ENGLAND'S Faiths Defender VINDICATED: OR, A Word to clear a most foul, damnable and scandalous Aspersion, which hath been cast upon that Patient and Suffering Prince, CHARLES II. By some villainous and seditious persons, That he should have renounced the Protestant Religion, and Church of England, and have embraced POPERY. Published out of Christian and Loyal Duty, by a Person who hath been faithful ever since he could discern the light from darkness.  PROV. 6.16, 17, 18, 19 
16. These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, his soul abhorreth seven.  
17. The haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and the hands that shed innocent blood.  
18. An heart that imagineth wicked enterprises, and feet that be swift in running to mischief.  
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that raiseth up contentions among brethren.  
London, Printed for Charles King. 1660.   

ENGLAND'S Faiths Defender VINDICATED, etc.  
Christian Countrymen,  
OUt of that measure of light the Lord hath been pleased to afford me in these gloomy, and days of dismal darkness, I think myself bound both in Conscience and Duty as a Subject, and as a Christian, to witness against such Diabolical devices as may be scattered abroad to the dishonour of God, our poor exiled innocent long-suffering Prince, and of Christian Religion itself, that the devices of the Devil may not always be seducively prevalent, but that the misled people may have some light to clear them of damnable doubts; As now of the falsity of the ensuing, which without doubt in its coming forth in such damnable colours, hath much terrified the Souls and tender Consciences of many of God's people. I therefore have taken upon me this ensuing, to Vindicate that true and fundamentally grounded-Protestant, and Defender of the Faith and Church of England, CHARLES the Second, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, etc.  
Give me leave then, and I hope without offence I may answer for the absent; if not, I'll presume: for it cuts my very Soul to hear such notorious Scandals cast upon that most innocent Prince, which would pass for currant, should none rise up to reprove the backbiters: But let them hear what the Apostle saith, 1 Pet. 2.1. Wherefore laying aside all maliciousness, and all guile, and all dissimulation, and envy, and all Evil speaking. Then, now that the men of the Times, who under pretence of Holiness, Zeal and Religion, have subverted this late glorious Church and State, and brought it to nothing, but a ruined heap of innumerable Calamities. Now that God in some measure hath opened the eyes of the people to discern their wicked detestable, infernal, and out of measure sinful actings; now that they see their Plots discovered, and that they fear some doleful Ca astrophe to Crown their perniciously public destructive Labours; the Counsels now on foot portending an unlucky Omen towards them, they have gone to consult with their Master, who hitherto hath still backed them on to all their damnable Designs, who now seeing there is no probability left in them to advance his Kingdom here, hath forsaken them, to run for a space at their chains length, upon that Stage wherein they have Acted with a Devilish Plaudite so many direful Tragedies, that they may receive the shame and derision of the Multitude, until such time as the hand of an earthly Executioner shall recommend them to the Stygian Charon (according to the Poets.)  
Seeing thus he hath canceled their Commissions, and denied them his assistance, they call a Grand Convention, to see what they can do, and hope by the strength of their own Arguments, that they shall dive out of the Hell of Hells within them, to remount the Saddle which of late hath given them so scurvy a turn on the dirt; and nothing is so conducent to the affair in this extremity, but to give out this:  
What, are the People possessed with some Infernal, that they will re-admit of that Religion, which at the price of so much Blood, Treasure, and other perilous hazards, hath been expunged this Commonwealth? Know they not the blindness and ignorance of the Papists, and that it is a sure way to Perdition? and will they make that Apostate, great Papist grown, Charles Stuart, their King? Surely the Lord hath left them, and given them up to a state of Reprobation. Well, we will wash our hands, and the guilt of their Souls be upon their own heads.  
Thus vent they their damnable Forgeries, which bear no other impression, than that of Hell: But God will confound their hellish inventions, and bring to light their works of darkness. God revealeth the hidden works of darkness, and bringeth to light the counsels of the wicked. What (saith the Psalmist) doth the wicked man do? behold, he traveleth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood, etc. Psal. 7.14, 15, 16. And 1 Cor. 1.19. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, He catcheth the wise in their own craftiness.  
Dear Friends, Examine yourselves, and your own Consciences will tell you, that the wisdom of these Hyyocrites is a lie, and their hopes shall perish. Reason with yourselves my following Arguments which I shall presently lay down, and I am confident you will sign them as a confirmation to your troubled Souls, That he is no other than a true Protestant according to the Church of England; and I presume, if occasion should require, he would expose himself to the Martyring Stake, for the Defence of the true Protestant Religion, and Church of England, and therefore deserves the Title of his Predecessors, Defender of the Faith.  
I could offer many Arguments; though I question not but these two which I shall here insert, will be sufficient proof to clear the point: And because I am loath to presume too much upon your patience, I thus lay down my first Argument, to prove that Charles the Second, King of England, etc. is a true Protestant; viz. That notwithstanding his being born a Prince to all the Dignities and Honours of the Crowns and Sceptres that his Predecessors have swayed; His being Banished from all these, and all the Pleasures and Delights of fruitful England, of which he had had some small smach before his perpetual determined Exile; That he should be forced to fly for Refuge to Strangers, hurried and tossed, upon the restless wheel of Fortune, from one place to another, out of one perilous danger into another, nothing but fears and dangers encompassing him on every side; Notwithstanding his Eleven years banished residence to light amongst the chiefest Upholders of Popery; and on the other side, balancing with these the large Promises have been made to him by most Polish Potentates (the Pope himself) for establishment of him in his Throne and Dignity, provided he would renounce his Religion, and embrace Popery, weighing his Adversity and Prosperity together: And notwithstanding all these things, that yet he should stand firm and  to his first Principles, denotes his undoubted Resolution to live and die for the Church and Protestants of England, and the great grace and mercy of God to be working in him, who surely hath reserved him for some great and glorious Work. This as a Preamble. Now take the sum of this Argument; to wit, his following Declaration in the midst of those (though quite different in the Principles of Religion) from whom he receives his subsistence; and that to Cardinal Mazarine, a great Instigator of the Papistical Interest, who comes to the King, and and after a dolorous stating of the Kings most sad and deplorable exiled condition, tells him what friends and means he would procure him in order to his settlement, if he would but embrace the pure Religion of the Papists, and renounce the Heresies of England: And withal, after his establishment, but tolerate the Papists freely to exercise within his Dominions, and that he would suspend the Penal Statutes and Acts of Parliament made against them. But mark how the King declares himself in answer to this subtle Temptation, which completes my first Argument, That Charles the Second King of England, etc. is a true Protestant of the Faith of the Church of England.  
Sir, I thank you for your affections and love towards me; but your demands are unreasonable, as against my Conscience, and those Principles of Christian Religion in which (in the Church of England) I have been trained up: Then how can I do that thing, and sin against the Lord? it is better to suffer than to sin; and I am fully resolved, rather than so to die a Martyr in defence of the Church of England. And besides, admit I should renounce; such things as in the latter part you request, lie not in my power to give you satisfaction in: for such Laws as are made and confirmed by a Parliament (according to the Constitution of our Government) no King of England can abrogate; and if my restauration can be accomplished by none but such an unlawful and unconscionable way, I do here determine to wait with patience upon God in a perpetual Exile, who if he shall not see an earthly Crown meet for me, I hope will make me able to say, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, etc.  
My second Argument is. That seeing their subtlety could have no prevalency over his spirit, or their temptations draw him from the Truth, to embrace their blind and most damnable Errors, they at last contrive to force him to some solemn Protestation of that nature by violence, but all had the like operation, in that finding the bottom of their devices, he rather chose to abandon their Protection, and commit himself to the wide world, without any certain place of reception or refuge to fly to, than to hazard his precious Soul, dishonour God, and stigmatize his Progenitors and Royal Predecessors, with so great a mark of Ignominy, as by submitting to the unlawful, subtle and forcible demands of those wicked Papists he should. His late escape, or at least some show of an escape, from his Court at Brussels, doth clearly manifest and make good this second Argument, That King Charles is a true Protestant of the Church of England.  
These, I hope, will stop the mouths of the slanderers, for their further venting abroad any more such damnable falsities; at least, ground all good people from any further belief of them, if they shall dare presume to scatter abroad any more of the like nature.  
Thus having uttered my knowledge and Conscience, I hope you will excuse what I have said amiss, and ponder this thing, that is of such great Concernment, in your hearts.  
To conclude in a word: Do not all good people desire peace and settlement in this turmoiled Church, and shipwrackt State? Know ye not the way to peace? and that a Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand? then how do you think to live in peace, whilst we thus labour against the stream? What Government are we founded upon? know you not? What has our forefathers been always subject unto? what was the Government they have always found such peaceable living under? hath not 300 Kings and more swayed the English Sceptre, and are we grown more wise than all past generations? Doth not the very word of God manifest against us, Prov. 24.21. My Son, fear God and the King, and meddle not with them which are given unto Changes: v. 22. For their destruction shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both? Prov. 28.2. For the transgressions of the Land, many are the Princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge, a Realm likewise endureth long. Balance the Miseries and Calamities have been predominant over you these 11 years, in expectation of this Utopian Commonwealth, with the Peace and flourishing estate you have lived under, when Monarchy was your Sovereign, and then you will be able to distnguish the light from darkness; then will you cry no more, Crucify him, Crucify him, but, Lord, return us our Judges as at the first, and our Rulers and Counsellors as in the beginning. Doth not Nature teach you, that Monarchy runs in English veins; and you see what Diseases have fallen upon you, by the Corruption which you have wrought in your blood? Ought ye not to follow the example of God in all things, for hath not he made you in his own likeness? he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings, a God blessed for evermore. He hath granted a Monarchical Power and Commission to King Jesus: Nay, (according to the observation of Naturalists) the very Bruits and senseless Animals, both Walking, Creeping, Swimming and Flying, do govern to our shame: And Custom, (a second Nature) pleads a Monarchical Prerogative in this Nation, prohibiting the introduction of any strange and new found Government. And lastly, our Laws are modellized so aptly for such a Constitution, that the very Lawyers themselves confess and acknowledge, they cannot in their natural presidential property comply with any other. 〈…〉 seeing it is thus, and that at last you grant Monarchy the best (which I dare presume none can deny, but such as have feathered themselves out of the Nations Ruins, and that not out of Conscience, but wilful obstinacy, thinking thereby to save their estates unlawfully accrueing unto them) seeing, I say, you have some spacks of Loyalty yet left to tend that way, ye know that our Government is not Efective but successive: Then why thus long stand ye gazing on the tedious Exile of you long suffering, virtuous, and most noble King, the lawful Successor to the Crown of England? Why are ye not preparing for the day of his Coronation? Surely it will be performed in such magnificent manner, as never yet was performed at the Inauguration of any English Prince. For that ye have had 11 years to make proparations therein: But oh, I fear ye can give but a Tragical account, therefore up and be doing, for I assure you it is high time: How often has your King knocked at your doors, but ye would not open? How long has his patience waited to enter in, but ye would not receive him with the Laurel branch in his hand? What is it you allege against Charles the Second to be your King? he is an English Prince, he is Patiented, he is Wise, he is Virtuous, he is Merciful, he is an Understanding Prince, he is Religious, he is Zealous, he is a true Protestant: Finally, he is all in all that a good King should be; Ergo, as fit to sway the English Sceptre, as ever any one that hath sat upon the Throne before him. If you delight not to see the Glory and Honour of God rend in pieces, his Church deflowered, his Vineyard trampled down, the Food of your Souls profaned; if you delight not in Blood, and Ruins of Blood, Fire, Famine, Death, continual Wars, and rumours of Wars, Oppressions, continual Fea s, the Cries and Shrieks of your Wives and Children, the Ruins of your Houses, the Destruction of your Estates, the Hissing of all Nations, the Decay of Trading, the Want of Bread to sustain yourselves, the sum of all that ever Horror and Dissolution can introduce into any Nation: But on the other side, if you respect the Glory and Honour of God, the Increase of his Church, the Establishing of the Kingdom of Christ in the uttermost Corners of the Earth, the Salvation of your own Souls in the Day of the Lord, the Good of yourselves, Wives and Children, the Abundance of all Temporal Mercies and Blessings, the Fullness of Trade, and Increase of Traffics, to become the Terror (as formerly) of all the Nations round about ye; Then Call Home your King from Exile, and Establish Him on the Royal Throne, that he may Judge the People in Mercy, Righteousness and Truth. Then shall all People with Joy and Gladness, with Cheerfulness of spirit lift up themselves, and cry, Long live the King, and let Him Rule His People unto  
THE END.