THe worthy Mr. Ferg—

The Reverend Sir Roger.

Oh Sir, this is a smile of Fortune indeed, when in this [...]lancholly Region of Abdication, I am permitted, thanks to a [...]d Goaler, the conversation of the celebrated Mr. Ferg—, [...]ose Person though I never had the Honour to be acquainted [...]th, yet his Name and Merits have been my particular Familia­ [...]y.

Yes Sir, I understand my Name and Merits have been [...]ur particular Intimacy; you have been both their Herauld and [...]storian, and have Blazon'd them in Capital BLACKS in many [...]ir Observator.

Really Sir, you do me a great deal of Right; I have [...]ver been sparing of Black and White: The flourishes of my [...]ill have been profusely generous. I never saw any shining [...]ature, or Mosaick face, from Great Nou's Nose, to Little Titus [...] Chin, but I have play'd the kind Lely. A beautiful Pen should [...]ver want Drapery, where my Pensil could furnish it.

'Tis worthily said of you. You speak like a plain [...]aler.

But, Mr. Ferguson, I have had a long desire of kissing your Hand by the way of Congratulation, and welcom [...] to our side. From a Saul to a Paul, a Persecutor to a Devote as there's joy even in Heaven at a sinners conversion, give m [...] leave to express no common Transport, in gaining so considerable a Patron to our glorious though at present, drooping Cause

Ay, Sir Roger, I am a sort of a Come-over, to that drooping Cause, as you call it, Ecce signum, these Bonds.

Ay, that's our common misfortune. But, Mr. Ferg— I hope the great Truths that I have so long Preacht, published and recorded, amongst the many Eyes they have opened, have ha [...] some illumination upon Mr. Ferg—; for I should be proud of being any ways instrumental to so eminent Conversion.

Nay, Sir Roger, not to boast any great operation upon me for I am a meer Volunteer, and my whole Illumination is purely my own, nevertheless I must give thee this immortal Applause That the Protestant Zealots that have had any hand in this Plo [...] or been well-wishers towards it, are most, if not all, thy Diciples; and all that die in it, are no better than thy Martyrs.

Good Heaven forbid! My Martyrs! What, draw innocent Blood upon my head: Lord have mercy on me. I hop [...] you are not in earnest.

Nay, 'Tis too true for a Jest. I say nothing but what can prove.

How prove Sir! I hope you do not set up for an Evidence.

No, Sir Roger, as I am a bonny Scot, I am more a Gentleman than to make a Peather; not but my natural, personal tenderness would go far, to tempt my mortal Frailty that way: How ever there's no danger of me in that case, for had I an inclination towards it, I am afraid the World wants faith, and a Ferg— Oracles would find but few Believers: And therefore pray Si [...] Roger, dispell that bodily fear: All I have to say is only Intenes.

Nay, then you have dispell'd my fear, and there [...]re pray go on with this bloody Charge against me, for I dare and any Arraignment, where there's neither the face of Judge or Jury, Mr. Ferg—.

Say you so? Then pray tell me what are all our Jacobite [...]ools, but Pupils and Proselites to those two Pillars of thy Church, [...]re Divino and Passive Obedience.

And what have you to object against those two [...]illars?

Nay, no great matter tbut only that a very weak Samp­ [...]n may totter them: For, in short, what is thy Divine Right [...]om above, and our Non-Resistances below, and all thy Long- [...]inded Arguments upon that Subject, any more that so many [...]gh flown Enthusiasms, to help up the Golden Image of an Arbi­ [...]ary Nebuchadnezar, whilst that Fidle of thine, thy Observa­ [...]rs have been the Psaltreys, and Sackbuts to tune us to fall down [...]d worship. A King, at this rate, by thy Assertion, provided his [...]rect Succession, be unquestionable, in nothing else, though [...]ver so indirect, can be questionable: For he may Be what he [...]se, and Do what he pleases Set up what he please, and pull [...]own what he please, swear what we and our Laws please, and [...]form what he and his no Law please; Run away from his Peo­ [...]e when he pleases, and Return when and how he please: In fine, [...]at a Right Line sanctifies all Wrong, That the True Blood in [...] Veins, Enlitles him to the whole Blood in our Veins: And [...]at if he please to take it, we must please to give it him, unless [...]r Tears or Prayers can shield off the Blow; for Sir Rodger is leas'd to allow no other Edge-Tool, or Armour, Offensive or [...]efensive; for our Protection.

Lord Sir, I am all amazement: Can you talk at this [...]ild rate, and be one of us?

One of You! Ay, never the worse for talking, old Boy. [...]is a Sign I am the more ingenious Freind to your Cause, when [...] list under your Banner, ex mero motu, frankly and generously: [Page 4] Not blindly drawn into a party by Cob-web Arugments, th [...] Gin to catch Wood-cocks; Men of Sense are above it.

But sure you don't think that the Right of our Grea [...] Master, his Divine Right of Royal Inheritance in his Claim to Crowns a Triffle to be thus jested with?

Jest Sir! All Jest. There neither is, nor ever was an [...] such Divine Right in the World.

How! No Divine Right.

Right is so far from any Claim Divine, that twas alway [...] the Creation of Power, and Sanction of the Community. If [...] Lineal Chain of Succession be all thy Foundation; Prithee, i [...] what part of the World wilt thou find i [...]? How many time [...] since the Conquest in 27 Reigns, has that Succession been broken, (and if once broken, 'tis never truly rejoined again:) Fo [...] instance, between the Houses of York and Lancashire, these quo [...] dam hot, and sometimes bloody Disputants of Soveraignity, how have Kings been deposed? What Changes made? and yet th [...] present Allegiance never question'd nor disputed. What Divine Right had Harry the 7th, when the World will tell you his bes [...] Title, lay in his Queen, and yet we never read that his People either murmured, or quarrell'd his Recognition to the Throne by Act of Parliament, out of any Grievance, that the Duke o [...] Richmond was their Crowned-head, and their Crown'd heire [...] but a Subject: Nor, as I ever heard, did his Son Harry the 8th, his Successor, upon the death of his Mother, claim possession before his Father's decease, by any Pretension of better Royal Blood in his own, than his Father had in his Veins.

But certainly the Divine Right of Monarchs —

Is a meer sophistry, The Juggle of Priest-craft, and pre [...] ­ension of Superstition. So far from any thing of Divine in the case, that God Almighty himself Abdicated (or very little bet­ter) the very first King even of his own making; laid Mis­government to his charge, and Anointed his Successor even be­fore his death, and that too in the person of his darling David, [Page 5] the Man after his own heart; so far from a Son, or Right Heir of [...] that he was no Kin to the family; so little was Royal Suc­ [...]sion the Care of Heaven, or ought to be the Quarrel of [...]n.

Truly, Mr. Ferg—, you talk strange bug words, [...] what ever your own private Opinion is, I hope you do not [...]ach those Tenents amongst your Jacobite freinds.

Quite contrary, Sir Roger, for where popelus vult ducipi [...]piatur. The Wise know better. Shal we be worse than the Race of [...], uncover our own nakedness? No, Sir Roger, not all Evan­ [...]a veritias, but some pia fraus. There's stratagem to be used in [...]hurch Militant, as well as a Camp Militant, not all downright [...]ngth of Reason in one, nor length of Sword in the other: [...] Example, pray who were greater Assertors of that jus Divi­ [...] Doctrine, than our two last dying Freinds, and as they had [...]d so strenuous in it, did not the wise managers of their death, [...]se sweetness of Mortality; the 3. Tyburn Absolvers, very prud­ [...]ly take care that they should dye in it strenuously too. Ay, Roger, we must now be those false Traitors to our Cause, as bew ray our own Nest.

Verily, Mr. Ferg —, you discourse the Politicks [...]ur Cause extreamly well. But to satisfie one Curiosity, pray [...]me quit this subject, and without offence be so bold as to ask [...] one single Question.

A double one, and welcome, Sir.

Considering then the Character the World gives of [...], your Fluctuating Principles, and uneasiness in all Govern­ [...]ts, how comes it that those worthy Gentlemen, concerned in [...] glorious, tho dangerous Enterprize, durst lodge so great & im­ [...]ant a Trust with such volatile Mercury, as Mr. Ferg — 's?

My Character, say you! Why? 'tis the only thing that [...]mmended me to their Confidence. For pray, to compare [...] between us; you are Zealots and Partisans in a Conspiracy [...]sooth) out of a principle of Right and Justice. But I am [Page 6] animated by a Sprightlier Fire; am for Mutiny and Mischi [...] right or wrong. You act by dictates of Conscience and Honou [...] but I have been slighted and disobliged by the present Gove [...] ment, and my Motives against it are Spight and Revenge: A Revenge never weighs nor disputes, when on the contrary, H [...] nour may be tender and scrupulous: Besides, yours is but t [...] Love, but mine the Lust of Rebellion: and Love may sometim [...] cool, when Lust always burns.

In troth, Mr. Ferg—, this Argument savours a lit [...] too much of the Libertine. But you are a glorious Don John a [...] I am satisfied the worthy Gentlemen could not have made a no [...] ler Choice, than such a Friend and Champion, as Mr. Ferg—.

Nay Sir, since you touch me in that sensible part, I m [...] tell you farther, That I am always the Almanzor of a Conspir [...] cy, Almanzor-like, I know neither one side nor to'ther, any lo [...] ger than I am pushing in it: But then like an Almanzor too, [...] Man pushes so heartily and so home as I do. And for distinct [...] ons of which King, or what King, in short, I run amuck at [...] Kings; and indeed at all Religions too: For, between Frien [...] my King, my Country, my Religion, my Heaven, are all c [...] tured in my self

Really Mr. Ferg—, you here give me so extrao [...] dinary, and withal so ingenious a Declaration, that I must a [...] knowledge you a person truly worthy Admiration, though not a [...] together Imitation. For though you are an absolute Original, a [...] that no mean one, Yet, I confess, 'tis such a one as I durst n [...] Copy. My tenderer Morals are a little more nice and sqweamis [...] howe'er to give you your due renown; I heartily wish that a [...] the Hands and Hearts, engaged in this Pious and honest Confed [...] racy, had been all of your Nerve and Mould. For then, we migh [...] have hoped to have had an answerable success to the greatness [...] the undertaking, and Resolution of the Undertakers, and not [...] have had it thus poorly miscarry, by so many Sieves and Spung [...] the Leaky false Brothers, whose Cowardly Revolts and Apost [...] cy [Page 7] [...]as so weakly and basely betrayed, it to our whole Causes ut­ [...] Confusion and Ruine. For truly, Sir, though I myself can­ [...] come up to your Heights, however I must do you this Right, [...]wn you one of the most qualified Instruments, to embark in [...] such Religious and Righteous bold Cause. For indeed, 'tis [...]y my Maxim, That provided the Dagger be but consecrated, no [...]r whether the hand be or no.

There you say Right, Sir Roger; For we have holy Writ [...]ur side in that point. For we do not read that Tyrus the Great, [...] Heathen and Infidel, is called the Servant of God. viz. [...] the great ends for which God had raised him. And with the [...] parity of Reason, our Grand Patron Lewis, is the most [...]tian Servant of Jesus, though the most Faithful Sworn Bro­ [...] of Mahomet.

Nay, Mr. Ferg—, now you talk of such Great [...] in their Age, as a Cyrus and a Lewis. From their great Ex­ [...]es, I think it but highly reasonable, and every ways honour­ [...] that every Man that has the least glowing spark of Ambiti­ [...] this [...]Veins, should, and ought to signalize himself, by doing [...]hing that may make him Great and Famous in his Genera­ [...]

Famous in his Generation! Is that all? Ay, Famous to [...]rity. That was always my Principle: To be a Constantine, [...] Erostratus, to Found Churches, or to Destroy Churches; [...] States, or subvert them; to do something Great either one [...] or t'other; (no matter which:) to attempt any thing, [...]rink at nothing, that may leave an Immortal Name behind [...]

Nay, Mr. Ferg—, there we differ. An Erostratus [...]tle too much. I declare I was never that hardy Boutefeu [...]er. 'Tis true, now you talk of that Famous Incendiary, I [...]ss, That fanning the Coals, or lighting the Train, to Fire [...]w up a Conventicle has been my particular Master-piece and [...]. I was ever a profest Nero at such a Conflagration, and [Page 8] Sung to my Fidle, as heartily, as that Illustrious Roman to [...] Harp, at such a Bonefire. But as to the Church of England, I [...] ever so wholly in her Interests (as our dear departed has it) [...] very tender there, till her protection and preservation was [...] so near and dear to me, that I avow my self her profest Kni [...] Errant, her Dimock, her Champion &c. And now to tell [...] the very top of my Ambition, and height of all my hopes, and [...] deed the only great thing that I designed should immortalize [...] Name, was one glorious Projection that I had formed for Church of England's service. Oh! 'twas the only grand E [...] my fifty years Bellows had been blowing for. My whole G [...] Birth, my Minerva, my—

And pray, What was this glorious Projection?

You may remember, how, at the first Protestant W [...] and Dawn of Popery, in my Observators, I projected an Acc [...] modation—

Between both Churches.

Right Sir, an amicable Reconciliation between [...] old Roman Mother, and the Young English Virgine Church: [...] mark you me Sir, to carry on this great work, having at [...] time a wonderful Influence over the Clergy.

Influence! Ay, Sir Roger, thou wert whole and sole [...] of their Ascendant: An Absolute Pontifex Maximus amongst [...] He the Servus Servorum, and thou the Guide of Guides. But go on.

Then, what with that Ascendance, and my own [...] of Eloquence, I had projected, as I told you, such an Accom [...] dation, such an Eternal Foundation of Peace, such Pillars [...] Irenicum, that had not the obstinacy of the Times obstruct [...] glorious a Pile, I had built a Tower that should have reacht [...] ven, without the danger of one Tongue of Confusion: Bro [...] the Lamb and Lion to couch together, so lovingly and har [...] ly, that instead of a Maudlin at one end of the Town, and a C [...] Church at another, we had saved all that trouble; so husht, so [...] [Page 9] [...] so composed all Jars, till even from a Pauls to a Pancrass, from [...]ighest to the lowest, one Roof should have hold Both, as [...]ftly reconciled, as a Dancing School and a Meeting-house: [...] with all that sisterly Love, even to the quietness and inno­ [...] of a Switzerland Congregation: not one Church amongst [...] should have had Mass in the Morning, and Common Pray­ [...] the Afternoon.

Nay, this Design was great indeed.

Great! Ay, What could be greater, especially on [...] Church of England's side? For what could have aggrandiz­ [...] Church of England more, than her generous Hospitality, [...]dopting, Naturalizing and Incorporating so considerable an [...]tion to her Strength, Wealth and Fortunes. Whilest like Empire, but two Czars, our Church by this Hand-in-hand [...], had arrived to the height even of an Absolute Muscovite [...]arochy.

Upon my Veracity, Sir Roger, I never heard of a De [...] more Heroick.

Ay, Mr. Ferg, had my Good Fortune been but answer­ [...] to my Good Parts, without Vanity let me tell you, I, and [...]oliticks, had set up my Royal Pupil James, (pardon my [...]ness) a second Great Alexander, and my self the Great A [...].

Ay, no doubt Sir Roger.

Nay, to credit my Good Parts, I always acted upon [...]od Principle, I was ever for steering by the Chart of a Good [...]cience, and though I have stood up so high for Royal Pre­ [...]ive, So I always abhorred Invasion of Rights and Property as [...]hole practice of my Life, even in my own most diminitive [...]erns and Converse with Mankind, sufficiently testifie.

So very tender Conscienced say you, in all your Concerns! [...] there you must pardon me. For I have heard a kind of an [...]ry amongst some Authors and Book-sellers.

That would pick a hole in my Scutchion. Alas! poor [Page 10] snarlers, I know their Malice. Look you, Mr. Fer—, in [...] Reign of Imprimatur, when I was Soveraign Comptroller of t [...] Press, I have made bold sometimes, with a little innocent Pyra [...] borrowed an Earing or two from the Egyptian Vermine. For wh [...] a good Copy came to my hands, I refused it a License, and writ [...] pon the subject my self: And all the Justice in the World. F [...] was not my Commission Absolute, I the Lord of the Glebe; a [...] consequently the first Fruits my own. If that be their feel [...] sting against me — Look you Sir, at this very time am I now tra [...] lating the Volume of the Famous Josephus. 'Tis true, the Orig [...] nal Proprietor of that Divine History has looked upon the Co [...] as an Estate and Inheritance. Much good may it do him, with [...] Right and Title. I'le find him a trickum in Lege, such a sly da [...] of the Pen, to do his Business for him, whilst by an old slur [...] a little new English put upon it, I'le trip up his heels for't as fa [...] and honestly, as the best fair Fall in a Lincolns-Inn Rounds.

[Here a Messenger to call Sir Rog. over to the Marshalsea, bro [...] off the Conference.