THREE CHARGES Delivered at the General Quarter Sessions, Holden at Ipswich, for the County of Suffolk, In the Years, 1691, 1692.  
To which is Added, the Author's Vindication from the Calumnies and Mistakes cast on him, on the Account of his Geographical DICTIONARY.  
By EDMUND BOHUN, Esq  
LONDON. Printed for Robert Clavell, at the Peacock in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1693.   

The Preface.  
THe only Reason of the Publishing these Discourses at this time, is the confuting a common Report spread and believed amongst them that know me not, that I am a Jacobite, or a person disafected to the present Government. And this for want of a better foundation is grounded upon some passages (for the most part unknown to me) pretended to be found in the second Edition of my Geographical Dictionary: And to Answer them there needs no more than to tell the true story of that Book.  
My Geographical Dictionary was finished and first published in March 1688. And I immediately began to make collection for the enlarging and correcting of it at the request of the Publisher: About Michaelmass of the same year our last great Revolution began, and their now Majesties (whom God long Preserve) were declared King and Queen of England the 12th. of February following, which was very near a whole year after the writing and Publishing of the First Edition of that Book; so that what ever arguments are fetched from the first Edition, are nothing to the Purpose; Except my Accusers can fancy I was endowed with the Spirit of Prophecy.  
That Summer I Published the History of the Desertion and the Doctrine, of Passive Obedience or Nonresistance, no way concerned in the Present Controversy between the Williamites and the Jacobites. And although my name was not set to either of them, yet it soon got vent that I was the Author of them; And the Non-Swearers treated me accordingly: But I can easily suppose the Gentlemen who first Raised this report, never heard any of these things; but if they yet Question the truth of them they may have Recourse to Mr. Chiswell, who Printed both those Books.  
During this year and the next I was intent upon the Enlarging my Geographical Dictionary, and another greater Work, which I hope will shortly see the Light; and having been Extremely ill used both by the Non-Swearers and some of the Swearers too for some Passages in the last mentioned Book, became very Averse to the meddling any further in that Controversy, which I perceived was for the most part managed with more Heat than Discretion on both sides.  
About Michaelmass, 1690. I was forced to leave the Town and go Down into Suffolk, my native Country, to take care of a Part of my Estate which I could not Lett. Here another Set of thoughts and business took possession of me, and I had neither Leisure nor any Inclination to trouble the World any further upon that which was the Subject of the two last Books, till at last the Insolence with which some men treated the Reverend Dean of St. Paul's drew from me, three Sheets of Paper (which were Printed) but need not be mentioned here: He that Prints this was the Publisher of them: And if they can from thence either prove me a Jacobite, he will furnish them with those Papers, and I shall Acknowledge they are good Artists.  
Whilst I was thus Employed, I met with the first notice of the Second Edition of my Geographical Dictionary in the Country, where I than Lived, in the Gazette of May, 18th 1691. Which strangely Surprised and incensed me, I having not heard one Syllable of any such thing intended, till I met with my Name in the Gazette. And thereupon I sent up to London, to have a Disclaimer of the said Impression Printed in the Gazette too, for my Justification, which I presume Mr. Jones has not forgot; but this being denied, I came up to London, and endeavoured all the ways that were possible to give notice to the World that this Second Edition was Published with out my Knowledge or consent: But the Bookseller that did me this Injury had so foreclosed all ways of that Nature, that I could have nothing done, till he himself to stop my mouth, Published a Second Advertisement in the Gazette, of June the 18th, 1691, With these words Added to the former Title, The Second Edition Corrected and Enlarged by another hand; Whereas in the first I was tacitly insinuated to be the Person that had Imposed upon the World; And in some of the Titles of the Book I was Expressly said to be so. Tho in truth it was never Corrected at all, and there was so little Added that the Book was Printed in half a Sheet of Paper less than was in the former Edition: Yet I am informed there were some few things added, and upon them chief this Calumny is built; As the Boyne, which River was not in My first Edition, to be sure there is nothing of his Now Majesties Passing it. And I am also informed there is great exception taken to some things that were in the First Edition, and aught to have been Corrected in this, as they certainly had been, if I had not been thus used.  
Being nothing satisfied with the Advertisement put into the Gazette in a Letter prefixed to the Second Edition of Mr. Laurence Euchard's Compendium of Geography, Dated the 3d of September, 1691. I again disclaimed this Second Edition of my Geographical Dictionary. And after all this I thought I had given the World abundant Satisfaction that I was no way concerned in it, nor Responsible for any thing therein Added or Omitted.  
There is now at this very time a Third Impression of my Geographical Dictionary in Folio, in the Press for him that Printed the first, and that too is Corrected and Enlarged by another hand, and much at the Rate with out Doubt the Second Edition was. However I am sure it is done without my Knowledge and consent, and so without any one of the many Corrections and Additions I had in about five years prepared for it. It is not Improbable, so soon as ever it is Printed and Published, I shall again from it be proved a Jacobite, or any thing, some Men have a mind to prove me; and therefore I do hereby again disown it.  
During the time I lived in the Country I applied myself to the Service of my Country, in the Office of a Justice of the Peace; and for want of better Men it was too often my Lot to give the Charges in that part of the County where I Lived: And what I there Spoke on these occasions is Known to too many to be any otherwise represented than as it was spoken: So that I can not possibly give a better Testimony of my Loyalty to their Majesties than these Charges, which as to the two first were delivered at a Time when I had not the least Prospect of ever being any otherwise employed by them.  
The first Intimation I had of this was in the latter end of August, which was wholly without my seeking, as is well known to a Person of great Honour, from whom I received the first Account of it.  
I shall now refer it wholly to my Readers to judge between me and my Accusers, Whether it be reasonable to believe me a Jacobite upon the Account of a Book which was Written, Printed and Published, very near a whole Year before the present Government was Established, to which some Things are owned to be Added since it went out of my hand, by another Person, in which there are many Passages which I designed to have struck out or altered, and to which I intended to have added very much, which I have been since forced to put into the Grand Dictionary: And to believe this against the Testimony of all those Pieces I have printed since that Time, in defence of their Majesty's Title and Government: And then be their Judgement what it will, I am their  
Most Humble Servant, EDMUND BOHUN. January 2d. 1692/3   

A Charge delivered at the Quarter-Sessions of the Peace holden at Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, the Xth Day of October, in the Year 1691. III. Gulielmi & Mariae, R. R. Angliae.  
GENTLEMEN,  
THERE was perhaps never any Nation in the World that had better Laws than that of which we have the happiness, as English Men Born, to be Members; but then I may as confidently Aver, that never any Nation was more guilty of the breach of their Laws; nor more Averse to the Execution of them on those that had broke them, than we generally are here in England. By which it comes to pass that our Laws seem not to be what indeed they are; and we by our Negligence and stupid Carelessness lose the benefit of those Laws on the one hand, and on the other encourage Offenders to multiply their Iniquities till they become intolerable Burdens to the Earth, and are cut off by the Hand of Justice in the end, who might easily have been reform in the beginning, if they that are entrusted with the Execution of our Laws had been careful and endustrious in doing their Duties.  
Quid Leges Vanae sine moribus? To what end serve those Laws that have no influence on the Lives and Manners of Men? Why truly I know nothing they are good for, but to Reproach the Men that break; and the Men that should, but will not Execute them. Had I been Born amongst the Lawless Cafrers in Africa, or the Northern Indians in America; a Brutish Nation that have neither Laws nor Government, I should have been only responsible for the Breaches of the Law of Nature; but when neither the Laws of God; nor the Laws of the Land, nor the Laws of Nature, will hold me in, or put a Curb upon my unruly Lusts and Passions, it is a Reproach to me, and to the Humane Nature, which is made to look more Brutish and Ungovernable than that of the Savage Beasts, and I have no Excuse to plead before God or Man for my Justification.  
Well, but tho' there is little to be said for the Breakers of our Laws, there is less to be said in Excuse of those that should, but will not Execute them. Are you weary of your good Laws? Why then let them be all at once Repealed, knock off these Fetters, turn the Malefactors lose into the Nation without Fear or Danger of the Laws, and then consider what will follow. Shall any Man be safe one Moment in the Possession of Life, or Limb, or House, or Lands, or Goods? Will not every Man's Wife and Daughters be exposed to the Violence of Outrageous Men too? And in this Wretched State what will our Country be better than an Acheldama, a Field of Blood and Violence? I once saw the Rabble a few Days in a Lawless Rage, and it frighted me more than any thing I ever saw in my Life. Ireland and Scotland have seen and felt this Calamity for a longer time, and to a higher degree; but what has followed but Desolation in the one, and Bitter and Loud Complaint in the other? If Men would but think it were impossible they should value any thing above the Laws, which are the only Security they have for all the Comforts of this Life, nay for Life itself.  
Nor do I pretend Men would willingly be Rid of their Laws, or do not understand the Value of them. The Rebellion in 1641, and the Revolution in 1688, are sufficient Instances how stoutly English-Men can and will appear for their Laws, when they see, or do but Imagine, they are in danger to be deprived of them. Every Man that suffereth any thing contrary to Law, or is deprived without Law, makes Loud Complaints, and the Actors are sure to incur the public Hatred of the Nation▪ and to be detested to the Pit of Hell both Living and Dead, which are clear proofs the Value and Goodness of our Laws are very well and very commonly understood.  
What then is the cause they are no better Executed? Why, Gentlemen there are various causes, but I can only hint at them, and I must leave it to you and others to remove them.  
I. The First of these is Partiality, both as to Laws, and as to Offenders. Every Man excepts one Man; and that Sin he has then an occasion for. Punish Thiefs and Murderers as much as you please, but what harm do the Drunkard, the Common Swearer? Well, punish them too saith another, but let Conscience be free: What, all Consciences? No, Punish the Papist and the Atheist. For what? For not keeping his Church, not serving of God. Why, oh Man! thou art guilty of the same thing. Ay, but I do it out of Conscience; and so may the first of these as truly say, and the latter as confidently, and none but God that knows the Heart can Confute them. Well, but when we have got over this Bar, all is not safe yet; for all Offenders are not to be Punished neither, this Man is my Friend, that my Kinsman, a Third is Rich, and will Revenge it, a Fourth Poor, and the Parish must suffer for it. Why, who shall be Punished then? The Friendless, the Helpless, the Hated, One of a Thousand, or so. Thus Laws are made Cobwebs to catch Flies, and pass Hornets, the stronger, the more dangerous Rovers.  
II. Another Cause is Laziness. The Execution of Laws is a Laborious and Painful Task, Expertus Loquor, I speak what I know and have felt. It is easy to pass by and wink at the Offences of Men; but let a Man once Rouse up himself, and resolve to do his Duty, and he shall quickly find it is much easier to declaim against Vice than to punish it. But surely this is no reason why we should not do it, because the Trouble that will follow for want of Justice is infinitely greater than the Trouble of doing it; if we will not have the one, we must submit to the other.  
III. A Third Hindrance is Cowardice. He that doth his Duty must expect great Opposition, and much ill Usage, and some Revenge. And why should I expose my Head and Family to all this? Why, let such an one do it. Ay doubtless, even the Man that has no Being, Mr. Nobody, for he only is above the Revenges and Molestations of all his Neighbours. This is the Reason why Moses so often and so earnestly Exhorts all that were concerned in the Execution of Justice, to be Stout and Courageous, and not fear the Face or Power of any Man, because the Judgement was the Lords, and he would assert and defend his own Minister and Ordinance, against all that should design their Disquiet or Wrong.  
Now Gentlemen, if I could but Cure your Partiality, your Laziness, and your Cowardice, I would then promise myself a good effect. But I must beg your pardon here, for but supposing you can be guilty of any of these things; Men of your Character and Estates can never be suspected, never Justly. Why Gentlemen, I would not Defame you, nay, nor so much as Suspect you, if Time and many Years Experience had not taught me to despair of having what I can say, regarded. I would not suspect even where I cannot but be certain, but I must suspect whether I will or no, and you may forgive it me because it is in your powers to satisfy me, and the World, you do not deserve to be suspected; and if upon the Return of your Verdict I find cause for it, I will publicly Recant what I now say, and at the same time return you my Thanks for Confuting my Jealousy. The gaining this Point is all I aim at to Excite and Awaken your Drowsy Sleeping Attentions, and even Anger you into your Duty, if nothing else will do. But when all is done, I would not willingly offend you, and if I have gained my Point, I am sure I have not.  
The Statute of the 32 H. 8. c. 9 saith very truly, 
The Articles.  There is nothing within this Realm that Conserves the Subjects in more Quietness, Rest, Peace, and good Concord, than due Administration of Laws: For where this is not, Impunity will soon produce sufficient matter to disquiet any Nation. But the Work of Righteousness shall ever be Peace.  
You shall diligently inquire of, and truly Present, 
Treasons.  all Treasons and Traitorous Conspiracies against our most Gracious Sovereigns King William and Queen Mary: By whom, when, and where, the same were perpetrated, or attempted, entered into, or disclosed. It is true, this Court cannot Try any Treason, because not in our Commission; but yet we can and aught to inquire of it, and you to Present it, that the Records may be after removed into those Courts who can Try the same.  
The compassing the Death of the King, or Queen, or Prince, and declaring the same by any open Deed. Such as are a design to Depose or Imprison them. For Death hath ever followed upon these Actions, and of necessity ever must. There is, (said Charles the First,) but a small distance between the Prisons and the Graves of Princes; and his Death soon after verified the Observation.  
Such are the Misfortunes of our Times, that Loyalty itself is now suborned and made accessary to the disquieting and endangering Two of the best Princes that ever set upon the English Throne; and Men think and say they do not owe them the same Allegiance they did their Predecessors, because they are so De Facto, and not De Jure. A bold and a false Assertion, but which will not Justify the Conclusion, if it were true. The Allegiance is the same, be the Foundation of it what it will, for our Laws know but one Allegiance, and have the same punishment for all Traitors.  
The other Overt Acts are, the providing Weapons to effect it, sending Letters to second it, assembling People to take the King or Queen into their Power, writing Letters to a Foreign Prince to Incite him to an Invasion; for speaking is not an Overt Act within the Statute, but if it be set down in Writing any way, it is then an Overt Act.  
The Joining with the King's Enemies within the Realm, or without; and the Levying War against them is another Branch of Treason within the Act of the 25 E. 3. c. The rest of the Treasons there mentioned can scarce be supposed to fall within your Cognizance, and therefore may be omitted for Brevity.   

The Second Charge delivered at the General-Quarter-Sessions of the Peace, opened on Friday the 8th of April, 1692, at Ipswich, and held by Adjournment to the 9th of the same, it being a General Fast that Day. Delivered again on Friday the 22d of July in the same Year at Ipswich, with some few Alterations.  
GENTLEMEN,  
IT has ever been my Custom, in Obedience to the Usage introduced by our Wise and Industrious Ancestors, to open the Charge I was to give you with something of a Preface, or short Introduction, necessary as to the times, fit for me to speak, and for you to hear, tho' the bare repeating the Articles were much more easy to me: But I value nothing in this World so much as the Service of God, and the Safety and Welfare of my Country; which are the main things I have ever aimed at, and for the Promoting of which I shall never think any Labour or Hazard too great.  
Deplorable is the State of Mankind whilst we live in this Mortal Life, and Miserable World; neither God nor Man, Prosperity nor Adversity, Peace nor War, Plenty nor Want, can universally please all: And, which is most of all to be admired at, Men in all Ages have been most Insolent, most Discontented, when Heaven has most smiled upon them, when Deliverance, Prosperity, Peace and Plenty, have been given them, and their Wishes prevented: No sort of Men have met with harder Usage, no Times with more Murmurers, than those that have been Employed by God to Deliver his People from the most Pitiful State and Condition of which in the Old Testament, Moses, and Jeptha, and Gideon, and Samuel, and David, are clear and undeniable Instances, if I had time to open their Story.  
This Carriage of the Jewish Nation, from first to last, both towards God, and towards their Deliverers, was so constantly the same, that the Psalmist in his short Epitome of their Story sets it down as a never failing Rule, When he Slew them they sought him, and turned them early, and enquired after God. But then 
Psal. 78.  no sooner were they delivered, but it immediately appeared, they did but Flatter him with their Mouth, and Dissembled with him in their Tongues. And as they thus Foolishly Treated God, so they did his Instrument too. For which of the Prophets, saith St. Stephen, have not your Fathers Persecuted? Acts 7. 52. Or which of the Princes, Judges, Generals, met with better Treatment? But of this I shall say the less, because the History of the Bible is in all your hands, upon the least hint your Thoughts will suggest all that I can say upon this subject.  
To lead you then to another Scene which shall verify the same Rule, I will Remark to you, that within the space of Three-Hundred and Three Years, the Devil stirred up against the Primitive Church Nine Dreadful and Bloody Persecutions, and was in every one of them sufficiently baffled and disappointed, so that it became a Rule, Sanguis Martyrum, semon Ecclesiae. For they every Day became more Numerous than before, so that by the time I have mentioned, his Oracles were universally silenced, his Temples deserted and desolate, his Altars cold and neglected, and the Images that had heretofore been Adored as the Repositories and Thrones of the Deity, were only regarded as the Works of Excellent Statuaries, but destitute of Life or Motion; so that now he saw clearly his Kingdom was Ruined, his Dominion Subverted, and all his Arts Detected and Destroyed; this put him upon the last Effort, his Dying-Struggle, to Ruin the Church, and Re-enslave the Manumised World.  
To this End he Represents to Galerius one of the Caesars under Dioclesian and Maximianus the then Emperors, That the Old Rites, and Venerable Customs and Religion of their Ancestors, professed and used by them, were wholly neglected, and at the point of being for ever disused and slighted: That all those Noble Piles that had in so many Ages been Erected and Endowed to the Honour of the Gods, Beautifying the Empire, the Celebrating the Memory of Augustus, and the rest of the Emperors, the vast Numbers of Priests, Flamens, Pontifices, and I know not what other Orders of Juggling Knaves, too like our Popes, Cardinals, Monks, and Jesuits, of latter times; were all undermined by an obscure Person who was Crucified in Judea in the Days of Tiberius Caesar, and that if they sat still but a little longer, the whole World, and the Emperors themselves must, in a short time submit to a Crucified Man, and Vale their Sceptres to a Cross.  
Dioclesian was an Old Prince, and not easily moved to Undertake what he was not certain he should Effect, because Nine others before him had miscarried. But Galerius was Young, and puffed up with the Pride of a Victory over the Persians, and he embraced the suggestion with Warmth and Zeal, and he recommended the Project with Passion, and backed it with Sham-Plots, and Lying Defamations. He told the Old Prince, That it was not possible the Christians could be Loyal to him, because they hated and defamed his Gods, and Ridiculed his Religion, they despised his Sacrifices, and undervalved his Statues, Images, Saints, and Hero's, and he might Cherish them as much as he pleased, but none did truly Love the Emperor but those that joined with him in his Religion.  
When the Number of the Christians was objected, and the Paucity of the Pagans, he told the Prince, Their Religion had by good Fortune, and the Folly of its Author, delivered them up bound Hand and Foot; for, said he, they are by it Tied not to Resist, nor have they ever yet dared to Resist, how much soever they have been Oppressed; so that if they were Ten to One more than they are, your Majesty may promise yourself an easy, safe, and infallible Victory over them. He Ordered also the Royal House at Nicomedia to be Fired, and falsely pretended the Christians about his Court Fired his House, to Consume his Majesty and his Religion, in the same Funeral Pile. Hereupon in the beginning of the Year of Christ, Three Hundred and Three, in March, there was Published by Dioclesian and Maximian an Edict, That all Christians should be Compelled throughout the World to Sacrifice to the Gods, that all their Books and Monuments should be burnt, their Churches pulled down, their Bishops and Inferior Clergy be cut off, and all means used that was possible to Extirpate this New Sect of Men, the Enemies of the Gods, and of the Empire, from off the Face of the Earth; upon which ensued the most universal Persecution that ever had been, for it Extended from the Irish-Sea in the West, to the River Tigris in the East, and from the Rhine and the Danube in the North, to the Mountains of Atlas in the South: No City, Nation, or Province, no Sex, or Age, no Quality, or Estate, was Exempted; and it lasted Ten Years without any intermission under Dioclesian and Maximianus, Galerius and Severus, Maxentius and Licinus; till in the latter end of the Year Three Hundred and Thirteen, Constantine the Great having Conquered Maxentius, and cut off Maximianus, and Galerius being by the Hand of God cut off by a Dreadful and Loathsome Disease, an Edict was Published at Milan by Constantine and Licinius, in favour of the Christians, who were not only permitted the Free Exercise of their Religion, but had the Favour of the Prince, and the Security of the Laws, turned on their side.  
How did the Christians now behave themselves in this great and sudden Change, from an Abyss of Misery, to the height of Temporal Felicity? Why, I assure you, though Dioclesian was then Living, and an Abdicated Prince, there was not one Jacobite in that Age, not one Christian that scrupled to Swear Allegiance to Constantine and Licinius; that Branch of the Doctrine of Passive-Obedience, which gives the Clergy a Right to determine the Rights of Princes, was then not known, not mentioned: And when Licinius too returned to his Paganism, and fell a Persecuting, he was soon after Abdicated and Deposed too, not by the Bishops, or Pope, but by Constantine too, and he found never a Jacobite to Pout, and Murmur, and Plot, for him neither.  
Why, these Men had suffered enough of all Conscience to satisfy them, that though they might not draw their Swords against their Pagan Persecuting Princes, yet God had not tied up his own hands too, but he might Raise up a Prince of Orange, that was no Subject to Galerius, Severus, Maxentius, or Licinius, but equal, and no more than equal, to the best of them in Authority, though inferior at first to any of them in Extent of Dominions, and he by the favour of God upon his Arms might lawfully pull those Tyrants from their Thrones, and Divest them of that Power, which being given them by God for the good of Men, they had abused, to the Ruin of his Church, the Destruction of true Piety, the Encouragement of Perjury, Idolatry, and all manner of Wickedness, and as much as in them lay, to the Desolation of the World.  
In our Revolution, which produced this Monster of Ingratitude to God and our Deliverers; In Ireland where the Storm fell heavier, and lasted longer, the very Vexation taught Men more Wit, and they of that Nation that have not been since in England, will scarce believe we have any Jacobites, at least not Swearing Jacobites. But of this hereafter.  
What Return did the Primitive Christians make to so Stupendious a Deliverance? Why, they sent Volleys of Praises and Hymns to Heaven, and Watered the Earth with Floods of Tears, proceeding from Raptures of Joy and Gratitude; and the new built Churches were filled with the Praises of God, and Prayers for their Constantine, and few Sermons ended without a bitter Invective against those Enemies of God, and his Church, who had so long and so furiously endeavoured to destroy them and their Religion.  
This Joy was very short, for the Christians were no sooner delivered from the heavy Pressure of the Pagan Persecutions, but they presently fell into Schisms, Heresies, and Divisions amongst them, which were almost as troublesome, and much more infamous and destructive to the Church, than the worst of the Pagan Persecutions. Donatus in Africa, and Arius a discontented Priest of Alexandria in Egypt, were the Authors of these New Troubles. And now those Bishops and Holy Men who had sustained the Pagan Fury of the Persecutions with a Patience and Union, that made them Revered by the Pagan World, as Men of a Divine Spirit, being fired each against the other by their Domestic Animosities and Divisions, treated each other with so much Passion, and so little Respect, that both Parties became Ridiculous to the Unconverted Pagans; and the theatres, and other places of Public Conversation, were filled with the Brangles and Arguments of Disagreeing Christians, and the Scoffs, Sarcasms, and bitter Reflections of the Pagan Wits. Donatus began his Schism a little before the Peace of the Church, and Arius his Heresy in Three Hundred and Fifteen, but Two Years after it. The first of these could never be ended but with the utter Ruin of the African Church, by the Goths and Vandals, Moors and Arabians; and the latter was not brought into any Order till the Reign of Theodosius the Great, very near One Hundred Years after.  
I speak not this to Excite your Wonder, or your Passions, but to Allay them; the Church of England has within half a Century of Years suffered Two bitter sharp Persecutions, one from the Dissenters, and the other from the Roman Catholics; and she has stood against them both, and maintained her Union; but no sooner was she almost Miraculously delivered from the latter, but like the Primitive Church, she became divided by the Enemy of Mankind within herself. The Term of Church of England Men will no longer serve us, but Jacobite, and Williamite, Swearers, and Non-Swearers, must be brought in too; those that had lived together from their Infancy with the greatest Love, and Peace, and Charity, that was possible, are become Strangers, nay Enemies to each other, and Treat one the other with Contempt, Slander and Defame one the other, to the great Divertisement and the Entertainment of the Papists, Atheists, and Dissenters, and to the endangering the Ruin of the best Church in the whole World; and not contented with this, they that are but an handful of Men, have set up separate places of Divine Worship to Pray for a King and Queen that have no Name, for in all things else they agree with us. And the pretence of all this is scruple of Conscience. The thing in Question is, Whether King James the Second Right to the Crown of England determined or not? The Three Estates of England have resolved it is, and all the Princes of Europe, except the French King, have confirmed and allowed the Sentence as Just and Reasonable, and now a few of our Clergy, Nobility, and Gentry, take upon them to maintain the contrary, and pretend they dare not submit to this Definitive Sentence of the Three Estates thus confirmed by the Princes abroad; but in the mean time, they presume to divide the Church upon a Civil Question, they Traduce and Defame their Brethren, as Apostates, Traitors, and Perjured Men, they wish well to the Enemies both of the Reformation, and of the English Nation, and they Persecute outrageously those that differ from them as far as they have means.  
Now all this were perhaps to be born with some tolerable Patience, as to the Non-Swearers; but we have another sort that have taken the Oaths to Their Majesties, and yet are more Implacable Enemies to the rest, and to the Government, than those that have not taken them; their Business is in all Companies to Extol the Power of France, to raise Scruples against Their Majesty's Title to the Crown, and to insinuate, that the Favour shown to the Dissenters, (tho' Promised by the Non-Swearers in the last King's Reign more than once) tends more to the Ruin of the Church, than all the Arts, Frauds, Violences, and Attempts, of the Papists: Their Talon is however rather Banter, and abominable Healths, than Argument and Reason, and they are the most Detestable sort of Men that ever arose in any Nation, and aught to be heeded the most watchfully, (and prosecuted the most sharply,) of all other, because they defame the Church they pretend to, and make all the rest of her Members suspected to be such as themselves, that is, the Worst of Men; in one Word, Perjured Hypocrites.  
As to the Non-Swearers, I only desire they would give us but one Example in all the History of the Church, from our Saviour's time to this, of Men that have done what they have done; that is, broke the Peace of the Church upon a mere Secular Civil Question, determined by the only Authority upon Earth that pretends to have any Right to determine it.  
As to those that have taken the Oaths, and are still unsatisfied, I desire them they would consider the Lenity of this Government towards all those that have Adhered to its Enemies, and are by consequence the Enemies of the present Government, for they will not own themselves to be Subjects, and there is no Medium between a Subject and an Enemy in this case. If they themselves had been to have set down how they would have been Treated, they could scare have Asked more Mercy, at least, they ought not. Now Gratitude to a Generous Enemy would, if any thing could have obliged them to a Civil and Quiet Demeanour towards their Superiors, who could with so much Ease, and so much Applause, have long since Crushed this small Party to Atoms. And doubtless, the smallness of the Party is one Reason of the Lenity. The Government is so well Established, that it can as securely despise the Peevish Efforts of this Party, as a Nurse doth the Rage of an Infant that cannot Speak, but yet can Fight and Scratch.  
In the next place, I would have them Consider, That the Non-Swearers have in Print acknowledged, that it is their apparent Interest to Submit to Their Majesties, if they could satisfy themselves. Now they that have Sworn cannot pretend their Scruples are too strong, for they have apparently Mastered them; and their Interest, that is, the welfare of their Church and Country is certainly on that side: Their private Interest is so too, and where the Temptation lies that engageth them against all these, I cannot Conjecture, except it be an Envy against the Dissenters, and some others they Hate, and an overgreat Concernment for some of the Non-Swearers, who indeed deserve our Pity and Esteem, but not to that degree, as to Ruin our Religion, our Country, and our private Families, out of Compliment to them. Nor would they think one Jot the better of us if we were such Fools as to do it.  
I am sorry that our Deliverers should meet with so ill a Return from any of us: But as the Number, in relation to the whole, is not great, so there has nothing happened that is new; others have suffered the same ill Treatment and Ingratitude before them. The Splendour of illustrious and great Actions dazzles the Eyes of Envious Men, and raiseth an Hatred against those whose Virtues or Successes are above the common Standard; and the Enemy of Mankind, who pleased himself with the Scenes of Misery he had prepared for the World, is enraged to see his Projects defeated, and he Exasperates all he finds disposed to it. The many Parties that get or lose in such Revolutions, grow Insolent too, or Discontented, and Exasperate each other by their Jars; and they that have the least hand in them, fall under the Hatred and Obloquy of both. These are the true Causes of this thing.   

The Third Charge delivered at the General-Quarter-Sessions of the Peace, holden at Ipswich, for the County of Suffolk, the 7th Day of October, 1692, when I was leaving that County to settle at London as Licenser to the Press.  
GENTLEMEN,  
WE are here Assembled, by Virtue of Their Majesty's Commission of the Peace, to hold a General Quarter-Sessions for this part of the County in which we live; and it is become once more my Duty to give in Charge to you the things you are to Inquire of, and to Present to: A Duty both on my and your Part of great Consequence in relation to our Country, and ourselves, and therefore to be spoken and heard with great Attention and Care.  
I am now by the Order of my Superiors to leave you, and to Act in another Sphere, in the Service of the best King and Queen that has for many Years, perhaps ever Reigned in these Kingdoms. A Happiness we had as little Reason to expect, as Merit to deserve so great a Blessing.  
Charles the First, and Charles the Second, were Excellent Princes, but had Queens of another Religion, so that the Court and Kingdom stood divided between the Husband and Wife, Hopes and Fears; but these are both of our own, that is, of the best Religion in the World; and so hearty addicted to our Interest, and desirous of our Welfare, that they have counted nothing too dear to promote our Welfare and Repose: Hence it is that His Majesty has so often passed the Seas, and Exposed His Sacred Person to the greatest Danger, that we might Live at Home in Peace: And the Queen has with equal Generosity assumed and laid by the Reigns of Government when ever it was for our Good to do so; neither Ambition, nor the love of Ease, have had any the least influence upon Her Noble Soul, but She has Reigned when the King was absent, and remitted the Government into His Hands when He was present, and both for our good, with a perfect unconcernedness, of which there is hardly another instance to be found on the Records of Time in any Nation under Heaven.  
Well then, They deserve our utmost Love, Loyalty, and Devotion, the utmost we can do for Them, or They receive from us: The Reward of these Royal and Princely Virtues are above the Power of Subjects, God only can Reward this Excellent Pair equal to Their Merits, and the best that we can do, is to Recommend them to His Care and Goodness in whose Prosperity our own is most apparently involved.  
As to myself, since I am to leave you so shortly, I think I am bound with Samuel the Prophet to assure you my Dear Country Men, that I have not willingly wronged any of you, Great or Small, in Much, or Little. If I have through Humane Frailty offended any Man, I beg his Pardon, and assure him, and all the World, it was against my will, and the strongest Resolution I could take, not to have done it; but as long as we are Men, we shall be subject to Humane Infirmities, which we may the more easily remit, because we and they are equally Infirm.  
The Saviour of the World when he was leaving his beloved Friends, Exhorted them to Love, Peace, and Union, as the greatest good they were capable of in this World, yea in Heaven; for take away these, and divide the Inhabitants, if it were possible, of the the Celestial Regions into Factions and Parties, and let these mutually Hate and Oppress one the other, Belly and Slander one the other, as we do here below, and I fear the Joys of Heaven would abate.  
My Dear Country Men, what Evil Angel has sown these Tares in our Field, and thus animated us against each other to that degree, that nothing can again Unite us? Common Dangers in the Reign that is passed seemed to have buried all our former Heats, and we then walked in the House of God as Friends; but with our Danger our Union fled, which shows it was forced.  
Within my Memory I have heard it affirmed, that all our Divisions proceeded from our Penal Laws in matters of Religion, and that Liberty of Conscience would most certainly put an end to them. Why, we have that in the utmost degree, and yet we are more unquiet than we were before. One Party must first Revenge the things they have suffered on those that have inflicted them, tho' according to Law. Another must needs secure the Blessing, by outing them of the power to take it away, who heretofore did not love it. A Third thinks, Dominion is founded in Grace, and that the Godly aught to Rule as well as Inherit the Earth, and till these, and a Thousand other Whimsies, are obtained, we must have no Peace.  
In the mean time, all forget the Enemy is at the Door with Victorious Forces ready to Conquer all, if we remain thus Stupidly Brutishly divided; nay, his Emissaries are within our Walls, and blow the Coals of our Dissensions, in hopes to Ruin us by our Follies, since they cannot by their Arms. Let us hearken then to the Council of God Almighty, Fiat Justitia & Erit Pax, Let us do Justice, and we shall have Peace. Give every Man his due, and Peace will follow; but if we Oppress one the other, the Apostle tells us, We shall Perish.  
Is Liberty of Conscience so Valuable a Good as was once pretended? Then let our Superiors see it by our Peaceable and Modest Demeanour under it, for fear they Repent. Is the being under Princes of our own Religion a Blessing? Then let us Express our Gratitude for it to God in an Humble, Peaceable Devotion; and to Them, by striving to make Their Reigns over us happy and easy.  
But if we thus foolishly go on, whom can we thank or blame but ourselves, if we return to our former State of Danger and Distress? My Kingdom is not of this World, said he whom we own as our Master. And the Kingdom he has promised to his, is 〈◊〉 that is not here neither. 〈…〉 and Revenge are but lately Adopted into the Number of Christian Virtues, and will hardly recommend their Votaries to the Father of Spirits. Mark them that cause divisions, and shun them, for they are the Enemies of the Church, the Enemies of the World, and the Enemies of God. But how shall I know which side is in the Wrong? Why, that which 〈◊〉 that it would not willingly suffer without, and against Law, is certainly in the wrong, let it be what Party it will or can be, and pretend what Reason it will for it. Try all by this Rule, and you may safely choose which to cleave to, and which to shun.  
This is that Distributive Justice which is the Mother of Peace, and without which there is no Peace, nor ever was, nor ever will be. Do Men Wrong, and then Exhort them to be quiet under it, and you will surely lose your Labour, and appear Ridiculous and Foolish. Trust not in Oppression and Wrong, for Force and Number are things that foldeth last long. We have seen them baffled Twice within half an Hundred Years, yea, within my Memory.  
My Dear Country Men, Let us make up our Differences, and let every Man study to be quiet, and to do his own business in Love, preferring the Common Good before his own, or that of his Party; that we may with United Hearts and Hands Repel the Common. Enemy, and promote the Peace of England, and the Service and Glory of King William and Queen Mary out most Gracious Sovereigns. Amen.  
FINIS.