SInce Religion has not weight enough to counter­poise the Ballance, when the World is laid in the other Scale; nor so much Power over us to con­quer our Prejudices, or subdue our Passions and Resentments: Let us hearken a little, I pray, to the Impor­tunity of our Interest, and consider what State and Condi­tion we are in, (and are like to be in) as to those Two Dar­lings of all Mankind Liberty and Property; over which as Reasonable Creatures, and with some Special [...]ty, as English Men, we ought (and are supposed inclin'd, to keep a Watch.

Now if both these, besides our Religion, are almost at the Mercy, and in the Power of a Company of Men, who by many Demonstrations have shew'd their E [...]mity to our Nation, and their want of Common Justice and Humanity to temper their Insolencies; therefore that they may not become our Masters, it must be high time to look about us, and to do our selves Right before it be out of our Power, for as yet (God be thanked) I am satisfi [...]d it is not, and without our fault will not be.

In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth their Style was, The Poor Distressed STATES; but by the help of that Queen having set their own Sovereign at Bay, and made themselves a Free-State, they soon increased in Shipping (their Neighbours being otherwise employ'd) and by Consequence in Trade and Wealth to that degree, That in the Reign of King James the First, they began to incroach upon our Fishing, not only refusing to ask Leave; but by disturbing our Fishermen, even to the brea­king their Nets. In short, they would have taken away our Dominion of the Narrow Seas: So soon like the un­grateful Viper in the Fable, Did they hiss and offer to sting that Bosom which Cherished and Protected them.

During the Reign of King Charles the First, their Af­fronts and Insults were without Number; though that Un­happy Prince being imbroyl'd at Home, by Men of Dutch Principles, could never get Leisure to call 'em to Account for it. And to shew the World that Gain is their only God­liness, even our own Usurpers (Men of their own Stamp and Kidney) were necessitated to fight for them a Liberty of Trade.

In the Reign of King Charles the Second, their Old Reckoning for their Pranks at Amboyna, enflam'd by fresh and continual Encroachments upon our East-India Traffick, compell'd that Peaceful Prince to humble them by Two several Wars; and, yet the late and present Pro­ceedings with us on that side the World do sufficiently shew, That for their Injustice they may indeed be Puni­shed, but they can never find in their Hearts to Repent.

Now for us to put the Government into the Hands of these Men, who for several Ages have constantly made it their Business to Impoverish and Ruin our Nation; and to make them the Protectors of our Religion, who to promote their Trade, scruple not to renounce Christia­nity, is such an Instance of a deplorable Infatuation and Madness, that I stand astonished at the very Reflection, Quos perdere vule Jupiter dementat prius.

But it is said, and expected, That the Prince of Orange in the Post he is in, and the Relation he now pretends to have to these Kingdoms, will take Care to soften or correct the Malignity of the Dutch Humor, and reconcile them to an Amicable Correspondence. But alas I this thought is too easily overborn by Matter of Fact; for if the Common Principles of Gratitude, Hu­manity and Honor had any Force with them, the As­sistance Queen Elizabeth gave them, should have bound them to an Eternal Friendship with the English Nation: But we see the contrary; and since they have treated us thus, whilst we had the Sword in our Hands, What think you must we expect from them if we deliver it up? So [...], [...] reasonably conclude, that the Pr [...]ce of Orange has any Power with them, or In­ [...]ce over them any further than he can serve their [...], Wh [...] is their God, or which is worse, if he has, [...] [...]ave too much reason to question his good Nature, [...] [...]ood Will to employ it for Our Advantage; [...] first [...] [...]hich hath suffered him to drive an Ʋncle [...]d a [...] into Banishment, and then to take the Crown not from him only, but for ought appears yet to the contrary, from a Brother as well as from a Sister and a Wife, notwithstanding the Obligations of Nature, and his Publick Declarations into the Bargain; who, whilst he came to repair King James's bad Memory of his Pro­mise, had not been Two Months in England before he openly broke his Own; and whilst he pretended to leave all to the Decision of a Free and Legal Parliament, he drove the King away, to make it Impossible to have one. And if Ambition could break through all the Bonds of Blood and Honor to get a Crown, What can tye him up from doing all those Mischiefs we felt or feared from King James, and many more to keep it? He that could do all this, can have no Bowels; and he that has none, may be a King indeed, like the Stork in the Fable; and such a King as we deserve, and our frequent Rebellions loudly call for: One that will turn the gentle R [...]ds in the Two former Reigns, into Sc [...]rpions in his Own: One that will have the same Title to our Service, as the Devil has to the Indian's Devotion, or Dionysius to the Poor Wo­man's Prayers: And for his good will to our Nation and the Prosperity thereof, he has given us a very good Spe­cimen already, by sending to Holland even in specie all, or the greatest part of the Money borrowed of the City to support the present exigency of the Government. It is this eager desire of our Prosperity, that makes him dive under Water, out of the sight of the English No­bility, to a Dutch Cabal at Hampton-Court; and we ca [...] see his desirable Face no more, unless it be to pass Acts t [...] empty our Coffers, to Saint Rebels, or destroy our Churc [...]

How sweet soever he is upon us at present (and the is but awkwardly counterfeited) it is rank Folly to suppose (for William the Conqueror said, and did so Things at First) that he will trust us with any sort. Power whatsoever, who have abused what we had, [...] helping him to turn out our own Lawful and Right [...] King, to make room for Himself: And he begins the Game accordingly: For whilst he sends our Countrymen abroad into Danger, Slavery, or Hardships, he keeps a Dutch Army (and much the greater part of them Pa­pists) over us at Home, which may serve us for one good Instance of his Intentions to preserve our Laws. I was indeed one amongst a great many other easie and well meaning Men, who with a Fatal Credulity enter­tain'd a Belief, That his Design was Honorable; and one Reason of his Expedition had at lest a shew of Justice in the Quarrel; I mean the Business of the Prince of Wales, which I cannot but confess, some People managed as if they designed either that we should not believe at all, or if we did, our belief should be as Implicit as to Successions and Inheritances here, as that of the Romanist is in his expectation of Inheriting the King­dom of Heaven hereafter; but they have cured me of that Disease, and I do no longer Believe, That he ever intend­ed to perform what he promised in his Declaration, That he came to restore our Government to it self, and to support our Church, (which Popish Counsels had indeed put into some Disorder;) for now by a nearer Converse, and an impartial View of the present Measures, we see these things were farthest from his Thoughts. By all Observa­tions that can be made, the End of his coming was, To serve a Covetousness Natural to the Dutch, and an Am­bition and Revenge as Natural to Himself: For now, thank God, we know that the Preparations for this Ex­pedition were not only begun, but very far advanced, be­fore the Seven Bishops were sent to the Tower, before the Queen was Breeding, and before the starting the Mag­dalen Colledge Case; so that though the Discontents of the Nation upon those Accounts, serv'd both to pro­mote and disguise his Designs; they were no Occasi­on of his first taking them up. And now his Success has carried him to the Top of his Hopes, he is so far from redressing our Grievances, that he adds greater, and Himself continues the greatest of them all. Ad Culmina Rerum Injustos crevisse queror. He has a Popish Army commanded by Popish Officers, and Papists go in great Numbers to Mass, at several Chappels, as openly as when [Page] King James was here, and with a non Obstance to all our Laws, enjoy as great P [...]iviledges.

They that thought these to be G [...]ievances before, must allow them to be much more so now, if we take into our Consideration a Speech he made to the Convention (well said to be Transubstantiated into a Parliament) we may clearly see that neither his Desire nor Design is to preserve the Church of England, as is uncontroulably manifest by his Abol [...]shing Episcopacy in Scotland. But if we can be quiet still, and get over all these Considerations (and in good Truth a drowsy negligent Spirit seems to have lock'd up the Noble Genius of the Nation) I must lay before you ano­ther Consideration, that will be sure to touch to the Quick.

Peace and Plenty are the C [...]rdinal Blessings of a King­dom, and the latter of these has such an Absolute De­pendance upon the former, that Light and the Sun, Heat and Fire, are not more inseparable. When the Sword moves, Trade stands still, and the Plough is idle; for no Man will bestow his Pains, and venture his Money, when he knows not how soon, or who may be Masters of both; and if their be [...]o Trade, there can be no Diffiu­sive Plenty: For Trade is a kind of Circulation of Blood, it preserves Health and distributes Nourishment: What­soever therefore brings a War upon the Nation, brings the greatest Plague upon it that can be; a War abroad [...]ometimes may indeed be a kind of Physick to the Body [...]olitick, but a War at home is a Fever in the Bowels: The Ruins of Churches, Palaces and Publick Buildings; and the many indigent and begging Gentlemen still left amongst us, are sad and fresh Monuments of our Delive­rance [...]rom Popery and Slavery, betwixt the Years 40 and 60. In which time it Cost the N [...]tion above Twenty Mil­lions of Money, and a Hundred Thousand Lives; and if we do not before it be dark Night see the things that be­long to our Peaca, we must it possible fall into greater Confusion.

Do but prevail with your self so far as not to let a lit­tle consideration be either troublesom, or uneasy to you, and then you will find, that unless like Judah and Israel we [...]e [...]d to the King to return in Peace to his own Throne; we must have a Bloody War till he recovers his Righ [...], o [...] so long as he lives (for he has Money, and he can­not want Men, and will never give it over) nor indeed can the War dye with him, for so long as the Prince of Wales lives, and lives abroad, and whilst there is a King of France or a Faction in England the War can never dye; a Calami­tous and Bloody War must needs be intail'd upon the Na­tion, Trading is already sunk extreamly, and heavy Taxes are [...]oming on a pace, and the Wheels of the New Govern­ment are already so clogg'd, that Six Millions of Money will scarce grease them enough to make them glibly turn round; whilst England that Taxbearing Mule tamely wears one of Jacob's Sons Inglorious Coat of Arms, Issa­char is an Ass Couchant under a Burden of its own making. All our Comfort is, that in the judgment of the best learned in the Laws of this Kingdom, this As­sembly neither is, nor can be a Parliament; and indeed it can be no Parliament, but by virtue of a Power which God Almighty never claim'd, I mean Self-Creation, and Dr. Burnet himself is of the same Opinion, for in the 66 Pag. of his Collected Papers, speaking of the Con­vention that brought in King Charles the Second, and which also afterwards voted it self a Parliament, he has these very remarkable Words, It's being call'd without the King's Writ, was such an Essential Nullity that no subse­quent Ratification could take it away; and if so, the Sub­jects are not obliged to pay any Taxes, because no Mo­ney can be raised here but by a Parliament; nay, the Subject not only is not obliged to pay them, but it is also his Duty to refuse, and then all Assessors, Collectors, and Officers, that Aid or Assist in the Gathering or Con­straining the Payment of such Illegal Taxes, will stand li­able to the highest of Punishments, probably Death, where there is a violent taking, and also to an Action respective­ly for all Wrong done and Damages sustained; and al­though the King by a General Pardon may Forgive the Crime, yet that will not relieve them against the Per­sonal Action: Nay! we shall be as false to our selves as we have been to the King, if we suffer a Company of Men Assembled without Writs to take upon them such a boundless Authority; it is a very dangerous thing to de­part the least Tittle from any thing that is Fundamental in the Constitution, and we know not how soon they that do thus, may either make Parliaments without Elections as well as without W [...]its, or el [...]e wholly lay them aside, both which have been done within the M [...]mory of Man

Death and Desolation I leave to every Man's priva [...] Reflection, and new Oaths Impos'd upon us against our Consciences under heavy Penalties. The Fellows of Magdalen Colledge were Expell [...]d, b [...]cause th [...]y would not violate their Consciences nor the Oath they had ta­ken, and now Thousands of the Church of England must be deprived of their Freeholds, and rendred uncapable of maintaining themselves and their Families for the very same R [...]ason: And to add to the Comfort of our suff [...]ring, that was done by a Popish King, this by an Assembly of Protestants. This is the Prologue, and but the Prologue to the Tragedy that is like to ensue: And now we have a Fast Proclaim'd, to sanctify Rebellion, and that there may not be any Wickedness done but in the Name and in the fear of the Lord. We must shut our Eyes, and be wilfully blind, if we do not discern this Written, as with a Beam of the Sun, That this wretched Nation must have no Peace, nor exp [...]ct any good, without doing the King Justice, and restoring him to his Throne, which is his own undoubted and indefeisable Right; for if he comes by force and whether we will or no, without Abundance of Cle­mency, what may not an injur'd Monarch do? what must he not do, to secure himself from a persidious and Re­bellious People? And if we consider how King Charles the First (who did not begin till he had lost almost all the means of War, Ireland being embroyl'd, and Scotland against him too) reduced the Rump Parliament to Ex­tremity, we cannot doubt but that King James, who, besides the Blessing that attends a good Cause, has Ireland entire, and the principal Nobility, and Gentry, and the whole Clergy of Scotland on his side; and his good Sub­jects of Englands Eyes now opened, will do more than set our new Government hard, and at last overthrow it.

I cannot forbear inserting what I received in a Letter from an ingenious Hand, in these Words: It is an Old, but True Observation concerning the People of the Jews (to whom we of this Nation may in many re­spects be very fitly compared) that they never Abdi­cated their King, but they Abdicated their God, and their Religion at the same time; Moses, for Example, was their King, and by God's own Appointment, and the meekest Man upon the Earth; yet even he did but withdraw for Forty Days into the Mount, but his Rebellious Subjects began to Murmur and Complain, That he had DESERTED his Government, and left the Throne VACANT; and having call'd à great Convention of the Jews, they immediately made to themselves a GOLDEN CALF at HOREB.

Upon the whole, what in Justice we ought, in Prudence we must do, that is, call back the King, who to our com­fort offers his full Free and General Pardon, no Crime, no Person excepted, and to leave all our Grievances to be ac­commodated by a Free and Legal Parliament, freely chosen, and held without any manner of constraint, which as it will be a certain Expedient, so it is the only one, that can Establish the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation; and since the King has made us the Offer, in Policy as well as Honour, he must keep his Word, if we will be but so just and kind to our selves as to give him the meeting in another healing Parliament.

I assure the World I am no Papist, and by the Grace of God never will be; my expectations and my present Pos­sessions are equally small. I have no pretence to Greatness▪ except what arises from an unshaken stedfastness to the Principles of Religion, and Loyalty, which I shall ever think inseparable. Nothing could have drawn these Re­flections from me, but an invincible fidelity to Truth, Justice, and my Native Country, upon which I see Ruin and Desolation rowling like a mighty Wave. May these or some other from a more skilfull Hand, awake and rouse the Sence and Ancient Courage of the Nation, that we may not need to be beholden to the French whom we hate, for bringing in the King whom we love, and may we make hast to deliver our selves from the impend [...] Mischief of a Dutch Conquest, or from the greatest of [...] Mischiefs the Spirit of Slavery under a Commonwealth.