vc £v « ♦ ^** f A v** ^ £ *»* =3 a ^ 2 14 CD % * 5 to c 1* 8 03 ** O "i_ *S ^ =5 Q_ O k" _o .c> 'I 8 ^ ^ O .w ^ ^ _CD 3 3 ^ t** "5 O &l V* %. ^ & #> > 5C -B Turn JH, 13 Vlf r THE Providences of G O D Obferved through SEVERAL AGES Towards this NATION, In introducing the True Religion % And then, In the Defence of it, preferring the PEOPLE in their RIGHTS and LIBERTIES, whilft other King- doms are ravifhed of theirs, as our Counfellors defigned for Us. By the Late Slingsby bethel Efq; Clje ©eccmti ^Dttion- M-ONDON, Printed by /. D. for anweto 15tU at the Crofs-keys and Bible in Cornhil, near Stocks-market. i6$y. Price bound i s. . Advertifement. THIS Book was writ and pub- UJbed about 3 or 4 Tears fince by Slingsby Bethel Efq> Sheriff of London about the Year 1680. ythofe unparallel'd Honejly and Courage in tbofe wicked Times ought to ereH him an Immortal Statue in the Hearts of aU True Englifli-men. He though not fit for fome %eafons to put his Name to it ; but fuppofing tbofe may be removed by his Death, and that this 'Book may be of further Ufe to all who fave any LoVe for their Countrey, 'tis thought fit to expofe it again to the World. BOOKS printed 'for Andrew Bell. THE General Hiftory of England, both Ecclefi^- ftical and Civil, from the earlieft Accounts of Time, to the Reign of his prefent Majefty King WilTram. ; Taken from the moft Antient Records, Manuscripts* and Hiftorians. Containing the Lives of the Kings* and Memorials of the moft Eminent Perfons both in Church and State. With the Foundations of the Noted Monafteries, and both the Univerfities. y i # j # By James lyrrel, Efq-, Pol. A New Hiftory of Ecclefiaftical Writers : Contain- ing an Account of the Authors of the feveral Books of the Old and New Teftament -, and the Lives and Wri- tings of the Primitive Fathers -, An Abridgment and Catalogue of all their Works, &c. To which is added, A Compendious Hiftory of the Councils, fyc. Written in French by Lewis EUiesdu Pin, Doftor of the Sorbon. In feven Volumes. FoL A Deteftion of the Court and State of England during the Four laft Reigns, and the Interregnum. Confifting of Private Memoirs, &c. with Observa- tions and Reflexions : And an Appendix, diicovering the prefent State of the Nation. Wherein are many Secrets never before made publick j as alfo, a more impartial Account of the Civil Wars in England, than has yet been given. By Rog. Co\e, Efq^ The third Edition much corre&ed, with an Alphabetical Table. An Effay concerning the Power of the Magiftrate and the Rights of Mankind in Matters of Religion. With fome Reafons in particular for the DifTenters not being obliged to take the Sacramental iftfjt but m their own Churches, and for a General Naturalisation. Together with a Poftfcript in Anfwer to the Letter to a ConvocationMan. The Rye-houfe TraveftU : Or, the Hiftory of the Late Jacobite Plot. In a Letter to the Bp of Rochejler $ by i ho. Percival, Author of Ludlow's Letters, TO THE READER. T Here being found amongU us a certain fottijh Generation, lW;o, out of loVe to Slavery, and hatred to our Legal and Natural Rights, do dijown any Mifcarriage or Error in the Miniflers and Inflrn- merits of the two laji feigns ; 1 thought itneceffary tomakefome ObferVations upon the Tranfatlions of thofe Times, to tfo end to raife our Hearts to a thankful Admiration' of Gods Grace A 1 and 1 o the Reader. and Goodnefs, in preferring us in our Privileges by bis oVer-ruling Hand of Providence, through many Ages, whilfl other kingdoms haVe been ra- Vijfad of theirs ; and to difcourage the like Attempts againfl us for the future, by Mm of ambitious, felfifh and de- frayed Principles. And becaufe I know this will meet with many Ene- mies, who, as concerned, will be ready to caVd at it, J haVe for the farther Proof of the Suhjetl Matter relating to the two lafi P^igns, and the Iniquity of them, annexed hereunto two Affi- davits, which, together with the un- contraditled Information of that emi- nently honejl Captain Henry* Wil- kin fon, a true Son (tho no Bitot) of the Church of England, W/, I fuppofe, To the Reader.' fuppofe, be fufficient to make good the Truth of what is here fuggejied : In oppojition to thofe that make it their work to magnify the eYd Jnjlru- ments of the late Times, recommen- ding them undefer^edly to Places of greateft Trujl, And if any defire farther Satisfaction concerning the four lajl Rings, I refer them for James the Firji, to that Book called, The Court of King James, writ by Sir Anthony Welden, who be- ing a Courtier, writ his Rnoldedg and Experience, "For Charles the Firft, to Rufhworth'j Authentick Collections. For Charles the Second, and James the Second, to that Book called, The Difplay of Tyranny, Firjl and Second Part : where ydu will find / To the Reader. find named the Judges, Juries, Wit- ruffes and Counfel, made ufe of in feveral Trials upon Life and Death, as well as for pretended Mtf demeanors ; fome of which VerdiBs haVe been fmce reyerfed by AB of Parliament, declaring federal Men murdered-, and fome of the VerdiBs for Ufdemeanours, reyerfed by Judgment in the Houfe of Lords, to the Credit of tbeSujfe- rers, but little to the Credit of thofe Judges, Juries, Witneffes and Counfel, who found them guilty, the Wxtneffes meet with their juft (Reward, being rendred defpicable in the Eyes of the People; whilft the Judges, Juries and Counfel are mofi partially not fo much as refteBed upon, tho mojl of all hat the Words of the Witnejfes could naturally or genuinely bear ; as what Mr. Shepherd faid in Alderman Cornifh'f Cafe, &c. to the as if the Lord did not think fo great a Power exercifed againft his Peo- ple, fit to be entrufted in the Hands of un- merciful Men. Queen Elizabeth having in her Father's and Sifter's Times (tho averfe to the grofs Idolatry of Rome ) imbibed too great a liking of the gaudy Splendor of the Church, infomuch that the pious Reformers of that Age could not bring her to that height of Reformation they defired, as appears by Dr. Burnet's (now Bifhop of Salisbury) Letter from Zurich in Switzerland : had it not pleafed God in his Providence to fur- nifh her with wife and moderate Counfel- lors, as Sir Thomat Smith, Sir Nicholas Bacon y Lord Barley, Sir Francis Walfmgham^ Earl of EJfex, and Sir Walter Rawletgh, &c. fhe might have proved more fevere againft the then DifTeners than fhe was: but having had a true Love to the People of England^ and particularly to the City of London, B 4 (which ( which fcarce any of her four Succeflbrs have fmce had ) foe reigned moderately > fome of thofe Ads of Parliament made in her time, and fince w relied againfl Diflen- ters* being intended only againft Papifts. Piecy was by her and her Counfellors en- couraged ; all Debauchery, Blafphemy, Atheiftn and Profanenefs difcountenanced ^ Honours, Places of Profit or Penfions never beftowed otherwife than for Merit ; by which all forts being provoked to the ftudy of Vertue and generous A&ions, Gentle- men were in that time in higher Efteem, and .of greater Iptereft, than many Noblemen at this day : the benefit of which we found in a Bleffing upon all our Undertakings, the Nation not fuffering the leaft Difhonour in any of their A&ions during her Reign, tho ingaged in War upon the account of Religion with all her Neighbours; with Spain in defence of the Proteftants in the Netherlands - 7 with Scotland in the behalf of the Reformation there j and with France in the affiftance of the Reformed in that Kingdom** in Ireland againft the Rebels there *, and at home in fuppreffing the per- petual Plots of the Papifts. And having prevailed in all places with a fmall, but well-managed Revenue -, extravagant Sa- laries, Fraud and Cozenage, unneceflary ftenfiofiS, multiplying Offices and Officers - to (?) to gratify a Party for Popery and Arbi~ trary Government, not being then known •, her and her Peoples Intereft being reckoned one, and not feparattd, as our Courtiers have fince done, (he became glorious through the World, fo far as the Name of England was heard of; infomuch, th3t in Honour of her, the Emperor of Mhfcovia did vo- luntarily beftow extraordinary Immunities upon the Englifli Nation. When this Queen died, the Renown of England feems to have died with her \ for fince her time, we have gone backward in Honour and Reputation, having received many Eclipfes : None of our four fucceed- jmg Kings, nor even Cromwel in his almoffc five Years Ufurpation, having any one glo- rious A&ion to boaft of, fave the Concern the laft had for the Proteftants Liberty in fiedmom •, which, I confefs, ought not to be forgot, tho his War with Spain, and joining with France, is his Reproach. In thereby Jaying the Foundation of that King's pre- fent Greatnefs, which is like to coft us dear, efpecially before we recover the Glory and Renown of good Qneen Eli^abetfrs Days, which we then acquired by the Ver- tue and Ability of her, her Counfellors and Favourites, through the whole Admi- nilt ration \ and particularly in not expofing Jpiployinents to Sale, nor preferring Rela- tions ( io) tions to Places they were not qualified for - 7 nor yet fuffering her Souldiers to be fhirked upon by unreasonable Defalcations, in receiving their Pay, buying their Clothes and Horfe-Furniture, under the vain Na- tion of making the better Figure, &c. to tiie abacing the A&ivity and Bravery of her Military Men, as hath in the two laft Reign?, and never before been praftifed : For in our late Civil Wars, the Souldiers were fo far from being fhirked upon, that their Paymafters durft not abate them the lead odd Money, tho prefled thereto by the Receivers : and a greater Indication of Unfaithfulnefs, and Ingratitude in Minifters and Favourites to a Prince, cannot be given, than by abufing in fuch manner his Favour, and the Power he givetft them. James the Firft was a Scholar, qualified for an Univerfity to make Harangues in the Schools, but had nothing befides to brag of, fave Difllmulation, which he called King- Crafty but was really his Blemifh •, in that by it he fo far loft all Reputation, except that of a Pedant, that no Princes or States could confide in him : and for all his boafted Cunning, was ever worfted in Foreign Treaties , as in that with Spain about the Infant a ; with the Emperor about th$ Fa- latinate \ with Holland about the Cautiona- ry Towns, not in delivering them up, for that (II) that was but Juftice, but in the Sum due to us for them - and as a Proof of his great Wifdom 5 he fpent that infruitlefs Embaffies, which good Queen Elizabeth did in glorious Atchievements. And therefore our flat- tering Clergy ( for their own ends ) filling him a Solomon^ was groundlefs, none ever having deferved it lefs; his Diverfions wherein he fpent his time, not being the Care of his People, according to the Duty of his Calling, but in Hunting, Masking and Drinking, and to pleafe the Ecclefi- afticks, by making their Sabb3th-days- Work eafy •, in promoting the Profanation of that Day, in inviting the People by a Declaration to Sports and Games, when they Ihonld have been either at Church, or at home, better employed •, as if the way to fit a People for Arbitrary Govern- ment, was firft to make them Godlefs, which Maxim hath been fince improved. This King whilft in Scotland ( that King- dom not affording Places of Profit, nor an over-plus of Revenue, fufficient to corrupt Party for Arbitrary Government) did not attempt any fuch thing there •, whereas bad he had a Revenue to have wantoned with, ( againft which Mofes advifeth) they could not have preferved their Rights and Liberties, it being impoffible for a People :o prevent Tyranny, whofe Prince hath a fuper- ( iO fuperabtfunding Revenue : And this King was no fooner removed to England, where ' he was furnifhed with both, than forgetting the Methods of Church, as well as State, he had been bred to in Scotlandy afpired fo much to unlimited Dominion, as if he had never heard of any other Principles •, as ap- pears by bis hedoring Speeches in Parlia- ment, tho yet, as occafion ferved, mixed with lome Popular Exprefllons j as that when Kings do not govern according to Law, they ceafe to be Kings, and become Tyrants, and confequently abfolving there- by their Subje&s,or to that effect, as is more fully to be feen in his Speech to the Lords and Commons in 1609. upon a Bifhop's offending them by a Sermon before him, v magnifying ( as their Tribe ufe to do ) his Prerogative beyond all bounds •, which oc- cafion may be reckoned to give the more Force and Energy to the King's aflertaining this Truth, tho perhaps it might proceed J from his cajoling way, knowing the gentle- 1 natur'd EngUJh might be eafily cozened | with good Words > and that fhould his ConceiTions be at any time made ufe of a- gainft him, his depraved Party in Parlia- ment, who have no other Senfe than their Mailer's Will, would over-rule all, as they ever do the greateft Antiquity, when con- trary to Court-Defigns j as alfo maintain the leaft ( n > leaft illegal afliimed Practices as Precedents* tho noval, when for the advantage of the Court, to the Prejudice of the People : as appears by the two laft Kings, palling by in their Choice of Sheriffs for the Counties, thofe brought legally to them, out of which they are to make their Election, and chu- fiog at large fuch as they apprehended to be moft for their private lntereft. And yet the King by Law, which no pretended Pra&ice to the contrary can make void, is exprefly by a judged Cafe, confined in his Ele&ion to the three legally prefented him •, the trangrefling of which Rule, this King did not attempt: for notwithftanding his fo much brag of King-Craft, his Defign for .Arbitrary Government (a thing hard to be concealed ) feeras to have been difcovered by thofe Noble Lords, who (asisfaid) finding it known that at a Meeting they had drank to the Confufion of the all-devouring Preroga- tive,thought it Prudence each of them to raife a Regiment for the Service of the United Netherlands, that under that pretence they might plaufibly retire into thofe Countries, from the Envy of the Court : but it was in that Age the Happinefs of the People, that the King's Bravery lay only in his Tongue, and that the Nation was not then over-run with the Leprofy of Luxury and Lkenti- oufnefs *, nor the Ecclefiafticks and Judges corrupted (H) corrupted as they have been fince } fo that; tho no Means or Tricks were negle&ed for compafling his Ends-, through Providence he failed of hib Defign. His tolling of Par- liaments by Prorogations and Adjournments for bringing them to iiis Bow, not doing his Vv ork, he projected, for railing of Money (to fupply the want of Parliaments ) the Dignity of Hereditary Baronets \ and to induce Gentlemen of the beft Quality to give Credit to this pernicious Invention by! accepting of it, he gave them Precedence of all meetly Knights of the Bath, and fingly Knights Batchdors, not being the younger Sons of Barons, of whom they have no place ; but to make the Title more va- luable and defuable, he ingaged that the Number ftiould not exceed two hundred. And all this under the Romantick Pretence, that every Perfon accepting hereof, fhould be obliged to maintain a certain number oi Souldiers in Ireland, to defend the Prote ftants againft the Papilts in that Kingdom : and as a Badg of their Duty, adds a bloody Hand to their Coat of Arms - yet with this Condition, that each paying iooo /. into the Exchequer, they fhould be excufed frorr that Service : for notwithltanding the pre- tence in the Patent, it was meerly a Trick to get Money without Parliaments : As wa< the conferring Titles upon Women i Scotch \ and and Irijh Titles upon Perfons not having any Lands in either Country, a thing not prsdtifed before. And as to the Title of Baronet, it may be obferved, that tho it is pretended againft Papifts, thofe of that Religion were as forward to buy this Ho- nour as others •, and thus he defrauded the People of the benefit of Parliaments, by ex- pofing ( for raifing of Money ) this and all other Honours to fale, which hath been ever reckoned a Mark of a depraved and cor- rupt Government. And thus begun our governing by Tricks (hardly known be- fore,) which continued till our prefent happy Change > but this according to the Maxim of our Law, That the King can do no Wrongs muft refer to his evil Council, and not to 8 himfelf. This new Honour of Baronets was flruck at by feveral fucceeding Parliaments, as ille- gal in the Inftitution, as well as the End 5- tbe firft, in being hereditary without an- nexing it to fome Place s and the latter, in depriving the Nation of their Security in the ufe of Parliaments. But in a little time the Intereft increafed fo much, in the in- creafe of their Number, that nothing could be done to difannul this Projed : for not- withftanding the cajoling Promife of not exceeding two hundred, no Limitation was obferved, the Number ( by falling the Price to ( Itf) to lefs than half, tho obliged to have a Receipt out of the Exchequer for the whole 1000 /.) being increafed to near, if not (above) a thoufand. And in thefe and fuch like ways this cele- brated Solomon fpent a Reign of two and twenty Years, without bringing any Ho nour to the Nation j but on the contrary, through evil Counfel, a Diminution of it to a great degree -, and when he had fi- niflied his Courfe, left his Precedents to his Son Charles the Firft This King, as no Man can deny, follow- ed his Father's Steps, and in an higher degree affefted abfolute Monarchy, where in being obftinate, it was fatal to him : he was free from that open Difiblutenefs his, two Succeflbrs have been fince guilty of * tho equal to them in Obltinacy and Difli mulation, as his feveral Appeals to Heaven for the Integrity of his Actions do evince. For the Nation not being then arrived at that impudent Profanenefs it is now come to, the People were then modeft in their Vices, compared with thefe Times ; yet Lewdnefi then, as it hath ever fince, increr.fcd more and more, helped forward by Bifhop Z^dTs Advice, in JTTcouraging Piety, and giving Encouragement to Debauchery, by afper- ling fober Men with Nicknames, as Puritans and Precifians 7 &c. promoting Arminianifm^ the (i7) the Doftrine of Pafive Obedience and Non* Refiftance ; and then, feconding this Kngs father , in publifhin^. another Book of Sports, giving Liberty on the Lord's- Day for all manner of Games, ay Foot- bails, Cudgels, Dancing, &c. injoining the read- ing it in. the Churches, to the great Grief of all ferious Ghriftians fearing God. His Carriage in thS State. was as ofFenflve as in the Church; he called Parliaments meerly to ferve his own turfu withopt any Eye to the Publick} and when they did but enquire into any Grievances, as the Death of his Father, who was violently fufpefted to be poifoned, &c. they were readily diflblved, And in Anno 1628, he forbid by Proclamation the fpeaking of Parliaments ( a high Arbitrary Aft. ) Ha pafled indeed the Petition of Right, aver- ting the Peoples Liberties \ but had no fooner given his Confent than he broke through all the Bounds of ir, illegally forcing the Payment of Turm ge and Poundage, Ship-Money, Coat ard Con- and all this, befides his de- ferring Rochel after he had ftirred them up to ftand upon their Defence, promifing them Relief, to the ruin of the whole Proteftant Caufe, as appears by the Hiftory of the Siege of Rochel, which is worth the per- ufing, being tranflated into Englifh. Thefe are but hints of fome few of the Practices in his time, which if not fuffi- cient to fufpend ( according to the Romifh Rule) the Sainting him till after an hun- dred Years, that his Venues mny be tor- got \ thofe that read Rnjhworcb\ Collection?, will find enough there for deferring the So- lemnization thereof : His Reign was fv> Ar- bitrary, that I remember it was commonly faid,that the ftudying Proclamations (which made a Volume as big as a Church-Bible ) was more neceflary for Lawyers than their Books : His endeavouring to impofe a more fuperftitious and nearer approaching Litur- gy to Popery upon the Church of Scvtland C 2 than (20) than ours in England, was the beginning of his Troubles ; wherein he was as much out in his Politicks as in any of his other Acti- ons 5 for it could not be well expected, that they, who had fwept their Church as clean from all the Rubbifh of Rome, as Geneva it felf, and more zealous and refined in their Do&rine than they, would be eafily im- pofed upon in Matters of Religion : But it was the Pride of Bifhop Land, who was ambitious of being the Founder of a new Popery, and of. feeing it accom- plilhed in his days, by driving too furioufly, that . prevented the defigned Mifchier y and fo we find it confeiled by our Qpeen- Mother, in Monfieur Siries Mercury, the French King's Hiftory- Writer for the Affair of Italy, who tells us among many other things concerning England, That when the Parliament in 1640, met, the Pope had three Agents in England negotiating the reconciling our King to tome, (viz,.) the Count of Rofet, Seignior Con, and Seignior Taufanie •, reciting Kofet\ Retnonftrance de* livered the King to prove it his Intereft to turn Papift : whereupon the King asking, If the Pope would difpenfe with his Sub- jedts taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy ? he was told, that if he would be a Catholick, it mull be without Condi- thns : But the Parliament getting a Scene hereof, ( 21 ) hereof, hunted thefe Agents fo clofe, that Kofct was forced to be confefted, whilft difguifing himfelf, and then fled for Ireland^ a little before the MafTacre, where it's faid he died. And it may be obferved, that at this time this King's Chief Counfellors and Favourites, next Strafford and Laud^ were fuch as, whilft living, were fufpe&ed, and at Death declared themfelves Papifts, (viz..) Thomas Lord Arundel, Lord Cottington, and Sir Francis Windebanc)^ Secretary of State, and Laud\ Kinfman *, and not long before Treafurer Wefion died in the fame Commu- nion. And the fame Author, where he writes of the Affairs of EngUnd, tells us further, that Bifhop L. and Bifhop N. by which muft be meant the two Archbifhops, Land and Neal* proffered the Pope to leave Eng- land, and go to Rome, and for the Credit of that See declare themfelves Papifts, pro- vided the Pope would allow them at Rome the Value of their Englifh Bifhopricks, which they computed each at 16000 Crown? fcr Anmm : but received for Anfwer from the Pope's Nephew, Chief Minifter of State, who at that time was (as I remem- ber) Cardinal Francifco Barbarino, reputed a great Satefman, that if their Converfion were real, they might at Rome live comfor- tably of fo many hundred Crowns fer A&- C 3 num. t 22 ) mm. For the Cardinal was jealous, that the bottom of Laud's Defign was a Patriar- chal Popedom for England, which would have been a bad Example for France and other Popifh Countries. \i any are curious to know further concerning the Affairs of England at that time, I tefer them to the aforefaid Mercury^ which is writ in Ita- lian. In the fucceeding eighteen Years interval, this Nation received not the leaft Difhonour, fave what happened at Hifpaniola, in War with Spain, during Cromwell's Ufurpation : For the greateft part of the reft of that time our Neighbours trembled when we frowned h tho fince that, the Catafirophe hath been fuch, that we have trembled at their Frowns, occafioned by the Mifgovern- xnent of Charles the Second, who yet came to the Adminiftration of the Crown moft advantagioufly, not an Enemy daring to fhew his Teeth, (excepting that mad Freak of the nine and twenty Fifth- Monarchy- Men ) he feeming to be the univerfal De- light of the People. At Breda he promi- fed Liberty of Confcience to thofe diflen- tine Minifters, that were with others, fent by Parliament to invite him to England ^ and at his Arrival made (hew of being true to his Word, by appointing at the Savoy r lb order thereunto, a Conference betwixt the the two Parties, the Conformifts and Diflen- ters •, but the latter being under-hand dis- countenanced by him, (who was a great Matter of King James the Firft's Art in King-Craft ) it came to nothing more than making their Burdens the heavier j fo that in a fhort time, the Presbyterians, who had been the chief Authors of his Reftauration, ( his own Party being then fo inconfidera- hle, that they cannot be faid to have con- tributed more to it, than as Servants to the other ) were moil ungrate&lly ufed ; their Ministers turnM out of their Livings \ their Families expofed to live in a great meafure upon Charity ; and that by him whom they had brought from that Condi- tion himfelf, to the enjoyment of three Crowns. His firlt Parliament a&ed regularly with an Eye to publick Good and Quiet •, palling an Adt of Indemnity for all, fome few excepted > which he feemed to approve fo much of, that in his cunning and cajoling way, he gave them the Name of the Healing- Parliament, and then diflblved it, calling another more to his purpofe : after which, how he kept his Indemnity, appears by his ufage of the great and incomparable Sir Henry Vane, Alderman Ireton, Mr. Sa- muel Moyer, Major Gladman, &c. In taking away the Life of the firlt, not only con- C 4 trary ( H ) frary to Faitb ? but as may be faid againfj; an Aft of Parliament, there being a Petition of both Houfes with the Royal Aflent for his Security, wanting nothing to give it the Sanction of a Law fave empty Forma- lities, as not being writ in Parchment, &c. which could be no Abfolution of the King as to his Confent to the Petition of both Houfes : And this ought to bp of odious Memory to all Pofterity, as alio the mur- dering Principled of the Counfellors of that time, who influenced the Barbarity there- of. And if any fay, we ou^ht to forgive, and not remember whst was ill in them that are dead : it may be anfwered, that Mankind hath no other means to keep Ty- rants and their Adherents in awe, than by letting them knew that their evil, no more than their good Deeds die with them •, but will be equally tranfmitted to Pofterity; as neceflary for Information of fucceeding Ages : for, had it not been always fo, the World hbd been ignorant of former Trans- actions. And befides this deteftable Breach of Faith, this Charles the Second kept thfe yell of the forementloned Perfons in Pri- fon, contrary to the Aft of Indemnity, until, like Slaves at Mgitrs, they redeem- ed their Liberty by great Sums, as Alder- ynan Iteton, and Mr. Samuel Moyer, &c. ^hilil others, under the like Tyranny, flood (25) good it out till the Habeas Corpus Adt came in ufe, after the withdrawing of Chancellor Hide, (which for feven or eight Years had been denied, or from the Iniquity of the Times, durft not be moved for) were freed by Law without Fines. And this perfidious Breach of Faith was rather applauded by his Party than bla- med, and not taken notice of by the Par- liament. He pretended great Zeal for the Refor- med Religion, with an Abhorrence of Po- pery •, yet in* favour of the latter, endea- voured to fet th§ Conformifts at the greateffc difference with the Diflenters by leveral Adls againft the latter, and fevere Profe- cution thereupon. And this, whilft at the fame time all Proceedings againft the Pa- pifts in the Exchequer upon Conviftion were flopped to the' preferving of them, when Proteftant Diflenters were many of rhem ruined by clofe Imprifomerits, where they died ^ he defigning all along no lefs than Popery and Slavery, even when he pretended the contrary. His two unjuft, coftly and cauflefs Wars with Holland, be- ing in order thereunto •, qs was the burning of London, and the Popilh Plot difcovered by Dr. Oats ; yet rather than be thought to have any hand in the latter, he fuflered about twenty Perfons, which he isftrongly fufpefod ( **) fufpefted to have employed in it, to die for it. When the burning of London^ the fre- quent fubfequent Fires inSonthrpar^ St.jRT*- tharines, and feveral parts of the City, &c. would not ferve his Ends, he contrived a Proteftant Plot for murdering of himfeif, and ( as he untruly fuggefted ) introducing a Commonwealth •, and as the mod proba- ble Inftrument, (as he thought, tho there- in miftaken) Mr. Clapol^ a Son-in-Law of Cromwel, mud be charged with it, and with* out the lead ground clapped up in Prifon, in . the clofeft way •, and had not the real Popifli Plot broke out, he had furely been facri- ficed to give Credit to the Forgery •, but Mr. Clafolh unfutable Principles to fuch a Deflgn was enough to detedt the Fraud and Villany, he having been in the Civil Wars, reckoned all along a Royalift and Anti- Republican. And thus ill Men are fome- times caught in their own Snares, as this King was by his Miftake in this Perfon. This King having by turning and changing, got Judges and Counfellors to hispurpofe, corrupting by Pensions, &c. a Majority in the Parliament, carried all things as he pleafed, till at laft he loft his Credit by the odioufnefs of the Popifh Plot, and his Compliance with France, to the prancing that King to wh3t he is now come c 27 J come to 1 teaching him (comp3red to what he knew before) to build Ships, man, victual and fail them > nay, even to fight, and found our Coafts and Rivers-, which was done in the time of his unhappy Adminiftration , efpecially in the Year 1672, in joyning with him againfl Hol- land, when none of his Ships were fuffered to fight- but fland by and learn-, that one French Commander that did ingage, being ( as it's faid ) at his return clapp'd in the Baftile for it, which we never heard was complained of by us, nor ex- cufed by them. Nay, not to be wanting in any thing towards the Advancement of the French King, we gave him Canada^ that neceflary place for our Newfomd-Land Fifliery, (our chief Nurfery for Seamen) for an infignificant part, compared to Ca- nada, of the Ifland of St. Cbrijicphers, which had belonged to us, under pretence, that he had tgken it from us in our former War with the Dutch, when he fided with them againfl us, and ferved them as he did us, never appearing with them > making ufe only of his Declaration of War for them, to the end, to fet us together by the Ears \ that fo he might have the better opportu- nity to fet uphimfelf, and worm us (as in a great meafure be hath done ) out of our Newfound- Land Fiihery, and hath taken it tQ (28) tohimfelf: whereas formerly they ufed to p^y us a kind of Tribute for Liberty of Fifhing there ; but now through our favour and carelefnefs they are arrived to that height of Fifhing, that they are faid to imploy fo many IVIen in it, as produce^ thera five thoufand new Seamen yearly 5 fo that, by the Condud of our Councilors, this King is, fince 1662, when he had hard- ly tifaenty Men of War great and fmall, is come now to be Matter of 150 at leaft. But tho by his wife Management of Affairs., and our bad, he in the Year ' 1 690, rode in our Channel without controul, I hope he will never do fo more, nor ever be encou- raged to intitle himfelf to the Dominion of the Narrow Seas ; except God for our Sins gives us over to be again betray'd by our Counfellors as formerly : for tho Kings themfelves may be ill Men, yet without the like Counfellors, they cannot perpetrate their evil Defigns. And methinks no true Englifh-man ftiould be able to hear of the Greatnefs of the French at Sea, without hiving his Heart raifed with Indignation a^ainft the two laft Reigns, their Favou- rites, Counfellors and Adherents -, for that it is flnce the fore-mentioned 1652, that he hath been advanced to what he now is, as if the Defign of our Government was then, folely and purely to advance the French ( 29 ) French Tyranny, and deflxoy the Liberty of the Englilh Nation. This Government of ours hath been by our late Kings carried on by Tricks, which our Statifts valued themfelves upon, as the EffkCt of their great Wifdom ; whereas it is truly nothing more than the Tranfcen- dency of Immorality, in which honefter Men have not a Latitude. The Defign of this Reign being all along to raife unde- fervedlythis King to the higheft Eftima- tion with the People, that they might with the more Facility increafe his Revenue and Prerogative. At the opening of a Seffions after a Prorogation, the then Lord-Kef per, to magnify the King'; Merits, informed both Houfes of Parliament of the; mighty Things he had done during the Interval for the Advantage of the Nation : amongft which, that he had procured a free Trade to f^ttta Franca^ as if k had been fome emi- nent Emyvrinm, with which we never before had had any Commerce ^ whereas it is but an infignificant place lying upon the -Medi- terranian, belonging to the Duke of Savoy , where our Seamen, as they pafs by, may per- adventure fell to the Value of four or five hundred Pounds in Englilh Silk-Stockings, and fuch like Trifles : and this was done by the Court, prefuming on the Ignorance of all but them/elves, as a Trick to open the ( jo) the Purfe of the Nation, to ferve their Luxury, and ftifle the Memory of the mif- chievous fale of Dunkirk-, to the advancing the French's Greatnefs at Sea, which is of no antienter date, than fince the Purchafe of that Harbour, having before had little Encouragement for Intreafe at Sea, and confequently in Trade, And O that an Inquiry after the treacherous Inftruments of thofe Times may be made ! that if any are in being, they may be laid a fide to pre- vent their doing any more fb wickedly. . And if good Harbours and Havens be of fuch Import for the increafe of Naval Strength and Trade, that by the addition of Dnnkirk. ^ French in a few Years be- came (from little or nothing) fo formi- dable both at Sea and in Trade ^ How doth it accufe us of want of Counfel in the Sale of Dankirk, and of Negligence in not improving the Advantages God and Nature hath given us above other Nations, in an excellent Situation, and plenty of tranfcendent Havens and Ports round the two Kingdoms of England and Ireland^ whilft France hath none fave Brefi, Mar- feillis and Toulon, worth fpeaking of. To enumerate their deceitful Artifices is hard, they are fo many. This King at his Re- ftauration in 1660, made a League with the States-General in defign to prepare for a a War with them, having then found his Naval Forces very low. In 1664, he began to quarrel with them without the lead caufe, and againft their real Endeavours for preventing it : But Downing, being Envoy Extraordinary at the Hague, to remove their Jealoufy of us, which was great, gave them, according to the Policy of thofe Times, all afiurance of Friendship, telling them, that if their Eafl- Indta Ships then expe&ed, were above London-Bridg, they would be as fafe as in ;heir own Harbours } yet their Merchants Ships to about the number, as it is faid, of 120, were upon frivolous pretences, firft (topped as they came into our Channel, till at laft fome Months after, without Declara- tion of War, or any Caufe fliewn? they were confifcated ; and at the fame time their Smirna Fleet was fallen upon before Cadiz. » whereupon Downing thought fit to make a hafty Retreat by Mazeland- Since. And this A&ion was as little to our Honour as Pro- fit *, for tho we funk one or two of their Ships, to their great Damage, we took none > and for thofe feized at home, our Management was fo commendable,that upon the fale of them, as I have heard, the King was made Debtor : And thus this W^f be- gan, which profpered in our hands accor- ding to the Juflice of it. The ( jO . The firil Year of this War, the Dhtck Eafl-India Fleet coming home by the North of Scotland, upon the King of Denmrt)^ promife of Security, or at leaft relying upon their League with him, put into Bergen in Norway ; where they were prefently block'd up by our Fleet, under the Com* mand of the Earl of Sandwich, w,ho feat in fome Ships to feize them, and had had them delivered, had not the Courier with Orders from Copenhagen, come too late to the Got vernour \ Sandwich's Ships being beaten off and retired withLofs, before the Orders came : for our Agent in Denmark^ had a- greed with that liing concerning them ; but Sandwich not having notice of the Treaty, the Defign was loft by falling too foon upon thefe Ships. > This War jailed near three Years, reckon- ing from our firft feizing of their Ships : The third Year the King had given him 1250000/. for that Summer's War ; but it was the Wifdom and Honefty of our f Coun T fellors, out of good Husbandry, to fave the Money, by not felting forth a Fleecy which gave opportunity to our Enemies to burn our Ships in Harbour, for which we made an horrid Outcry againft them, as treacherous, in doing it in the time of our Treaty with them for Peace at Breda - 7 falfly adding, That it was contrary to a CefTa'tion («) Ceflation agreed upon : whereas when a CefTation was defired by us, they pofitively denied it -, which is fufficient to vindicate the Integrity of their Proceedings, in anfwer to ignorant popular Clamour. And indeed, tho our Counfellors might be willing, for their Defence, to have the People under- ftand this difgraceful Affront to proccecd from Falfnefs in the Batchy I never heard that they at any time, did publickly accufe them of Breach of Faith in this Matter or Aftion. Being thus worfted, it was pretended that want of Money was the Caufe, tho upon Examination of the Accounts, by the Gommiffioners appointed by Aft of Parlia- ment to that end, there was not much a- bove half fpent of what was given exprefly for that War } which evinces our Mifcar- riage to proceed from corrupt Counfels, want of Conduft, and not Money. A Peace being concluded, to be revenged on the Dutch for what was our own Fault, we invited them and the Crown of Sweden to a Triple League with us againft fV*«cf, for reftraining that King in ♦ his afpiring Defigns \ wherein the Dutch were real, when our Defign was only co render them odious to the £rench King, and enrage him againft them, that by our then joyning with him, we might both together deflroy % D them, ( 34 ) them, and in them the proteftanfc chief Bulwark. Accordingly in 167 1, at the Interview at Dover ; betwixt Charles II. and his Sifter the Dutchefs of Orleance-> it was agreed tOf break the Triple League, to joyn with France againft the Dutch ; and to fatisfy the Swede for this Breach, Mr. Henry Coven- try was fent AmbafTador to that Crown* who procured from them the DifToltition of the League. When this was done, and we had recovered Breath, after the Dif- grace we received in the former War, to have a pretence for a fccond j One of our Yachts was ordered, in her coming from Holland, to fteer out of her Courfe, and through the States Naval Fleet, then riding at Sea, that in cafe the whole Fleet did not ftrike to our Boat, we might make that the Ground of a Quarrel. That great Commander de Ruyter y then Admiral, not thinking their Articles of Peace could be underftood to reach fuch a little Circumftance, did not anfwer our Demands or Expectation : and for not do- ing it, together with fome Trivial Medals and Pictures, (vvhich that People are much addifted to) was made the Caufe of a Qnarrel without Remedy •, and Dr. Stubbs, as a fit Man for the Work, was fent for out of the Country, to maintain by Writing the the Juftice of our Caufe, which for 400 /. he performed, the beft he could, by two large Pamphlets; in the latter of #hich having been too free, in his magnifying the wife and excellent Management of the War a- gainft the Dutch, in that time called d Commonweal* b, when we firft made known unco the World our Greatnefs at Sea id beating them when in their Zenith, (which coft, with the Ships in that time built* 2100000/.) this Pamphlet was for fome time flopped, till there being a necefHty for it, then it palled. And when Stttbbsvvas by a Friend of mine queftioned, how he could in Conscience write fo falQy and injurioufly againft the Dutch ? He confefled, he could write much more for them, than fie had done againft them, if he would . And as the War at Sea coft at that time the two firft Years, which were the charge- ableft, ixocooo/. fo at the fame time a Land Army of 50000 Horfeand foot, did not coft, according to the Account given Richard's Parliament, 80000 /. per Annum %. Shirking and Cheating being then out of faihion : for it may be obferved that there is but one Family that was raifed by Irfi- ployment under the then Government, and that neither till Crowwefs Ufurfmion, but fliafiy the wbrfe in their Eftates for their Affe&ion to their Country ; and an InJWntl D 1 £&f ( 1* ) may be given, which, I think, cannot be pa- ralleled in ai^j Age or Nation,of two Families ( befides many others whofe Sufferings were lefs) who were each iooooo/. the worfe for fiding with the prevailing Party* I know the ordinary Anfwer to this is, by the Enemies of thofe Times, (who cannot bear the hearing of the then Self-denial ) that this could not have been bragged of, had they not loft their publick Lands, by the Reftanration of Charles the Second : To which may be replied, Firft, That there was fo little of pri- vate Ends aimed at in thofe then at the Helm, that never were any Lands of fo hazardous a Title fold at fo high Rates ; the Church-Lands in Henry the Eighth's Time were given away, compared tothefe. Secondly, There were very few, whofe Advantage by either Civil or Military Em- ployments, tho then frugal living was in vogue, had enabled them to purchafe above 2 or 300/. pr Annum ^ publick Tide; which hath been nothing in latter Times for a Sub-Officer in two or three Years to ar- rive at, of fecure Tenure. Sir Arthur Haferig is ufually quoted in Anfwer hereunto •, but very improperly, for he was born to 3000/. per Annum: upon which he took up the Money wherewith he made his Purchafe, and moft of the Purchafers ( 37) Purchafers at that time of publick Lands, were private Perfons, hope of Profit at- tempting thereunto, who ought to be ra- ther the Objects of Pity than Envy, coming thereby by the lofs. Upon the whole, the then Government cannot be taxed with ill Husbandry, in imbezeling the publick Stock, by under Sales, extraordinary Salaries, Annuities, Penfions or Rewards, to increafe a Party for Arbitrary Government, as in the two laft Reigns was done. The Commiffioners of the Navy, a Sub- ordinate Committee to the Admiralty, had moderate Salaries > but the Commiffioners of the Admiralty their Mailers (whofe Management Dr. Stubbs magnifies, in his Defence of our War with Holland 'in 1672.) a&ed gratis^ without any Perquifites or Advantage to themfelves. But to prevent Miftakes, this relates only to the Years be- fore Cromwell Ufurpation •, for in defence of his 4 Years and | I have nothing to fay that is commendable •, for tho he found the Government before-hand, the Stores full, and the *4rmy fome Months in Ad- vance, he left, according to the Account brought in to his Son Richardh Parliament, a Debt of 1 800000 /. but to do him Right, not from ill Husbandry, but from his Error in Politicks ^ for tho he underftood home- Matters very well, he did not Foreign D 3 Affairs, Affairs, as appeared by his quarrelling with Sfain* and joining with France, by which he contradted the aforefaid Debt : and as if (God was difpleafed with the Injuftice of hisDefign, he was mofl: remarkably blafted |n it at Hiffaniola. There i yet living (if not very lately $ead) the Treai jrers of War, and of the Navy in thofe Times, none of which have any thing to brag of$ for in thole days Men were fo fpirited for that they called Publick-Gpod, that they did hot vie who fliould get or cozen moft, as was in the two iaft Reigns, but who ftiould merit moft Ho«* iiour by their Service for their Country. The incomparable General Ireton ufed to fay, it was an Honour for a Man to die a Seggar in the Service of his Country \ ancj Accordingly he never fought himfelf, in ad- cling to what he was born to •, but God, as feeming pleafed with his vertuous and felf- denying Principles, hath providentially pro- vided for his Family, beyond what could have been expected from his Paternal fi- xate : and the tranfmitting this to Pofterity is the leafl: the World owes to the Memory of this great and good Man. After a Pretence for War agreed on, the Kiext thing requifite was to find a Fund for the Charge^ which was very difficult ; for efee Parliament having by woful Experience felt, ( 59) felt, from ill Conduft, the Burden of the firft War, was unwilling to engage in a fecond: but at laft the new made Lord Clifford) with the help of his Friends, pro- jedted the flopping of all private Payments in the Exchequer : for which, as a Reward, he had the Treafurers White Staff given him. The Fund gained hereby being about 1 3 or 1400000 /. which was a lofs to par- ticular Creditors, many of them being ruined by it # , fo that from the Immorality of the Projett, the Author of it deferved rather another Reward, than that he received. The War was commenced without any previous Declaration, by falling upon their Smirna Fleet in the Channel ( as we had done in the firft War before Cadiz. ) as they were upon their Voyage home, wherein we mifcarried, as well to our Difhonour in be- ing worfted, as in beginning the War by Surprize. In this War we fhould have had the Affiftance of France, and had a Squa- dron of that King's Ships joined us, but in defign only to teach them to fight, found our Coafts, and not help us -, for ( as it is before mentioned ) that one Ship which from ignorance of the Intrigue, did fight, the Captain of her at his return home was ( as is reported) clapp'd up in the Baft He for hazarding his Mailer's Ship. The Par- liament perceiving the drift of the French D 4 to (4°) to be the weakning of both Parties, that at Jong-run he might become Superior to ei- ther or both, prefled the King to a Peace be- twixt Us and the Dutch •, which he (tho unwillingly) confented to •, for not knowing how to deny fo juft a Requeft, a Peace was concluded. Now new Meafures were taken, and a new Minifter of State made choice of, one in- tirely devoted to the King's Will without referve. To gain the King's Ends, a Ma- jority of the Members of Parliament was corrupted by Penfions, which were libe- rally beftowed upon fuch as were of de- praved Principles, fit for any Mifchief: by which means, every thing ? during fome time, was brought bare-fac'd into the Houfe of Commons, and afterwards by fide- Winds for the King's particular Defigns,pa(led cur- rently ? until the Court going too high for a Handing Revenue, the Penfioners fufpeft- ing, that when that was gained, their Pen- sions would ceafe, they turned readily a- gainft the Court •, which caufed them, for gaining Money from the Parliament, to pre- tend a Quarrel with France, and in all hafte to raife an Army to that end : and to pro- cure belief of their real Intentions, a Book under the Title of ChriftianijfmHs Chriftia- nandu4, writ by Dr. Marchemond Needbam y waspublifhed, rendringthe French King fo fcandq* (40 fcandalous in all his Ways-J Anions and Defigns, as cannot be thought would have been writ, without having firft that King's Leave for writing it. The Parliament, to take away from the King all Pretences of Complaint, gave him a Supply, by which he raifed an Army ^ but finding in the Wiie, that he was not real in his Pretentions for a War, by re- futing to declare War, they prefled him to disband his new-rais'd Army •, and to effed: the fame, gave him Money to do it with ; appointing Sir Gilbert Cerrard^ Sir Thomas Player, Col. Whitley , and Col. Birch to fee it done > who difcharged the Trull repofed in them with all Fidelity and Honefty. Thefe Arts or Tricks ufed for the Service of the French King, by which our Parlia- ment was difobliged, our King had no caufe to doubt but that that King would hold himfelf obliged to aflift him } and there- fore he was applied to, and probably he had gained from him a Stipend of 300000/. fer Annum for fome Years, had not the Duke of Buckingham prevented it : and up- on what other account, than of being a Friend to his Native Country, is unknown : However, he did not only thereby irreco- verably lofe the Favour ot the Court, but alto drew io much the Hatred ot it upoq lumfelf, that he was profecuted for a Crime, wiiiclL (4*> which, tho the Authors of the Profecution made little Confcience of the thing them- felves, they hoped by it to have taken away his Life, for being inftrumental in prefer ving the Life of the Nation. The Difcovery of thefe, and other per- nicious Defigns, begot ( not without caufe) a great Jealoufy in the Parliament, of the Court and their Party •, which carried them on to the addreffing the King againft fome confiderable Perfons, as evil Counfellors ; which was for fome time avoided by Ad- journments and Prorogations of Parliament, till the horrid Popifti Plot breaking out,thofe Tricks could not longer hinder the impeach- ing feveral of them in Parliament tor the higheft of Crimes, bringing one of them to the Block \ as had not the Diflblution of Parliaments prevented it, the reft in all like- lihood had had the fame fate, all of them having been arraigned at the Bar of the Lords Houfe, where fome pleaded Guilty in pleading the King's Pardon ; by which, Time being got for arguing the Point, till by the DiiToiution of feveral Parliaments, ( which was on purpofe to prevent Juftice) they were unduly preferved : for no fuch E?rdon.£as % the Lawyers fay) againft an Jajpeacl^ent in Parliament is valuable in JL*3W.*> anct the King having no Power* to pardon Offences, where in the Indi&merit he (4?) he is not madea Party, as he is not by Im- peachments in Parliament, they being by the Houfe of Commons, in the Name of AU the Commons of England. The Diflblution of Parliaments doth not give Prifoners at the Suit of the Commons the Privilege of being bailed, no Inferiour Court having by Law any fuch Power •, efpecially the fault of their not being brought to Trial not being in the Parliament, but in the King, in not fuffering them to lit till they had cleared, or pafled Judgment upon them, as he ought to have done. This King ( an Artift in King James the Firft's King-Craft ) obferving his Conduft to have loft ail Reputation, confefled by a Declaration his Error, in governing his Affairs by Cabals, and not by Parliaments, and his Privy-Council, by whofe Advice he had always thriven beft \ refolving for the fu- ture to be advifed by them, without Cabals : And in Conformity thereunto, he diflblved entirely, by the faid Declaration, his Privy Council, and chofe another, under the no- tion of a new Council, into which was taken fome of the moft popular and honed Members of the Houfe of Commons > as the good Lord Ruffel^ the then Lord Cavendijh, Sir Henry Cafel, Mr. Powle, &c but the Majority being of the old Leaven, they foon found the DeOgn of bringing them into the Council (44) Council was meerly to give Credit to their iinifter Proceedings •, which made them as foon unanimoufly withdraw, rather than be in the leaft acceffary to their unwarrantable and deftru&ive Counfels and A&ions. So that tho fome will have the fmall time thefe Gentlemen were in Council, to have been a great Advantage to the Court, in their Reputation, znd blame them for it, I am of a contrary Opinion ^ and that there could not have been^ greater,and more prejudicial Affront put upon a Prince, than that by fuch an unanimous and publick leaving of his Council, in a way that amounted to no lefs than a Proteft againfl his Proceedings i which could not but make a more difad- vantagious Impreflion on the Minds of the People, than fo fhort a Continuance with them could be of advantage to the King. Now new Meafures are again taken, and with them a new Minifter of State chofen j feveral Parliaments are dilTolved, and new ones called, in hopes of getting one at laft to ferve their turn y but the People growing more and more fenfible of the Growth of Popery and Slavery, fent fuch futable Mem- bers to the Condition of the Nation, that they were almoft as foon diffolved as aflem- bled, for three Parliaments fuccellively j and then, to be revenged of the Corpora- tions for fending fuch Members, and of the Members (45) Members themfelves for being averfe to the Deftru&ion of the Nation, §>ho Warranto* s, by the Advice of a new Set of evil Coun- fellors, were brought to take away the old, and give them new Charters, that might fubjed them to the Arbitrary Will of the Prince i (illegal in the higheft degree.) Nay, Boroughs by Prefcription were de- ftroyed, and Charters impofed upon them, to the infringing of their Privileges. He- rtford, 1 think, was the firft that had a new Charter impofed upon them, by which all Power' was fo referved in the King, as an Example for thofethat fhould follow, that one might have thought fhould have wrought an Hatred in all true Englifh-Mcn, to the Authors or Abettors of fuch Goiinfels. For a more mifchievous Defign for inflaming the Nation could not be projected. The Charter of London^ by many Afts of Parliament, and in the comprehenflvefl manner confirmed, was fo gallantly defended by the City, nothing material being againffc them, as appears by the learned Arguments of the Lord Chief Juftice Pollixfen, and Mr. Attorney General Treby, that one may wonder there fhould be Lawyers found to plead againft it •, and that fuch were found, is a -Reproach upon their Perfons for being too mercenary. As <40 As §>vd Warranters were for being re- venged of the Corporations j fo a Proteftant Plot was contrived, as well to ftifle the Popifh Plot, as to deftroy fuch Gentlemen as were thought to ftand in the way of Arbitrary Power and Popery, by falfe Evi- dence, leaving treafonable Papers at their Houfes, (as was done at Mr. Dubois's Houfe in London} or putting them into their Pockets, and then feizing them, (of which Mr. Fitz-Harris gave my Lord Shaftsbury warning:) Which made thofe that knew they were under the Envy of the Court, when they were to come into Crowds, to fow up their Pockets, to prevent pra&ifing fuch Tricks upon them. Fitz.-tiarris, whofe Province it was to act in thefe ways, to get or make treafo- nable Lampoons, to trapan Perfons f*!3y judged to be of Antimonarchical Principles^ for not playing his part well, and fearing his Difcovery, according to his Promife to the then Sheriffs, of the Popifh Plot, had a Rope for his Reward, being drawn, hang'd and quartered •, but, as a Gratuity for his weak Endeavours, his Head and Quarters were given to his Wife to bury. Soon after he was dead, an impudent, falfe and lying Confejfion was made for him, as is fully de- monftrated by the published Anfwer of thofe concerned in it, under the Title of Truth vindicdtedj (47) vindicated, in reference to the Jlfperfions cajl ifon Sir Robert Clayton, &c. publifhed in the Name of Dr. Hawkins* as Edward Fitz- Harns'x Confeffion. As alfo, the falfenefs of this Confeffion appears by the laft: A&ions of his Life* ( viz.. ) the Paper he read at hi Execution, which was printed 5 and his giving the Sheriffs Tlianks for their Civility ana Kindnefs to him, which were his laft Words •, and yet by his Confeffion, he is made to complain of them. The defign of this Confeffion, and pub- lifhing of it, was by it to vindicate the Guilty, and accufe the Innocent ; for cer- tain Perfons being determined for De- finition, it was thought tit to make them hereby odious to the Peoples that when they fhould be murdered by form of Law, their Deaths might be the lefs relented. To give an Inftance of the Evidence made ufe of in thefe Times-* the Witnefles a> gainft my Lord Shafrsbnry were fo fcanda- lous, as Ages to come will not believe that fuch fhould be offered againft any Man, much lefs one of his Quality : As Booth, a Minifter of the Church of England^ and Parfon of Ogle in Northumberland - 7 well- known to be an infamous Rafcal, and vio- lently fufpefted for the Murder of one of his Servants, to conceal his Clipping of Money, of which he was (notwkhftanding) CGnvifted ; (48) convicted, and condemned, and had been hanged, had not the Duke of Newcaftlcj who gave him his Parfonage at OgU, beg- ged his Pardon. And I have heard an honeft Divine of the Church, who had known him from his Youth, fay, that he could write a Volume of his Rogueries : So that nothing lefs than fhamelefs Impudence could have produced him againft the Life, Ho- nour, or Eftate of any one. The reft of the WitnefTes were not better, as the Affi- davits hereunto annexed do evince, "Barry (or Narrative- Smith) being one, &c. And that fuch Evidence might pafs with the Grand-Jury, both they and the WitnefTes were heard in Court, that the firft might be brow-beaten, and the latter countenan- ced, and hear what one another faid ; (at leaft an unufual Method, if not contrary to Law. ) And to help all forward, the Lord Chief Juftice told the Grand-Jury, that they were not to enquire into the Credibility of the WitnefTes ; whilft the Law, in exprefs words, (peaks the contrary. And to make ail fure, that none fiiould efcape, whom the Court at Whitehall would have deftroyed, the WitnefTes to an Indi and in the Faith of this I fhall die, tho 1 may not live to fee it. And I cannot but obferve in this place, that of thefe the Gallows have fince claimed her Right to fome of the Heads and Ring- leaders for the mofl: enormous Crimes, as Murder and Theft, to the Credit of their Fraternity. Thefe and fuch like Courfes, which mod of our conforming Clergy teachingfrom their Pulpits (as alfo inTaverns and Coffee- houfes) the Dotlrine of Pajfive Obedience and Non- RefiftanCe withont limitation, have fo poifon'd the Nation, that without an extraordinary Work Work of God, a Recovery cannot be ex- petted : for tho I think, the good People of England of all Communions are the belt j I believe the Profane, as they are by ill Examples of lste Years brought unto, are the word of Men, exceeding all others in wicked and immoral Practices; which we owe chiefly, to the twolaft Kings Examples, their evil and pernicious Counfellors arid Favourites* It is a Maxim in our Law, That the King can do no Wrong, which mull refer only to Matters of State, and not Perfonal Anions i for that it cannot be denied, but he that lies with another Man's Wife, or kills his Neighbour, &c. doth them Wrong: but as the King in other cafes rauft adl by In- ftrumentsi fo it is but reafonable they fliould be anfwerable for Mifcarriages in Government •, becaufe being free Agents, what they do is of choice, the Service of Princes being fought and not compelled ; apd were it not for Evil Counfellors, Princes would not be fo bad as they often are* Queen Elizabeth of famous Memory, her Vertue appeared, not only in her natural, juft and equal Principles, but alfo in the Elefti- Dn of futable Counfellors, Men at lead norally honeft, aiming more at publick thai* :heir own private Benefit •, (he encouraged r'ertue, making Honour the Inward of it, E 3 and (54) and not of Pimping and all manner of Vice •, fhe reproved her great Favourite, that unhappy Earl of Effex\ whom fhe made General in her Expedition for ^Cadiz^ for conferring the Honour of Knighthood upon fome few, whofe Service at that time he judged deferved it, when ftie thought a lefs Reward might have ferved. In her time. Knighthood was not expeded voluntarily by any Citizens fave the Lord-Mayor •, nor was it thought of by the two fucceeding Kings, till Charles the Firft, at his Return from Scotland in 1641, after failing in his Defign there againft Duke Hamilton^ Mar- quifs of Arg\U^ and General Lejly^ &c ! thinking it a convenient way to corrupt a Party for his intended Quarrel with the Parliament, that he Knighted feveral Al- dermen of the City of London ; and after that, both he and his Son Charles the Second made liberal ufe of their Sword in Dubbing all that came near them, from whom they could hope for the leaft Affiftancein their Defign for Popery and Slavery •, the De- liverers of Addreffes, abhorring petitioning for Parliaments, as likewife thofe giving Thanks for diflblving the belt of Parlia- ments,^, being procured by the EmifTarte %f Charles the Second, could not in the opini on of thofe that hated Parliaments, defervi lefs than a Knighthood, to the encourage. meal (55) ment of others to follow their Exampk. It may be the Enemies to this good Queen will objeft that fhe had forae angry Fits : To which may be anfwered, that they were born with, as Children at fuch times do with their Parents, being fatisfied that lhe had a true and flncere Love for the Nation j upon which account fome little Paffions fubjedt to her Sex might very well be in- dured. The Eftates that have by corrupt ways to advance the Prerogative been raifed, and Honours conferred in the four laft Reigns, efpecially fince the Reftauration, exceed, I believe, above forty times thofe in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth •, and yet the number of Years of all their Reigns, abating the eighteen Years Interval, comes a quarter part fhort of doubling hers : lhe made few Lords, about four or five, very fparing of Knighthood, and never confer- red any, but (as is before noted ) for Me- rit •, and accordingly lhe thrived in the Love of her Subje&s at home, and Honour abroad. In her time the Nation was famous . for glorious Adlions, as before mentioned, in relieving the opprefied Proteflants in France, Scotland and Holland, which /he could not have done, had fhe been tied up by the late devifed Doftrine of Faffive Obedience and Non-Refiftance ; befides fubduing her E 4 Rebels ( 0) Rebels in England as well as in Ireland, and pulling down, when none elfe could doit, £he proud Houfe of Anfiriay defiguing then the Univerfal Monarchy ; whereas I do not find one generous or honourable Ad to be fcoaftedof during the laft fdur Reigns. - There are two ill Notions in behalf of Statifts, which to the Prejudice of Man- kind have prevailed in the World, the one the calling Knavery Reafon of State, by which they excufe all their finifter and wicked Defigns, as if God had left us with- out honeft means for preferying our felves,, the other, that Wit and Parts do alone qua- lify a Perfon for the Service of his Prince in his weightieft Affairs : It's true, fuch Qualities aire Ornaments, and with Honefty without Debauchery, (which provokes CJod?s Judgments ) are fitteft for Publick Employment, and below Adoration cannot fce too much magnified and applauded ; yet good Ordinary Parts with Diligence and Integrity, is much beyond the higheft flown Parts without the other : and we find great things have been done by fuch as have not otherwife exceeded than in Uprightnefs, Jnduftry and Sincerity > for without thefe Vermes, Men are but like the Devils, the ^vorfe for their Wit. And this Notion tnay be illuftrated by the following Story, |n \ 6$ % after tlie end of our fecond Wan when (57) jwbep the Cavaliers (as they were then called ) came to London to compound, fome of the King's Officers invited a Parliament Major of Horfe, that had been civil to them, to a Treat, to which he carried me with him : their Difcourfe was not without Oaths, Cuftom having made Swearing natural to them-, but Healths (in Civility to their Gueft) they forbore, becaufe they knew he would not pledg them, drinking a Health at that time being enough to turn any one out of his Command. After Dinner, when Tobacco came up, fome kept the Table in refpedt to him they had invited, others rofe with their Pipes in their Hands, and in the middle of the Room by fometimes fmoking, fometimes fhaking their Heels, and fingiiig, they diverted themfeives; which gave occafion to the Gentleman that invited me, to bid me obferve their Humour, telling me that fuch was their Pratt ice when they fhould have been a fighting, not from Cowardife or want of Courage, as he faid, but from the Vanity of their Minds. From whence I conclude, that it was not the Parliament's Party exceeding the King's in Wit, Military Skill or Bravery, that got them the Victory or Conqueft, but ex- ceeding them in Integrity, Induftry, So- briety and Diligence that did it. And I remember that never-to-be-forgotten Ho- nourable ( 58) nourable Perfon, Col. Algernon Sydney^ at his Return from his Exile in France^ and not long before he was murdered, told me that that King's Council had taken up the long Parliament's Difcipline for their Ex- ample, which he faid would render him Great > whereas our falling from thofe Prin- ciples has brought us to what we now are : For Lieutenant General Kirl£$ Prattice was never like to thrive ^ an Irifii Lord told me that he was prefent, when one telling him that Col- Richards threatned to Caftiire a Souldier for Swearing, he faid, affirming it with an Oath, that if he knew any of his Men that would not Swear, Drink, Whore and Game, he would Caihire them j which was but futable to his reducing Col. Marry y and thirteen Troops of Horfe (who had done the greatefl: Service in Defence of London-Deny ) fo foon as the Town was relieved, and for no other Rea- fbn that is yet known, than for being too fober, wherein he knew he fhould oblige our profaue Church-men. Upon th* whole \ of all Men for publick Imployments, thofe of depraved Principles are to be avoided : and they may infallibly be difcovered, if formerly imploy'd,by their A&ions in thofe times : for if they have been wicked in one Reign, they will be the fame in another, except there appear in them (59) them a fignal Teftimony of Repentance and Reformation. And befides, they may be known by their Favourites \> for he that makes choice of fuch for his Confidents as are of immoral Principles, formerly guilty of Injuftice, Opprefiion and Cruelty, may well be concluded to be of the fame Princi- ples himfelf -, for Birds of a Feather flacky to- gether : and that Proverb feldom fails, That a Man may be known by his Company. The Spirit of God faith, Take atvay the Wicked from before the King^ and his Throne JhaU be eftablifhed in Right coufnefs : But our iaft Kings did fo little regard this Divine Exhortation, that when the Commons in Parliament (who ought to be accounted good Judges of Mens fitnefs for State-lm- ployment ) have in difcharge of their Du- ties, endeavoured to follow this Advice, by addreffing againft obnoxious Perfons^ tho they were never fo vile, it was the way to advance them in their Princes Favour, (as Sibthorp and Manwaring,&c.) to the dig- nifying and farther rewarding them with Penfions or Places of Profit > and then to protect them by Adjournments, Proroga- tions or Diflblutions. of Parliaments , to which we owe the Diminution of our Glory abroad, and the Exaltation of our lately become great Neighbour, Now (6o) Now if any of thefe Perfons be in be- ing, tbo upon fome accounts they may merit a Pardon for former Crimes, it can- not give them an opportunity of adting oyer again what they have been already guilty of, to the Prejudice and Danger of the Nation, but of being difabled of all farther Imployments, either Ecclefiaftical, Civil, or Military. And till we follow the Maxims of good Queen Elizabeth in the choice of Perfons for the King and Nation's Service, mating Sincerity, Ability, Self-denial and Diligence ( after fignal Testimony given thereof) the Qualifications for Civil Imployments fas ftch may be had ) and the like, with addi- tion of Gratitude, Affability, eafy Accefs and Fidelity in Military Commands, we ihall never recover the Honour we arrived at in her time, tho then we were poor and low to what we now are ", and when our Enemies in the whole Houfe of j4nftri<$ y France^ Scotland, Ireland^ and our Papifts at home, might well be thought to have been greater than any we now have : for with- out thefe Qualifications, which fome for their own end may lidicule, no Military Officers can ever be great. It is faid of Gafiavus Adolyku* (whofe Greatnefs as to Civil as well as Military Art, is mentioned even in naming of him ) being ( 6i ) ' being fenfible that no Man abounds fo much in Knowledg, that hearing the Sentiments of others may not be of advantage to him, he had his certain places and times for ex- poling himfelf to all that had any thing to fay by Petition or otherwife •, and fo fami- liarized his Soldiers, that he would fbme- times in deep Snows in the Winter march on foot with his Army, and lie in his Tent upon Straw, whereby he made himfelf Mailer of the Hearts and Affoftions of his People of all forts. My Lord Bacon faith, that Taciturnity in a Fool is Wifdom, but in at Man of Underftanding Weaknefs * and agreeable hereunto the Apoftle's Inftrutti- on, ( Jam. I . ip. ) to be ready to hear, and (low tofpeak^ is to beunderftood as a Re- proof of thofe that know not when to fpeak, and when to be (ilent. It is a Debt due to thofe Heroes who have been indued with thefe Qualifications, or fuch of them as were proper for the Poft they were in, to have them as Precedents recorded to Pofterity in Celebration of their Memories ; as the Grandfather of the pre- fent Landtgrave of Hcfs-Caftle is an emi- nent Inftance, That when the Crown of Sweden wasdeferted by all the ruling Princes of Germany in making their Peace with the Emperor, fave himfelf, his Faithfulnefs to his Word was fuch, that he refufed^to follow ( ■«* ) follow their Example, faying, He would not forfeit his Faith, tho he left not his Son a Houfe to put bis Head in > which provoked the Emperor in 1636, being then Matter of the Field, to fall upon him, burning in his Territories (according to common Fame) 3600 Dorps, or Villages, leaving him no confidence Places befides Cajfel and Zie- genhagen, which he could not mailer •, and yet all this could not fhake the Fidelity of this great and good Prince : For the Impe^ rialifts were no fooner drawn off, after they thought they had ruined him, than he took the Field afrefh in 1637, with an Army of hisownSubje&s, brave and faithful to the Caufe, taking that Summer the Town called the V eight, near the City of Breman, where I had the Honour and Satisfaction to fee him > he took his Winter-Quarters in Eaft Frit-eland and at Liere : it pleafed God that Year to take him to himfelf, exceedingly lamented by all Sorts and Qualities •, he left the Condudl of his Affairs (his Children being very young) to his excellent Lady* a Daughter of the Houfe of Hanover, near Franckford upon the Main, who was then with him, and Mylander^ an experienced Souldier.for her General : and fhe anfwering her Husband's and his AnceftorsZealfor the Proteftant Religion, and his Faithfulnefs in ber Adhefion to the Swedes, (he by^God's Bleffing Uleffing and wife Conduct, recovered by iegrees all their Lofles •, and by the Peace it Mwfter in 1648, fhe had given her 500000 Rix Dollars, befides a great Ad- dition to their Inheritance of Ecclefiaftical Lands, as a juft Reward for their Faith- fulnefs to their Word and Promife by their Declaration in the beginning of the War > an Example for Princes to be true to their tagagements, as that which is acceptable and pleafing unto God. And this Aliena- tion of Church-Lands could not be hin- dered by the Pope's Legat r Plenipotentiary at making of the Peace at Munfter^ who was after made Pope Alexander VII. It is recorded of two of the French Kings, and to the Honour of him that ufed to fay, // Faith were loft in the World^ it jhonld be found in him *, and to the perpetual Infamy of the other who ufed to fay, That he that kpew not how to diffsmble^ knew not how to reign h as if God had left the World de- ftitute of honeft means of Prefervation ; an Atheiftical Principle. The Iniquity of the late Times was (b great, that nothing that could help the in- troducing of Slavery was left unattempted 5 infomuch that we owe our Deliverance nieerly to the Providence of God. The giving Power to the King to I ;vy Money in Ihe Interval of Parliaments upon emergent Occafions, C*4) Qccsfions, which he was to be Judg of^ was projected by our Councillors, and that failing, a general Excife, for the perfecting our Slavery ; and to get a Majority in the i Houfe to effe& it, all ways pqfllble were: ufed; as the buying the Votes of Members' b,f Parliament, by Penfions (thehigheftofl Treafons in the Judgment of that great Oracle of the Law, Sir John Maynard) maintaining Tables at the publick Charge j managed by fome Members of the Houfe, that what could not be doneby.dry Money, might be by Debauchery, highly odious, as well in the Executors as Defignersj both proceeding from fordid, fla'vifh and un-. manly Principles: And fo many Members had by thefe means lifted themfelves againft Magna Charta, that had they not feared the felling of the Nation would have proved the felling their own Stipends or Wages, all had gone ; which leaves us without being 1 indebted in the leaft to our Truftees, for. refuting to give us up to Arbitrary Power v and Popery. But I do not in this deny, but ^hat there were in this a confiderable num- ber of worthy Patriots, that would rather have fuffered Death, than have fold the Rights and Privileges of their Country* ( whofe Names defer v e to be writ in Letters of Gold to Pofterity, whilft the other to be ob- literated, dr marked with Infamy) llad the^ mt not (alas) been over- voted by a corrupt and depraved Party •, which muft raife the Indignation of a'l true of our late Governours have been for him and his Friends. All the little Tricks ferviceable therein having been made ufe of-, as the impofing Confute upon our Merchants abroad, in places where they had never been before, meerly at their Charge, to gratify and oblige to them the worft of Men ; giving them Patents to levy Money, under pretence of their Office, upon the Subje&s without their Confent. con- trary ro the Fundamental Liberties of EngUnd^ as was done at Amjterdzm, &c. And the like vigorously endeavoured in be- lalf of a profeiied Papift at Roterdam, but oy the fuddennefs of our Revolution they failed in that. And alfo another approach :o Arbitrary Government^ was the paffitg :>y the Rules direfted by the Law, fof F ' cbufing ( 66) chufing Sheriffs for the Counties, and taking them at large, as might be moll ferviceable to unlimited Will and Luft, &c. And fucfi Practices as thefe were fo many, as are hardly to be enumerated -, and now having remembred thefe, they with what goes be- fore, and our League with France* for ex alting him in order to his humbling and bringing us low, one may think are enough to render thofe Times, and the A&ors in them odious and unfit for future Truft 5 nothing that comes from fuch, tho never foplaufibly delivered, but the Integrity oi it ought to be fufpe&ed : For as formerly they cried cut of Forty one as a Scarecrow, that Notion being now worn thread-bare they have taken up that of a Commonwealth and the care of the Church, to cozen the good People of this Nation into a jealoufj of their belt Friends, whilft their Enemiei work their Ruin ; but it is hoped that Ex- perience hath made them wifer, than to b< fo impofed upon by mifapply ing of Names. The word Commonwealth, tho the Lan guage of the Law, was endeavoured to b< made an obnoxious Character of all fuch a (hould fpeak of Law, or exped the benefi of it \ and it is to be feared, that the fan* Projectors do aim at the fame Defign, 11 adding to the word Commonwealth, the Car of the Church h becaufe a plaufible Notior whei ( *7 ) when it is in no danger, except of reducing them to a more fober and vertuous Life and Converfation •, otherwife they would think it for the honour of the Church, to have Men of Sobriety and Morality, accounted Members of it \ and yet they will not allow any to be of the Church of England^ tho fuch as were never at a feparate Congrega- tion in their Lives, and as ready and per- fect in their Refponfes, as any Cathedral- Man whatever, if free from Immorality, and for ruling according to Law. But it is no wonder, that our bigotted Church-men ( who are the only Men I mean ) fhould be willing to forget Forty one, and in place thereof to take up an outcry for Care of the Church'\ becaufe about that time the Committee for fcan- idalous Minifters, appointed by Parliament, difcovered great Lewdnefs and Ignorance in many of the Clergy •, and had not the War prevented their Proceedings, they bad at that time purged the whole King- dom of infufficient, Popifhly-afFedcd, fo- fcerftitious and debauched Minifters \ but laving no Command over any, (byreafon )f the War ) fave fuch as were near hand ^ :hey could not receive Information from above fix or feven Counties, which afforded ;hem (according to my Information ) not 1 ibove three Gentries •, the firft of which F 2 (having (68) ( having efcaped the Flames of London ) is to be bought at Mrs.M//*r's,Bookfeller, near St. Paul's Church > by which it appears, they were fo horridly fcandalous, that the Par- liament could not have expofed the Church, and therein the Bilhops of thofe Times, for want of care in their Vifitations, had not Complaints from Oxford, for having uii- juftly deprived them, forced the Parlia- ment for their own Vindication, to make the Names of the particular Minifters with their Crimes known by publi/hing them in Print. And if by the outcry of having a Care of the Churchy is meant the having fuch ano- ther Inquifition, all fober Men will readily agree to it \ and if in the time of Charles the Firft, of fo celebrated a Memory for Piety, there was need of fuch an Inquiry in- to the Lives^Converfations^Popilhly-afFedled and Irifaffiqency of the Clergy, it may well be thought much more needful, after the feveral Reigns of his two Sons. Befides, if they be not prevented, they may, as they have already begun, go on in taking upon them the Legislative Power, by far- ther Impofitions in the Worihip of God : For tho the Adt for injoyning the Book of Common-Prayer forbids both affirmatively and negatively, any other Method or Form of Service, Rites or Ceremonies than is there ( 69") there dire&ed, they are great Non-Confor- mifts, in difobeying that Rule, in feveral Additions in approach to Popery, as in their fecond Service, of which a third part of the Congregation cannot hear a word. In the Miniiters reading one Verfe in the Pfalms, and the People another, therein taking the Minifter's Office out of his hands. In the Minilter and Clark reading together with a loud Voice the Lord's- Prayer, in a way void of Reverence due to Prayer. In the ufe of Organs in the fingingof Pfalms, with other unwarrantable Additions, this laft being de- clared againit in our Homilies, which Ho- - miles with the thirty fix Articles (confir- med by A(ft of Parliament, the other three wanting (as I have heard) thatSandion) contain the Do&rine of our Church, fo that thefe and other Arbitrary Additions to our Difcipline eftablilhed by Law, feems to have been on purpofe to hinder Devotion, and make the People Godiefs, according to Land's Defign, in his Declaration for Sp ^rts on the Lord's- Day •> for thofe that cannot read, or have no Books, which may be reckoned three quarters of an Epifcopai Congregation, cannot have any benefit, ei- ther by reading the Pfalms in the manner now ufed, or by finging with Organs, and all the Plea for the latter I ever heard of, is to help the People to ling in tune, to the F 3 pleafiug pleafing of the Ear, a very unwarrantable Excufe, God requiring all to ling with Grace in the Heart, and not a few to fing with Art, whilft the reft doth not underftand what is fung. And to this may be added, the endeavouring to make it a fuperftitious Fafirion to fit bare during Sermon, which is a new Imposition brought in by Land, and not praftifed above two or three Years, before put down by the wife long Parlia- ment, and fo continued, till the Reftaura- tion of Charles the Second, with whom came in all Land\ Practices. And this of fitting bare in Sermon- time, is not known in any other Chriftian Church : for tho the Pa- pifts are bare in their Church out of Service- time, whom we endeavour to imitate in that circumftance., yet they are covered during Sermon, wherein we out-go them ; the rea- fon for which I leave to themfelves, con- feffing I never underftood any for the one more than for the other. And if it be ob- jected, that our Church doth not command being bare during Sermon •, yet they do it, in making it uncivil to do otherw ife. And the Minifter of Fincloly, not long lince, caufed one for being covered whilft he was in his Sermon to be committed ; who, bringing his Adion againft the Juftice for falfe Impri- fonment, recovered good Damages of him -, which, tho fufficient to prove the Church's Ufurpa- car Ufurpation in this matter, they do notwith- ftanding go on in it, as a part of that new Popery formerly intended by Lwd in his time. The Foundation of which was laid in an increafe of Ceremonies, Dominion and Popilh Grandeur, with little regard to Re- ligion, or the Power of Godlinefs; for which caufe it lay dormant til] lately, that it again fprung up with falfly afluming the Name of the Church of England eftablijhed by Law \ whereas if the Practices of molt of our Churches be examined by the laft Adt of Uniformity, they will be found Non- conformifts in their offenfive Additions, to the Prejudice of the Church, hindering thereby many joyning with them, which otherwife might come in : and this the late pious Bilhop of Lincoln ufed to csll by way of diflike Safer conformity, tho perhaps his Mildnefs could net contend againfl: the Stream for Reformation herein, no not in his own Diocefs : But from hence I will take the freedom to recommend to our Re- verend Bifhops, the reducing the Church in their Pra&ice to the legal Rule, and not leave a neceflity upon the Parliament to do that which is their Province, the keeping the Church conformable in their feveral Offices as well as in Dottrine, according to the Rule eftablifhed by Law, as in the thirty iix Ar- ticles, Homilies and Rubrick, which will be F 4 more C 7* ) niorc effe&ual in gaining Nonconformifts than any other way •, and till then, our Church-men ought not to pretend to the Title of Conformifts, for going contrary to the eftablifti'd Rule, is as well Nonconformi- ty in the Epifcopal Party as in the Presbyte- rians or Independents, and allowing an Ar- bitrary Power to Church-men is dangerous, not knowing wherein their Itch therein will reft. For it appears by the Writings of former Ages, that it was the trimming Con- nivance of fome learned and pious Men, at feeming immaterial Ceremonies, • that firft gave the rife to Popery, the Confequence whereof, hath been the ruin in a great mea- fure of the Chriftian Church, as the like Weaknefs hath been the deftru&ion of common Liberty in moll of the Commu- nities in the World : for it cannot be ima- gined that Rational Creatures would ever by an original Contract ( from whence pro.* ceeds all lawful Government) give up their Rights to the Arbitrary Will of one Per- fon, and hh Heirs and SuccefTors, who may be ungovernably wilful Ideots, or worfe (as the late King of Portugal ) and fo inftead of anfwering their Promotion (the Good of the Community) they may prove the ruin pf it r And therefore as there is a right and a wrong in Civil as well as Ecclefiaflical Obe- dience, defined by Holy Writ, and Human Laws, (73) Laws, it is every Man's Duty to fludy both, and being Mafter thereof, to abide by the Truth, without warping or trimming, and alfoto be aware of the fraudulent mifap- plyingthat good Temper of Moderation., which the worft of Men docommonly make ufe of for advancing a bad Caufe, and in- fnaring Men of Sincerity, of whom when they have gained their Point, they will be infallibly true to their Maxim of taking all they can get, and parting with nothing they can keep, which ought to caution thofe of Integrity to be in their feveral Stations, as fteady to Vertue and Truth, as others are to their falfe and wicked Defigns. This may perhaps be thought Severity upon the Church, but there is no general Rule without an Exception : and I believe there are many good Men to be herein ex- cepted ; tho the generality are guilty, and fo bigotted, that there is no obliging them, or Quarter to be had with them by any but fuch as themfelves, which is the unhappy Caufe of our great Divifions at this time, efpecially in the City of London •, and that which is worft of all, without Remedy, fo long as nothing lcfs than the Denial of Senfe, Reafon and Morality will be allowed by our Bigots ( the Perfon^ I only complain of) as the Conditions of Union and Con- yerfation-, and thefe following Inftances may (74) may well be thought in fome tneafure a Proof hereof : As, the Lieutenancy refufing a Captain, becaufe it was objeded againft him that he had fixteen Years before heard that eminent Minifter of the Gofpel, Mr. Jenkins (now with God) preach a Sermon : As another was refufed by one of their Captains, being his Lieutenant, for anfweringtQ the Queftion of what Minifter he heard ? That he heard fuch an one, a moderate Church-man •, upon which he was told by the Captain, that Moderation would not ferve at this time -, and therefore re- jected him as not for his turn : Whereupon, the Party that fhould have been his Enlign being by, and hearing it, moved with In- dignation thereat, rejeded him for his Im- moderation, and denied to ferve him •, and all this fince the Ad of Toleration. But this Spirit reigns fo violently in them, that they are now feared to be more ready than formerly, fhould they, by Sheriffs like them- felves, be called upon Juries to murder and undo by falfe Verdids, all that (ball Be known to own King William and Queen Mary to be King and Queen de Jure as well as de FaEio. And now I leave Charles II. whofe Coun- cil and Favourites left nothing undone which might perfed the Deftrudion of England, fave the felling Tangier to the French ; (75) French h which that they did not do, is one of the Wonders of this Reign. There needs no other Chars&er of this King, than his Anfwer to one who defired him to have regard in his Deportment to his Memory after Death, (viz..) That Let not Menffeak iB of him whilfi he lived, and he cared not what they fhould fay of him when he was dead. How he was taken away is in the dark, but vilely fufpe&ed : His Succeflbr may be faid not to be fo Godlefs as he, tho not lefs cruel > but from what Principle is not to be determined, unlefs it was from being both equal as to Fear, from whence Cruelty doth generally proceed/ 1 know all the ill things done by the eldeft Brother, is ordi- narily laid to the Charge of the younger m r wherein I differ from that common Opinion, believing that Charles II. was never impofed upon by James II. but the firft having the Mafter-wit, and with it great Cunning, was willing his Brother fhould have the Name of any thing offenfive to the People, when even it was that himfelf defired moft to have done. And thus ends the Reign of Charles II. whole Pra&ices for arriving at Arbitrary Povtfer and Popery appear, in fooie degrees over and above what is be- fore mentioned, by the Affidavits hereunto unnex'd, with Captain Wilkinfms Informa- tion; (?0 tion •, which fliewthe Subordination of Per- jury to have b en ufed by his Minifters, for 1 taking; away the Lives of innocent Men. James IF. who fucceeded his Brothel 4 Charles 11. fending two Men to AmfierdamA whe.j Duke of Tork, to burn their Ships in | H-ir bour } w ho being taken, and at Execution! confeffirg the Faft, it fticks much upon him; in that Country., as do feveral other A&ions l in this, which for the fake of his vertuous { Succeflbrs, ought to be forgot, were it not I neceflary to give fome Hints for the Vindi- 1 cation of the prefent Government, and! juftifying the late Kiftg's Abdication. The J burning of London, and the many Fires I lince at St. Katharines^ Southward, &C be- longed without doubt to the Popilh Plot -, and how far the then Duke of Tork was con- cerned therein, Coleman's Letters in Print, in feme kind fhew. As alfo the Narrative of the Murder of my Lord of Effex, is a clear Demonftration of thofe that were concerned in that more than cruel and bar- barous AfTaffination. But to pafs by all other things before his coming to the Crown, he no fooner arri- ved at the Throne, than he declared him- felf a Papift} a Name (in -favour of that Religion) out of fafhion ever fince the RefUuration •, but being the Language of the Law, I think fitteft to be ufed. At his firft (77) firft appearing in Council after his Brother's Death, which was as quick as could be, he promifed to rule according to Law } and yet, in two or three dayb after, commanded by Proclamation the Payment of Cuftoms, before given by Parliament, which is con- trary to Law -, and from that time forward went on in the frme way, going publickly to Mafs the firft LorcTs-Day, of which Re- ligion the bigotted Church-men (who will never believe any thing till it be too late ) would not before own him to be. His Brother died on the Friday^ and Sa- far^iy-feven-night after was in the Even- ing privately buried. Before the Funeral he knighted Sir Peter Rich, and foon a'ter did the fame by Sir Roger UEjlrange^ and made Sir George Jeffries a Baron, none of which three, as m .v be obferved, would King Charles II. io far dignify, tno he had made them his Tools to ferve the worft of Turns. The now Sir Dudley North was -knighted in his Sheriffalty, and poffibJv Tor the fake of his Family •, for Sir Peter Rich^ his Partner, who joined with him in ap- pointing the Jury that found my Lord Ruffhl guilty, and brought him to Execution, was pafled by till James II came to the Crown, and judged him worthy of the Honour of Knighthood. This (?8) This King called immediately a Parlia- ment, and thought he had by his Influence fo pack'd one, that there were not thirty Members that would not do as they were bid. They gave him great Supplies of Money, and were as fevere againft the Duke of Monmouth, as himfelf was by his Inftru- ments, Kirk and Jeffcries, againft all in the Weft, fuppofed to be of his Party, contrary to the Mercy of former Times, when the Suffering of a few atoned for the reft. But when Popery came upon the Stage, this Parliament would not ferve the turn, which caufed the adjourning and proroguing of it from time to time, hoping in the Inter- vals to have moulded it to his purpofe •, but that not fucceeding, at laft he diflblved it, and then betook himfelf to Popifh Counfels, Petre the Jefuit being made one of his Council, and of his Cabal, not only con- trary to Law, but alfo to the Pra&ice of moft if not all other Popifh Princes. For tho the Jefuits make it their Defign to fcrue themfclves fo far into the Favour of Princes, as to become their Confeffbrs, that having Opportunity of infufing wicked Principles into them, and by knowing their Secrets, may have the greater advantage of doing Mifchief •, yet are feldom or never admitted Members of their Councils. The wife Venetians baniftied them their Territories for (79) for their pernicious Principles, until, in requital of the Pope's aififting them in their Wars againft the 7nrh ', they were received into the City of Venice^ Anno 1664. but are bv the People, who hate them, very in- vidioufly looked upon there. Nay, Rome is fo jealous of their Immorality (as may be prefumed) that they rarely admit of above two or three at raoft, to be at one time of the Confiftory, the Pope's Council, which confifts of feventy two Cardinals, when all are there, which is feldom or neven Thefe Men hurried this King into all Ex- travagances, and the higheft In/afion of the Rights and Liberties of the Pecple that had ever been attempted. The corrupting of our Mercenary Judges, to the making any thing Law he would have, for taking away the Lives of innocent Men at his Piea- fure, and giving him the Difpenling Power : The fetting up extrajudicially Ecclefiaftical Commiflioners, to turn Men out of their Freeholds at their pleafure, as at Magdalen- College in Oxford: The ere&ing Popifli Schools, Chappels, Convents 2nd Semina- ries, all exprefly againft Law : The Breach of his repeated Promifes, and Coronation- Oath : Thefe, 1 fay, were all but Trifles, compared to his Perfonal Endeavours of overturning our Found ations, in going from Town (So) Town to Town, to difcourage thofc Ma- giftrate? that would not engage to ferd fuch Members to the Parliament ( he then in- t .ded) as would repeal the Teft and Penal Laws, and cajole thofe that would: His tur ing out the Mayor snd bell of the Alder- men of To>\ and chilling Papifts in their room, had not the Commiffion been defective as to the filling thofe empty Places , fothat that City was without a Mayor, till his pre- fent Majefty reftored them to their Rights : As alfo his commiffionating others, under the Name of Regulators, to reform (as they cal-* led it) 'oth.r Corporations •, and all to the end of having the Teft removed ( the only Ob- ftacl.) that the Way might be open for an entire Popilh Parliament, who would have been fure, in twelve Months time, to have made new Lawsagainft all Diflenters from' Popery, and have perfecuted them for the fame with Fire and Fagot. As to the propounding an Equivalent, or a new Magna Chart a for eftabliftung Liberty of Confcience, which fhould be unalterable, that was fo vain and idle, as could not ex-* pedt Belief or Regard from any, fave Men of little Wit or Profpeft : for it ever will be, as it ought to be, in the power of fuc- ceeding Parliaments, to repeal the Ads of former : And therefore, tho the King might promife he would not confent, during his time, (8i ) time, to arty Alteration, he could not promife fo much for his Succeflbrs *, and farther* as to himfelf, his Steadinefs to hh Engagement herein (after Breach of his Coronation-Oath, and re-iterated Pro- mifes of ruling according to Law ) might well be fufpedted. Befldes, had he really intended to make good his Promife, the Church of Rome (which, by his own Prin* ciples, is his Superior) would have forbid it : And he that is not ignorant of thek murdering Dodlrine and Practices, in cafe of Difobedience, durlt not have difobeyed for fear of a Dofe, or a Fig. So it is no lefs to be admired that the Papifts fhould make fuch ridiculous Pro£ofitions to a knowing Proteftant People, as that there fhould be found any among them who would give heed to the leaft thing of this nature coming from their implacable Enemies. There were in a few days two Proclama- tions of Pardon publifhed, the latter ex- cepting fome that had been pardoned by the former, when the Parties being beyond the Sea, could not be guilty of new Tranf- greflTions, not hearing of the one before the other, the diftance of Time being too little •, and, as it is faid, one or both was not fealed, defignedly neglefted by Jefferys, that Engine of Cruelty, and Monfter of Impudence. Nay, it is faid, that the King-, G upon (82) upon hearing of the Prince of Orangt\ Ex- pedition for England^ ordered the Reftora- tion of the Fellows of Magdalen- College in Oxford-, and upon the News of his Difafter at Sea, gave prefently contrary Order. All which is a clear Demonftration of his Prin- ciples, and how little his Promifes or Par* dons are to be relied upon. For tho fuch Immoralities were hateful with Pagan Rome* where all manner of juggling by Mental Refervations, Equivocations and Unfaith- fulnefs were odious, they are now pradtifed by Chriftian Rome, and her Favourites. The Arts and Tricks his Predeceflbrs had made ufe of, for Oppreffion and Iii- juftice (as by Innuendo* $, &c.) to take away the Lives and Eftates of honeft Men* were by his Blocd-thirfty Inftrumcnts illegally improved ; as the Deaths of Alderman Cornifa and Mr. Charles Bateman^ and the barbarous and inhuman Proceedings againft Dr. Oaresy do fufficiently evince •, he having been, without Precedent, fo cruelly and un- mercifully ufed, as may charitably be con- cluded, was intended by that way to have murdered him, becaufe they could not have the leaft Colour of Law for doing it other- wife •, and that he out-liv'd the Barbarity of it, he hath reafon to acknowledg a Miracle of Mercy from God, and for it walk thank* fully before hia all the d£vs of his Life. But (8?) But befides this, this whole Reign was no lefs than Violence and Cruelty, as appears by excepting about one hundred and eighty Perfons by Name out of his Pardon, upon the Duke of Monmomh^s Invafion } and by Qualifications, fcarce any that were not profefled Papifts, or as bad, were leftun- queftionable ; especially if ever they had croiled the Seas, by that Exception of all Treafons beyond the Seas. Some of thofe excepted were Girls at School, from feven to ten Years of Age, for giving Ribbons to a few of the Duke's Souldiers ; and they with the reft were, by Order of the King and Council profecuted for Rebels, by the King's Envoys Extraordinary with the States-General, upon pretence of their Ar- ticles of Peace. To that end, fuppofing them all to be fled into their Countries* and the Faith of the Nation being engaged for the truth of it, by the Envoys Averment thereof, the States not thinking it decent ta queftion the Validity of the Accufation, ^gave Sentence of Banifhment, upon pain of Death, againft the whole Number ( fave two or three that had bought their Pardons, the Children being included) that fhould come into their Territories : Yet, had all that were in any of the Countries under their Dominions been brought to a Trial* It was but a few which had been with the G 2 Duke (8 4 ) Duke of Monmouth that could have been found guilty of Rebellion, according to the Procefs ^ however, could they by this means have got them all fent home, they would there, right or wrong, have been murdered, as was Sir Thomas Armftrong- But the In- juftice of this ought to refleft only upon the King's evil Counfel, for the Violation of the Faith of the Nation with a Foreign State Ohich ought to be facred ) •, and not upon the States for giving Credit to the Information, which, according to the Rules of Nations, ought to hav.e been authentick ; and being faife, it was highly injurious to the States, of which had they known, they might well have complained : But the King, for the Immorality of it, hath received his Reward (tho the reft efcape) in a juft Ab*' dicntion; and we the Benefit by an happy Exchange for the better. The Lord grant we ro3y not fin away our Mercies. After twenty eight Years induftrious En- deavours to debauch the Nation by wicked, profane and atheiftical Examples, which prevail more with corrupt Nature; than Precepts 5 this King, who by adding of Pa- pifis in all Employments, having brought the Judges, Garifons, Sheriffs and Juitices of the Peace throughout all the Nation to his Devotion, and got a /landing Army of fix and thirty thoufand Horfe and Foot, every way (»5) way well accommodated, wanting nothing in the Eye of Reafbn, we were left with- out the ieaft hopes of Recovery, the Help of Man feeming to be in vain : but then, when he faid in his Heart, All was his own, and none fhould controul him, it pleafed God in his Providence, for the Good of his , People, to infatuate him, in fetting up a fuppolititious Prince of Walcs^ to dilinherit his own Children, and the Heirs to the Crown •, which when nothing elfe in hu- man Profped could have done it, this opened the Eyes of all fober Proteltants, to the fee- ing his Defign of leaving us and our Pofte- rity under Popifh Idolatry and Thraldom •, from whence arofe an Agreement for forcing him to rule according to Law, as he was by Oath obliged •, which canting him to ab- dicate the Government, in running awa-y, and applying himfelf to the great Tyrant of the Earth for Help, gave the* People the Opportunity of averting their natural Right, in providing for their own Security, by chufing King William and Queen Mary for their rightful and legal Sovereigns \ whom the Lord in Mercy bieis with along and profperous Reign over us. And whilit we give due Honour to the Inftruments, let us not forget afcribing the Prai'e and Glory due to Almighty God, as the Author and Principal of our Deliverance, and hive G 3 always (86) always in a thankful Remembrance this, and all other his faving Providences towards this poor Nation, through feveral Reigns and Ages. Whilft the Church of England was under Perfecution in the Perfons of the Bifhops, the Prefident of Magdalen- College in Cam* bridg, and the Prefident and Fellows of Magdalen-Co\\zgz in Oxford^ they were full of Companion and Brotherly-Kindnefs to- wards Diflenters, and ready to join with them for Redrefs of Grievances, by the help of the Prince of Orange^ now King of Eng* land, &c. but were no fooner free from their Fears of being fuperceded by Priefts and Jefuits •, and many of them by the Aft of Grace from being defervedly punifhed for their murdering Practices, and alfo re- ceiving Encouragement from the Change of the Lieutenancy, and difconntenancing the Royal Regiment, then headed by fome who flood in need of a Party to render them confiderable, that thereby they might blot out the Remembrance of former Crimes i then they forgot former Profeffions of Mo- deration, and the Afflictions of their Bre- thren ; and to that degree, that they ca- balled for increafing their Burdens, and mo- nopolizing all Employments to themfelves, by continuing the Sacramental Teft, tho to ftje fatal Detriment of the Kingdom : for had («7) had not that Bar for trufting Difiejiters been in the way, Inland ( in the Opinion of thofe that bell knew that Country) might have been reduced with much more Eaie, to the faving moft of the Blood and Treafure that hath been fpent upon it; and I fear the Blood fo needlefly fpilt will lie at their Doors that were the Authors of it. It were the Diflenters that faved London- Deny, and in that preferved Ireland : for tho by the Artifice of fome eminent Conform^ s, the Honour was afcribed to Mr. Walker, and his Party, (for which he got a Reward he did not deferve ) it appears by the Narra- tive of that Siege, writ by Mr. Mackcnzy, Chaplain to a Regiment during the Siege, and writ with that Candor and Fakhfulnefs as carries its Teftimony with it, the Ap- plaufe and Reward belonged to the Diflen- ters •, for even the Anfwer to this Book, in behalf of Mr. W^%r, doth no way detect but rather gives it Credit, But Mr .Walker being dead, 1 fhall forbear all farther Reflections upon him, he having been a good-naturM Man, and what he did amifs, being from the Influence of others : He confeilcd the-e were four Nonconformifts in the Town for one Conformiit •, and fome fay eight for one ; but the Authority being in thj Church-men, who were timorous, if not worfe, you will G 4 find (88) find by Mr. Mackenzjs Relation, that it was the Mobile, who were Diflenters, that faved the Place, againft the Will of the reft. And I think it may defervedly be obferved, that the London-Vijfenters, and the good-natur'd Churchmen their Friends, have far out- vied in Affettion to the Government, the bigotted Church-Party, by their free and liberal fupplying upon all occafions their Majefties with Sums of Money, notwith- standing the fears they are in from the Change of the Lieutenancy. Now I fuppofe 1 may be cenfured, as be- ing difcontented for want of Employment, as not being able to qualify my felf. To which I arifwer, That thofe that know me, know I never fought any Employment , and if I had, I have a Latitude to qualify my felf: So that I my truly affirm, that what I here write, proceeds purely from Affecti- on to my Country, and the Caufe of God. The Town of London- Deny was at laffc relieved, and, as is faid, might have been fix Weeks fooner, with lefs Difficulty, and the faving of four or five thoufand Lives, which in that time died of Famine. After the Relief of it, Col. Murrey, 2nd thirteen Troops of Horfe, who had done the greatelt Service in defending of the Town, were reduced, and greatly fufpefted, for no other reafon than becaufe Diilentcis, and free from (8 9 ) from Debauchery •, tho we m3y obferve, that after Relief of that Town, little of moment was done till His Majefty's happy Arrival, fave what was done by thofe called IrmiikiRing-NLzn, who, tho not all DiiTenters, are much of their Judgment, Friends to them, and joined with them - which one would think might have recommended the reft of that fort to Employment in thefe difficult Times. And that it did not, is un- accountable : For if thofe rauft be imployM that in the Opinion of By-ftanders, who fee more than Gamefters, have forfeited their Fidelity, and the Sacramental 7V/?, a Qualification for Ale-houfes ( which feme- times prove Bawdy-houfcs J continued as a Bar againft fuch as have fignaliz'd their Sin- cerity and Integrity, becaufe called Non- conformists^ whilit Church-men are the fame, Nonconformity being nothing elfe than prattifing contrary to the Rule eftablifhed by Law, whereof the Church- men are guilty in many Particulars, we cannot ex- pert a Bleffing to attend cur Undertakings. And I do affirm, thc?t r.cne can defire to deprive their M2Jefties in this time of War, the ufe of thofe they call Difiinters, (who having no Abdicated or Romifh Supe- riour, cannot have any other Intereft than their Majefties) fave fuch as 2re either weak in their Underftandings, Jacobites in their Affections^ (90 AfFe&ions, Papifts in their Religion, or un- godly Percenters in their Natures > from all which the Lord in Mercy deliver this Na- tion, I do not aim herein at reflecting upon the Conforrnifts in general \ for it muft be con- i eft that there are many fober, vertuous and religious Perfons of that Judgment, as Lon- don hath experienced, in being, contrary to what was defigned by others, providentially preferved by them, as appears by the Op- pofition the worthy and then moft deferving Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Vtlk^ngton^ hath met with from thofe that were HeUors for delivering up of Charters, and joining with Jejferks^ &c.in all Arbitrary and Tyranni- cal Ways i and for no other Reafon that we know, than for his being, next under God and Her Majefty, by his wife Conduct in the Abfence of the King, the Preferver of this City and Nation in Peace and Safe- ty : for his Oppofers were no fooner de- livered by tile Aft of Grace from fear of Punifhrnent for former Crimes, than they returned with the Dog to his Vomit, and with the Swine to the wallowing in the Mire of their corrupt Principles *, infomuch, that I think one rmy, without breach of Charity, fay, That there is none, who are not gnilty of great Ignorance, that were for turning out the then Lord Mayor, but fuch (9i ) fuch as would, if they could, turn out the King alio. But I would not be underftood in this to complain of any fave the Bigots of the Church, fuch as will not allow of any to be of their number, who have Charity for thofe that are not of their Communion, and have not the fame Latitude in all Immora- lity, as they have even to the taking away the Lives and Eftates of Innocent Men that are not of their minds, by falfe Verdi&s, when it (hall be in their Power: and that ;hey may reach their own Members, that exceed them in Vertue and Sobriety, they nickname them with the Name of Commcn- wealths- Men > for fince they cannot call them Drunkards, Swearers nor Whore- mafters, they will call them fomething, to render them, as they think, odious to the People. And for thefe Politicks, thofe of this Age are obliged to Cromrvel, who when his Succefles h2d begot in him a Refolution to fee up for himfelf, looking upon all fuch as were of fteady, unbiafs'd, felf-denying Principles, for a thorow Reformation as to Rights and Liberties, to be Enemies to his Defign, he endeavoured to blaft their Re- putations with the Nicknames of Levellers, as at this time fuch are to the fame end charged with being Republicans : and be- caufe two or three of them in thofe days had had not fo much Heat and Zeal for Religion as they had for Liberty and Property, he loaded too maiiy of his Oppofers with the odious Name of Atheifts, as our Church- Bigots do now by all of vertuous Princ;p ! es with the Character of being againft the Churchy as if all Religion were bound up in the ufe of their empty, illegal and im- pofed Ceremonies, which have ever been of great Prejudice, without any Benefit to the Church. But that Cromwel may not lofe his due Praife, it mult be cotifefsM that notwithftanding his unpardonable Am- bition, he did ever promote Sobriety, and the Power of Godlinefs in others ^ whereas the Quarrel of our Church-Bigots to good Men, proceeds meerly from a hatred to Good- nefs, and fear of being by Reformation retrained in their Lufts and Immoralities : and this way they mifchievoufly in favour of our Abdicated King, pcrtinacioufly per- fevere, as knowing they ihall thereby de- prive their Ma jellies the ufe of their fober and ufe ful Subjects, who cannot have any other Interell than to be faithful to them. And thai they have reafon to know, that from the Experience the People have had of their Integrity and Uprightnefs, they are not to be cozened by injurious Names \ yet from Machuvelh Rule, That by calumnia- ting boldly, fomething will Hick, they con- tinue (9? ) tinue their Reproach, tho contrary to Senfc or Reafon. Every Englifh Man that is not Knave or Foo], being as much *Com7mn- hs-man as thofe they mean, who are no for a Republick, than Magna Charts he Laws make them ; wherein they not to be thought Offenders •, efpeciai- 1 -jn Elizabeth having ufed the word C , :nxvealtb in her Speeches, and that it i the Language of the Law. Nay, fuch is their impartial Malice, chat even the fcfcft of our Bilhops that are not fo uncharitable asthemfelves,do not cfcape their Cenfures and falfe Reports, as, were it convenient, an Inftance might be given : arid their Spleen hath had this effett, to hinder the moft ufe- ful Men from ferving their King and Coun- try, to the great Damage of both, if it prove not their Deftrudtion. in keeping up the way for advancing Folly, Ignorance - and Knaverv, by a bare re/training the choice of Officers to one Party, which, if " continued, may hazard the Ruine of this Kingdom. And for preventing the fame, it were to be wifhed, that as in a great meafure the Bigots of the Church Inve had the Conduct of Affairs this three or four Years, with ill Succefs •, that the moderate Men of all fides might be tried, whech:r Affairs will profper better in their hands : By moderate Men, I mean thofe of both Opinions, (94) Opinions* who are free from grofs and open Scandal, who are the Perfons upon whofe Endeavours we may molt reafonably expeft a Blefling from God > for from the contrary Qualifications it is not to be hoped. And I am fully of Opinion with that good Man, who faith, " That Kingdoms and f* Commonwealths are not in fo much dan- " ger from the Power and Policy of their u Enemies without them, as they are from u the unreilrained Debauchery, and crying " Sins of their People that are within them > . " there being no fach Traitors to the iC Strength of a Land, Underminers and %t Weakners thereof, as are unreformed •» Provocations. And therefore, till Men of Religious, or (at leaft) Moral Principles, who fliall ferve their King and Country, not from felf-ends, but from a true Zeal for Civil as well as Religious Liberty, be im- ployed, C as fuch are to be had ) it cannot be expefted that England ihould profper : for common Swearers, Drunkards and Whoremafters, who impudently carry their Whores into the Field, and to Sea, to cor- rupt (by their ill Examples) the People ; nor thofe for King William^ as King defdlo only, will ever do the Work. And the Bigots of the Church cannot with fo much reafon call thofe of their own Communion, Diflen- ters, becaufe they have Chriftian Charity for ( 95 ) for Non-conformifts, as they themfelves i may be called of the Church of Rome, for j declaring they had rather be Pafifts than Prtsbyteriansy as many of them do ; when their Difference with the Papifls is upon Fundamentals, which concerns their Salva- tion •, and with the Presbyterians, by their own Confefllon, but about things indifferent, which ought not to be impofed, according to that Scripture, For it feemed good to the HolyGhoft, and to ut^ to lay upnycu no greater Burden than thefe mceffary thwgs, A£ts 1 5.28. In our late Civil Wars, thofe they then called Puritans^ adhered to the Parliament : Thefe were divided about Church-Govern- ment, fome for Fresbytery, and others for Independency. The Parliament upon their Fafting-days for imploring a Bkfiing, and Days of Thankfgiving for Mercies received, appointed ufually Minifters of both Opi- nions to preach before them : Thofe for Presbytery ufed to prefs the Parliament fa ftrenuoufiy for their Difcipline, exclufive of all others, that had that great and wife Se- nate hearkned to them, they had in all pro- bability fallen into Confufion, and been de- ftroy'd by their Enemies : of which Danger Mr. John Goodwin,one equal to any in Learn- ing and Minifterial Abilities, when called to preach before them, was fo far from fallowing the Example of his Brethren in troubling (9*> troubling them with Church- Politicks, that in his Prayer for the Parliament he had this I Expreffion * Lord, hadft not thou made them I wifer than their Teachers > they had been weaker than their Enemies ! And O that Pofterity may not have caufe to complain that it was an ignorant and felfifti efpouling of Church- Bigotry that ruined the three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland : for as that Maxim of divide and ride, rmy in times of Peace be ferviceable to thole defigning Ty- ranny, it cannot be fo in times of War, when not only a part, but the Affiftance of the whole is neceflary. And the French King, whilft Spain was a Match for him, keptclofeto this Rule, indulging his Pro- teftant Subjects equal to thofe of the Church of Rome ; the Importunity of his ambitious and mercilefs Church-men having no Power with him, till thinking himfelf above all Mankind, antf fear of any, that he then perfecuted and deftroyed thofe of the Pro- teftant Religion, contrary to Faith, feveral Editts and Declarations for their Security in their Enjoyment of equal Privileges with the Papifis : which Treachery and Ingrati- tude towards thofe that had kept the Crown upon his Head, may be a Caution to all Sorts and Degrees to cake heed how they truft him, or any that have Dependance upon him > yet I am ftrong in Faith, that his (97) ris perfidious Dealings will in the end prove lis Deftru&ion. And farther, to enforce this Argument, which I know will be little regarded by Church- Bigots and Formalifts) it is to be ibferved, that it was, until the King's Ar- ival in Ireland, thcfe of Religious Princi- iples there, as alfo in Scotland and Piedmont , hat have done any thing of moment, Cand t is not without ftrong fufpicion alfo that h. fe two excellent Gentlemen, Lieut. Col. 7f/W,and Major Henderfon} weredeferted, rho to fave the Life of their Country loft heir own ; and that the relieving of Lon- *on-Derry in Ireland was delayed, both in efign to reduce thofe over-fober Men > as f too vertuous Examples for thofe Times, ud as to Savoy, that Duke, whofe Family ath from all Antiquity been great Perfe- ators, is now come totally off from that lellift) and Devilifh Principle, in ufurping he Prerogative of God, who only hath tominion over the Confcience, and is wil- ng to receive the Affiftance of his Reformed ubjefts without debarring them by a Sacra- tental Teft y the benefit of which he hath [ready fufficiently experienced. And to lis may be added the Example of Spain, s a warning to all of undepraved Senfe, 3 avoid Perfecution upon account of Re- gion : for that Country when under Paga- H nifm, C 9* ) iiifm, Mahometanifm, with a mixture of Ju- daifm, was populous, rich and flourifhing, beyond all or moll; Countries, is now under Chriftianity, by Perfecution, become dif- peopled, beggarly, and of little account, compared toothers formerly of no Confi- ! deration to them. And let our Church- Bigots, in oppcfition to Religion and So- briety, improve to their uttermoft their Power and Intereft for doing the Work up- on the Wheel by fiich as themfelves, they will ft'li find, as they in Scotland^ IrtUm and Piedmont hitherto have done, that God will diftinguiih the Serviceablenefs of fobei Men from that of his Enemies, Men o d jauched Lives, evil Converfations, anc immoral Principles ; and nothing but Re formation-, and their Majefties ufe of al their Subjects, upon whofe Faithfulnefs th?j may rely, can recover our ancient Glory and make us again a Terror to our Ene mies. And it may be foretold, • that ou Potent and Tyrannical Neighbour, whob; Liberty in Religion firft raifed himfelf c that Height he is now arrived at, (hall b his late contrary A&ings, lofe his Grand un have all his Honour laid in the Duft, an< brought as low as he is now great. And to fum up all concerning Churdh Bigots, who place Religion in Formaline and Ceremonies, with Perfecution of all < contrar (99) contrary Opinions to them •, we may ob* ferve that this fort of Men ( without at- taining their Ends ) have in all Ages and Nations been the Peft of Mankirid, occa- fipning great Bloodihed and Crnelty in all Countries, but efpecially in Chriftendom : for the preventing of which for the future in this Kingdom, it is to bt wiihed that our £cclefiaftick£, whofe Talents for Civil Go* verment is very feidotn commendable, were by Law confin'd to their proper Province* the Interpretation of the Scripture as to Practical Divinity- and leave the Con- flru&ion of our Civil Law to them to whom it belongs in the Intervals of Parliaments^ (■wl) the Judges of the Land, who are fworn to the difchargeof their Duty there- in -, whereas bigotted Church-men, being loofe and at liberty, are very partial in their Glolles, perverting the meaning thereof to their feparate lntereft, tho tending to the Prejudice of the Nation. 1 think no fober Perfon but will, after perufal hereof, own our two laft Reigns to have been cruel, unjuft* and oppreffive to the higheft degree } and that fuch Guile could not be contra&ed by our Kings, with- out Initruments imploy'd by them, who by Law are anfwerable for Mifcarriages in Government* And as Oppreflion is a cry- ing Sin> that pulls down God's Judgments H 2 upofl ( ioo ) upon a People, if not repented and re- formed j fo there is a Duty incumbent upon us, to anfwer the Rebukes we have lately met with from God in our Affairs, by a fpeedy and thorow Reformation, not de- ferring it till times of Peace - the want of Reformation being generally the occafion of War. And God fcems to call for it by the little ufe he hath made of our Immo- ralifts, either at Sea or Land, other than as a Scourge for our Sins. His Majefty hath a great Reputation to be a profefled Enemy to Swearing, Drinking, Cheating, &c. And if thofe, whofe Calling makes it their Duty to promote Reformation, be the Obftru&ers of it, Flattery, which never proceeds from a fincere Heart, will not defend them a- gainfl: the Almighty ; to whom I leave them, with putting them in mind, that an Inftance might be given of a late Army commanded by old experienced Officers, never accufed of want of Bravery ; yet the Majority be- ing of lewd Principles as to Religion, and of loofe Difcipline as to Sobriety, never profpered other than by retail, enough only to keep them alive : fo that it was to a Mi- racle, beyond the Eye of Reafon, that the low and defperate Condition they and their Superiours were reduced to, did not caufc them to lay down the Cudgels, feparate and nm away, for nothing but an invifible Power C 101 ) Power could have fpirited them to ftand out againft the mighty External Force of their Enemies; infomuch that their Steadinefs cannot be afcribed to any thing lefs than an over-ruling Hand of Providence, the Lord not fuffering them for hi* own Name-feke to fall to the Ground, tho he exepcifed them with great Difappointments and crofs Pro- vidences, as a means to bring them to a fight of their Sins, and a neceflity of Re- formation, which was at firft oppofed by many as unfeafonabie. But at lait fetting afide that hackny Excufe, ordinarily made ufe of by iil Men for keeping off that which is againft their Defigns, it was by thofe guided by Vertue and Integrity, at laft undertaken in a time when little hopes of recovering a loft Caufe was left > but the Change a Reformation made, was fo great in an Army, which before was a Nur- fery of Vice and Debauchery, that it be- came a School of Vertue and Sobriety •, and tho compofed in a great part of fuch young, raw, new- bred Military Men, that they were at their beginning the Scorn and De- rifion of all veteran Souldiers *, yet God, as pleafed with Reformation, did fb re- markably blefs them wirh Succefs that after they took the Field under that ex- excellent Commander, Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1645^ they never received the leaft De- li 3 feat, feat, but went on even to a Miracle, con- quering, till they totally reduced their Ene- jnies in lefsthan two Years, notwithftanding they had tpr Adveriaries an Army flefh q with Vi&ory, commanded by Officers as much celebrated tor Valour and Military Art as that Age afforded. And the truth of this great and virtuous Effeft of Refor- mation is known to all obferving Men that liv'd in thofe days, and may be found by thofe born fince, in the uncontradi&ejd Hi- ftory of that War, called the Hifiory of $ir Thomas Fairfax, writ by Mr. Sfrig -, as alfo will in Rttjhworth's Colleftiom^ when his laft Volume comes out, to the juft Reproof, if not Convidliori of the Enemies to Re- formation. And to illuftrate this, I could name a Colonel yet living, who in this War had $6 in his fmgle Troop, that each of them could pray without a Book, and after that difcourfe upon a Text of Scripture to (the Edification of his Hearers, the reft of the Troop being free from any ,known Vice, as Swearing, Whoring, Excefs in Drinking, &c. for when any were detected of fuch Crimes 5 they were prefently caflrier'd. This I prefume will be laugh'd at by our profane Bigots, but will not be fo by any fearing God : for Mofcs, when complained unto of fuchj wilhed that til Cod's People Were Prophets. But the like hereunto is not to be ex- pected, till it fhall pleafe God to infp : rit the Nation for a general Reformation of Manners, beginning firft with thellniver- fities, which is laid to (land in need of a ftrong Purge , becaufe from thence molt of our Gentry imbibe their Principles, and where it is dreadful ( if true as fome re- port ) that they are the lefs ftri&ly lookM to, to prevent in them Inclinations to Presbytery ; telling them it is better to be Tapifis than Presbyterians, though the firft "differ in Do&rine which concerns their Salvation, and the other only in unfcrip- tural, as well as ( many of them ) illegal Ceremonies. Secondly, In the EcclefiaflicdVifit ations \ and Care in the admitting none into the Miniftry but upon fignal Teftimony of So- briety and Minifterial Abilities,' not fuffer- ing the Fees for Inftitution and Indu&ion to have any Influence therein -, that by the Exemplary Lives and Converfations of the Minifters of the Gofpel, the People may be as well inftrufted as from their Pulpits > Example very often prevailing more with corrupt Nature than Precept, efpecially (as is the Saying of a good Man) that Military Strength will not make a Nation fo dread- ful to an Enemy, as an able Godly Miniftry will do. H 4 I ( io4 ) I remember I heard many Years ago fin the time of Bi/hop Land\ Perfecu ion, be- fore our late Civil Wars) famoiis Dr. Stan- ton in a Sermon, reproving the then reigning Profanenefs 5 as portending a Judgment im- pending, ( wherein he was a Prophet ) Tefl that Party, (I mean the bigotted Foripa- lifts) that tho they may fleafe them/elves in fcoffing at ferious Religion^ and the (ift of Prayer, they had better have all the Bears in the Bear-garden againfi them, than the Prayers of God's People. This, I fuppofe, may be cenfured by our profane Party as an heme ly Expreflion \ but tho I may be fhort in rendring his Words as* to the Energy of them, the Learning, Piety and Elegancy of this great Dodtor, do fo eminently appear in his Works, and muflt ftill be remembred in the Univerfities, that none can think that any thing either ill exprefled or otherwife could fall from him. Befides, there is no way like this of Re* formation for bringing the Non-conformifts to the publick Churches, and prevent the ftumbiing any more in the Night upon Ec- clefiafticks in their Habits lying drunk in ttie Streets, and meet them flagged ng from one fide to the other, as we fometimes do, and often hear of their Debauchery, and giving the bad Example of drinking Healths, which may be reckoned fo much the occa- fion ( 'o 5 ) (Ion of Drunkennefs ; from whence many times proceed Quarrels, Murders and Adul« teries, that it's a hundred to one. of every Perfon that ' is feen drunk in the Streets* that he comes from drinking of Healths, which the Apoftle confequently forbids in exhorting to avoid all occafiom of Evil. I would not be under ftood by any thing, here faid, to refleft upon our Ecclefiafticks in general , for I confefs there are of them very pious, moderate and worthy Perfons, deferving all Reverence and Refpeft, but am forry they are difparaged by too many not worthy of their Function. Thirdly, In taking Care of not difpen- fing Comraiflions of the Peace to fuch as are themfelves notorioufly guilty of the Crimes they ought to punifh in others, as Swearing, Drinking, Sabbath- breaking, &c. the re* forming of which we may now have hopes of, from the Vertue of our new Lord Keeper. And when it (hall pleafe God to put it into the Hearts of thofe in Authority to re- form thefe three Fountains, from whence proceeds the Profanenefs, Blafphemy, and Atheifm that over-fpreads the Land, wc day hope for the fore-mentioned Bleffings, but till then defpair of them •, efpecially, if from the finifter Defigns of ill Men, De- bauchery be countenanced and incowraged, by promoting and imploying fuch as are notori- ( i°o notOrioufly known to be the worff: of Men, and guilty in Life and Con^erfation of the greateft Immoralities: for in fuchcafe we cannot exped any Benefit by their Majefties pious Proclamations for Reformation of Manners, Example (as is before-mentioned) prevailing more with corrupt Nature than Precept. The way to appeafe God's Wrath, is to enquire after Men of debauched Lives, and ' avoid them •, after the Authors and Abettors of our former Grievances •, caufe Reftitution to be made to Sufferers, by thofe that di when the viUfi Men are exalted Pftl. 12.8. The Lord feems to have done his part in puniftiing the Principal, leaving the Inftru- ments to us •, for it may be reafonably thought, that had it not been for evil Coun- fetlors, our Kings could not alone bave pro* jefted or endeavoured the Ruin of our Na- tion by introducing Popery and Slavery, as was without contradidion intended. By ( i©7 ) By what goes before, togetherwith what lay be farther obferved, it will appear, bat the Prefervation of our Rights and Li- erties hath to a Miracle been folely from be Providence of God, viz. i. That the late King James in favour of bpery, fhould fet up a fuppofititious Prince {Wales, to difinherit his own Children, and 11 the Heirs of the Crown ? whereby he lienated the Hearts of the People, when lOthing lefs could have done it, was a great tovidence. 2. The King (when Prince of Orange) lis Difafter at Sea upon his firft fetting fail, aufing the late King JamesH recalling his )rder for reftoring the Fellows of Magdalen- College in Oxford, was a Providence, in hat he thereby convinced the People, that here was no relying upon his Promifes, vhich before they were ready to do. 3. That when the Prince was defigned for he North, he fhould change his Courfe or the Weft, where the Wind and Wea- her was miraculoufly ferviceable to him f vas a faving Providence. 1 4. That the late King James's Naval leet, which might with eafe have de- |troyed the Fly-Boats which tranfported V Prince's Army, and did not do it> was 1 Cgnal Providence. 5- That ( io8 ) 5. That the late King James defeated his Army at Salisbury, when half of it was more than fufficient to have fought the Prince, was a Providence not to be forgot. 6. That the late King James abdicated the Government, when otherwife we mufl have been all in Blood, fome of the chief o the City flawing fomuch Fondnefs of him that with fpeed they, with Tears for Joy congratulated his Return after his firt leaving of the Town, was a Mercy. 7. That Londcn-Verry, a little mfignifi cant Place, without regular Fortification^ fliould with fo much Mifery and Hardfhi] defend themfelves •, and in that prefery Ireland zgzinQ. the late King, who wasfai to have 6cooo Men in Arms, and to lot 8000 before it , and this done by the MobA headed by fome hontft Officers againft tt good Will of thofe in Authority ; was Providence which in after- Ages will hard be believed. . 8. That the French bad furpnzed whi!* at Anchor, had not the Wind pn videntially turned to our Prefervation, w •a Mercy that ought not to be forgot. • p. That the French Ihould not underftai the Advantage Torrington gave them at Sea, ' retreating before them •, and that they Ihou negle&the opportunity of intercepting at t Mouth of the Channel our feyeral Fleets Merchai ( * c 9 ) Merchants Ships, then expefted ft om feve^ ral Parts of the World, and no care taken by us for their Prefervation ; was an un- expreflible Providence. For if thofe Fleets had mifcarried, the trading Party of the Nation had in a great meafure been ruined : So that upon the whole, we may fay, we * have been prefer ved by the Providence of God,notwithftanding our great Negligence. But this miraculous Deliverance gives us no Warrant to rely upon Miracles for our Pre- fervation, but is a Caution to us for the fu- ture, to be more careful in the choice of the Officers we iatruft. To the foregoing nine, may be added as a tenth Providence^ and crowning Mercy, the Lord's preferving us againft the laft Year's intended Invafion of the French^ headed by our Abdicated King, at a time when all was fo prepared, that that Party amongft us hath not yet loft their Confi- dence : and then when neither the Wifdom or Hand of Man was for our Prefervation, God appeared in the Mount, delivering us by his immediate Power, in commanding the Wind and Weather to deliver us out of the Jaws of Death ; a Mercy never to be forgotten, but with Humility to be always had molt particularly in thankful Remem- brance ; Thankfulnefs being a Grace that God is much pleafed with. And from thefe wonder- ( 102 ) undervaluing Sobriety, notwirManding bis ilgnalizing the Undertakings of fuch, and blafting thofe of his Enemies, Swearers, Drunkards, &c. It would have pleafed me better to have had this Obfervation made by fome other, but rather than God ihould not have the Honour and Glory of his Grace and Goodnefs to thofe that love and fear him, I have thought it my Duty to remember our great Deliverances with Thankfulnefs to his Praife. Courtiers and Favourites have always endeavoured by themfelves and Friends to excufe their Mifcarriages> by making the Complaints againft them to proceed only from Envy and not Juftice : but we do not find Parliaments miftaken formerly in their Impeachments aginft evil Counfellors, but that they have ever been rather too back- ward than too forward therein. And in- deed, confidering the Conftitution of the Parliament, and their Method of Proceed- ings, they may be reckoned as infallible in Matter of Faft, as Mankind is capable of \ for no Criminals but may be fuppofed to have fome particular Friend in that nume- rous Aflembly to make Objections on their behalf, and nothing of this kind palling the Houfe without a ferious and long Debate, and coming at lad to a Decifion by Majority ©f Vote?, they can hardly err in Matters of Fa&. Fa&. And we find the Counfellors of good Queen Elizabeth to have been free frori] all Complaints in Parliament ; and I think it may be relied upon, that the Commons will never complain of any who feek not themfelves, ( as her Counfellors did not ) £>ut the Good and true Intereft of King and Country : but fuch as Soveraigns were, fuch will their Counfellors be > SauPs were wic- ked, and David's vertuous : for bad Kings will make choice of fuch as themfelves ; and none but thofe of depraved Principles will court their Service. As the way for Kings to gain Love and Honour, and be in Safety, is to make the Law their Rule, and not, as the two lafl {ings without Regard to their Coronation^ Dath, fetting all Law afide, and afting Ar- bitrarily, as in their pricking of Sheriffs ibr the Counties, not out of thofe prefented :o them, as the Law direft,s, but taking :hem at large, as they pleafe, or corrupt 'ntereft diredts. For to govern well, is a Security beyond Arms, Oaths, or all the Tricks of ill Men and Favourites \ fo it is :he Intereft of Favourites, tho they feldom >elieve it, to make publick Intereft equal (if pot fuperior) to their own private ; for we lo not find the Families raifed formerly by rvil Counfel given to their Princes, to have >een of long continuance. I Our ( ii4) Our Divifions at prefent are deploraBle, and far be it from me to defire the widening of them •, but they may be faid to arife from Selfifhnefs in the Clergy, and fome Criminals, who joined with them, to make a Party for their own particular Intereft and Prefervation, againft the true Intereft and Senfe of vertuous and honeft Men fo that in this diftra&ed Condition we are divided infcp thofe for the Prefent King, and thofe for the Abdicated King •, thefe latter being irreconcileable to all that are not of their Opinion, and the former fubdivided into thofe that are profefledly for King William as King de Jure^ and thofe for him only as King de Fallo\ whereby the latter making the King no better than an UfurpeF* muft themfelves be little lefs than Jacobites. whofe Actings give us caufe to have fad Thoughts of Heart, in feeing fome of the late Kings Proceedings put in Pra&ia with Improvement. I do not remember any in former Reign taken up and imprifoned, without preten ded Proof of fome Crime againft them, o: at leaft of pretended great Sufpicion ; bu of late we had Perfonsfreeft from Sufpicio firft feized, and then their Studies an* Writings fearched, to get matter to juftif the Seizure \ which leaves all Men unfafe, a well in reference to their Eftates ( from th dangc ("5) danger their Writings are thereby in ) as in. reference to their Liberty. And herein they fhewed their Spleen againfl: fuch as arc for the prefent King, as King de Jnre •, for of any other Crime, one lately imprifoned could not be fufpe&ed, having exprefled himfelf fufficiently in Print againfl a Com- monwealth, a Notion out of hatred to Li- berty ( our natural Right ) lately ftarted, to render all thofe obnoxious that are for common Freedom. Our ancient Govern* ment according to Law, knowing that in a corrupt and factious Age, the honefteft things may be blafted by mifapplying of Names, as in calling Evil Good, and Good Evil, Difloyalty Loyalty, and Loyalty Dif- loyalty, &c And this whilft de F^So-Men can hardly (in fome Mens Opinion) offend in any thing they do or fay. But his Ma- jefty having had feveral miraculous Deli- verances, in Ireland, at Sea, and lately in Flanders^ we hope that Men fincerely honefl^ real and faithful to him without Referve, in reference to any Pretender, will be as well in Security, as Enemies, or thofe that are no farther for his Intereft, than may render them meritorious, fhould the Ab- dicated King return, from which good Lord deliver us, and from all fuch whofe Defign [is to jufiify the two laft Reigns, by diP- |owning any Fault in them (fave the en- I 2 dwvovtt deavour of introducing Popery, of which they make the King folely guilty ) that by his Inftruments and fuch like, they may the more plaufibly play the fame Game over again, if not by corrupt Judges, againft which we are fecured during the Lives of thofe now«tn place, yet they may by fnbor- red Witnefles, depraved Advocates, and pack'd Juries endeavour a fham Prcteftant Plot, as they have formerly done, for de- ftroying all that fhall ftand in the way of returning us to our late Egyptian Bondage, of which they are very fond. As there is no Perfe&ion in this World, fo there is nothing good, but as it is com- pared with worfe. The Reign of good Queen Elizabeth, who was a true Lover of her People and Country, may perhaps be: liable to fome Exceptions *, but being a; Reign of glorious Actions, of impartial Justice, not murdering and otherwife un- doing innocent Men by corrupt Juries,! Judges and fuborned WitnefTes, and fo free I from Tricks for plundering the Subjedtsl Purfes to fpend vicioufly and profufely tol make a Party for Arbitrary Government,! that when Money hath been given her fori certain Occafions, the Caufe being taken| away, (he returned the Money to her Sub-, je&s: this Reign, 1 fay, compared to the] four fucceeding Reigns, chargeable with all that! ( "7) that is contrary to thefe Excellencies, may comparatively be reckoned perfefr. The Counfellors and Favourites of this great Queen may have had fome Errors in Politicks, tho unknown to me > yet having made the end of all their Counfels, the Ho- nour, Profperity, Safety and joint Intereft of the Queen and Country without fepa- rating them ^ I fay, thofe Counfellors and Favourites compared with thofe of the four laft Reigns, whofe Counfels and Attions have been diametrically oppofite to theirs, may comparatively be faid to have been un- blamable. Tho the Church in that Queen's Time never wanted fome of perfecting Spirits, yet thofe being over-ballanced by the Piety and Zeal of fome of the then Guides of the Church, not encouraging the Profana- tion of the Lord's- Day, nor difcouraging Preaching twice upon that Day, nor yec putting down Weekly or Monthly Lectures. Tho that Reign may be faid not to have been totally free from profligate and ill People ; the Generality was ibber and ver- tuous, compared to the fucceeding Reigns, efpecially the two laft, fo over -run with Debauchery and all manner of Profanenefs. But upon the whole, we have been an un- happy People ever fince the Days of that never-to-be- forgotten good Queen, if fome I 3 Years (n8) Years were not to be excepted, the Defigns of our four laft ill Reigns have been fo dia- metrically oppofite to the Honour and In- tereft of the Nation, as the Hiftory thereof mult render them and their Counfels odious to Pofterity. When the Houfe of Anftria was rampant for the Univerfal Monarchy^bidding fair for it> our Court joinM with them in being of the Spanilh Fa&ion, as they that remember thofe Times muftconfefs : for thothe Ex- ample and Method left us for the Afliftance of the united Netherlands, to which the People were generally affe&ed, could not be totally laid afide, our Help, contrary to our Interefl;, became then faint and heart- lefs. . After the Crown of Spain (the chief Power of the jiuftrian Family ) was by the long weak Reign of Philip the IVth brought low, and the dangerous Defign of that mighty Houfe was fupprefled, then Cromwel^ from want of Experience in Foreign Affairs, call the Ballance betwixt Spain and Franc* pn the French fide ; yet not maliciouQy, but prefuming that the then Greatnefs of our Nation, would upon all occafions haye been able to curb and check the growing Great- nefs Qf our mightieft Neighbours, as had We remained under a good Adminiftration !tf$ had pertainly been : but as ill Govern- ment, ( H9) ment, with Fraud and Cozenage in all Officers, has brought the Crown of Spain under, fo the fame hath been the unhappy Lot of our Nation •, thefe two Inftances being a full Demonftration, that all Coun- tries will be profperous or miferable ac- cording as their Government is good or bad. Charles the Second came no fooifcr to the Crown than he fold Dnnkirk^to the French; and as a farther ftep to advance them, ruin'd the Proteftant Intereft, and in that the Intereft of his own Native Country ; he caufelefly, as well as ungratefully, quarrelled with the Vnited Netherlands - and when thro Providence he came badly off in that Un- dertaking, he moft mifchievoufly efpoufed the French Intereft againft that of his own Kingdoms, ftudying all the ways imagina- ble the greatning of them, and leflening of us : and the fame Defign being followed by his Succeflbr, we were brought to that de- fperate Condition our prefent King found us in, and reftored us to what we now are. And now being freed from the Grievan- ces of the four laft Reigns, it might be ex- betted that all fliould hate the remem- brance of thofe Times, and never more hanker after the like => the doing of which cannot proceed from any thing lefs than in fome a depraved, flavilh Nature^ delighting 1 4 in ( ISO ) in the Barbarity of the Eaftern Countries r In fome well-meaning honeft Men., from Ignorance, not underftanding their true In- tereft •, in others, from a hatred to common Freedom, being content to be tyrannized over by their Superiors, fo they may but do the fame over their Inferiors : And in others, who, tho they underftand the true Intereft of the Nation, yet from preferring an op- portunity of cozening* cheating and ad. vancing themfelves to Honours and Digni- ties to all other Confiderations whatever. And from hence, together with Selfilhnefs and want of Integrity in fome profeffing Honefty, thereby deceiving the weak and credulous, whilft they purfue their own Inn tereft without regard to the Publick, pro- ceeds the Mifery of Mankind. I take no pleafure in remembring the Vices and Enormities of our Country, but am greatly troubled to hear of the horrid Debauchery that is amongft us \ and to ob ferve, how this Nation is degenerated frorr a Land formerly famous for Piety, to tha of all manner of Profanenefs, againft whicl I have thought it my Duty thus to bear m] Teftimony. If what hath been already obferved o the Lord's diftinguifhing the Serviceable pefs of fober Men from that of Swearers Prunkards, &c. be nop enough to convene on ( 121) our bigotted Church-men of their folly, in not being fatisfied without having the weightieft Affairs intrufted with fuch, if they would but call to mind that the Hand of God was fo remarkably againft us whilft fuch were imployed, who carried Whores with them both to Sea and Land, that we never profpered in either Station, and that fince they have been removed, God hath fo remarkably blefled us both at Sea and in Ireland ever fince, when the Help of Man feemed to be in vain ; as if he would there- by tell his Enemies, that tho they would not fee, he wpuld make them fee, and be afhamed of their Envy apd Malice againft all Sobrie- ty i they cannot ftill remain pertinacious in their Opinions, without being, as may be charitably thought, under a judicial Blind- nefs : not but that I think it is to be lamen- ted, that too many, not deferving very good Charadters, are ftill made ufe of-, but as the greater in Authority the Perfons of fuch are, the more mifchievous is their vicious Exam- ple, fo the Lord is thereby the more pro- voked to retard our Deliverance ; and tho for his own Name- fake, he will not fuffer his Caufe totally to fall, yet the lefs our Refor- mation is, the flower will be his Mercies to us, as a means to bring at laft thofe that fear him, to a fight of their Sins, and a Humi- liation for them. An ( I" ) An Introduction to the Affidavits and Informations following. IF any Doubt be made ( notwithftanding what is before mentioned ) of the hor- rid Iniquity and Mifcarriage of the two laft Reigns, whoever will but ferioufly read and confider the following Affidavits, with the Informations, cannot but be convinced that > the like Practices for murdering by Perjury "and form of Law, hath not before been known in England^ or any other Chriftian Country •, where Judges, Juries, Witnefles, and Counfel, all ftrove who fhould moft fig- nalize their Services for the King, by wreft- ing of Law, for taking away the Lives of innocent Per fons -, the Memory of which is to be wifhed may, to their perpetual Infa- my, and as a warning to others, never be forgotten. The ? (»J> The Information ofTho. Samfbn, Gent. taken upon Oath before Sir Thomas iUleyn, Kf. and Bar. one of his Ma- je/fy y s Jufiices of the Peace for the City of London, this 24th Day of November, 168 1, at Seven of the Clock in the Morning. Who faith, 'TpHat John Mac-Namarra told this De- JL ponent, That Edward Ivy and Bryan Haynes agreed together in Ayril laft, to fwear Treafon againft the Earl of Shafts- bury -, and the Bill being found againft the faid EarK that they, with John Smith and Turberfield, did intend to fwear Treafon againft Sir Patient Ward, Sir Robert Clayton, Sir Thomas Player, Sheriff Bethel, Col. Mild- may, and all others as ihould come in as Witnefles againft their Defigns, or in the behalf of the above- faid Gentlemen. The Treafon which they defigned to fwear lagainft the faid Earl, was, tc That the Earl ct fhould fay, that our King deferved to u be dethroned more than Richard II, " and that the faid Earl would dethrone tc the King, and make England a Coramon- * wealth. This ( "4 ) This Deponent further faith, That the faid Mac-Namarra told this Deponent the 2 8th of July laft, that Edward Ivy had often Conference with Mrs. Cellier, and the Popifh Priefts in Newgate, and had received Money to ftiam the Popifh Plot, and to fwear to a Proteftant one. This Deponent further faith, That the faid Mac-Namarra, two days before he went to Oxford to Colkdge\ Trial, told this j Deponent that he knew the Delign againft the Proteftants, and that he would fay fomething againft them to pleafe Jufticc Walcop, to get fome Money : But he faid, God damn him if he knew of any Treafon by any Proteftants, or knew of any Plot but the Popifh Plot, or if he would ever fwear to any fuch thing : And at the faid M$c- Namarrd>s Return from Oxford, he fwore the fame to this Deponent in the prefencc of others. This Deponent further faith, That the faid Mac-Namarra told this Deponent, that he, the faid Mac-Namarra, had been often with the Earl of Shaftsbury, with Haynes and Ivy, but this Deponent telling him that the faid Earl never difcourfed any alone, the faid Mac-Namarra told this De- ponent, that the occaflon of their fpeaking with him was, for that they difcovered to him, the faid Earl, fome Perfons that in- tended ( i25 ) tended to murder him •, Mac-Namarra fay- ing, that himfelf and Ivy took Diftafte for that the Earl would not difcourfe them alone-, in-as-much as Ivy therefore con- trived to fwear High-Treafon againft the faid Earl. This Deponent farther faith,That Mr.7#r- berfield told this Deponent, at the Sign of the Cocl^ by the Patt-Mall? two or three days before Colledge\ Trial, of this De- fign againft Proteftants :, but, withfolemn Protections, f&ore that he knew Hbthing of any Treafons againft the Earl of Shafts- bury, the Lord Howard, or any Proteftants } only of Colledge\ idle words, and of Rowfe's keeping the Charity of the City from the Evidences. This Deponent farther faith, That on the 2$d of September la ft John Smith, Stephen Dngdale and Turberjield fent for the Depo- nent to the Three-Tun Tavern in Htmger- /W-Market, and there drinking, the faid Smith began the Duke of Tories Health : He fwore, God damn him, he drank his Health becaufe he was a Papift, and therefore he loved him. This Deponent farther faith, That the Money which was gathered in the City for the Maintenance of the Evidence, was ga- thered on their Petition to the Common- Hall, and by the Evidences fpecial Inftancc to ( "O to the Lord Shaftsbnry, and others, to in- terceed for them to the City, it being di- rected to the City by the Houfe of Com- mons, to take care of them until the Par- liament fate again, and procured a Mainte- nance for them. This Deponent farther faith, That the Anfwer which John Mac-Namarra made on Oath to the Grand- Jury at Rowfe\ Trial, viz. being queftioned how he was main- tained? anfwered, that he then rented i oo IJff w Annum in Ireland, was falfe. And Edward Ivy at the fame time faying on hrs Oath, that he came not over to i England to difcover the Popifh Plot, was alfo falfe -, for that he had 20 /. allowed him by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the fame. And whereas the faid Ivy then fwore, That what Information he made, touching the Popifh Plot, was directed to him by the Earl of Sbaftsbury, and that a Reward for the fwearing of it was promifed by Rowfe+ was alio falfe ; for that this Deponent faw the Information in the faid Ivys Hands be- fore he knew, as he faid, the faid Earl, or Rowfe^ and the day after he came to Town. This Deponent farther faith, That him- £elf> with others, have heard Dennis Mac- Namarra fay, that he would fwear any thing that his Brother John would have him to fwear. And ( I2 7 ) And this Deponent fartfreHaith, That the Earl of Shaftshnry advifed this Depo- nent, Mac-Namarra and Ivy, not to go to Oxford, until the Parliament fent for them to give their Evidence touching the Popifh Plot ^ and, on our Requeft, the faid Earl promifed that he would move for Money to bear our Charges thither, and to fupply our great Neceffities. This Deponent farther faith. That Juftice Walcof often follicited him, with Promifes of Reward, to be an Evidence againft the Earl of Shaftsbury, and others of the City , and that John Mac-Namarra told this De- ponent, that the faid Juftice Walcof did the fame with him. This Deponent farther faith, That he hath nor, to his Knowledg, received any Money of the City, or borrowed any to the value of five Pounds, fince the Parlia- ment at Oxford, or had any Reward for making this Affidavit ; but hath done it to fatisfy his Confcience, and to prevent any thatftio.uld fwear falQy againft himfelf, or others : And farther faith, that he is no I Petitioner to the City. To all which this Deponent fwears particularly, the precife Days only excepted. Tko. Samfon. The ( 128 ) The Information of William Shewen, jun. of the Parifh of St. Mary Mag- dalen Bermondfey, in the County of Surrey, aged Twenty Tears, or there- abouts, as followeth. THis Informant maketh Oath, That on Tfotrfday, the 9th Day of this Inftant Month of AHgiift, 168 1, he being acciden- tally in the Company of Mr. John Mac- Namarra, Mr. Peacock (whom they called Alderman of Durham) and Mrs. Terefia Peacock^hls Daughter, (who was Fitz.-Har- riis Maid ) Mr. Everard, Mr. Moubrey^ and others, at Godfreys Mufick-houfe, in. Lamb's- Conduit -Fields^ in the County of Middlefex •, and they occafionally falling into Difcourfe concerning Mr. Mac-Namarras marrying Mn*Peacockj> the aforefaid Mac-Namarra told this Informant, that his Reafon for marrying her was, that he might get a new Race of Evidences againft the old ihould fail. And this Informant farther faith, That , the aforefaid Perfons then difcourfing to- gether concerning Mrs. Peacock's Marriage- Portion, Mr. Peacock^ Father to the faid T>- refia Peacoc^ clapping her on the Back, faid, Girl, I am the chief efi Evidence, and thou the fecond , ( i*9 ) ftconi\ and there will be iool, dpiecefor ui to [wear borne At Oxford ( having been dif- courting- before concerning Colledge)' and ikon jh alt have them both^ and I will fettU joo I. a Tear more on thee. To whicls Mr. Mac-Namarra y Mr. Roger Godfrey^ and Mr. William Godfrey ( upon this Informant's asking them, Mr. Peacock was a Man of an Eftate ) anfwered*, that he rather ftayM ia Iown to get part of his Daughter's Money, than to give her any thing. And this Informant farther faith, That Mr. Tnrberfield and Mr. Mac-Namarra then :old this Informant, thst they had Penfions, is weilas Oates, and faid, that was no fign of inall Refped to their Evidence * and that iiey received them at Sir Liolinc Jenkins^ Joufe, And this Informant farther faith, hat he had feveral times feen them go into .he Secretary's Houfe, and once faw Haynes :oming thence. And farther this Infor- nant faith, That on the loth day of this nftant AngHft^ the faid Mac-Namarr* :oming to this Informant's Lodgings at the lolden Pofts at Ckaring-Crofs, this Infor- mant enquired of Mac-Namarra wherefore le went fo often to Sir Lioline Jenkinfs ioufe? Upon which, Mac-Namarra put; lis Hand to his Pocket, and fhaked his iloney, making no other Anfwer, K And And this Informant farther faith, That afterwards, viz. on Thnrfday the nth of jfnguft, he being in the Company of Mr.£w- rard, Thrberfieldj John Mac-Namarra, John Smith, Mr. Haynes, and Captain Barry, at the Houfe of the aforefaid Roger Godfrey, at the Golden Tofts at Charing-Crofs -, the faid Perfons difcourfing concerning their going for Oxford, about Colledges Trial, this In- formant asking them what they thought of College, they generally anfwered, that they queftioned not but they fhould get him hanged. And this Informant farther faith, That then and there the Company falling into Difcourfe of Slingsby Bethel Efq-, one of the prefent Sheriffs of the City of London^ Mr. Mac-Namarra and Mr. Turberfield pro- fered to lay Wagers, Ten to One, that She- riff Bethel fhould be hanged before Chriji- mafs next: B#t, faid Turberfield, we have little againji him a* yet. To which Mac- Namarra replid, What of all that ? We have time enough either to get, or make more. The like Wager, at the fame time, they pro- fered to lay concerning Mr. Wilmore, the Fore-Man of the late Grand- Jury, and fe veral others of that Jury, whofe Name they then mentioned, but their Names thi Informant remembreth not. The like Wa ger they offered to lay againfl oae Mr. Beft ax ( Ijl ) an Hop-Merchant in Tbames-ftreet, of whom Tnrberfeld faid, he had received fome Gui- nea's i and that he would go thither again, and fee if he could get more \ and if he would not give him any, he would fwear that againft him that fhould make his Heart ake. kxA this Informant farther faith, That Captain Barry did frequently call Mr. John. Smith Name-fake •, and this Informant en- quiring of Mr. Mac-Namarra wherefore Barry called Smith Name-fake, he anfwered this Informant, that Smith was an lrfy-man^ born in Connanght, and that his right Name Was Barry. And this Informant farther faith, That then Turber fields Haynes and Mac-Namarra faid, they would take feveral others of the Irijh Evidence along with them to the jimflcrdam-Gofftc-houfe on Tnefday come Seven-night next, and there pick a Quarrel among themfelves ; and in the heat of their Qparrel they would take Sheriff Bethel by his Chain, and lead him from thence to Bow- Church : And Turberfield asked the Queftion, whether it would not do well to kick him at parting ? And this Informant farther faith, That on the aforefaid 1 1 th of AtigHft, Tkrberfield faid, they had Bands and Clokes, by which diitinguilhing of themfelves, they faid, they K a could ( *3 2 ) could difcover factious People, they taking them for fome of their own Mould. And Turbcrfield, foon after this Difcourfe, left the Company*, and in about half an hour returned, drefled up like a Presbyterian Minifter. And this Informant farther faith, That on the fame i uh day of Augufi, and Place laft mentioned, Mr. Smithy alias Barry^ asked Mr. Mac-Namarra where he was fo v long in the Morning, that he could not find/ him ? To which Mr. Mac-Namarra anfwer- ed, He had been with Sir Lioline Jenkins. Vll warrant yon, replied Smith, yon have had a long Lejfbn, yon ftay*d fo long. Mac-Na- marra anfwered him, As long as it was, I have learned it. And then they entered into a private Difcourfe. This Informant alfo faith, That they ufually fpent high at Dinner, 10 s. each Man being their common Ordinary. They alfo commended their Trade to me, and told me, that if I would come to Oxford, I fhould hear how they would fwinge the Fanaticks : And they faid farther, that they would procure me. a Place to hear the Trial } and that they were afTuredy that tho the Grand- Jury of London fhould come down to confront them, they fhould not be admitted. And And this Informant farther faith, That Mr, John Smith then faid, that if he had but knowledg of Mr. Jenks the Draper, as Mac-Namarra had, that he would not fail to fwear that againft him, which fhould aot fail to take him from being the Head if a Party of Fanaticks. And that there were feveral others who had traduced him, ffhom, if he knew, he would make Ex- amples. And this Informant farther faith, That Mrs. Peacock faid, that Mr. Fitz-Harri* was »one to Wmdfor to difcover a new Popifh Plot, fo that flie was not certain whether Ihe had not bell fide with her Miftrifs : And fpeaking to Mr. Mac-Namarra, he mfwered, that Man and Wife, Miftrifs and Maid, were belt to be all of a Mind. Sworn before Sir George Treby, Re- corder of London, Sept. 1 68 1. K 5 Tkc The Infoimation of Captain Henry Wilkinfbn. IAJpritnisj I the faid Henry WUkinfon do declare, and am ready to fwear, That on Saturday, Sober the 8fJb, 1681. about Five of the Clock in the Evening, one Mr. Walter Baines came to Niv.Adatns Cellar in the King's-Bench Prifon, and fent for pie out of the Garden in the Kings-Bench \ who upon fight told me, he was forry to fee me in that place, and afterwards en* gaged me to accept of a Pot of Beer or Ale. In the time of its drinking, Mr. 6*104 ihewed and exprefTed the greateft Kindnefs that could be expefted from a Brother } which made me believe he had fome De- fign. Theq he defired to know what fort of Wine I would drink ? I told him not any •, belides, the Cellar had none : but he then called for Brandy, which we had. Then he told me Mr. Brownrig was fent Prifoner to TV^Caftle for Trcafon, and for appearing for my Lord Shaftsbury* And alfo the faid Baines faid, he hacj fent a Note to my Lord Shaft sbnry, to Remand fifty Shillings for Service and Charges that was due to him, done for the kQrd Sbaftsfary at piy Recjueft* as he pre- tends ^ ( *?5) tends \ and that ray Lord fent him word, it was a Sham and a Cheat put upon him f and therefore he would pay him no fuch Bill. At the fame time he told me, I could not but know much of the Lord Shaftsbnrfs Defigns again ft the King, and that I might do well to difcover it to him, who was ready to do me any Kindnefs, and defired an opportunity. Alfo that he had been lately with Mr. Graham,and had a great In- tereft with my Lord Hyde. ( All this time I iinderftood what was designing for my Kindnefs.) I conftantly and truly told him, I knew nothing of my Lord Shafts- burj\ Defigns againft His Majefty : Only this I did know formerly, from Mr. Baines about three Months ago } that he was then of an Opinion, that Mr. Brownrig could difcover fome unlawful Practices againft the Lord Shaftsbury, which, I confefs, I did wifh might be difcovered \ for altho I have ferved his Majefty in England, and beyond Sea (and no other Intereft) and was as inftrumental in His Majefty's Reftoration as any Perfon of my Fortune could be \ fo I am for his Continuance by all lawful means, and never to ftudy the Deftru&ion of his Friends or Enemies by unjuft Defigns. I have caufe to believe my Lord Shaftshury loves His Majefty, for he always was pleafed K 4 to ( ifa ) to fhew me Refpeft, for that I had ferved His Majefty. Now Night drew on for Mr, Baines to be gone •, all the time he ftay'd was fpent with a great deal of Zeal upon me on the fame S'bjed. He told me 1 fhotild have a Pardon^and need not to fear it •, I would not deny his Proffer. But he farther told me, I (hould be coniiderably rewarded : Neither did I deny that, but told Jiim, When I was requited for my former Service, I would ferve His Majefty in what I could. I faw here was a Deiign laid ; and altho I had reafon to take it unkindly to have any thing fixed upon me,or to make me an Inftrument beyond my Knowledge yet I was refolved to humour the Bufinefs. Upon which Mr. Bairns took his Leave \\m Night, and told me at parting, he would in a few days fee me again* but left me with fuch Pro- mises as at prefent I cannot exprefs, not much queftioning my Knowledg. : Item, That on Tuefday, Ottober the 1 1/&, 1 68 1, I was fent for to Mr. Weaver** Houfe near the Kings-Bench, to Mr. Booth } who tdld me he was glad to fee me, but forry to fee us both in that Condition ; for he was a Prilbner as I was. He told me, he had Removed himfelf laft Night fr66i one of the Campers'. I Required of him hovV he came to be at a Waiter's Houfe ? He told She; ( iJ7) me, it was not denied him, akho I could not be admitted one Night. I underftood he was engaged in the Defign -, I coniidered he had been a Man of bad Principles, there- fore I was refolved to ftand upon my Guard. Prefently he told me, he was to tell me, I had an opportunity to be a better Man in my Fortune than ever I was before, and that now I had an opportunity to make my Fortune, and that I might have 500 /. . fer Annum fettled upon me and my Heirs, or iooco/. in Money, which I pleafed, if I would difcover what I knew of my Lord Sbatfsbnrj^ and his Defign in changing the Government to a Commonwealth, and wit- nefs againft him. I replied, and told him, No Body would believe I fhould be made privy to fuch* a Defign ( if fuch a thing was 3 being I had ferved His Majefty in England, and beyond Sea. He anfwered, I was the likelieft Man to know, for he knew I had ferved the King, and had been flighted and negle&ed. I told him, that was true. I anfwered him again, . I never defired any thing of His Majefty for my Service, but that which would coft him nothing, but bnlytohave the Preference of otbers^that never had been concerned in His Majefty's $ervice, by way of Farm on part of His Majefty's Revenues. He told me His Ma- fefty 'knew me, and that he was fenfibte of ( i?8) of my Service and Sufferings, and defired to gratify me •, for he often told me, Now was the time to do fomething which would advance me, for it mull now be a King or a Common wealth •, for the Earl of Sbafts- bnry\ Party would but only make ufeof mc to flight me when their Bufinefs was done. I told him, I was with my Lord Shaftsbnry the Night before he was apprehended, and that Sir Thomas Amftrong was there > a Per- fon I knew out of favour, on purpofe that he might fpeak out his full Mind, but ftill told him, 1 knew nothing of any Defign. I alfo told him, I would fay nothing, nor ap- pear at Court, until I was confidered for my Sufferings, ( a thing I never expe&ed ) and as for going to Court, I never intended it : But the more I told him I kriew nothing of a Defign, the more he put me in mind of what Reward I might have, in fuch words, that I ought to fwear to it, whether I knew any thing or nothing of the Bufinefs. Now I fully law the Defign > and tho I ftayed late, at my Return I began to confider who I fhould make this Bufinefs and Defign known to, being a Stranger in the Kings- Bench. I obferved one who appeared to me to be a fober and fenfible Perfon ; that Night I repaired to him, and (left I fhould be tempted with what Offers were made ) I told him that I had a defign to commit a Secret ( i39) Secret to him •, whereupon I told him, and defired him to put the fame in Writing ; and that if I ever declared more than what I did then to him, ( that was ) That I knew nothing of any Plot or Defign againft His Majefty, intended by my Lord Shafubury : I told him this, and declared in the Prefence of God, that if ever I fhould be tempted to fwear more than this at any time, it was for Reward; and that J defired him to witnefs the Truth of this againft me, and that I would daily give him an account of what palled for the future, which I defired him every day to put into Writing, which I believe he hath done •, as alfo the conftant Invitations abroad, and the Vifits they gave me here, which were fo frequent to me, as nothing could be more. Mr. Booth told me I muft appear at Court^ and I fhould have an aflurance of my Re- ward from fome Perfons of Honour : I told him I would not truft any Courtier 1 knew for a Groat •, I am fatisfied he was put up- on this, but by whom God knows, 1 am allured not by his Majefty. That on Wednefday OSober the i ith A 1681, I am invited by Mr. Booth to dine with him that day at Mr. Weavers Houfe, which I refufed, (altho hefenta Waiter, and promifed him Satisfaction for his At- tendance. ) After Dinner he fent again : I ( H° > I went, and found Mr. Baines with lum-i both riling from Dinner } I was molt kind-* fy received with Wine and good Words, working upon me to come in a Witnefsa- gainft my Lord Shaftsbury\ defigning to change the Government ; declaring I had an opportunity to make my Family and Friends, as they had expreft formerly : I told them as I had done before,*- until I was fatisfied for by-paft Services, I would not be con- cerned any way at Court. They to d me, I might be allured of what I would defire from my Lord HaUifax and my Lord Hide. Mr. Booth required what would fatisfy me ? I told him, if they would give me two thoufand Guinea's towards the Injury I had received, and my Friends upon my account, I would difcover what I knew. Mr. Booth told me a greater thing was intended me, for I was to have 500 /. pr Annum, or 1 0000 I in Money : But I ftill told them, I knew nothing of any Defign by my Lord Shaftsbury. The more I declared I knew no- thing, the more Mr.Bootb urged the Reward. I told him (when he was fo earned ) when lhad that Money and a general Pardon, I would then do any Service I could > but I would not truft the Promifes of Courtiers. Mr. Baines tpld me, as to a Pardon, I might have it in two or three days : He dclired to know'my Chriftian Name, which I con* ceived ('I 4 I ) ceived was an Intention to get a Pardon, a thing never in my Thoughts* but Mr. Baines formerly mentioned it co me \ and truly l did not know what I might (tand in need of, or what they would fix upon me in our Difcourfe. Mr. Bawet told me, he had the Night before been with my Lord Halifax and my Lord Hide i now they thought they had prevailed with me, and were mighty chear- ful : Before I parted from them, my Wife coming to me, told me, Mr. Booth had been mighty urgent with her to engage me to come in a Witnefs, and then told her, I fhould have 500/. fer Annum fettled upon me •, but what Grounds he had for this I know not \ for all Perfons that know her, knew her to be Ptrfon of unqueftionable Repute. Nor did I queftion the performance, for I thought what I could fay would noc deferve •, neither could I tell why they fhould think me fuch a Man as they would have me to be i for I ever hated to be a Witnefs or a Jury-man all my time : I conceive Mv.Booth thought I might be wrought upon, becaufe I had great Misfortunes, and that this was a ready way to repair me. 0#*£4?) ccive His Royal Word and Promife for • my Reward and Sufferings. After this Difcourfe Mr. Graham came in, who told me the fame things as above, and that I might be allured of thofe things from the King, alfo that he had an Order to carry me to His Majefty : I told him I could fay nothing, neither would I go to White- half, for I had taken a Refolution againft going to White-hall. It was hard prefled for my going thither : I defired to be excufed •, for if I could fay any thing, I muft be guilty my felf i but he told me, whether I was or not, I might be recompenfed for my Suffer- ings •, upon which I took my leave, and went away not well pleafed, that for my Requital I ftiould be thought an ill Man, or a Traitor. That on Ottober the 1 4* fc, 1 68 1. Mr. Booth came to me about Eleven a Clock to the Kings-Bench •, we walked in the Garden about an Hour. His Bufinefs was to know my Mind, whether I would go voluntarily to the King or not ? He alfo told me, That Mr. Wilfon, my Lord Shafubnry\ Secretary, that was in the Gatehonfe^ had fent to the Council to inform them, That if he might have his Pardon, he would come in, and de- clare his Knowledg •, and therefore he would have me to have the Honour to be the firft Difcoverer. I told him I had no Bufinefs ^t ( H4) at White-hall, Then he told me it was in- tended that Mr. Graham fliould be at his Lodging this Afternoon, to fee if I would go to the King, if not my Lord Chief Juftice's Warrant would be fent to compel me to appear at his Chamber, where there would be fome of the Council to examine me, and fwear me. He alfo told me, That the Duke of Torf^ had a great Eftate in Ireland, and that he would give me 500 /. per Annum there, befides all former Pro- mifes, to be fettled upon me and my Heirs, if I would come in a Witnefs againft my Lord Shaftsbury. I told him they might meet with many Perfons in this Age that would accept of fuch Offers. I told him, if I had any thing to fay it was the molt proper time in Court for me and Witnefie? to fpeak their Knowledg. I told him I did not know but the Prefence of a King and his Promifes, might make a Man fay more than what was true, or than he could fay fairly in a Court. Mr. Booth ask'd me, if I I hoped that if ever I had a Command of a Troop, it fhould be a better than that. Bat I defired to know who gave that Information : He told me, Mr. Booth* who was by, and was lifted under me. I defired Mr. Booth to tell me, if he had ^iven this Information, and made this Oath ? He told me, Yes, and it was true. I was un- concerned, and am, knowing my felf not guilty : For I proteft, in the prefence of Almighty God, by whom I expert to be judged, I never had a word with Mr. Booth, L 3 01 ( M° ) or any other Perfon in my whole Life, fending to any fuch thing. For at the fame time that he faid this was to be, which was when the Parliament was to be laft at Oxford, I had taken, on a Ship for Carolina^ where I was to go Governour, a Bufineis piore to my Content than any Military Employ, efpecially againft His Majefty and the Government. But I conceved this was in hopes of Reward, and to Ihew his Loy- alty; for which, Ibelieve, he will neither be regarded nor rewarded. I told the Council, if they had fuch another Witnefs they might dp my bufinefs. I thank God , I am not afraid of him, nor twenty more fuch Witnefles, if they come agaiaft me ; for 'tis well known, he hath been accufed and condemned for Clipping and Coining, befides Murder, for which he had His Ma- jefty's gracious Pardon, as I have been in* formed. I am glad I live in fuch Days, wherein Juries conceive rhey are Judges as to Matter of Fadt •, for if they were not, I am fatisfied in this Swearing Age, many an Honeft Man would be forced to march before they know either Rank qr File. At the fame time I told my Lord Chancellor, jf any honeft Man would come and witnefs againft me, I would never de- fire His Majefty's Pardon, or ever will. J-et 3II the World judg how unlikely it is, that ( MO that I Ihould be thus concerned, when I had about twenty eight Men-Servants, four or five Women-Servants, befides my Wife, three Sons (of which two had been in His Majefty's Service at Sea ) and one Daugh- ter, all the Children I have, prepared, and lay at my Charge, intending for Carolina^ and thought my felf happy •, and was re- folved to leave England, with a Refolution to fee if I could find a People that had left Wit, and more Honefty, than I have found in my own Country j where, I mult needs fay, I have found very unfaithful Dealings amongfl: fuch as account themfelves Perfons of Honour and Quality. But truly, when I thought I had made my felf almoft ready for my intended Voyage, I found my felf like a Man bewitched, that could neither badg nor ftir, until at laft fome Debts that I was bound for fell upon me, and others of my own increafed, being burdened with a great Charge, which unexpectedly put a flop at prefent to my intended Voyage. I did always intend to leave England ho- neftly and honourably : Thofe things fell fo unexpectedly, that my felf and Wife concluded there was a Divine Hand in it. L 4 The ( *5 S ) fk Inform At ion of Jar vis Jaflies,G*/tf. IJarvis James, Gent, do declare, That the above-named Captain Henry WiL hinfon came to me upon Tuefday the nth, pf October , i6$x. in the Evening-, and did then, and likewife every day, from time to time afterwards, make me acquain- ted with the feveral Treaties and Tranf- iftions between him the (aid Captain Hen- ry Wilklnfon^ and Mr, Brines, Mr. Booth, and Mr. Graham, and the feveral other Perfons in this his Information mentioned > and that they were the very fame in fub- flance with what he hath herein fet forth and declared : for at his Requeft, and for my own Satisfa&ion, I kept a daily Jour- nal during the time of their treating. AH which fhall be attefted upon Oath, whe$ required. / Tkc (M?) The Information of Mrs. Sufannah Wilkinfon, Wife of Captain Henry Wilkinfon. I The faid Sufannah Wilkinfon do declare, That on Wednefday the nth of Offo. her j 1 68 1, I went to the King*s-Bench Pri- fon, to fpeak with my Husband, (where I met with three Carpenters, which were entertained by him as Servants for Carolina, and who had waited a long time, and not finding him likely to proceed in his Voyage, they defired to be difcharged)* but not finding him in the Kings-Bench, I went with them to Mr. Weavers Houfe, where I found him in Company with Mr. Booth, and one Mr. Baines (who were very large- ly treating my Husband with Wine. ) My Husband went out to perfwade the Servants, and difcourfed them : Then Mr. Booth took an opportunity to fpeak to me, and told me, my Husband was a mod obftinate Man i and Mr. Booth defired me to perfwade my Husband to be guided and perfwaded by him the faid Mr. Booth. And he faid, the King would do more for my Husband than ever the Lord Shaftsbttry would ; and that the King was fenfible of piy Husband's Ser- vice ( i54) vice and Sufferings •, and if my Husband would be perfwaded by him, the faid Mr. Booth, to appear againfl; the Lord Shaftsbury, he was fure my Husband would be the moft happy Man in the World, and that he fhould hare 500 /. a Year fettled upon him and his Heirs for ever. That on Friday Ottober the 14^, i68r. I was with my Husband at the Kings- Bench Prifon, when Mr. Booth came into our Room. Mr. Booth took an opportunity to fpeak with me, and defired me for God's fake to perfwade my Husband to be ruled by him ; which if my Husband would, he might be an happy Man, and the Duke of Torl^ would fettle 500/. a Year in Ireland upon my Husband and his Heirs; and very much intreated me to perfwade my Huf- band to what he defired. All which fhall be attefted upon Oath, when required. Reflections ( i55 ) Reflexions upon the two Affidavits, and Captain Wilkinfon^ Narrative. IT appears by the Affidavit of Thoma* Sam- fon Gent, that John Mac-Namarra, and Dennti his Brother, (who promifed to fwear whatfoever his Brother would have him fwear ) Edward Ivy^ Bryan Haines, John Smith and Turberfield, &c. were all in a Con- federacy for the corrupt Service of the Court, to fwear Treafon right or wrong, againft all that were obnoxious to Whitehall, or fliould oppofe them in that Service ; and tho confefling to their Confidents they knew nothing of a Proteftant Plot, yet confulted Cellier the Romifh Midwife, and her Priefts in Newgate, how to Iham the Popifh Plot, and make one for the Proteftants •, and in purfuance hereof, they took away the inno- cent Lives of Stephen Colledge, and Mv.Konfe 7 of which they bpafted to fuch as they thought they might with fafety do it, that they knew nothing of Treafon againft ei- ther of them, magnifying from thence the Service done their Matters, as if Perjury was a Vertue. The Affidavit of William Shewen confirms what is before fuggefted \ for he being a pregnant young Man, thefe Varlets judging fcim ( M6 ) him for their purpofe, duckoycd him into their Company, hoping to make a Profelyte of him i by which means he came to the knowledg of all their Secrets and Defigns : but his Parents being of good Subftance, and fober Perfons, apprehending the dan- ger of their being raviflied of their Child, by great Induftry and fome Charge, they recovered him put of the hands of thefe profligate Fellows, after he had for fome time aflbciated with them } and then as a Teftimony of his Repentance, and Sorrow for his Mifcarriage, he voluntarily and of his own accord, out of hatred to their Pra&ices, made this Difcovery under his own Hand- writing, drawn up by himfelf without the leaft prompting thereunto - then prefented it to his Friends, and being called thereunto made Oath of the truth* thereof. How far the Court was concerned in this Contrivance, may be calculated by that part Secretary Jenkins appears to have born in it, in his generous gratifying thefe infamous WitnefTes, even to that degree, as enabled them to live at the rate of 10 s. ordinary ; all which is worthy Obfervation, as alfo the providential preferving Mr. Bethell (then Sheriff) from being murdered, of which they had fo pofitively determined, that they proffered to lay ten to one, they would hang him before Chrifimafs: for tho th?y con- feffed ( i57 ) felled they had nothing againft him, yet in that time they faid they fbould either get or make enough. And thefe and the like Wit- nefles were not only incouraged by the King's Bounty to them, but alfo by the aflurance they had of fuch Juries as would be- lieve any thing they lliould fay : for the King notobferving the Rule the Law directs, in electing Sheriffs for the Counties, out of the three prefented to him,and after prickM not changing of them* as by a judged Cafe he ought to do* but chufing them as he pleafed, the Witnefles had no reafon to doubt of Juries for their turn > and flnce the King's beft Subje&s were fo much concerned as to the fafety of their Lives in the Choice of Sheriffs, it belongs to their Reprefentatives in Parliament to prevent the like Practice in the future, by aflerting the Law in this cafe, no other way being effedtual : for it cannot be expe&ed, that private Perfons fhould make themfelves obnoxious to the King, by difputing his Irregularities •, when if our King /hall hereafter afTume the Power of chufing Sheriffs at large, he may have what Juries he pleafeth to revenge himfelf upon any that fhall oppofe his Arbitrary Proceedings. Captain Wilkin forts Merits from thofe then in the Government is as well known, as his Information doth abundantly fet forth their (MS) their monflrous Ingratitude towards himj and that for no other caufe, than refufing to depart from his Integrity, to be made in- ftrumental by Perjury, in murdering the Innocent, to which he was tempted to that degree, both by Rewards and Threats, as is to be feared few in this Depraved Age would have refitted : and for the Proof of this Obfervation, I recommend the Reader to the ferious perufal of the faid Narrative, and to take notice of the Aftors therein \ for I know no reafon why Greatnefs fhould pri- vilege Immorality, but rather make it the more criminal in fuch, when guilty thereof. And now with the following Additions to our Litany I conclude. From cheating and cozening, buying and felling Offices, Weaknefs and Wilfulnefs, Treachery and Perjury, Pride, Covetouf- nefs and Ambition, Jacobites and de fatto Men, ill Nature and Ingratitude, Drunkards, Swearers, Murderers, Perfecutors, and all their Adherents, Good Lord deliver us. FINIS. ERRATA ERRATA. PAge 19. line 1 1. read mine, f. ruined. Pag. 3 1. 1. 2. ti Naval S torts, f. Naval Forces. ^8* 35* !• 24. r. 800000, f. 80000. Pag. 37. L 3. r. tempting, for attempting. Pag. 58. 1. 10. r. an Irifh Gentleman, i. 4* Irijb Lard. Pag. 60. 1. 3. r. it ought net, f. ir C4tf*#. Pag. 62.I. 23. r. Hannaw, f. Hannover. Pag. 72. 1. 9. r. wftfrf, f. wherein. Pag. 7$. 1. 1. r. Subornation, f. Subordination. Pag. 86.1. 25. r. fte, £ *te». Pag. 88. 1 37. v. i or 8000, f. 4W $coo. Pag. 95. 1. 21. r. bar, f. i*r*. Pag. 1 1 3. 1. 8. r. fucb as Sweraigns are, f.fab a$ were*. All other literal Errors which may be found, the Rea- der is defired to amend them in his reading. 1 i