AN ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH OF KNAVERY, UNDER The Pretended FEARS OF ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT, AND POPERY. WITH A PARALLEL betwixt the Reformers of 1677, and those of 1641, in their Methods, and Designs.  
In a Letter to a Friend.  
LONDON, Printed by H. H. for Henry Brome, at the Gun in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1678.   

AN ACCOUNT Of the GROWTH of KNAVERY, UNDER The Pretended FEARS OF ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT, AND POPERY  
SIR,  
TO give you my Opinion freely of the two Libels that you sent me, methinks the Design of them lies too open to do much Mischief; for I never saw so barefaced an Arraignment of the Government, and all the Parts of it: King, Lords, Commons, judges, Ministers of State; they are all of them made Conspirators; against the Sovereign Multitude, forsooth; and when the Libeler has done with the Body of the Commons, he gives you a Defamatory List of betwixt two and three hundred of their Members, provoking and abusing all Sober Interests; Insomuch, that he has left himself nothing to trust to, but the contemplation of a General Tumult, which is the very Point he drives at in his Appeal to the Rabble.  
The Man, I confess, is a great Master of Words; but then his Talon is that which the Lord St. Alban calls Matter of Wonder without Worthiness; being rather the Suppleness and Address of a Tumbler, than the Force and Vigour of a Man of Business. And you cannot but observe too, that his Excursions, many of them, are unmannerly and Vulgar, and fitter for the Stage of a Merry-Andrew, or a jack-pudding, than for a Paper of State.  
You would have me guests at the Author; and you might as well bid me tell you the right Father of a Child by a common Strumpet: But I think I may call him Legion, for they are MANY; and there's a Club to his Pen, as well as to his Pocket. This I dare assure you, that the Author of A Letter from a Parliament-man to his Friend in the Country, concerning the Proceedings of the House of Commons, etc. in 75. is very particularly acquainted with the Author of An Account of the Growth of Popery, and Arbitrary Government, etc. and the Seasonable Argument, etc. that followed it, in 77.  
The Pretence of the former Pamphlet is exhibited in the Title of it: viz. An Account of the Growth of Popery, and Arbitrary Government in England: And more particularly from November 1675, to july 1677. Upon these Nineteen Months the Composer has bestowed precisely Nineteen Sheets of Paper, and laid himself out most wonderfully in his Politics and Conceits, for the better Grace and Relish of the Discourse: But the Malignity of it is so rank, that there's scarce a Page where the Poison has not eaten quite through the Varnish, and discovered the Spring and Malice of the Design. View it narrowly, and you shall find the Pique to be as well Personal as Seditious, and the Work only of some Mercenary Pen to serve his principal's's Animosity, as well as his Ambition. For a Man may see with half an Eye, how he aggravates, or extenuates; disparages, or commends, reflects upon, or passes over, as well Actions, as Men, according to the various Aspects of Affections or Parties; and without any regard to the Pulse or Truth of Public Proceedings. By his Vein of improving the Invective Humour, it looks in some places as if he were Transprosing the First Painter; only he has change d his Battery, which is a Property peculiar to his Party, constantly to hate those that are uppermost.  
I was once a thinking to write a Just Reply upon the whole Relation, and to lay open the falsehood of many Passages in it in matter of Fact; the Partiality of it in others; how perverted, and misapplyed it is throughout; and to show what Gapps, and Maims the Compiler of it has left in the Story, purposely to divert the Reader from minding the Coherence of Actions, and the reasonable Congruity of Counsels, and Affairs: What uncharitable and illogical Inferences he has drawn from matters as remote as Tenterden Steeple from being the cause of Goodwin Sands. This was the Method I had propounded to myself; but upon second Thoughts I quitted it, for these Reasons. First, It would have been too tedious; for I must in Honesty have printed the Libel as well as the Reply, which in Proportion would have amounted to near forty Sheets of Paper. Secondly, It would have been superfluous; for part of my Business being the Vindication of Truth from Calumny: I find the thing already done to my Hand, in the common Sentence is that passed upon it for a lewd and shameless Imposture. And Thirdly, The Author himself, you see, has upon better consideration reduced his Pamphlet of 19 Sheets, into another of Three, as a more compendious Exposition of his Meaning: I speak of that Libel which you sent me, under the Name of A Seasonable Argument to persuade all the Grand juries in England to petition for a New Parliament; or a List of the Principal Labourers in the great Design of Popery, and Arbitrary Power, etc. So that my Task is only to make good in my Discourse the Parallel that I promised you in my Title, and then to pass some Remarks upon the Scope, and Venom of the Pamphlets themselves.  
Now to the end that you may not take the Libels here in question for Originals, let me assure you that these Notable Pieces are neither better, nor worse, than the Old Declarations of 40, and 41 only Turned, and New trimmed; The Contrivance, the Positions, and the Drift the very same; and upon the whole Matter, there is so near a resemblance betwixt them, that one Egg is not liker another. If you would have a full History of the Faction, you may read it at large in Bancroft's Dangerous Positions, or Heylin's AERIUS REDIVIWS. But my Purpose is principally to compare the Project of 77. with that of 40 and 41. and by tracing the Footsteps of that Rebellion, from the Undeniable Fact of things passed, to gather some probable conjecture at things to come.  
To begin my Parallel with the Alarm of Popery, and Arbitrary Government in 1677, take notice that it was likewise the Pretext and the very Foundation of the Rebellion in 41. A Malignant and Pernicious Design (says the Remonstrance of December 15. 1641.) of subverting the fundamental Laws, and Principles of Government, upon which the Religion, and justice of this Kingdom is firmly established. Husband's Collections, p. 4. and in the same Page he tells us of Such Counsellors and Courtiers, as for Private Ends have engaged themselves to further the Interest of Some Foreign Princes or States, to the Prejudice of His Majesty and the State at home. Which Counsellors, and Courtiers of those days, are now translated into French Pensioners and Conspirators in 1677. But if you would see the Reformers in their Colours, read the Declaration, and Protestation of the Lords and Commons in Parliament (as they style it) to the Kingdom, and to the Whole World: where, beside the Horrid Invocation of Almighty God to Countenance the Juggle, the whole stress of the Quarrel is laid upon the Kings being Popishly Inclined; and the War founded upon that Execrable Cheat. The King's Counsels, and Resolutions (Say they) are so engaged to the Popish Party, for the Suppression and Extirpation of the true Religion, that all hopes of Peace and Protection are excluded; and that it is fully intended to give Satisfaction to the Papists, by Alteration of Religion etc. And a little further they say that the King endeavoured to keep off all jealousies and Suspicions, by many fearful Oaths and Imprecations of maintaining the Protestant Religion. But what were all their Stories of Popish Plots, Intercepted Letters, Dark, Conspiracies, but only Artifices to gull the Credulous and Silly Vulgar? For the King was so far from being Popishly affected, that never any Prince purged himself of an Imputation, by Two more Credible and Dreadful Solemnities: The First, Publicly upon the Sacrament in Christ-Church Oxon. 1643; and afterward, at his Death upon the Scaffold. Now see the Harmony betwixt Those Remonstrants, and Our Libeler in his Growth of Popery. There has now for Divers Years, says he, a Design been carried on to change the Lawful Government of England into an Absolute Tyranny, and to convert the established Protestant Religion into downright Popery. P. 3. He begins in the Method of the Remonstrants with a General Charge upon Ill Ministers, and he shall Advance with them too, next step, to an Attaque upon the King Himself. And not a Pin matter what is said on either side to the Contrary.  
It is true, (says the Growth of Popery p. 155) that by his Majesty and the Church's Care, under God's special Providence, the Conspiracy has received frequent Disappointments, etc. And do not the Remonstrants on the other side say as much for the Late King? That His Majesty indeed had passed more Bills to the Advantage of the Subject, than had been in many Ages, pag. 16. But how comes our Libeler to be so kind to the Church all on a sudden? From whose Pen there never fell any thing yet but poison upon that Subject. Can any thing be kinder than the Remonstrants were to this Late King (pag. 2.) where they promised to Support His Royal Estate with Honour, and Plenty at Home; with Power, and Reputation Abroad: and by their Loyal Affections, Obedience, and Service, to lay a sure and lasting Foundation of the Greatness and Prosperity of His Majesty and his Royal Posterity after him. But what do you think rather of the pretended Loyalty of these People afterwards, even in the state of an Actual Rebellion? p. 663. We the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, do in the presence of Almighty God, for the Satisfaction of our Consciences, and the Discharge of that great Trust which lies upon us, make this Protestation and Declaration to this Kingdom and Nation, and to the Whole World, that no private Passion, or Respect, no evil Intention to his Majesty's Person, no Design to the prejudice of his Just Honour, and Authority, engaged us to raise Forces, and take up Arms against the Authors of this War, wherewith the Kingdom is now enslamed. And does not our Libeler follow the Remonstrants in their Hypocrisy too? This Book (says he, p. 156.) though of an extraordinary Nature, as the Case required, and however it may be calumniated by interressed Persons, was written with no other Intent, than of mere Fidelity, and Service to his Majesty; and God forbid that it should have any other Effect than that the mouth of all Iniquity, and Flatterers may be stopped; and that his Majesty having discerned the Disease, may with his healing Touch apply the Remedy: For so far is the Relator himself from any sinister Surmise against his Majesty, or from suggesting it to others, etc. The Pamphlet, I confess, is, as he calls it, A Book of an Extraordinary Nature; but why does he say, As the Case required? Where's the Importance of it? unless he means, that it was the very Nick of Time for him to embroil the Nation: And for the Interessed Persons, who (he says) may Calumniate it; they are only the King and His Ministers, who are all of them the subject of his Scoptical and Malevolent Satire. Of his Intent, we shall speak hereafter.  
This is not the first time that we have heard of Words smother than Oil, which yet are very Swords. It is the very Style that brought the Late King to the Block; and the Saviour of the World was betrayed by a Hail Master, and a Kiss. It is the very Crown of the Parallel betwixt 77, and 41. Now to proceed: What was the Old Remonstrance, but a Spiteful and Invidious Misrepresentation of the State of the Kingdom, under the Notion of Declaring Common Grievances? (For His Majesty's Healing Touch too no doubt) and is not That also the very Aim, and Profession of these two Libels? What is the Publication of This same Scandalous List, but the Old Trick over again, of Posting those Members for Straffordians, that would not consent to the Death of the Earl of Strafford? And is not their Tampering of the Grand juries to Petition for a New Parliament, the Old Practice revived of drawing and soliciting Petitions against Grievances of their own framing; and menaging Affairs of State by Tumults? Would not our Remonstratour of 77, rather than his Life, be at the Old Sport again, with a Kennel of Brutes at his Heels, in full Cry, with No Bishops, No Popish Lords, No Evil Counselors, No Rotten Members, No Porter's Lodge; and at last, No King too, which was the very Fact in Consequence upon this Method.  
So soon as the Remonstrants (those Sons of Cham) had laid open their Father's nakedness, with a Malicious Aggravation of all Errors and Misfortunes, (beside Falsehoods innumerable) to Irritate the Multitude against their Superiors; their next Art was to draw that Party to themselves, which they had now detached from the Government; with an Oh! that we were made judges in Israel! Boasting what wonderful things they had then upon the Anvil for the Public Good; and not forgetting to arrogate all those Acts to themselves, which his Majesty had passed of his proper Grace and Bounty. Other things (say they, p. 15.) of main Importance for the Good of this Kingdom, are in Proposition; as the Establishing and Ordering the King's Revenues, that so the Abuse of Officers, and Superfluity of Expenses may be cut off, and the necessary Disbursements for his Majesty's Honour, the Defense and Government of the Kingdom, may be more certainly provided for: the Regulating of Courts of justice, and Abridging both the Delays and Charges of Law-Suits, etc. See now if our Reformer of 77, does not fish with the very same Bait. The House of Commons (says he, p. 63.) took up again such Public Bills as they had on foot in their former sitting, and others that might either remedy present, or prevent future Mischief: As the Bill for Habeas Corpus; That against sending Men prisoners beyond Seas; That against Raising of Money without the Consent of Parliament; That against Papists sitting in either House, etc. The Libels in fine of 77, are so exact a Counterpart of the others of 41, that two Tallies do not strike truer: And undoubtedly such a Correspondence in Method, cannot be without some Conformity also of Design.  
There needs no other Argument to prove the Late Rebellion to have been originally a Conspiracy against the Government, than the Proportion that appears betwixt the Means, and the End; and the orderly Connexion of Proper Causes and Regular Effects. For it was a Perfect Train of Artifice, Hypocrisy and Imposture, from one end of it to the other. The Confederacy was formed in a Cabal of Scotch and English Presbyterians; as appears not only from their Correspondent Practices in both Nations; but from his late Majesties Charge against the Five Members; and likewise from the Care that was taken upon his Majesty's Restauration to date the English Act of Indemnity from the beginning of the Scotch Tumults (Jan. 1. 1637.) which was three Years before the Meeting of the Long Parliament in November 1640. The two Ministers that stood in the Gap betwixt the Conspiracy, and the Government, (and who were only cut off, as appeared by the Sequel, to clear the passage to the King himself) were the Earl of Strafford, and Archbishop Laud: So that their First Attaque was upon the Earl, and their next upon the Archbishop, under the Notion of Evil Counsellors; and upon the Common Charge of Popery, and Arbitrary Proceeding, their Impeachments were carried on by Tumults, and these Brave Men were rather baited to Death by Beasts, than Sentenced with any Colour of Law, or Justice: And as they lived, so they died, the Resolute Assertors of the English Monarchy and Religion: The Earl of Strafford in May 41; But the Archbishop was kept languishing in the Tower, till jan. 44. And their Crime was not in Truth, their being Men of Arbitrary Principles Themselves, but for being the Opposers of those Principles in Others.  
As the Remonstrants in 41, for want of Papists, in Practice, and Profession, directed their Spleen against the King's Ministers, only as Persons Popishly affected, (which in time came to be most Injuriously applied to his Majesty, and his whole Party) Just so does our Libeler in 1677. Were these Conspirators (says he) but avowed Papists, they were the more Honest, the less Dangerous, and their Religion were Answerable for the Errors they might commit in Order to promote it: But these are Men (says he, in the next pag.) Obliged by all the most Sacred Ties of Malice and Ambition, to advance the ruin of the King and Kingdom; and qualified much better than Others, under the Name of Good Protestants, to effect it. As who should say; Popery is to be brought in by some that pass for Good Protestants. (As Rebellion and Tyranny were brought in by the Remonstrants, under the Procession of Loyalty and Duty to their Country.) A very Compendious way of making every Man, that will not be a Traitor, a Papist. For who can say what any Man is, or what he is not, in his Heart?  
From his Majesty's Yielding in the Business of the Earl of Strafford, the Faction took their Measures how to deal with him in Other Cases; and never left, till by gradual Encroachments, and Approaches, they First stripped him of his Friends; Secondly, of his Royal Authority; Thirdly, of his Revenue; and Lastly, of his Life. Whereas, had but this Pious and Unfortunate King followed the Advice of his Royal Father to Prince Henry, he might upon cheaper Terms have preserved himself, and his Three Kingdoms. Take heed, (says King james) to such Puritans; very Pests in the Church, and Common-weal, whom no Deserts can Oblige; neither Oaths, or Promises Bind. Breathing nothing but Sedition, and Calumnies, and making their own Imaginations (without any warrant of the Word) the square of their Conscience. I protest before the Great God, (and since I am here as upon my Testament, it is no place for me to lie in) that ye shall never find with any Highlands or Border-Thieves, greater Ingratitude, and more Lies, and vile Perjuries than with these Fanatic Spirits. K. james his Works, p. 305, and 160.  
Upon the Ripping up of Public Grievances, it was but matter of Course to follow their Complaints with Petitions for Redress; and the Good King, on the other hand, to heap Coals of Fire upon their Heads, denied them nothing: But the Two First Bills that his Majesty passed, were Fatal to him: That for the Attainder of the Earl of Strafford, and the other for the Continuance of the Parliament. They complained of the Star-Chamber; High-Commission Court; Ship-monies; Forrest-Laws; Stannary-Courts; Tonnage, and Poundage, etc. and had every Point for the Ask: Nay, and as an instance of his good Faith and Meaning, his Majesty took some of their Principals even into his very Council. But so soon as he had parted with so much, as almost put it into their Power to Take the Rest, they began then to think of Setting up for themselves (see his Majesty's Declaration of August 12. 1642.) and nothing but a thorough Reformation they said would ever do the Work. Now see the Gradation. First, The People must be Alarmed with the Noise of Tyranny, and Popery; and the Evil Counsellors must be Removed, that are Said, not Proved, to stand that way inclined. His Majesty must be humbly Petitioned by Both Houses to Employ such Counsellors, Ambassadors, and other Ministers, in managing his Business at Home, and Abroad, as the Parliament may have Cause to confide in, etc. Nay, It may often fall out, they say, that the Commons may have just Cause to take Exceptions at some Men for being Counsellors, and yet not charge those Men with Crimes; for there be grounds of Dissidence, which lie not in Proof; there are Others which though they may be proved, yet are not legally Criminal; to be a Known Favourer of Papists, or to have been very Forward in defending or Countenancing some great Offenders questioned in Parliament, etc. So that at first Dash all the King's Officers are but Tenants at the Will of the Faction. The next Step is, To fill the Places of those whom they cast out, with Ministers, and Officers of their Own Choosing; as well Privy Counsellors, as judges. As in the 19 Propositions of jan. 2. 42. wherein they demand, The Translation of the Power of Choosing Great Officers, and Ministers of State, from the King to the Two Houses. Secondly, All matters of State in the Interval of Parliaments to be debated, and concluded by a Council so chosen, and in Number not above 25, nor under 15; and no Public Act esteemed of any validity, as proceeding from the Royal Authority, unless it be done by the Advice and Consent of the Major Part of that Council; attested under their Hands, and these also sworn to the Sense of Both Houses. Thirdly, The Lords, and Commons must be entrusted with the Militia. Fourthly, His Majesty may appoint, but the Two Houses, or the Council (in such manner as aforesaid) must approve of all Governors of Forts and Castles. Lastly, No Peers hereafter made, must sit, or vote in Parliament, unless admitted thereunto by the Consent of Both Houses.  
By this time the Plot is ripe for a Rebellion; they Levy War, Impose Oaths, Seize the Revenues of the Church and Crown; Kill, Plunder, and Emprison their Fellow-Subjects; Depose and Murder their Sovereign, under a Form of Public justice; by these Means advancing themselves into That Arbitrary Power which they pretended to Fear; Overturning the Government, under the Colour of a Zeal to Support it: and instead of setting us Right in our Religious and Civil Liberties, they left us neither Church, nor Law, nor King, nor Parliament, nor Properties, nor Freedoms. Behold the Blessed Reformation; and Remember that the Outcries against Tyranny, Popery, and Evil Counsellors, were the Foundation of it. What was their Covenant, but a Blind to their Designs? A Popular Sacrament of Religious Disobedience; and only a Mark of Discrimination who were against the King, and who for him? Nay, in the very Contemplation of their Purpose, they knew beforehand, That there was no gaining of their Point, but by Rapine, Sacrilege, Perjury, Treason, and Blood.  
After these Notorious Violations of Faith, Honour, Humanity, and Religion; to the Common destruction of Prince, Government, and People, and All upon the same Bottom with our Late Libels; what can this underminer of Parliaments, What can our Geneva-Faux find to say for himself? Is not Mercury as good Poison in 77, as it was in 41? Do we not strike Fire the same way Now, that we did Then? And may not a Spark in the Gun-Room do as much Mischief This Year, as it did Thirty, or Forty Years ago? Are not the People as much Tinder now, as they were Formerly? and as apt to take Ill Impressions? What if the same Method should work the same Confusion over again? or in Truth, what is there else to be expected? For the same Cause, acting at Liberty, must eternally produce the same Effect. There's no Chance-medley, or Misadventure in the Case; but the Thing is manifestly done with Prepense Malice, and on set Purpose, to embroil the State: As upon Examination of the Matter will undeniably appear.  
You cannot but take Notice, That the Author of The Growth of Popery, does upon the Main, principally labour these Two things. First, To insinuate that the King is in some Cases Accountable to his People, (of which hereafter.) And Secondly, To provoke the People, by suggesting that their Souls, and their Liberties are at stake, to make use of that Power. From the former Proposition he passes into a Florid and Elaborate Declamation against Popery; and when he has wrought up the Figure to a height, to make it Terrible and Odious, his next Business is to tell the People, that This Gobbling is coming in among them, and to possess the Multitude with the Apprehension of a Formed Conspiracy against our Religion and Government: And this too, under the Countenance of an Historical Deduction of Affairs; but with the Faith of a jesuitical Legend; wherein all the King's Ministers are in General Terms branded for Conspirators.  
His Hand being now in, he is resolved to go thoroughstitch, and nothing escapes him that falls in his way: He makes the House of Lords (p. 72.) to be Felon of itself; and (p. 82.) Non Compos; Arraigning their Proceedings in several Cases with Boldness and Contempt. But he makes a great deal bolder yet with the House of Commons; he divides them into Three Parts. It is too notorious to be concealed (says he, p. 73.) that near a Third part of the House, have Beneficial Offices under his Majesty in the Privy Council, the Army, the Navy, the Law, the Household, the Revenue both in England, and Ireland, or in Attendance upon his Majesty's Person. Upon this Exception, he expounds himself, that 'Tis to be feared, their Gratitude to their Master, with their own Interest, may tempt them beyond their Obligation to the Public. What can be more Audacious than this Charge upon King, Lords, and Commons, in the Face of a Sitting Parliament? He says that It is too Notorious to be concealed etc. And where's the Crime, or the Shame, I beseech you, for an Officer of the Kings, to be a Member of the House of Commons? As if he that has an Office, and he that has none, had not Both of them the same Master; or that a Man might not as well be a Knave without an Office, as with it. This was the Complaint also of 41, against Officers, till the Complainants had gotten those Offices themselves, and then all was quiet. This is only a flyer way of declaring the King's Servants Enemies to the Kingdom, and Erecting an Opposition betwixt the Common, and Inseparable Interests of his Majesty, and his Subjects. Beside that, the same Reason would reach to the Excluding of the King's Servants from any other Trust in the Government, as well as from That of a Member in the House of Commons; and his Majesty's Favour should at that rate Incapacitate any Man for Public Business. If the Libeler had opened his mouth a little wider, he would have told us in Plain English, that there are three, or four of Oliver's Old Servants out of Office, and that the King is strangely over-seen to bestow his Boons upon a Company of Fellows that never had any hand in the bringing of him to the Crown, by the Murder of his Father, as they did. But yet he is content upon some Terms, that they may be admitted, provided that they do not crowd into the House in numbers beyond Modesty, (pag. 74.) which may seem to be some amends for the Rascals he made of them the very Page before. Suppose (says he) that the Question concerning this Prorogation, were by the Custom of Parliaments to be justified, (which hath not been done hitherto) yet who that desires to maintain the Reputation of an Honest Man, would not have laid hold upon so plausible an Occasion, to break Company, when it was grown so scandalous? And then he assigns the matter of Scandal. For it is too notorious (says he) to be concealed, that near a Third Part of the House have Beneficial Offices under his Majesty, etc. Here's a great deal of Business done in one Period. First, He pronounces this Parliament void, and consequently all their Proceedings to be Nullities. Secondly; He will not allow any Man to be Honest, that right or wrong would not improve the Opportunity of Breaking This Parliament. Thirdly, He makes the House of Commons to be scandalous Company, and scandalous for having Beneficial Offices under his Majesty. The first time that ever I heard the King's Bounty was a Scandal to any Man. But to my Point.  
And yet (says he, p. 77.) These Gentlemen being full, and already in Employment, are more good Natured, and less dangerous to the Public, than those that are Hungry, and out of Office, who may by probable Computation make another Third Part of this House of Commons. And a while after, They are all of them, he says, to be bought, and sold. And when he goes on; (p. 78.) There is a Third Part still remaining, but as contrary in themselves, as Light and Darkness. These are either the Worst, or the Best of Men; The first are most prostigate Persons, etc. Concluding (p. 79.) That it is less difficult to conceive how Fire was first brought to Light in the World, than how any thing Good could ever be produced out of a House of Commons so Constituted. And (p. 149.) he calls them this House, or BARN of Commons; treating the Members accordingly. They list themselves (says he) into some Court Faction, and it is as well known among them to what Lord each of them retain, as when formerly they wore Coats and Badges.  
And he has not done with them yet neither; for nothing will do his Jobb, but a Final Dissolution; Considering (says he, p. 81.) how doubtful a Foot this long Parliament now stood upon by this long Prorogation, there could not have been a more Legal, or however, no more Wife, and Honest a thing done, than for Both the Lords and Commons to have Separated Themselves, etc. I could wish that he had not appealed from the Legality of the thing, to the Wisdom, and Honesty of it: But however Legal, or not Legal, the thing is to be done: For he knows very well that so long as this House of Commons continues in Being, Rebellion can never turn up Trump again. But it was otherwise ordered, he says, and so he betakes himself to an Experiment of Tampering all the Grand juries in England, to Petition for a New Parliament, upon the Credit of his Story concerning the Corruptions of this. Wherein by the Foul Reflections he has passed upon many Persons of Known, and Eminent Example, for Piety, Integrity, and Moderation, he has utterly disappointed the Malice of his Scandal upon the Rest. It was well enough said, me thought, by a Worthy Member of the House of Commons; Do not you see, says he, how they have Libelled me in that damned List of the Parliament-men? One told him that he was mistaken, for his Name was not in't. Why, that's the Business, says he, for 'tis only a Libel upon those that are left out. Nay, rather than fail, he does as good as Advise a downright Insurrection, (in these Words, p. 155.) It is now come to the fourth Act (says he) and the next Scene that opens, may be Rome, or Paris, (by the Plot, it should be rather Geneva, or Edinburgh) yet Men sit by, like Idle Spectators, and still give money toward their own Tragedy. And why does he blame them for Sitting by? And like Idle SPECTATORS? unless he would have them enter into Tumult, and Action. A very fair Encouragement to make Men bestir themselves, and without more Ceremony, lay violent Hands upon the Public. Good God That ever such a Creature as This should propound to himself by the Dash of a Pen, to move the Foundations of the English Government.  
From the Parliament, he descends to the judges. Alas! (says he) the Wisdom and Probity of the Law went off, for the most Part, with Good Sir Matthew Hales, and justice is made a mere Property. And then he raves upon The Constant Irregularities, and Injustice from Term to Term, of those that administer the judicature betwixt his Majesty, and his People (p. 154.) This Poisonous Arrow (meaning the Choice of the Judges) strikes to the very Heart of Government, and could come from no Quiver, but that of the Conspirators. What French Counsel, what Standing Forces, what Parliamentary Bribes, what National Oaths, and all the other Machinations of Wicked Men have not yet been able to effect, may be more compendiously Acted by Twelve judges in Scarlet (p. 66.) And is not this directly 41 again? When no judges would serve the Turn, but those that betrayed the People to Slavery, and His Sacred Majesty to the Scaffold? He has another Fling at the Sheriffs. If any Worthy Person (says he, p. 80.) chance to carry the Election, some Mercenary or Corrupt Sheriff makes a double Return; and so the Cause is handed to the Committee of Elections, etc. And truly he does not give either the King, or the Monarchy of England, much better Quarter than he allows the rest; as you shall see by and by: So that nothing less than the Through Reformation of 41 will do the Work of 77. And the whole Frame of the Government must be unhinged, to gratify the Caprice of a Pragmatical Mal-content.  
The Passion, and Malice of the Libeler is so evident, that he does half confess it himself, by an Anticipation of the Charge. The Relator, (says he, pag. 155.) foresees that he shall on both hands be blamed for pursuing this Method. Some on the One side will expect that the very Persons should have been Named: whereas he only gives Evidence to the Fact, and leaves the Malefactors to those that have the Power of Enquiry. If he can but acquit himself on the Other hand for Writing the Libel, as well as on This for not Naming the Persons, he will do well enough. For first; It is not his Business to Prove, but to Defame. Secondly, The Naming of Particulars would have restrained the Calumny: whereas his work is to wound All the King's Ministers that Faithfully adhere to their Master in the Generality of the Scandal. Thirdly; He judges it safer, and more expedient to amuse the Multitude with jealousies that cannot be Disproven, than point-blank to fasten upon Particulars an Accusation that cannot be Proved. What does he mean by saying that he gives Evidence to the Fact? It is the first Libel certainly that ever was given in Evidence. But where's the Relator himself all this while, upon whose bare word, Parliaments are to be Dissolved; Ministers of State Arraigned; Judges Displaced; and the whole Government new Modelled? What if he should appear, and be found at last to have been one of Oliver's Cabal? Would any Man desire a more Competent Witness for Charles the Second, than the Murderer of Charles the First? But he has been so used to call the King himself Traitor, that he may be allowed to call his Friends Conspirators.  
On the other hand (says he, pag. 155.) some will represent this Discourse (as they do all Books that tend to detect their Conspiracy against his Majesty, and Kingdom) as if It too were written against the Government. For now of late, as soon as any Man is gotten into Public Employment by ill Acts; and by worse continues it; he, if it please the Fates, is thenceforward the Government, and by being Criminal, pretends to be Sacred. This is only crying Whore first, to call those People Conspirators, who are likely to censure him for a Libeler: which with his Learned Leave, is but a Course Figure neither; and runs much better in the Common Billingsgate of You are a Knave yourself to say that I'm one. Which in few words is all that's in't. For he does not offer so much as one Syllable in his Justification, but with another Lash or two at the King's Ministers, winds up his Period. Now of late, says he, (he means I suppose, since Oliver went out of Play) as soon as any Man is gotten into Public Employment by ill Acts, etc. He should do well to consider who Governs, before he says That Villainy is the ready way to Preferment; He, if it please the Fates, is thenceforward the Government, and by being Criminal, pretends to be Sacred. I answer, That in the Case of a Public, and Legal Accusation, the Minister is not the Government; for the Charge terminates in, and operates no further than his Person; but in the Affront of a Nameless, and Indefinite Libel, the King himself is wounded in a General Reflection upon his Ministers; for it is his Choice, and Commission, not the Officers Misdemeanour, that is there in Question: Nor does he pretend to be Sacred because he is Criminal; but the Libeler (who still writes after the Remonstrance) makes every thing Criminal that is Sacred, and gives the Construction of Rebellion to Loyalty, and of Loyalty to Rebellion.  
But if there be not Mischief in the very Project of this Libel, there's nothing at all in't; for I cannot frame to myself the least Colour, or Possibility of any other End. He says, It was his Design indeed to give Information, but not to turn Informer. That is to say, He would set the People together by the Ears, and no body should know who did it. Now see the End he propounds. That those (says the Relator) to whom he has only a Public Enmity, no Private Animosity, might have the Privilege of Statesmen to Repent at the last hour, and by one single Action to expiate all their former misdemeanours. Which is even as Civil a way as a body would wish, of Recommending a Public Minister to his last Prayer. It remains now to speak a word to the Timing of his Enterprise, which, in a wicked Sense, is in Truth the Glory of it.  
I shall not need to speculate upon the Power, and Designs of France, the deplorable State of Flanders, or the Consequences that must inevitably reflect upon England in the Loss of the Spanish netherlands: the matter being agreed upon at all hands, that an Union of Affections, Counsels, and Interests, was never more necessary to this Nation than at this Instant it is; and that Delay is Death to us, This being given for granted, it is likewise as certain, that nothing under Heaven, but the Credit of this Sitting Parliament, and the Blessing of a Fair Understanding betwixt his Majesty, and his Two Houses can preserve this Kingdom (Morally speaking) from Irreparable Ruin. And yet this is the Critical Juncture that the Libeler has made choice of, for the blasting both of the Government, and the Administration of it; for the violent Dissolution even of this most necessary Parliament; for the sowing of Jealousies, and alienating the People's Hearts from their Duty to their Sovereign. Let the World now judge betwixt the Libeler, and the pretended Conspirators; who are more probably the Pensioners of France; those that are only Calumniated in the Dark, and without any Proof, or the least Colour of it, or the Calumniatours themselves, (I mean, the Libeler and his Adherents) who are doing all that is possible toward the Facilitating of the Work of France, and the Putting of England out of Condition to defend itself. What is it, I beseech you, that can now support us in this Exigent, but the Wisdom, and Reputation of a Parliament? which they are at this very Instant, labouring to desame and dissolve: Distracting and Dividing the Nation, at a Time when our best Union is little enough to preserve us; and obstructing those Parliamentary supplies, without which we must unavoidably perish: For it is to this Session, that the Libeler directs the Mock of Still giving Money toward their own Tragedy. But sure we are not so mad yet, as to take the Subverters of our Church and State, for the Advocates of our Religion and Freedom. I would know in the next place, What any Man can say to excuse his Growth of Popery, from being a Daring, and a Spiteful Libel against the King, and his Government. And I shall begin with the Liberties he takes with his Majesty, sometime in direct Terms, and otherwhile under the Blind, of the Conspirators.  
Speaking of the Shutting up of the Exchequer (pag. 31.) The Crown (says he) made Prize of the Subject, and broke all Faith, and Contract at Home, in order to the breaking of them Abroad with more Advantage. The Copy has in This Point outdone the Original; for the Remonstrants were in Arms, before they presumed to word it at this Audacious height. Take it in the Insolent Representation of the Fact; the Malicious Construction and Presumption of the Intent; and to Both these, add the Sordid Manner of Reflecting upon an Extraordinary thing done upon an Extraordinary Occasion, and wherein the Subject has since received so Ample, and Generous Satisfaction; the Clamour is so foul, as if an Egyptian Plague were broken in upon us, and the Frogs of Geneva crept into the King's Chambers. And 'tis much at the same Rate that he treats the King about his Declaration of Indulgence, (pag. 33.) Hereby (says he,) all the Penal Laws against Papists, for which former Parliaments had given so many Supplies, and against Non-conformists, for which this Parliament had paid more largely, were at one Instant suspended, in order to defraud the Nation of all that Religion, which they had so dearly purchased, etc. Observe here how ungratefully he charges the Design of this Declaration to be The defrauding the Nation of their Religion; which, on the contrary, was a Manifest Concession, only to gratify the restless Importunities of his own Gang. And see what Sport he makes, but five or six Lines further, with the very Reason of that Law which he takes here so heinously to be suspended. It appears (says he) at the first Sight, that Men ought to enjoy the same Propriety, and Protection in their Consciences, which they have in their Lives, Liberties, and Estates: But that to take away there in Penalty for the other, is merely a more Legal, and Gentile way of Padding upon the Road of Heaven; and that it is only for want of Money, and for want of Religion, that Men take these desperate Courses. Now, by his Favour, there is a great Disparity betwixt a Pretence to Propriety, and Protection in Consciences, and a Pretence to them, in Lives, Liberties, and Estates; for the Latter are liable to Violence, and may be taken away, but the Other cannot. And now he talks of Padding upon this Road; the Remonstrants (as I remember) were very good at it, that drove away from their Churches, 85 Ministers, of 97, within the Walls of London. We'll agree in the Matter with him, That want of Money, and want of Religion will put Men upon Despesperate Courses; for my Charity persuades me, he would never have written these Libels else. He is a little positive, me thinks, in Averring that a Great Lord lost his Place for defending the Protestant Religion, (pag. 44.) But he has forgotten the Statute of his own Citing (pag. 15.) that makes it Incapacity, for saying That the King is a Papist, or an Introducer of Popery, and that it was the King himself that removed his Lordship. And what do you think of his Irony, (pag. 43.) where he says, that The Parliament, by the Conspirators good Leave, was admitted to sit again at the day appointed. He tells us of another Affair too, pag. 51; which being transmitted to his Majesty, was easily changed into a Court Intrigue; And (pag. 63.) That the Conspirators might so represent things to his Majesty, as to incense him against the Parliament, and distrusting all Parliamentary. Advice, to take Counsel from Themselves, from France, and from Necessity.  
In this Disloyal and Irreverent Licence; he drops you a word or two now and then, before he is aware, against the King himself; and other while, Discharges his Malice to the Government, upon the Heads of Public Ministers. The Subject Matter of his Complaint is a Tendency of Counsels, and Actions towards Tyranny, and Popery. But the King (says he, pag. 4.) can do no wrong; and so goes on, nor can he receive wrong. What is this, but a Justification of all the Violences that were acted upon the late King; even to the very Murder of him; under that Mortal, and Treasonous Distinction betwixt his AUTHORITY, and his PERSON? And an Allowance, that the same Course may be taken with his Royal Successors? The King can receive no wrong; (he says) What does he mean by this? Is not his Majesty's Breath in his Nostrils? Is he not Flesh and Blood? Is not his Body liable to Wounds, Distempers, Imprisonment, and Death? He'll tell you, Yes; but This is not the KING, but the MAN, the PERSON: But the KING, all this while, that is to say, the Authority, is Sacred, and Invulnerable.  
Now for Peace, and Brevity sake, let us suppose that this Charge of a Popish, and Arbitrary Design, does neither Intent nor Reflect any Imputation upon his Majesty; (his Religion, and his Tenderness of Nature being Unquestionable) It is yet a worse Libel Another way. Worse (I say) both as to the Drift, and to the Scandal of it, by how much Contempt is more dangerous to a Prince, than Hatred: For he employs his Utmost Skill to represent his Majesty only Passive in all his Administrations, and so to lessen the Indubitable Fame of his Royal Prudence, and Courage among his People.  
You see, Sir, the Freedom he takes with the King, and his Ministers; the next Point will be to inquire how he stands affected to the Government itself. The Subjects (says he, pag. 3.) retain their Proportion in the Legislature. In which saying, he makes them Partners of the Sovereignty, and turns the Monarchy of England into a Tripartite and Coordinate Government; which is as well Destructive of Parliaments, on the One hand, as of Royalty, on the Other. Upon the Admittance of this Co-ordination, any Two of the Three may destroy the Third: the Two Houses may destroy the King, and the King, with Either of the Houses, may destroy the Other. Which, if it be so, what Prince that is Imperial in the intervals, would ever hazard the Dethroning of himself by a Session? The Making of Law is a Peculiar, and Incommunicable Privilege of the Supreme Power, and the Office of the Two Houses in this Case is only Consultive, or Preparatory; but the Character of Power rests in the Final Sanction, which is in the King: And Effectually, the Passing of a Bill, is but the granting of a Request: The Two Houses make the Bill, 'tis true, but the King makes the Law; and 'tis the Stamp, not the Matter, that makes it Current: Nor does the Subject any otherwise make Laws, than the Petitioner makes Orders of Council.  
It is a Suspicious, and Ill-looking Passage that he has, Pag. 14. As to Matter of Government, says he; If to murder the King, be (as certainly it is) a Fact so horrid, (he does not say how horrid) how much more Heinous is it to Assassinate the Kingdom? Here is First involved in this Clause, the Deposing Position of 41, that the King is Singulis major, Vniversis minor: For it is clear that the Comparison was only made to draw on the Preference, and to possess the People that they have a greater Prize at Stake in the hazard of their Religion, than in the Tie of their Civil Obedience. (the very Translation still of 41.) And for their further Encouragement, he tells them (pag. 4.) that We have the same Right (modestly understood) in our Propriety, that the Prince hath in his Regality: which carries with it an Innuendo, that the King may as well Forfeit his Crown, as the Subject his freehold. It cannot be imagined that all these Leading and Desperate Hints should fall from a Man of Brains and Sense by Chance; and you see the whole Tract takes the same Bias.  
No King of England (says he, pag. 58.) had ever so great a Treasure of his People's Affections, except what those Ill men have (as they have done all the rest) consumed; whom, but out of an Excess of Love to his Person, the Kingdom would never (for it never did formerly) so long have suffered. Here's still the Crocodile of 41; nothing but Love and Reverence to his late Majesty too, till his Head was off. But let us Reason the Matter in a word. These Ill men have no Names, it seems; so that any Man that's near the King, is by this Libeler set up for a Mark to the Outrage of the People. And then he says, The Kingdom would never have suffered them. Who are they, I pray, that he calls the Kingdom, but the Rabble still of 41; the Execrable Instruments of That Rebellion, and the Hopes of Another? But if the Kingdom would not suffer it, what would he have them do to help themselves? The Law is open, in Case of any Legal Impeachment, and 'tis too Early Days yet for a Tumult.  
In his Descant upon the, Test he is wonderfully free of his Figures. Never (says he, pag. 59) was so much sense contained in so few words; no Conveyancer could ever in more Compendious, or Binding Terms have drawn a Dissettlement of the whole Birthright of England. This Test has made a great Noise, and it will be worth the while to examine what is said against it. The Form of it is as follows.  
I. A. B. do declare that it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King; and that I do abhor that Traitorous Position of taking Arms by his Authority, against his Person, or against those that are Commissioned by him in Pursuance of such Commission. And I do swear that I will not at any time Endeavour the Alteration of the Government, either in Church or State. So help me God.  
He says, pag. 57, That it was thrown out of the House in the Plague-year at Oxford, for fear of a general Infection of the Vitals of this Kingdom; whereas in truth, it was brought into the House as an Antidote against that Poison which had seized the Vitals of this Kingdom already; and amounts to no more than the Vnswearing of That on the Behalf of theGovernment, which had been formerly sworn for the Destruction of it. The Author of A Letter from a Person of Quality, etc. calls it, p. 1. A STATE-MASTER-PIECE, and designed to these Ends. First, To make a Distinct Party, from the rest of the Nation, of the High Episcopal Man, and the Old Cavalier. Now I took it rather to be a Design of Uniting All Parties, under one Common Bond of Duty, and Obedience to the Government: And where That could not be obtained, to distinguish who were for the Government, and who against it; for the Late King was murdered upon this very Distinction betwixt his Authority and his Person, Nor is there any Government upon the Face of the Earth, without some Obligation upon the Subject, Equivalent to This Test.  
Next, says he, they design to have the Government of the Church sworn to as Unalterable, and so Tacitly owned to be of Divine Right. This, is under favour, is a Fallacy. The Test does not concern itself whether the Government be Changeable, or not, but only provides that the State may be served with Magistrates and Officers, that stand well. Affected to the Establishment. Those that do so, will never scruple the Oath; and for those that do not, it is the very Intent of it to discriminate, and to exclude them: And to encounter the Covenant, by Virtue of which they dissolved the Late Government, with an Oath never to endeavour any further Alteration in This. And certainly, a Man may better swear the Maintaining of a Government According to the Law, than the Alteration of it Against Law.  
Thirdly, says the Author of the Letter, In Requital to the Crown, they declare the Government Absolute, and Arbitrary, and allow Monarchy, as well as Episcopacy, to be Jure Divino, and not to be bounded, or limited by Humane Laws.  
How This Test does either Declare, or Pretend the Government to be Absolute, and Arbitrary, I cannot imagine: But on the Contrary, every Man is tied by it from Endeavouring to make it so, if it be not so already, in Swearing that he will not at any time endeavour the Alteration of it. And then in his Explication of the meaning of Church, and State in the Test, by Monarchy, and Episcopacy in his Reflection upon it, he has done us a greater Kindness than he was aware of; for he has wholly Disappointed the Spite, and the Intent of his next Clause. And (as he goes on) to secure all this, they resolve to take away the Power, and Opportunity of Parliaments, to alter any thing in Church or State, only leave them as an Instrument to raise Money, and to pass such Laws, as the Court, and Church shall have a mind to: The Attempt of any other, how Necessary soever, must be no less a Crime than Perjury.  
See now whether or no this be fair dealing. It is, by his own Confession, the Form of Monarchy, and the Order of Episcopacy, the Government itself, and not the Administration of it, that is here in Question. He would have it believed, That by this Test, Parliaments are barred upon Pain of Perjury from Attempting any Alteration IN Church or State: whereas they are left at Liberty to debate what Alterations they please in the Parts of the Government provided they do not strike at the Root of the Government itself. And the Deliberation and Result of the whole Matter, is no more than This. Many of the People (and All the Principles) are yet Living, that destroyed the King, and the Bishops in the last Rebellion; Let us have a Care of the same Hands again, and trust none of them in the Government but under an Oath, not to endeavour the Alteration of it. That is to say, of the Monarchy into a Republic, or of Episcopacy into Presbytery; as they did before. And this was the Clear Scope of the Test.  
The Author of the Growth of Popery, discoursing upon this Subject; There is nothing (says he, p. 57) more Portentous, and of worse Omen, than when such an Oath hangs over a Nation like a New Comet, foreboding the Alteration of Religion or Government.  
A word first to the Oath, which, for want of an Epithet to express the heinousness of it, the Libeler so Emphatically calls SUCH an Oath. It is an Oath founded upon the same Consideration with the Oath of Allegiance, and directed to the same End; and every jot as Necessary under This King, as That was under his Grandfather. The jesuited Papist's had invited the Spaniard to Invade England: The jesuited Protestants in the late Rebellion, did, in like manner apply themselves to the French. The Former laid on Plot for the Blowing up of the Parliament: The Other executed the Plot of Destroying Parliaments, Changing the Government, and murdering the King. The People were misled in the One Case, upon the jesuitical Principle, that a Prince being Excommunicate by the Pope, the Subject is discharged of his Duty to him, and they were seduced in the Other, by a Persuasion that the Sacred Character of a King rests in the Authority, and is separable from the Person; which Authority they lodged in the Two Houses, and so did their Business. This Practice of the Jesuits occasioned the Oath of Allegiance in the Statute 3o jacobi, entitled An Act for the Discovering, and Repressing of Popish Recusants. In which Oath, you have this Clause. And I do further swear that I do from my Heart detest and abjure, as Impious and Heretical, this damnable Doctrine, and Position, That Princes which be Excommunicated, or Deprived by the Pope, may be Deposed, or Murdered by their Subjects, or any other whatsoever. Here was an Act for the Discovering and Repressing of Popish Recusants, with an Oath, under a Penalty, and a Declaration against, and an Abhorrence of that Impious Position, whereupon the Treasons of those Times were founded: And why not a Provision as well against those People that with premeditated Malice, as well as Ambition, overturned the Late Government; and against That Principle, of Dividing his Majesty's Authority from his Person, which was the Countenance and Support of the late Rebellion? Take it in short, and the Test is but a Supplement to the Oath of Allegiance. The Scottish Faction Imposed upon the People that they might be true to the King, though they Levied Arms against his Person: and the end of this Oath is only to expound That Position to be Treasonous, and to Secure the Government for the Future against Men of such Principles: According to Equity and Conscience, and to the Common Practice, and according to the Prudence of all well Ordered States.  
Is this the Oath now that he calls SUCH an Oath? The Oath, than which there is nothing more Portentous, and of worse Omen to a Nation? He has forgotten the Fore-boding, and Portentous Omens of Forty One, and the Dire Events of those Presages. What do you think of a deliberate Design, to spoil the Crown, the Church, and the Subject: And all this in the Name of God, for the Honour of the King, and the Good of the People? And then the Entitling of Providence to all the Advantages that the Faction got by the Ruin of Three Kingdoms? Here's the unrepented Gild of Sacrilege, Treason, and Blood, to the Highest Degree, and so Transcendent an Ingratitude, that some of the very Men that were Pardoned for One Rebellion, are now the Advocates for Another. If these Practices should be suffered, there would be no need to consult the Stars for a Prognostic of Change of Government.  
The Oaths (says he, pag. 58.) in our Late King's time taught the fanatics, because they could not swear, yet to Covenant. His Memory fails him, I perceive, for the Covenant was a Foot in Scotland before any Oaths complained of here; by the Token that the Assembly at Glasgow, in 1638, came to this Resolution upon the Point. It is lawful for Subjects to Covenant and Combine, without the King, and enter into a Bond of mutual Defence against him. Take notice next that the Oath complained of, was the Oath ex Officio, which Oath was Abolished, before any Covenanting in England: And he is so much out again, in saying that the fanatics Covenanted, etc. because they could not swear, that in Truth they Covenanted because they cared not what they swore. Witness their Covenants, Negative Oaths, and Oath of Abjuration, in Opposition to their Oaths of Allegiance, and Canonical Obedience: There was no Compounding, no Living in their Quarters, without Swearing. There was an Oath, given at a Communion at Fife, obliging People not to take the King's Covenant; And it was one Condition upon the Treaty at the Isle of Wight, that his Majesty himself should give Assurance by Solemn Oath under his Hand, and Seal, for settling Religion according to the Covenant: So that they made no Conscience (you see) either of Swearing, or Forswearing; either of taking Oaths Themselves, or of Forcing them upon Others for the Advancement of their Design.  
He takes Exception (pag. 59) to the Two Declaratory Points of the Test. First, That it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever, to take up Arms against the King. And he reason's the Matter in these Words: It were difficult to instance a Law, either in This, or Other Country, but that a Private Man, if any King in Christendom Assault him, may, having Retreated to the Wall, stand upon his Guard. That is to say, A Private Man may kill his Prince in his own Defence. For he puts This Case in Opposition to the Declaration; Only translating the Taking up of Arms against the King, into a Man's Standing upon his Guard. All that's Honest in't is This, That he refuses to declare That to be Unlawful, which he holds to be Lawful.  
His Second Scruple is The Abhorrence of that Traitorous Position of taking Arms by his Authority, against his Person; or against those that are Commissioned by him, in pursuance of such Commission. Here (says he) is neither Tenor, or Rule of any such Commission specified, nor the Qualification of those which shall be Armed with such Commissions, expressed, or Limited.  
The Author of this Frivolous Shift, knows very well, that the Rules, and Measures of Commissions vary according to the Circumstances of Time, Place, Fact, Person; that the Qualification of the Commissioner does not at all operate upon the Authority of the Commission: and that if the Bill were drawn out to the length of the Book of Martyrs, there would not yet be room enough to obviate all Cavils, and Objections. But in the next Page, he speaks his Mind a little plainer.  
As to the Commission, (says he) if it be to take away a Man's Estate, or his Life, by Force, yet it is the King's Commission: Or if the Person Commissionate be under never so many Disabilities by Acts of Parliament; yet his taking this Oath, removes all those Incapacities, or his Commission makes it not disputable.  
This Seditious Hint, (for I cannot call it an Argument) lies open so many ways, that I am only at a Loss where to begin with it. First, Let the Commission, and Commissioner be what they will, no Man is to be a judge in his own Cause; but the Law must be the judge both of the Legality of the One, and the Capacity of the Other. Secondly, If upon this Ground an Injured Person may take Arms, in One Case; so may a Criminal, upon the bare Pretence of it in any Other: For 'tis but saying that the Commission is unwarrantable, or that the Officer is a Rascal, and there's his Justification. Thirdly, Suppose a Double Abuse in Manner, as is here suggested; That Abuse does not yet void the Authority, to which the Law on the One side requires Obedience, or at least Submission; and there is no Law, on the Other side, that allows Resistance. Fourthly, The End and Prospect of all Laws is Public Convenience, and there was never any Law invented, so Profitable to a Community, but it was in some Respect or other, to the Detriment of some Particulars: So that the very Admittance of his Suppositions, does not at all affect the Reason of the Test, if the Benefit be General on the One hand, and the Mischief only Particular on the Other. How many Men are sworn out of their Lives, and Fortunes by False Witnesses? Shall we therefore quarrel the Method of Proceeding Secundum Allegata, & Probata? A Man is Arrested upon a Fobbed Action, for a sum of Money, knowing First, that he owes not a Penny; Secondly, that the Consequence of it will be his Ruin; Thirdly, that the Action is merely Malicious; And Fourthly, (to make it strong enough) that the Officer that serves the Writ is Confederate with his Adversary, and that they have Both complotted his Destruction: All this will not yet Authorise a Resistance; but if an Officer that has the King's Writ, or any other Lawful Warrant, though Erroneous, shall be slain in the Execution of it, This is MURDER. A word now as to the Occasion of it.  
The People of 41, when they had forced his Majesty from his Palace, by Affronts and Armed Tumults, Published this Doctrine to the Nation, That though his Person was gone, his Authority resided in the Two Houses: under which Colour they imposed Ordinances upon the People, for Laws, and by Degrees proceeded to an Exercise of all the Acts of Sovereignty; making War against the Person of the King, and those that were Commissioned by him, under the Pretence aforesaid: as Rebellious, Traitors, and Conspirators. Now to prevent the same Mischief again, from the same Principles, it was thought fit to propose this Declaration of Abhorrence. The Objections against it are, That the King may grant a Commission to take away a Man's Life, or Estate, and Employ any Man at a venture to execute it: which is First, The Supposal of an unjust, and Tyrannical Commission: Secondly, A Case so Rare, that it would be a hard matter to produce a Precedent for it, without a Reference to a Trial at Law: And Thirdly, What would be the Fruit of such a Resistance, but the Turning of an Oppression on the One side, into a Rebellion on the other, and the Forfeiting of that Life, and Estate To the Law, which was otherwise invaded Contrary to the Law? For 'tis a Thousand to one that the Power that Issued the Commission will find Assistants to Execute it. So that the Resistance pleaded for in this Case, is First, of a very remote Supposition. Secondly, of dangerous Consequence to the Resistent: And, Thirdly, of no Avail to him at all.  
If we may not Resist (says the Faction) under these Circumstances our Lives, Liberties, and Estates are at the King's Mercy; for that which maybe. One Man's Case, may be Any Man's And so because of This Possibility of Wrong to Particulars, we judge it Reasonable, that every Particular Man should be Allowed to Defend himself. See now the Inconvenience, which, upon the Allowance of this Liberty in Favour of Particulars, will redound to the Public.  
An Honest Man is charged with Treason in the King's Name, and by his Majesty's Order to be taken into Custody, and by an Officer too, under what Disabilities you please. Here's the whole Case. An Innocent Person; Life, Liberty, and Estate at stake, and an Vnqualifyed Commissioner. If One Man may Resist, because he is Innocent, Another upon the same Pretence may Resist too, although he be Guilty. For no Man under a Charge, is either Guilty, or Innocent in the Eye of the Law, till he be Legally, either Convicted, or Acquitted. So that the Innocent, and the Guilty, are to be tried indifferently by the same Law, and so are the Pretended Errors either in the Commission, or Commissioner. Take matters once out of the Channel of Trial by our Peers, There's an end of Magna Charta; and the Government itself is become Passive, and Precatious. Will you have the true Reason now, why this Abhorrence goes so much against the hair with some People? The Position is to be Cherished, and kept in 〈◊〉 till the time comes for us.  
No Man can be so blind, as not to discern by the correspondent Motions of the Consistorians in Scotland, and the Scottish English, that they Act already by Concert; and it is as plain by this Bold and Adventurous way of Libels all on the soddain, that they depend upon France for a Second: Which is no more than was done in the Late Rebellion, by the same Faction, as appeared by a Letter of the Lord Lowdens to the French King, for his Protection and Assistance, for which he was committed to the Tower; and it was also confirmed by the Fourth Article against the Five Members, Accusing them to have Traitorously invited and encouraged a Foreign Power to invade his Majesty's Kingdom of England. Husband's Collections, p. 35. These are the French Pensioners, and the Betrayers of our Religion and Freedom, under Oaths, and Covenants to Preserve them. Were not our Divines Pillaged, Sequestered, Imprisoned, either for praying for his Majesty, or for Refusing to Abjure him? How many Reverend Divines were poisoned in Peterhouse? I could give you the History of their Spiriting away several Persons of Honour for Slaves; their Sale of three, or four Score Gentlemen to the Barbadoss. Their Sequestrations, Decimations, Exclusion from all Offices, Plunders, Banishments, Consinements, Prohibition of Correspondence with the King, upon Pain of Death: The Juggles of the Irish Adventures; Money, and Plate upon the Propositions; Confiscated Estates; Twentieth Parts, Weekly Assessments, and a Hundred other Pecuniary, and Arbitrary Stratagems, till they finished the Ruin of the Nation, in the Dissolution of the Government, and in the Blood of their Sovereign. It is not less certain that This is in Sum the Design of their Second Reformation, than that it was the Effect of their Former: and they are Fools that take Men of these Practices to be of any Religion. To understand these People aright, a Man must read them, like the Original Tongues, Backward. They are never so deadly, and dangerous Enemies to the Government, as when they profess the dearest Affection to it; and I do not know but that the Author of the Growth of Popery may be the greatest Friend in the World to the Church of Rome, when he Professes himself the Bitterest Adversary. I pray, bestow a Second Thought upon his Declamation against Popery (with which I shall Conclude) and tell me next time I see you, whether he has not taken more Pains to Show his Skill, than Care to Deliver his Opinion.  
Adieu.   

Growth of Popery, pag. 5.  
POpery is such a thing as cannot, but for want of a word to express it, be called a Religion: nor is it to be mentioned with that Civility which is otherwise Decent to be used, in speaking of the differences of Humane Opinion about Divine Matters. Were it either Open Judaisme, or Plain Turkery, or Honest Paganism, there is yet a certain Bona Fides in the most Extravagant Belief; and the Sincerity of an Erroneous Profession may render it more Pardonable: But This is a Compound of all the Three, an Extract of whatsoever is most Ridiculous, and Impious in them, incorporated with more Peculiar Absurdities of its Own, in which those were Deficient; and all this Deliberately contrived, Knowingly carried on, by the bold Imposture of Priests, under the Name of Christianity. The Wisdom of this Fifth Religion, this Last, and Insolentest Attempt upon the Credulity of Mankind, seems to me (tho' not Ignorant otherwise of the Times, Degrees, and Methods of its Progress,) principally to have consisted in their owning the Scriptures to be the Word of God, and the Rule of Faith, and Manners; but in Prohibiting, at the same time, their Common Use, or the Reading of them in Public Churches, but in a Latin Translation, to the Vulgar: there being no better, or more Rational way to Frustrate the very Design of the Great institutor of Christianity, who first planted it, by the Extraordinary Gift of Tongues, than to forbid the Use even of the Ordinary Languages. For having thus a Book which is universally avowed to be of Divine Authority, but sequestering it only into such hands as were entrusted in the Cheat, they had the Opportunity to Vitiate, Suppress, or Interpret to their own Profit these Records, by which the Poor People hold their Salvation. And this Necessary Point being once gained, there was thence forward nothing so Monstrous to Reason, so Abhorring from Morality, or so Contrary to Scripture, which they might not in Prudence Adventure on. The Idolatry (for Alas it is neither better, nor worse) of Adoring, and Praying to Saints, and Angels; of Worshipping Pictures, Images, and Relics, Incredible Miracles, and pable Fables to promote That Veneration. The whole Liturgy, and Worship of the Blessed Virgin; The Saying of Patter Nosters, and Creeds, to the honour of Saints; and of Ave mary's too, not to her Honour, but of others. The Public Service which they can spare to God among so many Competitors in an Unknown Tongue, and Entangled with such Vestments, Consecrations, Exorcisms, Whisper Sprinklings, Censing, and Fantastical Rites, Gesticulations, and Removals, so Unbeseeming a Christian Office, that it represents rather the Pranks, and Ceremonies of jugglers, and Conjurers: The Refusal of the Cup to the Laity; The Necessity of the Priest's Intention to make any of their Sacraments Effectual; Debarring their Clergy from Marriage; Interdicting of Meats; Auricular Confession, and Absolution, as with them practised: Penances, Pilgrimages, Purgatory, and Prayer for the Dead. But above all their other Devices, their Transubstantial Solecism, whereby that glorified Body, which at the same time they allow to be in Heaven, is sold again, and Crucify'd daily upon all the Altars of their Communion. For God indeed may now and then do a Miracle, but a Romish Priest can, it seems, work in one moment a thousand Impossibilies. Thus by a new, and Anti-Scriptural Belief, compiled of Terrors to the Fancy, Contradictions to sense, and Impositions on the Understanding, their Laity have turned Tenants for their Souls, and in Consequence Tributary for their Estates to a more than Omnipotent Priesthood.  
I must indeed do them that right to avow, that out of an Equitable Consideration, and Recompense of so Faithful a Slavery, they have discharged the People from all other Services, and Dependence; Enfranchised them from all Duty to God, or Man; insomuch that their Severer, and more Learned Divines, their Governors of Conscience, have so well instructed them in all the Arts of Circumventing their Neighbour, and of Colluding with Heaven, that, were the Scholars as apt as their Teachers, there would have been long since an end of all either True Piety, or Common Honesty; and nothing left among them but Authorized Hypocrisy, and Licentiousness; had not the Natural Worth of the Better sort, and the good Simplicity of the Meaner, in great measure preserved them. For nothing indeed but an Extraordinary Temper, and Ingenuity of Spirit, and That too assisted by a Diviner Influence, could possibly restrein those within any the Terms, or Laws, or Humanity, who at the same time own the Doctrine of their Casuists, or the Authority of the Pope, as it is by him claimed, and exercised. He by his Indulgences delivers Souls out of the Pains of the other World; so that who would refuse to be Vicious Here, upon so good Security? He, by his Dispensations, Annuls Contracts betwixt man and man; Dissolves Oaths between Princes, or betwixt Them, and their People; and gives Allowance in Cases which God, and Nature Prohibit. He, as Clerk of the Spiritual Market, hath set a Rate upon all Crimes: the more Flagitious they are, and Abominable, the better Commodities, and men pay only an higher Price, as for greater Rarities. So that it seems as if the Command of God had been invented merely to Erect an Office for the Pope. The worse Christian's men are, the better Customers; and This Rome does by the same Policy people its Church, as the Pagan Rome did its City, by opening a Sanctuary to all Malefactors. And why not, if his Power be indeed of such Virtue, and Extent, as is by him challenged? That he is the Ruler over Angels, Purgatory, and Hell; That His Tribunal, and Gods, are all One: That all that God, he can do, Clavae non Errante; and what He does, is as God, and not as Man: That he is the Universal Head of the Church; the Sole Interpreter of Scripture, and judge of Controversy: That he is above General Councils: That his Power is Absolute, and his Decrees Infallible: That he can change the very Nature of things; making what is Just to be unjust, and what is Vice to be Virtue: That all Laws are in the Cabinet of his Breast: That he can Dispense with the New Testaments, to the great Injury of the Devils: That he is Monarch of this World; and that he can dispose of Kingdoms, and Empires as he pleases. Which things being granted, that stile of Optimum, Maximum, & Supremum Numen in Terris, or that of Dominus Deus noster Papa, was no such extraordinary stroke of Courtship, as we reckoned: but it was rather a great Clownishness in him that treated so mighty a Prince under the simple Title of Vice-Deus. The Exercise of his Dominion is in all Points suitable to this his Pretence. He Antiquates the Precepts of Christ, as things only of Good Advice, not Commanded: but makes it a Mortal Sin, even to Doubt of any Part of his own Religion; and demands, under pain of Damnation, the Subjection of all Christians to his Papal Authority: the denying of two things so Reasonable as Blind Obedience to This Power, and an Implicit Faith to his Doctrine, being the most Unpardonable Crime, under his Dispensation. He has indeed of late been somewhat more Retentive than formerly as to his Faculty of Disposing of Kingdoms, the thing not having succeeded well with him in some Instances; but he lays the same Claim still; Continues the same Inclination; and, tho' velvet-Headed, hath the more Itch to be Pushing. And however in order to any Occasion he keeps himself in Breath Always, by Cursing one Prince or another upon every Maunday Thursday. Nor is there any, whether Prince, or Nation, that dissents from his Usurpations, but are marked out, under the Notion of Heretics, to Ruin, and Destruction, whensoever he shall give the Signal. That word of Heresy misapplyed, hath served him, for so many Ages, to justify all the Executions, Assassinations, Wars, Massacres, and Devastations, whereby his Faith hath been Propagated; of which our times also have not wanted Examples, and more is to be Expected for the Future. For by how much any thing is more False, and Unreasonable, it requires more Cruelty to Establish it: and to Introduce that which is Absurd, there must be somewhat done that is Barbarous. But nothing of any Sect in Religion can be more recommended by all these Qualities, than the Papacy. The Pagans are Excusable by their Natural Darkness, without Revelation. The Jews are Tolerable who see not beyond the Old Testament. Mahomet was so Honest as to own what he would be at, that he himself was the greatest Prophet, and that His was a Religion of the Sword. So that these were all, as I may say, of another Allegiance; and if Enemies, yet not Traitors: But the Pope Avowing Christianity by Procession, doth, in Doctrine, and Practice, Renounce it; and presuming to be the only Catholic, does persecute those to the Death who dare Worship the Author of their Religion, instead of his pretended Vicegerent.  
And yet there is nothing more Evident, notwithstanding his most Notorious Forgeries, and Falsification of all Writers, than that the Pope was for Several hundreds of years an Honest Bishop as other men are, and never so much as dreamed upon the seven Hills of that Universal Power, which he is now come to: Nay, he was the First that Opposed any such Pretention. But some of them at last, growing wiser, by foisting a Counterfeit Donation of Constantine, and wresting another Donation from our Saviour, advanced themselves in a Weak, Ignorant, and Credulous Age, to that Temporal, and Spiritual Principality, which they are now seized of. Tu es Petrus, & super hanc Petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam. Never was a Bishopric and a Verse of Scripture so Emprov'd by good Menagement. Thus, by Exercising, in Quality of Christ's Vicar, the Public Function under an Invisible Prince, the Pope, like the Maires of the Palace, hath set his Master aside, and delivered the Government over to a New Line of Papal Succession. But who can, unless wilfully, be Ignorant what wretched Doings, what Bribery, what Ambibition there are; How long the Church is without an Head upon every Vacancy, till, among the Crew of Bandying Cardinals, the Holy Ghost hath declared for a Pope of the French, or Spanish Faction. It is a Succession like that of the Egyptian Ox (the Living Idol of that Country) who Dying, or being made away by the Priests, there was a Solemn, and General Mourning for want of a Deity; until in their Conclave they had found out another Beast with the very same Marks as the Former; whom than they themselves Adored, and with great jubilee brought forth to the People to Worship. Nor was That Election a grosser Reproach to Humane Reason, than This is also to Christianity. Surely it is the greatest Miracle of the Romish Church that it should still Continue, and that in all this time the Gates of Heaven should not prevail against it.  
It is almost unconceivable how Princes can yet suffer a Power so pernicious, and Doctrine so Destructive to all Government: That so great a Part of the Land should be Alienated, and Condemned to (as they call it) Pious Uses. That such Millions of their People, as the Clergy, should, by remaining Unmarried, either Frustrate Humane Nature, if they live Chastely; or, if otherwise, Adulterate it: That they should be privileged from all Labour, all Public Service, and Exempt from the Power of all Secular jurisdiction: That they, being all bound, by strict Oaths, and Vows of Obedience, to the Pope, should evacuate the Fealty due to the Sovereign: Nay, that not only the Clergy, but their whole People, if of the Romish Persuasion; should be obliged to Rebel, at any time, upon the Pope's Pleasure.  
FINIS.