SEDITION unmasked and EXPLODED: OR, Reflections on the Seditious Designs of some Disaffected Persons to Ruin the present Happy Settlement of the Nation.  

licenced and Entred according to Order.   
THE present Establ●shment in this State, was made with so much Peace and general Satisfaction among all sorts of Pr●testants, that no Man would guess but that it was done with the Universal Consent of the Nation: they seemed passionately to desire it▪ as the only Security of the Protestant Religion, and their Native Liberty and Property; and accordingly, when obtained, they approved it with all the demonstrations of public Joy and Triumph imaginable. None but the roman-catholics were disgusted, T●ey alone seemed to labour under any discontent, or to re●ine, at the late Revolution: And their dissatisfaction had thus much of excuse in it, That it was the genuine effect of their zeal for their Religion, which they apprehended was in danger of a total extirpation, since they had lost King James, whom they always esteemed its in vincible Patron and Protector. Hence it was, they could not behold the downfall of that unfortunate Monarch, without insupportable passion; having been all along transported with the most flour●shing hopes of his rising Grandeur, and of seeing the R●man Faith propagated in these Nations, under the auspicious influence of his Reign: so that their sorrow and discontents admit of some Apology. The late Eclipse of King James his Lustre and Glory might well draw sighs from their hearts, and tears from their eyes, who were of his own Religion, and had for some time bask'd in the Sunshine of his Prosperity. Gratitude itself must needs prompt them to condole his misfortunes, whom he had warmed with his Royal Favours. Grief and Compassion were but the due Attendants on their Master's Fall. They could do no less in Nature and Honour, than accompany the obscure Exit of their once-glorious Sovereign wi●h some sunest thoughts and resentments. All this was within the Verge of Nature and Humanity. But there is a Time and a Measure for all things. Ne quid nimis▪ was wholesome Advice. Men are not obliged to exhaust their Vitals in unprofitable mourning for the loss of a Friend or Patron; neither had it been prudence in the R●man catholics by an unseasonable and long continued peevishness to have rendered themselves burdensome, and an eyesore to the rest of the Nation; and by a too passionate fondness for a lost Interest, to forfeit that which they might otherwise keep.  
And yet, i● this be not their fault, there are another sort of people in the Nation, who are guilty of it, a kind of malcontents who go up and down, insinuating themselves into all Compan●es, and privately sowing the Seeds of Sedition in such tempers as they find flexible enough to receive them. These Men murmur at the present Posture of Aff●irs, whispering▪ That all ●as ill●gal and unjustifiable; challenging their superiors with the Dep●sition of their lawful Sovereign. And casting invidious Reflections on the Government, they say▪ that the Doctrine of Mariana the Spanish Jesuit is now practica●ly translated into English; and that Men need not any longer be beh●lding to Rome for Dispensations and Absolutions▪ since in England every Man has found out the way to become his ●wn Conf●ssor, and can r●adi●y abs●lve him●e●f from Oaths of A●legiance, &c. Thus do they de●cant on the public Conduct of the State, endeavouring to ferment their Disciples and Hearers into a belief that King James will shortly return with a powerful Army, and re-settle things on their right foundation. But, in my opinion, those who give credit to this kind of stuff, discover more Passion than Reason, and a greater share of Credulity than of Wit or good Understanding. They take an estitmate of things by the Great, without b●llance or measure. They condemn or approve the Motions and Overtures of State in the lump, without examining and comparing the particular emergencies from whence they spring. Such as these are Men of short discourse, who frame their conceptions of Publ●ck Aff●irs from their more exte●nal Appearance; gazing on the ou●side of the Cabinet, they are dazzled, and behold not the Secret within. Such as these are fittest to be imposed on by the Incendiaries of the Nation, who are every where Caballing, and making Parties for the French King, under the Notion of being Friends to King James. A Notion which they would fain improve so far, as to persuade some easy men, That the Interest of the Church of England is involved with that of King James; as if the one could not subsi●t without the Restauration of the other. This is the old Artifice of Faction, to dress their Intrigues in the disguise of Religion; a successful way to gain on the softer part of Mankind. And he that suffers himself to be thus cajoled, lead by the Nose, and cully'd out of his Sense, so as not to discern a Snake in the Grass, deserves to be bit for a Remembrancer, and a caution, not to be catched in the same Noose again. Does not the Church of England Hourish much more under the Reign of King William and Queen Ma●y, than it did under King James? Wherein has she been discountenanced, or injured? Or will these men pretend to more care for the Church of England than the Great Representative of the Nation? Are not the Lords and Commons now assembled in Parliament( for the mayor part) of that Communion? Was it not with their Advice and Consent the Regency was first committed to the then Prince of Orange? who afterwards was crwoned King of England, &c. A Prince whose Character surpasses the highest rhetoric of famed! A Prince, whose more than Royal Virtues charm the World, and bespeak him another Titus Vespatian, Deliciae humani generis. It is needless to examine or prove his Title to the Imperial Crown of these Realms. That has been performed by more accurate and judicious Pens. It is sufficient that He with His Royal Consort Queen Mary, are in actual p●ss●ssion of the Throne. We use to say, That Possession is eleven Points of the Law; and had he no other pretensions of Right and Title, yet the Unanimous Consent of the Nation, with which he was invested with the R●galia, may well make up the twelfth. His mildred and Indulgent Government r●nders Him beloved at home; and His active Resolution and Conduct against France procures and confirms to Him Potent Allies abroad. Only Lewis the XIVth opposes Him without, and the big●tted Faction of Lewis here, malign and undermine Him within His Dominions. This restless Faction being baffled in their former Methods, have no other Stratagem left, but sweetening the People with panegyrics on King James; Lectures on the present Interest of the Church of England, and fine Harangues on the Generosity of the French King: endeavouring to persuade them, That ere long King James will return, and claim his own, and that he will find innumerable Friends to side with him. By this means they prevail up●n some easy Natures, and flatter themselves with a greater increase of Proselytes. Whereas, Supposing such a thing should come to pass as the landing of King James, yet, considering the general hatred which the English bear to the French, it seems to me as easy for the Grand Signi●r with forty or fifty thousand Turks to conquer these Nations, as for King James to be restored by an Army of Men, whom all the English esteem their mortal Enemies. Besides, if the Irish,( who are of their own Religion) having lately experienced the French Integrity, grow weary of those their new Patrons and most Christian Taskmasters, and thereupon a considerable part of the Army have deserted King James; you may be assured the English( a People of much more refined Wits, and of contrary Interests to the French) will take care to prevent their Encroachments and Tyranny, by not resorting to him at his Landing. To conclude, there is no medium between Liberty and Slavery. The One will be preserved, by opposing the French, and serving King William and the present Government; the Other will be introduced by our Divisions, and Revolt to the French, though masked with the plausible pretext of serving King James.   

London: Printed for Richard Baldwin, in the Old-Baily. 1689.