Querela Temporum: OR, THE Danger of the Church of England.  
In a LETTER from the Dean of— to— Prebend of  
Dear SIR,  
LET me employ some few Moment's in venting my Thoughts to you at a distance, upon that Subject which has taken up so many of our Hours while we were together. The Impression grows stronger upon me now that I am alone, and left to the mercy of tormenting Reflections. The Ruin, which you and I have often bemoaned, visibly threatening our Church, is exceedingly magnified, and imbittered to me, and must be to us all, when we sadly consider how we have been led on in our Simplicity, like the Men that followed Absalon, to be the Instruments of our own Destruction: And have been engaged so far in it, before we were ware, that we are now afraid to look back, though we are astonished to think what the end of all may be.  
I am sufficiently assured, That much the greatest part of the Clergy have come in to the Government, as you and I have done, out of a Prospect to preserve the Church: For if all had stuck out, we did dreadfully approhend that the Presbyterians, considering our King's Education and Bias that way, and their great Merit in the Revolution; (for we were but drawn in, and that late, by a seeming necessity, and unwillingly.) Our Reluctance, which we could not conceal (and at first many of us did not desire to conceal it) was the public Discourse of the Nation; and so much taken notice of, that the Act imposing the Oaths did not suppose that all the Clergy would take them, and therefore left a Provision for a certain Number of such of them as should refuse the Oaths (which I am hearty sorry has not been applied;) and those of us who took the Oaths, did it with such Distinctions, and Declarations, and Salvos, as made it plain to all the World, That we were not hearty in it, but had a doubting, which is a resisting Conscience. Whereas the Presbyterians, and Commonwealth men, (with some Atheists and Latitudinarians, who called themselves of our Church, though no otherwise than because it was Established by Law) were at the bottom of the whole Contrivance of the Revolution; and Derided us to see into what a Noose they had brought us, that we knew not what to Resolve upon: Whether to venture the Reproach of the Nation, by a Change of Principles (at least as it would be thought) and to go in to the Government; or to leave K. William wholly in their hands who brought him in, and to run the hazard of all the Consequences would follow from his looking upon the Church of England as his Enemies, and the Presbyterians as the only Church which would stick by him▪ I say, these Considerations, joined with his own Inclination, and the little Zeal of the Generality of the Laity for any Church or Religion, farther than suited with their Interests, made us to apprehend. That if we had not taken the Oaths, the whole Church might have been overturned all at once; and Presbytery, or Something like it, s●t up in its Place, as has been done in Scotland.  
When these Considerations had determined us in this matter, we were not yet without great Fears what might be the Consequence, on the other hand, that K. William could not possibly but see that our Conversion was Forced, and Counterfeit, and would (as such Conversions always do) make us greater Enemies to him than we were before: And that therefore having served his Ends by us, he would watch his time to destroy us. That he might compass it more easily, though may be not so speedily by our Compliance, having by that made us cheap, and broken our Authority with the People. And (O my Friend!) how has he succeeded in that! If that was his Design. I believe no Age can produce so sudden and great a Change, as 'twixt the Affections of the People to us at this time, and what they were while King James was here. I am sure it is a changed World with us, whatever it may be to others! We were then Hosannaed, and now it is next door to Crucify, while they cannot refrain showing a Concern and Reverence for our Deprived Brethren. So that it is plain, the Cause of our Contempt is our Compliance with those who do now Reproach us: And it is needless to argue, That they are in the same Fault, and were first in the Fault, and drew or forced us in. They say we were their Guides, and aught to have led them, and not to have been led by them. They think it no great matter for them to be in a Fault; they think they have a Privilege to be less strict than the Clergy; and to be severe upon our Miscarriages, seems, in some sort, a Vindication, at least an Alleviation of their own: Which, though a very bad Argument, yet we suffer under it.  
And it terrifies me to consider how much we may yet suffer by it, when I reflect that the Inclination of the People was made a sufficient Pretence to Root out Episcopacy in Scotland, notwithstanding that the Prince of Orange's Declaration to that Kingdom from the Hague, before he came over, bound him to preserve their Church, as then Established by Law, as well as ours.  
If you think that the Inclinations of the People can never be made a Pretence against Episcopacy in England; you will alter your Opinion when you see how little Reason there was for that Pretence in Scotland; as it is made fully appear in the Defences and Apologies of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, which have been printed Here since this Revolution: Which also give an Account by what Means and Methods a Convention was obtained there, which should Vote against Episcopacy.  
As to the first, The Inclinations of the People; take the Account given in one of their Apologies, which was Digested into Ten Questions, and printed Here, An. 1690. which informs us,  
That the Nobility, of the Kingdom, (a very few, not above a Dozen excepted) had all sworn the Oath, commonly called the Test, wherein all Fanatical Principles and Covenant Obligations were Renounced and Abjured: That not one of Forty of the Gentry, but had sworn it also; and that not Fifty (Gentlemen) in all Scotland (out of the West) did upon the Induldence Granted by King James, An. 1687. forsake their Parish Churches to frequent Meeting Houses.  
That the Generality of the Commons live in Cities, and Market Towns; that all who could be of the Common Council in such Corporations, or were able to follow any ingenuous Trade, were obliged to take the Test (and had generally done it:) That the Clergy stood all for Episcopacy, there being of about a Thousand scarcely Twenty Trimmers betwixt the Bishop and the Presbyterian Moderator: Which Twenty, together with all the Presbyterian Preachers, could not make up the Fifth part of such a Number as the other Side amounted to. That in all the Universities, there were not Four Masters, Heads, or Fellows, inclined to Presbytery: That the Colleges of Justice and Physic at Edinburgh were so averse from it, that the Generality of them were ready last Summer (viz 1689.) to take Arms in Defence of their Episcopal Ministers.  
Thus that Author. And, which is yet a far greater Confirmation of all this to us, his spiteful Presbyterian Adversary, G. K. in his first Vindication of the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland, which was writ in answer to these Ten Queries, and printed here in London, 1690. and reprinted at Edinburgh, 1691. gives such an Answer to this, as is a plain Confession of it. He yields plainly, all the Gang of the Clergy, (as he calls them) except a few: The Universities, and College of Justice, at least, as lately stated; and the Generality of the Burgesses.  
But then he endeavours to make some Amusements as to the so universal Defection (in his Sense) of the Nobility and Gentry; not only in taking the Anti-Presbyterian Tests, in the Reign of King Charles the Second (as Fear, Interest, and such sordid Excuses) but in adhering still to the Episcopal Communion after King James' Free Indulgence, 1687. for which no Reason can be given but their own Inclinations; the Favour from Court lying then rather on the other side.  
In another of these Scots Tracts, called, An Account of the present Persecution of the Church of Scotland, published 1690. there in the third Letter we read,  
That in the Years 1687, and 1688, when the Schism was in its Elevation, there were but some Three or Four Presbyterian Meeting houses erected on the North-side of Tay, i. e. in the greater half of the Kingdom; and these too very little frequented or encouraged. And that on the Southside of that River (except in the Five associated Shires in the West) the Third Man was never engaged in the Schism.  
In short, we are assured, as well by these Authorities in Print, as by Gentlemen of Sense and Reputation out of that Country, the not a Fifth or Sixth part of the People of Scotland did join, at that time, with the Presbyterians.  
And that was the Time to show their Inclinations, when they might not only do it without Fear or Hazard, but with all the Prospects of Advantage and Preferment.  
How much more constant and firm were they to the Church in that Kingdom than in this! We did not bear the Temptation with so little Loss as they.  
Every Toleration and Indulgence which has been granted in England has made much more Havoc, and brought more Ruin to the Church, than we find this (the most dangerous one.) has done in Scotland. We have not yet Recovered from the Mischief of that in 1672. Before which our Church seemed to have taken some Root, and the Dissenters were wearing much out of Fashion; many of the Chief of whom, seeing a fair likelihood of the perpetuity of the Church, were content to suffer their Children to be Educated in our Communion; though themselves were ashamed to comply, after the long Oppositions they had made: Which shown they were convinced both of the Lawfulness and Expediency of Conformity.  
But Fire amidst Gunpowder does not work its destructive Effect more suddenly, than that Toleration-Shook and Rend, and almost Over turned our Church. The very next Sunday after it was known, the Churches in many Places were almost quite Deserted, and the Meeting-houses, which before were Neglected, and Resorted to by but a few, and those little Regarded, were like Trenches, when the Sea has broke the Dykes, swollen and overflown in a Moment.  
And Toleration upon Toleration has brought Ruin upon Ruin since; that we are now Lose at the very Roots, and at the Mercy of every Wind and Wave.  
And by the Accounts we have given us of Scotland, they are both more universally and more zealously Episcopal (especially if you consider the Gentry and Nobility) than the People even in England.  
Of which there is another very great Instance, since the Scots Treatises above quoted were wrote. And that is, That, notwithstanding the several Acts of Parliament there for Abolishing Episcopacy, and Settling the Presbyterian Government, and all the fiery Zeal of the Covenanters now in Possession, yet, through most parts of the North, and many other parts of Scotland, they, to this day, refuse to admit the Presbyterian Ministers who were sent to them, or to part with their old Episcopal Clergy, though they neither Swear nor Pray according to the Acts: But keep them still in Possession of their Churches, and Renounce the Authority of the General Assembly, as not being Lawfully Constituted without Bishops. And have lately published a Paper in the Name of the whole Ministers be-North Tay; and Twelve Ministers at Aberdeen gave it, in their own Names, and the Names of all the rest, to the Commissioners of the General Assembly, wherein they stand still by their Deprived Bishops: And as the Representation of the (said) Committee of the Assembly for the North of Scotland, to the Privy Council of that Kingdom, printed now by Authority in London this October 94. does express it, They not only plainly question their Authority, (viz. of the General Assembly) but the Authority of the Law whereby the Government of this Church is settled. Nay more, the Deprived Bishops there do not only continue to confer Holy Orders, but to fill the Churches with those so Ordained; and the People keep them in. As it is complained of in the said Representation which has been Dispersed by the Presbyterian Faction through the Coffeehouses in London, as an Aggravation of the Obstinacy of the Scots Episcopalians against the Government, as they would have it understood; with some Queries▪ added, to Disengage us who have complied with this Government, from any concern for the Scots Episcopalians.  
But if the Presbyterian Interest is so Low in Scotland, how came they of late Years to make so great a Noise here? Were They not the People who form the Rebellions of Pent-land Hills, and Bothwell Bridge?  
Yes. And were so easily quelled, as shown the Party to have neither Interest, nor Conduct, nor any other Qualification to render them Considerable, besides that of a mad Zeal; like our Fifth-monarchy Man, which, grafted upon Praefervidum Scotorum Ingenium, & ad audendum aptum, produced horrid Assassinations and desperate Rebellions, without any apprehension of Danger or Impossibilities: For quicquid Scots agunt, valde agunt; The Scots do every thing to the utmost.  
But how came that Party to gain such a Convention there, as to Vote Episcopacy a Grievance, and contrary to the Inclinations of the People, as it is expressed in their Claim of Right? This looks like Management, or else was very good Luck.  
There was Both in it, as the Scots Episcopal Apologists do explain it to us; and show the Arts of the Ministers of State who were employed in that Affair. That poor Rabble of Covenanters in Scotland were but the Tools who followed the Cue given them; they had other help than their own.  
But there were some Concurrents in that Juncture, which contributed more than all the Politics.  
The Nation was in a violent Ferment; and every one almost, except those of the Cabal, were unwilling to Dip themselves in the First Act of a New Constitution, nor knowing where it might end. Besides, the Episcopalians were, and are still, generally affected towards King James; and took as much Pains to keep themselves out of that Convention, as the Presbyterians did to come into it. All which did not (it could not) prevent many more of the Episcopalians to be Returned than of the Presbyterians; the Episcopalians being so very much the major Number, especially among the better sort. But many of the Episcopalians would not Sat; and many who Sat once, quitted the House, and would appear no more; thinking it culpable to be there. And others were forced away to save their Lives from the Fury of the Fanatical Rabble, who were armed, and made the Guard of the Convention, as that extraordinary Man Sir George Mac Kenzie, and others. Sir George Lockhart, a most eminent Lawyer, and who violently opposed the Vacancy of the Throne, was assassinated in the Streets of Edinburgh; some say it was only through a private Pique, but that did not appear to all. The Archbishop of Glasgow, and others of the Clergy, were openly Insulted in the Streets, and no Remedy. And before the Convention was turned into a Parliament, the Bishops were, by particular Instruments sent to Duke Hamilton, than Commissioner, excluded from their Right of Sitting in Parliament.  
Yet notwithstanding of all this purging, they could not get that Parliament so modelled, that, if but Half of them had Sat, they would ever have abolished Episcopacy, or set up Presbytery: And the Scots Episcopal Party do vouch, That there were not one Third part of the Members present, when Presbytery was there Established.  
I am not now meddling with their Reasons, why they would not venture to Sat and Vote, at all Hazards. This is only to show that no Parliament can be had in Scotland, which if Freely Sitting, would Abolish Episcopacy: And that the Inclinations of the People cannot be justly collected from what was done by that. Less than a Third part of a Parliament; and that gathered together by strange Artifices, as the Scotch Accounts do inform us, as plain as they dare speak, in the Management of their Election, and of the Prince of Orange's circular Letter, by which that Convention was called, being sent where Preparations were made for its Reception, by some Places later, and to some not at all, who yet had Right of Electing Members for Parliament.  
Yet all this could produce no such Appearance in the Convention as would answer their Designs, but they were forced to take into that Convention Men Outlawed for Treason, and under other Legal Incapacities to Sat in Parliament, by the Laws and Tests then in Force; as my Lord Argile himself, who, before his Attainder was taken off by the Parliament, Sat in that Convention, and was sent up Hither with the Tender of the Crown of Scotland.  
And when they had done all, tried all their Ways and Means, Legal and Illegal, what a contemptible Appearance was it which they were able to procure, at the first opening of the Convention or Meeting of the Estates, (as they styled it) which was the 14th of March, 1688.  
Of this we have a certain Record, which is the Acts and Orders of the Meeting of the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland, extracted out of their Register, and printed by Authority in Edinburgh, 1690.  
There in the Act Declaring the Meeting of the Estates to be a Free and Lawful Meeting, the 16th of March, 1688. all there present do subscribe the said Act, and all their Names are printed in the said Act. And there were but Fifty Burgesses in that Convention.  
Neither must we reckon upon all that small Number itself, as appears by their Fourth Act, which is entitled, An Act for putting the Kingdom in a Posture of Defence, the 19th of March, 1688. wherein we are told that several of the Members who had subscribed the former Act, had (in that three Days time) Deserted the Meeting of the Estates, and presumed openly to correspond with the Duke of Gordon, since the Proclamation of Intercommuning against him, and to Retire from this Place (Edinburgh) in form of Weirt; and therefore commands all from Sixteen to Sixty to Arm, etc.  
The Matter was, many of those Few who came to the Convention did not know the Designs of the Managers; which, assoon as they perceived, and that there was a Formed Party to carry it on, they immediately quit the Convention, in Form of War (as that Act says) and openly Declared for King James. Among these was my Lord Dundee, who sat the first Day of the Convention, and his Name is among those who subscribed the first Act .  
There were likewise Seven Bishops, whose Names are printed the First of the Subscribers.  
But their Archbishop (of St. Andrews) as ours, would not come into the Convention at all; and it seems all the rest, but the 'bovesaid Seven, were of his mind. And that even these Seven were of those who (as Lord Dundee &c) immediately quitted the Convention. I say, immediately; for they subscribed on the 16th of March, and the Hue and Cry after them was in the 'bovesaid Act of the 19th of the same Month  
So that if we are to make any Computation of the Inclinations of the People from this Convention, it will operate rather against the present Establishment There, from the small Appearance of the Burgesses, and their great and sudden Desertion.  
But if the Inclinations of the People is best known by the Sense of Parliaments, than it must follow, That all along since the Reformation the Inclinations of the People of Scotland have been for Episcopacy; which has been ratified and confirmed by 27 Parliaments in that Kingdom, (as they are Reckoned up in these Scotch Episcopal Papers) and where no such Objections, as in the present Case, can be Alleged. Add to this, what I think a plain Confession, That the Presbyterians dare not trust a Free Parliament in Scotland; and that is, that notwithstanding the great Objection of a Convention (not called together in the Legal Form) becoming a Parliament by a Vote of their own, who were not a Parliament before that Vote, or any otherwise than by that Vote, by virtue only of the Words themselves pronounced, when they said Hoc est Parliamentum, (which some have compared to Transubstantiation;) I say, notwithstanding that the Convention-Parliament in England found it necessary, for this Reason, to have the Convention-Parliament dissolved, and a new Parliament chosen by the King's Writ, in the usual Form: Because (as was truly alleged) the Convention was but in the Nature of a Volunteer, no Man being obliged to obey the Circular Letters of a Foreign Prince before he was declared our King. Nor did his Circular Letters import any other than a Voluntary Compliance which he expected should be paid to them. And therefore the Subjects would not think their Liberties preserved, unless they had the Ancient Freedom of Election Re●erved to them, to choose Members to serve in Parliament, knowing before hand that it was to be a Parliament: For a Convention was new, both Name and Thing; and few understood either the Nature of it, or the Ends and Purposes for which it was summoned; and to metamorphose that into a Parliament, and then to continue it as such, would be understood as a plain Cheat to Trick the People out of their Votes. Yet all these (obvious) Reasons, and the Example of England notwithstanding, the Presbyterian Managers in Scotland dare not summon a new Parliament, but keep on still the old Convention with the new Name of a Parliament: And though they know that many of the Episcopal Persuasion There, are so Zealous, upon the point of the Government, that they would not come in, though there were a new Parliament, yet the Presbyterians dare not trust those that might come in, against all their own Strength, and all the Trimmers they could Bribe or Frighten to their side. For they could never, by their Arts, compass such a Parliament as would not spew out Presbytery, as a Yoke which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear. They know it to be utterly impossible for them ever again to get such a Company of Conventioners, as by their secret Intelligence laid (without opposition or suspicion of the Episcopal Party) leaped together, and chose one another, upon the Prince of Orange's Circular Letters, which were left wholly to their Management.  
If all this be causelessly alleged; let them convince us with the Free and Impartial Election of another Parliament.  
Or give any other Reason why they will not, than that they dare not Trust the Inclinations of the People; which they know to be the most averse to them, and most deservedly.  
There is another Thing which extremely shows the Weakness of the Presbyterian Interest there: And that is, That they would never have been able to have planted Presbyterian Ministers there, if the Right of Patronages had continued; for there were but very few Gentlemen in that Kingdom, to whom Advousons' did belong, who would ever have presented any Clerk that was Presbyterianly inclined. Therefore all Patronages were taken away by Act of this Parliament.  
After which one would have expected that the Free Election of the People should have been set up in its full Extent and Prerogative; because this was it for which the Presbyterians chief contended; they made it to be Jure Divino, and called it, Christ's Legacy to the People, and said it was Indefeasible and Unalienable from them.  
But yet they were forced to Dispense with it, at the First, and put the Calling of Ministers into the hands of the Presbytery: For they found the Inclinations of the People Run against them, at least of much the major Number, as well as of the Nobility and Gentry; and therefore this Method was necessary (though Antichristian, by their own Principles) for the first planting of the Gospel (as they style the Preaching of the Covenant) in that Prelatical Country.  
Neither durst they, for the time to come, trust the People with their Divine Right of Electing their Ministers, without clogging this Legacy of Christ (as they called it) with such Limitations as they could not pretend and to be found in Scripture. That none should Vote in the Election of Ministers till they first swore the Oath of Allegiance to K. William and Q. Marry, and sign the Assurance, for which an Act of Parliament is passed accordingly.  
Yet, with all these Bars and Defences, they found very great Difficulties in planting those Churches, which they have planted with Presbyterian Ministers.  
Who were so few in that Country, That they were forced to Ordain young Lads from Shops, or the Blow, as they could get them Gifted, without any University Learning: For these Springs, as themselves confess, were all corrupted; that is, in their Sense, were wholly Episcopal.  
And in the North of Scotland (as confessed in the Presbyterian Representation above-told) they have got little or no Footing to this Day. In which parts they are so strongly Episcopal, that, as I read in a very accurate and ingenious Account of the Proceed there about the Convention time. It were no hard Task, says he, to give a just Account how it only happened that there was so much as one Northern Member (who was not such by Birth) of the Presbyterian Persuasion in the Meeting of the Estates.  
But there can be no such Demonstration, as their preserving their Episcopal Clergy, and keeping out the Presbyterian, against Repeated Acts of Parliament; and that the Privy Council (which has There almost the Power of a Parliament, in the Intervals of Parliament) have interposed their Authority to Ratify the Decrees of the Presbytery.  
Nay, even in their own Dear West Country, the Presbyterians found so much Difficulty, in some Places, particularly near Edinburgh, to perfect their Reformation, that they were forced to fill a Church there with Soldiers to fright the People from Singing the Doxology, from which they could not otherwise be Reduced. Was not this something like Dragooning! But I go on.  
It may be thought Strange (Things being as here told) what Ground or Pretence could be found for Representing Episcopacy to be contrary to the Inclinations of these People.  
And herein appears a Subtle but very wicked Politic of the Managers then at Helm.  
They first had Arms put into the hands of the mad Cameronian true Presbyterian Rabble of the West, and then set them on to Mob the Episcopal Clergy, in those Fanatical Shires, which they executed in a most Savage Manner: And from thence they Represented the Inclinations of the People to be irreconcilable to Episcopacy. And upon Enquiry, I cannot find that there is any now, who insist longer upon that common Place of the Inclinations of the People of Scotland: It, like some other Stories has served its Turn, except one Sycophant, who had Presbyterian Education, and from his Infancy was taught to Hate and Despise Episcopacy, who has Deserted his Church in East Lothian, and was Expelled neither by Force, nor by the Rabble, nor any Sentence of any Presbyterian Judicature; but fearing that the Gentry of his Parish, to whom he was always most disagreeable, would lay hold of the present Opportunity to turn him out, when their Inclinations was made the Standard, he thought it convenient to leave the Place with less Disgrace.  
And he is now encouraged by a certain Minister of State, to propagate that Notion here in England, that the Temper of the People in Scotland is against Episcopacy, and most inclined to Presbytery. And the Rabbling of the Episcopal Clergy in some parts of the West, is all the Argument.  
This is all, and every bit of, the Ground the Convention, or any other, had to Represent the Inclinations of the People as averse to Prelacy.  
Nor had they had this Pretence itself, if All the People even in those same Fanatical Shires, had been left to their own Inclinations: For when the College of Justice in Edinburgh, and others (in whom remained what was left of any Right to Govern, after King James quitted England, and before any other Establishment was Framed) took Arms against this murdering Rabble, in the Defence of the Episcopal Clergy, and Themselves, (for such an Inundation threatened All) a Proclamation came out from the Prince of Orange commanding All to lay down their Arms. This was obeyed by the College of Justice, and the rest of the Episcopal Party: (as thinking it tending towards Peace and Settlement:) But not at all by the others Saying they knew it was not intended against Them. And accordingly made use of it (their Enemies being thus Disarmed) to commit more insolent Barbarities against the Clergy than before.  
And in Reward for their Zeal, were not only continued in Arms, but made the Guard of the Convention, which soon after met, under their Gracious Protection, and acted by their Influence. Theirs! who thought it Merit, and the Cause of God, to assassinate the Archbishop of St. Andrews on the Highway; and declared it their Principle to murder, by whatever means, every Bishop; and every King and Man who took their part. Theirs! who for Declaring and Acting pursuant to such Diabolical Principles (though All the Genuine Effects of their common Mother the Covenant) were (out of mere Shame) disowned by other their Pharisee Brethren of the Presbyterians for throwing off the Sheep's Clothing, and acting the Wolf so plainly and above Board: For Abdicating not only the Simplicity of the Dove, but the Prudence of the Serpent, of whom they retained nothing but the Sting. And who could have any other thought than that Episcopacy was Reserved only for Execution, when it was placed under such Cameronian Guards?  
And when the most Violent and Bigoted fanatics were made the Principal Ministers of State?  
But who was it chose those Ministers? That must be the King's Inclination. He chose them according to his own Inclinations; and then took their Word, for the Inclinations of the People.  
And can we think his Inclinations are different in England, otherwise than as Reason of State moves him?  
The Experiment must Begin in Scotland: And according to the Success there, the Measures are to be taken here.  
And do we not see the same Measures taken here, though perhaps in somewhat a slower March?  
Has not a certain great Man, of an Interest very contrary to that of the Church; one whose Treachery towards it has made him an irreconcilable and inveterate Enemy to it, been brought from behind the Curtain, where he acted so much Mischief unseen, and now in a manner publicly set upon the Stage? Has he not acted indeed as one desperate, and that knows himself unsafe under any thing but a Fanatic Party established in both Kingdoms; as one that can hope for no forgiveness from another Interest which he has so perfidiously treated, and where all those that are leading and respected Men know him so well, have felt him, and are sure neither to be imposed upon by him more, nor ever to forget what he has done to the Church, and against them as the Patrons of it? Have we not seen how things have turned since this? Was not not the whole Ministry changed to bring in that Gang? How had such a Fellow as Jack Trenchard, or Somers, been hoist upon a sudden where they now are, but merely on this Account, that they only were thought deep enough in a Fanatic Interest to carry on this Design, and to support this new Foundation of some great Men, who must make good what they are engaged in, and secure themselves by thorough work, or soon fall, and come to that end which they deserve?  
My Lord Nottingham, a Man who they offer to reproach with nothing but his Fidelity to our Church, and his constant Care of its Interest; one of such allowed Capacity, Vigilancy, and indefatigable Diligence in his Office, and of such known Fidelity to the Crown and this Government; such a Man as this we see of a sudden removed, and without any reason given (but what is thus plainly left for any one to infer) thrust out of his Employment, disgraced, and driven at as one ready to be Impeached; which Design it was no great wonder to see carried on under such as could not prevent their being themselves Impeached, were the Government as it ought to be, or the Church restored to that Place which it ought to have, and which one may very justly say it must have, unless Monarchy be designed for Ruin.  
The Justification which the Parliament last Year gave to the Admirals, after the most malicious and false Aspersions imaginable, did not hinder their being thrown out with all the Disgrace that could be put upon them. At least those Two that were the Chief, and chief noted for their Firmness to the Church, were so served. What are the rest of the Changes in the Admiralty, and every where else? What are the russel's, and the wharton's, that are now in such Credit, and have their Friends every where advanced? Who knows not the Cabal at Court, and that Lord Sh— who first went out of Court upon this bottom, and is now returned again upon the same, is of this Confederacy; and both too early, and too deeply, engaged with this Party to be a Head or a leading Man any where else?  
Our Friends are shifted out apace. And now openly, and above Board, there have been new Regulations of all the Commissions of the Peace and Militia through England; of the Lieutenancy of London, the Customs, etc. on purpose to fill all with the Fanatical and Whiggish Tribe; who have out-grown us, and are too many for us, in all Places of Trust and Profit. 
* Either professed and open Dissenters, or the more dangerous Church fanatics; who keep in our Communion no otherways than as Spies; who ridicule us, and do us all the ill Offices that is in their Power; and but watch an Opportunity to destroy us, and our Constitution. Of such Principles (most Iniquous to the Church) are the present Attorney and Solicitor General, and almost all the King's Council, as Wi. Williams, Sergeant Tompson, Mr. Hawles, etc. Baron Letchmore, Baron Turton, that little Baron Tell Clock Mr. Bradbury, and others upon the Bench. And with Russel are joined in the Commission of the Admiralty that virulent Whig Col. Austen; and Rich and Hublon, two rigid fanatics. Such are Montague and Smith, two of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, indefatigable Sticklers for the Whig Party. Papillion and maine, in the Victualling-Office; and Hill of the Navy-Office. Sir J. Foach, Sir Steph. Evans, Ed. Clark, Tho. Hall, J. Danvers, (the only Son of a Regicide) and Foot Onslow in the Excise. Parkhurst, Murray, Vernon, and Paschal, in the Prize Office. Col. Kirby, Shepherd, and Welwood, in that for the Sick and Wounded. Ashurst, in that of the Hackney Coaches; and Franklin in the Post-Office. And in the Custom-house, Sir Walter Young, Mr. Chedwick, Sir Patience Ward, Sir Robert Clayton. And a long, etc. in other Offices and Places of Trust through the Kingdom, too long to be here inserted. The Whig, and (I know not which to say) Natural or Unnatural Libertine, the Lord Sidney, now Earl of Rumney, is made Master of the Ordnance, and Governor of the Cinque Ports, and Dover Castle, etc. And Whig, Sir Tho. Littleton, is under him in the Ordnance. Lord Cuts, an Atheistical Whig, is made Governor of the ●●le of Wight. These, and many more, are the Men now employed.   
Little needy Fellows are put into Employments of greatest Honour and Import, so they be but Fanatic enough.  
As Johnston Secretary for Scotland, who the other day merely for Bread travelled with Sir Rob. Barnard, his Condition being then very necessitous, though he is now one of the chief Managers in both Kingdoms. His only Merit is the new fashioned Theism, grafted upon rigid Fanaticism; the last of which he derived from his Father, that Arch Rebel Wariston, who was Clerk in ordinary to the Presbyterian General Assembly in his time, and as furious against the Mitre as the Crown.  
Such another is that Infamous James Stuart, an Inveterate Rebel, and pardoned by King James, now Knighted (forsooth!) and fills the Place of Lord Advocate, which answers to that of Attorney General here; but of greater Honour and Interest in the State.  
Castairs, a Super-presbyterian, that is, a Cameronian Preacher, attends K. William's Person, both at home and abroad, like a Jewel in his Ear: We make a Show in the Chapel, but He Exercises the Office of Confessor in the Closet.  
His Advice is taken in all the Spiritual Promotions of our Church; and we feel the Effects of it very sensibly.  
We see among the new made Bishops those who were formerly Fanatical Preachers; and those who, of all our Number, are least Zealous for the Church, and most Latitudinarian, for a Comprehension of Dissenters, and a Dispensation with our Liturgy and Discipline. The Archbishop himself has put on a strange Moderation that way.  
The Tide runs strong both in Church and State towards a Fanatical Level. And the Pattern of the Scotish Reformation stairs us in the Face, more Glaringly than in 42.  
And let us remember, That the Covenant (now Rampant in Scotland) obliges them to carry on the work of that Reformation in England, as well as in Scotland, as they did before: And they have the Impudence to pray publicly for it now in their Churches, for our Conversion (as they call it) from Prelacy, which they call Popery; and Idolatry, that is, our Liturgy.  
And yet their Agents there would make us believe, That they intent no Alteration of our Constitution in England.  
But are we to be so Deceived now? Have we never been Deceived by them, in the same manner, before? How often did they protest to Marquis Hamilton, Commissioner for King Charles the First, That they did not intent to abolish Episcopacy? [Large Declaration, 114, 115. 69. and 173.]  
And they used to persuade the Scrupulous, That they might take the Covenant without prejudice to Episcopacy.  
In their Answer to the Fourth Reply of the Doctors of Aberdeen, they say, You will have all the Covenanters against their Intention, and whether they will or not, to Disallow and Condemn the Articles of Perth, and Episcopal Government.— But it is known to many Hundreds, that the Words were purposely conceived for Satisfaction of such as were of your Judgement, that we might all join in one Heart and Covenant.  
They had Lower and Higher Senses of this Oath. Any thing to get you once within their Circle; and though they press the Obligation of it upon all alike, like the Artifice of some of the Romish Emissaries, who, to a Person tenacious of the Reformed Doctrines, represent the Church of Rome as little or nothing differing from us in Fundamentals, as they call them; and will let him keep all the Opinions they can't persuade him from, only be reconciled to the Church, to avoid Schism: But when he is once in, then there is no stop, they can Drive him to the utmost. They bring in many Hundreds of their private Doctors for the lower Sense of their General Councils; as their Spawn of the Covenant do leave their many Hundreds of private Persons, who they at first pretended knew their Minds in wording of the Covenant, to be much lower than the Letter of the Oath seemed to import.  
But yet they would never afterwards allow any such private Interpretations, as the true and natural Sense of the Oath. But boldly charged them of Perjury, who in the least Tittle departed from them.  
And how many Oaths and Protestations had we from our English Parliament in 42. That they never intended the Abolition either of Episcopacy, or the Liturgy? But, on the contrary, they expressed a great Zeal for Both; till they had got a Set of Fanatical Ministers in the State, and They then soon introduced Ministers of the same Kidney into the Church.  
And did not they then set up the Inclinations of the People on their side? And did not they carry it?  
And yet they had not half the Pretence as now. For, before that Rebellion, England had been long in the quiet Possession of Episcopacy, without almost any Grumbling against it; and that but of so small and inconsiderable a Party, as did not seem worth notice. These Monsters were Bred, and Grew up, in the Storm: But since the Overflowing of that Schismatical Rebellion; our Land has been Fertile of as many Heterogeneous Productions, as the Mud of Nilus leaves upon Egypt. There are almost as many various Sects and Armies of Dissenters now, as there were single Mutineers at that time.  
And oh! the Difference! England had a King then who was Bred from his Childhood in the Episcopal Communion, and zealous for it, even to Martyrdom.  
But our present King had the Misfortune (to himself, and to us) to be Educated under the Geneva Model, made Erastian in Holland: And it cannot be imagined, That the Alteration of his present Circumstances have wrought as great a Change in his Principles: That would be (if not a Miracle) to suppose him to be wholly Latitudinarian, and indifferent to all Religions; at least as to Church Government, which is the Point We are concerned for.  
But (alas!) the Measures he has taken in Scotland, and here too (as fast as it can go) has sadly undeceived us; and given Demonstration, That he is as zealous for his Religion, as any other King at least.  
In short, it is evident, That King James never took more Pains to place such Ministers in the State, and Bishops in the Church, as were, if not Popishly affected, yet least Inclined against it, than K. William has done, by the same Method, in Favour of Presbytery.  
And there is yet a farther Reason for him to put himself Entirely into their hands as soon as he possibly can; and that is, That he can never Trust to Us. He sees (we cannot keep it concealed) that much the major Number of the Swearing Clergy in England, and those who are upon the Foundations of the Universities, are Jacobites in their Hearts; and many of them have not the Continence to keep it to themselves, but Blab it wherever they go: Insomuch that the Nation has it by the End, That we are all Jacobites; at least, we are all (except a very few) Suspected, and that is equal to Guilty, in the Argument I am now upon.  
Well, but whatever are the King's Inclinations or Designs as to the Church, we Trust to the Inclinations of the People that they are all for Us; and that therefore his Interest will persuade him to comply with them.  
First, We have many and abundant Instances, since the Beginning of this Revolution, how far he can prevail with the People, at least with their Representatives in the House of Commons, to comply with his Interest or Inclinations.  
Secondly, We have found the Inclinations of the People turn against us, in the late Rebellion against King Charles the First, when they were much more unitedly for us than they are at present.  
Thirdly, The Inclinations of the People may be pretended, when it is not True, as we have seen in Scotland: And a Set of Fanatical Ministers of State may set up such a Pretence when they please. Pretences are the easiest found Things in the World; as we say, It it no hard matter to find a Stick to beat a Dog.  
But towards making the most True and Impartial Computation that can be, as to the Inclinations of the People in England at this Day, in reference to Episcopacy, and the present Established Church; Let us first take a View of the Nation in the General, and particularly of London, (and that not only as to the Differences betwixt Us and the Dissenters, but ●ith regard likewise to their Inclinations as Divided betwixt Us and our Deprived Fathers and Brethren,) then of the Two Houses of Lords and Commons: And these are the surest Steps I know whereby to compute the Inclinations of the People of England.  
Now to take a General View of England; we sadly find, That the Reverence to Religion in the General is mightily abated, and, amongst very many, quite lost. And therefore a Dispute only about Church Government will be thought of very little Consequence with these.  
There is a Spirit of Atheism gone out into this Land, especially amongst the Gentry of the first Magnitude; and Books are daily published, and greedily bought up, to render what they call Priest Craft, the Object of all People's Hate and Contempt.  
And will those who have no Regard for Religion, have any Reverence for Churchmen? Those, who think Them and their Profession Useless, and a Cheat? And consequently an unnecessary Burden and Charge to the People, and therefore necessary to be removed. That they are kept up only by the Folly and Superstition of a few Bigots, who dare not Think out of the Road of their Forefathers; whom these Vertuosoes have taken all imaginable Pains to undeceive, and convert them to the generous Latitude and Largeness of Thought (as they call it) That if they cannot get rid of All Religions, to be Indifferent towards All; and to look no farther than the Legal Establishment; or to consider of Religion no otherwise than as it is part of our Property, made so by the Laws, and which therefore may be Altered by the Laws: At least, as to Church-Government.  
And how can we deny this, who have allowed of Lay-Deprivations?  
Nay, Brother, I must tell you, That this Latitudinarian Principle has strangely prevailed even among our Clergy; chief of the first Form, in whose hands all our Concernments lie, and the public Affairs of the Church.  
And now as to the Third Estate of Men in the Kingdom, the Commonalty; What can we expect from them, but to be led by their Clergy, their Nobility and Gentry? And do we not find it so? Some think our Party great from the Appearance in our Churches here in London. But the Churches in London will not hold the Tenth part of the People in London: And therefore a small Proportion of the People will make a great Show in our Churches. Besides, the Generality of the People do give themselves a Latitude to go to Church or Meetings indifferently; and since both are now equally Tolerated by the Law, they do not think it a Fault, at least they cannot be Censured, nor they think so much as justly Blamed for it. I know several, even of the first Rank of the Gentry, who not only go to hear Sermons, but Receive the Communion, both at Church, and at the Meetings. This is a strange prostitution of our Discipline▪ But we must not now pretend to Power, if we can Live, we must let Live. Those Days of the Authority of the Church are over: We now seem to be in the Height of the Laodicean State.  
Again. Many of the Commonwealth Party (who cannot love our Constitution) come to Church; some to preserve their Places, and in reverence to the Sacramental Test; others, for mere Fashion sake; and not a Few, on purpose to Watch, and Report, and find Objections, or to make them.  
By these means our Churches are filled. But when we have substracted All, but who came hither out of a pure Principle of Religion: And again, when we have subdivided from these, those who think not that Religion consists in Episcopacy, or any Form of Church-Government, but look only to the Devotional part, which they may think might be preserved under any other Form of Government in the Church, as well as that of Episcopacy; though they may (perchance) like that Best, as being most used to it. (All who were strictly principled in the Divine Right of Episcopacy, and consequently its Independence upon the State, are gone from us into the Separate Communion of the Deprived Bishops: And many, though they keep in our Communion, are with them in their Hearts.)  
I say, when we have substracted from those who make their Appearance at our Churches upon solemn Occasions, All, except those who would be content to struggle for Episcopacy, and for us now in Possession, in opposition to the Deprived Bishops, to struggle for us, as the Episcopal Laity have done in Scotland against the Laws in Being, and the Reigning Ministers, to the Hazard of their Persons and Estates; when All but such as these are substracted from our Congregations, I am afraid we shall have but little Reason to Boast of our Numbers.  
And though men's coming to Church is no sure Sign of their being true Churchmen; yet their Forsaking, or Neglecting the Church, is a certain Demonstration that they are otherwise.  
Add to this, a very Fatal Dilemma in which the Dissenters have Caught us, and have Improved it amongst the People, to our no small Prejudice. For if we stick to Passive Obedience in the High Sense, as it is contained in the Homily against Rebellion, we must condemn what we have done, and what we still continue to do. But if we call that an Error, than we own that our Church has been all along, before this Revolution, a false Guide; and that the Dissenters have taught the Truth, in this point of Doctrine: And then the People themselves make the Application, that it is safer trusting to Them than to Us in other Doctrines. For, say they, the Dissenters never went over to you, in any of their Doctrines; but you have gone over to them in This, which you Formerly pressed as Positively and Zealously as any other Doctrine of the Gospel; nay, more than most others, and as Indispensibly necessary to Salvation.  
And will a People thus prejudiced against us, be zealous for us? Zealous against the Dissenters to whom we have at last submitted, in our so long boasted Characteristical Discrimination of Passive Obedience? How shall we retract all the hard Words we have given them for opposing that Doctrine which we now profess! For using those same Distinctions which we now set up! And what Argument can we find to persuade the People that we may not Deceive them in other Doctrines, as well as in this? Why they should Adhere to us, against the Dissenters, who have kept their Ground, and not contradicted their own Doctrines?  
Indeed our Case here is very difficult. It is needless now to Blame the Preaching of Passive Obedience so high in the former Reigns: The Fault is committed, we cannot deny it; and we must suffer under the Shame of it. And we have lost exceedingly in the Hearts and Inclinations of the People now towards us, upon that account. They look upon us Inconstant, and Time-serving. And that Character to a Clergyman must forfeit all men's Value and Esteem for him: And consequently for All that Clergy, or Church, of whom they have conceived such an Opinion.  
And though you and I can vindicate ourselves as to the Preaching of Passive Obedience in former Times; What is this to all that Generality of the Clergy who were never Weary, nor would give over upon that Subject? Who found it in every Text they could meet with? And pressed it oftener, and more pathetically, than any Article of the Creed?  
And though we did not preach for it, yet we did not preach against it. We let it go: Which the People think we should not have done, if we thought it to be an Error; and so Fatal a one as it must be, if it can be an Error. They call this Time-serving in us then, as much as in the others now: And then our Subscriptions to the Homilies, and Reading the Declaration of its not being Lawful, upon any Pretence, to take Arms, etc. are thrown in our Dish.  
And it is needless here to insist upon our Defences; for the Enquiry we are now making, is not the truth or untruth of the Case, but only as to the Inclinations of the People●; that is, How They take it, not how it is in itself.  
Thus far we have observed concerning the People in General, and in London: But let us now come nearer, and observe their Countenance in the Great Representative of the People, The Parliament.  
And Here, like drawing near to an ill Daubed Landscape, the Strokes appear more Gross and Disproportioned,  
What a contemptible Figure do our Bishops now make in the House of Lords! It was never so known before. No! Never! They are obliged either to quit their Seats in that House, or to bear the Raillery of the Lay-Lords every Day, who think them a Dead Weight amongst the Peers; of whom the greatest part would be glad to be rid of them, not only out of their House, but out of the Nation.  
And it may here be noted, That Episcopacy was in greater Perfection, and more primitive Independency, in Scotland, than with us here in England; and likewise as much fortified by the Civil Law, and set higher in the State, than (since the Reformation) in England.  
The Clergy, there, are a Distinct Estate by themselves, and preferred, in all things, to the Temporal Nobility: For not only the two Archbishops, (as in England▪) but every one of the Bishops, do Sign before all the whole Temporal Lords; as may be seen in the Act above-mention, 16th of March, 1688 where all the Convention subscribed their Names; and the Seven Bishops who was there, did subscribe before Duke Hamilton (though then Precedent of the Convention) and all the Lay-Lords. And their Subscriptions are thus Indorsed in the said Act: The Clergy and Nobility subscribed thus. When the Rolls in Parliament are called over, the Bishops are all first called.  
The Bishops choose Lords of the Articles out of the Temporal Estate of the Lay Lords.  
In all things, the Bishops there are distinguished more plainly as a Separate Estate, and the First of the Three Estates, than with us.  
But they have a yet much greater Advantage above our Bishops in their Ecclesiastiacal Authority.  
They have no Prohibitions from the Secular Courts to hang up their Excommunications, or intermeddle in their Spiritual Censures.  
The Bishops there are Absolute Judges of the Fitness of Clerks, presented to them for Live▪ Nor give any Account hereof to the Secular Courts.  
Nay more; they can Transplant any Priest in their Diocese from one Parish to another, as they shall judge their Labours to be more profitable in one Place than another, and there lies no Remedy for the Priest so Transplanted from the Secular Courts; of which I have been told Instances.  
The Civil Law has made no such Inroads upon the Episcopal Authority in Scotland as in England; and therefore our Bishops can plead no Exemption (more than they) from being cast out of the Church, whenever a House of Commons shall please to have it so.  
There is, as St. Cyprian says, but one Episcopate in the whole World, of which every Bishop partakes Severally, yet in Common. Episcopatus unus est, cujus a singulus, in solidum, pars tenetur. Cyp. de unit. Eccles.  
Therefore the Case of Scotland, at present, is not only proximus Utalegon to us; but 'tis our own very Case, upon the common Bottom of Christianity.  
For if we give up the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy in Scotland, we must yield it also as to England. And then we are wholly Precarious.  
And if in the Church, much less let us think that Bishops are so essential to Parliaments, but that (as in England in 42. and now in Scotland) they may be Dispensed with.  
And the House of Commons, as well as of the Lords, have, upon several Occasions, minded them of their Frailty: And that what has been done, may be done, as well in this as in other Things. But more than all this, both Houses of Commons and Lords have shown their Love to us, and high Regard of our Constitution, in that they have divested us of all our Authority over the People, by their unlimited Act of Indulgence to all Sorts and Sizes of Dissenters; and commanding that the Ecclesiastical Courts shall have no Power to proceed against any of them. And giving Power to the Justices of Peace, at their Sessions, to Licence Teachers and Preachers, as it is in the Act of Toleration, 24 May, 89. prim. Guliel. & Mar. This has rendered our Church a perfect cipher: And if any, or all, of our Flocks should Desert us to morrow, and go over openly to the Dissenters, we have no Power left us, by this Act, to restrain any of them by Ecclesiastical Censures, or any other way; and the whole Nation have Liberty to believe any of their Communions to be as safe a way to Heaven as our own. And they have made full use of that Liberty: For how many do we meet with who do not believe it? And think it a thing indifferent which of our Churches they go to, as they term the Dissenters and ours. They think them all to be Churches; and the Law giving equal Liberty to All, who dare quarrel with any for taking that Liberty to go to Any or All of these Churches?  
Who can say the Parliament has done Ill? For if Episcopacy be not Jure Divino, why are they bound to set it up more than Presbytery, Independency, Quakerism, or any other Sort? Why have we made such Contests about it, these Ages past?  
But if it be Jure Divino, than it is out of the Parliaments Power to Abolish it; or even to Dispense with, or Tolerate, any other Form of Government in the Church.  
So that we must either Condemn what they have done in Scotland, and in England too, by this Toleration; or otherwise we must give up our Jure Divino Right, which we have endeavoured to hold out so long against the Dissenters; and profess to hold hereafter by no other Tenure than that of an Act of Parliament, which now Grants equal Liberty to the Dissenters as to ourselves.  
But this Law does not only proclaim Liberty and Indemnity, but proposes Rewards and Advantages to all who shall leave us. Any, of any Sort, in Orders or out of Orders, who please to set up for Teachers, are, by this Act, exempted from serving upon Juries, or from being Church wardens, Overseers of the Poor, or any other Parochial or Ward Office, or other Office in any Hundred of any Shire, City, Town, Parish, Division, or Wapentake. And these being Offices of Charge and Trouble, we shall be in a little time left to serve ourselves; or the whole Burden lie upon those Few whom their Neighbours will call Fools for not easing themselves of it, as they have done. The Effect of this may not appear considerably at first: But when the Taxes have Reduced more to Poverty; and the Envy and Spite to see their richer Neighbours excused, may operate more than we are yet well ware. If you think that no such Inconsiderable People will be allowed of for Preachers: The Act excepts none. And the Allowance is Granted to the Justices of Peace: And there is no stint of Number. I can tell you an Instance came in my way at the Easter Sessions 92. in St. Alban; there came three poor Fellows for Licences to be Preachers, Two of them set their Marks instead of their Names, for they could neither Read nor Write, and they had their Licences: And one of them being after Returned upon a Jury, pleaded his Privilege as a Preacher by the Act, and had it allowed him. Nor indeed can the Justices Refuse either to give them Licences, or allow them the Privileges granted by the Act. One of these Preachers Names, I remember, was one Bocket; he lives in St. Stephen's Parish near St. Alban, and is a Ditcher, and Day-Labourer.  
There are many such Examples through the Kingdom.  
We may now see where our Authority is going, not to mention Christianity, at this Rate. That Bocket is now as Legal a Teacher as the Archbishop of Canterbury. This, Brother, is a fair Indication of the Inclinations of the Parliament towards us, of their Zeal to support the Authority and the Reputation of our Church.  
Well: But they have left us in Possession of the Rents and Revenues of the Church.  
That is indeed All that we have left. And how long shall we keep that, when the only Ground and Foundation of it is gone? that is, The Authority and Discipline of the Church, and the supposed Necessity there is of our Church. This is all the Ground and Reason there is for supporting and maintaining our Church more than any other Church; or for having any Church more than no Church. If none of them be Necessary, or ours no more than another, why should we expect to Enjoy such great Riches more than others? The Nation is not, or soon may come not to be, in a Condition to allow such great Pensions, when they are merely Honorary, and of no Necessity to the Nation.  
The Bishop's Lands (as now in Scotland) may be sold, either for the Carrying on the War, or to Reward many of those Necessitous and Sacrament taking fanatics for Places of Advantage. There is no other visible Fund for them; and they Expect it; and refrain not sometimes to Express it. Our Titles being Jure Divino will not do: The Impropriations have spoiled that. The Church, though overrun with Errors, was in far greater Authority and Reverence than now, when Henry the Eighth seized her Revenue; and had more and greater Friends to stand by her: The Pope, and all the than Christian Princes, did Detest his Act as Sacrilegious, and were highly Concerned to have it Rectified. And it was thought abominable by all England, except those among whom he Divided the Spoil. But is there one Man in the World would be Concerned for us, or Pity us, if we lost all! Yet the Inclinations of the People is all we pretend to Trust to. How have I heard some repeat with Pleasure, that Prophecy which they ascribe to old Merlin?  
Henry the Eighth pulled down Abbeys and Cells;  
But Henry the Ninth will pull down Churches and Bells.  
By Churches and Bells they understand the Episcopal Church and Ceremonies; and there has been enough done in Scotland to fulfil the Prophecy, but that it was spoke of England. And they think that Henry the Ninth, and the time is now come. I lay not stress upon these sort of Prophecies, but they show the Inclinations of the People, when they are pleased, and no body displeased with Trumping up such stuff upon us.  
Add to this whatever stress you will lay upon the confident Boasting of those Dissenters who are most in K. Will's Interest and Councils, that all will be their own they make no doubt of it; only they would manage, as they think, wisely, and worm us out by Degrees. They told us, from the Beginning of this Revolution, that K. William would take his time to bring them into the chief Places and Offices of Trust; which we Thought, in our Honey Month, to be nothing but the vain Humour of that Party, and to create Jealousies betwixt the King and us, when we were endeavouring to exceed one another in our Caresses; which if they were meant no more sincerely on his side than they were by some of us, it was a Force on both sides; and not like longer to last, than the first Opportunity either could get to put themselves into hands they could better Trust.  
They told us too, That he would begin with Scotland, and according to the Success he had there would take his Measures as to England.  
There is not a Step has been made, which they have not faithfully and truly foretold. It is easy for Managers to be Prophets of what is designed.  
I wish what is to Come of their Prediction, may not prove as True as what is Past. That is, That, having Divided the Church of England among themselves, they would, through Fears or Hopes, gain the major Number to come over to their Doctrine of Resistance; whereby, having proclaimed themselves to have been False-Teachers heretofore, they would easily prevail with the People not to Trust them for the time to come: And so, by consequence gain the Cry on their side, and have their turn in setting up upon the Inclinations of the People's; and overturn Episcopacy here, as they have done in Scotland.  
Indifferency in Lovers is a certain Forerunner of a Breach. And the People of England, who were so excessively Enamoured of us, when the Bishops were in the Tower, that they hardly forbore to Worship us, are now, I wish I could say but Cool, and very Indifferent towards us.  
What the End of all these Things will be, is what, dear Brother, has tortured my Thoughts, and makes me vent them so freely to you, who, I know, partake, in a great measure, in them with myself.  
But, O good God If we have not been Sincere with Him, he knows our Hearts! If Temporal Advantages have been any Bias to us! Or if, as Uzzah, we have put forth our hand, beyond our own Rank and Order, going but in the least out of the plain Road of our Duty, though, as we thought, to save the Ark from falling, oh! what will our Judgement be! if those Methods we have taken to preserve the Church, prove, as it sadly now threatens, to her and our own utter Destruction! We see the Enemy already Roar in the midst of our Congregations, and they have set up their Banners for a Token: We seem now to hold our Post but at their Discretion, till they are ready to give the Word, as in Scotland, No more Episcopacy! No more Church of England! But we shall not fall like them: They fell altogether, every Bishop in the Kingdom, and almost the whole Number of the inferior Clergy. They may rise again, and will rise Glorious, asserting still the same Principles as we did before in the Restoration, 1660. But as for us now, Whether shall we cause our Shame to go? Will not the Scots upbraid us? Where was our Zeal for Episcopacy, or Foresight of our own Danger, when we stood silent by, and saw their Fall, without putting in one Address, or showing the least Concern for our Brethren? They will mind us (for we have not thought of it) of the Zeal which the English Bishops showed in the Case of the Archbishop of Glasgow, unjustly Deprived by Lay-Authority in the Reign of Charles the Second, though there was an Act of Parliament there to countenance it; they Espoused it as their own Cause (for so indeed it was) till they prevailed with the King to have him Restored. But now we could see not only all the Bishops in that Kingdom, but our own Renowned Metropolitan, and near half of the then Bishops of our own Kingdom, Deprived by mere Lay-Authority, (not to mention the Dispute of the Validity of that Lay Authority, and the Cause, which none of us did think sufficient for a Deprivation) without Interposing one Word on their behalf; or so much as for having that Allowance made good to them which was provided for them by the Act of Parliament, either by K. William to whom the Act entrusted the Disposing of it; or if not from his Justice, yet at least from the Generosity of those who came, Unwilling and Sorrowful, as they pretended, into their Places. Nor did our Convocation once complain of the Absence of their Archbishop, and so many of their other Bishops, or make any Address on their behalf, or desire any Conference with them, to know their Reasons, and endeavour any Accommodation. No; we did none of these things: We were seized with, I know not what, panic Consternation. Though all were well Inclined, and every one would gladly have been a Second, yet none durst Begin. We were Passive here to a superlative Degree: Our Courage and our Souls have left us. We lie under the Load, though we see ourselves sinking with it. What is this but Infatuation! and the End must be Destruction. But now, at last, if we have any Spirit left; though we have not made any Address, or shown ourselves Concerned for the Case of our Brethren in Scotland, or for our Deprived Bishops and Clergy here; yet let us not sit still, and, by a supine Negligence, be so wanting to ourselves, as at least not to Petition, to Represent our Fears and our Danger to the King and Government, to Desire some Redress to our just Grievances; That there may be an Alteration of the Persons employed in public Offices, and such only set at the Head of Affairs as are sincerely for the Church of England; and let us make our Exceptions against those whom we know to be of a quite different Interest. We ventured upon all this, and more, to King James, and had good Success in it. Who knows but upon our appearing Zealous and Active for the Safety of the Church, others of our Flocks may join with us? At least, they will Approve and Justify us in asserting our and their true Interest. But who will stir for us, or stand by us, if we Dare not so much as open our Mouths in our own Behalf? It is our Office to Led and Instruct them: They will love us the better for it. And we may, by this, Recover many whom we have lost. But we shall lose all, if we Render ourselves wholly Insignificant and Insensible of the Encroachments which are daily made upon us: And our Posterities may curse us, in whose Power it was to have stemmed this Tide, if we had taken it in time. The People will never believe that we can be hearty to them, and stand in the Gap for preservation of their Rights and Privileges (as we have heretofore done, and were Honoured for it) while they see us so very Dispirited and Negligent in our own.  
At least this we shall Gain by it, That if a Deaf Ear be given to all our Applications, we may then rest assured of what is Determined against us.  
17 July, 1694.  
FINIS.