The character of a popish successour, and what England may expect from such a one humbly offered to the consideration of both Houses of Parliament, appointed to meet at Oxford, on the one and twentieth of March, 1680/1. Settle, Elkanah, 1648-1724. 1681 Approx. 89 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A59298 Wing S2670 ESTC R10639 11907383 ocm 11907383 50753 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. A59298) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 50753) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 511:32) The character of a popish successour, and what England may expect from such a one humbly offered to the consideration of both Houses of Parliament, appointed to meet at Oxford, on the one and twentieth of March, 1680/1. Settle, Elkanah, 1648-1724. [2], 22 p. Printed for T. Davies, London : 1681. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. In reference to the succession of the Duke of York, afterwards, James II. 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 -- Kings and rulers -- Succession. 2005-09 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-10 Ali Jakobson Sampled and proofread 2006-10 Ali Jakobson Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE CHARACTER OF A Popish Successour , AND WHAT ENGLAND MAY EXPECT From Such a One. Humbly offered to the Consideration of BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT , Appointed to meet at OXFORD , On the One and twentieth of March , 1680 / 1. LONDON , Printed for T. Davies . MDCLXXXI . THE CHARACTER OF A Popish Successour , AND What England may expect from such a One. IT has been my Fortune to be a Subject and a Native of that part of the World , where almost three years last past I have scarce heard any thing , but the continual Noise of Popery and Plots , with all the clamorous Fears of a jealous Kingdom , about my Ears . And truly , I must plainly confess , I am not so ill a Commonwealths-man , but that I am glad to see my Country-men disturb'd in a Cause , where Religion , Liberty , and Property are at stake . If their Jealousies are just , and their Fears prophetick , in God's Name let them talk . Every good man ought to be so far from silencing any reasonable Murmurs , that 't is rather his Duty to bear a Part in a Choire so Universal . And if we see the Great and Wise Men of our Nation , like true English Patriots , strugling and toiling to prevent our threatning Calamities , let us take delight to behold them restless and uneasie , rolling about our troubled Sea , like Porpoises against a Tempest , to forewarn us of an approaching Destruction . But amidst our evident Danger , we see another sort of People daily slattering and deluding us into a false and fatal Security . And sure none are so little our Friends , or indeed so void even of Humanity it self , as those who wou'd lull us asleep when Ruine is in view . But since Zeal and Hypocrisie , naked Truth and artificial Falshood , have oftentimes alike Faces , I cannot but think it the Duty both of a Christian and an English-man , to unravel the Treachery of those false Arguments which they raise to destroy us . As first , they say , Why shou'd we stand in fear of Popery , when in the present Temper of England 't is impossible for any Successour whatever to introduce it ? And next , amidst our groundless Fears , ( say they ) Let us consider what that Prince is that appears so dreadful a Gorgon to England . A Prince that on all accounts has so signally ventur'd his Life for his King and Country : A Heroe of that faithful and matchless Courage and Loyalty : A Prince of that unshaken Honour and Resolution , that his Word has ever been known to be his Oracle , and his Friendship a Bulwark whereever he vouchsafes to place it ; with such an infinite Mass of all the Bravery and Gallantry that can adorn a Prince . Why , must the change of his Religion destroy his Humanity , or the advance to a Crown render his Word or Honour less Sacred , or make him a Tyrant to that very People whom he has so often and so chearfully defended ? Why , may there not be a Popish King with all these Accomplishments , that whatever his own private Devotions shall be , yet shall publickly maintain the Protestant Worship , with all the present Constitution of Government , unalter'd ? Yes , now I say something ! If this Rara avis in terris can be found , then England were in a happy condition . But , alas ! what signifie all the great past Actions of a Princes Life , when Popery at last has got the Ascendant ? All Vertues must truckle to Religion ; and how little an Impression will all his recorded Glories leave behind them , when Rome has once stampt him her Proselyte ? But since unlikely things may come to pass , let us seriously examine how far the Notion of such a Popish Successour consists with Reason , or indeed has the least shadow of possibility . If to maintain and defend our Religion be any more than a Name , it is impossible for any Man to act the true Defensive Part , without the Offensive too : And he that wou'd effectually uphold the Protestant Worship , Peace , and Interest , is bound to suppress all those potent and dangerous Enemies that wou'd destroy 'em ; for all other Defence is but Disguise and Counterfeit . If then the Wisdom of several Successive Monarchs , with a whole Nations unanimous Prudence , and indefatigable Care for the Protestant Preservation , has determin'd , That those Popish Priests who have sworn Fealty to the See of Rome , and taken Orders in Foreign Seminaries , are the greatest Seducers of the King's Liege-People , and the most notorious Incendiaries and Subverters of the Protestant Christianity and Loyalty ; and for that Cause their several Laws declare them Traytors ; by consequence these are the potent and dangerous Enemies which , in defence of the Protestant Cause , this Popish King is oblig'd to suppress and punish , and these the very Laws he is bound to execute . And though , perhaps , till the Discovery of the late Plot , for several Ages we have not seen that Severity inflicted on Popish Priests , as the Laws against them require ; and why ? because the flourishing Tranquility of the English Church under this King and his Father's Reign , rendred them so inconsiderable an Adversary , that the natural tenderness of the Protestant People of England , not delighting in Blood , did not think it worth their while either to detect or prosecute 'em , and therefore has not made 'em the common Mark of Justice . But under the Reign of an English Papist , when the Fraternity of their Religion shall encourage the Pope to make his working Emissaries ten times more numerous ; when , if not the hope of Publick Patronage , yet at least their confidence of Private Indulgence , Connivance , and Mercy , emboldens the Missive Obedience of his Jesuitical Instruments , whilst the very Name of a Popish Monarch has the Influence of the Sun in Egypt , and daily warms our Mud into Monsters , till they are become our most threatning and most formidable Enemies . And if ever the Protestant Religion wanted a Defender , 't is then . If the Word , Honour , or Coronation Oath of a King be more than a Name , 't is then or never he is oblig'd to uphold the Protestant Interest , and actually suppress its most apparent and most notorious Enemies . Well then , for Arguments sake , by the vertue of a strong Faith ( a Faith so strong as may remove Mountains ) let us suppose we may have such a Roman Catholick King , as shall discountenance Pope and Popery , cherish Protestantism , and effectually deter and punish all those that shall endeavour to undermine and supplant it : and then let us examine what this King , thus qualified , must do . First then , in continuing the Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction , Honours , and Preferments in the Hands of the Protestant Clergy , he must confer his Favours and Smiles on those very Men , whom ( by the Fundamentals of his own uncharitable Persuasion , which dooms all that dye out of the Bosom of the Romish Church to a certain state of Damnation ) he cordially believes do preach and teach , and lead his Subjects in the direct way to Hell : And next , at the same time he must not only punish and persecute , but perhaps imprison and hang those very only Righteous Men , whom from the bottom of his Soul he believes can onely open them the Gates of Paradise : whilst in so doing he cannot but accuse himself of copying the old Jewish Cruelty . Nay , in one respect he out-goes their Crime ; for he acts that knowingly , which they committed ignorantly . For , by the Dictates of his Religion he must be convinc'd , that in effect he does little less than save a Barabbas , and crucifie a Jesus . A very pretty Chimaera ! Which is as much as to make this Popish King the greatest Barbarian in the Creation ; a Barbarian that shall cherish and maintain the Dissenters from Truth , and punish and condemn the Pillars of Christianity , and Proselytes of Heaven : Which is no other than to speak him the basest of Men , and little less than a Monster . Besides , at the same time that we suppose that King that dares not uphold nor encourage his own Religion , we render him the most deplorable of Cowards ; a Coward so abject , that he dares not be a Champion even for his God. And how consistent this is with the Glory of a Crown'd Head , and what hope England has of such a Successour , I leave all Men of Sense to judge . Besides , What mis-match'd incongruous Ingredients must go to make up this Composition of a King ! His Hand and Heart must be of no Kin to one another : He must be so inhumane to those very darling Jesuits , that like Mahomet's Pidgeon infus'd and whisper'd all his Heavenly Dreams into his Ears , that he must not only clip their Wings , but fairly Cage 'em too ▪ even for the charming Oracles they breath'd him : And at the same minute he must leave the wide and open Air to those very Ravens that daily croak Abhorrence and Confusion to them , and all their holy Dreams , and their false Oracles . Thus whilst he acts quite contrary to all his Inclinations , against the whole bent of his Soul , what does he but publickly put in force those Laws for the Protestant Service , 'till in fine , for his Nations Peace , he ruines his own , and is a whole Scene of War within himself ? Whilst his Conscience accusing his Sloth on one side , the Pope on the other , Romes continual Bulls bellowing against him , as an undutiful unactive Son of Holy Mother Church , a Scandal to her Glory , a Traytor to her Interest , and a Deserter of her Cause ; one day accusing the Lukewarmness of his Religion , another the Pusilanimity of his Nature ; all Roman Catholick Princes deriding the feebleness of his Spirit , and the tameness of his Arm : till at long run , to spare a Faggot in Smithfield , he does little less than walk on hot Irons himself . Thus all the Pleasure he relishes on a Throne , is but a kind of Good-Fryday Entertainment . In stead of a Royal Festival , his rioting in all the Luxury of his Heart , to see Romes Dagon worshipp'd , Romes Altars smoak , Romes Standard set up , Romes Enemies defeated , and his victorious Mother Church triumphant ; his abject and poor-spirited Submission denies himself the only thing he thirsts for : And whilst the Principles he sucks from Rome do in effect in the Prophets words bid him , Rise , slay and eat , his Fear , his unkingly , nay unmanly Fear , makes him fast and starve . However , if there be such a King in Nature , as will not defend his own Religion , because he dares not ; but sneaks upon a Throne , and in obedience to his Fear shrinks from the Dictates of his Conscience , and the Service of his God : If , like Jupiters Log , such a King can be , and Fate has ordain'd us for a Popish Prince , pray Heaven shrowd the Imperial Lion in this innocent Lambs-skin . But I am afraid we shall scarce be so happy ; and I shrewdly suspect , that all those cunning Catholick Trumpetters who in all Companies found the Innocence of a Popish Successour , and flatter us with such a hopeful , harmless , peaceful Prince in a Papist , have a little of the Romish Mental Reservation in the Promises they make us , and no small Jesuitical Equivocation in the Airy Castles they build us . But I have heard some say , Why , may there not be a zealous Prince of any Religion , who still out of the meer Principles of Morality , shall have that tenderness and sense of his Peoples Peace , as to trouble himself about Religion no farther than concerns his own Salvation ; and therefore continue the Administration of Laws and Devotion in the same Channel he found them ? And all this his meer Morality shall do ! Alas ! alas ! If he 's a Bigot in Religion , all his Morals are Slaves to his Zeal . Nay , grant him to be the most absolute Master of all the Cardinal Vertues , there 's not one of them that shall not be a particular Instrument for our Destruction . As for Example , allow him Fortitude , suppose him a Prince of matchless Courage : So much the 2worse ; what does that but make him the more daring , and more adventurous , in pushing on the Cause of Rome , and with a more undaunted and manly patience bear all the Oppositions he meets in the way . If he be a Man of Justice , that still makes for Rome : for whilst he believes the Pope to be Christ's Lawful Vicar , and that that Office includes the Ecclesiastical Supremacy , no doubt but he 'll think it as much the Duty of his Cstristianity to give the Pope his Right , as to take his own : And in Christ's own Words , that give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar 's , and unto God those things that are God's , he 'll certainly judge the Popes Restoration as great a piece of Justice , as his own Coronation . Then if he be a Master of Temperance , in the properest sense of this Moral Vertue , viz. a Man that can govern his Passions , that 's still as bad : For he that has the most bridled Passions , has always the firmest and steadiest Resolutions . Who so renown'd for Constancy , so fixt in his Resolves , and so unalterable in his determin'd Purposes , as that Philip of Spain , who was never heard to rage , or scarce seen to frown ? Nay , History gives this Character of him , That after the discovery of his Queens Adultery with his own Son , at the same minute that he order'd her a Bowl of Poyson , he did not so much as change his Look , or Voice , either to his treacherous Son , or his incestuous Wife . And what so fit a Pillar for Popery , as such Constancy in a King ? But if we take Temperance in its larger signification , viz. the self-denial of a Man's Worldly Appetites ; still worse and worse : For a Riotous Luxurious Monarch bounds his Ambition wholly in the Pleasures of a Crown , resigns his Reins to his Charioteers , and leaves the Toil of Power to his Subordinate Magistrates , like the Work of Fate to Second Causes ; whilst his Intemperance so slackens his Zeal , that it unbends those very Nerves , which otherwise might be more strenuously wound up for our Destruction . And lastly , If he has Prudence , that 's worst of all . That 's his onely winning Card ; the onely leading Vertue that manages his Policies and Conduct with that Care and Art , till he effects the Business of Rome , and ripens that mighty Work to a perfection , which otherwise an overforward fool-hardy Zeal , by ill management , might destroy . Thus his very Cardinal Vertues are the absolute Hinges that open the Gates to Rome . Alas ! where Superstition rules the day , all Moral Vertues are but those lesser Lights that take their Illumination from that greater Orb above ' em . And thus , what boots it in a Popish Heir , to say he 's the truest Friend , the greatest of Heroes , the best of Masters , the justest Judge , or the honestest of Men ? All meer treacherous Quicksands for a People to repose the least glimpse of Safety in , or build the least Hopes upon . But I have heard a great many say , It cannot enter into their thoughts , that a Popish Successour will ever take such an inhumane and so unnatual a Course to establish Popery , it being so absolutely against the English Constitution , that it can never be introduced with less than a Deluge of Blood. Surely his very Glory should withold him from so much Cruelty , considering how much more it would be for his Immortal Honour , to have the universal Prayers than the Curses of a Nation . And one would think a King would so much more endeavour to win the Hearts , than the Hatred of his People , that certainly in all probability this excentrick Motion , this disjoynting the whole Harmony of a World , should be so ungrateful to him , that no Religion whatever should put such a thought into his Head. And all this his Glory shall do ? His Glory ! The Glory of a Papist ! A pretty Airy Notion . How shall we ever expect that Glory shall steer the Actions of a Popish Successour , when there is not that thing so abject that he shall refuse to do , or that Shape or Hypocrisie so scandalous he shall not assume , when Rome or Romes Interest shall command ; nay , when his own petulant Stubbornness shall but sway him ? As for example ; For one fit he shall come to the Protestant Church , and be a Member of their Communion , notwithstanding at the same time his Face belies his Heart , and in his Soul he is a Romanist . Nay , he shall vary his Disguises as often as an Algerine his Colours , and change his Flag to conceal the Pyrate . As for instance ; Another fit , for whole Years together , he shall come neither to one Church nor th' other , and participate of neither Communion , till ignobly he plays the unprincely , nay the unmanly Hypocrite , so long , that he shelters himself under the Face of an Atheist , to shrowd a Papist . A Vizor more fit for a Banditto , than a Prince . And this methinks is so wretched and so despicable a Disguise , that it looks like being asham'd of his God. Besides , If Glory could have any Ascendant over a Popish Successour , one would think the Word of a King , and the Solemn Protestations of Majesty , ought to be Sacred and Inviolable . But how many Precedents have we in Popish Princes to convince us , their strongest Engagements and Promises are lighter than the very Breath that utters ' em . As for Examples sake ; How did their Saint Mary of England promise the Norfolk and Suffolk Inhabitants the unmolested continuation of the Protestant Worship , calling her God ( that God that saw the falseness of her Heart ) to witness , That though her own Persuasion was of the Romish Faith , yet she would content her self with the private Exercise of her own Devotion , and preserve the then Protestant Government , with all her Subjects Rights and Priviledges , uninjur'd . Upon which those poor , credulous , honest , deluded Believers , on the security of such prevalent Conjurations , led by the mistaken Reverence they paid to a protesting Majesty , laid their Lives at her Feet , and were the very Men that in that Contest of the Succession plac'd her on a Throne : But immediately , when her Soveraign Power was securely established , and his pious Holiness had bid her safely pull the Vizor off , no sooner did Smithfield glow with Piles of blazing Hereticks , but Chronicles more particularly observe , that no People in her whole Kingdom felt so signal Marks of her Vengeance , as those very Men that raised her to a Throne . Her Princely Gratitude for their Crowning her with a Diadem , Crown'd them with their Martyrdoms . But since we have mentioned her Princely Gratitude , 't will not be amiss to recollect one Instance more of so exemplary a Vertue . In the Dispute betwixt hers , and the Lady Jane Grays Title to the Crown , it was remarkable , that all the Judges of England gave their unanimous Opinions for the Lady Janes Succession , except one of them only , that asserted the right of Mary : But it so fell out , that this Man proving a Protestant , ( notwithstanding of all the whole Scarlet Robe he had been her only Champion ) was so barbarously persecuted by her , that being first degraded , then imprison'd and tortur'd for his Religion , the cruelty of his Tormentors was so savage , that with his own hand he made himself away to escape ' em . And well might the violence of his Despair sufficiently testifie his Sufferings were intolerable , when he fled to so sad a Refuge as Self-murder for a Deliverance . But here says another Objection , Suppose that the Conservation of a Nations Peace , the Dictates of a Princes Glory , and all the Bonds of Morality , cannot have any influence over a Popish Successour ; yet why may there not be that Prince , who in veneration of his Coronation Oath , shall defend the Protestant Religion , notwithstanding all his private regret , and inclinations to the contrary ? When rather than incur the infamous brand of Perjury , he shall tie himself to the performance of that , which not the force of Religion it self shall violate ? And then , how can there be that Infidel of a Subject , after so solemn an Oath , that shall not believe him ? Why , truly , I am afraid there are a great many of those Infidels , and some that will give smart Reasons for their Infidelity : For , if he keeps his Oath , we must allow , that the only Motive that prompts him to keep it , is some Obligation that he believes is in an Oath . But considering he is of a Religion that can absolve Subjects from their Allegiance to an Heretical Excommunicated Prince , nay depose him , and take his very Crown away ; why may it not much more release a King from his Faith to an Excommunicated Heretical People , by so much as the Ties of Vassals to Monarchs , are greater than those of Monarchs to Vassals ? But 't will not be amiss , for strengthning this Argument , to give the World an Instance of the power of an Oath with a Roman Catholick King. There is a famous Gentleman on the other side the Water , whom we all very well know , ( pray Heaven we live not to be better acquainted with him than we desire ) that once took the strongest of Oaths , the Sacrament , That he would never invade nor make war upon Flanders . But whether or no his Confessour found some Jesuitical Loop-hole from that Sacrament , or that the Body and Blood of Christ could not hold him , we see that Flanders of late years has not liv'd so merrily , nor so peaceably , as so Royal a Voucher ( one would have thought ) might have assured them they should . And now let us a little balance the difference between the Breach of his Oath , and that of a Popish Princes in England . All the Motives that could provoke him to the breach of his Oath , was only his Ambition , a Lust of being Great : And at the same time that he is an Invader of his Neighbouring Princes , his Conscience must tell him his Conquests are at best but so many glorious Robberies , and all his Trophies but shining Rapines . Was it not the sense of this that made Charles the Fifth , who may be also called Great , after all his Victories , retire from a Throne into a Cloyster , out of meer remorse for all the Streams of Blood he had shed , to make the last part of his Life an Attonement for the Faults of the first ? And then if a Roman Catholick can break an Oath only for the pleasure of Conquering , which he knows is doing ill ; shall not a Popish Prince in England have ten times more inclination to break an Oath for the propagation of his own Faith , which his Conscience tells him is Meritorious ? For , besides the specious flattery , That Kings can do no ill , and That all Crimes are cancelled in a Crown , he has Religion to drive the Royal Jehu on ; Religion , that from the beginning of the World , thro' all Ages , has set all Nations in a Flame , yet never confesses it self in the wrong . Besides , how can a Popish Prince , in attempting to establish his own Religion , believe he does his Subjects an Injustice in that very thing in which he does God Justice ; or think he injures ●hem , when he does their Souls right ? Alas ! no : When Rome by her insinuating Witchcrafts has lifted the full Bowl of her Inchantments to his Lips , what will his holy enthusiastick Rage do less than the hot-brain'd drunken Alexander ? All his best Friends , and every honest Clytus that dares but thwart his Frenzy , is presently his Frenzies Sacrifice : only with this difference ; the frantick Alexander , after his drunken Fit was over , in his milder and more sensible Intervals , with all the compunctions of penitence , could mourn and groan for what his blinder Rage had murder'd : But Religious Frenzy leaves that eternal Intoxication behind it , that where it commits all the Cruelties in the World , 't is never sober after to be sorry for 't . Thus whilst a Popish King sets his whole Kingdom in a combustion , how little does he think he plays a second Nero ? Good consciencious Man , not he : Alas ! he does not tune his Joys to the Tyrannick Nero's Harp , but to David's milder and more sacred Lyre ; whilst in the height of his pious Ecstasie he sings Te Deum at the Conflagration . Thus with an Arbitrary unbounded Power , what does his licencious holy thirst of Blood do less , than make his Kingdom a larger Slaughter-house , and his Smithfield an Original Shambles ? Thus the old Moloch once again revives , to feast and riot on his dear Humane Sacrifice : And whilst his fiery Iron Hands crush the poor burning Victime dead , the propagation of Religion , and the Glory of God , as he calls it , are the very Trumpets that deafen all the feeble Cries of Blood , and drown the dying Groans of what he murders . Thus whilst the Bonds of Faith , Vows , Oaths , and Sacraments can't hold a Popish Successour , what is that in an Imperial Head , but what in a private Man we punish with a Gaol and Pillory ; whilst the perjur'd Wretch stands the universal Mark of Infamy , and then is driven from all Conversation , and like a Monster hooted from Light and Day . But the Pope and a Royal Hand may do any thing ; there 's a Crown in the case to gild the Deeds his Royal Engins act . — Et quod Turpe est Cerdoni , Volesos Brutosque , decebit . They are still that adorable Sovereign Greatness we must kneel to , and obey . What if a little perjur'd Villain has sworn a poor Neighbour out of a Cow or a Cottage ! hang him , inconsiderable Rogue , his Ears deserve a Pillory . But to Vow and Covenant , and forswear three Kingdoms out of their Liberties and Lives , that 's Illustrious and Heroick . There 's Glory in great Atchievements , and Vertue into Success . Alas ! a vast Imperial Nimrod hunts for Nobler Spoils , flies at a whole Nations Property and Inheritance . A Game worthy a Son of Rome , and Heir of Paradise . And to lay the mighty Scene of Ruine secure , he makes his Coronation Oath , and all his Royal Protestations , ( those splendid Baits of premeditated Perjury ) the Cover and Skreen to the hidden fatal Toil laid to insnare a Nation . But now to their main Objection : Some People will tell us , That 't is wholly impossible for any Popish Successour , by all his Arts or Endeavours whatever , to introduce Popery into England . To this I answer , If he 's a Papist that says so , he knows he belies his Conscience ; for our late Hellish Plot is a plain Demonstration , that their whole Party believed it possible . For did not the late Secretary St. Coleman's Records tell us , That the pestilent Northern Heresie was to be rooted out , and that now they had as much hopes of accomplishing that Sacred Work of Rome , as they had in Queen Marys days ? Could any thing be plainer , than that the subtle Jesuits had formed a Design to effect it ? For it is contrary to Reason , and even Nature it self , ( as bloody as their Principles are ) to think they aim'd at the Life of their King , and would play the Regicides only to commit the blackest of Murders , for meerly Murders sake . No : They had the assurance under a presumptive Popish Heir , of making a National Conversion ; and how little privy soever he might possibly be to their principal and hellish Blow , yet they had that perfect in-sight into the very Soul of a Papist , that they were satisfied that under that Notion it was impossible for him to be otherwise than a Man of Romes right stamp , and their Hearts own liking . And if under such a Successour , their hopes of a Nations Conversion were equal to those in Queen Marys time , no doubt the converting Means must have been as Bloody or Bloodier than hers . For if after the short Infancy of seven years Reformation , under the Protestant Edward the Sixth's Reign , there wanted Fire and Faggot to restore the Pope ; how much more will he want them for his Restoration , after an Exclusion of almost Seven-score years together , with all the necessary Difficulties of regaining his Empire , where his Throne has been so long demolish'd ? Nay , in Edward's Days the only detestation of the Fopperies , Idolatries , and Superstitions of Rome , was all that went to make a Protestant Reformation . Alas ! the Beast was then but young : But his Horns are since grown stronger , and his Teeth and Tallons sharper ? For , since that , we have had the notorious Paris and Irish Massacres , when at one riotous Festival above 100000 bleeding Protestant Hearts were all gorged by the devouring Monster in a Night . Add to these , the successive Villanies of Gunpowder-Treasons , Fired Cities , with Plots against Kings and Kingdoms , which serve to heighten the Protestant Abhorrency . And if after all this we must still be converted , most certainly his Holiness must follow Nebuchadnezzar's Example , and heat his Fiery Furnace seven times hotter than formerly . Thus far we are convinc'd that the Jesuits beliv'd it possible ; and they are too cunning and politick a sort of People , to be deceiv'd with Shadows , or make Mountains of Mole-hills . And that it may not be objected , That their Zeal has blinded their Reason , let us but rightly consider , how far the first Foundations of Popery , ( viz. Arbitrary Power ) may be laid in England . First , then , if a Papist Reign , we very well understand that the Judges , Sheriffs , Justices of the Peace , and all the Judiciary Officers , are of the King's Creation : And as such , how far may the Influence of Preferment on baser Constitutions , cull'd out for his purpose , prevail even to deprave the very Throne of Justice her self , and make our Judges use even our Protestant Laws themselves to open the first Gate to Slavery ? Alas ! the Laws , in corrupted Judges hands , have been too often used as barbarously as the Guests of Procrustes , who had a Bed for all Travellers ; but then he either cut them shorter , or stretch'd them longer , to fit them to it . Well , but if the Publick Ministers of Justice betray the Liberty of the Subject , the Subject may petition for a Parliament to punish 'em for 't . But what if he will neither hear one , nor call the other ? who shall compel him ? The intail'd Revenues of the Crown are much larger than his Popish Predecessors e're enjoy'd , notwithstanding all the Branches of it that terminate with the Life of this present King. Besides , if this will not do , there 's no doubt but he 'll find sufficient Assistance from the Pope , English Papists , and Foreign Princes : And then having but a prudent Eye , and a tenacious Hand , to manage his Exchequer , we shall find he 'll never call that People he shall never have need of . And then where are our Parliaments , and a Redress for all the Grievances and Oppressions in the World ? But all this while the Pope is not Absolute , there wants a Standing Army to crown the Work. And he shall have it ; for who shall hinder him ? Nay , all his Commanders shall be qualified , even by our present Protestant Test , for the Employment . He shall have enough Men of the Blade out of one half of the Gaming-houses in Town , to Officer twice as many Forces as he shall want . 'T is true , they shall be Men of no Estates nor Principles ; but they shall fight as well as those that have both : For People are ever as valiant that have their Fortunes to raise , as those that have them to defend : nay , of the two they shall be more faithful to him ; for they have no Property to be concern'd for , and will more zealously serve him , by reason their whole Interests and Estates lie in him . And that this Army may be more quietly raised , how many Honourable Pretences may be found ? Perhaps the greatest and most importunate Preservation of his Kingdom shall call for it ; and then , upon second thoughts , in stead of defeating some Foreign Enemy , they are opportunely ready to cut our Throats at home , if we do not submit , and give all that this King shall ask . And then I hope none will deny , but his Revenue may be as great as he and his Popish Counsellors shall think fit to make it . Thus far we have given the Pourtraicture of a Popish King : And now let us take a Draught of his Features in his Minority ; that is , whilst he is only a Popish Heir Apparent . Imagine then a long and prosperous Reign of a Protestant Prince , a Prince so excellently qualified , that true Original of Clemency , Goodness , Honour , all the most dazling Beams of Majesty : That with all his Sacred Princely Endowments he renders himself so true a Vicegerent of Heaven in his Three Kingdoms , so near an Image of God in the moderation of his Temper , and the dispensation of his Laws , that even the nearness of his affinity to Heaven should entitle him to the dearest Care of it . And to prove him the dearest Care of Heaven , imagine likewise that Heaven has given him a People of those loyal and grateful Principles , looking up with that thankful Allegiance , and kneeling with that humble Veneration to the best of Kings , the Authour of their Prosperity , and the Founder of his Kingdoms Glory , that they have made it the greatest study of their Obedience to deserve so good a King. Witness in all Exigences their cordial tendring their Lives to serve him , and so far endeavouring to strengthen his Scepter and his Sword , till perhaps they have added those Gems to his Crown , that all his Princely Ancestors could never boast of : Being so truly strenuous in rendring their Purses and Fortunes his absolute Votaries , till they have made his Revenue more than trebbly exceed all his Royal Predecessors : And not stopping here , but upon all occasions continuing their generous and unwearied Bounty : Nay , that too , not always where his Peoples Safety , and his Kingdoms Glory , but where his private Satisfaction call'd for it ; as if they were resolved to yield their Hands and Hearts so entire a Sacrifice to Majesty , that they would gratifie even his softest Wishes , studying to sweeten his Fatigue of Empire with all the Pleasures of a Throne . Now let us suppose , after a long Tranquillity of this matchless Monarch's Reign , That the immediate Heir to his Crown , and a part of his Blood , by the Sorceries of Rome is canker'd into a Papist . And to pursue this Landschape , we see this once happy flourishing Kingdom so far ( as in all Duty and Reason bound ) concern'd for themselves , their Heirs , and their whole Countries safety , till with an honest , cautious , prudent Fear they begin to inspect a Kingdoms universal Health ; till weighing all the Symptoms of its State , they plainly descry those Pestilential Vapours fermenting , that may one day infect their Air , and sicken their World ; and see that rising Eastern Storm engendring , that will once bring in those more than Egyptian Locusts , that will not onely fill their Houses , and their Temples , but devour their Labours , their Harvests , and their Vintages . Thus they so long survey their threatned Countries Danger , till with a more than Prophetick horrour , they manifestly discover all the inseparable Concomitants of a Popish Successour ; and , like true Patriots , anticipate their Woes , with a present sense of the future Miseries they foresee . With these just Resentments of their dangerous State , 't is easie to conclude what follows . What is this Popish Heir in the Eye of England , but perhaps the greatest and onely Grievance of the Nation , the universal Object of their Hate and Fear , and the Subject of their Clamours and Curses ? at whose Door lie their Discontents and Murmurs ; But 't is Murmurs so violent , that they thrust in amongst their very Prayers , and become almost a part of their Devotions : Murmurs so bold , that they dare approach the very Palace , nay Throne and Ear of Majesty . And whenever the People of England reflect on this Heir as their King in Reversion , they have reason to look upon him as no better than Jupiter's Stork amongst the Frogs . Yes , notwithstanding all his former Glories and Conquests , his whole Stock of Fame is so lost and buried in his Apostacy from the Religion , and consequently the Interest of these Protestant Kingdoms , that all his Services are cancell'd , and his whole Mass of Glory corrupted . Suppose likewise this Popish Heir for many happy years so blest in the Tenderness and Friendship of the best of Kings , that there is not that Favour or Honour within the reach or wish of Majesty , that he has not made it the Study of his whole Reign to confer upon him ; whilst his Greatness and Lustre have been so much his dearest darling Care , as if the promoting his Interest had been the Support of his own ; till in short he has had so large a share in the Bosom of this Royal Pylades , this kindest and most gracious of Princes , as if one Soul had animated them both . On this Foundation , as great Affections are not easily removed , and Sympathy is that Bond which Humane Power can ne'er dissolve , suppose moreover , that this inseparable Tie continues so long , notwithstanding all the Changes of Principles and Religion , a Byass so heavy that it almost overturns a Kingdom : Yet still the force of Nature and Friendship surmounts them all , and stands that zealous unshaken Bulwark , for the protection and safety of this dearest part of himself ; till at length he does little less than act so over-fond a Pelican , that he exhausts even his own Vitals to cherish him . Thus whilst the long and lawful Fears of a drooping Nation have fully and justly satisfied them , that the kindest and most favourable Aspect of Majesty that smiles on England , thro' the defence and Interest of a Popish Heir , shines but like the Sun thro' a Burning-glass , whose gentlest morning Vernal Beams , thro' that fatal Medium , do but burn and consume what otherwise they would warm and cherish ; what can the Consequence of this unhappy Friendship be , but that the very Souls and Loyalties of almost a whole Kingdom are staggered at this fatal Conjunction ; till I am afraid there are too many , who in detestation of that one gangren'd Branch of Royalty , can scarce forbear ( how undutifully soever ) to murmur and revile even at that Imperial Root that cherishes it ? Insomuch that those very Knees that but now would have bow'd into their very Graves to serve him , grow daily and hourly so far from bending ( as they ought ) to a Crown'd Head , till they are almost as stubborn as their Petitions and Prayers have been ineffectual . Thus whilst a Popish Heir's extravagant Zeal for Rome makes him shake the very Throne that upholds him , by working and incroaching on the Affections of Majesty for that Protection and Indulgence that gives Birth and Life to the Heart-burnings of a Nation ; what does he otherwise , than in a manner stab his King , his Patron , and his Friend , in his tenderest part , his Loyal Subjects Hearts ? Which certainly is little less than to play the more lingering sort of Parricide ; a part so strangely unnatural , that even Savages would blush at ; yet this Religion , incorrigible remorseless Religion , never shrinks at . Thus whilst the Universal Nerves of a whole strugling Nation bend their united force against the Invasion of Pope and Popery , in studying to prevent Tyranny , they grow jealous of Monarchy . And fearing lest their Loyal Aid to the Father of their Country should unhappily contribute to the strengthning of the Subverters of their Peace and Liberty , instead of that Tributary gold which once they so cheerfully shower'd at their dread Soveraign's feet , now on the contrary the protection of a Popish Successor makes them so far from supplying the real and most pressing Necessities of Majestie , that they are rather well-pleased and triumph in his greatest wants , and that perhaps when his Glory , nay possibly when his nearest Safety calls for their Assistance . Thus what does this Popish Heir in tying up the hands of a whole Nation from their just devotion to their King , but onely this , In return for the accumulated Honours heaped upon him , he most inhumanely starves the very hand that fed him . An Ingratitude that even an Infidel would be ashamed of ! But this Religion , incorrigible remorseless Religion , never blushes at . Besides , if there can be a Son of that Royal Martyr Charles the First , a Prince so truly pious , that his very Enemies dare not asperse his Memory or Life with the least blemish of Irreligion ; a Prince that seal'd the Protestant Faith with his blood ; who in his deplorable Fate and ignominious Death , bore so near a resemblance to that of the Saviour's of the World , that his Sufferings can do no less than seat him at the right hand of Heaven . If , I say , there can be a Son of that Royal Protestant , of that uncharitable Popish Faith , who by the very Tenets of his Religion dooms all that die without the bosome of their Church irreparably damn'd ; then consequently he must barbarously tear up his Fathers sacred Monument , brand his blessed memory with the name of Heretick ; and to compleat the horrid Anathema , he most impiously execrates the very Majestie that gave him being . Then in fine , provided and granted that we have an Heir to the Imperial Crown of England perverted to the Romish Faith , and consequently of that depraved constitution and principles , that he has neither charity for the Stock from whence he sprang , concern or care for the safety , peace , glory , or prosperity of the best of Patrons , Friends , and Kings ; nor lastly , any remorse for all the Groans of an afflicted Kingdom : What promises can we give our selves of his future Reign , when we have all these fatal Prognosticks before-hand ? Ex pede Hercules . Or is it likely he will have greater care and tenderness for a Nations peace , when he shall be seated on a Throne , and have more power to take it from them ? But says a Critick to all this , Suppose this Popish Heir undoubtedly believes ( as a Papist must do ) that there 's no way to Heaven but his own ; should he so far comply with the glory or interest of his King , though a Father or a Brother , on the one side , and the quiet and safety of a Nation on the other , as to renounce his principles of Christianity , and conform to theirs ? What were that , but to purchase their peace with his own damnation , and to sacrifice his own Soul for their worldly interests ? And certainly neither Duty , nor Allegiance , nor any Tye whatever , ought to extort that from him . And then , if all the grievances of a Kingdom lie at his door , alas , the worst can be said of him is , That if he be any occasion of it , 't is his unhappiness , and not his fault . More especially , provided he is onely passive , and that we plainly see , that during his being this Popish Heir , he acts nothing that may encourage or favour Popery in the least . Pray , by the way , How must it follow , that if we do not plainly see him act , that therefore he must not act ? Does no man act , but he that publickly treads the Stage ? Does no man sit at the Helm , but he that visibly holds the Rudder ? Does no wind stir the troubled Sea into a Tempest , but what the poor Mariners both hear and feel ? no Storm , but that which lightens in their Eyes , and thunders in their Ears , to warn 'em 't is a coming ? Alas , alas , the greatest Hurricanes are onely made by subterranean Winds . A secret , silent , underground-working Mine of Ruine , which never bursts out till it destroys , and which no man hears or sees till he is lost . But to return to the Objection , The grievance of a Nation may be his unhappiness , and not his fault , &c. That is , in short , he cannot help it . Very right . And so when this Popish Heir comes to the Crown , and promotes the Romish Interest with all the Severity , Injustice , and Tyranny , that Religious Cruelty can invent ; his answer will be , he cannot help it , or at least cannot withstand those irresistible motives that prompt him to their execution ; which is the same thing . The injunctions of his Conscience make him as active now in the ruining a Kingdoms peace , as he was passive in it before . For who can be so void of common sense , as not to know , that the same impulse of Conscience that makes a man a Roman Catholick , will make him act like one when opportunity serves ? And what greater opportunity to establish Popery , than for a Papist to wear a Crown ? And tho' perhaps the stubborn English Genius will not easily bend to the Superstition of Rome , yet since his Almighty Friend the Pope , the undisputed Keeper of the Keys of Paradise , will no doubt assigne him no common Diadem in Heaven for so glorious a Task as a Nations Conversion , who then will not make that sacred Work the study of years , which cannot be accomplisht in a day , for such a Reward ? Especially when he has these two infallible Arguments to spur him on in so godly a Cause : First then , he is of a Religion that makes humane Merit the path to Salvation . Merit , the Roman Catholick Exchequer , Rome's bottomless Golden Mine . Merit , that makes the frighted dying sinner starve his own Blood , and pawn his Estate , to redeem his Soul. Merit , that drains the Wealth of Nations into the priestly Coffers , and makes the Luxury of a World the pamper'd riotous Church-mans Inheritance . Merit , that can make a Loretto-Chappel vie with a Venetian Arsenal ; and Rome's Altars , Cloysters , and Covents , rise so high , so rich , so numerous , and so magnificent , tho' the impoverisht Widows groans , and the naked Orphans cryes , do little less towards the building than a second Amphion . Nay , Merit , that can consecrate Daggers , and kill Kings . Thus whilst he has the Wonder-working Merit for his Tutor , what greater and more meritorious act to canonize him a Saint of the first magnitude , than the converting of an Apostatized Heretical Kingdom ? And then next , he is of a Religion that does not go altogether in the old-fashion Apostolical way of preaching and praying , and teaching all Nations , &c. but scourging , and wracking , and broiling 'em into the fear of God. A Religion that for its own propagation will at any time authorize its Champions to divest themselves of their humanity , and act worse than Devils , to be Saints . And thus whilst neither the cries of Blood can deter him on the one side , and so no Tyranny come amiss to him ; and next , that he has the undeniable assurance of the greatest blessings of Eternity to encourage him on the other ; with these advantages , who would not be as active as a second Romulus , and with all his utmost vigour and pride , build up his Romes new Walls , tho' he made his nearest , nay the Nations dearest blood their Cement ? And thus what is a Popish Heir , but the most terrible and the most dangerous of Englands Enemies , and of all our Foes , has the most inflexible invincible Enmity . Nay , the very outrages of Thefts , Murders , Adulteries , and Rebellions , are nothing to the pious Barbarities of a Popish King. The Murderer and Adulterer may in time be reclaimed by the precepts of Morality , and the terrours of Conscience . The Thief , by the dread of a Gallows may become honest . Nay , the greatest Traytor , either by the fear of Death , or the apprehensions of Hell , may at last repent . But a Papist on a Throne has an unconfutable vindication for all his proceedings , challenges a Commission even from Heaven for all his Cruelty dares act . And when the enchantments of Rome have toucht his Tongue with a Coal from her Altars , what do his Enthusiasms make him believe , but that the most savage and most hellish Dooms his blinded zeal can pronounce , are the immediate Oracles of God ? and all the Apology a poor Nation can expect from him , is , He cannot help it . I , but ( say the wisest Criticks we have met with yet ) if these be the dangers of a Popish King , why have we not such strong , such potent Laws made before this popish Heir come to the Crown , that it shall be impossible for him ever to set up Popery , though he should never so much endeavour it ? To this I answer ; To endeavour to set up Popery by Law , even with the Laws that we have already against it , is impossible ; and therefore the very supposition of the Projection that way is nonsence . And on the other side , to conclude he 'll endeavour to do it against Law , and so to make new Laws on purpose for him to break them with their fellows , is worse nonsence than t'other . Besides , Who shall call this King to question for breaking these Laws , if he has the power and will to do it ? I fancy that the onely nearest illustration I can make upon this point , in creating new Laws against Popery in case of a Popish Successor , is as politick a piece of work in the kinde , as building the Hedge to fence in the Cuckow . 'T is true , I will not deny , but a Popish King may be totally restrain'd from all power of introducing Popery , by the force of such Laws that may be made to tye up his hands ; but then they must be such as must ruine his Prerogative , and put the executive power of the Laws into the hands of the People . If a King of England were no more than a Stadt-holder in Holland , or a Duke of Venice , no doubt Popery would have little hopes of creeping into England ; which is in short , he that is no King , can be no Tyrant . But what Monarch will be so unnatural to his own Blood , so ill a Defender , and so weak a Champion for the Royal Dignity he wears , as to sign and ratifie such Laws as shall entail that effemenacy and that servility on a Crown , as shall render the Imperial Majesty of England but a Pageant , a meer Puppet upon a Wire ? If then no King will assent to make Laws to do it this way , and no Laws can do it t'other , all Laws against Popery , in case of a Popish Successor , are , as I told you before , but building the Hedge , &c. For indeed , how can the force of Laws made by a Protestant Predecessor , and a Protestant Parliament , in any sort binde a Popish Successor , when the very first advance of the Popes Supremacy introduces that higher power , those Canonick Ecclesiastick Laws , which no Secular , or any Temporal Court can or may controul ? Laws that shall declare , not onely all the Statutes and Acts of Parliament made against the dignity of Mother Church , void and null , but the very Law-makers themselves as Hereticks , wholly uncapable of ever having any right of making such Laws . No doubt then , but that fire that burns those Heretick Law-makers , shall give their Laws the same Martyrdom . With this certain prospect , both of the Ruine of their Estates , Lives , and Liberties , where lyes the sin in the Commons of England to stand upon their guard against a Popish Successor ? Aye , a God's name let 'em stand upon their guards , and use all expedients to keep out Popery and Tyranny , provided still that we preserve the sacred Succession in its right Line ; for that we are told both King and people are obliged in Conscience to defend and uphold . I think I need not insist further in multiplying Arguments to prove how far 't is impossible to do one without the other ; but on the other side , let us examine how the defending and establishing a Popish Successor , is an obligation on our Duties or Consciences . First then , let us fancy we see this Popish Heir on his Throne , and by all the most illegal and arbitrary means , contrary to the whole frame and hinges of the English Government , introducing Popery with that zeal and vigour , till his infatuated Conscience has perverted the King into a Tyrant . And not to stop here , If the Constitution of the English Majesty makes a King supream Moderator and Governour both Ecclesiastick and Civil : What does this Popish King by admitting the Pope's Church-supremacy , but divest himself of half his Royalty , whilst like the junior King of Brainford in the Play , he resignes and alienates the right and power of Majesty to an Invader and an Usurper ? And whilst we are thus enslaved by a Medley-Government betwixt Tyranny and Usurpation , by establishing a Papist on a Throne , we are so far from preserving the Crown , that is , the Imperial Dignity , in a right Line of Succession , that we do not preserve it at all , but on the contrary extirpate and destroy it , whilst by enthroning a Papist we totally subvert and depose the very Monarchy it self . And can it be the duty of either Englishmen or Christians , to have that zeal for a corrupted leprous Branch of Royalty , that we must ruine both Religion , Government , and Majesty it self , to support him ? How much more consistent would it be with the honest , prudent , and lawful means of a Nations preservation , to take out one link out of the whole Chain of Succession , than by preserving that , to break the whole to pieces ? Next let us see , who 't is the Commons of England would render uncapable of inheriting the Imperial Crown ; a Prince of the Royal Blood , nurst and bred up in the Protestant Allegiance and Faith , and afterwards seduced and perverted to the Romish principles and Superstition . And what 's that , but a Prince whom the unanimous Voice both of King and People , ( for such are the Laws of England ) have declared guilty of High-Treason , as we finde it in the first Statute in the 23 d of Elizabeth . STATUTE . Be it declared and enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament , That all persons whatever , which have , or shall have , or pretend to have power , or shall by any way or means put in practice to Absolve , Perswade , or Withdraw any the Queens Majesties Subjects , or any within her Highness Realms and Dominions , from their natural Obedience to her Majesty ; or withdraw 'em for that intent from the Religion now by her Highness Authority establisht within her Highness Dominions , to the Romish Religion ; or to make them , or any of them , to promise any Obedience to any pretended Authority of the See of Rome , or any other Prince , State , or Potentate , to be had or used within her Dominions ; or shall do any Overt-Act to that intent or purpose ; and every of them , shall be to all intents Adjudged to be Traytors ; and being thereof Lawfully Convicted shall have Judgment to suffer and forfeit as in case of High-Treason . And if any person shall , after the end of this Sessions of Parliament , by any means be willingly Absolved , or withdrawn as aforesaid , or willingly Reconciled , or shall promise any such Obedience to any such pretended Authority , Prince , State , or Potentate , as is aforesaid ; then every such person , their Procurers and Councellors thereunto , being thereof lawfully Convicted , shall be Tryed and Judged , and shall Suffer and Forfeit as in cases of High-Treason . Nor was this Act any more than a Confirmation and Explanation of an Act made before , in the 13 th year of her Reign ; Where 't is likewise declared , That if any person , or persons , shall willingly receive or take any Absolutions , or Reconciliations from the See of Rome , that they and their Seducers shall be equally guilty of High-Treason . Nay , we have an Act even in Henry the 8th's Reign , in which is declared , That any man that shall refuse the Oath of Henry 's Supremacy in renunciation of the Pope , shall be guilty of High-Treason . If then we have a Popish Heir presumptive , of the same brand that these Laws have markt him out , I would ask , what Crime 't is in the People of England to endeavour to disable a Tyrant from wearing a Crown ? Besides , they consider they are under a regulated and bounded Government , a Government where no man stands or falls but by his own act and decree ; whilst the whole dispensation of Meum and Tuum are made by every mans self , or his Representatives . Since then the People of England , as the Lawmakers , are an essential part of the Government ; and are fully assur'd in the Reign of a Papist , that Right will be destroy'd , Why should not they be as active and vigorous for their own Royal Inheritance , and Sacred Succession of Power , as a King for his ? Nay they ought to be the more vigorous of the two . For the King in defending a Popish Heir , protects but that Successor , whose Tyranny he shall never live to see ( since it commences but from his Grave ) ; but the People of England , in Asserting their Rights and Liberties , and defending themselves and their Heirs , do oppose that Tyranny which they may both live to see and feel . And that they may assure themselves they shall feel it , if ever a Papist mounts this Throne , then all their Murmurs , their Petitions , Protestings , and Association-Votes will be remember'd to the purpose . He that has gone a long and tiresome Journey through Brakes and Briars to a splendid Palace , when once in possession , will send out to Root up all those Thorns , and Weed those Thistles that gor'd him in the way . Alas ! too sure he 'll make good that old Promise of God to the Seed of the Woman , He 'll crush their Heads , that bruised his Heels . And would it not be hard , that the Folly and Fall of one Man should renew our old Adam's Misfortune , and entail a Curse on our whole English Generation ? If the policy of Rome , like the old Serpents subtilty , has puft him up into an ambition and lust of being equal to Gods ; may he have Adam's success too , whilst the Protestant hearts and hands of England , stand like the Angels Flaming Sword to expel him from that once Hereditary Paradise , which now his Apostacy has justly forfeited and lost . Besides , that the Disinheriting of an Heir to the Crown of England may not appear a thing so illegal , or indeed so monstrous as some people would make it , I would only refer those vehement assertors of the inviolable right of Succession , to our own Chronicles for their confutation . For they 'll find not only the Succession was scarce ever kept for Three Kings Reigns together , in a direct line of descent , since the Conquest ; but that the Crown and Succession were frequently disposed and settled by Acts of Parliament . I shall need instance but in some few particulars . In the 25. of Henry the 8 th , we find the Parliament ordering the Succession , and enacting , That the Imperial Crown of this Realm shall be to King Henry the 8th , and to the Heirs of his body lawfully begotten on Queen Anne , and the heirs of the bodies of such several sons respectively , according to the course of inheritance ; and for default of such Issue , then to the sons of his body in like manner ; and upon failure of such issue , then to the Lady Elizabeth , &c. By the same Statute is every subject at full age obliged by an Oath to defend the contents of this , and the refusal made misprision of Treason . In the 28 th year of his Reign , was that Act repealed , and the Parliament entailed the Crown on the Heirs of his Body by Queen Jane , the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth being both declared illegitimate , the first as the Daughter of Katharine , formerly his Brothers Wife , and divorced ; and the last as the Daughter of Anne Boleign , atainted of High Treason . And in case he died without issue , then the Parliament empower'd him by the same Act to dispose of the Succession by his own Letters patents , or his last Will. In the 35th year of his Reign the Parliament granted the Succession to Edward , and for want of Heirs of his Body , to the Lady Mary , and the Heirs of her Body ; and for want of such Heirs , to the Lady Elizabeth ; but both subject to such conditions as the King should limit by his Letters patents , or by his last Will signed by his Hand ; and if the King left no such Conditions by his Will , or under his Letters Patents , then either of them should enjoy the Imperial Crown , with the limitations only made in that Act. By these Acts we may plainly see , that the Succession of the English Crown was wholly subjected to the disposal , determinations , and limitations of Parliament . And that we may be well assured that that right lay in them , Henry the 8th was a Prince of that Wisdom and Prudence , and so far from submitting to Parliaments , that we may be very well assur'd , that he would never have complimented them with a power that was not their due . If he had thought in the least that he could have disposed of the Succession himself , no doubt but he would have challenged the Prerogative , had he had it to challenge . And as in every one of these three Acts they declared that their zeal for setling the Succession was for prevention of those mischiefs , and that bloodshed that might possibly be occasioned by future disputes ; Here 't is observed , that whilst they thus bandied the Succession so many various ways , by three several Acts in one Kings Reign , they did not so much respect the preservation of the Right Heir , as the Kingdoms safety . For had they been so passionately tender for the next of blood in that Age , as some would have us be in this , they would never have excluded the Lady Mary and Elizabeth from the Crown in one Act , or never have re-admitted them again in another . Besides , one thing is rema●kable in these Acts of Parliament , viz. The last Act of Parliament gives the Succession to those very Ladies whom the King and Parliament had before declared and recorded Illegitimate . Nay , they had proceeded so far , as to make it Treason for any man by Writing or Printing to say or declare that either the Lady Mary or the Lady Elizabeth were legitimate ; and yet afterwards these were no impediments to debar them from a Throne . And England was never more blest , than under the long and glorious Reign of that excellent Princess Elizabeth , how Illegitimate soever she had been rendered . I shall onely cite one Act more , and that is the 13 of Elizabeth , where 't is made Treason to affirm the Right of Succession of the Crown to be in any other than the Queen ; or to affirm that the Laws and Statutes made in Parliament , do not bind the Right of the Crown , and the descent , limitation , inheritance , and governance thereof . If after so plain and evident proofs of the undeniable power of Parliaments , we meet so many snarlers against the proceedings of the last , I know no excuse they can make for themselves , but by owning their Ignorance to be as great as their Impudence . If then ( which no man in his right wits can deny ) our Religion , Lives , and Liberties are only held by a Protestant Tenure , and the Majesty of England not only by the force of his Coronation-Oath , but by all the tyes whatever ought to be the pillar and bulwark of the Protestant Faith , and at the same time granting that we have a Popish Prince to inherit the Imperial Crown of England , he ought certainly in all Justice as little to ascend this Throne , as Nebuchadnezzar ought to have kept his when the immediate blast of Heaven had made him so uncapable of ruling as a King , that he was only a companion fit for brutes and savages . And if he had no injustice done him when he was thrust out into his proper Element , to feed and herd with the Beasts of the field ; a Papist Heir of England , with that perswasion and principles so destructive to the British State , has as little wrong done him in being debar'd from the Succession , as a fitter Guest for a Cloyster than a Throne . I remember Story tells us , That the Mother of Paris , the Son of King Priam , dreaming before his birth she had brought forth a Firebrand , that should one day set their Troy in flames ; immediately upon this , the afflicted King , as a true Father of his Country , notwithstanding all the compunctions of Nature , and tyes of Blood , was so far from cherishing even his own Race , and a Branch of himself , that he ordered the Infant to be brought up amongst Swains , as the Son of a Shepherd ; where divested of all his Princely Fortunes , and ignorant of his own high Blood , he should end his days in ignoble obscurity . And all this out of the prophetick horror but of a dream , that seemed to threaten the peace and safety of his Kingdom . And how much more reason has the present power of England , for effectually opposing Popery , by disinheriting a Popish Successor , when under a Popish Monarch , our Troynovant has the undeniable assurance of being put into a flame ; when Priams fear was but a Dream ? How fabulous soever this Story may appear , yet I am certain we have too much reason to esteem the Moral of it Oraculous . And surely our present greatest Sticklers for an unbroken Succession of the Crown , must of all Mankind set but a very little price upon their Countrey , and conclude our England the most inconsiderable part of Christendom , when the interest of one man shall outweigh that of Three Kingdoms , with the whole safety of Religion itself , and the Glory of God to fill up the Ballance . But indeed they are resolved to be positive ; and be the next of Blood a Papist or a Mahumetan , yet if he be born to it , let him Govern us . And truely I cannot forbear to repeat one of their commonest Arguments , and as they think strongest ; which is , If the Son of a private Gentleman , though a Papist , shall inherit and quietly possess his hereditary Estate ; is it not hard , nay barbarous Injustice , That the Son of a King , and the Heir of a Crown , should lose his Patrimony of Three Kingdoms for being a Papist ? Though this Argument , as Argumentum à Fortiori , has mighty sound in 't ; yet how feeble will it appear , when the Analogy shall be examin'd ! The Papist Gentleman that 's born to an Estate , may peaceably inherit it ; yes , and with some reason for it : For he 's a Subject of a Protestant Kingdom , and as such , has Protestant Laws to rule him . He can neither force his Neighbour or his Tenant to Mass , or imprison or burn 'em for Hereticks , nor seize their Estates as forfeited to Rome , whilst he is a Papist . His Religion is only to himself , and if he takes any violent or unlawful course to propagate his own Perswasion , he 's not so big but he may be brought into Westminster-hall to answer for it . Nay , possibly the Papist Subject under a Protestant Government , may sometimes behave himself as a more harmless and quiet Common-wealths-man , than a Protestant himself , if for no other than his own preservation , as not daring to awaken that Justice that may inflict the penal Statutes against him for his Recusancy . But how directly contrary to all this is the influence of a Romish Heir , when there is not one of all these destructive qualities ( of which a private man can ne're be guilty ) that he on the other side shall not vigorously and undoubtedly put in execution , when once the acquisition of a Crown has Enabled him for it , as we have at large discoursed before ? And if the Princely Popish Heir be disinherited , when a private Gentleman escapes , 't is not for his Religion , for that may be alike in both ; but for his uncontrolable power of establishing that Religion , which a Royal station will inevitably give him . Alas , the Protestant strength is above the fear of any little Popish Beasts of prey : It only behoves their safety , to hunt the Imperial Lyon down . If then the English Blood boils so high , and the access of a Papist to a Throne must necessarily meet a passage so difficult , with all these solid Bars between ; if his Religion were as Honourable as 't is invincible , what deathless Fame , and what eternal Trophies might a Popish Heir atchieve , if the welfare of a King and Kingdoms could so far influence him , as freely of himself to make the union of King and people a work of his own creation , by slacking the fatal strength of a too generous Brothers over-violent Friendship ; and so rendring our universal peace his inclination , and not necessity ? I remember in the old Roman History , when a long Plague had reigned in Rome , and an Earthquake had opened a prodigious Gulph in the middle of the Forum , their Consulteo Oracle told 'em , that neither the Plague should be stopt , nor the breach closed , till the most noble Victim in Rome had appeased their angry Deity . When Curtius , a Noble Youth of Rome , of the best and highest Roman quality , most princely adorn'd , and most gallantly mounted on Horseback , with a look so gay and so cheerful , more like that of a Bridegroom than a Sacrifice , amidst a thousand wondering tender eyes around him , rode headlong into the yawning pit . Thus falling , unterrified at so dreadful a precipice for his Countries deliverance , he extorted the promise of the Oracle ; for the Pestilence ceased , and the closing Earth sealed up his Grave . The voluntary resignation of a Popish Heir , would be no less a signal National service in the present exigence of England , than that of Curtius in Rome ; only 't is attended with milder circumstances . Our State , as dangerous as it is , does not require any Sanguinary Sacrifice : The Cure he might make to all our plagues , would be only the easier oblation of quitting the doubtful prospect of a remote and Craggy Throne ; and that too , to refix a shaking Crown , to regain the hearts of a whole Nation , and build himself that Pyramid of Honour , which would outshine the wearing a Diadem . Besides , let Plotting but once end , and the Pendant Sword , which like that of Damocles , hangs but by a Hair o're our Soveraigns Head , be safely sheath'd , and give Nature fair play , the little disparity of their years considered , the resigning of a Crown in all humane probability , would not appear at so much distance , and such uncertainty , altogether so extravagant an offering , especially when 't is made for a King and Brothers safety and glory , a Kingdoms peace and prosperity ; nay indeed , the whole repose of Christendom , when the concordance of the King and Parliament is the greatest means for strengthening those Forreign Alliances , that may give check to the fatal growth of France . Nay , above all this , what Immortal Glory would it bring even to the Romish Religion it self , when a Prince so immediately Allied to a Crown , shall voluntary lay aside the hopes and pretensions to a Temporal Diadem , for an Immortal one ? And how many more , at least more Hearty Converts would so transcendent an example of piety make , beyond the utmost severer influence of a Throne ? Nay , I may even without flattery say , the deed would make him so adorable , that for losing a Crown , he would almost raise himself an Altar . But Rome ( Heaven knows ) has other work in hand ; she 'll have no proselytes of that kind of Creation ; her rode of Conversion , I assure you , lies quite another way : Besides , her Champions are not made of so pure and so refin'd an Oar , their Minerals are more course , and more allay'd . Her Saints , in spight of all their Heavenly Contemplations , have still so much of Earth about them , that like the feet of Daniels Image , they are a mixture between Iron and Clay . But to sum up all ; If no reason must or shall prevail , and that right or wrong a Papist must succeed , when all the inseparable Cruelties of Pope and Popery shall surround us ; suppose the worst that may be , that the dreadful approach of certain slavery , so opposite to the free born genius of England , has exasperated them into a spirit of Rebellion ; what is it but the pestilential Air of reigning Popery , that bloats and swells them into that Contagion ? And if the Popish King summons all his Thunder to punish 'em for 't , what can the greatest favourer of Rome make more on 't , than that he warps them crooked , and then breaks 'em to pieces because they are not straight ? And what 's the whole sum of a revolting Nation under a Popish Tyrant , but using a violent cure to expel an universal poyson ? But here will some pretended pious Objectors say , How shall we dare to Revolt ? Remember we are Christians , and we must obey , or at least yield a passive obedience to our King ; be his Religion , Principles , or Government never so Tyrannick , he is still the Lords Anointed , and our native Soveraign . I would ask what this Lords Anointed is ? and who 't is is our Native Soveraign , when instead of being free Subjects , Pope and Tyranny shall rule over us , and we are made Slaves and Papists ? We are bound indeed by our Oaths of Allegiance , to a constant Loyalty to the King and his lawful Successours . Very right ; by that Oath we are bound to be his lawful Successours Loyal Subjects ; but why his Loyal Slaves ? Or how is an Arbitrary absolute Popish Tyrant , any longer a lawful Successour to a Protestant establisht and bounded Government , when lawfully succeeding to this limited Monarchy , he afterwards violently , unlawfully , and tyrannically over-runs the due bounds of power , dissolves the whole Royal constitution of the Three Free States of England , and the Subjects Petition of Right ? Whilst wholly abandoning those Reins of Government which were his lawful birthright , and making new ones of his own illegal creation , he makes us neither those Free-born Subjects we were when we took that Oath , nor himself that King we swore to be Loyal to . But alas ! that Bugbear passive obedience is a notion crept into the world , and most zealously , and perhaps as ignorantly defended . There never wanted the authority even of Holy Writ itself on all occasions to vindicate every thing ; and there 's scarce a precedent in the oldest Historick part of the Bible , that shall not by an extorted Application , be appropriated even to the duty and necessity of all ages , places , and constitutions of the world . For example , They 'll tell you that the Prophet Samuel makes this answer to the Jews that desired a King , That he would make their Sons and Daughters Slaves , and give their Fields , their Vineyards , and their Olive-yards , &c. to his Servants , and all this and much more they must expect from a King , &c. And ye shall cry out in that day , because of your King that you have chosen , and the Lord will not hear you in that day . Which was as much , as if the Prophet had said , If a King shall , as he may do this , you have no redress but to your Prayers for his conversion , and they perhaps too shall not be hear'd . He does not tell them they might revolt or rebel to redress themselves ; no , Heaven forbid he should . For what was the King they desired , but like those of the Nations about them ? And what were those Kings but Absolute ? In their own breath lay the voice of the Laws , and Sic volo sic Jubeo was a Decree or Statute ; and if they voluntarily submitted , and vowed Allegiance to a King so absolute , and so Arbitrary , as such they ought to obey him . And as they freely would run all risks of whatever might follow , it was their own choice , and Volenti non fit Injuria . Here indeed a passive obedience was due ; but what 's this to a King of England ? 'T is not here , Sic volo sic Jubeo , here 't is first sic vult populus , and then comes sic jubet Rex . Here all our Laws and Decrees by which we are govern'd , are of the peoples choice ; first made by the Subject , and then confirm'd by the King. Here a King cannot take our Sons and Daughters , or our Fields and Vineyards away , unless we please to give him them . If the Three States of England , which we suppose the whole Body of England lawfully convened in Parliament , shall submit to such an Arbitrary Majesty , to have their Magna Charta abolisht , their Religion and Liberties destroyed , and to have Popery and Arbitrary power set up , and yield to have the Right of Lords and Commons extirpated , and all devolve into the King , so that like the old Kings of Israel , he may set up Idols and molten Calves , and make us bow down and worship 'em ; if they will do all this , then indeed we are his lawful Slaves , and as such , 't is our duty to pay him an entire , undisputed obedience . I would only beg the world seriously to consider how Monarchy itself is acquired and founded , and then the duty of Subjects will be more easily discern'd . Monarchy can be acquired but Two ways . First , by the choice of the People , who frequently in the beginning of the World , out of the natural desire of Safety , for the securing a peaceful Community and Conversation , chose a Single Person to be their Head , as a proper Supream Moderator in all differences that might arise to disquiet that Community . Thus were Kings made for the people , and not the people for the King. The other acquisition of Monarchy , was by Conquest . The glory and pleasure of Reigning grew so tempting , that ( especially in later Ages ) they spur'd on Ambitious Minds to obtain that by Force , which in the Infancy of Time , and the first Original of Nations , appears to be generally the People's Choice , and not Compulsion . However , whether Choice or Compulsion , yet after possession , and the Peoples Submission , the Right of Kings is Sacred . Now Conquest is Twofold . The first sort is , where the Conquerour wholly over-runs a Nation , or People , and like those that take Towns by Storm , destroys and depopulates , kills or enslaves ; and then establishes Religion , Rights and Laws , solely at the will of the Conquerour . The other kinde is , when the vanquisht come to Capitulate before they yield , and only Surrender upon terms . Such was our last Norman Conquest , when the Inhabitants of Kent , and the Bishops of London upon a Parley , prevailed with him ( as our Records attest ) to confirm their Customs and Rights , establish'd and granted them by Edward the Confessour ; whilst the Lenity of the Conquerour , contenting himself with no larger a Prerogative than their last Saxon King had possest before him , submitted to make their own Native Common Laws of England the Standard of his Justice , and the continuation of their Antient Priviledges the Cement of their new Allegiance . In this milde Channel ran the English Monarchy , till in the Reign of Henry the Third , the Magna Charta was Confirm'd ; which indeed was but a Monumental Register of the Liberties and Immunities of Englishmen , enjoyed before ( tho' not so fixt ) in their pious Edward's Reign . In this state has the Majesty of England , the Dignity of Parliaments , and the Liberty of the People ( bating their former Servility to Rome ) continued ever since . And if now at last Popery must and shall come in , ( as by Law it cannot ) and consequently must be restored by Arbitrary Power : If a new Monarchy , then a new Conquest ; and if a Conquest , Heaven forbid we should be subdued like less than Englishmen ; or debar'd the Common Right of all Nations , which is , to resist and repel an Invader if we can . But to sum up all this , I must say , the most vehement Disputants against the Peoples Right of defending themselves , must at least acknowledge thus much , that whenever a Popish King shall by Tyranny establish the Pope's Jurisdiction in England , undoubtedly in the Eye of God he is guilty of a greater Sin , than that people can be , that with open Arms oppose that Tyranny . For by introducing Popery by Tyranny , by one unjust Power he establishes another as unjust ; and by one ill , defends a worse : Whereas the People of England , in taking Arms against that Tyranny , defend a just Right , viz. their Religion , Lives and Liberties . Thus when a Popish Monarch shall subvert all Right , and violate all Laws , till oppressing a wretched Nation , more like a Lupus Agri than Pater Patriae , he so wholly perverts the Duty of his great Office , and defaces in himself the nearest Image of a Deity , by so falsly representing his Vice-gerent : Imagine on the other side , a persecuted deplorable People , even abandon'd by God , and so exasperated by Injustice , till they struggle against the Yoak , and the Horrour of this Gorgon in spight of all their Native Duty , has hardned 'em into disobedience , and then what can a poor Nation expect but Vengeance and Destruction ? If this be our Rod of Iron , this the King ordain'd to Rule over us , What signifies all our long pudder about a Plot ? Give the Papists that point , and allow them all they dare ask , that there neither is nor has been any Popish Plot : That the Evidence are perjur'd , and that Coleman's Letters , Godfrey's Murder , and Bedlow's dying Attestations , &c. are nothing to the purpose : Grant this and twice as much more , yet allowing at the same time , that Providence has decreed us a Papist and a Bigot for a King ; no matter then for Plotters , Jesuits , or Russians : The very essence of a Popish Successor is the greatest Plot upon England since the Creation . A Plot of God himself to scourge a Nation , and make three Kingdoms miserable . As for the other Plot , what was it but a secret Confederacy between a handful of feeble Villains , the Limbs of the Roman Hydra ? But , alas ! With all their Designs they were but Men , and as such we have seen them both detected and defeated ▪ But if we are predestined for a Romish Government , that 's a Plot indeed , a Designe form'd by the irresistible Decrees of Heaven , either for our Sins , or what cause to it self best known , to lay a groaning Country in ruine . Nay the Ruine is so universal , we must give it no bounds . For upon the Supposition of a Popish Heir , we must not conclude that 't is only the poor distressed Protestants that shall feel the smart , and stand the mark of Slavery and Martyrdom . A Popish King has that pestilential Influence , that he blasts even the very party he smiles upon , and entails a Curse upon his dearest darling Favourites . As for Instance , if after this King's Reign , steps up a Protestant Prince ( for surely the whole Royal Blood must not all follow his Apostacy , and degenerate in secula seculorum ) then what becomes of the Popish Interest in the next Generation , and all that flourishing party , whom either the Witchcrafts of Rome , or the Contagion of Regis ad exemplum has nurst up for mine ? 'T is the greatest toyl of the next King's Reign , to make those severer Statutes for future Ages , to suppress the Insolencies and Follies of the past ; whilst those very Idols , that were Saints but yesterday , are now crusht and dasht to pieces . Thus a Popish King undoes at once the Heretick party in his own Reign , and the Roman Catholick in the next : And then who is it , that he either does or can make happy ? Why nothing but an Atheist , he that believes there is no God , and so makes the name of the most fashionable Religion , the Bawd to his Pleasures and Preferments ; or at best that Latitudinarian Believer , that can kneel to a Crucifix to day , and burn it to morrow . This and this onely Principle , can be safe under a Papist ; and these are the only men that in their right wits ought to be unconcern'd at the danger of a Popish Successour . FINIS .