An additional discovery of Mr. Roger L'Estrange his further discovery of the Popish plot wherein Dr. Titus Oates and the rest of the King's evidences are vindicated from the aspersions cast upon them in that pamphlet : together with some new observations upon the said discovery not heretofore publisht / in a letter to Dr. Titus Oates by B.W. B. W. 1680 Approx. 90 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 11 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A71292 Wing W3 ESTC R7902 10526123 ocm 10526123 45206 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. A71292) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 45206) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 522:12 or 1394:39) An additional discovery of Mr. Roger L'Estrange his further discovery of the Popish plot wherein Dr. Titus Oates and the rest of the King's evidences are vindicated from the aspersions cast upon them in that pamphlet : together with some new observations upon the said discovery not heretofore publisht / in a letter to Dr. Titus Oates by B.W. B. W. L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704. Oates, Titus, 1649-1705. 20 p. [s.n], London : 1680. This item is identified as Wing B205B at reel 1394:39 and as Wing W3 at reel 522:12. Wing number B205B cancelled in Wing (CD-ROM, 1996). Reproduction of originals in the Harvard University Library and the 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. 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 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 Popish Plot, 1678. Great Britain -- History -- 1660-1714. 2007-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-05 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2007-05 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion AN Additional Discovery OF Mr. ●OGER L'ESTRANGE HIS FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE Popish Plot : WHEREIN Dr. TITUS OATES , And the rest of the King's Evidences ARE VINDICATED From the Aspersions cast upon them in that PAMPHLET . TOGETHER With some New Observations upon the said Discovery , not heretofore Publisht . In a Letter to Dr. Titus Oates , By B. W. LONDON , Printed in the Year . 1680. SIR , I Having been lately presented by a Friend with a Pamphlet , entituled , A further Discovery of the Plot , Dedicated to your self Doctor , by Roger L'Estrange , and called the Second Edition : I have perused the same , and weighed it seriously , and considering the Consequences thereof , as it is full of gross Mistakes , Fallacies , Equivocations and Ironies , both in the Title Page and Body of it ; I have spent a few leisure hours to make my Observations upon it , which I recommend to your better Judgment . In the Title Page is imployed new Fact to deceive the Reader , but the said Author's Subject is only his own fallacious inferences of part of your Fact , as the Devil did by the Scriptures with our Saviour , for his own Ends. In the beginning of his Epistle to your self , as a Theam to work upon , he sets up a man of straw , a spawn of his own brain by charging you with saying , That you told him he was a Papist , and that he reported you were a Fanatick , and upon this Foundation he frames his whole discourse , good Gentleman , as he says , to discharge himself and you from those two Calumnies ( as he calls them ) and as a proof of this assertion ( if you will believe him ) he tells you , It was improved by a couple of Nonsensical and Seditious Libels , which he names in his Pamphlet , as also give you the style and character of the Author by hearsay , a small thread-bare Sollicitor in the Old Bayly , which , as he says , often uses your name , and makes bolder with it than stands with the Dignity of your Figure in the Government . It seems he would monopolize the abusing of you ; but this I take to be a much more unequal coupling , than was by Doctor Wilde between Monsueir L'Estrange and Strange Lee : For whether or no there be any such Sollicitor there , or if there be , that he was Author of such things , or if he was , that it was with your privity or knowledge , which is thereby plainly and strongly implied , but aspersedly and groundlesly insinuated , is altogether uncertain , and I am satisfied will hardly be found true by a packt Jury ( to use his own Phrase ) upon that Evidence of his , and for the truth of it , I doubt he cannot find a Second . Then the Author proceeds to tell you , he is reviled by being called a Papist , a Lessener of the Plot , a Disparager of the King's Evidence , which he cannot bear , but resolves either frankly to acquit himself , or sinke under it , and I appeal to your self and every impartial man , if by that Book he merits not the latter , and also the same reward he allows due to his fellow Scribler , though upon several Foundations , and I am sure the unerring Rule is , he that is not with , is against . I think the Author conceives he hath done you Doctor no small honour , to make you his Ghostly Father , and indeed it 's enforced very vigorously by an imprecation of his hopes of Heaven , and therefore he thinks you cannot without breach of the Rules of Charity , but believe he is a true Son of the Church of England . Indeed Doctor , I cannot foresee why you should doubt of the Veracity of this Assertion , seeing you have it from the mouth of one that never brake Faith with Man or Woman , nor ever betrayed any , unless you mean to have further and more demonstrable Evidence before you lend him your belief ; for in these Cases I know you generally direct your Judgment by the infallible Rule of our blessed Saviour , that Trees must be known best by their Fruit ( not their Leaves ; ) if so , then give me your patience further to acquaint you with my Sentiments of this his second Elaborate Work , and see what I can find how he hath made good his Title Page or his Assertion , and how good a Son Mr. L'Estrange hath proved himself thereby , to his Mother the Church of England . He says , he is not without Bowels of humanity to men of other perswasions , but I am perswaded one that dares not take upon himself to affirm he deserves such a Title with that Epithite he challenges , yet would àlso allow them Bowels of Christianity ; but I know there are various degrees of Members in a true Church ▪ as Babes , and others of a stronger constitution , but I shall not determine by his expressions which of them I take , the Author but leave that to more discerning Judgments . He pretends to be mighty plain and open hearted to you , for he tells you as a Friend , as he saith , he hath moxe Charity for a Moral Pagan than twenty Hypocritical Christians . I shall not give you any trouble of my thoughts , who this worthy Author means , either by Pagan or Christian , but only assure you , if it were true , this is one of the main parts of his Discovery in that Pamphlet , especially as to me , for indeed I have not learned that distinction of a Christian afore , but always from the Woes pronounced in Scripture against Hypocrites , I took them not to be Christians . This kind Author says , he hath a natural Veneration for the Government , and all that love it , the King 's Loyal Witnesses , and Preservers of his Life , he believes the Plot , as much of it as every good Subject ought , nay , and pawns his Conscience ( which doubtless is large ) you do not believe more of it , for all this give me leave to tell you Doctor , I am of a quite contrary opinion , for I know you are of a sharper sight than to have your Judgment eclipsed with a Fogg ; yet truly upon the whole Scope and Matter of his Discourse in that Pamphlet , I am satisfied he could not ( though I know others do and would , and know they ought ) have afforded more than a natural veneration for all those things ; but I may tell you Doctor , though not the Author ( lest I should be offensive to hi● natural Judgment ; ) That things of God ( as I take this in a great measure to be ) are not to be rightly understood by meer natural men , and in that capacity only he must herein be certainly apprehended , as may more fully be deduced from his following Words , that he cannot believe what he does not , nor cannot , as that Bedingfield is alive again , and what is this to you , and what can rationally be deduced from it , but that a Crack-fart of the Nation having stuffed it into his Fardel , without any privity of yours , for ought appears , it must be made use of as a Reflection upon you , and truly this as strongly Seconded by a Learned Instance of buttered Turnips , but it 's a very slippery one , and indeed as saucy as all the rest , and of as little moment with men of sound understanding , because it plainly intimates your Evidence is as little to be credited as that Assertion , but perchance his opinion may have some influence upon those two sorts of Persons he appropriates to his Party by these Words ( our crafty Knaves and our foolish ) but I hope of no other . But when I came to consider of the Conclusion of that Paragraph ( That where Authority had passed a Sentence , there is no longer any place for Hesitation or Demurr ) and an hand of remark upon it by Capital Letters ; I had been amazed , but that I did awaken and rouse my self by calling to mind some Proverbial Sayings , that there is none so blind as he that will not see , and that some sort of Persons had need have good Memories , and the like ; for this made me conclude , that either the Author of that Pamphlet did not understand what he had uttered in his unworthy Reflections upon you Doctor , or else he did not consider that by this his Conclusion ( which all sober men must agree to be true ) he had produced and published a full and sufficient proof against himself , how he had thereby ( I mean his Reflections ) put an Affront not to be forgiven or forgotten , not upon you alone , but upon His Sacred Majesty , the Government , the Justice and Reputation of the Nation ; In regard His Majesty publickly in His Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament had so far owned yours and others discovery of this damnable and hellish Plot , That He was graciously pleased therein to declare His real satisfaction in it , and gave them His Royal Assent and Direction to prosecute the same , which was followed with an Eloquent one of the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor , and pressed and forced with Cogent Arguments and Reasons , and in regard the House of Peers had owned the same by their Votes , their Committing of Criminals therein , and other their Proceedings thereupon , as also the House of Commons by their Votes , their Addresses , their Impeachments , their Committings of Criminals therein , and other their Proceedings thereupon ; the Lord Chief Justice his joyning with the opinion of the then House of Commons , and his ready and chearful committing of Persons accused thereof upon your single Oath , his and other the Learned Judges and Justices of the Peace in a Judicial manner proceeding against several of the said Criminals , and the Verdicts of many Juries , consisting of many Loyal Persons given upon yours and others Testimony , with much more of this kind , which is so well and generally known , that I need not give my self the trouble of writing , nor you of reading them , and truly Doctor , the consideration of these things have given me ample satisfaction , and so I doubt not but it will do every really true Christian English-man , or else to me it seems only strange . But before this Author comes to his full Vindication , he must have another fling at you Doctor , for he says he hath a great value for your Function , Imployment and Charracter ; what these are in his Equivocal meaning , no body certainly can tell but himself , and you need not doubt but he well understands himself , or at least he would have you and the world to believe so by his Publishng it , for he still keeps the Staff in his own hands for to make himself Judge ; For he believes you as far as he ought , which according to true enterpretation , is , that he dares not speak plain English , and hath what ever the Author says , too much of the French droll in him . I must confess I must declare my self , not to have so much Christian Charity , as to belive all those Characters the Author gives of himself ; that is , I do not believe he is Friend to down-right dealing , but I can without Hesitation believe that he is a great Friend to Liberty of Speech ; to an easie Gloss an easie Companion , as much as any man , or else he is much wronged : but then he tells you Doctor of your calling him Rogue twenty times , for which he thanks you and forgives you ; but this is but a Copy of his Countenance , and used as a meer Shooing-horn to draw on the like likewise of calling you Rogue I know its a Word you often use , and its twenty to one you were right nineteen of the twenty if not all , but it s not to be taken in the Common sense of the Vulgar usage , to a man of vile and base Actions ; but as a differing Character of an Adversary to the truth of your's and other's Evidence , in the great matter in question ; and in that sense only you so frequently use it , especially when your Zeal is too much provoked with opposition , and I fear his hopes will fail him in your better acquaintance ; for I know if ever it may be it must be upon his amendment , and what hopes there is of it that I see not . For in his next Paragraph , he tells you barefacedly and shews it in plain terms , how much he is your Friend , for he slights your Favour , and sets you at Defiance , and all he hath to ground it upon is , that Currs ( as he calls them ) Hunt him and therefore he must Snarl at you , as if you Doctor were Confederate with men , of whom and their Extravagant Actions , there is not one tittle of Demonstration you were any way so much as Privy to : Indeed this Discovering Mounsieur is very hardly put to it , to find a way to bespatter you ; but I am sure the Foundation is so invisible , that the Spots will never be seen , for he would make the World believe , That because as he says , Another of his fellow-Pamphleteers hath Injured him , therefore you are blame-worthy ; and to Vindicate himself , as he calls it , he hath the Confidence upon Search and Examination , of his fellow-Scriblers works to try the truth of that to reflect upon you , but in which it doth not appear in the least you are any way Concerned ; But I think you have more wit than to meddle with such matters , and know how to spend your time to better advantage , both to the Publique and your self , than to be lead by a Will in the Wisp . Now the Author leaves you Doctor , and invites his Reader ; and here he begins somewhat to unvail : For he tells him nothing so difficult as the Mystery of this Detestable Plot , a Judgment of our sins , Augmented by our Follies ; then he shews him , how by the Difference between Believers , and Vnbelievers , That truth and Christianity are in Danger to be lost ; then he Quarrels with his fellow-Scriblers , and Compares it to the late times , and bids us have a care of the same incantation over again ; he tells him nothing was more Narrowly Sifted , or more Vigorously discouraged than this Conspiracy . Reformation is the business of Government , but if begun at the wrong end its Tumult . An Effectual provision against the danger of the Romish Practices , will not serve their turn , whose Quarrel is barely to the Name of Popery : If they cannot find Popery , they will make it ; For it is now new thing in a popular Out-cry in the matter of Religion , to have a State-Faction in the belly of it ; and then again compares it with the late times , and so Concludes that Paragraph . What an Hotch-Potch Chimera is this , and as Forreign to the Case in hand , as the East is from the West ? What is the Scribling of Pamphleteers , now there is no Licenser ( when it was altogether as bad , when there was one ) or what is the babling at Coffe-houses to be regarded , or be thought to have any share in the Prosecution of this Discovery ? It 's bare matter of Fact , and not at all Mysterious to men of understanding ; and although as the truth of the Evidence is , It doth solely and Principally Centre in the Roman Catholique Party , yet I cannot with all the skill I have , with this learned Authors Assistance to boot , understand wherein Religion is concerned in the least , especially , the differences between the Church of England , and the Dissenters from it , as he aims to inforce it . Nor is the question the same as to the Plot , you have Discovered , nor the Transactions thereupon , nor in any Possibility can be Paralelled with those of the late times ; Nay I know some of the Roman Catholick Religion , take it quite otherwise , for a person of Honour of that perswasion , lately told me ; That he believed , neither the King nor the Nation , would be happy or safe until they were well rid of the Jesuites , and their King-killing Doctrine , and I think with Mr. Strange his favour , it was not mannerly done of him , to arraign the Judgments of the Representatives of the Nation in Parliament , to say nothing was more narrowly Sifted , nor more Vigorously discouraged ( I conceive that was intended ( incouraged ) but mistaken by the Printer ) than this Conspiracy ; for certainly had it been so , they would never have made the neglect of it , a Considerable part of their Impeachment against the Earl of Danby , and doubtless they did not make that without due Consideration of such authentick proofs as they had before them , to make it good . And the Author of that Pamphlet , having thus by stating a Case , that is not in the least the Case you Doctor have in hand , he draws a Conclusion Suitable to it ; That it might be useful , and find Credit upon its own Account ; and then giving an Encomium of himself , he casts off the Reader , and enters into the Lists , with you again . In the beginning of his Book , the Author gave you the allowance , of a Figure in the Government ; But now he 'l make you as little as a Cipher ; he thinks you of so little understanding , that you by his Incoherent Arguments are now perswaded out of your Senses , and of the reallity and truth , of that Case you have with so much danger avowed and justifed , by , and with a fictitious Case of his own making , and proved it by Fallacious Arguments : and it is so far unlike yours Doctor , as instead of four feet , it doth not go upon one of them ; and upon the Credence the Author hath , of this supposed Conquest over you in a great part , he proceeds to make it compleat , and is resolved in another Point , right or wrong , to stand fair in your Opinion , and that is ; That he is free from the Itch of Scribling unless where his Genius tells him his Pen may be of Publique use , and where he is Prompted on by such an Incontinence of a publick Spirit as you find in your self , and he ( Injured Gentleman ) never was but upon the Defensive part , and received no reply but reproaches ( as he terms them ) of Popishly affected , or a Villifier of the Kings Evidence . Indeed this Comparison of his is of the same Stamp , with the other , but Doctor you may well pardon him , because he Pardoned you for calling him Rogue , and this is only out of a great desire he hath , to be esteemed like you in publick Spiritedness , but I am afraid his temper is more like Baals , that was only Sollicitous to die the death of the Righteous , but I do not remember one Word of his living their life . I think as to the matter in hand , I have had as much Experience of your Actions , and as Seriously , and Impartially and Duely weighed them , as another ; but it s very Probable the Eyes of Mr. L' Estrange , and my Understanding differ , which may occasion from us , Various Inferences and Conclusions . It s true I have observed you often to be earnestly Zealous for truth in the Fact that you have Discovered , and against all Opposers of it , under what Circumstances soever ; but that you have in the least Promoted it , either for this or the other Party , or against this or that Party , but only against particular Persons guilty , Sparing none of what perswasion soever , that are within your knowledge , not in the least by any overt Act yet occurrs to my knowledge , that you have any wayes made it your business , either to set up or pull down , or to make division amongst Parties of differing Perswasions . I am sure it hath not yet appeared to be your business , but rather of an healing Temper , but how much it is that learned Authors is Manifestly apparent , and he that runs may read it , besides do but observe the different Foundations between you and him ; For , Doctor , you go upon occular and auricular Experiences , and he upon Coffee-houses discourses , only seconded by a Report of the strenuous affirmation of a Lady , and that by hearsay too , and then how naturally it follows that these malicious Rumors ( as he calls them ) put upon himself , must needs promote and stir up him to Vindicate you , that was not in the least concerned or named in it , nor either wanted or craved his aid to defend you , however with Cause or without Cause , he hath no mind to part with you yet ; not out of love to prove you no Fanatick , but to other more Sinister Ends and Purposes , That is , to get a small reward for his Pamphlet , and Vindicate the Papists , and crush the Phanaticks ( as he calls them ) as I hope I shall plainly and Evidently demonstrate . But now warmly clad with these wonderfully Erroneous Considerations that incumbred his disturbed Brains , with the help of taking your Works to pieces ; he had now fallen under such a Conception from which the World might expectsuch a product , as was expected from the Mountain ; But you know that proved a Mouse . Now the Author Glories in his Acquisition of Materials to defend you , and now Magnifies his thoughts of his being armed to Suppress Popery ; and is as sure of his way as any blind man in Town , for he will as certainly hit it , as he that takes the way to Oxford , to be the right and strait way to go to Canterbury . When this Author hath pleased himself with these Incomprehensible thoughts , by your Clue as he says , he enters into the almost Inextricable Labyrinth of the Plot , till he found out some Priests you pointed at , lurking in Holes like Foxs , and then he could not forbear Publishing it to the Nation in his first Edition of this Pamphlet , and all this upon your Credit , as he tells you . But if this Author should fall under this misfortune that neither you Doctor , nor any sober Wise man , should approve of his abortive births from his false Conceptions , how can he make the Nation a Compensation for these abuses ; as without all Peradventure , the Case will appear to every one that considers impartially the Plot it self , that it is not an Inextricable Labyrinth , but in truth is pure and easie Matter of Fact , and the Essence thereof lies not at all in any of those by-Circumstantials Mr. Roger hath made use of ( and as he says ) For his own ends , which is certainly true , for they are not in the least to the Advantage of the Nation , the Governors or Government , the Protestant Religion . nor the Kings witnesses , but in apparent and great dishonour to all . In his next Paragraph , he cries out , what Innocence can Warrant against Envy or Authority ? protect when Le Strange comes to be arraigned as a Papist , for shewing the likeliest was to Extirpate Popery , and yourname cannot Protect him in it ? nay he tells you it is well if you can uphold your self , if this goes on , and concludes , that none can fall foul upon that Discovery without Wounding your Evidence . Now certainly had this Author as well believed the truth of this reason , as he cannot but imagine others do , he would never under this Disguise of Friendship to you Doctor , have undertaken thus publickly to Villifie you . Alas he talks of Innocence , that is begging the question : I know not of any that can be allowed him by any one in his right Wits , nor do I know nor never heard , but from himself , that ever he did or could shew any way that is likely to extirpate Popery . I admire at his Confidence to adventure upon such a subject to the people , which only and singly appertains to the Magistracy , and I think he hath cause to rejoyce that he is not questioned for a Seditious Pamphletteer , for that his Work in such a time as this is , which calls . for our Union not division . He says , some call his book Jesuitical ; for my part . I think there is no man in his right Wits , that can Judge less of his Book , than call the Scope and Drift of it , of a Jesuitical Stamp : but what is that to you Doctor , does it therefore follow that because he hath written a book deserves that Censure , you must be accounted a Papist that was no way Privy to it ? but this Consequence is like the rest , but upon hard Pumping he has indeavoured to bring you in by Head and Shoulders ; for he says he hath your Word and Oath for it , for you swear the Priests and Jesuites herd themselves amongst the Non-Conformists ; they denie it , and yet prove themselves in the Plot and discredit the Kings Evidence . What Hocus Pocus is here ? I am sure in no part of your Evidence is it Sworn , they herd with Non-Conformists , nor have I yet ever seen or heard any proof , that any Non-Conformists have proved themselves to be in the Plot ; or that any of them whatsoever , discredited any of the Kings Evidence , but this must be accepted upon his Veracity , or else his strain of Wit , by his Subsequent Querie ; for thus the Author argues , if they Shelter not themselves in Conventicles , and field-Meetings , to stir up Broyls in the Government , What becomes of your Testimony ? and none but Papists would oppose the Ferretting them out . What he means , or what he would be at , If you know Doctor , it s well , but for my part I understand not the Sence of it ; but because you have proved there were some Jesuites , or their Agents sent into Scotland to Facilitate their design , amongst the discontented Scots , if they could , therefore all the Dessenters from the Church of England in England , are guilty of the Plot ; I am very Confident the meanest of Grammarian School-Masters in England , would have whipped the dullest Boy he had under his tuition , for using such a Nonsensical Argument . In Confirmation of this , the Author further tells you , nothing can be clearer according to your Evidence of Wright and others sent amongst the Scots , with other Evidence , to that Purpose , and then says , all this will not serve to Convince some of the Priests mingled with Fanaticks , till the Pilgrims and the Forty Thousand black Bills come to open their Eyes . This Author is in much wrath , that every body does not wear his Spectacles ; for I am fully assured there is not a sober English Christian of what perswasion soever ; except such Sons of the Church of England , as he and God-dam-me Sons ( that see no further than the Church-yard ) but do believe your Evidence in that particular , as fully as your Words , or intention thereby extended . Then he concludes that Paragraph , with a Clamorous acclamation . If these Infidels ( I presume he means the Dessenters from the Church of England ) Have any Priviledg for the Defaming publick Justice , and blasting the Kings Evidence , above other People , they should , do well to produce it . But I am sure it would have been better done of him , to have produced some Proof of the Slander , before he had aspersed the Parties with it ; I never heard of their guilt of the one , nor the other , but from his Pen which I take to be as little Slander as his mouth . Then he proceeds to tell you , he hath read , considered and studied you , and what wonderfull things you have done for him in the Dark , and at length brought him into the light ; and when he hathlent you these Ironical Expressions , he comends you in the same Dialect , and further tells you of his Sensibility of the roundness of your Periods , the Luxuriancy of your Invention ( where there is Scope for it ) the Frankness of your Stile , and the Harmony of your C●●ceptions . Indeed had it been your design Doctor , to have made your trade , of Living and getting Dinners by Scribling , or had those things which you have published in Print , been otherwise than pure matter of Fact , to satisfie the Governors , Government and People of the Nation ; and limitted and bounded to the nature and quality of the thing in question , and in a great part in the nature of a report ; It s morally Possible you might as well have observed your Periods as the Fault-finder ; nay I can say it with some Assurrance , It is so in all Impartial mens Judgments , all things duely considered ; which answers may also serve you for your Inventions , and Conceptions , for I know not of any such in all your works ; and doubtless those that do as well know you Doctor , and understand you as Mr. Le Strange , are clearly of opinion , that had you Imployed your Genius that way , if it had been but in making a Play against your own Mother , you might and would have come off with as much Reputation , made as good Syllogismes , and had as pertinent Coherences as any that have undertaken or performed the like ; and for the Frankness of your Style , it being in the pursuite of truth , It s very well known your Zeal for that , makes you no more spare any one guilty , than you did the Author when you called him Rogue , which he agrees , you did well in , as your apprehended him . Then he tells you , This Epistle had been monstrous in any other age ; but why not in this ( when its twice the length of the rest of his Pamphlet ) is not Discernable by any body but himself ; then he tells you Knavery and Hipocrisie were in Fashion , Thirty or Forty years ago . but spares the telling with whom , therefore I cannot give it any particular answer , but must leave it with him and his Acquaintance in those times ; he says now the present Humour of France runs upon Poysoning , the Enemies of our Government , altogether upon the Vein of Plotting . Indeed that 's too true , and the Plotters , as the Case is are of several sorts , some have the Hellish and audacious Impudence to contrive his Majesties death by violence , his Magistrates , his Witnesses , the overthrow of our Government , the extirpating of the Protestant and Introducing the Romish Religion ( so called ; ) and there are another sort which I apprehend , little inferior to the other in the Consequence of it , who by their Poysonous Principles and frothy Strains of wit , with their Paper-Squibs audaciously traduce and fly in the Faces of the Governors and Government ; and make nothing of turning the Justice of the Nation into Ridicule both at home and abroad , and instead of healings broach divisions amongst the dissenters from the Church of Rome , thereby to give all advantage imaginable ( according to your Evidence , to weaken the Parties ) to our professed Enemies , without the least just occasion , or any other Rationally than to do that for our Adversaries , they themselves could not effect , but by making us Fools , or Knaves , to one another . Then this Author takes it Positively upon him to tell you Doctor , that he hath acquitted himself ; That he is no Papist , and now he resolvedly undertakes so to acquit himself of the charge upon him by you , and your Father , of his Reporting you for a Fanatick . In my Opinion , if he doth the one no more than he hath done the other , he might have spared his Labour ; I fear if the matter had been true , he will not give you any cause to thank him , for I do not remember one authentick Proof , nor any other rational Argument yet produced by him , that he is not a Papist unless such an Argument which he used that took upon him to confute Bellermine , by telling him it was not so : Is it out of pure kindness , or at your request he takes this pains for you ? Truly , I think both alike , for I verily believe , if the thing be true that he said , you do not esteem it such a Scandal as you need to be vindicated from it , either by him or any one else ; but he says , your exhortation to Indulgence opened the mouths of some ignorant people to that effect ; I doubt not in this but you may take Mr. L'Estrange at his Word , and keeping to Solomon's Rule , not to answer him in his own way , let it pass as it is , and although you went no further than as an exhortation , Mr. Roger hath the Confidence to take upon him to instruct and to give Judgment too . Then he exclaims against a persecuting Spirit , how this Coheres with the precedent matter , it 's a Riddle to me , and seriously I cannot fancy who or what he means by it ; certainly he dares not be guilty of so much Confidence , as rather than he would not bespatter and traduce you , he will arraign the whole Justice of the Nation , for if that should be his meaning ( which to me seems very obvious ) I believe not ignorant but wise people would think he did not lie under any aspersion , but rather take that Character already given him to be far short of his true demerit ; but I am sure the whole drift of his Pamphlet is for causeless persecution , but blessed be God our Governours are of a more healing spirit , Now he tells you , that by this time you see what a Church of England man is to trust to , when he ( the true Son of the Church ) is boxed on both sides , and then he concludes that Paragraph with this Question , With what face shall any man dare to charge him for a Papist , that hath done so much for the Protestant Religion , or a Fanatick , that hath done so much for the Church of England ? I think it may be thus resolved , that if it be without cause , it must be with a brazen face ; but if the Party he means be one that can tell what the Church-yard Wall is made of and not the Church , he may then lie open to all sorts of Censures , especially when he hath acted on all sides , as he puts the Case . The Plot indeed is represented to be triplicite , viz. against the King , Government and Religion ; but what question or distinction this Author will make , we shall see anon , for there is his Diana ; but that you Doctor , or any other of the King's Witnesses in this case have in the least occasioned such a question , is not in my apprehension to be deduced from any of your Evidences , and I believe that no man that hath ever heard , read of , or seen the Arts of those Persons charged with that horrid Plot in any of their Massacres , either at home or abroad , that ever they made any distinction of Persons that were Dissenters from themselves in Doctrine or Practice : From what can it be imagined they would have done it by , or in this Plot , or that they did so intend by it , only to cut off the Members of the Church of England , and leave the Dissenters from them , or only cut off the Dissenters , and leave the Members of the Church of England , there is no shadow of colour for it , and it 's fully proved by you to be intended general to all Dissentets from the Church of Rome . Now like a knowing Son of the Church of England , Mr. L'Estrange acquaints you how far he understands , and what is Religion , he fixes it in the Word Government , in which , says he , is comprehended Regiment , Ecclesiastical and Civil , and inclusively the Order of Bishops , and Doctrine and Discipline of the Church , and then concludes positively , that that and no other is the Protestant Religion designed in the Plot ; and he thinks in his second Position he makes it good , for he says , they ( meaning the Dissenters from the Church of England ) are Religious and their name is Legion ; and his third is as good as that , for therein this Author affirms , they ( the said Dissenters ) are Christian Arbbs ; but the fourth goes beyond all , That it stands not with Common Sense for Papists to plot the ruine of their own Auxiliaries , and this he lays at your door , that it 's against the Reason of your Depositions that they should contrive their Destruction , when at that time they are making use of them to destroy us , and then most abhominably Christian-like he briskly lets fly at the Dissenters from the Church of England with a most Dismal Judgment , that Heaven and Hell is as easie to be brought together , as to reconcile those People to any terms of Piety or Civil Order , that corruptly style themselves Protestants . I must confess here perchance the Author may apprehend he hath the whip hand of any one that will undertake to answer , in respect of the Law ; but I think , without offence , I may put you in mind of the Words of the Bishop of Donn in his Preface to his Grand Exemplar , which are , That when it appears a Kingdom is converted to Christianity , the Common-wealth is made a Church , Gentile Priests are Christian Bishops , the Subjects Servants of Christ ▪ the Religion turned Christian , and the Laws of the Nation made part of the Religion , there is no change of Government , but Christ is King and the Temporal Power his Substitute , and is to promote obedience to him . Now I must confess I am , and I doubt not but every really true Son of the Church of England , will be much more inclinable to take Doctor Tayler for an Authentick Author in this Point of Religion than Mr. L'Estrange ( though he does not use the word Protestant ) and without all peradventure his Judgment is upon Truth , I mean the word of God , which Mr. Roger altogether omits ( to the great proof of his Sonship ) and only grounds himself in that case in my apprehension upon several and Vulgar Errors ; as first , I take it to be an undeniable Truth from our Saviour and his Apostles , that there is but one Religion , and not Legions , and that under two Heads ; 1. Loving God with all your heart ; 2. Love our Neighbours as our selves ; unless it may be said that every Chimera of mens brains , or every Notion ( as the Author calls Religion ) or every Form is a Religion . I am of opinion it's Nonsence , and I cannot but concur with Dr. Tayler , that the Antiochian or Christian Religion is the Religion , Catexochene , and what ever Forms in true and due order to that are framed , doubtless they are praise-worthy , and ought to be observed by all that Love the Kingdom of Christ ( but yet I take it the Form is improperly called a Religion ) but for this Author that hath the Confidence to style himself the true Son , and would fain be esteemed the Champion of the Church of England , to leave out the only Essential part of a true Church , whose Foundation ought to be upon the Rock of Ages , and to place it only in humane Laws , which as Dr. Tayler says , are but part , and only in Substitution to that which is really true , is as I said before , to take the Church-Yard and all for the Church , or instead of commending the Vine to praise the Hedge or Fence about it ; for as Dr , Tayler's opinion is , the Temporal Power is to be used primarily and principally to promote obedience to Christ , not to its self , or any thing contrary to Christ's Doctrine , Practices or Precepts ; therefore to me it seems apparent that the Author hath not done right to his Mother , the Church of England , which makes me fear in regard the Fathers of the Church seem to be of opinion against him in discription of a Church : I conceive it may without straining be rationally conjectured he was not suckled by his Mothers milk , but by a Foster Nurse , otherwise certainly he would not have omitted so Essentiala Worth of the Church of England , and the rather , for that he might with ease have proved , That when the Body of this Kingdom began to shake off that Spiritual Slavery imposed on our Ancestors by the Romish Yoke they then lay under , the alteration that then was made by the Governours and Government of this Nation , was the nearest and most agreeable by the Articles , Cannons and Injunctions then agreed and established to the Apostolical Rule , and pursuant to Dr. Tayler's Judgment therein , as they could ; For that our Religion should solely depend upon humane Law , it must be and may be as changeable as that of which I am sure we and our Ancestors have had woful Experience , as by Repeals of Statutes for that purpose in the Reign of Queen Mary , witness . Another Vulgar Errour , I conceive him with some clearness gullty of , is , in calling the Church of England the only Protestant Religion aimed at in this Case by the Papists . Indeed I have heard once the Question was debated amongst Persons of an higher Sphere than Mr. L'Estrange what the Protestant Religion was , and it was thought fit to be left undetermined , and doubtless not imprudently , for if we should make that the Basis of the Religion of the Church of England , it would give our Adversaries the Papists a vast and inevitable Advantage ; for if History be in that Case to be depended upon , the Lutherans , the Calvinists , &c. were before the Church of England , under the denomination of Protestants , and I do doubt it will appear if it should be brought into dispute , they differ in many and main Points ; but then the Consequence would inevitably follow , that we must be put to prove which is the true one , another advantage the Papists would have ( and which I have heard often made use of ; ) That they ( I mean the Church of Rome ) are the Mother Church , and of many hundreds of years before the Church of England , and doubtless they may be too hard for us in that Point , if our Foundation begun only in Protestantism , but in truth the Foundation of our Apostolical British Church , which is fully , clearly and elegantly proved and made out ( by the Learned and Judicious Author of the Book intituled of the Heart and its right Sovereign ) to be ancienter than Rome's , especially here in this Nation by many Centuries of Years , and for his saying , by your Evidence it appears the Fanaticks ( as he calls them ) are to be Papists Auxiliaries , and therefore it s not rational they ( the Papists ) would work their Ruine : It 's true according to the Common and Vulgar term , you in your Depositions call it the Protestant Religion indefinitely ; but why this must not concern all manner of Dissenters from the Romish Church , I am sure does not in the least appear , nor can any other thing rationally be expected , but the extirpation of all Dissenters from them of Rome without distinction , nor is it proved by you Doctor , the Jesuitical Party endeavoured to make any other use of them , but as all Conquerors do , to divide their Dissenters to facilitate their intended Enterprize ; if so , then his unchristian like Censure must of necessity be unwarrantable and groundless . Dear Doctor , I must beg your pardon for my prolixity upon this Paragraph , but finding this the Author's Corner-Stone , I could not pass it over slightly , being so really zealous for the ancient British Apostolical Religion , that as God was heretofore pleased to honour this Island to have the first Christian King , and a British Woman to be Mother of the first Christian Emperour in the World , so to me the finger of God seems plainly to point at , and shew that in this latter Age he intends further to honour this Nation with a King and Government , that will be his true and real Substitutes to promote sincere obedience to his Son , and to bring us with healing under one Shepherd , and all to be of one Sheepfold . Then taking that forgranted , which is denied him ; That the Protestant Religion aymed at in the Plot , is the Established Religion of the Church of England ; the Author tells you , that you cannot be a Friend to the State without being one to the Church too . This as I have said before , is but a begging of the Question , and then he concludes from thence , that he that phancies you Doctor not Canonical and Orthodox , supposes you build with one hand , and pluck down with the other ; here is begging Question upon Question to bring something out that is no way applicable to you ; for your business Doctor , hath been solely and only to acquaint the King and his Councils with matters of Fact , and leave the building and pulling down to their Wisdoms , and not therein in the least to concern your self as the Author hath done in that Pamphlet too much . Then he puts the Case the general way , and says , the Dissenters from the Church of England cannot any way be ayding in a Reformation , but by their Prayers and good Wishes upon pain of Sedition . It 's much such a man as Mr. L'Estrange , who takes himself to be of such profound Parts and Knowledge , should so much mistake himself , for certainly as men and Subjects under his Majestie 's Obeysance , they are as capable and legally of serving his Majesty in any such Commands , as any other men or Subjects whatsoever . I think his Case put , whether or no , and how far Protestants may unite , is fully answered in the Solution to the last Paragraph , but what the Dissenters to the Church of England , meeting and assembling as to Religious Worships , is any way material to the Defence of his Majestie 's Person or Government , or what it signifies to the Plot I am to seek for , and what offence it is against Law , I shall not presume to meddle with it , and I am assuredly satisfied in all sober mens Judgments he would not have lost Reputation , if he had not shot his bolt thereat so suddenly ; but indeed much better fruit cannot well be expected from one that hath sucked in an Opinion , that he dares tell you Doctor , that Religion is a Spiritual Notion ; I think no man in his right wits will conceive he knows what he says , and certainly Doctor , this Author will be extreamly Fortunate , if such Notions as he hath uttered in that Pamphlet make not him reputed and legally judged Seditious . In the Conclusion of this large Epistle , in a Jeer and Scoff he tells you , They are Wonderful things you have done , and would fain have you condescend to believe , that he is perswaded you are yet reserved for more Wonderful things ; but on the other hand , I am perswaded he did not believe himself when he wrote it , nor designed any body else should , if he could prevent it ; but to his shame , if he had any , his betters have done it , and notwithstanding his flurts of your Name , being as famous to Posterity as your Vertue hath rendred you to the present Generation : It may be true that you have not that Stock of Confidence he hath , and to conceit your self without Personal Infirmities , and I dare say , that in Justification of his Innocence in that particular , he will not be so hardy or bold as to adventure to throw the first stone at you . But he tells you Doctor again , that none in his right Wits should take you for no Friend to the Church of England . I concur with him in it , and certainly had he been in his , he durst not have taken the Confidence to have reflected so much upon you , in regard by so doing he hath much wounded and unworthily traduced the Wisdom and Justice of the Governours and Government of this Nation , for which he says , he hath a Natural Veneration , by turning all their Transactions in this Affair to mere Sophistical ridicule , then he tells you of the Evidence you have made of the Intrigues in the late times , and now by the Priests and Jesuits with Schismaticks , and that you have given the Sectaries a great blow , so that they have nothing to say why they should not be sifted with all exactness imaginable . Doubtless it 's as great a mistake of , and as forreign and remote from the Scope and Drift of your Evidence , as is possible to be supposed : For although the Jesuits and their Legates are for leaving no stone unturned that may advance their Design in every or any particular of it , and to that purpose , as much as in them lies , do endeavour to creep into Societies , and all sorts of men : Yet must it therefore needs follow , that such Societies or men are Confederate ? It 's a remote and forreign Supposition , it 's a meer non-sequitur . Nevertheless , though I have not asked any of them the Question , nor shall make it my business to open my lips to them further , or other than truth will clearly warrant me ; I dare be bold to say so much for them , that there is not one Society or Sect whatsoever ( called Dissenters from the Church of England ) but will with all true Zeal earnestly lend their helping hands to find out and be purged from any such corrupt Member that may lurk amongst them , and if that Author , or any other can further them , will well reward them . Then Mr. Roger in his jeering and flouting manner , says , that after gleaning up about 35 Priests in the whole , it was you that informed the Government where they were to be had by Sholes . It seems he is very exact in keeping the Account of their suffering Members , but whether out of pity or friendship to them , or for Publick Service , I leave the Doctor upon the whole matter to judge , but he was too exact in charging you with that Information , for I am sure he neither hath or can prove to whom , nor when given , unless it must be taken for granted , because he hath said it , which really I cannot do , nor have any grounds to perswade you , or any other to it . Then he asks some Questions , if it be not true that the Plot goes on still ? I am justified by the opinion of the Governours and and Magistrates in the Nation to answer the Question in the affirmative ; his next is , if it be not true that we are all undone if it be not disappointed ? I must answer that affirmatively in part and negatively in the rest , That is , all honest and loyal men and true Dissenting Christians from the Church of Rome are but Papists and popishly affected , are not , but he making the Answer and Construction of the Questions otherwise , and without colour of a true cause upon them , he draws this Inference , That it 's a matter of absolute necessity to fetch these Plotters out of their Holds : That is ( to use his own expression ) he that winks may perceive Mr. L'Estrange his meaning , and of what spirit he is of ; That all such ( guilty or not guilty ) that are under the notion of Dissenters from the Church of England must be destroyed as Plotters ; but not one word in all that his Pamphlet against any one Papist , Priest or Jesuit elsewhere , for he seems to be satisfied their Number as to Sufferers is full : Then his last Question is , If it be not true that whoever doubts of the truth of this matter of Fact , or of the necessity of this way of proceeding , is undeniably a Blaster of the King's Evidence , and a favourer of the Conspiracy ? I think I have fully demonstrated to you Doctor , why the Fact as he states it , and would have it taken for granted , is not true , but altogether fallacious , and shored up with untrue Glosses and Inferences for the by-end he drives at , and therefore cannot in the least be apprehended to be any ground to judge him that doubts it a Blaster of the King's Evidence , a Favourer of the Conspiracy ; but if Doctor you will take my opinion , and that with some clearness , I rather judge the Author of that Pamphlet to be such an one , by wresting the construction of your Evidence contrary to the words and meaning thereof . Then he closes his long Epistle with desiring you Doctor to lay to heart what he hath writ , but I am glad to see you do not concern your self thereat so far as it concerns you alone ; then he desires you to cast your eye upon what follows , which indeed is the Second Part to the same Tune , and then prays Heaven and Earth to reward you , and that you may be as happy as he wishes you ; I doubt not but that you are happier already , and if you expect any further happiness by others prayers it must not be by such sort of people of whom it 's said their prayers will not prevail . He stiles what follows , A further Discovery of the Plot drawn , he says , from your Narrative and Depositions : It is certainly drawn out , but it 's by violence enough , and that by Forreign and remote Inferences and Conclusions : But what ever there is further in that Pamphlet , but in truth it 's no further Discovery of your Discovered Plot , but of his own it is , and what that is , what I have by my observations already made , to that of which part of this is in matter but repetition , and of that of which I shall make to that which is new ; I doubt not , Doctor , but will give you full and Evident satisfaction . The Author tells you , It must not be denied , the Kings Witnesses have done as much as men could do to make out the truth of this Plot ; so must it not be denied that the Justice and Wisdom of this Nation , hath improved all the Discoveries , by the strictest Inquisition and Scrutinie imaginable , and done all Possible to suppress it , yet it goes on with Confidence and vigour ; as we have it from those that wrought in the same Myre , till better light brought them to other Measures ( but to lay a Foundation for his next Fallacie ) he tells you the Fact lies in the Dark , and truly , Doctor , in my opinion it must and will do so , unless we have better light to see it by than a Meteor . I do not Doctor at all doubt of what the ▪ Witnesses have done , and as little of what hath been done by the Justice and Wisdom of this Nation , for the finding out and suppressing this hellish Plot. But I have before told you as in the case of the Earl of Danby all was not done , that might and ought to have been done , or else the Commons House of Parliament , did mistake in their Charge against him , which I think becomes no man to presume . But , Doctor , Mr. L'Estrange tells you that after all this Havock made of the Papists , the Coffee-House Discourse is the Plot goes on , as they that must be presumed that know best say , but those on the Negative ask , if it will work without hands , where are the Papists , in the Air , or under ground , or are they Invisible ? for as they a●e dispersed , besides the Terrour that over awes them , there are three Thousand Protestants to one Papist . Indeed , Doctor , I am in admiration of his Confidence to call the just Proceedings of the Authority of the Nation , an Havock , he shews much of his natural Veneration to the Government , and his true Sonship to the Church of England by it ; and then he lays a mighty stress upon the tatling at Coffee-houses ; and indeed he hath some reason , for I perceive he hath been much beholden to them , for matter and Evidence , or otherwise he had been exceeding barren in both , and in all Probability , I am apt to conjecture and not without ground , either he hath lost some Intimate ( in the Havock as he Scandalously terms it ) or his Bowels of Compassion , are strongly towards that Party , because he always expresses their suffering with great reluctancy , and his Negative Arguments which are for them , are the strongest . But now the Author again begins to lay his meaning more open , for ( he says they ( meaning the Popish party ) may be any where , and his reason is , he says , Persons of great quality have told him they will indure all shapes , exercise all Prosessions ; they speak of one Jesuit cried work for a Cooper , another a Shoe-maker , others Read Coats . ' Its observed upon bringing the Plot to light all the little French men with their Marionetts , and Puppit-Showes , vanished , which gave Suspicion , they were Agents for the Faction . I do now , Doctor , plainly preceive why he is so angry with you , for now it appears , much of his loss this Discovery of this Hellish Plot hath brought upon him , for it seems these Persons were of his acquaintance , otherwise he could not have been so well knowing of their hard Condition : and truly I think he may cry work for a Tinker , for instead of stopping one Hole he hath made many , but for the matter , he not charging it upon you , I need not give you the trouble of answering it , only let me observe this to you , that although at most the Author can and does make no more of these Assertions but hear-says , and no body knows from whom nor can well guess , for it s not to be presumed that any Persons of quality ( but such as are in Prison for the Plot ) use such Company , yet he takes it for a granted truth and makes use of it to be a ground-Work for what follows , which he tells you , Doctor , Shall be supported upon your Authority ( for you still must come in to help the Lame Dog over the Stile ) With respect to the validity of your Testimony , and weight of your Observations , you having dived Deeper into it than any other . Alas , poor Gentleman he is forced to speak truth sometimes against his will , but his truths and Fallacies do not make good Musick , in wise mens Eares , no more than his Musick did in Olivers , and I am sure he hath not ; and believe he cannot make any further Discovery of this Plot by any thing by you published ; nay , it s without all Contradiction , absolute Nonsense , that a Discovery can be made out of a Discovery , for without all Peradventure a Discovery must and doth imply new Fact , otherwise it s no Discovery . Then the Author tells you , That that part of the Design against his Majesties life broke to all Intents and Purposes ; but we are beholden to you , for the Discovery of other and further Plots in defaming the King and Government , Subversion of our Established Religion and Disturbance of the Peace , so that our Deliverance is but half done . I stand amazed with what considence he dares write such things , but as the Proverb there is , is none so bold as blind Bayard , for his so that our Deliverance is but half done , is his and none of your's , and what you have done is meerly making known matter of Fact , and that long since and only as to one Plot. And besides , Doctor , had he considered the whole truth of the Fact , as to that part of this Hellish Plot ; That the same hands attempted his Sacred Majesties life Beyond-Sea ; That 's its strongly to be presumed Mr. Killigrues man that was Murthered at Windsor on his Majesties Couch , was by the same hands , and intended his Majesty ; That although the Gun is taken that Pickering should have made use of for that purpose , yet neither Coniers , nor his Dagger , nor the Ruffians , nor many others you have in your Depositions charged , are , that the Contrivance was as well Beyond-Sea as at home , and that since your Discovery of , Mr. Dugdale , Mr. Balldron , Mr. Jennison , Mr. Danger-field , and others ( which daily come in ) have severally deposed that at several places and times , and by divers Persons they have been accosted to be hired to undertake to attempt it . Methinks the Consideration of these things which have undeniable truths should make him Blush , for that by broaching such Falsities amongst the Subjects to delude them , he may make them neglectful and careless in the Preservation of his Majesties life , in which they have so much and great an Interest ; but I only mention this , Doctor , as it is to me a clear Demonstration of the Contrivance , and often repetition of the Jesuites and their Parties ; indeavouring to put in Execution , their hellish Design against his Majesties person whom God preserve . Then he repeats part of your Narrative , wherein you , Doctor , as he says , mention some Circumstantial Actions the Jeuites do , in order to the Facilitating this their impious Design ; which is , by making and Promoting differences between the King and his People , and the King and Forraign Princes , and the like ; and amongst the people in case their Design as to his Majesties life , took effect , that they might be ready to rise up in Arms against one another ; and then in a glorying manner the Author tells you , We have found your Observations in these Particulars , so Punctually true , that every Syllable is the matter now in Agitation ( as thus , ) not a Day without a Libel upon his Majesties Authority , belieing the Condition of his Affairs , Indeavouring to create Distrusts and Jealousies amongst Forraign Princes and States by false Intelligence , Animating and exciting turbulent Factions , Anticipating Confederacies , Involving us in Blood upon a remote and Vndutiful supposition of the Kings Death , Sedition preached as well as Written , our Conventicles both Instructed themselves , and Instructing others in the Methods and Principles of Rebellion ; this , he says , may Suffice for your Judgment upon these things , which look liker a Revelation than a Conjecture . I know not , Doctor , who the Author means by we ; for my part , I think no man in his right Senses can close with him in his finding , for as I said before , yours are not observations but only matters of Fact , and those charged upon the Jesuites and their Party . But if there are any such Libells holding forth those particulars he mentions , but as much as his own , from any man or , from any Society of men , I am very clear in my opinion with all humble Submission to the Governors and Government , the Authors may well be suspected to promote the Design , and may deserve to be called in question and punished for them , according to their Demerits . And the rather as to him because he hath the boldness in Capital Letters , and of remark to call it , A REMOTE AND UNDUTIFUL SUPPOSITION OF HIS MAJESTIES DEATH . If this be not a giving the lie to the Representatives of the Commons of the Nation , affirming their Credit of your's and other's Evidence in that particular , by their Vote ; That if his Majesty ( which God forbid ) should dye a violent Death , they would revenge it on the Papists , and this Concurred with by the House of Peers ; but these are such small and minute things in Mr. Le Strange's Consideration , he can easily pass them by , as an Evident and undeniable proof of his natural Veneration of the Government , and his true Son-ship to the Church of England . But as to the Preachings he talkes of ; ( if amongst those he means under the term Fanaticks ) when he can name the Persons , I hope I may without offence say , the Persons charged or some body for them , will give an answer , Satisfactory to the Governours , Government , and the world ; in the mean time I believe no man of understanding will Credit it upon his bare and general Assertion . And because Mr. L'Estrange , as may be supposed , did apprehend these things had not been sufficient to finish his intended Fabrick , and that his Pamphlet , he makes some further repetition of part of your Preface to your Narrative , in reference to the late Troubles : as , That the Jesuitical Party were the Contrivers of the last War , by their known Diabolical Art of inslaming Parties and Passions against each other , and addressing to the King ; of his Majesties Royal Fathers unspeakable Sufferings , and barbarous usage : it was those brought him to his end , stourished Swords and Trumpets over his dead Body ; the Putney Projectors were in most , if not all the Councils that contrived his ruine . What broke the Uxbridge Treaty , but the Romish Interest and Policy ? who contrived to baffle all designs of Peace and Settlement to this Nation , Prosperity to his Majesties Family , but them ? Milton was a known Frequenter of a Popish Club. Who more forward to set up Cromwel , and crown him with the King's Crown than Papists ? his Government was contrived by a Priest , and Lambert , a Papist , for above thirty years . From whence he concludes in this Point , he says , a man may without loss of Honour believe you to be in a mistake . I could wish he Would have given some reason for it , that he might have received a more full Answer , than otherwise can be given to it ; for although this is not , nor cannot be said or deposed by you , as an immediate part of your Discovery of the present damnable Plot , nor as any thing of your own knowledge , because all , or most of it was done before you were born , or at least , able to judge of things , yet by the access you had to the Jesuits Memoirs , when admitted amongst them , you found those things ( except the Addresses to the King ) which made good those Assertions ; and you report it only as such , and yet with such demonstrable Circumstances as might easily gain a credit , as to the truth of them , with any man that is a Dissenter from the Church of Rome , and is not such a Son of the Church , as Dives and his Brethren were ( as they were lately proved by a Learned and Reverend Doctor ) who were not to be convinced but by an Angel , or some immediate Revelation from Heaven ; but as that was denied them , so I believe , it will be these , since they will not believe that , which in my apprehension , comes very near it : but in truth , to me it seems obvious and plain , that the Author hath made a very ample and full Discovery of himself in his said Pamphlet , but not of you , Doctor , nor of any further Discovery of your revealed Plot ; for by his own shewing , and as the truth is , you charge all our miseries , mediately or immediately , upon the Papists , and he affirms you are mistaken . Now on which side can it rationally be judged he is ? The next thing he chargeth in Fact , is in your Page 8. touching Blundel 's teaching of Youth Treasonable Doctrines against His Majesty : Page 25. Ashby 's sending new Messengers into Scotland to promote Commotions there , and inform them of the Tyranny they lay under , by being denied Liberty of Conscience , not to be procured without the Sword , by which means they should Weaken the Presbyterian and Episcopal Faction , and you heard the Words , and two Messengers were sent into Scotland with Instructions to carry themselves like Nonconformist Ministers , to preach necessity of taking up the Sword , which you saw dispatched . Now observe his several Inferences from hence ; first says he , take notice here is a Design for the Destruction of the King , and Embroyling of the Government . I admit it him in terms and literally , but if he hath any equivocal or fallacious meaning I cannot . Secondly , he says , the pretence of the Quarrel is matter of Liberty and Conscience ; That is an absolute mistake for it 's but a circumstantial Engine so prepared and wrought by the Jesuits to carry on their grand Design by dividing and weakning their opposing Party . Thirdly , he says , it 's to be promoted by Popish Emissaries in the Councils of the Non-Conformists : It is the first time , and I believe cannot be seconded , that ever the Non-Conformists had any Councils , and as to their being in the Conventicles , as to the charge it 's only by you said to be in Scotland ; but admit it in England too , It is not nor cannot be charged originally upon them , but meerly accidentally and contingently as the Jesuites and their Agents could prevail , whereof I am satisfied if the Author could have found but half an instance to make it good , it 's not to be doubted with his Ingenuity he would have stretched it to an whole one , if not more for the good of the Cause he hath so visibly by his Pamphlet espoused . Fourthly , he says , by making Interests with the Separatists under Disguise of Teachers ; This is answered in the last . But fifthly , lastly , and remarkably , he says , That you charge none of the Church of England . What yet more blindness ? Was it possible for the Jesuits and their party to carry on their several Designs in the late times , without some of the Church of England-Members being concerned in it ; he , nor any man can say , that there was not Members of the Church of England on both sides in those unhappy Wars . But by this you may plainly see what he drove at by saying , You were mistaken as to those times : for he could not have otherwise come off from his Assertion , that you charged not the Members of the Church of England , though he assumes to say , He hath perused and considered all your Works , as to that particular ; yet he hath not rightly judged of them ; and although it be apparently the design of the Author to put a variance and division between those that are Dissenters from , and those who are Members of the Church of England : I know it s none of yours , nor shall be mine ; for I take the healing way in that case best , and therefore shall not give any further Instances therein than may serve to disprove him . But Mr. Roger taking his mistaken Inference from thence for granted , he draws as erroneous a Conclusion , yet very positively , That you have altogether cleared the Church of England and her Sons , from the Calumny of being either mediately , or immediately guilty of this horrid Plot. But as I said before , Doctor , you have not in the least in the whole scope of your Discovery shewed your self partial , by charging , or sparing this , or that man , that is within your knowledge guilty , because he is of this or that Party , or Faction , as may plainly appear by what is aforesaid . Then Mr. L'Estrange says , It must not be any longer a supposition , which you have given Oath for : So that , saith he , taking it for granted , there is such a project on foot , the Papists are in the bottom of it , and it s promoted by the Sectaries ; the question is , how the Government may discriminate the Protestants from the Papists , being blended in their Interests , as well as in their Councils , and not easily distinguished : but the legal Expedient is the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy ; yet that will not do , for many Papists will take them , and many that call themselves Protestants , will absolutely refuse them . I agree it to be true , that what is judicially proved ought not , nor cannot be esteemed a Supposition ; but then it must , and ought to be taken litterally , and not with a strained or remote construction , contrary to the Deponents words , intent , or meaning ; for though it may be taken for granted there is such a project on foot , and the Papists in the bottom of it , yet is it not to be so , that the Sectaries promote it from any thing you have sworn , but that the Jesuitical Party have endeavoured to blow up Sectaries ( so called ) into a division amongst themselves , and with others the dissenting Party from the Church of Rome , thereby to lessen and abate the strength of them , is litterally agreeable with the words of your Depositions afore-cited by him , that thereby they might weaken both the Presbyterian and Episcopal Faction , it 's not in the least to be questioned , or doubted , but that the Jesuites , or their Party , are knowingly and willingly the Contrivers and Carriers on of this horrid Plot. But that the Dissenters from the Church of England are in any part of it , is both to be questioned and doubted , and the rather , for that neither by yours , nor any others Testimonies is it so proved , nor from thence can be inferred , without a violent , or at least , strange Construction : and for my part , I do not at all know , or suspect that any one true Member of the Church of England , is , or will in the least joyn with the Jesuitical Party in it ; but do hope both they and the Dissenters from them will unite to defend his Sacred Majesty , and the Government from it . Then he tells you , The Law is general in that case , there is no relaxation , the Law takes not notice of Honesty , but Obedience : and this Rule , he says , holds in common as well to the Papists , as to the Protestant Recusants : With something more to the same purpose ; but truly , I think , to very little purpose ; for , as I take it , those Statutes he cites , are by their Title , Preamble and Body , only and litterally against the Popish Recusants . For the Dissenters he talks of , or the greater part of them were not then publickly in being , nor in the least mentioned in any of them , and if so , I think they cannot be concerned . But that being under the construction of a power above me , I shall not be positive in it , or determine it . Then he rivets this , he thinks , by saying , But what if it be said , that it is not the thing sworn , but the Oath it self that is scrupled at ? This he tells you , Doctor , is nice , and unhappy to those that are so strait-laced , and from thence he infers , its dangerous to the Government , for it lets in all the Priests and Jesuits in nature under that colour ; for they will all flow in thither , ( that is , amongst the Dissenters from the Church of England ) for shelter , and carry on their Designs without trial or danger . Is not this most incomparable Jugling ? he can blow hot and cold at his pleasure , an excellent Artist ; for observe , when he had some trouble of Spirit upon him for the Papists Sufferings upon this Hellish Plot , and to take off the edge of the Magistrate , and the opinion of the People , as to the further and severe prosecuting of it , that there might not be any more havock made with them , then there was not a Papist to be seen , they were invisible ; but now when the Tables must be turned upon the Dissenters to the Church of England , then because of some of the Dissenters scruplesomeness in Swearing , his Opinion is changed ; for now there is a great deal of danger he says ; but if you will believe the Author before , it must be of no body , or at least , so few , that they are not worth the looking after , but one to three thousand , if so much ; so here is Mr. Roger against Mr. L' Estrange : and indeed I take the Author's Inference from hence to be altogether foreign and remote from your words or meaning in your Deposition , or the truth of the case ; for though your Deposition in fact is true , and common experience joyns with you in it , that the Jesuits and their Party are so active , that they will , if possible , thrust themselves into any Society of Men , to try their skill in disturbance of Governments ▪ and carry on their Design , yea , even as well where there are Dissenters from the Church of England , as where there are none ; and according to what he said , equally safe to themselves . Now to conclude all , he tells you , Doctor , It must be granted , that either the Papists have a design upon the King , Religion and Government , and advance it by acting the parts of Quakers , Anabaptists , Presbyterians and other Sectaries , or not ; and admitting your Deposition to be true , there can be no security to this Government , without either dissolving all seperate meetings , or bringing in all Dissenters to this Legal Test , otherwise the Papists have all sorts of liberty and security in herding themselves amongst Conventiclers ; where upon the beating of a Bush , it will be an even wager whether you start a Jesuit , or a Fanatick ; and in this case there is not much difference between them , where the Jesuit plays the Fanatick , or the Fanatick the Jesuit : and then says , if this main Assertion be true , there is no way of finding out the Papists but by this Test ; and Dissenters cannot chuse but incourage the Proposition , either they have Priests amongst them , or not ; if they have , why do they not the best they can to find them out ; if not , why do they say they have ? Either they are influenced by the Jesuits , or not ; if they be , why do not they purge their Congregations ? If not , why do they pretend they are , and so set the Saddle on the wrong Horse ? Either its possible to clear their Conventicles of this dangerous mixture , or not ; If so , why do they still complain , and do nothing in it ? If not , then there is no way to extirpate Popery , but by rooting out Fanaticism ; and then he calls to the world to judge with what injustice the Orders and Rituals of the Church of England are charged with a tincture of Superstition and Popery , when the Calumniators are tainted with this Leaven : and then concludes , he is come to the bottom of the Popish Plot. I am sure a blind man would be glad to see it ; for I , that have both my eyes , can neither see top , middle , nor bottom of what he promised , of a further Discovery of your discovered Plot : and all he hath said I take to be but a meer groundless Phantasm ; for in the beginning of his Pamphlet he undertook a further Discovery of the Plot than you discovered ; and could you , or any other rational man have from thence expected , or looked for any thing else but some new matter , and clearly made out , and evinced either by authentick Testimony , or undeniable Arguments ? but instead thereof he hath spoiled three or four Sheets of Paper , by stuffing them full of strained and wrested Constructions of , and inferences from some part of your Depositions and Observations , many manifest contradictions , and apparent mistaken Conclusions thereupon . Nevertheless , to do him what right I can , perchance if you take not his litteral expression , but his mystical meaning , I am perswaded you will go nigh to judge , he hath made , or really intended to make a further Discovery of a Plot , but not the Plot you have discovered : for if you well and seriously observe the subject matter of his Discourse and Arguments , and to what they tend , and add to it the time when this Learned Piece came forth , and compare it with the invented Plots of the Earl of Castlemain , Countess of Powis , John Gadbury , Mrs. Celier , &c. I may easily suppose , Doctor , you may without any great stress readlly conjecture with whom he conversed , for what Meridian this elaborate Piece of his was calculated , and for whose use by its Image and Superscription , but the All-mighty Providence having taken them in their own Snares , both in those and other things hath thereby plainly proved to the world the manifest untruth of his Assertions ; for although is be undeniably true what you have deposed , that the Jesuits and their Agents endeavoured to Work amongst all Parties whatsoever , nay , and by his own shewing , as he puts the case , they may be as secure amongst the members of the Church of England , nay and more than the Dissenters from the Church of England ; for , although he says , because many of the Dissenters will not take Oaths , therefore there the Jesuites &c. may hide themselves ; so also he says many of the Jesuites and Papists , will take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and so will the members of the Church of England : if so , then what can hinder the Jesuites &c. to herd and hide there ? Into what Confusion hath this Author brought us , if all his Suppositions be true , but certainly had the Earl of Castlemain , the Countess of Powis , John Gadbury , Mris. Celier and their accomplices been of Opinion that their Security had lain amongst the Dissenters to the Church of England , they would not have been so injurious to them , as to have endeavoured to have turned the Plot upon them , and besides its to all rational men a strange Proof against this Authors Assertion in that particular ; for if the Jesuites , &c. herd only amongst Dissenters from the Church of England , and they had been their fellow-Conspirators or Agents in the Plot ; It could not be unknown to them , and then certainly there had not been such necessity as they conceived , to go about by desperate and false Oaths , to make them either Authors , Abetters or Contrivers of the Plot ; and doth it not evidently and plainly Demonstrate the Contrary ? for had those Assertions been true this Author would have you , Doctor , and the world believe in that particular , surely there had not needed a Sham-Plot , to bring the Dissenters from the Church of England into the real Plot , for had it been true it might have been proved by other means , but yet to this day there is not one man of the dissenters from the Church of England , come to my knowledge , that is either charged with , or detected of any such thing ; ( unless the Authors bare word be to be taken for granted ) so that though the Jesuites and Priests have according to your Depositions endeavoured to draw them in , yet have they not prevailed , for what appears ; so that for ought I can preceive its undeniable that the Saddle was , and is upon the right Horse , and then all his Queries of if's or not's fall to the ground , and needs not any answer but what is before upon the like questions . But that the Dissenters from the Church of England have Jesuites and Priests actually amongst them , doth not by your's or any other deposition , proof or experience whatsoever appear , there is any , or if there be , that they have not wrought any Influence at all upon them , or at least such an one as may from the Government , merit a total Extirpation , which the Author strongly presses for , but I presume an healing Plaister is better . But he having been heretofore accustomed to Write new's-Books , thought his book would not appear authentick or at least would not be vendable without an advertisment annexed to it ; which Advertisment is indeed as much to the purpose , and Coherent to the Subsequent matter of his Pamphlet as comes just to nothing , and truly he is so Ingenious as to tell you so , for he says in the close of it that its Forraign to the Subject of his Pamphlet , but more Accomodate to the Season . But for my part I think its Forraign to both , for it is , that the Subjects right of Petitioning , hath been of late in such manner asserted , as if his Majesty had no right of refusing ; and then answers it with some Instances , from Edward the Third , to Henry the Eight , of Granting and Refusing ; I know not his Author nor I believe he did not , for that Assertion , for if he had certainly he would have named him . But if any one did so he was to blame , and was I suppose as much under a mistake as the Author is in his Pamphlet , and the Subject matter of it ; for I take it to be undoubred , that the person or Power that may be petitioned to , hath a power of granting and denying : as for instance ; if a Party of his friends should in a petition to his Majesty set forth according to their apprehension , his merits by his Pamphlet and pray a reward for him , his Majesty might refuse it , and on the other hand if you , Doctor , and others by petition to his Majesty , should set forth how he hath traduced his Majesty , the Government and the Kings Witnesses in his said Pamphlet , and pray that the same , and he , might be left to the Law to be punished according to their demerits , the same might and would be granted ; but in regard he could not , or at least would not make a further Discovery of that Damnable and hellish Plot Discovered by you ; give me leave to tell you , if he could have been convinced by any other Evidence , or Testimony , than Dives and his brethren , how he might have done it , by publishing to the world , as the truth is , that the singer of God hath been in this Discovery of your's throughout ; for it cannot proved , be that you , Doctor , had the least advice or assistance of any one man , to guide or help you to contrive the way you took , and was to take , ( and that with eminent danger and vast hazard , and great difficulty ) for the making your self Master of this Discovery in less than a year . That you had not the least advice or assistance of any one man to help you to contrive the time , the way , and method how to publish this Discovery to Authority , but came barely and nakedly to it ; yea , and with a proof in your mouth , from those you were to discover , you nor any one else should be credited . That when many of the material measures you had proposed to your self , and depended upon to make good , and for the manifestation of your Discovery ( as Coleman's latter Papers , Langhorne's Papers , the foreign Pacquets ) were removed , and you deprived of them , and by reason thereof barely stood as a single Witness , and inevitable ruine and destruction ghastly and grimly staring in your face , yet your Spirits were supported , and you not at all discouraged from sticking to the truth . But then the Jesuitical Party being infatuated , and raging with madness , must needs , to hide their Villanies , as all notorious Sinners commonly do , by committing another Sin ; so did they by committing that barbarous and inhumane Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey , which proved otherwise than they designed it ; for instead of suppressing the Discovery of the Plot , it did , as it were give a new life to what you had delivered . Then doubtless , moved by the same spirit you were , did not the then Representatives of the Nation unanimously by their Votes testifie their credit of your Evidence ? Then by the same hand apparently were sent in , to your assistance and confirmation , Mr. Bedlow , Mr. Dugdale and many others , who have proved many other particulars , and concurred in the general to a tittle with you . That until you , and the rest of the Witnesses in this Hellish and Damnable Plot , had been made use of at a publick Trial , you did not converse , or associate with one another , as can be proved by a multitude of authentick Witnesses , so far as is provable in a negative ; and I am confident cannot be proved in the affirmative . That not any two of you that are the King's Witnesses in that Plot , or any part of it ; were of any Familiarity or acquaintance , before your being ingaged in that business , and you all lived remote from one another ; and although you do not all swear to the same particulars , yet do concurr in the whole , as to the generality of the Plot. That not any one of them but your self ( who for some short time was under a necessity to counterfeit your self a Papist . ) These things , Doctor , I only mention to put you in mind by what hand , you , as I conceive , have been supported in this Discovery , and to shew you according to my apprehension , what improbability , nay , I may say , impossibility , there is , that this Discovery of yours , of this Hellish Plot , is in the least any thing of an invention , or contrived Design by you , but is pure matter of Fact , and of undeniable verity , and not to be so slighted , as that invention of Beddingfields , being alive again . All which I was prompted to , as I conceived as a Duty incumbent upon me , upon and by the obligation of the Loyalty I truly owe to my natural Prince , the real veneration I have for the Government and true Christian Religion , and Justice of the Nation , the Cordial Love I have to my faithful fellow-Subjects , and my profess'd and faithful Friendship to your self ; and therefore keep up your Spirits , and be not dismayed , or in the least discouraged ; for it is my opinion , and I hope not without good grounds , and presume I may with reverence , and without offence say it ( unless to the tender ears of some captious Masquerade and strange Sons of the Church of England ) that God will neither forsake you , nor this Cause , but in despite of all opposition will therein glorifie himself , and in truth set up the Kingdom of his Son. But give me leave to tell you my Judgment , that if this Author's Assertions and Arguments Your Cordial Friend , B. W. FINIS .