Assassin , is wanting in the duty which he owes to that Body Politick , whereof he is a Member , In short , every Member of a Body Politick is in strict justice oblig'd to endeavour , as far as in him lies , to bring to Legal Punishment the Bloody Villain that shall murder the meanest of his Fellow Subjects ; this is a duty , which by the Fundamental Reason of Society is owning from every single Person to the Publick ; how much more strongly does it oblige , if a brave Prince should fall [ which God forbid ] by the Treacherous Cruelty of ingrateful Miscreants , prompted by a disappointed Tyrant , and supported by a Faithless , Enchroaching Foreign Enemy ? It is a very odd thing , that any Men should pretend Conscience for their forbearance of that action , which they are bound in duty to perform , tho' they look no farther , than their being Members of a Body Politick . There is no Government upon the face of the Earth , that will take them in upon other conditions , than their agreeing to be reveng'd upon those Assassines , whose desperate Malice shall wound the Publick in so noble a part , as her Chief Officer . And therefore we have good reason to hope , that since the Government knows her boldest Enemies who [ mindful of the Advice from Rochester ] will not Associate with us at all ; and her No-friends who will not Associate in the form of the House of Commons , since , I say , the Government knows them intus & incute , fully , and throughly , [ as she well may , after Seven long Years troublesom experience ] that she will now at last take the necessary security , that security which Providence hath so loudly , and so oft proclaim'd to be the only necessary ; by which not only the Government , but , by the blessing of God , even the Enemies thereof may be brought to their right Wits , and sav'd from cruel Tyranny , and foolish Superstition . This looks , some may object , as if I wish'd , that the Association of the House of Commons might be impos'd on the Clergy . I might reply , if that really was my wish , I know no great harm which would follow ; but I rather choose with all softness to clear the purpose of my Writing . I remember to have read some Author , who vindicating the practice of the Church , [ which sometime had been , ] in compelling Men to Conformity , when he was asham'd to affirm in express terms , that violence might be offer'd to Mens Consciences , in matters about Religious Worship ; He gave this turn to the matter — they might lawfully be compell'd to consider . I mean no more , as to our Dissenting Associators . And I am perswaded , let the Government give them but one good Argument able to move them to consider the matter , they will never stand with their Representatives for the Phrase of RIGHTFUL AND LAWFUL KING , no , nor the Word REVENGE neither , which when the Parliament threatned against the King's Enemies , they never dream'd it would scare the Clergy . For the ground of this my perswasion , I will tell the Reader a Story . When Pope Paul the Vth. quarrell'd with the Venetians , the Imprisonment of a brace of Ecclesiastick Villians was the least thing that troubled him . But the great Offence was from Two Decrees , the First commanding that no more Churches should be Erected within the City Precincts ; the Second that no more Lands should be alienated to the Ecclesiasticks , without leave had from the Senate . It seems the Senate were for Governing the Republick , by such Decrees , as they judg'd necessary for the Publick Good. The Pope Excommunicates the Duke and Senate , lays their Dominions under his Interdict , the Jesuits Associating on the side of his Holiness , obey the Interdict , and refuse to say Mass ; for this , the Senate banishes them , but the People Associating with the Senate , instead of mutining for the Holy Fathers now ready to depart each Man with the Hoast at his Neck , intimating that they and JESUS CHRIST were both taking their leave together , bid them be gone with a vengeance . The Senate pursu'd their steaddy Resolutions with an Order that all Ecclesiasticks , who would not continue the Celebration of Divine Service , should retire out of their Dominions ; upon this , many of the Holy Men , especially the Capuchins , had the Courage to make a noise of departing , they intended to have gone out in Procession with the Sacrament , but that the Senate forbid it ; they actually did use all Arts to make the People apprehend the sadness of their case , and that the being without Priests was being without God in the World. One Morning therefore they celebrated Mass , they eat up all their Gods , and concluded the Service without blessing the People . But the Senate stood firm to their Order , and the People were quiet , and content to take care of their own Souls , which so troubled these Holy Fathers , that several alter'd their minds , and were content to stay and do their Duties , most of the Capuchins in the Territories of Berscia and Bergamo wisely consider'd that they could not live half so well without their Flock , as their Flock without them ; therefore when they saw they could not help it , they associated with the Senate , and celebrated Divine Service as before , notwithstanding the Pope's Interdict . I will not say , That every thing in this Story , which relates to the Senate of Venice and their Clergy , runs paralel with the Circumstances between the Government , and our Clergy-dissenting-Associators ; but if any one shall say , that there is no manner of Resemblance between the one and the other , I must beg his Pardon . What may or may not be fitly applied , the Reader shall freely judge , I will not labour to prepossess him with my Notions ; yet I will make bold to affix one Note to the Story , and That 's this — It was not with the Popish Religion , nor its Ministers , that the Senate had a Difference ; only this they firmly resolv'd , that none should be Ministers of Religion for them , that would not own , that the Senate had a Rightful and Lawful Authority to govern the Republick by what Decrees they pleas'd , without asking leave of the Pope . The Readers Trouble shall be over , when I have told him , it is not the Church of England , nor Ministers of the Church of England , as such , that I have here tax'd ; for I heartily and sincerely profess a profound Veneration to the Right Reverend Fathers in God , my Lords , the Archbishops and Bishops that are as faithful to his Majesty King WILLIAM , and the Interest of their Country , as Paolo Sarpio Veneto , better known by the Name of Father Paul , was to the Senate of Venice ; I highly esteem and regard all the inferior Clergy , whose Honesty and Loyalty keeps even Paces with the House of Commons , the Representatives of the People of England , and equals them to those Venetian Ecclesiasticks , who prefer'd the Decrees of the Senate their Lawful Governors before the Interdiction of their Holy , Medling , Spiritual Father , the Pope . POSTSCRIPT . OF the Mischiefs which flow from the seditious Distinction of a King De Facto and De Jure , there is no end ; as oft as I think of it , new Instances of its Mischievousness occur to my mind : For might not a French Commissioner at a Treaty of Peace , from hence take occasion to argue after this manner — As it was said in behalf of the Dutch , when they first refus'd the Bank of England's Bills , Why should they take them , when the English among themselves would not ? So it may be said in behalf of the French King , Why should he own King William for Rightful and Lawful King of England , &c. when so many of the Clergy , enjoying their Tythes and Pulpits , and not a few of the Laity in publick Office and Imployment will not ? Might not the Monsieur pursue the Raillery thus — When the Government does not think fit to impose the Lawfulness of King William's Title on the Consciences of the Clergy , and all other Officers and Magistrates commissionated by his Majesty , why should it be impos'd on the Conscience of the French King , who is none of King William's Subject , but a Crown'd Head , as well as himself ? I know not what could be reply'd to this argumentative Raillery , which mingles Reason and Reproach together , unless that English Subjects of all Orders and Degrees should be better taught their Duty for the future , and then the French King would stand with us for nothing — When once those wretched Inventions of Usurpation , Conquest and Desertion , Branches of the De Facto Doctrine , are penally restrain'd , as by English Law they might and ought to be ; there 's not a Clergyman of an hundred , but shall justify the choice of the People and speak honourably of the Conventional Parliament ; there 's not a Lay-Magistrate but shall know under whom , and for whom he was created , and dare as well be — as betray King William or his Country . Let Clergy-men and Lay-men be compell'd to Associate in the Form of the House of Commons , to defend their Rightful and Lawful King William , and to revenge his untimely Death , which God prevent , [ and a very little compulsion will doe , for the most backward of them , are only a little Knavish , or so , not obstinate ] and there shall not be a Mercenary Villain found , that will be hir'd to lift up a hand against him , not a Crown'd , nor Decrown'd Head so foolishly wicked , as to go about to hire them . Note , That this should have been inserted among the Arguments , which are offer'd against the Non-Associators , who scruple the word Revenge . A Parliament-Association with the Royal Assent , is in all its Parts , as Legal , as any other Parliamentary Act with the same Royal Assent ; and if the Supream Authority of a Nation , may decree what sort of Punishment , they judge most proper , to be inflicted on Thieves and Robbers , House-breakers and Murderers ; nothing hinders but that they may decree what Punishments they please , to be inflicted on those Treacherous Assassines , that shall kill King William . And if the Supream Authority of a Nation may lawfully Authorize all and every Person of the Nation to kill a mischievous Out-law , where e're they find him ; no Reason can be giv'n why they may not Authorize all and every Person of the Nation to be reveng'd according to the utmost of their power , of the Treacherous Assassines that shall kill King William . It is the interest of the Nation that such Treacherous Assassines should not scape Vengeance , it is therefore the prudence of the Parliament to Commission every particular Man against them . FINIS . Some Books sold by John Lawrence , at the Angel in the Poultery . THE Life of the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter , Published by Mr. Mathew Sylvester , Folio . Mr. Lorrimers Apology for the Ministers , who Subscribed only to the Stating of Truths and Errors in Mr. William's Book , in Answer to Mr. Trail's Letter . 4 o Mr. Lorrimer's Remarks upon Mr. Goodwin's Discourse of the Gospel . 4 o Dr. Burton's Discourses of Purity , Charity , Repentance , and seeking first the Kingdom of God. Published with a Preface by Dr. John Tillotson , late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury . In 8 o Bishop Wilkin's Discourse of Prayer , and Preaching . Mr. Adday's Stenographia : Or the Art of Short-Writing Compleated , in a far more Compendious way than any yet Extant , 8 o Mr. Addy's Short-Hand Bible . The London Dispensatory reduced to the Practice of the London Physitians ; wherein are contained the Medicines both Galenical and Chymical that are now in use , those out of use omitted ; and those in use , not in the Latin Copy , here added . By John Peachey of the College of Physitians London . 12 o Atkin's English Grammer : Or the English Tongue reduced to Grammatical Rules , Composed for the use of Schools . 8 o Cambridge Phrases for the use of Shools . 8 o The Dying Man's Assistant : Or , Short Instructions for those who are concern'd in the Preparing of Sick Persons for Death . Being also no less worthy the Consideration of all Good Christians in time of Health . As shewing the Importance of an Early Preparation for their Latter End ; with regard as well to their Temporal , as Eternal State. 12 o Books sold by R. Baldwin , near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane . THE History of Religion . Written by a Person of Quality . 1694. A Twofold Vindication of the late Archbishop of Canterbury , and of the Author of The History of Religion . The first part defending the said Author against the Defamations of Mr. Fr. Atterbury's Sermon , and both those eminent Persons against a Traiterous Libel , titled , The Charge of Socinianism against Dr. Tillotson consider'd . In two Letters to the Honourable Sir R. H. The Second containing Remarks on the said Sermon , and a Reply to the same Libel : Wherein some Right is done to that great and good Man , Dr. Tillotson , in the Points of the Original of Sacrifices , the Sacrifice of Christ , Future Punishments , &c. and a Word in Defence of the Eminent Bishop of Salisbury . By another Hand . 1696. Twelve Dissertations out of Monfieur Le Clerk's Genesis , Concerning I. The Hebrew Tongue , II. The manner of Interpreting the Bible . III. The Author of the Pentateuch . IV. The Temptation of Eve by the Serpent . V. The Flood . VI. The Confusion of Languages . VII . The Original of Circumcision . VIII . The Divine Appearances in the Old Testament . IX . The Subversion of Sodom . X. The Pillar of Salt. XI . The coming of Shiloh . XII . The several obscure Texts in Genesis Explain'd and illustrated . Done out of Latin by Mr. Brown. To To which is added , a Dissertation concerning the Israelites Passage through the Red Sea. By another Hand . 1696. Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A70272-e190 * Jovian .