Imprimatur.  
May 16. 1693. Char. Heron.   

Constantinus Redivivus:  
OR, A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE Wonderful Providences, AND Unparallelled Successes  
That have all along Attended the Glorious Enterprises of the Heroical Prince, William the 3d, Now KING of Great Britain, etc.  
Wherein are Many Curious Passages, Relating to the INTRIGUES of Lewis the 14th, etc. Carried on Here, and Elsewhere; Never Printed before, etc.  
By Mr. JOHN WHITTEL, Sometime the only English Chaplain to the Army.  
LONDON, Printed, and sold by Tho. Harbin, at the Wheat-Sheafe, over against the Golden-Tun-Tavern in the Strand, 1693.   

TO THE QUEEN'S Most Excellent Majesty.  
August Madam,  
IT being now about IX Years since I was first Conversant with Military Persons, and heard the Sound of Drums and Trumpets, as well in the United Netherlands, as Here, and in Ireland. And having the Honour to Bear in my Body the Marks of Fervent Zeal, and Unshaken Loyalty to Your Sacred Majesty's; Which is, I confess, the Principal Thing in this World I rejoice in, and value myself upon. It hath so far encouraged me, as to cast these Unpolisht Papers at Your Majesty's Feet; Containing, an Account of the Miraculous Providences, and Providential Successes, That have all along attended the Glorious Enterprises of His Majesty King William, for the Public Good of Christendom; But especially of the British Empire, together with the United Netherlands, and of the Protestant Religion, as in the Rest of Europe, so particularly in Great Britain and Ireland, it's most Secure and Triumphant Seat: And humbly to beg Your Majesty's Most Gracious Acceptance thereof. I cannot say of this Enchiridium, as the Jews sometime said to Christ, of the Centurion, (although it Treats of so glorious a Subject,) Dignum est, It is worthy that Your Majesty should accept it: But, I may truly speak in the Centurions own Words, Non Sum dignus, I am not worthy to be Graced with Your Majesty's Favourable Acceptance; As being Conscious of my small Abilities. Neither are these Fragments deserving, for Excellency of Style, or Elegancy of Phrase, which is not my Ambition therein: Since the true Adamant is best polished with its own Dust, and Heroic Deeds are their own proper Encomium.  
I have not for my own part, whereof I can boast, but the Honour of being sometime, the only English Caplain to His Majesty's Army, in the late blessed and memorable Expedition; and of reading and dispersing then some hundreds of His Gracious DECLARATIONS, between Tor-Bay and London; to the Joy of all true Protestants, and Dejection of their Adversaries.  
To make no mention of my Service and Wounds received in Ireland, etc. There is no Man that hath endeavoured to advance Your Majesty's most just Designs, more than myself, according to the small Sphere of my Power, as is not unknown to several Noble Lords, etc.  
May then the covering of the Almighty Wings, be ever spread over your Excellent Majesties, and underneath the everlasting Arms; may your Royal Persons be still most precious in the Eyes of all your Subjects, and your Forces prosper by Sea and Land. May you be blessed with an Obedient, Religious and Loyal People throughout all your DOMINIONS, and with a long and happy Reign over them, in Health, Wealth, Peace and Godliness; and after this Life, may Your Majesties be Crowned with Glory and Immortality, is the Prayer of  
Your Majesty's most Loyal, most Dutiful, most Obedient, Subject and Servant, John Whittell.   

THE Preface.  
THE Author's Principal Design is not here to Form a History of our Present Gracious Sovereign, who is the Main Subject of the following Discourse: Nor to give the World any Exact, or Minute Account of His Glorious Actions; Knowing well enough, that Task has been, and is, performed daily by many Abler and Acute Pens, who have already Engraven them, with such Fair and Lasting Characters, in the Adamantine Tables, laid up in Honour's Temple for the use of Posterity: That doubtless they will be found there Brightly Legible, when Oldtime shall have Eaten out, and Effaced those of Alexander, and the Caesars.  
And, that for the People of this Present Age, and of this Part of the World, there are few or none of them, but have either seen His Heroical Exploits, heard the Fame of them; or felt, at least, their Comfortable Influence, which, indeed, has proved Beneficial to all, but the Noxious part of Mankind; and such as, like Fishes and Monsters, Prey upon the Rest.  
And therefore knows well enough, that 'twould be Impertinent for him to pretend to Write a History, in which, it would be altogether impossible, to say any New Matter, or any thing, but what has been already much better expressed by others.  
No; his Aims in this Essay, are quite different from theirs; for, though he hath been himself an Eye-witness of some of His Majesty's Greatest Achievements, having been with him in two Important Expeditions; and has already given the World an Account of some of the Chief Passages in them; Of which, be bears about him continually some very Uneasy, though Honourable Marks: Yet, duly remembering, that he served Him, More in Quality of a Divine, than a Soldier in His Army; And that the Present Age Swarms with a Race of Men, that Attribute so much to Second-Causes, that they scarce ever look up to God, who is Causa Causarum, the Author of All; and so much Idolaters of Fortune, that they will hardly allow any Room to Providence, or an Over-ruling-Power.  
Therefore, the Author, upon this Consideration, has endeavoured, so to Compile this Relation of His Majesty's Actions, as it may be more a HISTORY of God's Providence, and Over-ruling-Power, than of His Majesty's GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS: insisting properly upon the First, as his Text; and upon His Majesty's Happy Successes, and His Enemy's Motions, as only a good Comment upon it; Needing (indeed) nothing else, but a Full and True Application: Being very sensible, that herein, He is so far from detracting from, that he much adds to that Glory, which His Majesty (without flattery) most Affects and Glories in; Which is, to give all the Glory of his Actions to God alone; And being throughly convinced, That His Majesty in that Point, is very much unlike to the Vainglorious Monarch of France (Lewis the XIVth) who Arrogantly Ascribes all the Honour of his Successes, solely and wholly to himself; as very properly he may (all things well considered) because, whereas, King WILLIAM'S Great Undertake, are, All Men who love the Truth must own, really founded upon most Just Motives, and directed purely, to Noble, Religious, and Generous Ends, yea, even to the Common Good.  
The French King's on the contrary, are Grounded upon so Wicked and  a Bottom, and tend so very much to the General Destruction of Mankind; that for all his Innate Confidence, being ashamed to Attribute them to the All-righteous God, who knows his inward thoughts; he, with an Insolent Mind, Arrogates them very fairly to himself, for fear otherwise of being obliged to Father them upon a Worse Author.  
But to come to the Matter in hand, the Design of this Essay, in short, is, to show the Triumphs of Providence over all Humane Prudence, in the late Revolutions of Holland, and especially of these British Kingdoms; and how very visibly the finger of God, has appeared in the Chief Transactions of His Majesty's Life, and of our Great Deliverance by Him; by making so many contrary Causes to Concur, to the producing that Mighty Effect; and directing the Counsels of the Enemies, to steer their Vessels upon those very Rocks, which they had used all possible Endeavours to avoid; And thereby, to move all Good Protestants, of these Nations especially, Earnestly to Wrestle with Almighty God in Prayer, for a Long Preservation to them, of their Blessed Deliverer; by Acknowledging Him, to be the Signal Instrument of the most High Lord, more than of any mere Natural Causes, or pretended Influence of the Stars.  
For, though the Author be absolutely persuaded, that Miracles properly so called, are, at present, ceased; yet, he cannot but Believe, with all Reasonable Men, That, God Almighty by his Extraordinary Providence, doth still oftentimes interpose, between both his Friends and Enemies, and bare natural Causes; in order, to bring about his just designs, of punishing or favouring them, and especially unusual Revolutions in Kingdoms and States.  
And that these last Revolutions in the united Netherlands, and England, etc. if well considered, in all their precedent, Concomitant, and subsequent Circumstances, are such very evident and infallible proofs of that undeniable Truth, that it cannot possibly but be acknowledged by all modest Men, who will give themselves free leave but to think.  
This he verily believes any impartial and unprejudiced Reader, will be fully convinced, when they shall make due Reflection upon some Passages, particularly, those which he has collected out of some very choice Memoires, lent him by some Friends, who had more than ordinary opportunity, to enter behind the Scenes, and view the secret Springs, that set some of the chief Machine's of those great Artificers on Work: So that, though they may perhaps have read the Story of the same Transactions, elsewhere; yet, they will however be obliged to confess, they never saw them before in the same Light, managed with the same Method, nor applied with the same Reflections and Observations.  
One thing he will only add, That if any well affected Person who is an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile, shall think himself, or his Party reflected upon, when mentioned herein, as intended to be made. Tools of, by some of the late French and Jacobite Intrigues; that they would rectify that mistake in themselves, by considering well, it is not any where here asserted; that they consented to those Motions, nor yet, that they were actually put in Execution, though it must be granted by all, that it was partly done in CORPORATIONS; but only that they were intended to be made Tools of, as well as some biased Church of ENGLAND Men, and to be played both of them, one against another, in order to make way for their mutual Destruction, for the establishing of Popery and Arbitrary Power.  
And why, the affirming or proving of this should appear offensive to any sober Man, that really believes, there was a most true, fair and justifiable cause for this blessed REVOLUTION, the Author cannot well imagine.  
And therefore hopes, all sober and unbiass'd Men of what persuasion soever, that are Friends not only in Tongue, but in Deed and in Truth, to this present GOVERNMENT, will lay aside all prejudice and partiality, and candidly accept his honest and well designed Endeavours; which tend only to the laying open the Enemy's INTRIGUES, the cautioning Men of all sorts, from being any more drawn in by them.  
To alienate, their hearts, even from all thoughts of accommodation with the French Harpies, till their Claws be cut close.  
To show, the Moderate and equitable Carriage of our Representatives, in resetling the shaken Government, the very Just and Lawful Grounds, and indispensable Obligations their present Majesties moved upon; in all the whole course of their Proceed, their Tenderness towards the person of the late King; and their exceeding great Moderation, and Matchless Clemency to all their dissatisfied Subjects.  
To set forth His MAJESTY'S indefatigable Care, prudent Conduct, eminent Courage, noble Resolution and Constancy, and happy Success; in all these wonderful Occurances; and to do just Honour, to all other Instruments of our present LIBERTY and HAPPINESS; and yet, reserve and attribute to almighty GOD, the due Praise and Glory of all.  
As for those few Malcontents that are blinded, by the God of this World, and are Enemies to this blessed Government, if any Expressions in this TREATISE displease them; he is not at all concerned at it, let them look off it, and withal know, it was not calculated for their squeamish Palates; the Author being very confident, there are honest Williamites enough in the Nation, to embrace hearty the whole Impression, at least, if 'twere three times the Number. And being no less assured, they are with all so generous and kind, that they will read this Essay, for the sake only of the Author's good, and honest intention, how mean a conceit soever they may have of his performances.   

ERRATA.  
PAge 15. l. 2. Artificis, for Artifices. p. 49. l. 25. and far, r. of fare and. p. 91. l. 22. is for, if to. p. 99 l. 2. five r. fire. p. 148. l. 15. Convent r. Convant. p. 151. l. 6. Bavillon r. Barillon.   

Constantinus Redivivus: OR, An account of the wonderful providential Successes that have all along attended the Heroical Enterprises of his present Majesty, King WILLIAM the III. Through the grand Revolution of Holland, England and Ireland.  
THE August and Glorious Hero, who is the principal Subject of all our following Discourse, and also of the Love, Veneration and Admiration, of even the better part of the Christian World at this very Day, as well those of the Roman Communion, as of the reformed Protestant Religion; is lineally descended from the most Ancient, and Magnificent House of Nassaw; a House, signally honoured and adorned, with most potent and splendid Alliances throughout Europe; and whose truly noble Branches have spread themselves in several parts of Germany, that was graced about four hundred Years ago, with the imperial Dignity, in the person of Adolphus, Emperor of Germany, and Successor to that famous Rodolphus of Habsburg; who, when a certain Man came to Him, to ask what he would give him to kill Octocarus King of Bohemia, with whom he waged War, answered, Et si noster hostes Octocarus, non tamen efficiet, ut praetergrediar fines Justitiae atque Moderationis. In fine, whose illustrious Family has flourished, in very remarkable and distinguishable Grandeur, for above a thousand Years, as is Chronicled of it. How Prince Mauricius took the strong Castle of Zutphen, and also the excellently well Fortified City of Breda, March the 3d. Anno 1590. How his great Grandfather Prince William of ever glorious Memory, after having furmounted numbers of sundry Obstacles, thought indeed to be insurmountable, and with a prodigious and undaunted Resolution, Conduct, Prudence, and Constancy, laid the Foundations of a flourishing Republic, that now sends forth Ambassadors daily upon equal terms to the most puissant Kings in the habitable part of the Earth, and even to the King of Spain himself, who accepts the alliance and assistance of those his quondam Subjects, whom not content to rule as such, his haughty and impolitic Progenitors, sometime treated as Slaves and Abjects. And how his Warlike, Great and Famous Uncles and Grandfathers, by the continued course of their Victories fixed and established, the dear-bought liberty and greatness of their Country; by the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes, and the vast expense of their Treasures, is amply set forth by many florid and learned Pens. Nor have even the Writers of their very Enemy's side, been able to be silent of their Praises, and noble Acts, so manifest to the whole World: And therefore, we judge it altogether superfluous to say any more here, on this Subject. Nam Genus & proavos & quae non fecimus ipsi, Vix ea nostra voco. Our main and chief design, in this small 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, being only to show how our present illustrious Prince, after that he had no less miraculously retrieved, not only the very Being, but even the prosperity and greatness of the same State; when through the Treachery, and sottish negligence of its then Governors, it seemed (as 'twere to the World's eye) to be tumbled down to the very Foundations, and laid all in Rubbish by the thundering and surpassing fury of a more powerful Monarch, than the former Roboam of Spain; has still providentially advanced, by most glorious and successful steps, against that formidable, and too much prevailing Nero of the West, and alone given life to almost (if not) all, the efforts that have been made against his uncontrollable power, which else would like an irresistible Tide, or Sea, where the Banks are broken down, have deluged even all Europe. And how at length in recompense of so many hard Toils, and Perils of his precious Life for the Public Good, the almighty Lord of Battles, particularly for the glory of his holy Name, and the welfare of his suffering Church, hath by a series of Providences, more wonderful than all the rest exalted Him, to a station that's above many of his noble Ancestors, and placed Him on the Sovereign Throne of the most Military and Formidable Kingdoms of the West; and bestowed upon him yearly, still new and fresh earnests, or specimen of his having really elected Him, to complete like the great Constantine (whose Sovereign power likewise had its first rise in the warlike British Isles) the full deliverance of his oppressed Children, and the Re-erection of his Church in a Triumphant State, both of Purity and Prospirity, by (at least the crushing under, if not) the utter subversion of that Babilonish Power and Authority, which has been so long the Bar, which letteth the growth of the Truth of the Gospel, and the right understanding of the great Mysteries of Godliness, as well as the Plague and Terror of all quiet and peaceable Christians.  
This glorious Prince, I say, as if indeed God of his great Mercy and Goodness, had removed all humane Tutelage and Protection on mere purpose, that he might show us and all the World, that he himself took Him under his own immediate and peculiar care and Guardianship, as a mighty Hero; by whom he graciously intended to work or bring to pass, some Signal and Extraordinary Deliverances to his own Israel, was most unhappily deprived of his Father (a Prince of a truth of most hopeful and surpassing Courage, Prudence, Piety, and all other very noble Endowments) even before he was brought forth into the World. Being taken off by that common Distemper, the Small Pox, in the very Spring of his Days, or flower of his Age; being but twenty four years Old when he died. And our blessed Prince, coming into the World not till some few days after his renowned Father's decease, viz. on the fourth of November, Anno 1650.  
He was verily observed in his tender Years, or youthful Days, to discover a Discretion, Moderation, sweetness of Temper, and a Reservedness, much beyond or above his Age. And his Prudence, Valour, and other Princely Virtues, increasing daily with his Stature; He gave his Relatives and Friends, as well as those about him, all the Appearances of an extraordinary share of Courage, Conduct, and all other Dispositions that could possibly be desired in a Prince, in order to qualify him: As for an affectionate Father, so also, for a most powerful Defender of his Rights and Country. And it is most peculiarly observable, that though God hath permitted sundry mighty endeavours, to have been made by Domestic Factions, even from his very Cradle, in order to have oppressed his growing Greatness, and several horrid and execrable Plots and Devices, to have been carried on with great Secrecy, both by them and the Intrigues of Foreign Princes, to defeat his grand Designs, and to bereave him of his most Just, Lawful and Hereditary Rights and Honours, or of his precious Life itself. Yet still (thanks be to God for it, and adored be his holy Name) the many oppositions and hellish Machinations of his implacable and undeserved Enemies, have been by good Providence made to serve even against their original intention, only to his far greater Glory and Exaltation; causing his noble Virtues to be more seen in the World, as the Stars shine brightest in the darkest night.  
For though the Faction of Barnevelt, continued and upheld afterwards by the De-wits, prevailed upon the State's General in those days most ungratefully and ungenerously, to deprive our accomplished young Prince of all his Hereditary Dignities and Employments; yet at the same time, they thus took care to depress the Prince, they were so infatuated and blinded with inveterate malice against him, that they minded not at all to what Dangers they then exposed their State or Country. To which end, they committed the greatest Blunders imaginable in Politics; for after the Peace of Munster, foolishly believing they had no more Enemies to fear, but the Ancient and Warlike House of Nassau, whose greatness they conjectured, if not timely depressed, would be a perpetual Obstacle to their unjust and ambitious designs, of grasping the Government entirely into their own hands; they therefore rashly and without any consideration, disbanded all their hardy Veteran Forces, and well experienced Commanders, by whose valour and hard toil, their Country had been raised to that flourishing condition it was then in; only for that very reason, because they looked upon them as too much affected to his Highness, the Prince of Orange; and this was done too, without the least care to procure, or provide any other old experienced Troops in their Room. Moreover, they gave the chiefest Employments in their Armies and Garrisons at that time, to the Sons of Burgher-Masters, or Deputies of Cities that were very raw, and not well experienced in Martial Discipline, being most of them such, as had never seen the face of an Enemy in the Field, and so as unfit to Command as to Obey. By which means it shortly came to pass, that when they were afterwards contrary to their vain hopes, invaded by a very subtle and powerful Enemy, even whole Cities and Towns, though (of a truth) some of them were both Naturally 〈…〉 ●●●●ally well Fortified, Stored 〈…〉 with numerous Garrisons, 〈…〉 or five thousand Men a piece, besides Horse proportionable; yet yielded up even without the least opposition, upon the first appearance, or summons of the Enemy, not so much as striking a stroke, or firing one Gun against them. And thus Faction and cursed Self-interest, with private Ambition, having reduced that, but very lately, flourishing Republic to the very brink of ruin and destruction: It gave the sore affrighted People of that Country a fair opportunity, for to see plainly into what dreadful Dangers or Quicksands, their new Hare-brained Governors (which were but of Yesterday and knew nothing) out of mere Spite, and Malice to an Ancient and very illustrious Family, were now driving them and their late happy Commonwealth, and so inspired them with Boldness as well as Foresight at this time to apply a seasonable and fit remedy, by the quick destruction of those notorious Domestic Usurpers, who had been the real occasion thereof; and intrusting Him again with the recovery of their very much shattered and lost State, who was the true genuine Issue of its first glorious and fortunate Founders, and by sacrificing his most ungrateful Enemies, to the very angry and enraged genius, of the poor injured Country.  
Neither can it be fairly denied, but that the French King, even Lewis the 14th. himself, as great and mortal Enemy as he is to our renowned King William; yet notwithstanding by Gods over ruling Providence, (as he hath done since, to that in England) did, though the World knows, most contrary to his own Inclination and Intention, contribute as much or more to that first Revolution in the united Provinces, and the subsequent Exaltation, Grandeur and Glory of the Prince of Orange, than all other concurrent Causes put together; for having by mere subtlety, far overreached those self designing Statesmen, that then swayed so much in Holland, and induced them by his most specious promises, and alluring pretences, to stand firmly by them upon all occasions, as well as in their late Usurpations; totally to neglect (as we have said) their old, expert, and hardened Soldiers, and their frontier Garrisons; to turn all their Counsels and Attempts wholly towards the famous Orangian Family, and the brisk Trade and power of England, upon the vain confidence of effecting which, the crafty Monsieur had already made them to build themselves a fools Paradise; for he, all of a sudden leaguing on the contrary with England, attacks them most sharply on their blind and defenceless side, and meeting with very little or no resistance, from such raw Soldiers, and totty headed Commanders, as he then knew to have the main Guards of their Garrisons and places, overrun their Country with so rapid and surprising a swiftness, that he then forced the People of necessity to have recourse to their last, but surest refuge under God; to wit, the valiant Prince of Orange, and to restore Him whom their wicked and treacherous Guides blinded with Ambition, had before so ungratefully and impolitickly rejected. And so by half ruining a flourishing Republic, they gave a meet opportunity to his Illustrious Highness, to show in the open sight of the admiring World, the wonders of his Prudence, Policy and Magnanimity, in restoring it to its former Power and Splendour. And withal, to let his ungrateful and uncivil Countrymen know and see, that the great Triumphs of their cruel Enemies, were caused for the most part by the wild attempts that had been made upon Him and his Rights, and that the doing justice to the ancient and warlike Progeny of the real Founders of their State, was the true and only way unto its Restauration. But the last lift that was given towards the advancing and securing his Authority and Power, still more and more in the united Netherlands, was, the discovery of the horrid Plot laid against him by the two De-wits, viz. Cornelius and John, who finding well that there was no possibility for them of stemming the strong and violent tide of the People's great Affection, tending wholly to the advancement of the Prince, which was to them an insupportable Mortification; they thereupon endeavoured to corrupt a certain Chirurgeon, with the promised Reward of no less than 3000000 Franks, or 25000 pound Sterling to take away his most valuable Life; which matter being disclosed, or providentially coming to light, and firmly attested, made out and ratified by the said Chirurgeon; the forementioned De-wits, were, by the great fury of the vulgar People (not content with the milder and slower Proceed of the Magistrate) torn presently all to pieces, and miserably put to Death after such a manner, as now all the World knows. Namely, That they were hung up by the Heels in the Marketplace, and being cut to pieces, their Joints and Flesh sold by piece-meal at great rates, which were carried away by the Buyers in a Triumph of Revenge. And the Prince himself, not long after, most firmly fixed in the Hereditary State-holder-ship of all the united Provinces, and Captain General of all their Forces by Sea and Land, with much more advantage, than any of his famous Predecessors enjoyed it before.  
Thus the Almighty and most wise Disposer of the World, returned the Malice and Wickedness of the Princes Domestic Foes upon their own Heads, for they fell by the Snare which they had laid for Him, according to the tenor of the holy Oracles. Nec lex est justior ulla Quam necis artificis arte perire sua. And thus the just Judge of all Men, and avenger of all wrongs, punished the perfidious and ungrateful; and at the same time, delivered the Innocent: Yea, mortified all the Foreign Enemies by his own victorious Arm, and rewarded at last, even far beyond all his hopes or desires, his unshaken Patience, and unparallelled Generosity, in having born so long a time, with a forbearance beyond Humane Example, the many base affronts, and injuries daily offered him by the envious and self designing De-wits, and their upstart party. Nor were the people (although they chose him in a great heat, and sudden fright, to conduct the shattered and whether beaten Bark, of their present forelorn, and distressed State, into a safe Harbour or Port) in the least deceived, in their expectations of him. The false and misguided steps of their late unhappy Governors, had now by the rule of Contraries, instructed them in a few moment's space, in the very best and right measures that could possibly be taken. And the furious alarms of the French Armies, had cooled them from the wrong De-wits, into their right Wits again, and into their perfect Senses, out of which they had foolishly by delusive, but more specious appearances been decoyed so lately. For our young accomplished Prince, though made a General at two and twenty Years of Age, as his great Grandfather had been before Him, in the time of Charles the Fifth; quickly gave them such fair and Signal Proofs and Specimens' of his Prudence, Conduct and Courage, as sufficiently Entitled Him to four of the most eminent Accomplishments, that qualify and consummate a supreme Commander, viz. military Knowledge, undaunted Resolution, awful Authority, and prosperous Success; so that like the youthful Alexander, or Augustus, Nephew to Julius Caesar, he was no sooner in the Field, than ripe and fit for Action, and the most daring Attempts and Execution. Which he so fortunately managed, that He not only stopped a puissant, and insulting Enemy, who till then, like a most strong or violent Torrent, carried all before them: Nevertheless in a short time, our young Prince changed the Fortune of the War, and forced the pride of Elder, and longer experienced Captains, flushed and buoyed up with continual Victories, to submit to the more powerful and prevailing Ascendant of his no less wisely guided Valour, and prosperous Conduct.  
And what was said of Alexander, and Julius Caesar, may not improperly be spoken of him, concerning his Diligence and Conduct, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i. e. Nihil procrastinans. He never delayed or let slip any occasion, as will most plainly appear, if we will but take the pains, justly and impartially to examine the several steps he has made, since he first set out on his Glorious Progress; we shall then in large Characters, as bright as the Sunbeams, or in Capital Letters, more beautiful to our sight, than Apples of Gold, in Pictures of Silver. Behold, engraven in every Field, and before every City, Garrison or Town, where he has appeared, his matchless Courage, and providential Success, since he first undertook to fight the Battles of his Country.  
For no sooner was he invested in the Office of Captain, and Admiral General of all the Forces of the united Provinces, and was arrived in the Army, then lying near Nienkop; but, He put a stop immediately to the whole power of France, though commanded by Lewis the 14th. himself; and notwithstanding all their Numbers of veterane and well disciplined Soldiers, and expert Officers, He not only kept them from gaining any Advantage, but even repulsed them shamefully with loss, to quit the attack they had made upon his Post of Nienkop; and compelled them to retire towards their own Country, with such great Precipitation, as to leave behind them their Spades, Shovels, Mattocks and other necessary Utensils, and implements of the Pioners belonging to War.  
And soon after this, as if the very Restauration of the Prince of Orange, the true repairer of their Breaches, had already put new life and vigour into all sorts of People again. A numerous party, of about 5000 French, were twice repulsed from the Walls of Aerdenburg; and besides their slain, forced to leave behind them, 500 Prisoners, among whom were, several Commanders, Officers and Persons of Quality. And all this effected by the extraordinary Valour, of no more than 200 Burghers, and 100 Garrison Soldiers, together with the small or feeble Assistance of a few Women; for while their Wives filled their Bandeliers with Powder, the Children themselves carried the Balls or Bullets, to their active and valorous Parents; nor did the Citizens of Groaning, with less courage and good success, defend their Walls against the Bishop of Munster, forcing him after having lain there a considerable while before it, with an Army of between 20 and 30000 Men to raise his Siege, after the loss of near half his Men, and a vast expense of warlike Ammunition, and other Instruments of Destruction. To which, they were chief encouraged, by the confidence they put in his illustrious Highness' good Fortune, and wise Conduct, and by the care and vigilancy he always took to supply them in time, with all manner of necessaries for their Defence and Safety.  
Upon the Promotion of our renowned Hero, or more properly upon the re-establishing of him in his Hereditary Rights, Dignity and Employment, that Great and powerful Prince, and wise General, the late Elector of Brandenburg, wrote a Letter to the States-General; wherein he Congratulates them upon the Restauration of his Heroical Kinsman, the Prince of Orange, to the Power, Grandeur, and Glory, of his Ancestors; adding withal, that he made no doubt, but that such wholesome and just determinations, would be in the conclusion prospered from Heaven for the Common Good; more especially, as knowing his illustrious Highness, to be a Person that truly inherited all the Virtues of his glorious Predecessors; and assuring them with all, that he found himself obliged by his Cousin's Exaltation (or more truly Restauration) to contribute his very utmost towards the Recovery and preservation of what his renowned Ancestors had acquired, with so much Blood and Jeopardy of their own Lives. About the same time, our young Prince fully resolving to remove the outguards of his most troublesome French Neighbours, gave them so sudden and fierce an Alarm, with a party of Horse and Foot, that without dismounting off his Horse all the whole Night, he never left them till he had driven them back again to their Trenches before Vtrecht; and carried off with him several French Lords Prisoners, who were Hunting at his arrival in the Woods of Amerong, whom he sent away to Amsterdam; and so very courteously were they used on the way, that not the least offer was made by any to rifle them.  
Much about the same time, he made sundry necessary and wholesome alterations of the Magistrates of many Cities, to the great and general satisfaction of the Inhabitants, who now saw themselves by that means, in a very fair way of recovering their former Peace, Glory, and Prosperity. And also among the military Men, several faint hearted Officers, received the due reward of their Pusillanimity and Treachery; His Highness being fully resolved to endure no longer that corruption of martial Discipline, which had brought his Country so very near its final ruin.  
His next Action was, his vigorous attack of Woerden, then possessed by the French, where he so very roughly handled the haughty Duke of Luxemburg and his Army, that attempted twice to relieve it; that he killed two thousand of their common Soldiers, even on the spot, maimed many of the rest, and slew or wounded most of the Officers; in a manner, quite ruining five Regiments of their best Infantry; which Heroical Action struck such a terror of him, afterwards in the minds of the French Officers at Vtrecht, that they would commonly draw Lots, who should be sent against any Parties, where the Prince of Orange was engaged.  
Thence after deliberate Consultations, and due measures taken in a Counsel of War, held for that very purpose, he marched with an Army of about 24000 strong, towards the Country of Liege, in order to fight, or at least to remove the French Army there, under the Count de Duras, from the Quarters about the ; in which expedition, he had such remarkable Success, that though his Army was composed of several Nations, and that his March was in the very depth of Winter, into an Enemy's Country, and along very bad ways; yet he effectually removed that older, and more experienced General, Duras, out of his Post, or rather strong hold, and hunted him up and down as a Partridge, till he retired to Stassemburgh.  
Terrified two strong Garrisons to the purpose, and then returned with the Prisoners and Booty, of two fortified places; and all this was acted in the space of nine days, with very inconsiderable or no loss of his own Men; besides the terror he at the same time struck, in the Bishop-Elector of Cologne, who thought himself secure neither at Bonne, nor any other part of his Dominions, so long as so very active and vigilant a Chieftain as our Prince, was quartered with his whole Army thus near to him.  
After this, having repulsed the Duke of Luxemburg, who at that time by favour of the Ice and Frost, had made an incursion into Holland, towards the City and University of Leyden; in which Parts, and the adjacent Villages, he had made no small Havoc, nor committed little Spoil and Barbarity, (these devastations of a Country, being the peculiar pleasures of his Disposition, which is no less crooked than his deformed Aesopian Body,) and forced him to retire in all haste, with the loss of above six hundred Men, and no small hazard of his own Life.  
Moreover he most happily, and withal very expeditiously, recovered from the Bishop of Munster, then leagued with the French, the strong and well fortified City of Coevorden, accounted by those who pretend skill therein, one of the noblest pieces of Portification, in all the Low Countries; which place had fallen into the hands of that Bishop, not long before by Treachery: But now was regained with such astonishing Valour and surprising Gallantry, together with most signal Concurrence of the Divine Providence, that though it formerly repulsed Verdugo, the Spanish General, after a fruitless Siege of one and thirty weeks; and was now at this time, well furnished and stored by the Bishop of Munster, with an exceeding great Magazine, of all sorts of Provisions for the Mouth, as well as Ammunition and Artillery for Defence. Nay, he had in it even then, a Garrison of nine hundred effective Soldiers; yet was it in one hours' time Stormed, and retaken by a party only of nine hundred and sixty, with the loss only of sixty of the Assailants; as the History of those Wars most plainly demonstrates.  
Whereas quite contrary to what happens, almost in all other Seiges, there was slain one hundred and fifty of the Defendants, besides Officers, and four hundred and thirty taken Prisoners, among whom, also were many Officers, the rest escaping out of the Town, when they perceived that it was absolutely lost.  
The consequence of the regaining this important Place, was so exceeding great, as to cast the Enemies then very much down, and put them into such a dreadful Consternation, that presently after that, they deserted several of their Garrisons, even upon the first news of it, and dispersed themselves here and there, every man being glad to shift for himself.  
Whereas on the contrary, it redounded so very much unto the Reputation of our illustrious Prince, and so exceedingly enhansed his Estimation and Honour, among all sorts of People in Holland, and the united Provinces, that finding such a continued and unexpected Advancement, such a happy chain of good Successes, and withal so very prosperous an Alteration to happen upon his illustrious Highnesses being advanced, to the supreme Management of their Affairs, they could not but attribute them to the visible Benediction of the most righteous Jehovah, upon the justice they had so lately done to the most ancient and warlike Progeny of their first and chiefest Founders (and without any Flattery, greatest Benefactors) and upon the most diligent, and vigorous Efforts of that Courageous and prudent Prince, whose Noble and Divine Talon, they had sometime despised and set at nought; nay, they themselves cannot deny, but that they were most grossly ignorant of his enestimable worth, (like the Cock in the Fable, of his precious Gemm) till angry and provoked Heaven, by very amazing Judgements, roused them up to distinguish and employ his Royal Virtues, and most noble Accomplishments.  
Neither was he less happy in conquering Domestic Jars and Differences, than foreign Foes; but gave the World a most important proof of the mighty Effects of that sparkling golden Authority that is gained over the very hearts of Men by Sweetness and Moderation, and of that grand Awe, Majesty and Reverence, that is so deeply impressed and inculcated by an unfeigned Affection, or undissembled Love. For when the mortal Feuds and Dissensions, between the old and new Magistrates of Friezland were grown to that prodigious height and degree, that representing the Sovereignty of that Province, they held then separate, distinct Assemblies, and gave contrary Orders each to other, to the very imminent danger of the public at the same time; and would in no wise suffer themselves to be reduced into any good Order, neither by the Governor of Friezland, nor his Mother: yet upon the very arrival of the Commissioners dispatched to them, by the Prince of Orange, those heats were suddenly dissipated, and the Breaches made up again, and the whole Province soon restored to its former Unity and Love.  
And afterwards going himself in Person, to pacify the growing differences in Zealand, He no sooner appeared in the Assembly of their States at Middleburg, but their Dissensions assoon vanished away, like a smoky vapour in the Air, and all things thereupon were suddenly resettled, for the defence and safety of the Country to the full; and general content and satisfaction of all Persons, and his illustrious Highness' very great Praise and Glory.  
By these Beginnings, having now given the World sufficient Proofs of his great Capacity, in the Art of Civil, as well as of Military Conduct and Policy; He was called daily to greater and more glorious Actions and Achievements: For not only his own Countrymen, but even Foreign Princes, after this being so fully satisfied of his most incomparable Abilities, that they scrupled not in the least to intrust Him, with the sole command of their Armies, and to adventure them and their Fortunes at Stake, in his most victorious and successful hands.  
Neither can it be possibly instanced, that ever he deceived their Hopes, or that kind Providence ever failed his Rocky and firm expectations in any occasions, were a full confidence was wholly reposed in Him, and that he was well seconded by his Allies.  
We shall only touch briefly upon some of the most important of the rest of his glorious Achievements, passing by all lesser Occurrences and other Circumstances, but such only as shall be purely necessary to set forth in Crystal Characters, how wonderful careful the good Providence of the Almighty has been all his whole life long, to present him with fair Occasions in order to Signalise his most illustrious and incomparable Qualities. How very industrious he hath been always to cultivate those Divine Favours, not at all for his own private Ends, but merely for the Public Good; and how he hath been commonly attended with Successes, much beyond the Hopes of his greatest Friends, or Fears of his grandest Enemies, and the opinion of indeed the whole World. Quid gaudium fando, etc.  
To proceed then, though (by the watchfulness he was obliged to have upon the Motions, not only of the Armies of the Prince of Conde, and Duke of Luxemburg, but likewise of the English themselves; who at that Juncture, threatened a Descent) he was hindered from affording any relief to Maestricht, besieged the next Spring by a very powerful Army, headed by the French King himself in Person; yet upon Lewis the fourteenth's retreat, after the taking of that place, and upon the returning home of the English Fleet, after the last Engagement on the Coast of Holland, he soon repaired that loss by the retaking of Naerden; which although it had in it a Garrison of two thousand nine hundred and thirty Men, and was very well Fortified and abundantly stored with all manner of Necessaries, yet he took it in the space of four days, maugre all Luxemburg's opposition, and that again even contrary to the usual fortune of Sieges, with much less loss to his own Men, than to the besieged.  
And not long after that, carried the great stroke in the no less speedy and successful Reduction of the strong and famous City of Bonne, the Seat of the Elector of Cologne, then in the French confederacy, which was no sooner taken, but that famous old General Montecuculi, who was a proper Judge of Martial Conduct, having left with him the command of the Imperial Army to join with his own; He with them both made so formidable an Expedition towards the main Posts, possessed then by the French upon the Rhine, the , and the Moselle, that the French who wanted Men to re-implace those multitudes of good Soldiers they had too profusely squandered away in their late rash and inconsiderate Erterprises, not being able to maintain Garrisons and Armies in both Frontiers, as the State of Affairs then required, rather than venture the loss of the places, that composed the main Barrier of their Country, towards the Rhine in this juncture of Distress, and Consternation, abandoned immediately Woerden, Herderwick, Crevecoeur, Bommel, the City and Province of Vtrecht, and most of all the rest of the places they had then taken, in the united Netherlands; whose Example was soon followed by their Allies, the Munsterians.  
And thus his Highness in some sense, outdid Caesar himself, vanquishing his Enemies even at a distance, where he neither came nor saw; and forcing them willingly to submit, by the only terror of his August Name, and made them with a very mortifying reverse of Fortune, behold the period of their Victories, in his bright and rising Glory; which the most florid copious Pen can never sufficiently delineate to the Life.  
In consideration of which, most great and unexpected turn of Affairs, from the very brink of irrecoverable Ruin, and Destruction to a formidable State of Power, Grandeur, and Prosperity, effected (next and immediately under God) chief by the Policies and extraordinary valour of the Prince: The State's General as in Gratitude strongly bound, not only confirmed the Charge, of State-holder of the Provinces of Holland, and West-Friezland, in the person of his renowned Highness during Life; but settled it likewise in the Heirs-male of his Body, begotten in lawful Marriage by a public Decree, Dated the 2d. of February, 1674. The tenor of which being so signal, and glorious a Demonstration, of his high, and Unparallelled Merits; we thought, it would be a piece of Injustice not to insert, and no small satisfaction to the Candid and Impartial Reader to Peruse.  

Friday, February 2d, 1674.  
HAving taken into Deliberation, by way of Resumption, what the Lords Deputies of the City of Haerlem Proposed to the Assembly, the 23d of January last past; Whether it would not be expedient, that the Charge of State-holder, and Captain-Admiral, of the Provinces of Holland and West-Friezland; and Captain and Admiral-General of the United Provinces, should descend upon the Heirs-Males of his Highness the P. of Orange, begotten in lawful Marriage, as by the Rolls of the same Date more amply may appear; We, the Body of the Nobility, and the Deputies of the Cities, in the Name, and in the Behalf of the Burghers, and Commonalty of the said Cities, have Declared, and do Declare by these Presents, that having deliberately Considered the State and Condition of the Government of these Countries, as it was in former times, by the blessing of God, under the Most Illustrious Princes of Orange, of Glorious Memory, his Highness' Predecessors; and particularly, what has befallen this Republic for these 23, or 24 years, last passed, till now; we have observed, that this Republic has been afflicted with several Calamities and Disasters, as well Domestic, as Foreign, ever since the sad and unfortunate year 1650. That as to our Foreign Calamities, we have never been without Wars, or the Fears of Wars. More particularly, One most dreadful War, between the Kingdom of England, and these States; which shook the very Foundations of the Government of these countries'; So that it hardly has recovered Breath, ever since the said War; and another against the Crown of Portugal, in the years 1656, 1658, and 1659.; and another occasioned by the Interest of the Northern Wars. That in the year 1664, they had another New War with the King of Great Britain, and now this present War, more sad and fatal than all the rest. And that during the whole Course of the said War, this Republic has been forced to suffer many Affronts from her Neighbours, to whom she was before a Terror. That as to our Domestic Affairs, we have been overwhelmed with Intestine Divisions and Factions. That from the year 1650, to the year 1660, several Members of this Republic have had a particular Aversion to the Person of the present Prince of Orange, the only Son of that Illustrious Family; and that Others, on the contrary, have zealously maintained, that the said Prince ought not to be so ungratefully abandoned. That the King of Great Britain being recalled to the Government of his Dominions, and passing through these countries', in order to his Embarking for England, this Republic testified, as well to his Majesty, as to the Princess' Royal, and Dowager, that they would take particular care of the Interest, and Education of his Highness; and to Restore him to the Dignities which his Illustrious Ancestors of Glorious Memory had enjoyed. But that after the Death of the said Princessroyal, all Good will and Affection towards his Highness, was lost, and no further notice taken of him; till of late, that some Care was taken of his Education; and that, at length, towards the end of 1671, or 1672, Great Contests arose, about the Election of His Highness to be Captain-General of the Militia of this Country. That we have found, by sad Experience, that the said Intestine Divisions and Factions, have given an Occasion to the Enemies of this Republic, to Affront us every moment, as knowing well, that they render us uncapable to mind our Own Defence, by the Violation of that Union, which laid the Foundation of this Republic; and which God hath so Miraculously blessed. And that the Differences which arose every day, about the Election of Captain General of the Militia, and these Discords, which happened among the Principal Members of this Republic, were the Occasions, that Retarded and Hindered these Deliberations and Resolutions; Which of necessity ought to have been taken, to Repel Foreign Force, and made us spend in Idle Disputes, that precious Time, that aught to have been better husbanded. That the said Divisions were the Reason, that towards the year 1671, when the King of France openly declared, That he would make a War against this Country; we consumed whole Months together, in Deliberating about the Election of a Captain-General; and whether to pitch upon his Highness; which time ought to have been spent, in providing for the Defence of the State. And that for the same Reason it was, that the King of France invaded this Country, by Force of Arms, in the Year 1672, and reduced us to the last Extremities, and hazard of Total Ruin. That therefore the Lords and States of Holland have deemed it necessary, as the only Expedient that they can imagine, or hope for, utterly to pluck up by the Roots the Occasions of the said Factions and Divisions; to prevent their falling any more into those Misfortunes and Miseries, to which they have been hitherto exposed; And, on the other side, to acknowledge the Great and Glorious Services, which the most Illustrious House of Orange, has from time to time performed, for the Preservation and Establishment of this Republic. For these Reasons, the Lords of the Body of the Nobility, as also the Deputies of the Cities, have Unanimously Conferred, and by these Presents do Confer, in the Name, and on the behalf of the Burghers and Commonalty of the said Cities, upon His Renowned Highness, and his Heirs male, begotten in lawful Matrimony; the Charge of Stadholder, Captain, and Admiral General of the Provinces of Holland and West-Friezland, with all the Dignities, Preeminences, Prerogatives, Rights and Privileges thereto belonging, without any exception or reservation, in as ample, and in the same manner, as the same Charge is at present executed by His Highness the Prince of Orange; And consequently, that after the decease of his said Highness, (to whom, nevertheless, the States of Holland wish a long and happy Life, in all health and prosperity) the said Charge of State-holder, Captain, and Admiral-General of the Provinces of Holland and West-Friezland, with the Dignities, Preeminences, Prerogatives, Rights and Privileges thereunto belonging, without any exception or reservation, shall devolve and descend upon his Heirs-males, begotten in lawful Wedlock. In pursuance of which resolution, the said Lords of the Body of the Nobility, have ordered Letters-Patents to be drawn up, and Sealed with the Great Seal of the Provinces, etc.  
Upon the same day likewise, the States of Zealand conferred the same Dignities upon him, and made him Hereditary Noble of their Province; upon which ensued the recovery of all the rest of the Places and Countries yet remaining in the Enemy's hands; which our Magnanimous Hero showed as much Prudence and Policy, in clearing from Abuses, and Remodelling to their Ancient Form and Order, as he had before shown Courage, and Conduct in their Recovery.  
Thus, did both the French, and the De-Wits, and their Upstart-party, by those very Designs, that struck at the Ruin both of Him and his Country, by a strange overruling turn of Providence, advance him to sudden Greatness, of a much higher pitch, than that they attempted to dismount him from; And his unjust Deprivation of all his Hereditary Honours and Dignities, became the occasion of his being afterwards invested with more abundant Honour: Which he always studied to make redound to the advantage and prosperity, and not (like his French Tyrannical Neighbour) to the Misery and Oppression of his Country. After this, the King of France, to repair his late Loss in the United Netherlands, by regaining fresh Ground in the Spanish Provinces, falling down with his Power into La Franche Comté, and Mastering that whole Province, before any sufficient Force could possibly advance to hinder him; and being returned for Paris, leaving that experienced, and Renowned General, the Prince of Conde in the Low-countrieses, with a Powerful Army of his Choicest Forces, to watch the Motions, and thwart, if po●●●le, the Designs of the Confederate Ar●●▪ which now consisted of the United Forces, of the Imperialists, Spaniards and Hollanders, amounting in all to 60000 Men, under the Command of Three great Chiefs, viz. General Souches, His Highness the Prince of Orange, and the Count de Monterey, whereof, the Prince Commanded the main Battle, and the other Two Generals, the Van and the Rear. There happened soon after, between those Two Potent Armies, the most fierce and furious fight of Seneffe; wherein the Great Prince of Conde's Valour and Courage was every way Matched, and his Conduct, and Prudence, in several respects, outdone, by a General, who was yet but a Young Beginner in War. By which means he put a check upon that Fury, which guided, as it was, with so much skill in a General, equally fiery and experienced; and backed with a numerous Army of veterane Soldiers, flushed, and bovyed up with continual Victories: Had it proved successful, as but for the extraordinary Prudence, Courage and Diligence of the Prince of Orange, it most certainly had, would have overwhelmed Holland, and all the Low-countrieses, with a Second Inundation of French Violences, much more dangerous and remediless (as all Relapses commonly are) than the First. For, not to insert here all the particulars of that Dreadful Battle, of which there are so many well-penned Relations extant, it is certain, on all hands, That the Prince of Conde, though he before were averse to a Fight, as being very loath to expose the Glory and Honour he had won in so many Battles, by encountering an undaunted and vigorous young Prince, of Twenty three years of age, and knowing his Eagerness even in that early beginning of his Mighty Career, by making his first Trial of a pitcht-Battel, against so famous a Chieftain as the Prince of Conde, and by Victory over him, to open himself a secure and easy passage into the very Bowels of France, in order to revenge the Grand Injuries, both his Native Country, and his own Hereditary Principality, and other Patrimonial Lands, had received so lately from that Insolent and Unquiet Nation; and reflecting on himself, upon the account of the Civil and Foreign Wars he had been engaged in, not many years before, against Lewis the 14th, what severe Censures he would be obnoxious to, more than any other Commander, upon any Considerable Misfortune to his Army, which would have laid France open and Defenceless on that side, and would have been thought in him, a wilful Miscarriage.  
Though (I say) for these Reasons, that Great French Prince moderated his Natural Impatience to Fight; And, with Design to avoid a Battle, posted his Army so, that he could not be any ways forced to it; yet, when he heard of the daily Clashing of the General-Officers of the Confederate Army; and how much the Well-advised Measures of our Courageous Prince, were disjointed and broken thereby; and found, that upon their Despairing to bring him to a Battle, they were Marching to lay Siege to some important place, within their New Conquests; and that in their March by him, they were forced to file through very narrow and most difficult passages; Letting the Van-guards Politicly pass, and some of the Main-Body too, quietly, without any disturbance, some Leagues before; he thought he had then a very sure prospect, of cutting off securely and easily, at least, their whole Rear; and accordingly fell upon them, with so much vigour and fury, and with such success, that in a few Moment's, he routed, and broke in pieces, all the Spanish Cavalry, and the Foot sent to their Relief; who being so broken, fell upon the Dutch, and put them into such a terrible disorder, that could no ways possible be remedied by our brave young Prince; though it must be granted by all, that he used all imaginable means to do it, that Industry, Prudence, or Courage could suggest: And most certain it is, that had the Prince of Conde been contented with the success of that first Action, the Victory was his, and the Confederates could no ways, at that time, as their Armies were posted, have Retaliated the loss to the French.  
But the fiery General, of these last, being encouraged by the hopes of a Complete Victory, as thinking the Dutch, whom he looked upon, to be very despicable Soldiers, would never stand after the Spaniards were wholly Defeated, would needs make his whole Army advance, and endeavour to force the Prince of Orange out of some advantageous Posts he had Seized, to stop the torrent of his Successes and Fury, and make a general Battle of it; whereby he gave occasion to our illustrious Prince, to catch his Laurels from him, and by main Force and Courage, to wrest the Victory from one who before had it in his hands, and oblige him to retire with the loss of all the flower of his Army, under the favour of the darksome Night; and to welcome its approach for saving him from the disgrace of a total Defeat, though 'tis most assured, he had not at all missed of his aim, but had ruined that day with an irreparable Slaughter, the whole Confederate Army, had he had to do with a Prince with the least degree of less Vigour, Obstinacy, Activity and Conduct, than himself.  
And most certain it is, the Glory and Renown our Heroical Prince gained that day, is very great indeed; when so great a Master of War, as the Prince of Conde was, thought it a glory not to be overcome by him.  
And indeed the Prince of Orange's Conduct and Example, must needs be confessed by all unbiass'd Writers, to have produced the mightier Effects of the two on that occasion, since if the Prince of Conde's Behaviour and Example, kept up the Courage to admiration in an old Army, composed all (as 'twere) of Captains, as much used to Victory, as to Fight: That of the Prince of Orange, restored it to a Miracle, in men altogether dispirited and defeated; and in a few Moment's, made able Captains of those, who till that very Day, were hardly Soldiers, and knew not what 'twas to be in a hot Engagement; and animated them with such fresh Vigour, as to ravish away a glorious Victory, from an Army of old beaten and long experienced Soldiers.  
All the while this Action lasted, our undaunted Prince gave all necessary Orders, with admirable Prudence, and extraordinary Skill; He neglected no means nor advantage, he could possibly improve, opposed a fit and speedy remedy where ever there was occasion, and charged the French several times at the head of his Squadrons, with matchless Bravery and indefatigable Diligence; he stopped even his own Fugitives, that fell upon him, as well as his Enemies; and rallying them again, charged with them several times a fresh; he exposed himself as well as the Prince of Conde, more than the meanest Soldier, and Count Souches rightly said of him, That he fought with the Conduct of an old General, and the Courage of a Caesar.  
His very Enemies said of Him, that if their Prince of Conde had multiplied himself, he had met the Prince of Orange every were; and the Prince of Conde himself speaking of him, with admiration, said, That he had behaved himself in every thing like an old Captain, excepting his exposing himself unto too many Dangers, wherein he said, he had Acted like a young Man; though as old, as himself was, he was as guilty of the same fault, as he, and had committed more Blunders in Conduct.  
In fine, the French Prince was glad to leave him the Field of Battle, and Retire, and was so very cautious after that, of venturing another Engagement with him, though after both Armies were well refreshed and recruited, that he declined it by all the ways and means he could possible, and contented himself thence forwards with observing only his Adversaries motions, and covering the Conquests and Frontiers of France, against him, which was the main design of our redoubted Prince, could he have found so ready a Compliance, from the other confederate Generals, as was absolutely necessary for so great an Enterprise; however finding he could not draw the Prince of Conde, to any more Battles, he laid a Siege to Oudenard, with intent to draw the French out of their Retrenchments to its Relief. Accordingly the Stratagem took so far, that the Prince of Conde having strengthened himself with some Detachments of fresh Forces, brought him by the Marshal D' Humiers, marching to attempt its Succour, the Prince of Orange, presently summoning a Council of War, advised the Confederates to march with him immediately out of the Lines, and attack the French, while they were now weary with their long and hard March; which, had they done in all probability and appearance, he had obtained a glorious Victory over them; and the Prince of Conde was so sensible of the certainty of the measures his Enemy had advised, that when upon the news they were broken, by the ill timed opposition of Count Souches, and the Imperalists, and a French Officer took occasion thereupon to tell the Prince of Conde, that our Heroical Prince was unhappy, he is reported to have uttered this prophetical Speech of him. 'Tis true, answered he, he is as unhappy as brave; but yet for all that, he would in time prove a General as formidable to France, as his Forefathers had been to Spain; such was the judgement of this great and knowing Enemy, of his growing Honour, and blooming Glory. And what Alexander King of Macedonia said to a certain Queen, that sent him most delicious and Far, Junkets curiously prepared, may at this time be truly applied to our illustrious Prince. Respondit seipsum habere meliores obsoniorum artifices, ad prandium quidem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Nocturnum Iter, ad Caenam vero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. tenue prandium.  
Finding himself then balked in his Heroical Designs, and main Ends and Scope, against the French Army, by the opposition of the Imperial Officers, suspected strongly to be caused by French Intrigues and Insinuations; His Highness the Prince of Orange moves towards Grave, the last remaining and strongest receptacle of the Gallicans' in Holland, and the most resolutely defended by a stout Garrison of between 4 and 5000 Men, and took it in the space of about 16 days after his Arrival, where he found 450 pieces of Cannon, whereof 100 were mounted, besides an infinite quantity of Corn and other Provisions; and of Powder, Ball, Granado's, and all warlike Ammunition, the French having hoarded up in that place, almost all they had brought away from their deserted Conquests; and thus he happily and gloriously ended that Campagne.  
After this, he faced more than once the main Power of France, led by the King himself, who tamely suffered himself to be by him, even with advantage provoked to Battle, without daring to accept the Challenge; and (it cannot be denied) had most certainly been attacked by him, in despite of all his precautions before Bouchain, had not the Town, contrary to Expectation, with too much inconsiderateness and precipitation furrendred, before he could possibly execute his great and noble Design; and indeed it must be acknowledged, that he all along made much more vigorous and resolute Efforts, to relieve the besieged Spanish Towns, than the Spaniards themselves did in defending them; whose Officers were too often either corrupted by French Gold, or not sufficiently provided for by the fault and negligence of their General Governors, or else through the grand negligence and dilatory proceed of the Spanish Court itself, whose Motto may well be Festina lente.  
What he did afterwards in the Siege of Maestricht, is sufficiently demonstrated to the World, that had the promised Reinforcements arrived to him, from the Dukes of Lunenburg and Bishop of Munster, upon which he depended, he had not failed through God's blessing reducing it: Yet so formidable was his Courage and Conduct, more than the number of his Forces, or the quality of his Army, to the wary French General Schomberg then sent against him, that he was contented only to relieve the Town without accepting Battle, though offered it, as much fatigued and diminished, as were his Enemy's Troops at that time.  
The next Year, the French King making use of the great advantage, his absolute Command over a formidable Body of experienced, welldisciplined and hardened Soldiers; and over the Purses of all manner of Persons, in his Realms and Dominions, had above those who acting in the Confederacy, met with a thousand delays, caused by different Counsels and Interests; and the Poverty and want of Power, in some of their Allies, falls in the very depth of Winter, with numerous and prodigious Forces into the Spanish Netherlands, and taking the strong Town of Valenciennes with an astonishing Celerity, sits down before Cambray, takes the Town, distresses the Castle, and at the same time, sends his Brother the Duke of Orleans, with another potent Army to besiege St. Omers, which were all three Towns of mighty Importance, that formerly extremely galled the Frontiers of France; and this before any of the Confederate Forces, could be got together, but such as might be drawn out of Holland, and some Neighbouring Spanish Garrisons. Yet notwithstanding these grand Disadvantages at this time our gracious and truly public Spirited Prince, not willing the Interest of his Allies, and of his Country, should so deeply suffer without some attempt, to repel the dreadful Storm; he assembles such an Army, as he could possibly in so short a time, and in such haste, draw together, as we have said, of Dutch and Spanish Forces; and though he understood the Duke of Orleans, leaving only some Regiments to guard his Trenches, and keep the Town blocked up, had posted the rest of his Army, in and about all the Avenues and Passages to the place, which were difficult to force, and were besides that strongly guarded with two Rivers, one behind the other; yet he passed the first River, with such speed and silence, that all his Army were got over before the Enemy perceived them; and afterwards, though the French were all drawn up in Battalia, not far from the very Banks of the second River, yet he most successfully made himself Master of the Abbey of Pienes on the other side, and lodged his own Regiment of Dragoons in it, which provoking the Enemy to march out from an advantageous post to dislodge them, brought the Armies at length to a Battle, wherein the Duke of Orleans found himself so hardly pressed by the Prince, that his best Troops about his Person gave at one time so much way, that (as I have been credibly informed) some persons of Note, that were of his own party in that Battle, reported, that when Prayers and Menaces would not avail or do, he had once Recourse to Sighs and Tears, to make them return to the charge against the Enemy. For which he could not escape the Raillery even of the King his Brother at his coming back, who could not forbear smiling at his Conduct, though perhaps Lewis the 14th. would have been as much frighted at the Danger, had he himself been there as the other.  
Certain it is, the French much exceeded in Number and Quality of Troops, having received the very night before a Re-inforcement of 15000 choice Men, from the Kings own Army; so that by the impartial report of the French themselves, the Prince of Orange withstood that day, no less than 39 Battalions of Foot, and an 100 Squadron of Horse: And though the loss on the Confederate side was very considerable, yet several Squadrons of the Enemy were most roughly handled, in so much that the Adversaries themselves scrupled not to say and own, That if the Prince's left Wing had fought, with equal courage to the right, he might in all probability, have relieved the Town, and obliged the Enemy at that time to have quitted the Siege, if he had not entirely routed them; but a Regiment of new raised Soldiers, planted or posted in that Wing, were the real cause that his Highness had not all the Success in that Battle, which indeed his wise Conduct undaunted Courage, and indefatigable Industry deserved. However, all relations agree in this, That he performed all that was possible to be done, with such a small Army, and in such a place and juncture, against such a puissant Enemy, by the most Prudent, Courageous and daring Leader in the whole World. And that in the main Battle, were he himself commanded in Person, he did Wonders, leading on his Men at the very head of his Troops to the Charge, and hazarding himself to that degree, that he received two Musket Shots in his Armour. After the end of this Campagne, Heaven determinating to lay the Foundation of his present Grandeur and Glory, by giving a very precious Gage and Pledge of the Possession of those Crowns it intended, as the due reward of his truly Royal Virtues, and indefatigable pains for the weal of Christianity; so influenced the heart of our late King Charles the second of England, that in spite of the French Intrigues, and the secret Inclinations of the then Duke of York, her Father, to the Contrary, and to the surprisal and mortification of the French King, he bestowed upon Him in sacred Marriage, the no less Virtuous and Accomplished, than the beauteous Princess his Niece, the Presumptive Heiress of the British Monarchy, an alliance of a much more dreadful prospect to the Aspiring Monsieur, than the loss of all his late Conquests in Holland, Flanders, Brabant and elsewhere, and which threatened France itself, with an unpleasant Retaliation (in due time) for all her notorious Violences.  
This illustrious Alliance was solemnised on the 4th. day of November, 1677. being the joyful Birthday of his illustrious Highness, at eleven at Night; but so privately, that the People not knowing till the (Morrow, or) next Day, being the Anniversary of the Gunpowder Treason, made it a double Holiday. (And since that, he hath made it a threefold Holiday, or day of Rejoying, by his most happy Landing at Tor-Bay, etc.) as well upon the usual occasion, as to testify their Joy, for so Blessed and Glorious a Match, from which even then, the whole Protestant Church throughout Europe, began cheerfully to hope for the crushing of the Popish and French Power; as if the Protestants had known by some Prophetic Instinct, that Heroic Prince, unfeignedly espousing their Interest, as well as their religious Princess, would one day become their most welcome and glorious Deliverer and Defender, and make the memorial of the famous 5th. of November, once more sacred and dear to them, by public Benefits; no less signal than those by which it was first ennobled, above the common days.  
After which the Prince well remembering how very necessary his presence would be in Holland, returned thither with all the haste he could, with his most rich and gracious Acquest, that since has produced so much good to the common Cause, and the benefit of the Confederates, as well as of the two most potent Sea-Nations of Europe; where both He, and his Royal Bride were received with a Magnificence suitable to their High and august Quality; and with all the expressions and Demonstrations of Joy that could be expected from a People, sensible of their great Happiness in so illustrious and powerful Alliance. Upon their first public entrance into the Hague, the Bridge was crowned with Garlands of Triumph, and an Arch was builded through which they passed, and on it was written. 
Vxori & Batavis vivat Nassovius Hector,  
Auriaco & Patriae vivat Britannica Princes.  And another Arch with another Motto. Auriaci his Thalamis Batavis dos Regia pax est.  
Soon after his return, the French King being alarmed at this Alliance, and the consequent preparations made by the King and Parliament of England, to oblige him to a just and reasonable Peace with his Neighbours, he himself with all speed dispatched away a project of Peace to Nimeguen, and getting it after some Demur, consented to by the States of Holland, by the influence of a Party that still covertly opposed the Prince, and by the discouragement the then posture of Affairs in England really gave the States, occasioned by the Disturbances raised and fomented there, by the same French intrigues to prevent the dreaded effects of the late Marriage; a Treaty was concluded soon after, that gave some respite to our renowned Prince for several years, from his military Fatigues and wearisome Nights. And now to signalise himself, no less by the Prudent and advantageous reformation of abuses, and regulation of things relating to the Civil State of his Country, than he had been vigorous, and successful in the maintenance and defence of its Territories; but however, before that work was perfectly finished, the delays and new difficulties made by the French King, to sign the Treaty, though according to his own proposals, caused a new League to be made between the States and King of great Britain; and gave the Prince opportunity once more to show his wise Conduct, and matchless Prowess against that insolent and powerful Enemy, in a more glorious and successful manner than ever before; and well near to have made the French King pay dearly for his over refined and ill timed Politics, with the loss of his now darling General Luxemburg's whole Army; for the strong City of Mons having been long blocked, and very much distressed by the French, and the Duke of Luxemburg, having taken his march that way, to hinder all Succours from it; his Highness made haste to the Army, then near the Canal of brussels, where the rest of the Confederate Forces, had newly joined the Spanish and Dutch Troops, and pursuant to a resolution taken for that Effect, in a council of War, march with an intention to attack and dislodge Luxemburg, after he was joined a little beyond Brussels with a re-inforcement of 6000 Brandenburghers, and Munsterians; but upon Advice of the Prince's March, Luxemburg quitting his Camp, took up his head Quarters in the Abbey of St. Denys, which was a Post he thought inaccessible, there being no coming at him but through Woods and Defiles, surrounded with Precipices; yet for all this, our redoubted Prince advanced to that Abbey with his left Wing, and with his Right, faced Casteau, which the French likewise were posted in, and which was as difficult to force as the other; and as soon as ever he had ranged his Army, he first of all drove the Enemy from a certain Hillock, and then with some Canon, played upon another Party of them briskly, that endeavoured to maintain themselves on one side of a Cloister near St. Denys, who not being able to resist the vigour of the Confederate Dragoons, who drove them from their holds, and mastered the Cloister; whilst Adjutant General Colliers, backed by General Delvick, filled his men silently and speedily through the narrow Passages, and sliding with an undaunted Courage down the Precipices, repulsed the Enemy in spite of all the resistance, within their own lines. In the very midst of which, our renowned Prince with eager warmth and spirits inflamed, cried out aloud, to me, to me, to encourage the coming up of the Regiments that were to back the foremost; this fight on the left Wing continued till night with a great vigour, besides which Count Horn drew near, and played with his Canon upon some French Batallions in the Valley, with no small Execution.  
From thence the Prince advanced to Casteau, which was Assaulted by the Spaniards in the Right Wing; where his Highness' Foot Regiment of Guards, and a Body of English, through Fire and Smoak, after an obstinate Fight of Five hours, Chased the Enemy, at last, from a Post they thought altogether impregnable, and pursued them a Quarter of a League, through a Field, and down a Precipice, where the River Haines runs, toward the farther side of Casteau. And our brave Lord of Ossory did surprising things, with his English, at a little distance from the Guards; where the French are said to have lost more Men than any where else; Nor were there any other of the Generals that acted not like Heroes; But more especially the undaunted Prince, who, through whole showers of Bullets, thick as Hail, and Clouds of Fire and Smoak, adventured so very far, and pressed on with so much vigour in the Crowds, that he had been, in all appearance, slain, had not the brave Lord Overkirk interposed between him and a daring Captain, that was running full tilt at his Highness, and laid the bold Champion in the silent Dust, for his attempt.  
The Cavalry, in this Fight, had no convenience to be serviceable, because of the Narrowness of the Passages, and steep Descents of the Ground; but all was acted by the Foot, and Dragoons. The Night alone put a period to the Bloody Fray, and parted the Furious Assaults of each Valiant Captain, under the Covert of which, the poor Surprised and Astonished Luxemburg, retreated with silence, and extreme Confusion, nearer to Mons, to secure himself, between a Wood on one side, and a River on the other, leaving to the Prince of Orange the Marks of Victory, as the Field of Battle, and most part of his wounded Men, and part of his Tents, Baggage, and Match, Powder and Ammunition.  
The States-General, on the News of this Fortunate Blow, to such a proud and fierce Enemy, sent Commissioners to his Illustrious Highness, to Congratulate his happy Victory, which he had won with so much Renown, and to thank him for his most Careful and Prudent Conduct, in such a long, Bloody and Obstinate Action; and also to Conjure him, in tender Consideration, to the Prosperity and Tranquillity of his Country, and Welfare of the Reformed Religion, which seemed, as 'twere, to be tied to the thread of his precious Life, that he would be more careful of his own most dear Person; And accordingly to show the World, how great a value they set upon his Preservation; they presented the Lord Overkirk, who had so Valiantly Defended him, and saved his highly esteemed Life, with a Rich Sword, hilted with Massie-Gold, a pair of Pistols, Richly and Curiously Inlaid with Gold, and a pair of Horse-Buckles of the very same.  
Nor had our brave Prince contented himself only to have obliged Luxemburg to retire, without further pursuing his Advantages; had not he, whilst he was consulting what to do, Received Advice, That the Peace was really made and Ratified, between the French King, and the States some days since, which made the French draw off to the Sambre, and the Prince towards Nivelle; from whence he returned to the Hague, applying his Care thence forward, solely to the Management of the Civil Government; till the breaking out of this last Perfidious War, upon Occasion of the Manifest violation of both the said Peace, and Succeeding Truce, by the most Unjust Violences of the French, and their Grand Barbarities; Renewed in the Palatinate, and the Diocese of Cologne; and by the Siege and Surprisal of philipsburg.  
But that which advances the Mighty and Glorious Achievements of this, now most excellent Monarch, to a pitch of Glory and Greatness, above those of any other Hero of this present Age, or perhaps of any former; is, that he has given such Convincing Proofs, and Undeniable Testimonies, to the whole World, of their flowing merely from a pure, and untainted Principle of zeal to his Country, to true Religion, Virtue, and the Public Good. That he has left neither Friends nor Enemies, any room to doubt of it, or call it in Question; since in the very lowest Ebb of his Fortune, neither the multiplied and insulting Injuries, and repeated Affronts, of an Ungrateful Country; Nor, the small prospect he had of saving even his Patrimonial Estate, any other way; nor, all the fair ample and magnificent Promises of two Mighty Kings, could make him accept of Grandeur, at the Expense of the Liberty and Privileges, though of a very unthankful People, that had sometime stripped him of his Ancient Hereditary Rights and Dignities; and since, no Motives at all could possibly prevail with him, to accept of Sovereignty, in a Free-State, that his Glorious and Renowned Ancestors made, and himself found so; Neither from the full Grant of a Conquering Invader; Nor yet, from the Free Donation of the People themselves; And though the French Tyrant, even since the Peace of Nimeguen, and the following Truce; and before the breaking out, or eruption of this last War, most contrary to the express Treaty, very Notoriously oppressed, spoiled and ravaged; not only his Sovereign Principality of Orange, but all his other Lands and Lordships, Dominions and Privileges in the Netherlands, and elsewhere; yet such was his Princely Mindedness and Patience, that he did never move the States into any New quarrel, to redress his own wrongs; Nor so much as put them upon proposing any New Articles, in his particular Cause, or Favour; Even at the very making of the Peace, though all the Transactions of it were managed in his Presence, and his Advice still asked about them. Yet, I say, such was his goodness, never did he insist upon any peculiar Articles, to be inserted for himself, That might be thought, peradventure, to retard the Conclusion of a Treaty; but with a Generosity without, and beyond all Example; while others preferred points of Honour, and private Interest, before the Common Peace and Good; He even Quit his own Pretensions, and Postponed the most Just Demands of Reparation, for the Devastation of his own proper Demeans and Territories, to the Necessities of his Country; like another Codrus, in some sense laying down his Prerogatives and Privileges for their Benefit, and Jeoparding his own Life for their Good: And what is said of that Noble Consul Publius Decius, may well be applied to him; who, when he saw his Army greatly discomfited, and almost Overcome, redoubled his Valour, Courage, and was most ready and willing, to hazard his own precious Life, to save his Country from danger and destruction.  
How exceeding happy were it for their People, if all Princes; and how wonderful happy for all Princes, if all private Persons, were but half so , and so wholly and perfectly resigned to the Exigence of the Common Good; as was this Great and Incomparable Prince, even from his very Cradle? Whose Right-Noble, and Unparallelled steps, having traced through the various and strange Revolutions of Holland; Let us now further pursue, in his more Glorious Advances, in the most Memorable Revolution of Great Britain; where his Gratuitous, and truly Heroical Charity, and not his Ambition, have raised Him to a Throne He never sought for, but in Vindication of these Nations Rights, more than His own private Ends.  
Thus our Constantine had hitherto been chief on the Defensive part, and at the Heads of Armies, He was not the absolute Sovereign of; yet, notwithstanding all the many Intrigues and Factions, devised and formed against him, Maugre all the Malice of his open, and secret Adversaries; He restored a Torn, and tottering State, or Republic, to its former Peace and Prosperity; and forced his own, and his Countries grandest, and most Politic Enemy, in the very midst of his Triumphant Career, to give back, and even quit all his Encroachments in the United Netherlands; with far more Precipitation, than he had at first seized them with Celerity. Though it was such, as had at that time, surprised the whole World. But (blessed, and for ever blessed be God) now a more glorious, and delightful Scene opens itself; And to put him, in a fair, or suitable condition, to attack that proud and insulting Adversary in his turn; as well as tamely to ward off his furious and cunning passes; Kind Providence leads him on, with a much more wonderful Career and Success, even swifter than Fame itself, to seize the Enemy's strongest Bulworks, (As was Great Britain to the French Monarch at that time; If I may without offence call it so) by the General Consent, and Invitation of his Nobles, Ministers, and Friends, made privy to it; And there drops two Crowns (with a glorious and happy Reverse of things, and an unexpected Liberty to all his Subjects) upon his Heroical Head, shortly to be further Graced, and Guarded by the addition of a Third, to make him the fit Match, both to Grapple with the Triple Crown of Rome, and the Iron Sceptre of France.  
And in order to bring about this great and astonishing Design, which Heaven seemed to have promised him sometime before, by those no less than Miraculous Phoenomena's, or Apparitions of Glorious Crowns in the Air, over the City of Orange, in two different years; As is related in two Narratives, of Authentic Credit; to which, as well known to the Curious, I refer. The Great and Almighty Disposer of Kingdoms, and Just Governor of the whole World, seems to have employed a Chain of Causes, all composed of Miracles, from one end to the other; or, at least, of Incidents, and Events, as much beyond the Comprehension, as the Expectation, both of Friends and Enemies; For as when the Tyrant Maxentius, and other Pagan Persecutors, had filled up the measure of their Cruelties, God (in his infinite Goodness and Mercy) was pleased to make, not only part of the Imperial Authority to devolve upon Constantine, the Revenger of all his Church's wrongs, and Restorer of her Liberties, by the death of his Father, and unanimous Election of the British Legions. But to order and dispose of all things so, as most strangely to concur to the elevating him to such a further power, (although he was but the least, amongst the Seven Sharers of the Roman Greatness) as to trample upon the rest, and even throw them all down, and set himself up, unrivalled in the Throne. Where, fearless of the Attempts of any future Opposers, he might most effectually protect, and propagate the true Religion, according to his pleasure.  
So the most Barbarous Maxentius of our present Age, or Common Enemy of Truth, and Oppressor of Peace and Religion in Europe, viz. the  Tyrant having now carried on his Fury to the greatest Extremities, that either his hellish Hounds, or blood thirsty Dragoons could Act, or humane Nature possibly suffer, both against his own innocent Protestant Subjects, and against those of all his Neighbour Princes and States, of what Religion soever, that durst presume to dispute his most imperious Orders. And having like the Dragon in the Apocalypse, already beaten down with his Massy Tail, some of the supreme Powers next him, which are the lesser Stars, of Europe's bright Heaven, and being in a fair way to sweep down all the rest, sometime ago, and bring them at least under Subjection; it pleased Almighty God in his due time, for to raise up another Michael, or another Constantine (many learned Expositors thinking that by Michael, in that place of the Revelation of St. John 12. is meant Constantine) to stop the rage and fury of this French Dragon; who with his long Train of bloody Miscreants, hath so very much infested Christendom of late Years, and totally to rout this new Maxentius and restore Peace, Justice and Liberty to the Church and People of God; even out of that most ancient, as well as illustrious House of Nassaw. A House that once before had stopped the dangerous Torrent of the Spanish Power, and redeemed the Captive Netherlands from its Yoke and Thraldom.  
And to let the World know, that the Alwise Governor, and most righteous Judge of the whole Earth, intended to make use of him, not only to retard the Progress of the French Tyranny for a while, but (we hope) even totally to destroy it; and that as the Tyrant himself had begun his own ruin, so like the Champion of the Philistines, he should go on, and continue to complete it; and make every Man's Sword in his Idolatrous Army to be against his Fellow, insomuch that our happy Joshua's men may with Triumph trample upon their Necks. The Almighty Avenger of the Injuries of his Elect, which cry day and night to him in compassion to his suffering Saints, was not content to use the Valour and Conduct of our warlike Prince, only to rescue the united Provinces, but even the whole Protestant Religion, and the civil State of all Europe, from the same Bondage and Oppression. And therefore that he might no longer at so great a disadvantage, combat with such an overgrown Monster, he resolves to exalt him to the sublime and sacred Station of Royalty, and that too, in those Ancient and Warlike Kingdoms, which he was most rightfully entitled to (not only by Consanguinity, but Affinity) and which had before been happily instrumental to lower the Spanish pride, on the one hand, and so often to chastise the insolency of the more formidable and crafty French on the other.  
And if this work was great enough to amaze all beholders, and to put the Historical Faith of all succeeding Generations, to the very uttermost proof; the manner by which it was effected, must of necessity appear much more wonderful, since towards his mighty and glorious effect, even the most contrary Interests, Inclinations, Accidents and Events; and in a word, all the most opposite Causes imginable, were made to conspire and concur with as much Union and Harmony, as if they had been all 〈◊〉 one and the selfsame Soul or 〈◊〉, (who is Ens Entium, as well as 〈◊〉 Causarum) for even Enemies, Friends, Papists, Protestants, Winds and Seas, all acted towards, and promoted proportionably, this grand and glorious design of Providence, even while they contended most against it.  
Because therefore it will not be a little edifying and instructive to us of these Kingdoms, not only in our Religious, but also in our Politic and civil Concerns, to understand rightly and comtemplate (in some measure) the most miraculous method used by the Divine and overruling Power, in producing this happy and never to be forgotten Revolution of great Britain and Ireland. Before we proceed to give you any account of that, we shall (as far as we, in a private Station could, or think fit, for particular Persons to pry into) give you a short view of the several steps that were made on all sides towards it, till at the last, they were all deceived; some very happily as being carried on far beyond their first proposed ends, and the utmost of their hopes; and the others with a more Melancholic Surprise, finding themselves defeated of their Giantlike expectations, and driven upon such Rocks, as they thought they had steered the surest course to avoid.  
And first, we will begin with the French King, his illustrious Highness the Prince of Orange's most inveterate and irreconcilable Enemy, ever since the refusal of his Overtures for betraying his Native Country, and show what steps he himself, though a great Master of Politics, made to this great and blessed Revolution; which may (by God's blessing) prove in due time a means to bring him to Subjection to this ancient and imperial Crown of England again.  
In order to secure the success of the mighty Project, which has been so eagerly pursued, and carried on by Lewis the 14th. for some Years past, of attaining the universal Monarchy of the West; it is not at all doubted by any well versed in Politics, but of all other things, it was most highly necessary, that his surest Alley, the late King James, should be fully and absolutely Master of his Kingdoms, and till that were effected and put out of all danger of being Traversed; that it was no less needful for him (namely, the French King) to treat his Protestant Subjects at home well, nay, rather better than ordinary; to keep up a good correspondence likewise with the Pope, and other Roman Catholic Princes; to have religiously observed the Truce with the Empire; to have dissembled for some time at least, his resentments against the renowned Prince of Orange; to have restored him the Principality of that Name, which he most unjustly extorted from his noble Ancestors; to have persuaded his Uncle to have caressed him; to have kept fair with the Hollanders; to have terrified no body with Arms of Cruelties, but only to have supplied his faithful Ally of great Britain, constantly and privately with sufficient Moneys, and carried on all his Intrigues elsewhere, only with the underhand and potent charms of Gold; to have persuaded King James to have let alone the Intrigue of the pretended Prince of Wales; to have abstained from multiplying Popish Chapels, and public toleration of Jesuits and Priests; to have forborn the planting a Jesuitical Crew in Magdalene College; to have abstained from sending Mandamus after Mandamus, to violate the ancient Privileges of that Loyal and Famous University of Oxford; to have forborn the sending of the most Reverend and right Reverend, the Bishops (those Pillars of our true Reformed Church of England) into the Tower: In a word, to have contented himself only with new modelling Corporations, and insensibly new regulating his Army and Court, till all had been sure. Had he been duly cautious, and circumspect in these particulars, it had been shrewdly probable, if not an assured thing, that a great part of the Clergy, Nobility and Gentry of England, would not have seen through the late king James' Designs, nor at least have believed them, till perhaps they had felt the Chains about their Necks; that his Army would have stood by him till at last, when things had been full ripe for it; they had seen the greatest part of themselves shipped off, upon some sudden Foreign Quarrel, and their places supplied at home, by Soldiers in French pay. And this might have been peradventure, so politicly managed, as not to have alarmed the illustrious Ancient and Warlike House of Austria; the Hollanders perchance would have unconcernedly looked upon it, being so exceedingly busied about the Indian Gold and Treasures; and the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, might perhaps have been lulled fast asleep, by their present Peace, vast Trading and Plenty: And this step once gained, the subtle Monsieur could have securely oppressed the Spanish Netherlands, once again, overrun Holland, and have invaded the Empire when the imperial Forces should have been perhaps (as dreaming of no danger from the Rhine) employed as far as Bulgaria or Romania in chase the Turks; and these were the Counsels of his wisest Ahitophel, the late famous Louvois. But he that taketh the wise in his own craftiness, and maketh Diviners mad, and brings good out of Evil, caused that vulgar Proverb here to prove an Oracle, That Quos perdere vult deus, prius dementat, God first blinds or renders foolish, those whom he hath resolved to destroy; for the deep and most surely laid Counsels of that great Statesman, were providentially overruled by the fawning influence of Jesuited Heads, whereof some were on men's, and some more advantageously placed on the necks of the charming and seldom failing Sex; who working upon the French King's unmeasurable Vanity, and unlimited Ambition, very easily persuaded him, that his Power was now grown so Formidable, and all his Forces for Sea and Land so well disciplined, that he needed not to be so much enslaved to those cautious Measures, proposed by his Ministers of State, as he had been hitherto; but leaving those flow paces, to the Sages of the House of Austria, who placed most of their Majesty in deliberate Counsels, and more slow Executions; he might now resume his natural briskness, and advance securely the nearest way to Glory; especially since England was then under a Roman Catholic Prince, entirely at his Devotion upon all occasions. And with all, seeing things at that time were in such a posture, that the imperial Force was so wholly taken up in a War, in the remotest Frontiers of Christian Europe, there was no other Power, that either durst, or could timely and effectually oppose his Attempts, either in Religious or civil Matters; and that the most active Spirits, that were best able, or most disposed to obstruct the course of his prosperous advance, were many of them (as well Princes, as their Ministers) now become wonderful docile and disciplinable without word of Mouth, or beat of Drum, only by the bare Lustre and Loadstone of some choice golden Lewis', Art fully brandished before their Eyes, by a French Emissary. And these plausible advices, which so tickled him in his most sensible part, prevailed on him to Act in all things just the reverse of what he had sometime before been counselled by those who best understood, and had all along (when believed) most successfully pursued and carried on the interest of that universal Sovereignty, which they would have persuaded him to court gently; but his hot Jesuited Councillors, would needs have him attempt to ravish; which impotent and ill timed Essay, has now so much alarmed the Coy Lady (Universal Monarchy) that if we mistake not, having providentially untwisted herself out of his Arms, and got clearly out of the reach of his violence, she will not admit his cringing Addresses any more. For looking, not without cause, upon both the Protestant and the Pope, though most opposite in Principles, to be most mighty obstacles in his way to universal Sovereignty, the one as being perfectly informed, in the knowledge of the truth in Jesus Christ, and zealously affected to the Defence both of their Natural, and civil liberty as Men and Subjects, and of their Spiritual privileges as Christians; and the other pretending not only a kind of Sovereignty over a great part of all Princes, Subject, of the Roman Communion (namely the Clergy, both Secular and Regular) and all religious Persons; and by them a dangerous rivalling influence over all the rest of their people. But also holding (as 'twere) the Balance of power in his own hand, even in temporal matters, between all Popish Princes and States; and being no less intress'd for maintenance of himself and successors, in that Power and Figure, to hinder the growth of any one Prince to an excessive Grandeur, than the Protestant were for the preservation, both of their Civil and Religious Liberties; and therefore having agreeably enough to the rules of Policy, resolved equally upon the removal of both these dangerous adversaries, by totally destroying the Protestants, and casting Popery itself into a new Model, that might dispose the whole body of Christians, both Clergy and Laity, to such a tame and supple temper, as might make them alike susceptible of his intended universal Yoke.  
Thus it pleased the Almighty Being, to make him the very chiefest instrument himself, in breaking the neck of these his greatest and ambitious Designs, by leaving him to the infatuating delusions of new Jesuited Advisers, whereby he forsook the more sure Maxims of his old sagacious Counsellors, Richelieu, Mazarin, and the Le Telliers; and to drive Jehu-like and rashly to attempt to do all at once, what should have been enterprised at very different Seasons, and those wisely timed one after the other. For at the same time, the poor Protestants were so hotly persecuted, and barbarously handled, the Pope's Authority was then as briskly attacked, not only in the business of the Ragalia, but in several other more fundamental points, importing no less than the utter ruin of the whole Machine of that Ecclesiastical Monarchy; insomuch that this great haughty Monsieur thought himself doubtless some prodigious Giant, that could reach both poles at once, with each arm one, viz. That of the Northern Heresy (as they term it) and the Southern Supremacy, and snapping them off short, to make the World turn thence forward upon the sole Axle tree of his Arbitrary and imperious will, as sufficiently appeared, not only by the proceed of the Sorbonne, of the Assembly of the Clergy of Paris, and of the French Kings chief Advocate, Mr. Talon, and by the strange acting of Mr. Lavardin at Rome itself, and the writings of Mr. Maimburg: The Writings and Actings of all which, against the Authority of the Sea of Rome, were hardly ever outdone by those they vainly called, and at the same time persecuted as Heretics; but also by many odd Theses and Positions, then maintained in several places up and down that Kingdom, whereof these were some, viz.  
I. That as Princes had the Power of nominating other Bishops to the Sees vacant in their Dominions; so the greatest Prince in Christendom, had a right of ●●●●●inating the greatest Bishop, namely, the Pope.  
II. That the Election of a Pope, by the private College of Cardinals, was an Innovation.  
III. That the Kings of France having some time delivered the Popes from the oppression of the Lombard's, and founded the new Empire of the West, acquired thereby not only a right to choose future Popes, but that they are thereby still the only Rightful Emperors, the eldest Sons of the Church, and the greatest of Christian Princes.  
Which by the way, would be a stronger Argument, to prove both the Empire, Kingdom of France, and the Election of the Pope, etc. to belong to the young Duke of Lorraine, than to Lewis the 14th. that young Prince, being Lineally descended from Charles the great, whose race that of the present French King supplanted.  
iv That the residence of the Pope, is not fixed any more to Rome than it was formerly to Antioch; but that it ought to be in the capital City of the greatest Christian Prince, pro tempore, or in such other place as he shall approve of.  
V That the French King in his Right, may if he please divest the Cardinals of Rome of the right of Election of Popes, or disown such as they shall choose, and make an Archbishop of Paris, or any other prelate Pope; that such Pope so nominated, would be a true Successor of St. Peter, though he should dwell at Paris, or elsewhere, and have no temporal Dominions; and that he ought to be owned as such, by all other Roman Catholic Princes, because nominated by the Successor of Charles the great, and a Prince no less great in Power, than he who was the restorer of the Papal Authority.  
VI That as the Temporal Dominions of the Pope, were at first given him by French Kings, they may be forfeited, and taken back again; and that for the peaceable enjoyment of them, the Pope ought to grant freedom of Quarters to the French Kings Ambassador at Rome, as an acknowledgement of the Sovereignty of him of whom he holds them, and that he ought not to grant the like privilege to any other Ambassador.  
These and many other such like Theses there were, about the Pope's Power and Authority in Spirituals as well as Temporals, whereby they allowed him little more than what is granted by some Protestants, and what any other Patriarches do enjoy, as is deducible from their own Writings; in this you may see an Image of the new Popery, intended by the French King, who by this appears to be only so far for Popery, as will serve his own turn, to make both Pope and Papists his Vassals or Slaves; (what other meaning had he, when he treated the Nuns of the Society so severely, called the Nuns of the Infancy of Jesus, and threw Madam Mondeuville into Prison for mediating, etc.) Such is the favour he designs to afford them, if ever in his power, and a great favour too; they that will be Protestants, or will not be Papists, thus, Alamode de France, being both equally destituted to utter Destruction. And to convince you further, that these were the real and unfeigned Designs of Lewis the 14th. King of France; a Friend of mine that intimately knew the Person, assured me that when the French Clergy were assembled in the year 1682. he sent a skilful Antiquary into England, to search diligently and most accurately our Records in the Tower, and at Westminster; to see and learn what steps King Henry the 8th. had made in his Rupture with Rome, and which of them might most effectually be put in practice by him, in order to accomplish his foresaid ends.  
But what followed from this Conduct, of driving on so very furiously at one and the same time, two such contrary designs as these were one towards the other, to bring about the same self purpose? Why, the same that's reported to have happened to the famous Wrestler Milo, who in ostentation of his great strength, endeavoured to rive a sunder with his Arms, the main Limbs of adouble bodied Tree. He made a shift indeed, to split them in part, but not being able to go through perfectly with the Work, was, by their recoiling Force, catched so fast himself between them, as to be made a defenceless prey to the wild Beasts. Thus Lewis the 14th. by first persecuting the Protestants, and attacking the Pope's Authority, has reduced himself into a Labyrinth, and brought a general War upon his Dominions, etc. By his most severe Persecution, and endeavour absolutely to exterminate the Protestants, he bereavest himself wholly of some hundreds of thousands of his wealthiest and most useful Subjects, consisting of many of the most trading Merchants, best Officers, and expert Mariners and Seamen, to the strengthening of his Enemies round about, in the adjacent Countries, and the utter ruin of many Roman Catholic Families, their Creditors, or that were of their Dependence; and filled his Kingdom with Hypocrites, and Malcontents, who required as many Troops, to watch over their Conduct (which gave and will give continual Jealousies and Alarms) as would have served him, to compose a good Army, to defend the largest of his Frontiers, and that which was more fatal to him, than all the rest; these cruel and most barbarous proceed of his, exasperated the Spirits of the warlike and valorous English, and thereby made it altogether impracticable; for his great Ally King James, to make himself Master enough of his People, to be so serviceable to him, in his Attempts towards universal Monarchy, as he perhaps might have been, is to sweeten the minds of the undaunted British Protestants; Monsieur Lewis had politicly (at the late King James' first accession to the Crown) and voluntarily restored the French Protestants their old Liberties and Privileges, which he solemnly swore to maintain at his Coronation. (For it must be acknowledged on all hands, that they, namely the Protestants, were his faithfullest Subjects, who put the Crown on his head) out of a feigned, or pretended difference to the late King James' entreaties, and respect to the intercession of the English Church and Nation. To have been thus before hand with us in Civility, what savours would it not have extorted from the English Protestants, towards the Papists here? And what Jealousies would it not have suppressed? And how much more easily, might we have been catcht by tickling, than by scratching; especially, had he at the same time kept Quiet, and justly observed the last concluded Truce with the Confederates. But acting the quite contrary, it made the late King James' Conduct, by far the more narrowly inquired into, and rendered all people both Jealous and Afraid, even of his favours, and made them justly suspect the sincerity of such a Prince (though at the same time declaring himself for liberty of Conscience) whom they saw so visibly and amicably to correspond with a notorious Tyrant of the same Religion, so very eager upon Persecution, as daily to fill his greatest and best Friends Dominions, at so unseasonable a nick of time with whole Shoals, or multitudes of Exiles, in such a miserable plight, as he knew could not but stir up the resentments of the hardy English Protestants, against both Princes; and thereby (as we have said) disabled his Ally from getting that power into his hands, which was so necessary for his assistance, in the accomplishment of those Ambitious projects, he since unprosperously pursues. And on the other hand, by acting as we have instanced against the Pope, and offering so plainly at a new Model of Popery; yea, and making such brisk attempts upon the temporal Dominions and Territories of the Pope himself, and that in his own Capital City of Rome, as he did by his Ambassador, the Marquis of Laverdine; who, not only exasperated the then Pope Innocent the 11th. a person not of a temper, either to be hectored, or to be wheedled out of the Rights and Respects he thought due to him, from a Prince pretending to the Titles of Most Christian, and of Eldest Son of the Church; one who not only very well understood his own Interest, and the whole drift of Lewis the 14th. But likewise first of all, gave the alarm to all other Princes of the Roman Communion, who thereby plainly seeing, that not only their Territories, but their Religion also, was in no small danger from such designs; and that the French Sultan intended, Mahomet-like, to have exterminated Popery, properly so called, as well as Protestantism, and to have introduced by the Sword, a third Religion hateful to both; which was to have been Franco-Catholick, more than Roman Catholic, and to have been new Christened by that Name, assoon as Paris, by the prevailing Arms, or more availing pieces of Gold of Lewis Le Grand, should have been made the Metropolis General of all Christendom. Hence he permits his Statue to be erected and adored by his Subjects in the posture of Prosternation; he permits holidays to be Dedicated to them, and Harangues to be made to them, as if they were really so many Deities, so that upon the Basis of these base Idols, you may see these Inscriptions in Capital Letters, TO THE IMMORTAL MAN.  
Upon this Alarm of Pope Innocent the XIth, all Europe began to look with a Suspicious Eye upon the Proceed of the French Monarch, and his Ally of Great Britain, and minded more sharply every passage between them: And though Lewis the XIVth endeavoured extremely to throw dust in their eyes, by extirpating and destroying the Protestants in his own Dominions, out of a zeal, as he feigned, or professed, to the Holy See; yet they could not comprehend how that could possibly consist with his continual abetting, and corroborating the Turks, and supporting Count Teckely, and his Protestant followers in Hungary; and much less with his most Undutiful and Insolent Carriage to the Pope, and with such formal Decisions, as struck at the very Foundations of his Authority, and of the whole Fabric of the Roman Catholic Religion, as distinguished from the Protestant. No, they now scanned every Period, and Expression of Maimburgh's Works, and presently smelled out whose Sense, and in what view he spoke; And that he depressed the Monarchy of the Roman Bishop, only to erect upon its Ruins an Universal Empire, for his Master Lewis; They thoroughly examined the Proceed of the Sorbonne, and of all the French Clergy: Took good notice of the many odd Theses put up, and maintained daily in that Kingdom; And, in a word, let nothing pass of that nature, without the strictest Observation; nor without preparing underhand, an Opposition ready to be exerted, in fit time and place. The Pope, though indeed for his part, he could hearty have wished that the Protestant Name were utterly abolished, and all Christian States as firmly subjected to his See, as some Ages before; and particularly, would have unfeignedly rejoiced to have seen the Return of so important a Member of his pretended ancient Empire, to his Communion, as were the British Dominions: Yet he could not well brook to see them, or the French Protestants either, made but as Steps to raise the Throne of the French Monarch high enough, to overlook his; And, of an Absolute Pope, to make him, but as a Precairous Mufti, under a New Western Sultan.  
He thought with himself, that it would signify very little for him to gain ground upon the Quicksands of Great Britain and Ireland, where he could promise himself no sure footing: Whilst he should lose his firmer Possessions in Italy, and Rome itself: And took but little pleasure, whatever outward countenance he showed, in the hopes that were given him by the French Tyrant, of the Establishment of a Mock-Popery there, whilst the true one should be ruined, and totally blown up by the Crafty Engineers of France. And the Apprehensions of a Prevailing French Popery, were indeed to him far more dreadful of the two, than that of the Triumphing of (what they foolishly called) the Northern Heresy. And the Religious old Father thought (as well he might) that there was much less danger, from an open and professed Enemy, than a secret Traitor; And that, according to the Proverb, Ira quae tegitur nocet, There was less harm from an openly assailing Lion, than a private Bosom Viper. Neither was he ignorant of Lewis the XIVth's strict Confederacy with the Male contents in Hungary, who are all Lutherans, or Calvinists; At the very same time he Persecuted his own Subjects at home, and abolished the Foundation, and ordered the Nuns of the Infancy, because they sided with the Pope, to go home to their Parents, or wheresoever else they pleased: Commanded that their Altars should be pulled down, the Ornaments and Holy Utensils carried away, and those Consecrated Places to be most vilely profaned. And yet, at this very time, he suffered himself in Public Themes, to be advanced above the Glorious Angels of God, and to be looked upon as a Proof of the most sublime Mysteries: And those same words, which were once spoken of the Holy Jesus, the Son of God, he allowed to be applied to himself, Yea, (in some sort) Commanded it; My Works are for the King; Who is the King? 'Tis Lewis the Great, the King of Glory. Nay, which is much more, he suffered himself to be Worshipped like a Deity. You might have seen this in the Five Works upon the Grieve, under the Title of the Temple of Honour, which was made to Solemnize the Erecting the New Statue, that was set up in the Court of the Common-Hall of the City. The Inscriptiono which was upon the Freeze, and upon the Four Fronts of the Temple, was after the Jesuitical manner, and no less Impious;  

The City of Paris, Pious, Loyal,  
Obedient, Devoted by Public Vows  
To the Divinity and Majesty of—  
Lewis the Great, the Father of his Country,  
As a Monument of their Duty, Dedicate  
And Consecrate a Temple.   
The Pope, who was not half so timorous, as some of the other Temporal Princes of his Communion, could not, nor did not look tamely on these Proceed; but opposed them with all his Might, and with a Vigour, that shown a Magnanimous Spirit; and that waked all the rest of the Roman Catholic Princes, out of the Lethargy they seemed to have been laid into by the Charms of French Sorcery. For he Wrote vigorously against the Severities used against the Protestants, causing his Beloved Daughter, the late Queen Christina of Sweden, to Write to the same purpose; He disapproved the French King's Dragoon Conversions; loudly declaimed against his Violences, and Sacrilegious Usurpations, Cloaked under the Name of Regalia; Cited Father La Chaiese, and Father Maimbourg to Rome, to Answer their Disobedience; and caused the latter to be actually thrust out of the Jesuits Society. Takes away the Liberty of Quarters from the French Ambassadors at Rome, which, with all their Hectoring, they could never yet regain; Caused the Proceed of the French Clergy to be Censured; Denies to Preconize, or Confirm any French Bishops; stirs up the Illustrious House of Austria to act vigorously against the French King. Fiercely opposes the Election of the Cardinal of Furstemburg to the Archbishopric and Electorate of Cologne, and lets all the Popish Princes of Germany, as well as the Protestants, see their danger therein; and even doth all he can, by his Nuncio at London, and the Remonstrances of the Spanish and Imperial Ambassadors there, to draw off King James from the French Interest, and from taking French Measures, either in Religion or Politics; And to persuade him to forbear making use of Frenchified Jesuits, or Priests, of what Nation soever; and use only those of the Austrian Party; And to please his own People, by minding the true Interest of England, and holding the Balance of Europe stiff against France; and for that end, whatever Private Submissions he had made to His Holiness, yet to have let matters in Religion throughout the British Dominions, be in Statu quo prius, at least, till the present Great War, with both the Western and Eastern Turk had been over: when by the Favour of a profound Peace, Reigning among all Catholic Princes, he might have made use of their United, and Concurring Assistance, to have securely re-established, not the French, but true and Genuine Popery, in Great Britain and Ireland; without hazarding the Diminution of the Majesty of his Crown, or of the Greatness and Independency of his Power; or rendering himself to be but a Deputy, or Tributary King, as he must do, if he went on to augment the already too formidable, and insolent Power of France; and to take French Measures, and neglecting to use his own Eyes, and the Advices of his own Agents, Spies and Intelligencers, to make use only of French Spectacles, French Intelligences, and the Dictates of French Ministers of State, and Frenchified Jesuits, or Monks, to steer by; which would, at length, but make him Split against a Fatal Rock: a Ship fraught with the fairest hopes, that ever set out in Great Britain, under St. Peter's Banners, since Queen Mary's days.  
These were the Actions of Pope Innocent the XIth. against Lewis the XIVth, and such were the Remonstrances and Advices both of his Nuncio, and the Spanish and Imperial Ambassadors in England to the late King James; Which His Imperial Majesty afterwards, in his Letter to the Late King, in Answer to one from him, relating the Doleful Story of his Abdication, hints at; and tells him, Had they been followed, he might still have been upon the Throne, with all the Advantages of a Great English Monarch. The obstinate neglect of which Councils, the most safe and prudent that could be given to a Popish King of England at that time of the day, together with the formidable growth, and the aforesaid Insolent Proceed of the French King, caused both the Pope, and the Ancient and Potent Houses of Austria and Bavaria, not only to League themselves together, but also for their Common Defence, both against French Popery, and French Power, which were advancing hand in hand to attack them; And which, if suffered to fix footing in England, would shortly become altogether irresistible to Confederate. Nay, even with the Protestant Princes and Powers; the one (viz.) the Temporal Princes of Austria and Bavaria, Immediately; and the other, namely, the Pope, Mediately, and Covertly; by abetting, and underhand promoting the Intrigues and Attempts of the others, for the carrying on such Designs as should divide England from the French Interest, though it were by the Dismounting a Prince of their own Religion, and placing a Protestant upon the Throne. They being very well satisfied it was much safer for Popery in General, as well as for their particular Temporal Interests, to see a Protestant wear the Crown of England, though to the seeming disadvantage of the Popish Religion in that particular Kingdom; that would help them to balance the excessive Power of France, than to suffer a Popish King of Great Britain, of the French Stamp, to assist the French Monarch to enslave all other, much more Catholic Princes; depress the Papal Power itself, and impose a Popery worse to them, than what their erroneous fancies teach them to call Heresy. But that which clincht the Nail home, and which not only confirmed them in those Resolutions, but hastened them to a speedy execution of them, were three very dangerous Attempts of the French King; the one was the powerful Interest the French had made, to get their Devoted Creature, that Arch-traitor to his Country, the Quondam Prince William, but now Bishop of Strasburg, and Cardinal of Furstemberg, to be chosen Elector of Cologne, that he might be the more able to back his old Benefactor Lewis the 14th. in all his Encroachments upon the Empire, in awing the rest of the Electors on the Rhine, and by them influencing the whole Electoral College, to deprive the House of Austria, of the Imperial Dignity, by choosing Lewis the French Dauphin, for King of the Romans, or Successor to the Emperor instead of the Archduke Joseph, etc.  
The second was, his breaking so perfidiously the new made Truce, though sworn to for twenty Years, and under the pretence of backing the Election of his dear Cardinal, and pursuing some extravagant Demands, he was pleased to make in the name of the Duchess of Orleans, of the present Prince Palatine, to besiege and surprise Philipsburg, and committing a thousand Outrages, and Hostilities elsewhere, at a time, when the Emperor trusting to the security of the twenty years' Truce, was employing his Arms to repel the Turks, the sworn Enemies of Christianity in the remotest borders of Christendom.  
The third was, his declaring War against Holland, because they seemed to oppose his base illegal violences, in endeavouring to force an Election, which ought to be free, and that in a Country, where the proud Tyrant had no right to meddle, and which was so near their Frontiers; and that too, being not content with that, as if he had had the late King James' Head under his Girdle, he was pleased to threaten, that England should do the like; and as a forerunner of it, persuaded King James, abruptly, and without any reason given, to recall his Subjects out of the Dutch Service, at a time when he had no visible occasion for them.  
These Reasons all put together, made the Roman Catholic Princes to league with Holland, and the Protestant Princes of Germany; and to favour the Blessed and Glorious Design, of our present Sovereign Lord, King William, etc. to endeavour to break the strong Chains that were preparing for all Europe, by first breaking those of England, and by seizing before hand of the Reins of Government, over those most willing Nations that were so exceeding glad of his seasonable help in time of Need; the Succession of which should he delay a Moment, was visibly going to be most unjustly alienated from him, by the means of a supposititious Child, brought upon the Stage only for a blind, and to be consigned unto the Tyrannical hands of the French Monarch.  
And lastly, that which made an end of giving a through alarm to the Pope, was, the French King's insulting and insolent proceed, by his Ambassador at Rome itself; his invading of Savoy and Piedmont, and carrying thereby the War into Italy; which by the buy, is now one of the most troublesome Thorns, that he has in his foot, and which he would most fain be rid of, it having proved notwithstanding his Successes, the most chargeable and incommodious War to him, next that of England, of any of the rest. Which considerations made the Pope, and the rest of the Roman Princes, and particularly the Spaniards, employ sundry Priests, devoted to their interests, but as so many Spies about the late King James, to fish out the secrets of the Frenchified Cabal; and to communicate the same, from time to time, to the late Spanish Ambassador, who failed not to advertise the King his Master, the illustrious Prince of Orange, and all the Allies, nor yet to communicate them to the Nobility, Gentry and qualified Citizens of England; to whose secret advice, thus obtained (next to God Almighty) we own all the satisfactory light we have had into the dark Intrigue of the pretended Prince of Wales, which above all things, gave the last and most powerful Impulse to those Motions, that brought about the late Happy and wonderful Revolution.  
Having thus seen how the French King, by catching too eagerly at Universal Monarchy, and his Ally the late King James, by adhering to the French Counsel more than to his own English Subjects, stirred up the most zealous Princes of the Roman Communion, and even the Pope himself, to side with the Protestant Powers against them, and readily to concur with these last, even to the suppression of all hopes of their own Religions, becoming predominant in England; and rather than see it planted there by French hands. We cannot therefore at all wonder, that the Protestant Foreign Powers, and the people of Great Britain especially, who had much greater obligations to it, both from their Civil and Religious Interests, should willingly unite to the same purpose, and take the opportunity of entering into so potent a Confederacy, to preserve their Religion and secure their Posterity, and all that was near and dear to them in reference to both Worlds; when they saw the very Popish Princes, and the head of that Communion so hotly take the Alarm, though nothing so nearly, nor so deeply concerned in the danger as themselves; and by their diligence in being so ready to join with them, Tacitly to reproach their Dulness and awake them timely and vigorously, to second the noble Efforts, of such a Wise and valiant Prince; whose known injurious Treatment, by both Kings and very legal and rightful pretensions, to the succession of the British Throne, as well as his Exemplary and Military virtues, had now gotten him so large a share, or interest in the hearts of all the oppressed People of the three Kingdoms, and gave them and all their Foreign Friends, such fair dawning hopes of a most happy and glorious Success.  
As for the Hollanders, they were moved to assist in this great Enterprise, not only by the consideration of their general Interest, as one of the chief Parties in War with France; nor yet, wholly and solely out of gratitude to the courageous and illustrious Prince, who had so lately rescued them from imminent ruin, and restored them to as great a Beauty of Order, and formidable Strength, as any other Republic; (though no doubt these Motives swayed them very much.) But being particularly pricked forward, and provoked by daily menaces from France, and appearing and most convincing Mark from England, that the late King, did not they first prevent him, would certainly declare War against them, having for that purpose already recalled all his Forces, and made several other steps that way by his Envoy Marquis D'Abbeville; they could not choose but think it great Prudence, as well as Gratitude, to close with their renowned Prince, and our mighty Deliverer, and answer the calls and entreaties of their sore oppressed Neighbours the English. Who in former Ages, had given them a lift, and partly delivered them from Bondage, and who being now once assisted and freed by them, would in all probability, contribute most effectually of any of their Allies, to the repulsing of that subtle encroaching Foe, that threatened them with a second Slavery; and in order to prevent the fatal Struck intended against them, as the chief Obstacles of erecting Despotic Power and Arbitrary Government in Great Britain, and from thence enforcing it upon all Europe, by lending a powerful, timely and hearty Assistance to his Highness.  
Add to this the Sympathy and feeling compassion, which the horrid sufferings of the poor Protestants in France, many thousands whereof wearing the cruel Marks and Badges of French Barbarity; were daily objects of their Eyes, moved their Christian hearts, which last consideration, as well as that of their civil Interest, of which the Spanish and Dutch Netherlands, were the great Barrier and Bulwark, as likewise the Design they had discovered to be Hatched by France to devour them all one after another, and to extirpate the Protestant Name, (scurrillously nicknamed by the scoffing Enemy, the Northern Heresy) from under Heaven, prevailed likewise with the rest of the German Protestant Princes, especially the most wise and experienced Prince the then Elector of Brandenburg, his Heroical Highness' illustrious Kinsman, and the Princes of the Houses of Saxony, Lunenburg and Hesse, to contribute their best Helps as well as Wishes, to the accomplishment of that great Heaven-inspired Enterprise.  
Next the Causes that moved the illustrious Prince of Orange, besides all the former considerations and motives, common to him with all the rest, were so visibly sensible, and most just, and of so very cogent a nature, that to resist them, had been to resist both Sense and Reason, and God himself who now seemed to give him a Commission, to rescue his Church and oppressed People.  
He saw the State, in which he first drew his Breath, which his warlike Ancestors founded, and which he no less gloriously and miraculously had newly raised again, into a stronger and more beautiful Structure than before, out of (in a manner) a confused heap of Rubbish, menaced afresh by the same crafty and powerful Enemy, backed with another potent Popish Ally, in a more formidable manner than ever; he heard from a far, the dismal Groans of the miserably afflicted and tormented Protestants in France; and especially of those of his own Hereditary Principality of Orange, most unjustly wrested from him; and what infinitely more sensibly touched him, the Slavery and more than Egyptian oppression of his natural Subjects, crying to him for Justice, and saying, Help, O thou mighty Prince of Valour, and nursing Father of God's true reformed Church; it is high time for to lay to thy powerful and blessed hand, for popish Judges and Seminaries have made void our Laws, Rights and Privileges.  
He found the ruin of his Country levelled at, through his August sides; and that the  Tyrant would never pardon him, the unexpected ravishment of his stolen and perfidious Conquests; nor the truly generous and Princely refusal of purchasing a Sovereignty by the betraying of his own Country; nor the terrible, smarting and disgraceful blow, he received from him before Mons; nor his obstructing an uncomely peace at Nimeguen; nor finally his happy Match with a most accomplished and amiable Princess of his own Blood, when the subtle Monsieur lest thought on't, and whom he had laid close Intrigues and subtle Stratagems (had not they been Providentially prevented, by a speedy conclusion of that blessed Marriage) to have spirited or stolen away, and made a Sacrifice to the black Interests, concerted between him and her Father, which was to have been the great Issue of that numerous and splendid Embassy of French Lords, not long before preceding; had not God in his Mercy to our Nation prevented it, by making the late King Charles, as much inclined as he was otherwise, to favour them; to balk all their Projects by that sudden and contrary jerk of Policy, which put them for the present, quite out of countenance; and which all their Juggles knew not how to prevent.  
He likewise saw plainly, that whereas besides the unpardonable crimes against the greatness of Lewis the 14th. and the bigoted Inclinations of his Uncle and Father-in-law, he was sensible he had committed a Third, which was greater than all the rest, viz. Obstinately refusing to give his Assent, and Consent, to take off the Test and Penal Laws, and give a new Magna Charta of Liberty to the Papists of England, to supplant and overthrow the Rights and Liberties of all others; He was therefore by those whose threaten were never vain, when in full power to execute them, menaced, that he should pay dearly for it; and he saw they were going in downright earnest to be as good as their Words, by popping up a Child all on a sudden, to act the Prince of Wales, and put him and his Royal Princess, by the Succession of these Crowns, of which they were the true undoubted presumptive Heirs; no less unjustly than they had deprived him of his other possessions, and all this only to put him out of Power, and make him uncapable to vindicate his own and his poor Subjects former wrongs, to protect any longer with success the Republic he had hitherto so prosperously defended; to revenge the unspeakable oppressions of the people in France, or support or retrieve the Protestant Religion, and civil Rights and Liberties of the ancient and warlike people of Great Britain; whereof he appeared a kind and powerful Defender, and who were his undeniable Subjects in Reversion, and whose Interests he seemed resolved zealously to espouse, and as stiffly to defend as his own.  
And when he saw the people of all Ranks and Qualities, and of all Religions and Interests, in the three Kingdoms, but one (to wit, the Papists) with one common and earnest mind and voice, call to him as next undoubted Heir at Law, to take care no Damage might be done by the present Possessor, in the Lands of his Succession; to resist the most unjust Usurpation, or Alienation intended by a Supposititious Child, and the malicious Intrigues of a Jesuited Stepmother; and in a word, to redress all the manifold Wrongs and Oppression of the Subjects; to save the Protestant Religion, and the civil Liberties of all Europe, which depended chief in that dangerous Juncture, upon the Preservation of Great Britain to 〈◊〉 Confederacy from becoming a P●ey to the overgrown Monster of France.  
Of the loss of all which, and of the vast Detriment, that would have thence happened to so many millions of precious Souls, and to the public Weal of all Christendom, he would have been undoubtedly thought highly guilty; had he neglected so many forcible Calls, and indispensible Obligations, both of Nature, Duty, and Interest.  
And lastly, when besides all these irresistible Motives, he considered, that the danger was extremely pressing; that Ireland was already Haltered, and bound as a Sacrifice ready to be offered; Scotland strongly manacled, and the intolerable Chains just ready to be thrown over England's Neck; and the terrible glittering Sword drawn out, and ready to be Brandished against himself and his Republic; and that unless he would resolve to strike the first Blow, it would be too late to strike at all. And Finally, that unless he made an attempt upon England, while his Allies had Forces and time to spare for his assistance, and the Armies in England, as well as the people of all sorts, were in a Condition as well as Disposition, to second his noble and excellent Efforts; that the very next Spring perhaps, some of the Allies might find an English Army upon their Frontiers, intermixed with French; and an Army of Frenchified Swissers, and Irish Tories, in possession of England; and the English and French Fleets, masters of the Sea, asserting the Greatness of Lewis the 14th; and Holland and the Spanish Netherlands, swallowed up by a sudden inundation, breaking violently in upon them on all sides, before they were ware; or that their nearest, and most powerful Allies, could come up within sight, much less within reach enough to give them any Assistance; I say, when our wise and presaging Prince, now his most Excellent Majesty, saw, and duly weighed all this, how loath soever he were to do any thing, that might bear the least Shadow, or Semblance of ill; or that might seem to violate, that Tenderness and Respect, he had naturally for an Uncle and a Father-in-law, of that great Quality: Yet now, when not only his private Interests lay at stake, but the public Happiness and  of so many Myriad of Souls; so many Kingdoms and Territories, some of which, he had such an indispensible Obligation to take care of, were in such extraordinary pressing Danger, and Honour of Conscience, even of King James himself, basely beslured and abused, by so gross a Cheat put upon him, by the subtle Intrigues of Jesuits, and his Jesuited Consort, in prejudice of his own Natural and undoubted Issue, in order to the enslaving Him, as well as his Subjects, every whit as much to the Caprices of France, as he is now; and to the manifest greater peril of his Life, than since has happened by the attempts his people would have made against the Intrigues of his Deluders; had not they found a far more regular, and legal Assistance otherwise. And considering that there was no other remedy, but breaking the neck of their mischievous Proceed, by some sudden and surprising Master-stroke of Power and Policy; He now stood no longer, consulting with Flesh and Blood, and parling with the unseasonable reasonings of the tenderness we have been speaking of; but fully resolve with all Expedition, to prepare for the prevention, and happy redress of so great a storm of Evils; as otherwise he foresaw would most inevitably fall upon England, Scotland, and Holland: Yea, on all the greatest part of Europe.  
But leave we our Gracious Prince a while, making his war like Preparations, and stuffing his stately Wooden Horses, with fierce courageous Troops, not to Burn, but to save our otherwise lost Troy; and make a step back to England, to see how all things there concurred and worked together, to meet his most noble Endeavours, and Crown his so glorious and heavenly Enterprises, with a blessed Success beyond all Expectation.  
If we come then to examine things there likewise, we shall still find that our Royal Heroe's Enemies, whilst they were plotting his Destruction, and the enslaving of these Nations, under a double Yoke of Popery, and Arbitrary power; which were both to Cent●● in an entire Subjection to the Tyranny of the French King; made Tools of themselves, by an overruling Providence not only to save, but to exalt them, whose utter ruin they really designed; and even lift them up, to such a Power, as to be able to throw down their New Erected Babel in England, and to shake the very Foundations of their Old one, so long settled (even) in France itself. For the late King James, besides the Mistakes and Faults which he had all along fallen into, and daily persisted to commit; for want of discerning his own true Interests from those of France; and, for lack of seeing the Bottom of the French King's Designs, made all other steps, that his Enemies could have wished him to take, towards the bringing upon himself Swift Destruction; and the Advancement of that Warlike-Prince to the Throne of Great Britain: which, against the strong Obligations of Nature, and without any sense, or regard of his own highly injured honour thereby, his late Majesty shamefully went about, by the subtle Stratagems of Jesuits and Priests, to bereave him and his Royal Consort of.  
For besides his ●●●ing so openly with France, and most highly disobliging thereby the rest of the Roman Catholic Powers, as we have related; And besides the Broad-Signs he had given, of making War upon Holland, on pretence of their having Assisted the Duke of Monmouth, and Argile, and of some other New-started Complaints of the Dutch proceed against our Merchants at Musilipatan, etc. and in the East-Indies, whilst the Injuries done our People daily by the French about Hudson's Bay, and elsewhere, and in the Insults they daily received by the French Privateers, and Men of War, almost every where, were passed by unregarded, and without any redress; And besides the particular threats he had made against the Illustrious Prince of Orange; he had Dissolved that Parliament that had so zealously stood by him against the late D of Monmouth; not only because they would not grant him a Fund of Money to maintain a Standing Army, above the Regulated number of Guards, and Garrisons, in time of Peace, Contrary to the Constitution of the Government; But rather because, forsooth, they would not let them be Manned, and Commanded by as many Popish and Foreign Officers and Commanders as he pleased to stuff them with.  
After this, he continued and put in as many Popish Commanders, and Governors into his Army, Ships and Garrisons; And as many Popish Justices of Peace into all Towns, Burroughs and Cities, all over England, as he could: And, in favour of that proceeding, so contrary to Law and Justice, order his Judges to Declare a Dispensing Power, to be one of his Royal Prerogatives, in prejudice to the Privileges of the Two Houses, and even of his own Power in Parliament. And deals with all the Artifices imaginable, with all Qualified Persons, both Clergy and Laity of the Church of England, to induce them to Consent to the Repealing of the Penal Laws and Test; to the Countenancing of his Dispencing Power, and the keeping up of his Standing Army, and putting down the Militia; and when he saw them averse to it; though he had but just before, most highly incensed the Dissenting party, by his MOST BLOODY, and Severe Execution of so many Hundreds of them that had been engaged with Monmouth and Argile; and though he knew them all bred up in an Inveterate Aversion to Monarchy; Yet he, most Impolitickly, Quits his Best Friends, that had Set the Crown upon his Head, because they would not humour him in things visibly tending to his own overthrow, or destruction, as well as theirs; And has recourse by Fawning, and most Unkingly, Mean, and Abject Solicitations, to those very Dissenters, whose BLOOD he was still REAKING with; Thinking to do by them, his Sworn Enemies, what he could not get done by his Friends, and weaken both them and the other Party with Divisions, till he could reduce them both, by his Third Growing party, of English, Scotch, Irish, and Foreign Papists, to be his Absolute Slaves: To this end he New-models over again those Corporations, both he and his late Deceased Royal Brother, had but lately Modelled before; and taking away all the Old Charters, gives out New ones, by which, all true Church of England Men, who stood for the Penal Laws and Test, were ungratefully turned out; and Dissenters, and such as had been turned out before, were intruded in their places; Thinking thereby to have such a Packed Parliament, as would take away those Laws, and Destroy the Church of England, by laying it open, in Common, and Defenceless; and make Room for the Introducing of Popery and Despotic Power, when it should be least apprehended. He Granted out Commissions, for the vexing, and calling to Account those, that in the former Reign, though really set on by the Intrigues of himself, and his own Party; had vigorously executed the Laws then in force against Dissenters; and that, not so much out of Righting the Dissenters, for the Exactions that had been made upon them; Or Reimbursing them, or the Crown, for what was pretended to have been extorted from the one, and detained from the other; but merely to raise New Animosities between the two Parties, and make the Dissenters, though but for their own Ends, willing to be his Tools, in the Absolute Destruction which he intended to both.  
And to this end, of his own Single Authority, by virtue of the Dispencing Power he procured to be invested in him, by Eleven Judges, though in spite of the Unanimous Sense of Parliament, sufficiently declared against it, in the time of his Late Royal Brother, King Charles the Second, he gratifies them, by a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience; which some of them, though they accepted with seeming Joy, and Thankfulness, and being no less skilled in the Art of Dissimulation, than his Confessor F. Petres, and imagining it good policy to flatter him, as he flattered them, according to that common saying, Fallere fallentem non est fraus; thereby to find the easier Means to work their Revenge, both upon him and the Monarchy, and Established Church; Yet, the Major part of them received it rather with Silence, than any apparent Consent, or Applause; and several of them, like true Christians, and brave Englishmen, expressed plainly their dislike of it, and Renounced such an Opportunity of expressing their Resentments, against the Ancient and True Reformed Church of England, by any proceeding, that was like to prove such a Tool for the Erection of Popery, Slavery, and Arbitrary Power; and rather began then to have better thoughts of the Established Church here, than ever before: When they saw her Chief Members so stiffly to stand up, and Defend the Protestant Religion against the Mines, as well as the open Attacks of Popery and Absolute Power; and to refuse all manner of Accommodation with the Church of Rome, or any Complaisance though to their then King; that might any way evacuate the Law, or put them under any Suspicion of their being capable to give up their Common Interest; and saw well enough, that it was the real Effect of the Intrigues of a Court-party, influenced and biased by designing Popish Emissaries; and not the Body of the Church of England, that had raised against them those Severe Prosecutions, under which they had smarted so much; Yet some Mercenary Men were gained among them, and, to the no small surprise of the World, the old Monthly Observator, that had stuck so close to Prerogative, as to forget almost the Interests of his Church, was now laid aside: And the late Mr. Henry Carr, that had formerly Written the Packet from Rome; and had, in the most invidious and provoking manner imaginable, exposed all the Intrigues of the Popish Agents; and all the Actions, and whole Conduct of that King, when Duke of York; and had served, as a Trumpet, to the whole Party of the Exclusioners; was now Courted, and Bribed, to Blazon forth the Graciousness of the New Declaration for Liberty, and to Writ, in Exchange, for their Observator.  
The like Proceed were acted in Scotland, where Despotic Power, and Absolute Authority was Assumed, with a more Imperious Air; and then were our Gazettes stuffed, with those many Fulsome Addresses, that Nauseated all Men of Sense of both Parties; The hands to which, were most of them Suborned, and hired; and the Hundreds and Thousands, that were not Named, set down with a Bold Stroke, indefinitely, Cum, etc. Though not where yet Existing, but in Nubibus; and which indeed, though they pretended to have devoted their Lives and Fortunes to the service of their New Benefactor, for the Gracious Liberty he had Granted them, yet proved but Troops of Air in his time of Need; the Main Body of the Dissenting Party Wisely Concurring with that of the Church, to wish well to the Arms of the Prince of Orange; and, in Scotland, doing indeed themselves the whole Work for him.  
And though the Church-Party would not give their Consent, to the taking off the Test and Penal Laws; Yet he had some hopes, they, and especially the Major part of the Clergy among them, would at least have gone such Lengths in Passive Obedience, and compliance to Prerogative, as to have been tamely submissive with the dispensing with them; and not to have withstood the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience: But when he found by that Acute Letter to a Dissenter, and some other Writings, Published on that occasion, that they Disavowed all Complaisance with him, in those Points; that no Addresses of Thanks, excepting one or two, came from any of the Church of England Party, upon the subject of that Declaration; and that notwithstanding the many shame Addresses, wherewith he sought to Delude himself, and the World; the Best and Wisest part of the Dissenters Rejected his Declaration; as harbouring a Secret Snake in the Grass, and Underhand sided with the Church of England, in Disavowing any Liberty not Granted in Parliament: He was extremely Uneasy, and many Projects were offered to him, by his Cabinet Counsellors, to Ward the Mischiefs these ill symptoms Threatened, and make himself obeyed.  
According to some of these Advices, to Revenge himself upon such of our Clergy as stood Tied to the Protestant and English Interests, by the means of such of them, as he thought would comply, which still he imagined would be the Major part; and to make them, as his Jesuits phrased it, To eat their own Dung, by forcing them to Excert an Active, or else to feel the smart of their own Passive Obedience, the Principles of which he mistakingly fancied would have carried the Main-Body of the Clergy; Just as great and extravagant lengths, as some Tantivy-Court-Doctors, among them at that time, had laid out for them; and, have persuaded them, that the same Absolute and Unlimited Obedience, was owing to the Bare Commands of the King; as to the Acts of the Three Estates, viz. King, Lords and Commons, in which alone, is the fullness of Supreme Legal Power, and Authority; and to which alone consequently, the Orthodox Christian Duty of Absolute Active, or Passive Obedience is due; And that they were to submit, as blindly and tamely to the King, acting without, or against LAW, as by and with it; and that Active, or Passive Obedience, was as much due to the King, out of, as in Parliament; and to a Word of his, an Order of Council, or a Proclamation, as to an Act of Parliament; I say, erroneously thinking that the Major part of our Churchmen were as much seasoned, with those Mistaken Notions of Passive Obedience, etc. as some Court-Doctours, byass'd then by the Jesuits, and some of their Unthinking Followers seemed to be; He resolves to Administer to the whole Body of the Clergy, such a Dose, or Pill, as should infallibly search and try the Temper of them all; and therefore presently gives Order to all Ministers, Pastors, and Curates, To Read Publicly in their Churches his Declaration, for liberty of Conscience.  
But finding that, Contrary to his Expectation, not only Seven of our Principal, and Right Reverend Bishops, had the Zeal and Courage, to Address him against that Declaration, as Illegal; and to Protest they could not Comply with his Commands in Reading it, because against Law, as well as their Consciences; And that the Main-Body of the Clergy, throughout the Kingdom, influenced by their Noble Example, Refused likewise to Read it, and that in Nine thousand, and some Hundreds of Parishes, there are in England and Wales, besides Collegiate-Churches and Chapels, etc. there were scarely 500 Clergymen in all that were weak and supple enough to Comply with his Orders in that Matter; He and his Cabal were much enraged, And yet at their Wit's end, what Measures to take; How to Remedy so great an Evil, and how to prosecute a whole Body of Men, so considerable, as that of the Clergy. They had not long before that set up, though contrary to an Express Act of Parliament, a New High Commission; thinking thereby to have awed the Clergy, and have Disciplined them so, as to have disposed them for a Ready Compliance with the Declaration that was to follow; And which, had they Complied, Was to have been the Dead-doing-Stroke to the Churchof England: By which High-Commission, they Censured and Deprived, the Right Worthy and Magnanimous Prelate, the present Lord Bishop of London; Notwithstanding his, and his Noble Families great Merits towards the Crown, and several other worthy Clergy Men; Which Bold Attempts upon the Subjects Liberty, and Prerogative of Parliament, did not a little move all Orders and Ranks of Men in the Kingdom, and rather made them far more stiff, against all Compliance with the least Motions made towards taking away the Penal Laws and Test; and, with the Declaration for Liberty, than any ways frighted, or disposed them to it.  
Which made the Popish Cabal, though they resolved to deal rigorously with the Addressing Bishops, whom they committed to the Tower, not dare to employ the Authority of their pretended Commission against them any more; But rather to Impeach them at Law, which, when they were baffled in, they signified such indiscreet Rage and Spite, at their Disappointment, that they could not forbear letting the whole Body of the Protestants throughout Great Britain, etc. see, that from thenceforwards they were minded, without seeking any more Umbella's, or Disguises of Law and Justice, to prosecute their Revenge by Main Force; and by Military and Dragooning hands to effect, what they could not do by their High-Commission, or any courses at Law.  
I need not mention their Practices, in endeavouring to Poison the Fountains that were to feed our Posterity, by Erecting Popish Schools and Seminaries in divers places; and by endeavouring to stuff our Universities with Roman Emissaries; Nor the violences used towards those who withstood them: As to those of Magdalen College, and others, because all those were but less matters, in comparison of what they did afterwards to the Right Reverend the Bishops; and were going to do to the rest of the Clergy, and therefore shall only proceed, to hint upon those other Extremities they openly, in the face of the Sun, at last were driving us upon; And which even forced the whole Nation, most Justly, in its Necessary Defence; after they had, out of an Excess of Respect to the Late King, born, till a Remedy was within an Ace of being too late, the Insolences of a few despicable,  Jesuits and Monks, influenced by the French Father la Chaiese; whose blind Unthinking Passive Tool, P. Peter was; to call for Assistance to the Next Presumptive Heirs of the Crown.  
These than were their further Designs upon the Clergy.  
I. To New-Rate all Ecclesiastical Preferments, and make them pay First-fruits, Tenths, etc. according to their present yearly value, and not according to the old Rates.  
II. To examine at their Ecclesiastical Commission, the ways and means used by Clergymen possessed of Benefices, to come into them; and if they could be charged with the least appearance of Simony, to deprive them, and give their Live to Popish-Priests, or formerly deprived Nonconformist Ministers, or others devoted to their Interests, to hold by Dispensation, or otherwise.  
III. To Nose the Conformable Clergy, by allowing a Right to Papists and Dissenters, to keep public Registers, and to pay but half-Dues to the Parish Ministers for burying.  
iv To nominate no New Protestant Bishops, or other Ecclesiastical Dignities, in place of those that should die; and to foist in as many Popish Priests and Dissenting Ministers, as they could into all Ecclesiastical Benefices that should be vacant from time to time, who were to hold them by Dispensation, and supply them by conforming Curates, till they should be strong enough to establish Popery by open Force.  
V To have the Jurisdiction of vacant Bishoprics administered by Commissioners, and their Revenues employed for maintenance of Popish Bishops, Priests, or Seminaries, etc. As likewise the Revenue of all vacant Deaneries, Prebendships, etc. And to obtrude as many Popish Schoolmasters as they could, into all vacant Free-Schools, with several other projects.  
VI To remove all Causes from the Bishop's Courts, to their Ecclesiastical Commission.  
VII. After some time, to seize the Cathedral of St. Paul's when it should be Built, and the Abbey of Westminster for Popish use, allowing only the Dean and prebend's, in case they quietly abandoned, the possession of them, their full Revenues during life.  
These things were really intended against the Clergy, over and above what was actually already done; but then to Curb the Laity of all Degrees, these further Measures were concerted to put in Execution, as fast as they could.  
I. A new Court like that of the Star-Chamber, though under a disguised name was to be erected.  
II. To Awe and Balance the Power and Interest of the Metropolitan City of London, without the rougher Methods of a Tower or Garrison, etc. It was resolved, to erect the City of Westminster into a Corporation, like to that of London, to be governed by a Lord Mayor, aldermans, common Council, etc. with as ample Privileges, Immunities and Freedoms, as the ancient City of London enjoys; in order to invite People of Wealth and Trade, as great Merchants, etc. to settle there as well as in London, and thereby to cause an Emulation between them, that might keep both Cities tied to the Crown, or at least to keep that of London, from being potent enough alone to contest any more with their King, or make too strong a party against him.  
III. The Militia when they durst, were to be all Disarmed, and the Money levied for the maintenance of them, applied for that of a standing Army.  
iv In case the Parliament to be called after the new model of Corporations and Counties, that then was endeavouring was finished, answered not expectation: Then a Parliament was to be packed, after the method of those of Cromwell's, composed most of Army Officers, Courtiers, and such others as they knew were disposed, vigorously to concur with all projects to the ruining of the public Liberty.  
V After things were come to perfection, the House of Commons was to be declared unnecessary and pernicious; and all Legislative Authority, to reside in the King, and a select Council of Lords and Gentry.  
VI In order to this, the Army was by degrees to be new Modelled, and stuffed with English, French, Scotch and Irish Papists, or Persons indifferent in Religion, or of none at all, with some Dissenters, etc. And all Church of England Men by little and little put out of the Council, and out of all places of Trust both Civil and Military.  
VII. That most of the English Forces, should be on some sudden pretence, shipped over into French Service, and reimplaced by as many French, who with something a greater number of English, Scotch, Irish Papists, and Popish Swissers, were to constitute the King's Guards, and the standing Forces of England. And Scotland and Ireland were to be guarded by natural Irish, and such others of English or Scotch extraction that were Papists.  
VIII. A new Court of Wards was to be Established, by virtue of which, all Minors and Infants being brought under the King's Tutelage, should be brought up in the Romish Religion; as was already begun to be practised in Scotland.  
But notwithstanding all these Attempts upon the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, contrary to positive Law, his own Solemn Promises, and his Coronation Oath, so extremely affectionate, were the best part of the Nation to the person of their Prince, and so wholly averse to the contributing any thing, to the embroiling these Nations, a second time in Civil Wars, as being so very sensible of the miseries of the last, whose deep Scars scarcely well healed, yet remained in view, not without horror before their Eyes, and reluctancy on their Spirits.  
That they were very hardly and with much difficulty induced to believe any thing of their King, that savoured of an ill design; and when they were convinced of it by infallible Proofs, and the undoubted Testimony of their own Senses, together with Church and State now smarting under the Burden: Yet would they have thought it their most dutiful, safe and wisest Course, tamely to suffer almost any Inconveniences and Insults from him, rather than to involve the three Kingdoms in fresh dangers, by any active Resistance; especially considering that he was already well stricken in Years, and could not Reign long.  
Had not they seen those very Princely Heirs, and Nursing Parents to the Church, in whom they reposed all hopes of Redress, treated after the same Injurious manner, as the Subjects; and not only Menaced, but plainly going to be both for ever excluded of their Succession, by a Jesuitical imposture, or a supposititious Prince of Wales, and driven even from their present possessions, both in the Netherlands and Germany, as they had newly been already from those in France, by a formidable Invasion; and that they (namely the Subjects) were to be made Tools of both for their own Destruction, and that of those pious famous and most gracious Princes, from whom only under God, they hoped for Relief and Deliverance. And had not they had perfect Information, by means of the Spanish Ambassador, as aforesaid, of all the Intrigues and Stratagems, laid against the Rights of those Dear and Heaven-beloved Princes, the hope of the Protestant Church throughout Christendom, as well as against their own present Civil and Religious Liberties; and especially, receiving perfect intelligence of the whole process of that Imposture, of putting upon them now a Supposititious Heir, and had not King James himself, and his too precipitate Councillors, taken very much pains to convince them, that the Spanish Intelligence was very true to a Tittle in all particulars; and had not the League with France to destroy Holland, and the manifest steps made then by our Court, towards its Execution, beyond all Contradiction, demonstrated to them that such Chains were (of a truth) prepared for them, as would not be of a few years' continance, but would be very lasting, and impossible to be shaken off, if once wholly put on: And that they were just going to be thrown about their necks, if not prevented, without further dallying in that very Nick of time.  
For at the same time, a pretended Prince of Wales was started up, they found their Pillars of the Church, namely, the Reverend Bishops, and the main Body of their Clergy fiercely attacked; Ireland, and the Protestants there, put wholly under Despotic Power, Arbitrary Dispositions, and the merciless Mercy of cruel implacable Irish Papists; Scotland, wholly subjected already, under an open faced Despotic Authority; the brave English Protestant Nobility, those Ornaments of our Kingdom, for the most part slighted, and their Sage advices, not at all heeded in Council; but all ruled by a Popish French Cabal, headed by P. Petres and Mr. Barillon, and all Church of England-men already displaced, or going to be removed, not only from Civil Employments, but as we have showed from Military ones too, both in the Fleet and Army; and when the Army itself, which was to have backed all these proceed, saw, that for only opposing the foisting in of Irish and French Papists among them, their most Eminent Captains and Officers, though highly deserving in the late time of need, against the Duke of Monmouth, were treated no better than the Bishops: That the illustrious Princess Ann of Denmark herself, was so imperiously and disdainfully handled, and neither she, nor any Person from their Serene Highness', the Prince and Princess of Orange, though so very highly concerned, suffered to be present at the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales. But that on the contrary, War was plainly preparing against the Hollander, in pretence forsooth; but in reality and indeed, against the precious Persons of the Prince and Princess of Orange, whom they looked upon at least, as their Sovereigns in Reversion; and that they were to be sent over Seas they knew not where, to fight French and Popish Quarrels, never more to return, whilst their places were to be supplied here, by French and Irish and other Popish Forces; I say, when the Army saw themselves thus treated, and were convinced there were further designs, laid as deeply and maliciously against them, as against any other body of men in the three Kingdoms, and saw an Image of their future fate, by what they beheld already done to the late standing Army in Ireland, and to some of the best of their own Officers; and when they saw they began already to be disinherited, and yet that the Court had gone so far, in the affairs of the Bishops, and the body of the Church of England, both Clergy and Gentry, that in all appearance the Lawyers having refused to do them the Justice, pretended in the Trial of the Right Reverend Prelates; they would now have recourse to a French Army, assoon as ever they had seen but a good part of the present one gone away, and the Post new Modelled.  
They, (viz. the English Army) readily concurred with the rest of the Nation; that is to say, Those of the Clergy, Nobility and Gentry, in sending intentionally if not actually to the Heroic Prince of Orange to come, and (immediately under the Lord of Hosts) to undertake their Relief and Deliverance; and thus a good part even of the whole Nation, and of the Army and Fleet too, even by the very proceed of their Enemies, though much contrary to their Intentions, disposed to wish success to the most generous undertaking of our modern CONSTANTINE; who in Compliance with their hearty desires, and the powerful Call of Self-preservation, as well as the Defence of his own Rights, with the zealous Assistance of the States of Holland, and of the most Serene Prince, the Elector of Brandenburg, and some other generous Allies, provided a brave Fleet, consisting of Sixty five Men of War, five hundred Fly-boates, ten fire Ships, sixty Pinks, and as many Scheling Boats, etc. A good Army to be before hand with the French, and their Creatures in England too, set sail in the midst of Winter from the Brill, and whilst he was coming, and after his first Landing, was still further favoured, by the following Actions and Behaviour of his Enemies.  
I. For upon the News of his Highness' intended coming, King James to augment his Army, sending for considerable Numbers of the Irish Papists, and some Scotch Highlanders, and visibly showing more confidence in them, than in his own Native English; made an end perfectly of alienating the hearts of his English Army from him, and gave them most just grounds to fix their affections on the expected and blessed Prince, the hope of England's best People; nay caused thém now to believe entirely all that had been told them of the late King James, and his Jesuits Designs, and Frenchified Priests Intrigues, against them.  
II. When our mighty Prince had set sail the first time, and was repulsed by a grievous Tempest, the good Providence of the Lord turned even that to his Advantage; for having had the Prudence to publish in the Harlaem and Amsterdams' Convent, that his losses and detriment by that grievous Tempest, were greater much than they in reality were. And making a face of things as if his grand Design was thereby quite balked; it was very eagerly and readily believed, especially by the Court Cabal of Jesuits and Priests; nay, they imagined them still greater than was reported, and thereupon became so very secure in their own thoughts, that they concluded all danger past, and thereby still more and more alarmed the whole Nation, and kept their inclinations the more firm and close, unto their Great and Heaven inspired Deliverer. For that hot headed party, now as openly bragged in every Coffee-house, that God had defeated the Heretics, and that the Noise of that Expedition, had only given the King a fair opportunity to increase his Army, wherewith he would now make himself Absolute; and by the help of them, and the French together, chastise the proud Bishops (as they foolishly called them) and the whole Church of England, and their Abettors, the Lawyers too; rout out the daring Prince out of the Netherlands, and exterminate the States of Holland as an unsufferable Precedent, of prosperous Rebellion, and of pernicious Consequence to all Princes.  
And among other Troops, they just now raised a new Regiment of Horse-Guards, all notorious Papists for the pretended Prince of Wales, and committed the custody of his Person to them only, and to the Irish.  
III. After the renowned Prince of Orange, and his Forces were happily landed at Tor-bay, and had given Directions for the speedy landing the rest, and the Canon to be unshiped for the more conveniency at Topsham; the late King James' Council, as influenced by the French, advised him to neglect sending the body of Scotch and Irish Soldiers, in which he confided to attack the Prince's Force, while they were so fatigued and disabled, with the bitter Voyage they had undergone, and were not as yet, reinforced by any Refreshments or Rest, or joined by any Malcontents (as they called them) out of the Country, or from the late King's own Army; and rather to stay till he could assemble his whole Army, and provide a sufficient train of Artillery, store of Ammunition, etc. and be ready to March against them in Person to give them a formal Battle; which must be acknowledged, gave our renowned Prince a convenient opportunity, to refresh his Men and Horse, and recruit what were wanting; and likewise to such as were well affected to him in the Country, and in the King's Army, to go over to him.  
iv King James by a strange Fate, though so much Frenchified, yet being over persuaded not to become too much dependant of the French King, refused till it was too late, to receive a French Army, though often pressed to it by Barillon; insomuch that the French King finding he could not have his Will, to have a French Force admitted, strong enough to Master both England and its King, and to have the English Forces instead of his own, to fight his Quarrels on the other side, gave the aforesaid Counsel to the late King James, not to detach his Scots and Irish, against the Prince's wearied Forces, for fear his English Army taking exceptions thereat might Rebel, and seize his Person in the mean time; but to march with his whole Army against them in Person, where one Nation might awe the other, and the English might have less cause of Exception, seeing some confidence still reposed in them; and the King's presence might keep them all in due Decorum and Obedience.  
The French, though fearing some would desert him, yet thought that enough would still stay with the King, to keep up a Civil War, which would deprive the Hollanders and Confederates at least of the Forces they had lent for that Expedition; and which was more, of the Conduct of so great a General, as the Prince of Orange, and force King James the next Summer, to admit what number of French to help him, he should please to offer; and which he thought, he could easily send him by his own Fleet, with that part of King James' that should remain firm to him, and so he should have his long desired ends at last.  
V Because King James had so stiffly refused a French Army for that present, and to part with his English, the French King in hopes that the late King would however find Friends enough, to keep the valiant Prince of Orange and his Forces employed for some years, without being able to assist the Confederates, and make both England and Holland the eager Prey to him at last; though he were in actual War with Holland, and had a numerous Army near their Frontiers, yet forbore to make any Attempt upon them, for fear it should hinder the Prince and his Forces from going for England; and so deprive him of the sundry advantages he hoped to reap, by that Diversion.  
So true a Friend was he at the Bottom, to his poor deluded Ally's Interest, and so very much mistaken in true Measures for promoting his own, by an overruling hand of Providence.  
VI And lastly, the strange unmanly fear, and unsteadiness that appeared in the late King James, when he had the greatest occasion, to show that Courage and Conduct, he had always before pretended to; in not appearing firm to stand by those, that otherwise, in all probability would have stood to him; even among the English Forces, as well as among the Nobility, Clergy and Gentry, and his actual deserting them afterwards gave the last finishing Motion to the mighty and memorable Revolution that followed.  
Thus you see, all these several steps of the Prince of Orange's very Enemies, though directed as they thought by the best, safest and rightest measures of Prudence and Policy against him, were all made by the Providence of Almighty God (who taketh the Wise in their own craftiness, and will suffer no enchantment against Jacob nor divination against Israel) to contribute to the more assured and speedy success of our noble Prince Enterprise, so very justly and lawfully undertaken, by a loud Call and Commission from Heaven in his own Defence, and likewise in the Defence and Safety of the People, Church and Cause of God.  
And by these strange means, it came to pass, that the magnanimous Prince, setting sail a second time from Hellevoet-sluys, with a prosperous Gale, though he suffered much again with his people afterwards, by rough Wether, and the incommodities of Landing in such a place, and his first uncouth Marches; yet Landing upon the 5th. of November, in the famous Year, 1688. just 100 years after the Spanish Invasion, and on the Anniversary of the Gunpowder Treason; as if designed and ordained by Heaven to deliver us, both from the intestine Contrivances of a Faction within us, and the approaching inundation of the French without us, now much more formidable than Spain was then, in less than six Weeks time, entered Triumph●●ly into the Palace of our Capital City, 〈◊〉 by almost universal Consent of the exceeding joyful Nation, of all Orders, Ranks and Degrees, invested on the Anniversary of the Nativity of our Lord, with the Administration of the Government; as if by Divine appointment, preordained to be a temporal Saviour to these Nations, and to all his chosen People; and by the peculiar Deligation and Commission, of that King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, that Rules over the Kingdoms of Men, and gives them to whomsoever he will: And then after he had by the general desire, and humble importunity of the Subjects, called a Convention of Estates, was by them on the 13th. of February, 1688. conjointly with his Royal and virtuous Princess, declared the Rightful and undoubted King and Queen of England, France and Ireland, and soon after of Scotland.  
The late King James by sending his Queen and pretended Son, into France into the hands of a known Enemy of these Nations, and who had been the cause of all their manifold grievances; and by retiring thither afterwards, voluntarily of his own accord himself, having given infallible Evidence, to all the sober part of the Nation, that the Birth of that pretended Prince, was too dark a Contrivance to endure the clear light of a public Examination in Parliament, and made all other expedients of resetling the shaken Government, redressing the multiplied grievances of the Subjects, and doing right to the most undoubted Presumptive Heirs of the Crown, altogether impracticable.  
I forbear to insert here, all the particulars of his advances, towards the effecting so great and happy a Revolution; because they are fresh in the memories of all, and are known even to such as are but only mere strangers to us in these days. And because I have already exactly enough, related them in my late Diary, of that Memorable Expedition, Printed for Richard Baldwin, 1689. To which for those points, I refer my Readers: The conclusion of all was, that Their Majesties were on the 11th. of April following, most Solemnly Crowned at Westminster, by the Noble and most Reverend Father in God, the Bishop of London, assisted with other Bishops, to the great and inexpressible Joy and Satisfaction of all their People; the Terror and Amazement of their Enemies, and the Wonder and Surprise of the whole World.  
A Revolution, which if it were miraculous in the Concurrence of so many seeming contrary, precedent and concomitant Causes, as we have showed, was no less wonderful for the Laudable and Angellike moderation of the chief instruments of it; namely, of the People and of the Gracious and Heavenly devoted Prince and Princess, to whom they humbly and earnestly Addressed. For the People had so much Affection and Respect to their late King, that they suffered so much, till they were almost reduced beyond Remedy, before they would seek one; and when they sought and obtained one, sought such a one, as was the most Natural and Consonant to the Duty and Respect they owed their King, that could be Imagined: For they sought to the next presumptive Heirs of his own Flesh and Royal Blood, against the false Game put upon them and the people, and even upon King James himself, by the Intrigues of a Foreign Prince, and a Subtle Popish Designing Stepmother, and Second Wife, together with the Help of Jesuits and Priests: And that was done, not Tumultuously, or by a Faction; but by the Main Body of the Nation, in the persons of their Chiefest Men of all Orders, Degrees and Interests, and by as Legal Representatives as the Juncture of Time and Affairs would permit (nay, I may assert, that that Most Honourable and August Convention, were as Lawful Representatives, and as Able Men, as the whole Kingdom could afford) And by their, Now, Most Excellent Majesties, with so much Softness, Care and Veneration, to the Person of the Late King, as infallibly declared to all Mankind, that they (yet) had preserved no small share of Affection, and Respect for him. So much, as it plainly appeared since, he would not have reserved for them, had he but prevailed, or got them within the Verge of his Power. For, as our present Gracious Queen, than Princess of Orange, had earnestly entreated Her dear Lord and Husband, the Prince, to be very careful in all the Course of His Expedition, of the Person of Her Father; which was backed with the Instances of the Confederate Roman Catholic Princes. Those Counsels, and Entreaties were, verily, so very consentaneous to His own Sentiments, and Innate Inclinations, that he most readily and punctually observed, and performed them. For, when the Late King was seized and insulted by the Mobb at Feversham, as he attempted, in Disguise, to have made his Escape, and pass the Seas; He was very sensibly Concerned, at the Affronts and Indignities done him, and took special care he should be safely Reconveyed out of the dangers of the then Exasperated People, by his own Guards to Whitehall. And when he saw him so fully bend to Retire for France, Though it were, in many Respects, against his Own, and the Public Interest; yet he would not cross him in it. And since he was so eager upon it, had him Safe Conducted, by his own Dutch Guards to Rochester; and from thence to a Vessel he had himself underhand provided, to Waft him safe where he would be; with private Command, He should not be Molested, or Insulted in his Passage, either by Sea or Land: Thus the Late King ABDICATED the Throne, and Retired to France; and so laudably and gloriously concluded this most Happy and Wonderful Revolution:    

An Appendix; Containing the Remarkable Providences that have continued to Bless and Protect their Excellent Majesties, King William and Queen Mary, since their first Happy Exaltation to the Imperial Throne of GREAT BRITAIN.  
THE Divine and Unsearchable Wisdom and Justice, having through Two Mighty and Unparallelled Revolutions, safely Conducted His present Majesty to the Sovereign Throne of Great Britain; And made even the Oppositions and Stratagems of His Implacable Enemies of the Roman Faction, as he had formerly made those Intrigues of the Great Constantine's Adversaries and Competitors, the most Operative and Instrumental of any other Causes, to the Exaltation of him to be a Caesar, that he might be the better able to Combat and Subdue the Enemies of his Church: Has since, by so many Stupendious Proofs, shown itself so particularly careful, as well of the Safety and Protection of Both their Majesty's Sacred Persons, as of the Prosperity of their Designs; which, as they are, without Contradiction, Just in their Causes, have been all along no less Just and Glorious in their Ends: As being (without Controversy) in their whole Aim, directed purely to the Glory of God, and the Common good of Mankind. So that we may from thence, without any great Presumption hope; That the Supreme Sovereign of the World, whose hand is not shortened, will not stop here; But has entrusted so much Clemency, Power and Prudence, in the hands of a Prince of such Matchless Moderation, Virtue and Integrity; that it might effectually be made use of, to the utter Defeating and Suppressing of that Monstrous Tyrant, against whom He hath begun to give us such a Signal, and Remarkable Deliverance. And we trust and pray, That this Alwise and inscrutable Being, will never lea●e presiding in His Royal Councils, no● going forth with His Fleets and Armies, till he hath by him, as another Cyrus or Constantine, perfected our Deliverance, both from the French and Roman Tyranny; and placed the state of these Three Nations, and of all Europe, upon so firm and even a Balance, That no One Power on the whole Earth may ever be able to shake, or disturb its Tranquillity, in a long Series of years. And till, like His Renowned Predecessor in these Islands, the Matchless Constantine, He has to the full deserved the Title of Restitutor Humani Generis, or Restorer of Mankind. To proceed then.  
The first thing His present Majesty did, after His Happy Accession to the Throne, was, by the Unanimous and Deliberate Advice, and Desire of His People, to Proclaim War against the French King; and enter into a strict Engagement with Holland, and the rest of the Confederates, for the Common Defence of the Liberties of Europe. And though His Majesty was forced a while to stay on this side the Seas, till Matters in the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland were so composed, that it might not be unsafe to leave them; And so could not appear for some time in Action against the Common Enemy. Yet he defeated the  Tyrant of his Two great Expectations, viz. (1.) Of seeing the Force of England once more turned against Holland; And, (2dly,) Of seeing a Civil War ensue in England, which might give him a fair opportunity, under pretence of Assisting King James; of throwing in such a Force, that might, in the sequel, Enslave us all. Which disappointment made the Monsieur to fret in his Grease; to think, that by his neglecting, when time was, to Alarm the Dutch Frontiers with his Army, he had thereby given scope to his most dangerous Enemy, to take free and full possession, without hardly any Resistance, on the Kingdoms of his most Devoted and Powerful Ally; and now, at best, he could no way possible divert him, from turning his Force directly against France; but by Fomenting a War in Ireland, which would be more difficult and expensive to him, to maintain at that Distance, than to King William. Yet still he had Giantlike hope, to keep him in play at least some years, till the Confederates should be wearied out on the other side, and he might, by that means, retrieve all again in England, and Re-establish his Ally King James with the higher hand. But even here too Providence deceived him, and did that Work, as it had done the others before. For our Victorious King William, much Quicklier, and by more effectual and successful Means, than our Great Hero himself, or any of us all did, or could in Humane Reason, or Prudence expect. But though the Almighty Creator was pleased generally to give a most surprising Success, to all that our truly Pious and Valiant King enterprised in Person: Yet, lest those Prosperities should lift up our hearts too high, and make us Attribute too much to our own Strength, they were allayed by some Rubs, in some other Rencounters, where His Majesty was not, nor could be present; As were sufficient to convince us, That though God did indeed favour the Just Cause, and Well-intended Designs of our Gracious Prince, whom His own Arm had placed over us: Yet, he was still Angry both with us, and our Allies; since neither their nor our Arms were ever observed to prosper so well under any other Chieftain, as that Great Prince, whose Exemplary Virtues we might as safely Imitate, as His Civil and Warlike Qualifications. England, 'tis true, had now by this time, excepting a very inconsiderable and disarmed Party, unanimously Ranged itself under the Willing Obedience of Their present Majesties happy Government. But Scotland was still disturbed, by the Influence of the late Viscount Dundee; And poor Irelrnd was in a manner totally under the Enemy's Power; and provided with such an Army of Disciplined Natives, ●nd so well-furnished with Warlike Necessaries, and Officers from France, that it perhaps could never boast the like, and they seemed at least irrecoverably to have Rend that Kingdom from the English Empire. When it pleased Almighty God to animate a handful of Men, inconsiderable for all things but Undaunted Courage, and Zeal to their Religion and Ancient Liberties; when all the rest of the Kingdom was already Subjected, to shut their Gates against a Power, which then ruled every where else about them: And even at a time, when they could have little or no hope of Relief from England, or elsewhere; vigorously to Defend a Town, but meanly Fortified, and worse Provided; with a kind of Supernatural and Wonderful Valour, against a Numerous and Well-furnished Army, headed by their King himself; and able General-Officers from France, Renowned for their Conduct, and to hold it out against all Disadvantages, to the Amazement of the Whole World, till Relief, though very strangely by many causes delayed, much longer than 'twas thought possible they could stay for it, was brought them; and by that means a Way opened to deliver that very Kingdom from the Oppressors, when they thought themselves most secure, and firmly Posted.  
And, indeed, whosoever well considers the Vigorous Actions of the Men of Derry, and of those of Inniskilling, who took Arms about the same time, cannot but think they were influenced by something more than Humane Courage: Whilst their Enemies at the same time, were not only Infatuated in their Councils, but palled in their Valour, (though they had some very good Troops among them, both English, Scotch and French; by the unexpected daring Magnanimity of a few true Zealots for Religion and Liberty, whom, looking upon as Desperadoes, they durst not fight with, and yet were as much afraid to let alone. They were Infatuated, I say, in their Counsels; For by the very best Relations, it appears, That, if they had Besieged Derry with their whole Army, and employed their best Disciplined, and most Warlike Troops to make the Attacks, they might easily have taken it, before any succour had come: Or, if they had altogether let it alone, or contenting themselves only with keeping a Blockade before it, and had sent a good part of their Army into Scotland, to the Assistance of the late Viscount Dundee, who was a Commander both of Courage and Conduct, and who had, by his Great Interest in the Highlands, and other parts, Raised no despicable Opposition against the Government: (I say) 'Twas the sense of very Understanding Men, as well of our Own, as the Enemy's side, That if they had, in stead of Amusing themselves before Derry, sent Timely Assistance to Dundee, as he often and earnestly pressed the Lord Melfort, they had at least removed the Seat of the War out of their own Country; and found so much Work for King William nearer home, that it had been impracticable for Him to send any Succours at least that year to the Protestants any where in Ireland; So that Derry, and the Iniskillingers too, must needs have been Reduced at last of Course, and by Necessity, with little or not Fight. But some of the Irish Officers, forsooth, must needs, in their profound Wisdom, Advise the late King James to a Medium, by making a slow and regular Siege with his worst Troops, under pretence of teaching these Men to be better Soldiers thereby, till by it he quite balked and spoiled his poor Teagues at first dash, and lost his Opportunity of Assisting so brave a Servant as Dundee was, and carrying the War into Scotland, if not into England itself.  
Which must be confessed by all sober Christians, was another Instance how the Divine Providence, as it had begun, so continued still to Overrule the Actions and Councils of the Enemies of our Blessed Joshua and Mighty Deliverer, and to make them all Contribute to the Accomplishment of that Great and Glorious Work it designed by him, in such a Manner, that the Finger of God might appear in it, of more clear efficacy than the Power and Policy of Man. For, our Good Theodosius was always prevalent with God in Prayer; And, Vbi Deus ardenter invocatur, victoria stat a Bona causa. Therefore, as Marcellinus and Claudianus Spoke, or Sang of this Battle, we may of this Irish War, etc. 
O nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aether.  
Et conjurati veniunt ad Classica venti.  At last, the Irish had strongly Fortified, and Barricadoed the River leading to it; But notwithstanding all, that Distressed Town was Relieved by Major General Kirk, after the Dartmouth Frigate had forced her way to it, over all those Impediments, and the Siege was effectually raised. The day before which, by another Strange Accident, inconsiderable in itself; But, by the Guidance of Heaven, made Instrumental to the further Mortification of our Enemies; A choice Body of about 6000 Irish, Commanded by one of their best Officers, Major General Mackarty were defeated by about 2000 Inniskillingers; by occasion of a mistake of the Word of Command among the Irish: For it seems Mackarty perceiving the Courageous Inniskilling-Men Charge the Right Wing of his Irish very desperately, ordered some of his Choice Men to Face to the Right, and March to the Relief of their Companions; but the Officer who carried the Orders, mistake, and Commanded the Men, in stead of Facing to the Right, To Face to the Right-about, and so March; upon which, the Irish in the Rear, seeing their Front look with their Faces towards them, and move, thought they had been running, and so immediately in a Terror, threw down their Arms, and run away; which the rest seeing, run after them for Company, and so were most of them cut off, or Drowned in Lough's and Bogs; and Mackarty himself taken Prisoner.  
Afterwards, when Duke Schomberg went over but with a small Army of new raised Men, though, as it usually happens to English Armies new-raised, when they first came into a strange Country, many of our Men died, and the whole Army was brought into a low condition by bad Wether, Lodging and Diet; nay, and by their own Laziness in great part, in not Hutting themselves like Men more used to War. Yet the Enemies had not the Policy or Courage to make use of the many advantages they had over us, in that long time that our Army was thus languishing. But trifled away their opportunity, in hopes of the effect of a Plot, laid by some French Traitors among us, which God seemed to have permitted, in order to encourage them for to flatter themselves with vain hopes, and to make them pass over, or slip those other seasonable and likely opportunities they had to have destroyed us. Would they have been contented to use fair Force, rather than Treachery, odious to God and Man.  
But to pass by all those lesser events, and hasten to the main Action, in which His Gracious Majesty was present; And which gave the Great Turn of the Scale towards the Reducing of that Kingdom.  
The next year being 1690, His Majesty King William, being fully resolved to push the Irish War to an end, or fall in the Attempt; that so he might have liberty, solely and wholly, next year, against his Capital Enemy the French Tyrant, who had brought so many Miseries upon all Europe, and had occasioned all the Misfortunes of his Deluded Ally King James, and having by, the Death of Dundee, suppressed, in great measure, the Insurrection, or Stirs in Scotland, left Kensington the 4th of June, 1690, and Embarking at Highlake on the 12th, arrived on the 14th safely at Carrickfergus; And on the 27th of June following, assembled a Royal Army of about 36000 as Brave Men, as Europe, or the World could show; of English, Dutch, Danes, Germans and French, provided as well with all Necessaries, both for the Mouth and War; as could be desired. So much of Life and Circumspection had his Excellent Majesty's Presence given to all Needful Orders for that purpose. When he was arrived at his Army, he was continually in action, and observing the Goodness of the Country, as he rid along; he admired the Fertility of its foil, and pleasing Aspect of its Landscapes; and said, it was well worth fight for. And now, understanding that the Irish Army was retired over the Boyn, He Marched with all speed and diligence after them; And being advanced near the River, hard by a Pass, called Old-Bridge, he was so Adventurous, as to stand on the side of a Bank, within Musquet-shot of the Ford, to observe the posture of His Enemies. Which, though he saw well-fenced, and a River not easily passable, and that was well-fortified with Canon, and other strong Defences against him: Yet, knowing that the safety of Europe, in great Measure, at that Juncture, depended upon some bold Master Stroke, in that Country; without which, all that he had hitherto done, and ventured for our Rescue and Security, would be but lost: He resolved therefore to venture through all Difficulties whatsoever, obeying the Great Call of Providence, rather than that so Noble and Happy a Revolution should fail for want of Courage in him; Who is acknowledged by his Enemies to be a Prince of no small Spirit and Valour, and had made it appear to the World, in all the Course of His Life. After he had, with those Intentions, viewed them a while, he was pleased to sit down on the Ground, to Refresh himself; which some Principal Persons of the Enemy's side having observed, they caused a small Party of Horse to advance flowly upon a Ploughed Field, over against where His Majesty was, and slily to drop two Field-pieces, undiscovered, by a Hedge in the same Field, and so retired; leaving only some Gunners to Manage them, who lay skulking, still and quiet, till His Majesty was Remounted; and, Dreaming of no Danger at all, was Riding softly back again; But then the Rogues Fired furiously, and, at the first shot, killed two Horses and a Man, about 100 yards from the King; and, at the second, had like to have given a very fatal Stroke, both to these Kingdoms and the whole Confederacy; by Quenching the Light, Joy and Hope of our Israel; the Bullet grazing upon the Bank of the River, and thence Rising towards the King, with a slanting Motion, glanced over His Right Shoulder, taking off a Piece of His Coat; Tore part of the King's Anointed Body; But, being turned off short by the hand of some Guardian-Angel, Commissioned by the Lord Jehovah, touched not His Precious Life; nor so much as gave him any wound grievous enough to hinder Him from continuing with His Army, and Ordering the Remarkable Action that soon followed. For as soon as he had changed His Coat, and had His Wound dressed, He spent the most part of the remainder of that Day in Disposing His whole Army for the next day's Work; and then on the Morrow, being Tuesday, the first of July following, early in the Morning, with full Trust in the Protection of the Lord of Hosts Himself, which He had found so signally attended His Royal and Sacred Person, He very Courageously forces His Passage over the Boyn, and gives such a sudden Defeat to the Enemy, though Posted with all manner of Advantages on the other side; That while History shall at all Subsist, will never be forgotten, neither by Friends nor Foes.  
I shall not here Describe that Famous Battle, which is so well Related by other Pens, whose Writings are now in every one's hand; but shall only Remark the Chain of Providences, that seemed still continuedly to run through that whole Transaction, as well as the precedent ones.  
It is enough to say, that in it, the King behaved himself, as always on the like occasions, both as a valiant Soldier, and a wise General.  
And though some out of pure Tenderness to his Royal Person, have presumed to accuse him of Rashness, in exposing himself both to the Accident of the common Shot, and venturing upon so desperate an attempt, as the passing such a scurvy River as the Boyn, at such vast disadvantages; yet when it shall be well weighed, that the French at that time, had given a very smart blow to the Confederates, at Flerus in the Netherlands; that by Treachery or Cowardice, or both among ourselves, they had in some sense beaten the English and Dutch Fleets, so that they hovered daily about our Coasts.  
That Scotland was not quite appeased, and England at that time big, as was strongly presumed of a horrible Plot, ready to break out upon the landing of any number of the Enemy, who were now (as 'twere) Masters of the Seas, and were thought in a posture after Flerus Battle, to have been able to spare Men enough for such an Exploit; and when all Holland was in an Uproar, at the supposed foul Play they believed they had received from the English, in the late Sea Fight; and the all of the whole Confederacy, seemed to depend of some fortunate stroke from him. Instead of taxing our Valiant and Politic Prince with Rashness, we ought rather to admire and adore God's goodness, in inspiring him with so much Courage, fit for such an extraordinary Occasion at that critical time. And impute the strength and laudable warmth of his Faith in God, and Zeal for his glory and servants good, in his victorious Majesty, in taking a Resolution to fight at all Hazards on that pressing occasion, to be a call of Providence; which for the common interest, he most willingly obeyed, relying confidently upon the Protection of the Almighty alone, to go through with his undertaking.  
Most certain it is, that he thereby recovered both us, and the whole Confederacy, from another very low ebb of Fortune, the public Enemy would else once more have reduced us to, and put himself and them in a condition the next year, to carry back Terror to the Triumphing Foe. But there was still as I find by very credible Evidence, another main reason, that urged a necessity for this Battle.  
For that upon the News that Sir Cloudsly Shovel after he had landed his Majesty, was ordered to sail immediately with his Squadron, to join the Grand English Fleet, and that all our Ships with Provisions, and other necessaries for the War, were left in Carrick-Fergus Bay, with little or no Convoy.  
The French were sending ten small Frigates, and ten Privateers into the Channel to burn them; which if it had been done, than all our Communication from England, had been cut in a manner off, and our Army forced to subsist upon the small pittance they could find in a wasted Country, or else starve; or at least we had been debarred of those necessaries, without which we could not have made any Defence, nor Offence in War. And this design of the French, being made known to His Majesty, who wanted not good intelligence, and that the French and Irish Officers, as trusting in the Success of that Stratagem, unanimously agreed to retreat towards Athlone and Limerick, in hopes that they should have King William and his Army a much cheaper Pennyworth, when they were half starved, than at that time; and though King James was against that motion, yet for fear they should overrule him and be gone, and the French should in the mean while, execute their Exploit. His Heroical Majesty is supposed upon that as well as other Considerations, to have hastened the Battle; in which these following things seem further very much resembling peculiar effects of Providence; the one was, That in the Fight out of an imprudent complaisance to the Irish, who would have the Post of Honour, the Irish foot were set to guard the chief Passes; whereas, had the English, Scotch, or French been put in their places, 'tis generally thought the attempt would have been much more doubtful.  
And the second was, that the late King without staying to rally his Forces, who were many of them still entire, made haste to Waterford, where meeting with some of the French Ships, designed to burn our Provision and Ammunition Vessels; he told them 'twas too late, for all was lost, and so put them quite off the design; whereas had he let them have proceeded, they might still have done us that mischief. That together with the news of the defeat at Flerus, and the French being masters at Sea, that presently after arrived among the Irish and French too, after he and those Ships were gone, might have struck fair to have put them in a Condition to recover their Losses, and repay themselves doubly.  
In fine, the sudden and unexpected arrival of King James in France, after the French King had just before raised his depressed people's Expectations so high, as to make them believe King William was dead; quite slurred the mighty Monsieur, and made him appear very sneakingly, and little to his own people, and most ridiculous to Foreigners, and every way much broke his measures.  
After which last pusillanimous and shameful fight, the late King fell into as great Disreputation among the Irish, as he had before gained upon his first Desertion among the English Army. Sarsfield, not long after speaking of the Action at the Boyn, said thus much to the Honour of King William, and contempt of King James, That if we would change Kings, they would fight it over again and beat us.  
Again, at the first siege of Limerick, as his gracious Majesty was riding softly towards Cromwel's Fort, had not his usual good Angel, by God's Commandment preserved him, he had been like to have been taken off by another fatal stroke. The aforesaid sudden arrival of the late King James in France, and the ill Character he gave of the posture of affairs there, and of the Irish as Men that would not fight, was the cause that the French King, even after King William had raised his Siege before Limerick, and was departed for England, sent positive Orders to Count Lauzun, with all his French to quit Ireland and return home, whilst there appeared fresh hopes of recovering in part their former loss, and of protracting the War, at least defensively in Connaught; though afterwards upon better Information, he sent counter Orders, when it was too late.  
I shall mention but two more Observations, and then follow His Majesty to another Scene.  
Another great Blunder the French committed, was, That following the Irish more than their own Interest, which must be acknowledged a fault not very usual with them; they neglected to fortify Kingsale, one of the most commodious Havens, for the convenience of their Fleets in the World, and whereby they might have extremely annoyed our Western Trade, and secured their own Ships of War upon all Accidents; and amused themselves with fortifying Limerick, which could be of very little or no use to them in that Juncture. And secondly, after so much cost and pains bestowed upon Limerick, they neglected to send the necessary supplies to it, till 'twas too late, and thereby left King William at full Liberty to turn all his whole Force towards themselves in Flanders, as he has done since. These I conceive, considering all circumstances, are most convincing Marks, of an Almighty and overruling Power, that directed the Counsels of the most Politic Court in the whole world, upon those occasions to our magnanimous Prince's advantage, and even made them contribute very much to the speedy Reduction of a Kingdom, they had the greatest inclination and interest in the World, to preserve sure footing in.  
The next year being 1691. His most Excellent Majesty, met and faced them in Flanders, and though he was not so Fortunate, as to hinder them from taking Mons, yet he acted so Wisely and Valiantly, as to let the whole World see, 'twas none of his fault that as brave and bold a stroke, was not struck there in Defence of that, as at the Boyn, and he kept the formidable Enemy all that Campagne, in such Awe and Terror, that their old Fox Lnxemburg, as able a General as he is accounted, durst not venture Battle, so long as he continued with the Army, though it were several times offered him with advantage; but only to save his Credit, indeed when King William was gone, at the close of the Campagne, he fell briskly upon the Confederates Rear, though he got nothing at all by it. That his haughty Master, might have at least, some shadow of a Pretence, to keep up his desponding Peoples sinking Spirits, with the Noise and empty Sound of a pretended Victory. But to pass by that unactive year, when they would not let His Majesty come at them, neither by Sea nor Land, and come we to this last Campagne of, 1692. which was remarkable for the Enterprises of three Kings, all styling themselves Kings of France, viz. William King of Britain and Ireland, in Flanders at the head of the Confederate Army. Lewis the French King before Namur, with an Army of about 130000 French, Irish, and Swiss, and the late King James at the head of 15 or 16000 French and Scots, on the Coast of Normandy, with a Popish Plot in England to favour them.  
Flanders was now filled with above 300000 armed warlike Soldiers and 100000 Horse, and the Sea covered with two of the most Numerous and Glorious Fleets, that ever bespread the Ocean, consisting of above 150 great Men of War, the most Beautiful and Magnificent that ever were; especially, the French Royal Sun: The great Sea-wonder of the Age, admired by all for the Beauty of her Shape and Proportion; the curiosity of her Painting and Carving, the Number, Size, and Quality of her Guns, and the incomparable richness of her Gild; which made her of very great value, and emboldened her presumptuous Master to inscribe on her this proud Motto; Je suis L'unique sur L' Onde Comme mon maitre est dans le monde. i e. I only on the Sea command, as my Master doth on Land. And both the French King, and the late King James trusting to such vast Forces by Sea and Land, but more to their dark Contrivances, thought they had taken such sure and infallible Measures, not only to reduce England to King James, or rather to the French Power, but even to have blown up the whole Confederacy, with one Summer's Effort, that they bragged of it publicly before all the World as of a thing done, and declared by their Ministers, in the Northern Courts, that their designs were so surely laid, that nothing but God could defeat them. Which Arrogancy, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not suffering, by the sequel shown them and us too, that his own omnipotent Arm defeated them of the main and most wicked aims they levelled at, leaving to men, only to do the remainder of the Work that had been insignificant without those happy intervening Providences.  
For whereas the French King trusted indeed, something upon the intrigues of some Traitors in Namur, and among the Spaniards, and very much upon his puissant Force by Sea and Land. Yet he reposed much more confidence, in the Execution of these four following Projects, for which he thought he had taken infallible measures, if any of which, and much more, if all had taken effect, he had most certainly compassed his most pernicious ends, either in whole or in great part.  
I. The first was, to get out his Fleet before the Confederates Fleets were joined, if it were possible; and land an Army of 15 or 20000 Men in England to join with the Jacobites here.  
II. If they could not do that time enough, at least to debauch a part of our Fleet, to desert and come over to them, and then to beat the rest, and land their Army, and at least to raise a Civil War here, that should detain King William, till they should subdue the rest of the Spanish Netherlands.  
III. To seize our most gracious Queen Mary by the help of the Party, formed by them here, in order to that end, and transport her into France, to be made a Sacrifice to that Tyrant's Interest, or if they could not otherwise secure her, most Barbarously to assainate her.  
IU. And lastly, most barbarously to kill our gracious Deliverer, King William, any manner of way. The first of these, viz. Their getting out their Fleet, and landing an Army before ours could get to Sea, was only (all men know) hindered by God himself; who sent not only contrary Winds in the Channel, which hindered the Fleet they had in the Ocean, from approaching us, but even shattered their other Fleet, in the Mediterranean, with such an horrible Tempest, That two of their biggest Ships, were miserably wrecked, and the others kept back, that they could not come in any time to join the rest in the Channel, to prevent the dismal overthrow they afterwards received.  
The second was disappointed by their failure in the first, and steadfast fidelity of our Officers and Seamen; but the discomsiting or overthrow of our Enemies at Sea, though the Courage and Conduct of our brave Admirals and Seamen, had, it must be owned, no small share in the Execution of it; was in some measure caused by a lying Spirit, which entered into the Mouths of the Jacobite Correspondents, of those two Roman Catholic Kings; and by telling them what Sea-officers they had gained, and how generally the English Seamen were alienated from their Majesty's King William and Queen Mary, for want of Pay, etc. which persuaded them to send Express Orders to their Fleet, though scarce 50 Sail of Capital Ships, without staying for their Tholoun Squadron, to fall upon ours, which was much superior in Number and much more in Quality, of Experienced and Courageous Officers and Seamen, which proved an almost incurable Blow, to their power at Sea, and dashed all their Projects upon England into pieces, losing them 25 of their biggest Ships, some thousands of their best Seamen, and particularly their gaudy Sea Idol, the Golden Sun, that had been the work of twenty years, and had cost more than the Revenues of some Kingdoms, which was Sacrified to the Flames in a few Minutes, as an earnest perhaps of the Future Fate, of that presumptuous Phaaeton, its Master; who so injuriously to the Bright Sun in the Firmament, and its most glorious maker, has so long usurped the Title, and Character of the Sun, though like the youngster he imitates, he has been Famous for nothing, but setting the World in a consuming Blaze, and laying stately Palaces and Cities, into ruinous heaps.  
And lastly, as for the Plots against both Their Sacred Majesty's Royal Persons, which, had they succeeded, had proved more fatal to these Kingdoms; nay, to the Common Interest of Europe, than all the rest: Can we pretend to have detected them by any foresight of ours? If any of us do; it is more than I am confident Their Majesties themselves will; who thankfully own, that even when they thought of no such matter, the Execrable Design, and Diabolical Plot against His Majesty's Royal Person, was very Providentially Discovered by one of the Accomplices: I pray, Who detected it, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the All-seeing-Eye, and Searcher of the Heart, when 'twas so very nigh its Execution? That it strikes a Great Horror in good and honest Men, and makes my hands to shake, and joints to tremble but to think of it.  
So that the French Nero had some reason to brag, his Measures were so surely laid, that none but Almighty God could defeat them. For I conceive 'tis plain, and without Controversy, That none but the Almighty Being could Mollify one of those Obdurate Sons of Violence, and bring him to so much Remorse, or Compunction, as generously to detect his Comrade in Iniquity: Who, to the shame, and eternal Ignominy of that Grand Engine of Satan, the French Tyrant; sufficiently proved by his Chief Minister of State's own Hand, who set them on Work. And had not this Discovery (so closely laid as 'twas) been timely made, Alas! What would our Fleets or Armies have signified? but to Contribute the more to our Swift Destruction, by the Mutual Jealousies and Divisions, attended with Confusion, that would have ensued among them, upon so very Dismal an Accident? The same Providence is no less Remarkable, in the Detection of the other Plot, against our Virtuous and Pious Queen, and the Government here: Yet so very Gracious and Merciful have their Majesties been, even to a kind of Crime, That none but their Princely Hearts would Pardon, etc.  
That none but Granvale himself, that Hellhound, who was to have Assassinated our Sovereign King William, was Executed, for all these Horrid Contrivances. And therefore, as we are in Duty bound to Pray; So we may, with Assurance hope from thence, That those Darlings of Heaven, who are so very averse to all Cruelty, will never fall by it; But that the Angel of the Lord will still Encamp round about their Sacred Persons, to Protect them from all Dangers, etc.  
Thus all these (Four) Fine Projects, to the Great Grief of that False Court, were rendered Abortive, by the Care of Heaven. However the French King, what by the help of his Golden Lewisses, and Intestine Treachery; And the unseasonableness of the Wether, hindering our Great Prince from approaching to Attack him, took Namur; God not being willing perhaps to destroy this Grand Enemy of His Truth and Peace at once, for Reasons known to himself; but to let this Proud Pharaoh have some encouragement, still to venture upon some other Enterprise; till the Harvest of his Abominations is full ripe for the Sickle, and to make his final Ruin and Destruction so much the more Remarkable, as it is longer deferred. However, that very same year, at the ensuing Battle of Steenkirk, Our Heroical King shown Monsieur Lewis' General Luxemburg, That neither Hedges, nor Ditches, or any other Fences, were always sufficient Obstacles against True Valour, once Resolved, and fully Provoked; and made the French feel that day, that He was Born on Purpose, to be a Scourge to their Insolence; and beat down their Pride. Since, with but a part of His Army, he had put them so much in danger of a Total Defeat; that had not some Accidents, or Mistakes, hindered the coming up of the rest of the Confederate Forces, the Date of the Greatness of Lewis the XIVth, had, in all probability, Expired, with the end of that fierce and Bloody Battle. Which, by the loss of so many Officers, Nobility and Gentry as were there slain; made the Drapers of Paris regain no inconsiderable part of the loss of Trade they had suffered by the War, and secretly Sing Jubilate to the Courageous King William of Great Britain, their Benefactor; whilst their Lordly Customers Sung a Melancholic De profundis. Neither was Providence, in this hot Action, one of the Bloodiest, and Fiercest since the War, less mindful of His Majesty's Royal Person, so dear to a Multitude of Nations, than it had been, upon all other Occasions, though he was exposed to the continual Fire, both of the Great and Small Shot of the Enemies; and was as deeply as any Engaged in the Warmest part of the Medley, from the Beginning to the end.  
And now His Majesty, with a Victorious Navy, and more Powerful Army than ever yet, already ●●usht in French Blood, and Fired with Indignation, because they were last time so unluckily Robbed of their Victory that was before them, had not some of the Confederates made a False Step; is Prepared once more to March against the same Enemies, and to Attack them briskly in their most sensible part, even in their own Country; of whose Heroical proceed, if any Prognostics may be made, without offending the Most High God, I think, in Humane probability, we may promise ourselves all prosperous Success (if the National Crying Sins do not hinder it) since Providence has already been pleased to give us some Earnests and Pledges of the Continuance of her usual Favours; that seem to me to Promise Greater Prosperity than ever to our Mighty Monarch's Vigorous Endeavours for the Common Good. Since, the Monsieurs have been terribly baffled at Rhineberg, by the Excessive Rains, that gave time for Succours to advance, and the Troops of Hesse to come up. And the rest of their Winter-Work in Flanders has been utterly spoiled, by the sudden and Prodigious fall of the late Snows; And their Detestable Plots, the one upon Piedmont, and the other upon the Spanish Fleet, in the Post of Naples, most strangely discovered, just in the Nick of Time; The one, by false steps of some of the Plotters; and the other, as we hear, and are informed, by Advice from the Pope Himself; as much Frenchified as some report him to be; but six bare hours before the French Squadron appeared there. And their Mediterranean Fleet, almost as roughly handled, and as much Damaged, by another late Dreadful Tempest, as 'twas the last year by our English Navy, being now driven back again, in a very ill Plight to Thoulon: Where it must Refit, before it can Rejoin their Fleet in the Ocean; to the Great Retarding, and I Hope, and Pray, to the Total Defeating of their Principal Designs at Sea this year. And their Land-Forces are in such ill-plight, by the Foresaid Disappointments; that (through God's Mercy to these Nations) they never were so backward in the Field as now: And therefore having lost the Sole Advantage almost, they had always over us, of taking Places, as well as the Field before us; We may justly hope, that the French Pharaoh and his Armies are near an Overthrow; and their Prosperities not far from a Period: And that the Eternal God, whose Eyes run too and fro, throughout the whole Earth, will still be pleased to show Himself Strong in the Behalf of our Gracious King (whose Heart no doubt is perfect towards Him) and make all His Noble Erterprises to Succeed, till He hath once more added the Ancient Crown of France to the Three British Ones, which He already has Given Him: Or, at least, that God of His Great Goodness will lower it, so that it may pay Due Homage to England again; And be out of a Condition any more, to Disturb the Tranquillity of God's Church, and the Civil State of Europe.  
GOD Save KING WILLIAM And QUEEN MARY. AMEN.  
FINIS.