THE OATHS OF Irish Papists NO EVIDENNCE AGAINST Protestants: OR, A Warning piece to JURORS. In a LETTER to a FRIEND.  
SIR!  
THE present state of things affords such various matter of serious reflection, that to give you my Opinion concerning it, would be to confound and entangle my thoughts in the most intricate Labyrinths of Popish Villainies, and render my Discourse as confused a Chaos as the Subject of it. I have therefore singled out this one Question, as more particularly deserving a satisfactory Answer:  
Whether notwithstanding many full and positive Oaths of IRISH PAPISTS, a Protestant JURY may with a safe conscience give their Verdict contrary to the matter sworn in the present business of a PRESBYTERIAN Plot?  
AND in Answer hereunto, I humbly offer to your more solid judgement these following Considerations.  

I.  
PROTESTANTS in the general are supposed to be very well satisfied of this Real Truth, That 'tis a Popish Principle inseparably annexed to that Faithless Religion, That Faith is not to be kept with Heretics. And the experience of all Ages confirms their Practice to be conformable to Principles of their own making, however unsuitable they have been to those of Christianity. To instance in particular persons, nay to enumerate Popish Princes as well as their Council of Constance, who have given abundant testimony to the truth of this Assertion, would take up too much room in this short Discourse, and insinuate that you are either not at all, or (at least) a very ignorant Protestant. But since 'tis more consonant to the present Design, I can't forbear to refer you to the several accounts which have been given of the Irish Rebellion in 41. and those yet living witnesses of the Truth thereof, by which you may be satisfied that this one Excuse cut the throats of many thousand Protestants in that Kingdom, who surrendered themselves upon the promise of Life and safe Convoy into the English Quarters; and yet were forthwith most barbarously Butchered. This Principle, I say, was the only Funeral-Service of those poor credulous Murdered Innocents'.   

II.  
WE have therefore very little reason to expect that any other Oath should be thought more obligatory than that of Allegiance hath been; or that Perjury should be more scrupled by a Roman Conscience than Massacres and Murders. But the Papists in that Kingdom did not only by the Martyrdom of some Hundred of thousands, give as great testimony to the Falseness and Cruelty of their Religion, as the primitive Martyrs did to the truth of Christianity: But as they had Treason enough to forfeit their Estates, so they had Liberty of Conscience enough to save them too in this very point of Perjury. For the price of an Irish Papists Oath was as generally known at the Court of Claims, as that of all sins is at the Court of Rome: And the multitude of persons in that Kingdom that enjoy their Estates, tho' actually concerned in that Horrid Rebellion, is a sufficient evidence of the truth hereof. So that if it were demanded, I doubt not but most of the Protestants in Ireland would sign a Certificate to this purpose; and if Oaths were so plentiful a Commodity that a small sum could purchase them to save the Estates of others, and that only for the advancement of a particular Papist; how will those in whom want, and baseness, and lewd principles, all concur to qualify them for such a purpose, judge an Oath or two an easy purchase of Wealth and Favour, Fame and Saintship to themselves, the Advancement of the Catholic Cause, and the utter destruction of Three Nations of Heretics? Alas! 'twas a small piece of Policy to teach their Cubs of Five or Six year old to stab the Protestants Children! A Butcher's Trade, even in the Irish Shambles, is not worth an Apprenticeship, if their children's Tongues can do so much more than their Father's hands, by making them die like Traitors, whose Ancestors they destroyed as Innocents', if not Martyrs; whilst a Protestant Jury by believing their Evidence, will be unhappily assistant to make them as impudent in this way of Murder, as they were in the Other.   

III.  
BUT let me a little consider the Gift of Swearing more particularly: Certainly an Oath unless given by lawful Authority, is not more considerable than we so abundantly hear in common discourse; and therefore if these Irish Witnesses are of opinion That the King, nor any person deriving Authority from him, have power to administer an Oath, and the Courts of Judicature no more material in this case than the Marketplace, a Jury may as well believe the full-mouthed Oaths which have these many months infected the air, as a proof of a Presbyterian Plot in general, as they can the Depositions of such persons to fix it on any Protestant in particular. But that our Kings have been, and His present Majesty (as He is a Protestant Prince) is now Actually Excommunicated by the Pope, not only by his Bulla Cenae, but particularly and by Name; and his Subjects Absolved from their Allegiance, and any acknowledgement of his Authority, is past all contradiction; so that upon the matter, I am as much bound to believe every Damn-me, as such men's Oaths. But besides, 'tis universally known, with what contempt the Papists have at all times used our English Bibles, and especially in Ireland, where they have deposed that on the Evangelists which they have refused on the Mass-Book. Again: Their Doctrine of Equivocation has such influence on this Affair, that the Assertion of a Protestant must be far more considerable than a Romanists Oath. For when they have sworn matter most intelligible, and in expressions most emphatical, no Juror can possibly know what they mean. For still they may have a Reservation in their minds of a quite contrary sense, for aught he knows. And it can be no objection, That they boggle at the Oath of Supremacy; for the foundation of their Religion is so directly contrary to the matter of that Oath, that the very sound of the words in the ears of Protestants out of a Roman mouth, is not to be endured by the Holy See, unless dispensed with on particular occasions. Neither can it be urged with any success, That Protestants at this rate could not possibly live and enjoy their Estates in that Kingdom: For (as every Climate has peculiar Medicine suited to the predominant Maladies thereof; so) their want of Honesty is tolerably remedied by their want of sense; and they have been so often detected, that 'tis the invincible Charity of the English which preserves the whole Herd from the common fate of Liars. And here I cannot forbear to instance in one Example of their prodigious want of Thought. I could name the persons, parties to the Action, in which two Irish men swore that they were Witnesses to a Deed of Lease made by a certain Lord there on a set day, and a set place; when upon examination it was found that the Lord was dead ten years and above before the time deposed: And they will generally, tho' they can neither Read nor Write, swear to Limitations of Estates at Thirty years' distance, which the Councillor himself will scarcely undertake to remember the next day after the Conveyance. And here I must not neglect the objection, That if they be such blockheads, they will easily discover themselves: For there never was a Nation of fools, tho' that Qualification may be most predominant; and the Popish Party in England have expressed so much both of the subtlety and poison of the Serpent, that it must not be thought strange tho' some prove more docible than the St. Omers Lads.   

IV.  
BUT I expect it will be retorted, That upon the Evidence of these persons Protestant Juries have not scrupled to pronounce many guilty of the most horrid Crimes. And that this may give pretence to Popish Juries, if we must ever be so miserable as to be tried by such, to give as little credit to a Protestant Oath as we do to a Popish. To the first I answer: That there is no other Evidence can be expected of Popish Treasons, but some of their own Confederates (I mean as to Oral Testimony): Those Oaths of Secrecy which have been administered in their Respective Plots since the Gunpowder-Treason, and were so lately renewed in Ireland, exclude all Protestants from the knowledge of their practices: And the Discoverer of the Horrid Irish Rebellion in 41. was forced to take Oaths and Sacraments enough to damn a World, before he was capable of that Service which he did in preserving the City of Dublin. Besides, he must be supposed more likely to speak truth, who pretends to discover a Plot among persons of his own Persuasion, and intimate acquaintance, than against those whom they always reckon their most formidable Enemies, and have so often used as such, especially when the Discovery of it exposes him to the greatest dangers, and makes him forfeit both his Religion and Relations; and he swears without the assistance of the forementioned principle, or any temptation: Such an one, I say, is much rather to be credited than he who will needs be a Discoverer of Designs among persons of a far different judgement, and his professed Enemies; and who will be reckoned almost as much deserving pity for their more than Irish folly, as hatred for their detestable Treasons, should they be guilty of the Crimes pretended. But perhaps 'twas not the Oaths of the Irish Witnesses, so much as the Irresistible Evidence of concurring circumstances, and violent presumptions, which 'tis probable did most influence the Jurors in those Verdicts: For he that either knows (or has heard) any thing of the state of Ireland, must confess, That since they became subject to the English Government, every Forty years at least hath produced an Actual Rebellion, and the seeds thereof are continually sowing, and more industriously cultivated amongst them since the Reformation, by the Romish Emissaries. And why should we not think Protestant Plotters (if such there be) as prudent to keep their Intrigues from the knowledge of such Weathercocks as the Irish are generally reputed; as the Romanists, who never discover theirs unless to persons fixed to their Party with all possible Obligations? For such Reasons as these we believe Papists against Papists: But cannot (their Principles considered) allow them to be sufficient Evidence against Protestants, as well for the Causes beforementioned, as also for this considerable difference: A Protestant believes Perjury in any case against any person, be he Papist, Jew or Infidel, to be a damnable Sin; and that no person on Earth can Pardon it, or Absolve him for such a Gild. But a Papist either believes that 'tis meritorious to forswear himself against an Heretic, when it may considerably advantage Holy Church; or at worst, if it be a Crime, he knows 'tis but going to Confession, and he can get an Absolution, which you need not doubt but in such Cases as we are speaking of, the Ghostly Father will grant a very easy Penance: which being once performed, our Irish Popish Evidence reckons himself as clear from the Gild of the Perjury, and all the Murders thereby occasioned, as the Child unborn.   

V.  
BUT as to the other part of the Objection, drawn from the fear of such usage from them, viz. That if we won't believe Popish Witnesses now, they won't believe Protestant Witnesses another day. The answer is very plain. Surely no Protestant expects to be troubled with a Trial for Treason, in case we must be blest with a Popish Successor. Heresy is a ready and greater Crime, and that in the Roman sense every true Protestant will be Convicted of by his own Confession, without Verdict. But supposing the Wolf should Parley with the Lamb, and give a Protestant Trial on an Accusation for Treason; or upon Issue joined between a Papist and Protestant under such a Government, unless they can charge the Protestant Principles with the same Justice, with which we condemn theirs, Equity demands more credit to our Depositions: But the sad Instances in the Neighbour-Nation, of what Right Protestants find in Popish Judicatures, makes this Objection of as little Weight, as their Oppressions are heavy and intolerable.   

VI  
ONCE more consider, what a special case the Lord Shaftsbury (for example) or any other Protestant so publicly engaged against Popery, should be in, if Coleman and that Herd of Priests and Jesuits, who have lied and equivocated themselves into the other world, were alive, and the Plot undiscovered? Will any Protestant believe that the Authors of those Speeches which they left behind them (those prodigious Untruths of seared Consciences, which had not the Divine Oracles warned us of, we could not believe any thing of humane shape could utter on this side of Hell) would have made any more scruple to accuse others, than they did to excuse themselves? and yet they had not that Emphatical addition of Irish Witnesses! The Case indeed had been extremely difficult to have cleared a person charged by so many Witnesses; especially when the Quality of the persons might have been better concealed, than that of Modern Swearers. But the Reason, why noted Protestants have so long lived free from such Hellish Attempts, must, next to the Protection of Divine Providence, be imputed to their spotless Loyalty and prudent Circumspection; and on the other part, to the fear of detection, which hath a far greater awe on Catholic Consciences than that of Damnation.   

VII.  
I observe, that when Mr. F— had changed his Coat, and was grown too Courtlike for his former Acquaintance, he presently changed his Note too; and the Influence of Surprising Gold was such, that his foolish Ostentations were rendered ridiculous by Mr. M— himself, to whom he often produced his Handful of Temptation: And I no sooner saw Mr. M— new- thatched, but he had found a New Plot; I suppose in the Pockets of his New clothes. For will any man of common Sense believe, that if the Protestant Interest had been so far left of God, that they should endeavour to secure themselves by Subornation, they would not also have put these men beyond the Temptation of a piece of Cloth and a few Guinies? But if some persons of the Protestant Religion, out of pity to their seeming Necessities, who pretended to leave their Country and their Gods, to save Innocent Blood, did contribute so far as not to suffer these wretches to starve, who can conclude hence the Gild of Subornation? That they did so much as to keep them alive, is an Evidence of Christian Charity; and that they did no more, is an invincible Proof of their Christian Truth, Loyalty, and Innocence.   

VIII.  
BUT (some say) One positive Oath, nay oftentimes presumptions without an Oath are sufficient Evidence to a Grand Jury. To this what I have already said, may I hope give some Answer. The Question is not, Whether a Jury may give their Verdict against Evidence? But whether such Oaths are any Evidence to a Jury, where the things sworn are Improbable, nay morally Impossible? Can a Jury find a Bill, because some Fellows say, (for I have before proved an Oath with them to be no more) that the person is Guilty, when the matter of the Accusation is absurd; and 'tis apparent their Principles, their clothes, their Pockets and their Salvation incline 'em to such an Assertion? But this is but an Accusation, say others; and the business of a Grand Jury is only to bring the party accused to Answer: But not to say a Conspiracy, because some people say a Conspiracy, was a Caution given long ago by the Prophet. And certainly, a false Accusation is but few degrees less Devilish than a false Condemnation; and he that will Accuse another without grounds, will make but little Conscience to Condemn him too. But there are Peers concerned, and according to the present Scheme of our Laws, a Peer seems to be in a worse condition on any Criminal Charge, than the meanest Commoner. For the latter, besides the Grand Juries Accusation, must have another Jury Impannell'd by the Sheriff, who is sworn impartially to execute his Office; and he has the liberty in Case of Treason to except peremptorily against Thirty Five without assigning any Cause, and against as many more as he can show just Reason; and then the Twelve that he puts himself upon, (who must be of his own Neighbourhood) are upon Oath, and can make no Verdict against him without every man of them agree to it. Whereas when once a Bill is found against a Peer, his Trial (unless in Case of Impeachments) is by a select number of Peers (commonly Twenty Five) constituted by Royal Commission; against any of whom, tho' his known and professed Enemies, he is allowed no Liberty of Challenge. And as they are not Sworn, so likewise the Majority of their Voices includes the rest; so that if any Thirteen of them are pleased to pronounce him Guilty, To the Gibbet, or at least to the Axe he must go. And therefore certainly it concerns Grand Juries (especially in such Cases) to be duly circumspect and well satisfied of the Evidence on which they find Bills, wherein a man's Life, and Estate, and Honour, and the utter Ruin of his Family is concerned. For should we ever fall under a Popish Successor, 'tis to be feared in such cases, Accusation and Condemnation will differ only Objectiuè in Intellectu. For should a Bill be found against a Protestant Lord, one might without consulting the Stars, or breach of Prerogative, venture to name the Triers, and foretell the Verdict. For though I have a just Deference and Veneration for the English Nobility; yet 'tis not easily to be decided, whether in case of this vast consequence to the Popish Interest, the Honour of Popish Lords, or the Oaths of their Commons, deserve the greater credit.   

IX.  
BUT still 'tis Objected, That a Lawful Witness is according to the general sense of the Law, such a Witness as is allowed by the Laws of the Realm; and if what has been said be true, How is it that there is no Law disabling persons of this Character to be allowed as Evidence? 'Tis true, the Law admits almost all persons to be Sworn as Witnesses; but the Oath of every Lawful Witness (in this sense) is not Evidence, as was remarkably Adjudged in the Case of Mr. Dangerfield. And if the Debauched Practices of a Witness will destroy his Evidence, for the supposition that he dare be perjured, tho' he is also supposed to know it to be a Sin, What Influence will debauched Principles, which make Perjury a Duty, have to take away the Credit of a Witness? If the Oaths of Swearers were sufficient to rule the Conscienees of Twelve men, without any consideration of the Persons, or their Principles, or the matter Sworn; how little are we beholding to that Clause of Magna Charta, which confirms the ancient Law of Trials by Jurors? It is a wonderful grace in a Protestant Kingdom, that the Romanists, who own Allegiance to a Foreign Power, are permitted to enjoy Liberam Legem; and while such undeserved Favour is continued, they can't be Excluded from Swearing, or Challenged to be Witnesses; but still 'tis left to the Jury to value their Testimony; And (especially in this case of concern to Holy Mother Church) they are, as in Cases of Alliance, Relation, and parties in Interest, to be Sworn indeed; but their Credit left to those of the Jury, which in Civil Causes may be considerable; but where the Catholic Cause is concerned, cannot be so.   

X.  
BUT what is it which these Fellows would Swear upon the World? A Plot! a Plot of Protestants against themselves! and (the only security they have under God) the Life of their Prince! A Shame so often discovered, and so generally known, that by attempting to Retrieve it, they demonstrate their matchless Impudence, and the desperate condition of their Cause. Mr. Dangerfield (how honest soever he be grown) is not yet arrived to such perfection, as to pretend a Prophetic Spirit; yet his particular Narrative will well serve for a History of the Presbyterian-Plot. The Paper-Designs indeed were ruined by the Meal-Tub, his and Fitz-Harris's Business; and there was no hiding Treason in Presbyterian Houses or Pockets; but Downright Swearing will serve as well; and the 500 l. which Dangerfield had merited by one Stab, will go a good way in Irish Oaths. You must know, Sir, these watchful Loyalists spied Treason just peeping out of Presbyterian mouths, and sink down again into their hearts! And if Oaths will do, they will have it out Blood and all. But we in the Country can never believe that His Majesty (who was pleased to declare in Council, that he gave no credit to Dangerfield's private pretended Discovery, because the business was impossible, can incline His Royal Heart to believe the same Shame on such paltry Testimony; or that the Army listed in the Meal-tub, can ever attempt much on his Person; but rather, that the whole business is a Story contrived, and consented to, and carried on in general by the Popish Party, and intended for a Mask, hoping that whilst the King, if His Majesty should believe it, was preparing for the Safety of His Sacred Person, against the pretended Conspiracy of the Presbyterian Party, they might have the more time to move on with their own Plot, which was still to possess the King with the real belief of the said Sham-Plot. See Dangerfields' Narrat. p. 34.   

XI.  
NOR is it sufficient to Apologise for these Witnesses, That possibly they profess themselves Protestant's; considering how easy 'tis for a Romanist to take a new Epithet according to the nature of his design. Therefore what Profession he was of when his Thoughts were free and undisturbed with the Temptations of Honour and Wealth, must be the Rule of Judgement, especially when his Actions are still apparently calculated for the Interest of the Religion, which he pretends to have abandoned, and against that which he would be thought to have embraced. And tho' the small Remains of Humanity, which Antichristianism leaves, improved by the probability of Advantage, might provoke them to discover the Irish Treasons; yet when the hopes of the Reward vanishes, and the Traitors seem to have weathered the point, and have Reason to promise themselves Success, what can be more natural than to accept of Reconciliation to the prevailing Party on Terms of such extraordinary Advantage both to the Cause and themselves? 'Twas no slight Argument of the Lords of the Philistines to dissuade Achish from accepting David's Service, Wherewith shall he reconcile himself to his Master, but with the heads of these men? And the same Argument can't be inconsiderable in our case to any man of tolerable understanding. And truly these men's Circumstances duly considered, tho' they were persons otherwise of some Credit; their Testimony in this Case seems very unhappy: For either there is a Popish Plot or no: If there be, the design of the casting the odium of it on the Prsbyterians, evidently appears (in the business of Claypole and the Discoveries before mentioned) to have been from the most laboured Scene of that horrid Tragedy; and then for a Protestant to be credulous of such a forged design, is little less than Self-Murder. But if there be no Popish Plot, these persons are already perjured; and consequently their Evidence wholly insufficient.   

XII.  
BUT there is a Corner of the World near Oxford, where, as if the University did not only Monopolise the Learning, but the very Sense of the County too, there are (they say) Twelve men to be found, who notwithstanding all this, are ready to show their implicit Faith, That they have lately approved themselves fit for this (pretended Loyal) Service, without all Contradiction, in a very remarkable manner; For some Persons in that County being lately presented for Conventiclers, and the Evidence proving only an Assembly of four beside the Family; the Jury was directed, That according to the very Letter and sense of the Statute, they could not find the Persons guilty; yet such was the Zeal of these blessed Jurors (you must believe) for the Protestant Religion established by Law, That notwithstanding the Mathematical Demonstration, That 4 are not 5 or more, they could do no less than find them Guilty.  
BUT Sir, in what I have said, I would not be understood to excuse Treason in men of my own Religion. I should abhor my very being, should my Soul be contaminated with the least spot of Treason against my Sovereign; and nothing is more seriously my desire, than that all Persons who are guilty, may be brought to condign punishment; neither will I affirm, That 'tis impossible for a man zealous for the Protestant Religion, to be betrayed into Treason by his Passions, tho' I am sure he can never be so by his Principles. And if any such person suffer for it, there's no Reason that Protestants should be reproached on that account. But this general Design of Protestants so much talked of, if it be imposed on the belief of English men upon no better grounds than I have yet heard, ENTER ROME TRIUMPHANT, I●paean to the Whore of Babylon; we are fit to pay Peter Pence once more; When we begin to deny Mathematical Demonstration, and to believe a Presbyterian Plot on Popish Evidence, we are just moulded to receive the impression of all absurdities, even the Pope's Infallibility and Transubstantiation itself.  
Yours Philanglus. August 1st. 1681.    

LONDON: Prined for William Inghall the Eld. Book-binder. 1681.