JOHN TRENCHARD AND
THOMAS GORDON,
A Collection of Tracts, vol. 2 (1751)

[II-3]

The Sense of the People concerning the present State of Affairs, with Remarks upon some Passages of our own and the Roman History. In a Letter to a Member of Parliament.↩

By John Trenchard and Tho. Gordon, Esquires.

Si esset in iis fides, in quibus summa esse debebat, non laboraremus. Cic. 3. Epist.

Cum Pecuniam Publicam averterit, num fraude poterit carere Peculatus? Id. in Ant.

Anno 1721.

[II-31]

A compleat History of the late Septennial Parliament; wherein all their Proceedings are particularly enquired into, and faithfully related; with proper Remarks, and many secret Memoirs interspersed, concerning the late Times. To which is prefixed, Honest Advice to the Freeholders of Great-Britain.↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1722.

[II-83]

An Essay on the Practice of Stock-jobbing, and some Remarks on the right Use, and regular Improvement of Money. In a Letter to a Gentleman, and a Proprietor of South-Sea Stock.↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1724.

[II-91]

An authentic Narrative of the late Proceedings and cruel Execution at Thorn; with two Letters written upon that Occasion by Britannicus, in the London Journal. To which is prefixed, An Account of the Rights and Privileges of the City of Thorn.↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1725.

[II-127]

A short View of the Conspiracy, with some Reflections on the Present State of Affairs. In a Letter to an Old Whig in the Country. By Cato. ↩

Anno 1723.

Id facinus ego in primis memorabile existimo, sceleris atque periculi Novitate. Igitur de Conjuratione, quam verissimè potero, paucis absolvam: eo magis quod mihi a spe, metu, partibus Reipublicæ Animus liber est.

Sallust.

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

SIR,

THE late execrable Design against the British Liberty does not employ the Thoughts of this Nation only, but affords Matter of Speculation for all Europe. The Danish Conspiracy is scarce thought to deserve that Name, when compared to what was carrying on in England; and Paul Juel’s Schemes are accounted trifling, to the far more black and hellish Designs of our Jacobites here.

In your last you desire my Sentiments on the present State of Affairs, which you say would be useful not onto yourself, but to many others in your Country. As I can refuse you nothing, I shall endeavour to give you a faithful Abstract of the most material Transactions; which that I may do with the greater Clearness, I shall look back on some past Occurrences, which the Hurry of your own Business may have hindered you from reflecting upon, or perhaps has since made you forget.

You may very well remember, Sir, how every Thing stood when you left the Town; the Distractions and general Uneasiness which attended the fatal Execution of the South Sea Scheme; the Apprehension of the Plague, and the Alarm given on the first Discovery of a Plot, which every one received just as they were disposed to [II-128] receive any Information from the Ministry: The Factious secretly rejoiced at the Opportunity which they thought was now given them of compassing their Ends; the Lovers of their Country trembled at the Thoughts of the dark Designs and artful Cabals of Rome at so dreadful a Juncture; whilst we, who fancied ourselves the only wise Men in the Nation, laughed at and ridiculed all that was advanced on this Head, thinking it only a politic Step, a new Subject invented to drown all Thoughts of the old One; and in short, a Plot to stifle our Resentments against the South Sea Transactions.

But we now see the Greatness of our Folly in the midst of our fancied Wisdom; we had then forgot the previous Steps always taken by the Jacobites when they had schemed out any important Design, and that they never attempted any thing of Consequence, but they first paved the Way for it, by poisoning the Minds of the People from the Press, which at such Times always groaned under the Weight of Scandal and seditious Libels.

Accordingly you cannot but remember the numerous Pamphlets published against the Administration, besides many of my Writings, which were all forced into their Service. In one Paper we had the Chief Minister exposed under the Character of Cataline; in another, the whole Iniquity of the South Sea Scheme was charged, as if contrived by the Men in Power; though at present we all know that it was only the casual Effect of the Madness and Avarice of the People, joined with the Villainy of some of the Directors. In a Third, a great Man who was contriving to save us from Ruin, was exposed to the Rage of the Populace, under the Character of a Screener of the Guilty. In a Fourth, the Sense of the People was assumed, and the general Voice was wrested to be turned against all in the Administration. Nor did they stop here: The King himself was in one of the Prints represented under the Image of the most odious Roman Tyrant; and in two other infamous Libels, his Person and Family were abused in the vilest manner, under the Title of The Benefits and Advantages of the Hanover Succession. So little indeed was their Design perceived by myself, that I own many Things dropped [II-129] from my Pen, which seemed calculated for the Service of the Faction; and so insensible was I of the projected Insurrection, that I inveighed against the Forces encamped on that Occasion, with the Zeal always shewn by us Old Whigs against standing Armies. The Fears of arbitrary Government were set in the worst Point of Light, and the very Means of preserving us were represented as the designed Means of enslaving us; for had these Fears and Clamours prevailed, and the King’s Forces been disbanded, their Success would have been unquestionable.

A Parliament being to be chosen about this Time, all Methods were taken to get one least averse to their grand Purpose; and the better to succeed, the Freeholder was brought upon the Stage; a Paper fraught with the utmost Malice against the present Government. They knew full well that their own Faction would take the Hint, and they were in Hopes of biassing the honest unthinking Men of the Nation; the Doctrine of Passive Obedience was forgot, and the Lawfulness of Resistance preached up in many Places. To destroy the King’s Title to the Crown, the Revolution was openly censured and condemned, particularly in A short Review of the English History; and another Work of the same Nature, by a very great Man, was prepared for the Press, and designed to be published about the same time.

It was not in the least surprizing indeed, that the South Sea Business should be the constant Topic of so many People: In a General Court of that Company it was their Business to talk of it, in the Senate their Duty, in order to redress the Grievances of the People, and to restore public Credit. The Merchant, scarce able to pursue his Trade, might be allowed to complain; and it was natural in the unhappy Sufferers to rail, and, as it is usual, though without any just Grounds, blindly to attribute every thing that miscarries in a State to the Persons then in Power. The Ministry were railed at, whilst they with Pity looked on the Misfortunes of their Fellow Subjects, and compassionating their Losses, were above resenting their opprobrious Language. In all this, I say, there was nothing surprizing: But to hear those who should be the Ministers of God’s Word, amusing [II-130] themselves with Mercantile Affairs, and a Scheme for paying National Debts, descanted on in a Place so sacred as the Pulpit, was something shocking indeed; and this not by a Sufferer, but by a Country Curate, or petty Town Lecturer, perhaps, who never had a Groat to lose in this or any other Company. What could be the Aim of their Reflections and Insinuations? Is it not natural to suppose, that it was to persuade the Vulgar, that Heaven was angry at what was done, and had marked out the first Contrivers of it for the Objects of its Wrath and Vengeance; and who at that time were supposed, or at least insinuated to be, the Contrivers of it, I need not inform you. Yet cannot the destructive Execution of a felonious Scheme be mentioned by a Preacher, without his having a Fling at the late Parliament: This, it seems, was a

‘National Judgment for the National Crimes of Avarice and Ambition, which spread themselves almost over every Order and Degree of Men amongst us; and in attempting to corrupt the Representatives of our Nation, would have made them, like the Jewish Sanhedrim and Consistory; which, by the Prophet’s Account, must have been a Body of as designedly wicked Men, as ever met together to betray a Constitution.’

Nor must, in such a Case as this, the Ministry be forgotten. As I would not be thought to advance what is not strictly Fact, I will not assert, that in any of the printed Sermons a Priest had the Impudence to charge them with Bribery and Corruption; but I’ll take notice of one Paragraph in a Sermon preached about the Time I have been talking of, and leave you to judge whether or no there be any such thing strongly insinuated.

‘We shall be less surprized at these Things, says the Preacher, when we pass into the Temple of the Lord, and see the wonderful and horrible Thing———The Priests teaching for Hire, and the Prophets divining for Money or Preferment:’ (By the by, I should be glad to know whether this very Sermon was preached gratis; but to my Purpose) ‘suting their Doctrines to the Times, and forbearing at least, if not allowing the Vices of the Great and Powerful. I do not remember to have read or heard of any modern Sermon at Court against [II-131] the Vices and Temptations most incident to high and exalted Stations; such as Bribery and Corruption, or Riot, or Luxury, or the probable Iniquities of a Masquerade. But Love, and Peace, and Charity, and Forbearance, and Toleration, the Duty of Ministers of the Gospel, and Cæsar’s undisputed Title, which are in themselves very good Topics, properly insisted on, are there excellently well displayed and inculcated into an Audience, whose Sphere of Action requires, for the most Part, monitory Discourses of another Nature. And would to God this were the worst; and that Fearfulness, or Flattery, or Omissions, were our greatest Faults. But when Doctrines are advanced in direct Contradiction to the plainest Words of Scripture———”

I will not trouble you with a longer Quotation, I dare say you are already beforehand with me, and imagine what Subject he is going upon; and indeed it would be surprizing to meet with such a Sermon, and not one Fling at the Bishop of Hereford; to whose eternal Praise be it recorded, that he has been reviled in almost every Writing, which since his Majesty’s happy Accession to the Throne has been published, reflecting on his sacred Person, the Protestant Succession, or his faithful Ministers. Mistake me not, Sir, I only observe this in passing, to the Praise of that great good Man, but do not pretend to say that there are any such Reflections in this Sermon, either on the King or his Ministry; but vile ones there are upon the Bishop, unbecoming the Stile of a Gentleman, and ill suiting with the Charity we might expect in a Priest; but take his own Words.

‘I cannot but affirm, that I look upon the modern Growth and Encouragement of Schism, the open Profession of Heresy, the numerous daily Attacks made upon our Church, to be justly chargeable upon the corrupt Explication of those Words of our Saviour— My Kingdom is not of this World; whereby a greater Latitude has been given to Men desirous of Change, than ever yet the CHURCH thought of or approved. Nay, Popery itself, to which it directly tends, [II-132] never at its worst allowed such unconditional Indulgences. I say it directly tends to Popery———

For my Part, I have Charity enough in me to believe this Preacher very ignorant; for upon entring on this Subject, he repeats what he before said, to wit, that he disclaimed all Hypocrisy and Dissimulation: And in a Place so sacred, sure no Man could condemn Prevarication, and at the same time prevaricate. It must therefore be the very Extreme of Ignorance to advance, that the Doctrines of this pious Man tend directly to Popery, when all his Aim, all his Labour has been only to root out the very Appearance of Popery from amongst us; which one while seemed like a Torrent rushing in upon us, when all Christian Charity was banished from amongst us, and Persecution shook her Iron Rod over this Nation.

You will be apt, I am afraid, to say, that I digress from my Purpose, and ask what these Doctrines have to do with the late Conspiracy, which was the Subject you desired me inform you of. Reflect a little, and the thing will answer itself: Dr. Hoadley owes his Preferment to his present Majesty, and that just and sagacious Prince not only raised him to the Episcopal Dignity, but has since translated him to a better See; he has taken him under his gracious Protection, and defended him from the ravenous Vultures that would have devoured him: The Reflections do not therefore fall upon him only, but on the best of Princes at the same time; and when the Bishop is railed at from so sacred a Place, the credulous deluded People are taught, that either the King knows not whom he prefers, or prefers impious Men, unfit for the Charge of Pastors, and who betray the Trust reposed in them.

Nor are these the only Insinuations that are to be met with in Sermons of that Time; you know what Noise the Bill for preserving us from the Plague, made in the World, and what handle the Building of Barracks was made both against the King and his Ministers. This indeed might be a proper Subject for the Politician to discuss, or a Senate to debate; but to hear a Pulpit-Orator cry, In vain shall we build Barracks for restoring the Sick, and preserving the Sound, is Impudence to the [II-133] highest Degree. In the same Author we find a much stronger Insinuation, for after mentioning the Blessings of Peace (meaning the glorious Utrecht Peace) he tells us, that God has preserved our Religion, and not yet deprived us of our Liberties. But I am really surprized at nothing that could come from a Man, who, in reckoning the Punishments we have suffered for our Sins, says, Hence we have seen Princes become Vagabonds, and beg their Bread, and Nobles seek it out of desolate Places.

I cannot drop this Subject without taking Notice of two other Sermons, though I shall not dwell upon them, the Preachers not having been imprudent enough to print their Discourses; the former in a Country Congregation, just at the Time that a Report was spread, that there was another Rising in Scotland: The Discourse was introduced as a moral one, and in the Proëmium nothing was touched upon but the Heinousness of Sin; but when he came to describe a Sinner, we had the Character of an Old Whig drawn in the Light he is usually set off by a Jacobite Pencil; nor was the 30th of January, and the Repeal of the Schism Bill, forgotten. In short, when we were all made sensible whom he meant, the Discourse was concluded with a Quotation of one of the Prophets (for you may observe, that at such times they are always fond of dealing in Prophecies) Let them remember that Destruction shall come upon them from the North. But the Preacher having since given an Account of his Stewardship, and received the Rewards or Punishments he deserved, according to the Works done in the Flesh, whether they were good, or whether they were bad; I shall leave him, and proceed to the other, whom I still believe living.

It was at about ten Miles Distance from Town, in a very large Village, and at a Season of the Year when all People of Quality and Fashion are retired to their Country Seats; and I know no Church that at such time has a more polite Audience. Here our brawny Pastor came as a Missionary, for he was a Stranger to the Place; and what is not usual for a Stranger, twice ascended that Pulpit in one Day. That his Audience might be the better prepared to receive what he had to say, the Morning was employed in insinuating the Dignity [II-134] of his Calling, and teaching his Hearers, that implicitly to believe what was taught by orthodox Priests, was the ready Way to Heaven. This was an excellent Foundation to build upon, and such a Position once laid down, what might not be advanced? His Afternoon’s Text was, If I say the Truth, why do ye not believe me? And in his Introduction he told the Audience, that his Words might much better be applied to Christians now-a-days, than to the Jews of old; and coming to shew the Cause of our Unfaithfulness, he attributed it to Ignorance and the Prejudice of Education, or to the Sanctity and Sublimity of the Gospel. That he might have the more Time to dwell upon his second Head, he soon went through the first, and in a Trice dispatched all Kinds of Dissenters promiscuously to Hell. In his second Part he introduced, I really cannot tell you how, but introduce he did, the then Bishop of Bangor; for, as I before observed, he never escaped the Censure of such Men as these, who always honour him with their Reproaches; for the Revilings and Scoffs of wicked Men are always an Encomium to the Just and Pious.

The Danger of the Church was a worn-out Cant, and therefore he determined to try what Effect the Danger of Religion in general could have on the Minds of sober and well-disposed People. To this End he took care to insinuate, and that grosly too, that every Man in Power was little better than an Atheist, when such heterodox Men were raised to the Prelature; but lest there should be some of the Bishop’s Friends present, who were not to be taken with such an Example, he went on to shew us how in the Days of old, when Piety flourished, Persecution was deemed a Christian Virtue, and that the Arians were openly branded and punished; but that there now was no pious Man in Authority, for there was no Inquisition established to punish Deists and Free-Thinkers, and to rack such heterodox Wretches as pretended to expose the Ministers of the Gospel in so scandalous a manner as the Independent Whig had done. But this is a Subject, which for some particular Reasons I shall chuse to drop.

I would not have you think that I strain or wrest the Meaning of this Preacher; I do not indeed tell [II-135] you that these were his very Words, but I can assur you they were the Sense of them, and not only under derstood so by myself, but by several Persons of Worth and Honour who were there present; nor can I have forgot what was then said, though now very near two Years ago; for there was something so remarkable in the Sermon, that I that very Evening took Notes of it, to which on this Occasion I have had Recourse.

As I do not in the least question but that this Letter will be communicated to some of your Tory Acquaintance, I would be beforehand with them, and answer an Objection which I am certain they will make, to wit, that in so large a Body of Men ’tis impossible they should all be good; but that we ought not to cast a Reflection upon the Clergy for three or four Sermons; for, say they, your Correspondent has quoted no more. True, I have not, though I can say I have heard a great many more of the same Nature, but durst not trust my Memory so far as to cite them, lest I should commit an Error, and wrong any Person; and indeed after having been scandalized with these and several other virulent Libels, I always took Care beforehand to enquire into the Character of the Preacher, and never expose myself to the Hearing of false Doctrines delivered from a Place so sacred. But notwithstanding this, I am afraid Jacobitism has been too often favoured by those who stile themselves Christ’s Ambassadors, nor have they yet done with the Topic, witness the late Presentation of the Grand Jury at Winchester.

Besides these, a vast Number of them came Volunteers into the Service, and very artfully spread the Poison amongst the honest well-meaning Part of the People; for such generally are the Frequenters of our Charity Sermons, whose Design in coming to Church at those Times is to bestow their Mite towards the Education of poor needy Children and forsaken Orphans; but lest some of them should resent whatever might be advanced reflecting on the Government, our common known Preachers would not venture at such a Thing, but some itinerant ones came and offered their Service; Country Curates, most of them, I suppose, who, safe in their own native Obscurity, came up to Town; conceited [II-136] and ambitious, thought Preferment their due, vented their Spleen against the Ministry, because they were not preferred, and did all that in them lay to stir up the People, then trembling at the Thoughts of what they had done, hurried down in the Country again, and were never heard of more. I need not dwell upon this Article, the Truth of it is sufficiently known, and such Men were too frequently made use of to raise the Seeds of Discontent in the Minds of their Hearers, and to pave the Way for an Invasion.

I would not by any thing I have here advanced, be thought to reflect on the whole Body of the Clergy; Heaven forbid! that for the Crimes of some, I should condemn all. I know there are a great Number of them, who tread as closely as they can in the Steps of the Primitive Christians, and not meddling with the Kingdom of this World, strive to inculcate Piety and Morality, and sound Doctrine in their Audience; whilst others, truly zealous for the Church and Protestant Religion, engage their Adversaries, and without much Difficulty convince the Impartial, that this Church and Religion is much more secure at present, than it would be under a Popish Prince.

Whilst the Reverend Zealots in this Cause were thus taken up, Means were thought of for seducing the very Vulgar and the Scum of Mankind, Fellows unfit for any thing but heading a Mob, or Heel-piecing a Shoe; and as Sermons were above their Sphere, they must be amused in their favourite Alehouses or respective Stalls; for this End, Numbers of seditious Ballads were printed, and sung about the Streets. How greedily did the deluded Mob suck in the Poison, when the Praises of pretty Jemmy were chaunted; and the listening Wretches were encouraged, they say, by the surrounding Wenches, who, as I have been informed, upon a solemn Promise that they would be true to the Cause, often granted them the Favour; for our Filles de Joye have ever been very zealous for the Chevalier, whom, with his Followers, they constantly remember in their Prayers, and whom they are fully determined to stand by to the last.

[II-137]

The mentioning of treasonable Ballads, publickly sung in the Streets, will perhaps surprize you; but I can assure you, that nothing was more frequent here one while, and which the Records of Bridewell and the Work-house will still justify; several of them having been committed there by some worthy Magistrates of the City, who were resolved to put a Stop to this growing Evil, but in vain; they were of the Hydra Nature, and one was no sooner taken off, but two started up in its room; and this Method was constantly practised whilst they had Hopes left, and there was any Spirit remaining in the Party; such doubtless was the Encouragement given to these petty Retailers of Treason.

I will not trouble you with any farther Retrospects, but proceed directly to the Time when the grand Business was to have been brought upon the Stage, and that was at the Election of a new Parliament. As to what foreign Correspondence was carrying on at that Time, what Application made to Potentates for a Supply, what Schemes projected among themselves, and things of this Nature, I must refer you to the Report and Appendix, which I now send you, and in which you will find all the dark Designs and hellish Contrivances of the blackest of Traitors, traced out and unravelled by a wise and sagacious Committee of the Honourable House of Commons; who have not more distinguished themselves by the prudent Choice of such a Committee, than the Committee distinguished themselves by their indefatigable Pains and deep Penetration. And indeed to this Report most of your Friends are indebted for the Share of Reason they at present enjoy; it thoroughly convinced them of their Errors, and they have not been ashamed to own it; even your old Crony Mr. ———, who was always the loudest in ridiculing the Plot, not only in Company, but in all Places, has very frankly recanted, and that in a public manner too, and ingenuously confessed, that no Man in his Senses could read the Report, and doubt the Truth of the Plot.

It was on all hands believed, and by the Jacobites entirely depended upon, that while the several Counties, Towns, and Boroughs of this Kingdom were proceeding [II-138] in the Choice of Representatives in a new Parliament, his Majesty would make a Tour to his German Dominions; and what time so proper for their Undertaking as when the King was absent, and we had no Parliament? and therefore now or never the grand Work was to be done.

The very Day the Parliament was dissolved, which, to the best of my Remembrance, was the 10th of March, the Heads of the Party got together, and, in order to amuse the People, and see what Numbers they could raise on Occasion, ventured to make some Bonefires, imitating the Rejoicings which were made at the Dissolution of Oliver’s Rump Parliament; and our Streets rung with the Cries of the Hawkers, who were dispersing the last Will and Testament of the old deceased Parliament, the Character of the Rump Parliament, &c. But on this Occasion none exerted themselves with such undaunted Impudence as the Freeholder; who, I think, had not made his Appearance in the World above six Weeks before, and therefore for what Purpose set up we may easily imagine. He had, from his first coming out, dealt in very bitter Invectives, but the Moment the Parliament was dissolved, he gave an unbounded Loose. I would not willingly repeat any - thing after him that should give Offence, but, as I suppose, this Paper was confined to the Town, and probably never reached you, I’ll give you a Paragraph, and that one of the modestest too, published in the first Paper, which came out after the Proclamation, and in which he gives, at least as he pretends, an Account of whatever was transacted by the late Parliament.

‘The second and third Sessions, says he, had nothing remarkable in them but the Act for a general Indemnity, and the Tryal of the Lord Oxford, which was the only Case but one wherein the two Houses differed during so long Continuance: and if they had differed in some more material Points, others, perhaps, might have escaped Misery as well as that noble Lord. They likewise passed a famous Act, to qualify his Majesty to be Governor of the South Sea Company, without taking the Oaths necessary for that Office; and another against wearing Cloth Buttons.’

[II-139]

I must take notice of one Thing more in the same Paper, and that is his Observation upon the repealing of the Schism Bill. This zealous Churchman, fond of Persecution, endeavours to represent one of the most glorious, most charitable, and most Christian-like Acts of that Parliament, as a Thing prejudicial to the Church, nay to the Protestant Religion: But take his own Words.

‘These Laws made by one Parliament for the Security of the Protestant Religion, were, by another Parliament repealed, for the Security of the Protestant Interest. ’

I have already told you, that I would not repeat any of those Passages which had given Offence; and if these are his modest Expressions, you may easily guess what the others must be: And yet, when the Printer was brought to his Tryal, it was insinuated by the Party to be a Breach of the Liberty of the Subject, who was no longer now allowed to complain of his Grievances; that it was for siding with the Church Party, with a great deal of Common-place Cant of the same Nature. And now I mention the Prosecution against him, I suppose you’ll be curious to know what Punishment he met with; he was tried and convicted, but not yet sentenced.

I would have Men, who have met with such Mildness and undeserved Mercy, seriously reflect on what they might have expected, had they been guilty of libelling a Government any where amongst our Neighbours; and that I may not be thought to quote the severest, I would only have them imagine, that they did the same thing at Paris: If they do not know what Fate they might have expected there, I can easily inform them; they would have gone, with all their Abettors, to the Bastile, and never have seen the Day-light more till they had been removed to Grave-Square, there on a Wheel or Gibbet to have ended their Days. But I am digressing from my Purpose.

The Conspirators here having, in vain, applied themselves to several foreign Potentates for Assistance to carry on their treasonable Designs, resolved now to venture upon their own Strength; and, as I before observed, thought no Time so favourable as that of the Elections, when Mobs and Riots are too frequent. How restless [II-140] their Endeavours were, we are all very sensible; the repeated Cries which were every where heard, of No Septennial Parliament (a Word that was made Use of as a Bugbear to frighten and biass the People) the repeated Huzzas of Down with the Rumps, often mixed with the Shouts of High Church and Ormond for ever! plainly demonstrate, that there were too many whose whole Time was employed in seducing and deluding the Vulgar: and I wish to God some of the Clergy had not a considerable Share in all these Disturbances, especially as you will find observed in the Report, that the two most riotous Elections of any throughout the Kingdom, were that of Westminster, a Place under the immediate Influence of the Bishop of Rochester, and that of Coventry, which appears to have been animated by Carte, a Nonjuring Clergyman, an Agent of the Bishop’s, and one employed by him in managing his treasonable Correspondence.

But as a Mob was not of itself sufficient to bring the mighty Work to bear, Money was raised here in England, partly, I suppose, given by those who most impatiently longed to see their Country involved in Blood and Ruin, the other Part lent upon the Chevalier’s Notes; and with these Sums, Ships were provided, such as the Revolution, and some others yet untaken, and some hired here in England; and the late Duke of Ormond, with a great Number of Officers, and large Quantities of Arms and Ammunition, was to have come over and headed the Enterprize.

But we now see that we had a wise and vigilant Ministry, who had nothing at heart but the Service of their King, and the Good of their Fellow-Subjects, who denied themselves Rest that they might give it to their Country, and were perpetually labouring to procure Ease to others. How indefatigably they countermined every Measure of the Conspirators, the Event sufficiently witnesses; and that with such Prudence, that the Conspirators never mistrusted that their Designs were betrayed. How were they surprized to see every Step they took prove a wrong Step, their Intentions abortive, and all their Projects miscarry! Little they thought that the Ministers, like so many Guardian Angels of the Land [II-141] were perpetually watching for its Welfare, turned the Edge of their Arrows, and diverted the threatening Fate. In short, they had the Mortification to see all the Elections of England over without having been able to strike a Stroke; and what was a double Mortification to them, began to be pretty well assured, that their restless Endeavours were all in vain, and that we had a Parliament returned to whom our Liberties and the Protestant Interest were equally dear.

If I may presume to dive into the Secrets of those who are at the Helm of Affairs, I am apt to imagine, that they did believe all these Disappointments, joined together, would intirely damp the Jacobite Party, and make them sit down contented with the Enjoyment of what they willingly would, but could not, deprive themselves of; but such was the Infatuation of these Wretches, they were not to be baulked. One would have thought them something of the Nature of the Tyrant Antæus, and if from every Fall they did not gather new Strength, at least they did new Rage; which grew to such a Height from their last Disappointment, that it was thought unsafe to conceal it any longer, and Preparations must be made to repel their desperate Rage by open Force. Accordingly on Monday the 7th of May 1722, a Camp was marked out in Hyde-Park, to which the Troops of his Majesty’s Houshold marched the next and following Days. All Officers were ordered to repair to their respective Commands; Lieutenant-General Macartney was dispatched to Ireland, to bring over some Troops from thence into the West of England, and Instructions were sent to Mr. Horace Walpole, who some few Days before went over to Holland, to desire the States to keep the Guaranty Troops in a Readiness to be transported to England; for his Majesty was very tender of putting his Subjects to any more Charges than what were absolutely necessary for their own Security; and therefore he would not bring over the Dutch Forces, till it should be unsafe to delay it any longer. And his Majesty was pleased to give Notice of the Conspiracy to the Lord Mayor, thereby to prevent any Tumult in the City.

[II-142]

The next Day his Majesty in Council was pleased to sign and order a Proclamation forthwith to be published, for putting the Laws in Execution against Papists and Nonjurors, and for commanding all Papists, and reputed [II-143] Papists, to depart from the Cities of London and Westminster, and from within ten Miles of the same; and for confining Papists, and reputed Papists, to their Habitations, and for putting in Execution the Laws against Riots and Rioters.

The Conspirators, who were always upon the Watch to gather some Advantage, if possible, even from every Disappointment, took this Opportunity to spread several Reports detrimental to public Credit, and those amongst them who had any Money in the Bank began a Run upon it; and South Sea Stock, which at that time was about 90, fell to about 77: And by these Means they hoped to spread new Discontents amongst the People, especially amongst the unhappy Sufferers in this Company; but this Design also miscarried, and in some Days Stock gradually rose till it reached its former Value.

But still the Party had some Hopes left, or rather were resolved to attempt something for their Cause; and in this they were the more encouraged by the Death of the Duke of Marlborough, who died at Windsor on the 16th of June, about four in the Morning; and as they were satisfied that he must have a magnificent Burial, at which there would be a vast Concourse of People, they thought it might be a very proper Time for putting their Design in Execution, and we are told that they had accordingly taken Measures for this Purpose; but the Burial was not on the appointed Day, and the deferring of it, once more disappointed their Projects.

The last time they fixed was at the breaking up of the Camp; to which End they had taken Care to corrupt some of the old Serjeants, and were endeavouring to corrupt as many more Veterans as they possibly could; but this Attempt you will find much more particularly related in Layer’s Tryal, which I have already sent you, and in the Report, which you will receive with this Letter.

That you may read the Appendix with much more Ease than I have done, I have herein inclosed you an Explanation of all the fictitious Names made use of by the Conspirators, that you may at once see who are the Persons meant, without being obliged to turn over to the Report, in which they are explained.

[II-144]

I am afraid that I have been something tedious in the narrative Part of my Epistle, and therefore, without detaining you any longer, I’ll just take Notice of the present State of our Affairs, and answer some of the Cries which are often heard amongst the disaffected and deluded Part of the Nation.

Although we may, from the Measures which have been taken to prevent the intended Stroke of the Conspirators, hope that we now are safe, yet ought we not to rest too secure, and thereby give our Enemies an Opportunity of compassing their Ends. Their Endeavours, we find, are restless: George Kelly had been taken up on Suspicion of treasonable Practices, he was bailed out; you see the first Use he makes of his Liberty is to settle a new Key of fictitious Names with his Correspondents abroad, and the very Moment that, by the Indulgence of our Constitution, he had got out of Custody, he employed the Liberty he had recovered to subvert that Constitution by which he had obtained it. Nor is he the only Example I can quote; after the imprisoning of the Chiefs of this Design, they could not give over, and [II-148] Mackintosh was seized at Gravesend, as he was coming here to form new Schemes, in Conjunction with the yet undiscovered Traitors.

But, say you, when the Chiefs are seized, and all their Projects countermined, what Need have we of an Addition of Forces? of what Service is an Army when our Enemies are defeated? New Taxes must surely be laid, in order to make a Provision for an additional four thousand Men, and this is what the generality of the People so loudly complain of; and I suppose you would go farther, and say, Are our Liberties and Properties intirely safe, whilst there are such Numbers of Forces on Foot?

Look a little backwards, and reflect on the loud Clamours which were lately made against a Standing Army, and to bear a Part in which we also were drawn. What was the Aim of the Jacobites in all this? To get the Army disbanded, which, if done, they had certainly compassed our Ruin, and subverted our Constitution, and we should not only have lost all that was dear and valuable, but should have been perpetually cursed with the tormenting Reflection, that we ourselves had contributed all that in us lay to our Ruin, and vigorously assisted the Conspirators in the Completion of it.

I allow you, indeed, that a great Number of their Chiefs are taken up, and thereby, one would think, incapacitated to do further Mischief; but are we therefore safe? I wish I could say we were; but you will find by the Report, that a great many were engaged in the criminal Correspondence, whose Names are not yet discovered, and who, perhaps, are capable of doing the greatest Mischief. The Example of those two I have just above quoted, sufficiently convinces us how restless the Faction is, and spite of all the Vigilance of their Guards, there are those of greater Distinction than Kelly or Mackintosh, who, even from their Prison, have sown the Seeds of Discord; who, under all Adversities, take Care to keep up the Spirit of their Party, and with their Blessings endeavour to curse the Nation. Nor ought we ever to rest secure, and without Apprehension, whilst there are such turbulent Spirits as an Alberoni or Francisco living. It is a Catholic Cause they are carrying on, and therefore [II-149] the Number of our General Officers ought to answer that of the Roman Conclave, and we should at least keep as many Soldiers on Foot as there are Jesuits abroad.

But if you seriously consider the Charges which must arise from the keeping up these additional Forces, you will find them to be much less than you perhaps at first imagined. Here are no Officers of any kind to be provided for, but such a Number of private Men who are incorporated into the old Regiments. And at the very first opening of the Parliament, when the carrying on of a Conspiracy was declared from the Throne, his Majesty did not from hence take Occasion to ask for large Supplies, as ancient Stories say has been often practised; far from it, he directed the Commons, who doubtless would raise Money sufficient for the Defence of the Nation, to order the Provisions they should make for defraying the Expences which the treasonable Practices of our Enemies had put us to, with such Frugality as very little to exceed the Supplies of the last Year. And indeed such Measures are now taking, that it is to be hoped our Catholics will be obliged to pay the Charges of their Catholic Plot.

But suppose the Expences had been much greater, suppose that they had all fallen upon us, are then our Liberties of so little Value that they are not worth our being at some Charges to preserve them? Have so much Blood, and so many Millions been spent, since the Revolution, in the Defence of our excellent Constitution, and shall we at once destroy the Work of thirty-five Years, rather than add a few thousands to the already disbursed Sums? Or shall we lose all that we have, rather than give an inconsiderable Part of it to secure the rest? For Shame, after having been so zealous in this Cause for so many Years, and engaged in so many prudent Undertakings, don’t let us slacken at once, and act like Madmen. If we must bow to the Yoke, we had much better have done it at once, and all our Resistance would serve only to sharpen the Resentment of Popish Zealots, and our former Endeavours after Happiness increase our Misery.

The other Objection, though not mentioned by you, I have often heard from several deluded People, and [II-150] very well know you mean it: I know it, because I have several times inconsiderably asked the Question myself, Whether we could depend upon our Liberties and Properties being entirely safe, whilst there are such Numbers of Forces on Foot¿

I have already answered the latter Part of this Question, to wit, that our Standing Army is not greater than what is absolutely necessary for our Defence; but suppose it considerable enough to inslave us, suppose (tho’ there be not the least Ground for such a Supposition) that we had Reason to apprehend his Majesty designed to make himself absolute, shall we therefore clamour for the disbanding of the Army, and make ourselves an easy Prey for the Pretender and his Faction? If we do, we are sure of having one bred up in the Notions of absolute Monarchy, Tyranny, and Persecution. We shall not be a Monarch’s Slaves, but a Slave’s Slaves, for such he is to Priests and Jesuits. A holy Office of Inquisition would soon be established, before whose dread Tribunal we must all appear; Church Lands must be restored to Popish Priests; we should see the Scum of Mankind wallowing in Riches, aud lording it over their Betters, with all the haughty Insolence of Churchmen, whilst we must crouch beneath their Feet, and never presume to contradict or question one Syllable of what they say; for certain as we do, we should be hurried to a Bishop’s Dungeon, or Inquisition Prison, there to pine on Bread and Water, and ever now and then to taste the Torments of a Rack, till, out of Compassion to our Sufferings, the merciful Priests should condescend to put an End to our Pains, by exposing us to the Crowd on a Wheel, or exalted Gibbet, as Traitors to God and his holy Ambassadors, and Blasphemers against his Word, thereby to deter the rest of Mankind from presuming to offend a Priest.

Were we, on the other hand, to be subdued by his present Majesty, were he to gain an absolute Power over us, we should still be governed by the Temporal Arm; which, compared to the Ecclesiastic, is Liberty indeed. We should have on the Throne a Prince, whose Laws would be absolute, but whose Will is mild; who, though truly pious, is not to be Priest-ridden, or swayed by [II-151] superstitious Fears: A Monarch whose Principles make him averse to Persecution, and whose Fault (if I may presume to charge him with any) is a Temper too much inclined to Mercy; of which we have had so many, and such conspicuous Examples, that ’twould be needless to quote any. Had he been less compassionate, this Conspiracy would not probably ever have been formed; doubtless several of the Chief would have been taken off at the Time of the Preston Rebellion, and the ungrateful Wretches would not have had it in their Power to have attempted against the Life of a Prince, to whose Mercy they owe their own.

But, thank Heaven, we have not the least Reason, the least Grounds to apprehend any such thing. What Attempts have been made towards it? Whose Properties has his Majesty seized upon? What Alteration has he made in our Religion? Whom has he persecuted? Whose Heritage has he plundered, and whom has he unjustly put to Death? Far from it, he has always been tender of the Liberty of the Subject, has always shunned the least Occasion of giving us any Umbrage. When the Bill for better preserving us from the Plague, and for building Barracks, was passed and signed, what Prince but himself would have parted with the extensive Power given him in it? and yet when his Majesty was informed that his Subjects were uneasy at it, when he had seriously considered and found that the Power given him there might touch their Liberties, if he pleased to make an ill Use of it, how readily did he give it up! the Parliament had another Sessions chiefly for the Repeal of that Bill, and it was at the Desire of his Majesty, and by the Interest of his Ministry, that it was repealed.

When a Man has ignorantly been led into wrong Measures, the best, the wisest, the most honourable thing he can do, as soon as he opens his Eyes, is to abandon his wicked Companions, and, as much as in him lies, to make Atonement for the Mischief he may have done. This at present is our Case; the Monkey has too long made use of the Cat’s Paw: By artfully spreading the Poison amongst us, they have made us the loudest in the Clamours raised against the best of [II-152] Kings, and the wisest of Ministers. But e’er yet it be too late, let us convince them, that we tread in their dangerous Footsteps only whilst we are hood-winked, and that having recovered the Light of Reason, we all unanimously join against the common Enemies of our Country, of our Religion, and of our Liberties; and that we will never bow down our Necks to a bigotted Fugitive, or court the Yoke of Superstition and Slavery. We were upon the Brink of Ruin, and just ready to throw ourselves down the Precipice; but let the Danger of the Fall, and the Horror which presents itself before our Eyes, warn us, whilst yet ’tis time, to fly the Destruction which would inevitably attend us.

As for those infatuated Wretches, with whom solid Argument has no Weight, who shut their Eyes lest they should see, or who are obstinately bent to pursue their destructive Purposes, let such, if they won’t give themselves Time to reflect on their own Ruin, but for a Moment consider what they entail upon their Posterity, and I dare say it will fright them into Reason, and shock them into Understanding: Beggary, Ignorance, and Slavery will be the undoubted Portion of their Children, and they may account themselves happy if they are allowed to enjoy these unmolested.

The Noble ought to consider that he will soon be upon a Level with the very Scum of the World; for besides protecting Cardinals, Confessors, and such like People, who often rise from the Dunghill, let him turn his Eyes upon the mock Monarch’s Court, and see Titles conferred upon base-born Beggars, Persons adorned with Robes and Garters, who were born to Liveries and Shoulder-knots, zealous Persecutors made Prime Ministers, and unskilled Attornies at once leaping into the Chancellor’s Seat. Let our Commoners remember, that they must never more expect to represent their Country; for what has an absolute Monarch to do with Parliaments? Their Estates will be taken from them to reward those who, in the worst of Times, as they call it, have been true to his Cause; or suppose they should not, all the Church Lands, which are half the Lands of the Kingdom, must be restored; and of what remains, twenty Shillings in the Pound would not suffice [II-153] to pay the Interest of the Chevalier’s Debts. The Merchant, who has ventured his Life, and all his Wealth upon the tempestuous Seas, returning home, must, after the Example of some of our Neighbours, unlade his Treasure in the Royal Storehouses, and be content with what Part of it his Monarch pleases to give him. The Soldier must rest at home in inglorious Ease, and if there be a War, must see fawning Cowards enjoy those Places of Honour which are due to his Valour, for such doubtless would be his Favourites. What else can be expected from one, who when he had an Army more numerous than that by which he was opposed, and had not a single Foot of Land to stake against three Kingdoms, yet would not draw a Sword, or venture one Combat, for the glorious Prize? And what Man of true Valour would fight for such a one?

Let a Man of Learning consider, that in such Days Learning would be a capital Crime, and that nothing less than Fire and Faggot would be the Reward of one who would pretend to understand the Scriptures, or to have them by him in his Mother-Tongue. Let the Oppressed, and those who would seek Protection under a Monarch’s Wing, reflect, what Compassion, what paternal Love he could have for his People, who has none for his Child; an Infant who never was capable of offending him, but whom he would have exposed [*] to the Rage of a Civil War, that he might have continued safe at home.

Is there a Man truly devout, or that has one Grain of Religion in him, that will stand up for one bred in Italian Superstition, or a true Englishman, who desires a King nursed up in French Politics? The Man who really loves his Country and Fellow-subjects, cannot want to see them governed by one, who has all his Life-time been taught to look upon them as Traitors.

But here is another Set of People, amongst whom I could heartily wish that there were none in this Interest, because their Influence over the Minds of the People is very great; I mean our Clergy. I will not pretend to point out any particular Persons amongst them, and if [II-154] I do suspect any, I heartily wish I may wrong them; but if there be any such, how great must their Infatuation be? Can they pretend to be Ministers of God’s Word, and want to see that Word abolished? for such in effect it would be, and its Place usurped by human Tradition. Can they stile themselves zealous Protestants, and want to put themselves under the Government of a Romish Bigot? Can they cry out, that the Church is in Danger, and yet endeavour to bring in a Papist to rescue and defend her; the very Fundamentals of whose Religion teach him, that ’tis his Duty to destroy it, and believes that neglecting an Opportunity of doing it would be Damnation eternal.

What End therefore can any mistaken Reverend Zealot propose to himself in an Attempt of this Nature? his Interest probably; for, say they, the Church Lands would then be restored to us. True, they would be restored, but not to them. The Chevalier would bring over Priests enough to take double Possession of all our Livings, were the Number of them double, and the abounding Convents would swarm with preaching Monks and Jesuits; but not a Member of the Church of England must expect any Preferment, not even if they should renounce their own Religion, and embrace the Catholic. Indeed, should there happen to be some petty Cure, unworthy the Acceptance of an old staunch Believer, the Proselyte might hope to come in for it; but that’s the highest he must ever aim at.

To convince them that this is not a new-started Notion, I will take the Liberty of quoting a Fact which happened in the Year 853, with the Opinion of the Ecclesiastics of those Days, relating to the Usage they must expect from a Prince of a different Persuasion, The Story is this,

‘ Amand, King of Sweden, having, by his tyrannical Government, justly enraged his Subjects against him, they rose and drove him out of the Kingdom, and called in Olaus, a pious Prince, to reign in his stead. This Olaus being converted to the Christian Faith by Ansgarius, afterwards Bishop of Bremen, took care that this Doctrine should be preached in his Dominions, and to that End called in some few Priests, whom he took under his Protection, and, who settling [II-155] at Upsal, formed a Convent, or kind of little University.

‘Mean while the Heathens of that City began loudly to inveigh against the Christians, as having interrupted their Sacrifices (for they had a miraculous Idol at Upsal, to which they were wont to sacrifice human Creatures) and the Minds of the Superstitious were poisoned with the Danger of their Religion, tho’ no Force had ever been used to make them embrace the Christian Faith. The Agents of Amand took Care to foment these Discontents, and managed their Affairs so very dextrously, that they at last won over even those infatuated Priests to their Party, who blindly embracing the Notion of Amand’s being their lawful Sovereign, preached up the Doctrine of Hereditary and Indefeasible Right. At length, but too late, they opened their Eyes, and saw their Folly; then it was they would willingly have atoned for past Crimes; and thoroughly convinced of their Error, they presented a Kind of Address to Olaus, to the Sense of which I have directly kept close, though I have somewhat altered the barbarous Phrase, and dressed it up in a modern Stile,’

[II-160]

Royal Gallantry: or, the Amours of a certain K--g of a certain Country, who kept his C--rt at a certain Place, much in the same Latitude with that of W-st-m-nst-r, related in the unhappy Adventures of Palmiris and Lindamira; in which the Characters of Tersander and Cæsarina are vindicated from the Aspersions that have been, or may be, cast upon them; and the unfortunate Death of the former set in a true Light. Done from the French, by Cato. ↩

Ego intus & in cute novi.

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1723.

IT is a standing Maxim with a great Number of People, that the evil Actions of K--gs ought never to be exposed; but the Justice of such a Notion I shall leave to the Determination of every impartial Reader: For once, however, I shall beg leave to transgress their Rule, that I may faithfully relate an Adventure, in which, should I offer to draw a Veil over the Actions of a certain M-n-rch, I must, in every Circumstance, depart from the Truth.

Palmiris, a Gentleman of an ancient English Family, losing his Father and Mother very young, found himself, when he came to Age, Master of an affluent Fortune. A Desire of travelling, natural to one of his Years, soon made him quit his native Shore, and the Kingdom of France was the first his Curiosity led him to, whose Scepter was then swayed by St. Louis. It was much [II-161] about the Time this pious Monarch was preparing for an Expedition to the Holy Land, with a Design to assist all the Eastern Christians, and Palmiris determined to accompany him thither, not so much out of Piety, for he was too young for any serious Thought of that Nature, but out of a Desire of signalizing himself by some glorious Action.

To this End he appeared at the Court of France with an Equipage becoming his Quality and Fortune, and was extremely well received by the King and both the Queens; nor was it long before he found himself in the good Graces of the Ladies, and indeed how could he miss of being a Favourite amongst them! He was complaisant, generous and gallant, and equally indebted to Nature for the Beauties of his Body and the Endowments of his Mind. Several of them formed Designs upon his Heart; and as he was far from being of a savage Temper, as many as would fall in with him his own Way, had no Reason to complain of him. But Death and Love are two fatal Deities, whose Power every one must sooner or later feel. Palmiris had not long enjoyed the Pleasure of intriguing with the French Ladies, before he saw the beauteous Lindamira; he saw and loved her, but loved her to Madness, even to Marriage-Madness. On the other hand, Lindamira looked upon him as an agreeable Lover, as well as a Man who was able to raise her to that Fortune she so justly deserved; for her Friends, though Persons of Quality, had lived in a very extravagant Manner, and found themselves utterly unable to give her a Fortune.

Often would she think of the Advances made her by Palmiris, and one while fancy they were only the Effect of an habitual Gallantry; and at another time, that his Designs perhaps were not honourable, Then would she consider, if she did marry him, she must resolve to abandon her native Country, but this she found would be no great Difficulty to her, and she wished that there was no other Obstacle to prevent it: On the other hand, Palmiris felt as many Disquiets; he feared that Lindamira would never love him well enough to forsake her Friends, her Country, and her Relations, to follow him; another time he dreaded, that if she should abandon all for him, not [II-162] Love, but Interest, might be the Motive of her doing it; and that it was not his Person but his Estate that she liked.

Our Lover resolved to come to an Eclaircissement with her, and frankly told her his Mind; she answered him in so very ingenuous a Manner, that he was both satisfied and inflamed, and he pressed her that Moment to compleat his Happiness, by letting the Priest join them: She consented, their Majesties approved the Match, the Nuptials were celebrated with a great deal of Pomp and Magnificence, and their Majesties honoured them with their Presence.

Our Lovers now thought themselves completely happy; but alas! how short is the Date of human Happiness? The King was not to embark for this Expedition of three Months, and in that Time Palmiris determined to return to Eng—d, and put his Lindamira in Possession of his Estate, that if any Accident should befal him in the Holy War, no body might dispute her Title to it. Full of this Resolution they took their Leaves of the King, Queens, and all their Friends; and leaving the Court of France they landed in Eng—nd, just that Day Month after the Consummation of their Marriage.

At his Arrival, Palmiris waited upon the K--g of Eng—d, and presented Lindamira to him. I shall slightly pass over this Source of their reciprocal Misfortunes, and barely say that the M-n--ch thought her too beautiful, for the first time he saw her he admired her, nor was he satisfied in doing it himself, but every body round him must admire her too; he was lavish in her Praise, and the Courtiers who knew his amorous Disposition, were soon convinced that Lindamira was far from being indifferent to him.

The next Morning he sent to know whether a Visit from him would not be troublesome: Lindamira little suspected the Motive of his acting thus, but thought that it was all Complaisance to the Wife of the noble Palmiris, and one who was a Stranger in that Kingdom, She therefore returned a very respectful Answer, and held herself in a Readiness to receive him, though she made no Preparations for his Reception; she did not [II-163] deck herself to look lovely in his Eye, her whole Aim and Ambition being only to please her dear Palmiris.

Satisfied with her Answer, the M-n--ch flew to her House with all the eager Haste of an impatient Lover (for such he was already and though naturally very bold, yet when he came in her Presence, her Beauty and his own Love intirely dashed him, and he was not able to utter one Word of what he had just before resolved to say; all he could do was to praise the Choice of Palmiris, and tell her that he himself would take such Care to make his Court and Country agreeable to her, that he hoped she would never entertain the least Thought of leaving them; and to all his Compliments and Promises, she answered with so much Wit and Modesty, that it still further inflamed the M-n--ch’s Heart.

The next Day he sent to invite her to a Ball, given by the Princess Cæsarina his Sister; and at the same time a very fine Set of Rubies and Diamonds in his Sister’s Name, who invited her, in the most obliging Manner she could, to come that Evening to the Ball she gave, and to come dressed in those Jewels she sent her. Lindamira was not accustomed to Adventures of this Kind, and was at a Loss how to behave herself; but at length reflecting that this might be wholly an Action of the Princess, she accepted the Present, and appeared in it that very Night.

It was no Wonder that a Person made as Lindamira was, should be adored by all that saw her. Her Face was truly oval; her Eyes were large, black, and sparkling, full of Life and Fire; her Hair too was black, and fell in large Ringlets on her snowy Neck; her Nose was beautifully turned; in her Cheeks were the Roses and Lillies blended; her Chest was full, and might for Colour vie with the driven Snow; her Shape was one of the finest and easiest that ever was seen, and her Gait at once majestic and genteel. Such was the beauteous Lindamira, and such she appeared at Court. Cæsarina perceived her Brother’s good Will towards her (for such only at that time she took it to be) and to make her Court, she scarce ever passed an Evening without sending for Lindamira: The K--g never failed being at his Sister’s Apartment, where he saw his fair Charmer, but he never [II-164] offered to talk to her of Love, and she alas! little mistrusted his Thoughts or Design.

Things were upon this Foot when Palmiris received an Express from the King of France, to acquaint him that he was just preparing to embark. This News extremely afflicted Lindamira, and grieved Palmiris too, who could not unconcerned behold the Sorrow of one who was so dear to him; one by whom he was so dearly loved; the Thoughts of parting with her was almost Death to him, and yet he was obliged to do it; his Honour was engaged to follow Louis to the Holy Land.

What passed between this loving Couple at their Parting, would be something foreign to my Purpose. Suffice it that nothing could comfort Lindamira for the Absence of her dear Palmiris. Cæsarina went to see her, but even Cæsarina’s coming did but increase her Sorrow. As for the K--g’s Part, nothing could exceed his Joy at the setting out of a Man whom he looked upon as his happy Rival; the oftener he reflected on his Merit, the more he hated him: However, to dissemble a little longer, he went to see Lindamira, and pretended that he was extremely grieved at the going of her Husband.

Lindamira was breeding when Palmira went, and even sicker than Women generally are at such a Time: This, joined to the Grief of parting with her Husband, threw her into a violent Fever; her Royal Lover sent all his Physicians to her, and was himself going every Hour of the Day to enquire how she did; in short, such Care was taken of her, that the K--g soon had the Satisfaction of hearing by the Physicians that she was intirely out of Danger; but though her Sickness wore off, yet did the Cause of it, her Grief, remain; every Method that could be thought of was used to divert her, but she refused being present at any of the prepared Diversions.

Things did not long continue in this State. The K--g’s Love daily increased, and he no longer was obliged to lay himself under any Constraint on account of Palmiris, who was already at a sufficient Distance. Upon this he resolved to make the Fair-one acquainted with his Sentiments, and thinking that Lindamira would be with Cæsarina, he went and found her there:

‘How [II-165] long, Madam, said he, shall we see that Melancholly in your Looks; and how little does he deserve it who is the Cause of it! Had I the Happiness of being thus loved, I should not have thought of quitting———.’

Hold, my Liege interrupted Lindamira, you injure Palmiris now; and could he break his Promise, and forfeit his Honour; a Promise given, an Honour engaged too before he was mine, I should think him unworthy of my Love.

‘Consider what you say, Madam, replied the K--g, Should you think that Man unworthy of your Love, who doated on you to such a Degree, that for your Company he could forget all Ties, all Obligations, and make it his whole Happiness to spend his Time at your Feet.’

I have already told you my Thoughts on this Matter, replied Lindamira, I am heartily grieved that Palmiris ever engaged himself to accompany King Louis in his Expedition; but after such an Engagement, I should have been more grieved had he staid with me. But let us drop a Discourse which can by no means be agreeable to me. As she said this she left him, and went close up to Cæsarina’s Bed, and notwithstanding that he followed her, yet could he not all that Evening, nor for several Days after, find an Opportunity of speaking to her in private, for Lindamira began to be too sensible of his Design, and her whole Study was how to avoid him.

This Method succeeded but a very little while, the M-n--ch, who was naturally very hasty, could not brook the frequent Disappointments he met with, and finding that Lindamira, whenever she saw him, mixed with Company, he came up to her, and made Signs for every body else to retire, and he soon convinced the Fair-one, that if good Words would not prevail, he would make use of violent Means. The two first Times, indeed, he spoke to her of Love, he pleaded his Cause like a Lover, but the third Time he put on the Master, and let her see he would be hearkened to. You would have me bestow my Heart upon you, said she one Day to him that he had been threatening, but it is not in my Power to give it you, I have already bestowed it on my Palmiris, and for him will I ever reserve it. As for my Life, it is in your Power, you may dispose of it just as you please, my Heart is my own; you see, Sir, I Speak my Mind boldly, nor need I fear violating [II-166] my Duty in so doing, I am not born your Subject.

‘But you are become my Subject, replied the King hastily, by marrying a Subject of mine, and one on whom I will revenge your Cruelty.’

He is at such a Distance, replied Lindamira, that I need not much fear your Threats; and, as for my Part, I believe I might spend my Time, during his Absence much more agreeably in France than I possibly can in Eng—d.

‘I am glad I know your Intent, replied the K--g, I shall find Means of disappointing it;’

and calling Tersander, one of the Captains of his Guards, he ordered him, on pain of his Life, strictly to watch Lindamira.

I am a Prisoner then, cried the Fair-one?

‘No, Madam, said the M-n--ch, you may go wherever you please about this Court or City, only Tersander shall always accompany you with twenty Guards, but at such a Distance, that they shall rather seem meant for Honour than Confinement.’

This Proceeding very much surprised and grieved Lindamira; and Tersander, whose Quality and Merits were very great, was really afflicted at being employed on so ungrateful a Task, nor could he forbear letting Lindamira know with how much Reluctancy he obliged the King his Master.

Cæsarina being informed of what her Brother had done, was very much surprised at it; she was not unacquainted with his hasty Temper, but did not think that his Passion could have hurried him on to so extravagant an Action. She went to see Lindamira, who complained to her of the Violence used towards her, and the Princess promised that she would use her utmost Instances to the King her Brother to have her set at Liberty again.

Mean while the fair Captive was very strictly guarded, but, however, with so much Respect, that had she been a Queen, Tersander could not possibly have shewn her more; at first Compassion and Civility were the Motives of his behaving himself thus towards her, but it was not long before he found himself more nearly concerned for her. Lindamira was young, was beautiful, was unfortunate, this was enough to touch the Heart of the generous Tersander: However, his Passion did not in the Beginning alarm him, he was really ignorant of it, and for a long time believed his Concern the Effect of [II-167] Pity; a Pity which Lindamira deserved, and which he therefore indulged, insomuch that he did not perceive his Love, till it was grown to such a Height, it was no longer in his Power to banish or suppress it. All that he could do was firmly to resolve to hide his Passion from the beauteous Lindamira for ever.

Whilst Tersander thus privately languished for the Fair-one, the King constantly visited her every Day, and sometimes made use of Intreaties, at other times of Threats; but they both produced the same Effect, and conspired to make him the more hated; and she had determined, in case any Violence should be offered her, to put an End to her miserable Life; nor did she scruple intrusting Tersander with her Design, whose Merit and Generosity she was not unacquainted with, and he, charmed with the Confidence she reposed in him, promised her that he would leave no Means untried to divert his Master from the Execution of his unjust Designs. Lindamira thanked him in so civil and so obliging a Manner, that it touched his Soul.

‘Fear nothing, Madam, said he, such Virtue will be the immediate Care of Heaven, who will never abandon you to the Fury of a—, and should your Life be in Danger, I shall know no Master.’

You are too generous, replied Lindamira, but it would be base in me to abuse so much good Nature, nor will I ever suffer you to expose your Life and Fortune for an unhappy Wretch; no, Tersander, you must live and be faithful to your Master, whilst I die innocent of the Ruin of so brave a Man.

‘I have already told you, Madam, replied Tersander, that I shall not think any Man my Master, who can be base enough to attempt any thing against the Life and Honour of so deserving a Lady, in whose Defence, had I a thousand Lives, I would sacrifice them all.’

He added several other Things to the same Purpose, and then informed her, That he was not born a Subject of the King of England’s, but was a Native of Scotland; he conjured her therefore not to disquiet herself with Fears of what might happen; for if there should be any Likelihood of the King’s using Violence, he would take care to favour her Escape, which he might easily do, since the Guards round her were all intirely [II-168] devoted to him. Mean while he would go and make sure of a Vessel on board which they might fly. Lindamira thanked him as he deserved, and having accepted his Offer, she desired it might not be delayed, and left him to go to prepare every thing for her Flight,

Pursuant to her Promise, Cæsarina spoke to her Brother, and urged every thing that she could think of to make him behave himself in another manner towards Lindamira. She represented the Noise his Treatment would make in all Foreign Courts, especially in that of France; that she had been brought up near the Queen Dowager Blanche, at present Regent of that Kingdom, who esteemed her in the highest Degree imaginable: But all that Cæsarina could urge was in vain, and she was forced to rest satisfied with having fulfilled her Promise, though she found she could do nothing for the Service of her Fair Friend.

The French Ambassador at the Eng—sh Court happened to be pretty nearly related to Lindamira; upon which he went to the K—g, and desired to know the Reasons why the Fair-one was confined, and in what she had offended. This Pr—ce answered, That he was accountable to no one for his Actions. The Ambassador replied, That she was a Native of France, and that consequently the King his Master must interest himself in her Cause: She has lost that Quality, answered the M—n—rch, in marrying a Subject of mine, she is herself become mine, and if she offends, ’tis in my Power to punish her as I please; as he said this, he turned his Back upon the Ambassador, and left him extremely grieved, that it was not in his Power to serve his Fair Kinswoman.

Before the K—g came to the last Extremity with Lindamira, he sent for an Aunt of her Husband’s, by Name Circe; well knowing, that to debauch a Woman there was nothing like another Woman, and she was one of those who think that every thing ought to be sacrificed to one’s Fortune, and that a Cr—ned Lover ought never to sigh in vain. This was the Tool this Pr—nce made use of, and having given her Instructions, she flew to her Niece’s: Never, said she, was I more surprized, than at the News of your Disgrace. Is there any thing [II-169] that I can do for your Service? I can assure you I shall think nothing a Trouble that will by any means conduce to your Quiet. I thank you, Madam, replied Lindamira; ’tis very good of you thus to visit the Distressed. I come not only to visit you, replied Circe, but to advise you too, your Misfortunes have troubled me; Heaven knows! I could not love you dearer were you my own Child.

Circe’s Protestations of Friendship drew the Tears into Lindamira’s Eyes, and the subtle Aunt seeing her moved; You are unhappy, Child, said she, but you yourself are the chief Cause of your Unhappiness; you have behaved yourself too haughtily towards the K—g, and in Prudence you ought to have kept upon better Terms with one who has an absolute Power in his Hands. The very Motive which induced you to it, ought to have made you behave yourself in a quite different Manner; ’twas because you love your Husband, and yet you ruin both his Fortune and your own. I know the Merits of being strictly faithful and virtuous; yet for the Sake of appearing so to the whole World, we ought not to ruin ourselves, we ought rather to behave ourselves with Prudence and Mildness; even Palmiris, your beloved Palmiris, for whose Sake you do all this, will not thank you for having made the King his Enemy; he has some private Reasons for desiring to keep a good Understanding with him, such as may not perhaps be fit to be told his Wife.

If they are not, replied Lindamira hastily, you would do better not to mention them at all; however, I must beg the Liberty, Madam, of saying, that you do not thoroughly know my Palmiris, he is a Man of Honour, he sincerely loves me; and therefore, I am sure he will be well satisfied with my Behaviour, and if not, I shall at least have Reason to be satisfied myself, in knowing that I have performed my Duty.

I see, replied Circe, that you are obstinately resolved to maintain the Justness of your Proceeding; but I have Charity enough at once to undeceive you, by letting you know, that when your Husband left Eng—nd, he was desperately in Love with the Princess Cæsarina, nor was his Love despised. No body, I am sure, can [II-170] better be acquainted with the Truth of this Amour than myself, since I carried all the Letters that passed between them. I hope, interrupted Lindamira, her Cheeks glowing, that for the future they will employ some body whom they can better trust, and who will not make it their Business to reveal Secrets which are not so much as enquired after. Your Reproach seems very just, replied Circe; but I can assure you, my Dear, I would not discover them to any one else, nor even to you, had it not moved my Compassion to see you ruin yourself for an ungrateful Wretch, who does not deserve your Love. You call that Compassion, replied Lindamira, which in effect is the greatest Cruelty: No, had you had any Pity, you would have concealed a Thing from me, which whilst I was ignorant of, could never injure me; but the Knowledge of which must certainly make me miserable.

As she spoke these last Words, one of Cæsarina’s Servants came to tell her, that his Mistress was just coming to see her. This Name caused some Emotion in Lindamira, and filled Circe with Fear, lest her Niece should mention their Conversation to the Princess; upon this she resolved to retire, and recommending Secrecy to Lindamira, she told her, that the next time she came to see her, she would bring with her some of the Letters which passed between them, and as she said this, she left the Fair-one, who returned her no Answer, but threw herself upon the Bed, and a Moment after Cæsarina came up, and having caressed her, gave her an Account of what she had urged to her Brother in her Favour; Lindamira thanked her, but so very faintly, that the Princess found she must be ill, and rising, she drew near the Bed, and went to feel her Pulse, she found her without any Sign of Life; for it so struck Lindamira to the Heart, to think she had been obliged to thank her Rival, that through Grief she swooned away; the Princess called for Help, and upon the Application of proper Remedies, she was brought to herself again.

Nothing could exceed Cæsarina’s Concern, to see her fair Friend thus afflicted, and she accused her Brother’s Severity for what had happened; but was far from suspecting the real Cause of this immoderate Grief; little did she think that Lindamira looked upon her as a happy [II-171] Rival, who had robbed her of a Heart, the Possession of which only could make her happy; the more the Princess endeavoured to serve and assist her, the greater was her Grief. Unhappy Effects of Jealousy, that the best and most friendly Actions should thus appear odious to the Eyes of the Jealous!

As Lindamira was very faint and weak, the Physicians who had been called in, acquainted the Princess, that a longer Visit would be of dangerous Consequence, and that if any thing, Repose must do her good. Upon this, she embraced the beauteous Distressed, conjuring her not to give such way to Grief, and assuring her, that she would leave no Means untried that might restore her Liberty; Lindamira, unable to answer, pressed her Hand, and the Princess left her. As soon as she was gone, she desired that every body else might leave her, which they did, no one staying with her but the faithful Belisinda, her Nurse’s Daughter, one whom from her Infancy she had retained in her Service, and who had always been the Confident of her most secret Affairs.

Lindamira now seeing herself at Liberty, began loudly to complain of her Misfortunes, which before scarce deserved that Name. Is it possible, Palmiris, said she, that thou should’st prove faithless to me? Could not all my Love preserve me your Heart? That Heart in which is centred all my Happiness! Is it no longer mine? No, ’tis another’s now. Heavens! Can I survive the Loss? What on Earth is now worthy staying for? Happy Cæsarina! Palmiris loves you. Her Words were accompanied with such Sighs and Tears, that had even Circe, the Contriver of all this Mischief, been there, she could not, unconcerned, have heard and seen them, but moved with Compassion, she must have confessed her Falshood, and set Lindamira’s Mind at ease.

Belisinda hearing the Complaints of her Mistress, and the fresh Cause of her Grief, drew nearer to the Bed: Have you seriously reflected on the Words you are now uttering, Madam, said she, and have you certain Proofs of your Husband’s Infidelity? Too certain, replied Lindamira, he loves the Princess, and is beloved again, and Circe has promised to shew me some of the Letters which [II-172] he sent by her to the Princess. You must excuse me, Madam, said Belisinda, if I cannot have an implicit Faith in all she says; nor do I see the least Probability of Truth in her Story; for had Palmiris given her Letters for the Princess, would she have dared to have kept them? Would a Lover, who has free Access to his Mistress, and who is beloved by her again, never have complained of Letters he had sent her, and to which he had received no Answer? There is certainly some Design in this Story, which, I must confess, I do not comprehend, but which Time will certainly discover. Besides, Madam, till this very Day, Circe never gave you such Assurances of her Friendship, as to persuade you that she would sacrifice the Princess to it; I very much suspect the Advice she has given you. Reflect seriously, Madam, on all she has said, and you will soon see that you have been too hasty in believing her, to the Disadvantage of your Husband. They tell you that he loves the Princess: Had he, Madam, it would have been impossible that their Amours should be a Secret. Those whom their Births and Fortunes have set up to view, in so elevated a Rank, cannot conceal their Actions from the busy prying World. Nor is this all that I can urge, Cæsarina has always behaved herself in a manner suitable to her high Station, and her Virtues have been admired by the whole Court. How many Princes and foreign Potentates have sought her Love, but sought in vain; and yet you’ll believe that she has settled her Affections upon one who never made it his Study to win her Favour; a married Man, one newly married too, and that to a beautiful young Lady who dotes on him. These Things, Madam, seem contrary to Sense and Reason.

What is contrary to Sense and Reason, replied Lindamira hastily! To love Palmiris! Yes, Madam, replied Belisinda, for the Princess to love him. If she should, I am sure I should think her destitute of Sense and Reason; and that she is not, we all know. Believe me, Madam, this must be the Effect of Circe’s Malice, for some particular View, which will one Day or other be discovered, and then, Madam, you will repent your having unjustly suspected a Husband who passionately [II-173] loves you, and a virtuous Princess who is so much your Friend.

Spite of her Jealousy Lindamira was satisfied that there was a great deal of Truth in what Belisinda urged; with Patience she listened to her whole Discourse, and hoped that it was true, so fond are we of believing every thing we wish: However, she persisted in her Resolution of seeing the Letters which Circe had promised to shew her. Belisinda well pleased with the Effect her Discourse had over the Mind of her Mistress, would not, by any Means, oppose her Desire of seeing those Letters, justly believing that Circe had none to produce; and this prudent Girl timed her Discourse with so much Discretion, that she took an Opportunity of speaking of Palmiris, and the Love he bore her: What extreme Sorrow there appeared in his Looks whenever he was out of her Sight after receiving the Express from France, though in her Presence he endeavoured to conceal his Grief, that she partly restored to her Mistress that Peace of Mind which Circe had robbed her of, and being very sensible that Repose was the Thing her Mistress wanted most, she conjured her to get herself to rest, urging, that if she had no Regard to her own Life, she ought to have some for the dear Babe she was now big with.

Lindamira would willingly have followed the Advice of this faithful Girl, but the present distracted State of her Mind would not let her enjoy the least Quiet, and she spent the greatest Part of the Night in reflecting on the Words of Circe. As soon as she saw Day-light she called for her Table-Book, that she might write to her, which she did in the following Manner:

Having sealed up this Letter, she sent for a Man in whom she could confide, one fit for her Purpose, and who was as wicked as herself; to him she delivered this Letter, ordering him to hasten with it to Palmiris, who was at that time with the King of France at the Siege of Damietta. She then gave him necessary Instructions how he should answer the several Questions which Palmiris might ask him concerning the Flight of Tersander and Lindamira, and what the World said of their Amours: This done he set out, and in a short time reached the Place he was sent to, and delivered his Letter.

I will not pretend to describe the Effect it produced on the Mind of Palmiris, and the various Tumults of his Soul whilst he read this; for he was a Man of strict Honour, and at the same time loved his Wife to Dotage. This may be sufficient to give the Reader an Idea of the Struggles he felt in his Breast whilst he was reading this fatal Letter, and having finished it, he very abruptly left the Messenger and went into his Chamber and pondered as well as he could upon it. At first he determined to engage in the thickest of the Battle, and to seek certain Death to ease his raging Pain; but his Despair soon gave way to Thoughts of Vengeance.

‘He shall die, cried Palmiris, this Spoiler of my Honour, this Tersander shall die; and can the ungrateful Lindamira, whom I have so dearly loved, and who has so basely deceived me, can she hope to escape my Vengeance? No, the false Woman too shall die, and bear her Minion Company to the infernal Shades. Alas! I rave, how is it she shall die? Can I imbrue my Hands in her Blood? Can I so much as resolve her Death? Base and ungrateful as she is, and the sole [II-189] Cause of all my Misfortunes, yet cannot I be so unnaturally cruel. Let her live then, and let her Life be her Punishment, for she shall live to mourn the Loss of her beloved Tersander, she shall live to see him expire; for even in her Presence will I pierce his Heart. Thus shall her Grief be far worse than Death itself. For the Love I once bore her I will not offer any kind of Violence to her Person, but in another’s she shall doubly suffer: Ungrateful Woman! could’st thou but see what Heart thou hast betrayed, what Husband thou hast lost, one, who, spite of the many Injuries thou hast done him, cannot resolve to hurt thee; sure thou would’st repent thy base Perfidiousness.

He said a thousand other Things much to the same Purpose, and at last determined that very Night to set out for France, in quest of Tersander and Lindamira, and to this End he called his Squire, and bid him immediately go and prepare every thing for his Departure, adding, that he would have no body but himself and a Valet de Chambre follow him; as for the rest of his Equipage, they should wait till farther Orders.

This done he waited upon the King of France, and shewed him the Letter he had just received, at the same time giving him an Account of his setting out that Night, and the Reasons that induced him so to do. The good Prince read it, and heard him with a great deal of Surprize, then turning towards Palmiris,

‘It is impossible, said he, to answer for the Actions of others, but yet can I not believe what is said here of your Wife; she was brought up with Blanche my Mother, than whom a more virtuous and deserving Woman does not breathe, and Lindamira was very high in her Esteem; beware, lest you commit some rash Action, which you may vainly repent for ever after. Even suppose that Lindamira be guilty, yet ought you not to seek the Blood of her Lover; leave Vengeance to Heaven, who surely will repay it, but do you learn to forgive as you hope for Forgiveness. I would not hinder you from applying proper Remedies to the Dishonour of your House, but I would have you be beforehand assured, that they are proper ones; Corrosives have often [II-190] been used without Success, where Lenitives would infallibly have done.’

These were the last Words which the good Monarch spoke to him, after which he ordered him the necessary Passes and Guards to the Port, where Palmiris embarked, and during his whole Journey and Voyage, not the least Accident happened to him. On another Occasion one might have said the Wind was favourable, but now it was far from being so, since it contributed towards, at least hastened, his Misfortunes.

But to return to Lindamira, whom we left at Boulogne, where she was delivered, and now impatiently expected the Return of Tersander with an Answer from the Queen-Mother. Scarce had she been brought to bed a Fortnight, before she fell into a violent Fever, in a Place where she knew no body, and had no one but Belisinda to assist and comfort her, who was now far from being capable of doing it, finding herself in the utmost Want of Comfort and Assistance. She saw a Mistress whom she dearly loved lying dangerously ill, and knew no body to apply to for Advice: Often would she bewail Tersander’s going, and think that he left Lindamira much sooner than he ought to have done; she wrote him a Letter, acquainting him with the present Condition of her Mistress, and how sensible they were of his Loss, conjuring him, by all that he held dear in the World, to return back to Boulogne.

We may easily suppose how afflicting this News was to Tersander, he recalled every Charm of Lindamira, all her Beauties and Virtues to mind, then reflected that these Charms, these Beauties, and these Virtues, would not, perhaps, much longer have a Being; and this Apprehension gave him all the Pain that a Love-sick Heart is capable of feeling at the Apprehensions of losing its adored Object; he then determined immediately to hasten to her, and therefore he went directly to wait upon the Queen, to whom he shewed Belisinda’s Letter, desiring, at the same time, leave to hasten back to Lindamira. The good Princess having perused the Letter, seemed extremely concerned at her Illness, and told Tersander, that far from delaying him, she conjured him to make all the Haste back he could, telling him, that whilst he [II-191] prepared himself to get on Horseback, she would write to the Governor of Boulogne, to order him to take particular Care of Lindamira during her Illness, and not to let her want any kind of thing whatsoever.

The Moment Tersander had received his Dispatches he got on Horseback, nor would he have been long in his Journey, had not he met with an unfortunate Accident. Passing through a Forest he was set upon by four Highwaymen, who bid him deliver, but he, not daunted at their Odds, drew his Sword, and behaved himself with so much Bravery that he laid two of them breathless on the Ground, and the other two, dreading the Fate of their Companions, fled with all possible Speed. In the Engagement Tersander had received no other Hurt but a slight Wound in his Arm, which having bound up with his Handkerchief, he was about to continue his Journey; but on a sudden he heard a rustling amongst the Trees behind him, and ere he could turn about, an Arrow pierced his Body, insomuch that he did not ride above an hundred Paces before he fell.

This Wound he received from one of the Rogues, who had just fled from him, who not daring to encounter him again, yet willing to revenge the Death of his Companions, and his own Disgrace, fetched a Compass round, and came behind him whilst he was binding up his Wound, and shot an Arrow at him; but not knowing what Execution it had done, and seeing Tersander ride off, durst not follow him, but alighting from his Horse, he drew his Companions out of the Road into the thickest Part of the Forest, and then left it himself.

Mean while the brave Man was perishing for want of timely Assistance; and so great a Quantity of Blood did he lose, that he remained without any visible Sign of Life; when, as Heaven would have it, two Friars accidentally passed that Way, who at first believed him dead; but laying their Hands upon his Heart, and finding still some little Warmth there, they resolved not to despair; but one of them running hastily to a neighbouring Fountain brought some Water, and with it washed the Wound, and threw some in his Face; the excessive Cold of this Water made Tersander shew some Signs of Life, and the [II-192] good Fathers thanked Heaven for sending them thus timely to his Assistance.

He who had run for Water to the Fountain had met a Shepherd there, whom he immediately dispatched to the next Hamlet for more Help; as these good Fathers were very much esteemed all over the Country, the Shepherds left their Flocks, and the Labourers their Cottages, to come to them, and they found the two good Men very busy about one, who by some short, but deep Sighs, shewed that he might still be reckoned in the Number of the Living. Upon this, some of them began to gather Herbs, whose Virtues were well known to them; and which, as soon as applied to the Wound stopped the Blood, whilst others cut down Boughs, and with them made a Hand-Litter to carry the Patient to the Convent, where, as soon as he was brought, his Wounds were regularly dressed; all the Fathers were very busy about him, but none more than those two who had found him, and who continued with him, not only the rest of that Day, but the whole Night too; during which time he never came to himself again, so as to have any Knowledge of Things, but was perpetually fainting away; so excessive a Quantity of Blood had he lost, and to so weak a Condition had that Loss reduced him.

Four and twenty Hours after the first Dressing of his Wound, his Apparel was taken off, at which time the Surgeon assured that the Wound, though large, was not mortal; and that if nothing extraordinary happened to him, he did not question but he would do well again. This News extremely rejoiced the Holy Fathers; but their Joy was short-liv’d, for the third Day he fell into a Fever, and was very light-headed, at which time he talked much of Lindamira; this first Fever continued thirty Hours upon him, at the End of which he recovered his Senses, and then it was that he first became sensible of his Condition, and thought on Lindamira’s; the Remembrance of her Danger drew Tears from his Eyes, and made him utter Complaints which would have touched the very hardest and most barbarous Hearts.

Would he cry, shall my Life, whose every Hour I devoted to the beauteous Lindamira, be of no Service to her then? Shall my cruel Fortune deprive me [II-193] of the Means of assisting her, and of doing her those good Offices which a Stranger, with the common Sentiments of Humanity, would joyfully have done? Perhaps, alas! this Moment is her last, and she is now closing those lovely Eyes, in whose Looks were centered all my Happiness: Even now, perhaps, with her dying Words she accuses me of Delay, and cries, Is this Neglect the Mark of that respectful Passion which was once your Boast? Instead of hastening to my Assistance, dost thou, for the Sake of a few Wounds indulge thyself, and by thy over Care endeavour to survive me? And yet you think you love me? No, ungrateful Man, you are as unworthy of the Name of Love as you are of my Esteem, with which I had hitherto all along honoured you.

Here he paused a little while, and then resuming his Discourse; And can I bear these Reproaches? No, let me rather die a thousand thousand Deaths than live to deserve them; especially seeing that my Life can be of no Service to Lindamira. As he said this, he began to tear off the Rollers, and other Things with which his Wounds were bound; but one of the Fathers being in the Room with him, and seeing to what Extravagance his Passion hurried him, ran and laid hold of him, nor was it a very difficult Matter to prevent his executing what he had threatened, for he was so very weak, one might easily master him. The great Difficulty was to calm his Thoughts and make him wholly alter his Resolution. To this End he represented to him the Heinousness of the Crime he was about to commit, and with Arguments and Instructions, both Divine and Moral, he convinced him of the Unreasonableness of his Action; but still his Passion was so great, that it prevailed over Reason; however, the Father inquiring further into as many Particulars of the Story, as Tersander thought fit to tell him, represented that the Lady he spoke of might still be alive, and want his Assistance, that if nothing else could weigh with him, at least, for her Sake, he ought to take Care of his Health; at the same time he delivered him a Packet which had been found in his Pocket, and in which were inclosed the Queen’s Letters, with some Jewels and Money he had [II-194] about him. Tersander then first began to think of his Business, and he conjured the Father to procure him some body to go with a Letter to Boulogne; the good Man told him he would, upon Condition that he should endeavour to compose himself to Rest: Tersander promised he would do any thing, and then dictating a Letter to Belisinda, the Father wrote it for him, and with this and the other he dispatched a Courier.

Mean while Lindamira continued very ill of a violent Fever, and Belisinda laboured under the greatest Afflictions imaginable, her Mistress was as bad, and much weaker than ever. Tersander might easily have returned by this time, but he not only was not come, but had not so much as writ to her. This very much surprized her, she knew not what to think of it, and Tersander had till now behaved himself in such a manner, as to make her believe him her Mistress’s sincere Friend.

Things were upon this Foot, when the Courier dispatched from the Monastery arrived, and delivered Tersander’s Letter to Belisinda. His Misfortune touched her to the Heart, and she related to Lindamira Part of what had happened; however, she concealed the Worst of the Story in not mentioning his Danger. She barely told her, that he had received a slight Wound, and that it was not safe for him to travel as yet. We may easily imagine how sensibly Lindamira was grieved, there being no Woman of a more grateful Temper, and Tersander having suffered this new Misfortune on her Account, and though it was dangerous for her to do it, yet could nothing dissuade her from returning an Answer to his Letter by the same Courier, and calling for a Table-book, she writ the following Words:

[II-195]

Whilst Lindamira was writing, the Courier hastened to the Castle, and delivered the Queen’s Packet to the Governor, who received it with all the Respect and Deference due from a Subject to his Sovereign; and having inquired, and been informed where the Lady lived, who was by her Majesty recommended to his Care, he got into his Chariot, and hastened away to Lindamira’s Lodgings, which he entered the Moment she had done writing to Tersander.

As much as her Sickness had altered her, yet was Lindamira still beauteous to a Miracle, nor could the Governor forbear admiring her, but, his first Surprize over, he saluted her with a great deal of Respect, and told her what Orders he had just received from the Queen; he therefore desired that she would suffer herself to be carried to the Castle, where she might be taken much better Care of than in her Lodging. Lindamira thanked him for his courteous Offer, but told him she was not in a Condition to be removed; but Altamont (for so was the Governor called) being a Man of Sense, and thinking that the Lady had some stronger Objection to the Castle, than her present Condition, smiled upon her. I am so very much accustomed, Madam, said he, to receive Denials from the Fair Sex, that I really now expected it; however, I’ll hasten home, and send some body to you, who, if I may be allowed to say it, will deserve to be kindly received, and to have their Prayers granted, and I dare say, you will not be so cruel to them as you are to me. As he said this he left the Room, and without giving Lindamira Time to answer, he hastened to the Castle, to desire his two Sisters to wait upon Lindamira, who really were Ladies of infinite Merit.

The Eldest of them, named Erminia, was a regular Beauty, and there was something in her Gait so majestic, and at the same time so sprightly in her Face, that one could not look upon her without Admiration. Harriot was fair, and one of the most agreeable Women in Nature; her Features, indeed, if you took them to pieces, were not so regular as her Sister’s; but if, without entring into such a Particular, you looked upon them both at once, ’twas impossible to know where to [II-196] give the Preference, nor did they rival one another less in Wit and good Sense than in Beauty.

As to oblige each other was the chief Study of the Brother and Sisters, they hastened to Lindamira, and kindly intreated her to accept of the Apartment which their Brother had offered. It was impossible to deny such fair Petitioners, Lindamira therefore consented, and they overjoyed at their Success, sent for their Chair, and had her carried to the Castle, where Altamont received her with all possible Deference and Respect. The two Sisters were perpetually with her, and unwilling to trust Servants, they themselves waited upon her, and gave her early Proofs of their growing Friendship. And, indeed, such was the Care they took of her, and such the Diligence and Skill of the Physicians, that within two or three Days after her being brought thither, her Fever was changed into an Intermitting one.

Altamont waited on Lindamira, as often as her Health and Decency would permit him, and he had the Satisfaction of seeing how careful his Sisters were of her. Harriot, who was naturally all Gaiety, endeavoured to chear Lindamira’s drooping Spirits; but, alas! she was a Stranger to Joy, every Day almost did she write to her dear Palmiris, but received no Answer from him.

Observing the Friendship and Tenderness with which the two Sisters received her, Lindamira out of Gratitude related her Adventures to them, and by that shewed them how great a Confidence she reposed in them. Her Story increased their Love and Admiration, and Erminia embracing her as soon as she had done, dear Lindamira, said she, your Misfortunes are drawing to an End, Heaven has made a Trial of your Virtue, and will now take it under its immediate Protection, and safely conduct home your illustrious Husband. I can assure you, continued Harriot, that his Presence would rejoice me almost as much as the beauteous Lindamira, and I am already promising myself, that at sight of him, that Melancholy will vanish, and Smiles adorn that lovely Face. I am much obliged to you, Ladies, replied Lindamira, and am sorry that I cannot wear that Chearfulness which I was once wont to do; but whether it proceeds from the Number of my past Miseries, or whether it be the [II-197] Foreboding of some new and dreadful one, I cannot tell; but my Heart has intirely given itself up a Prey to Grief.

Mean while Tersander dispatched a Courier every Week, to inquire how Lindamira did; Belisinda wrote to him as often as she could; and when any thing hindered her, the beauteous Harriot, who greatly esteemed him for what he had done, took the Task upon her, and in this manner they spent five Months; at the End of which Tersander found himself able to get on Horseback: He therefore took his Leave of the charitable Monks, and made them a considerable Present, particularly thanked those who had given him timely Assistance, who blessed him; and then taking one of the Couriers, whom he had often sent to Boulogne for his Guide, he hastened thither with all the little Speed his late Indisposition would allow of, and in a few Days reached the Place.

’Tis impossible to express his Joy at the Sight of one so dear to him as Lindamira was, and whose imaginary Death had made him attempt against his own Life. Erminia was present at their first Interview, yet did not entertain the least Suspicion of his loving her, such a perfect Master was Tersander of his Passion, that not one Look, or one Action, exceeded the Bounds of sincere disinterested Friendship.

On the other hand Lindamira’s Joy, at seeing him again was exceeding great, and presenting him to the beauteous Erminia, Sister, said she (for so they called one another) this is the generous Tersander, to whom I am so infinitely obliged. Erminia, without giving him Time to answer, approached him in the most obliging manner imaginable: As I have an infinite Value for that Lady, said she, and every thing that concerns her, I cannot without the greatest Pleasure, see a Gentleman, whose Friendship and Generosity has been so very serviceable to her. The beauteous Lindamira, interrupted Tersander, (whose Modesty would not suffer him to hear a Discourse of this Nature) is pleased to extol some trifling Services which I have done her, and which the Honour of serving her has sufficiently over-paid.

[II-198]

Here their Conversation was interrupted by the coming in of Harriot, whom Tersander saluted with a great deal of Respect, and thanked for the Trouble she had taken in writing to him, and the Comfort she had thereby administered him, during the Time that he lay ill of his Wounds; but he had not Time for saying all that Gratitude could inspire, for Altamont being by Belisinda acquainted with Tersander’s Arrival, hastened up to Lindamira’s Chamber, and entered it with that Air of Gallantry which accompanied every Action of his Life.

This Interview had something very extraordinary in it; for this heroic Couple, who had never seen one another before, conceived as much Esteem for each other, as Sympathy can inspire in two noble Souls. Their mutual Surprize made them both continue silent for some little Time; at length they broke it, to express their Wonder and Admiration, and they protested to each other an eternal Friendship, and to give the first Proofs of it, Altamont obliged the other to accept of an Apartment in the Castle.

We may easily imagine Tersander’s Joy, to see himself lodged beneath the same Roof with Lindamira, when every Pleasure of his Life, every Hope was centered in the Satisfaction of seeing and conversing with her, nor was there any thing which hindered him from being compleatly happy, but seeing her perpetually uneasy.Be never sought an Opportunity of speaking to her in private, far from it, he always shunned such a one, and so disinterested was his Love, he would willingly have ventured his Life to have restored her to her dear Palmiris .

But whilst he thus privately sighed for Lindamira, he undesignedly made a glorious Conquest; for the gay Harriot, who had often derided the Power of Love, and unmoved, had beheld half the Nobles of France sighing at her Feet, could not with the same Insensibility behold Tersander. As soon as she perceived her growing Passion, she struggled with it, and did all she could to banish it from her Heart, but in vain; Tersander’s superior Merit triumphed over all the weak Arguments of Female Pride: Nor did his Words and Actions, though unknowingly, contribute a little to the Feeding of this [II-199] Flame. Harriot’s Letters had often, during his Illness eased his Pain, Tersander was of a grateful Temper, and laid hold on all Occasions to express his Gratitude. Lovers are too apt to flatter themselves. She interpreted every thing he said or did to her Advantage, and by this Means she confirmed her Passion, yet so carefully concealed it, that had not cruel Fortune accidentally betrayed it, ’twould still have been a Secret to the World.

Lindamira finding herself a little better, Altamont did every thing he could to divert her, Feasts, Music, and all Kinds of sumptuous Entertainments were frequently prepared; but this was far from producing the desired Effect; Lindamira wanted Solitude, nor was she ever easy, but when she could freely indulge herself in thinking on her dear Palmiris; she therefore desired the Governor, that for change of Air she might retire to his Country Seat, which was five or six Miles out of the Town, and situated in the midst of a Forest; hither Erminia and her Sister, with Tersander, accompanied her, and Altamont visited them as often as his Business would permit him.

Such a rural Situation could not be more agreeable to Lindamira than it was to Harriot, there were very fine Walks in the Forest, and which she frequented more than any of the rest. Early as the Morning dawned, for her Eyes were become Strangers to Sleep, she rose, and followed by one Maid only, she would go and lose herself in the thickest of the Forest; one particular Place she most delighted in, which Nature had embellished more than Art could possibly have done; there the interwoven Branches of the tallest Trees almost denied a Passage to the Rays of the Sun; beneath a crystal Spring bubbled up, and rolled its Silver Waters through a natural Channel, on a fine yellow Sand: There the perpetual Working of the Water formed a Cavity, and shewed the wondering Eye a transparent Bason bordered with Moss. Here Harriot counterfeiting her Hand, lest it should be known, would wound the Bark to carve Tersander’s Name, and sometimes mingling her Cypher with his, would crown them with a Lover’s Knot.

[II-200]

One Morning having rose earlier than usual, she sought this Place, and amused herself in her wonted manner, sometimes reflecting on Tersander’s Merit, sometimes carving his Name on the Trees; when on a sudden she was interrupted by the Sound of Feet which moved that Way, and not questioning but that somebody was making up towards the Fountain, she with her Maid retired behind the Trees, but in her retiring opened such a Passage that she could easily see two Men coming thither. He who by his noble Mein, and the Deserence paid him appeared to be the Master, wore black Armour, and round the Extremity of it a little Ridge of Gold; on his Head-piece streamed a large Number of Feathers, partly Flame-coloured, partly black; on his Shield a Lioness was painted tearing a Heart to pieces, with this Motto:

How cruelly thou tearest the Heart I gave thee.

Laying himself down near the Fountain, the Stranger unlaced his Helmet, and Harriot was surprized at the Sight of so noble and so beautiful a Face; for tho’ it was pale, yet were the Features bold, just, and regular, and one might have sworn that the Paleness was occasioned by some corroding Grief. He did not long continue silent, but looking about him, then turning towards the other,

‘Are you very sure, said he, that you have described the Place in such a manner, that he may find it?’ You need not doubt it it, Sir, replied the other, he told me he knew it well, and received the Letter in such a manner, that I am too fully persuaded he will not foil the Appointment.

‘’Tis well, replied the former, I shall at least be revenged on him; but tell me sincerely what thou hast heard of my faithless Wretch. I am told, Sir, replied he, that she leads a very melancholy and solitary Life, and that she is seldom seen in public.’

Then her Conscience does upbraid her with her Crime, replied the Knight. Alas! if her Reason does but out-live her Passion, she will see the Heinousness of her Sin, and never forgive herself; and yet, to my Confusion be it spoken, I still love this wicked Woman. Here he stopped to wipe away [II-201] the Tears, which spite of what he could do, began to flow, and then resuming his Discourse, ‘Fool that I am, cried he, to love one who has thus basely dishonoured me.’

He could not proceed, being interrupted by the Arrival of two Men; at the Approach of whom he hastily put on his Head-piece. Harriot was surprized to see that the foremost of these Men was Tersander, and so great was her Confusion, that she had not the Power to speak or move, neither was there much Time for her to consider what she ought to do; for Tersander approaching the other,

‘Whoever you are, said he, who with so much Animosity pursue my Life, I come to convince you, that whenever I shall think fit to defend it, it shall be no such easy Matter to deprive me of it.’

At this the Stranger looking scornfully on him, It will not, Traytor, cried he, be in thy Power to defend it. Justice and Honour fight my Cause; if your Courage be equal to your Insolence, follow me, and you shall know who it is you have injured. He said, and hastening to the Place where his Horse was tied, he mounted, and gallopped into a neighbouring Vale, Tersander did the same, and without Loss of Time, each took a Lance from his Squire, and poising them well, they were in the very first Course shivered to pieces; upon which they drew their Swords, and a dreadful Combat soon ensued; for on the one hand, Honour and Jealousy excited Palmiris, the unhappy deceived Palmiris! whilst on the other, Tersander was enraged to see a Stranger, one whom he was assured he had never injured, pursue his Life so eagerly.

I here want Colours to paint Harriot during this fatal Combat, and the Struggles of Love and Honour within her; the latter bid her still conceal herself, for what besides Love could have brought her thus early to that solitary Place, and should she now endeavour to part them, in her Hurry and Distraction some Fondness might betray her Heart: However, Love soon prevailed, and all these Considerations were at once forgot. Swiftly she ran to the Place where our two Combatants with equal Strength and equal Courage were with redoubled Blows seeking each other’s Life; she was [II-202] resolved to fling herself betwixt them, and to share the Danger with her dear Tersander; but, alas! the Resolution was formed too late, and the very Moment she reached the Field of Battle, our two valiant Knights gave each other a mortal Wound, and both fell from their Horses.

Harriot immediately ran, and catching Tersander in her Arms, she pulled off his Head-piece; but, alas! she could find no Life in him, his Blood flowed swistly from his Wound, but his Eyes were closed. Unable to utter a Word, she washed his Wounds, and sprinkled his Face with her Tears, and this joined to the Freshness of the Air, made him come to himself again. The first Object he beheld, when he opened his Eyes, was the beauteous Harriot drowned in Tears, upon which, fixing his dying Looks upon her, he spoke to her, tho’ with a very faultring Voice,

‘I die, charming Harriot, but die transported at your Generosity. How glorious, how worthy of Envy is Death made by those precious Tears!’

Do not, Tersander, replied Harriot, attribute my Grief to my Generosity, whilst it proceeds from quite another Source: Alas! I rave, but you are dying, and must not die ignorant of my Passion.

She had not time to proceed, or Tersander to answer; for Palmiris’s Squire finding that his Master had some Life in him, and fearing that he might perish for want of timely Assistance, ran up and down the Forest calling for Help, when accidentally he met Altamont, followed by his Servants, who was coming to pay Lindamira and her Sisters a Visit; at sight of him, he threw himself at his Feet,

‘For Heaven’s Sake, Sir, said he, if generous Pity can move your Soul, shew it now, and haste to save the Life of the illustrious Palmiris. ’ The illustrious Palmiris, cried Altamont, surprized and shocked at the Name, What Palmiris is that, sure not the Husband of Lindamira! ‘’Tis the same, replied the Squire, and that unhappy Marriage is the Source of his present Misfortunes.’

Grieved at what he heard, Altamont immediately dispatched some Servants to the next Town for a Surgeon and Litter, that they might carry Palmiris to his House, and then ordered the Squire to conduct him to the Place [II-203] where Palmiris was; but Gods! who can describe his Grief and Surprize, when coming there, he saw his dear Brother, for so he called Tersander, dying in his Sister’s Arms. This Sight soon made him forget on what Occasion he came thither, and not once thinking on Palmiris, he ran and flung his Arms round his Brother’s Neck, but so lively was his Sorrow, that it choaked the Passage of his Words.

Tersander broke Silence first,

‘My dear Altamont, said he, Death is about to part us, that grim Tyrant of Nature will no longer let me enjoy your Company, but spight of his Efforts still let me live in my dear Brother’s Heart. Oh! Altamont, let the Remembrance of me be lasting as your Life.’ How dear, how precious, how painful will that Remembrance be, replied Altamont, and who could have thought that the long-wished-for Return of Palmiris would have proved so fatal to us, ‘Of Palmiris! cried Tersander. ’ Are you then ignorant, answered Altamont, that ’twas with Palmiris you fought. ‘Immortal Gods! cried Tersander, as loud as his present Condition would permit him, Are you Just, and could you suffer the unfortunate Tersander to draw his Sword against Lindamira’s Husband. Oh! wretched Tersander! you will die hated by Lindamira, and thy Memory will for ever be odious to her.’

Here his Weakness disordered his proceeding; but having recovered Strength enough to speak again,

‘My dear Brother, said he, taking Altamont by the Hand, by our past Friendship, I conjure you fly to the Assistance of Palmiris, unless you would see Tersander die in despair.’

Altamont, to please him, went towards Palmiris, having first given Tersander a Table book, which he asked for, and on which, with a great deal of Pain and Difficulty, he wrote the following Words:

As soon as he had done writing, he gave the Table-book to the afflicted Harriot, who, with her Maid, was endeavouring to stop the Blood which flowed very fast, and he desired her to deliver it to Lindamira. Scarce had he done speaking when the Surgeons arrived, and examining his Wounds, they told him that he had not an Hour to live, nor must they pretend to remove him from the Place where he lay, for if they did, he inevitably would die that very Moment. Tersander heard his Sentence with a great deal of Courage, and desired that a holy Father might be sent for, in whose Arms he shortly after breathed his last.

Mean while Altamont, who had drawn near Palmiris, found him in a Condition which very much surprized him; his half-opened Eyes were fixed upon no Object, but wandered up and down, as looking for something which was not before him. Disdain sat plainly confessed in his Face, but that Disdain did not seem directed to any one present, and it plainly appeared that his Imagination was hard at work. Altamont upon this took him by the Hand, and called him by his Name, but he returned no Answer, nor did he seem sensible of [II-205] any one’s being present before him. Altamont seeing this, would have left him, and returned to his dear Tersander, but that Satisfaction was denied him; he was told that his Brother had but a few Moments more to live, and those were justly due to Heaven.

I will not undertake to describe the Grief, either of the Governor, or of his beauteous Sister, when by their Retinue they were in a manner forced out of the Forest, and led towards their Seat. The Horror which plainly sat confessed in their Faces, alarmed the Servants, and some of them ran up to Erminia’s Chamber, where Lindamira also was, and told them they feared some dreadful Accident had happened; for Altamont and Harriot were like People in despair; frightened at this News, they both ran to her Chamber, and found her on her Bed and Altamont near her. Harriot had no sooner fixed his Eyes upon the virtuous Matron, but she cried out, Lindamira! unhappy Lindamira! what will become of you; as she said this, she gave her the Table-book, in which Tersander had writ his Letter.

Thunder-struck at these Words, Lindamira had scarce Power to reach out her Hand to take the Letter; at length she did, and with much ado opened and read it; but, Gods! who can describe her in the midst of her Sorrow, Confusion, and Despair? It was too strong for Nature to support, and she fell down on Harriot’s Bed, deprived of Sense and Knowledge. For full two Hours Space was every Art, every Remedy that could be thought of to bring her to herself employed in vain. Cruel Art! killing Remedies! for Death was now to be preferred far beyond Life, and to restore her to Life was only to prolong those Miseries which Death alone could cure.

Whilst she lay in this Condition, the Surgeons dressed Palmiris’s Wounds; but as they declared they knew not what to think of them till they took off the first Apparel, they ordered him to be brought to Altamont’s House, and Erminia (though beyond all Measure afflicted at the Death of the generous Tersander, and to see three Persons thus dear to her, overwhelmed with Sorrows) yet being informed that he was brought in, went immediately to see Lindamira’s Husband. Fixing her [II-206] Eyes upon him, she drew towards his Bed-side with that majestic Air, which at once commanded Love and Respect,

‘Alas, Sir, said she, on what slight Quarrel have you exposed a Life so dear, so precious to the beauteous Lindamira, for I cannot believe that your Encounter was premeditated, or that you knowingly attacked the brave, the generous Tersander, your Protector and Defender, ond one to whom you are so infinitely obliged.’

Sure you know me not, replied Palmiris, if you did you would not talk thus to me. Is my Life dear to one who has basely forsaken me? Or, am I obliged to the Man who has robbed me of my Honour? Believe me, Madam, I know my Misfortuues too well to be persuaded out of them.

‘You are mistaken, Palmiris, answered Erminia, costing an Eye of Pity on him, you do not know them yet, your Misfortunes are much greater than you imagine, look on yourself as unjust and ungrateful, reflect on every Crime those two Vices can have made you commit, and even then you will have but a faint Idea of them.’

Once more, Madam, replied Palmiris, I am but too sensible of my Miseries and Disgrace, and tho’ at such a Distance, I have had a faithful Account of all that passed; I know what Loose she gave to her blind foolish Passion, and her Amours and Flight with Tersander are become the Talk of a whole Kingdom.

‘Infatuated unhappy Man! cried Erminia, interrupting him, and have you then foully suspected the most generous of Men, and most virtuous of Women? I can no longer leave you in this Error, and though you are not in a Condition to hear a long Narration, yet is it of such Importance that you should be convinced of your Blindness, that I shall wave all other Considerations, and let you know what you are still ignorant of.’

She then related all that had happened to Lindamira since his leaving Eng———nd.

Whilst Erminia was speaking, Palmiris never interrupted her, but with deep-fetched Sighs, and as soon as she had finished,

‘Good Gods, cried he as loud as his little remaining Strength would permit him, what have I done to merit this dreadful Punishment! Alas, how justly did you say that I was still a Stranger to my [II-207] Misfortunes. I thought myself innocent and just, and I prove the most guilty of Mankind; I have suspected even Virtue itself, and destroyed a Life in the Defence of which had I had a Thousand, I ought to have sacrificed them all. Alas! Madam, how shall I see my Lindamira again! how will she bear the Sight of such an ungrateful Wretch! Oh Tersander! generous Tersander! how have you been rewarded for preserving the Honour of Palmiris! My Death, Madam, will soon make some little Atonement for my Crime; but ere I breathe my last, let me once more see Lindamira; do not deny me this Favour; though my Crimes are great, yet are they not wholly my own; too much Credulity has occasioned them all. Cursed Circe! thou Author of all this Mischief, thou Horror of thy Sex, how wilt thou ever again dare lift up thy Eyes toward Heaven.’

Here he was interrupted by the Arrival of Lindamira, who, as soon as she recovered out of the Swoon, had, by Belisinda, been informed that her Palmiris was not dead, nor his Life yet despaired of, but that being dressed by the Surgeons, he had been brought into the House, upon which she hastily flew to his Chamber. Never was there a more moving Scene than this Meeting; they threw their Arms about each other’s Necks, unable to utter any thing more than my Palmiris! and my Lindamira! in this manner they continued some considerable time, till at length Palmiris broke Silence:

‘ Lindamira, my dear Lindamira, said he, after my unjust Suspicions, and the fatal Effects of them, I must not think of Life. Your present Goodness does but make my Guilt the greater, and add to my Misfortunes; we must take from before your Eyes a Man who yet makes you prove ungrateful to the Memory of your brave Defender, to whom you are too much obliged to think of living with your Murderer; my Hands imbrued in his Blood, shall never be folded about your lovely Neck, and in me you would always behold the Object of your Love and Grief.’

Alas, my dear Husband, interrupted Lindamira, banish those cruel Thoughts, and live; I have already forgot your Crime, and my Love forgives all that you have thought [II-208] or done. Should you any longer persist in the Resolution of dying, I shall believe that your once boasted Passion is at an End, or that you are not cured of your unjust Suspicions; or if this will not weigh with you, remember that the Threads of our Life are so interwoven, that there is no cutting the one without the other, and that one Fate attends us both. Alas! what need I talk of Fate and Death; let us live, and live happily, even the Ghost of the generous Tersander, if he can behold our Actions, will be well pleased that we should live to retain a grateful Sense of all his Kindnesses, for I believe you just enough to desire that the Services of this brave Man should still be fresh in my Memory. If you yet doubt any thing of what has been said to you, see what with his dying Hand he has wrote. As she said, she gave him the Letter; which Palmiris could not read without shedding a Flood of Tears.

The Surgeons hearing that Lindamira was the Wife of Palmiris, that they had some time been absent from each other, and that she was now in the Room with him, hastened thither, and found his Mind in a strange Agitation; they told him, that if she had any Value for her Husband, she ought to hinder him from speaking as much as possibly she could, for long Conversations were certain Death to him. Upon this Erminia thought fit to leave them, and hastening to her Sister’s Apartment, where she had left her Brother too, she told them all that had passed between Palmiris and Lindamira.

Altamont unmoved, heard her Tale, or rather did not hear it at all; he was wholly taken up with Reflections on his dear Brother’s Death. Not so with the beauteous Harriot, who starting from her Bed in the most violent Passion; Lindamira, ungrateful Lindamira, cried she, and canst thou caress the Murderer of that brave Man who sacrificed his Life and Fortune to thee? one who so tenderly, so sincerely loved thee? Oh Tersander! unhappy Tersander! on whom hadst thou bestowed thy Heart? on one who asks Leave of thy mortal Foe to remember thee. No, forget him in complaisance to thy Husband; unjust Lindamira, forget him, still shall he live, still shall his Memory flourish in my Heart, then shall he be disturbed by no Idea of his base Murderer whom I abbor and detest.

[II-209]

She said several other Things to the same Purpose, and having vented her Passion, and growing a little more cool, she desired that her Brother would give her Leave for a little while to retire into a Convent amongst some pious Maids, who devote their whole Time to the Service of Heaven. Altamont and Erminia did all they possibly could to divert her from this Resolution, but in vain; and she was fully determined not to sleep beneath the same Roof with the Murderer of Tersander. When they found all their Arguments and Persuasions fruitless, Erminia would have accompanied her thither, but Harriot refused the Offer, and conjured her to stay with their dear Brother. Followed therefore by the faithful Tarquinia only, she hastened to the Convent, there her first Care was to raise a Monument to the Memory of the brave Tersander, for which she composed an Epitaph herself; and every Morning, for there she spent the Remainder of her Days, her first Task was to go and wash this Monument with her Tears.

But to return to Lindamira, whom we left betwixt Hope and Fear, and who impatiently waited for the Time when the Surgeons would take off the Apparel, that she might know something more certain of her Fate; for still her Hopes prevailed. Alas! how vainly do we believe what we ardently wish? At length, the Time came, and upon searching his Wounds, the Surgeons pronounced them mortal; adding, that they did not believe he had three Hours more to live. Palmiris with undaunted Courage heard his Sentence, but not so the virtuous Lindamira, whose Despair it was impossible to express. His whole Care was to comfort her; to this End he represented how odious Life would be to him, and how just his Death and the Decrees of Heaven were; but finding that this would avail nothing with her, he called for his Son, and tenderly embracing him, he conjured her, if no other Consideration would weigh with her, at least for the dear Infant’s Sake, to spare her Life, that she might see him virtuously educated, and early taught to banish foolish Credulity from his Heart, that he might shun his Father’s Crimes and Misfortunes.

[II-210]

Here Lindamira struggled some time before she could speak; at length her Words finding a Passage,

‘You die, said she, and yet you would have me live; alas! did you love me with half the Sincerity and Fondness I love you, you would know what an Impossibility you require; our Lives are inseparable, and in Death we shall again be united. Heaven, who is all merciful, will not let me survive you, and by that Means plunge me into new and far greater Miseries than I have hitherto experienced, and the same all-gracious Heaven will be a Father to our innocent Babe.

Here Grief again stopped her Voice, and so lively were her Sorrows, that they deprived her of Knowledge, and she swooned away upon his Bed. Palmiris, whose Strength decayed apace, was unable to bear this violent Shock, but with a Groan breathed his last; and, as if their two Bodies had been but informed by one Soul, she that Moment expired in his Arms.

[II-211]

A Letter to a Gentleman at Edinburgh, concerning the busy and assuming Spirit of the Ecclesiastics, and their extravagant Demands upon the Laity.↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1725.

SIR,

YOU desire to know something of the present Spirit and Conduct of our Clergy; a Curiosity to which you are prompted by the Behaviour of your own, who, you say, are so zealous for the Welfare of your Souls, as to concern themselves in all your Affairs, even in such as relate only to your Persons, Families, and Diversions. That, in former Times, the holy Men, their Predecessors, were wont to mix their reverend Spite and Impertinence with their ghostly Care, to confound Spirituals with Temporals, and to dictate in all Things, is what I have heard; but was in Hopes, that a freer Spirit, with an Increase of Liberty and Sense, had put an End to such Ecclesiastical Intrusion, and taught the present Set, that as their Ministry is known to be bounded by the Bible, and the Civil Constitution, they ought to keep themselves warily within the Limits of their Ministry; that if they break the Bounds within which they are placed, and usurp a Jurisdiction which they have not Force to maintain, People will scorn their Fairy Dominion, and they will lose their Credit by grasping at Power. The Authority of Nurses and Pedagogues is confined to Infants and Pupils; it is stinted in Time, as well as in Measure, and ends where Childhood ends, and where the Years of Discretion begin. Should an old Woman take upon her to direct my Youth, because she fed and whipped me when I was a Babe, or should my Tutor, who taught me to decline Verbs, or to chatter Logic, when I was a Boy, seek with his pedantic [II-212] Talents to controul me, when a Man, I should be apt to think the Nurse and the Tutor, though perhaps alike wise, yet alike unfit for Mastership and Government.

The Province of our spiritual Nurses is restrained to Offices purely spiritual. In the Conduct of domestic and civil Life, in the Rules of good Sense and Business, or even in those of just Thinking and Reasoning, they are, generally, of all Men, the most unfit to direct or advise. Besides their eminent Inexperience, besides the Narrowness of their Spirit, and that their Judgment is as defective and aukward, as is their Address and Behaviour, they generally meddle with the Affairs of other Men from Motives intirely despicable and selfish, from Pride and Peevishness, from Resentment or Revenge, or for some paltry Advantage, for a Fondness of being courted or feared, of being thought wise and important, or from some other Consideration unworthy of a Man of Sense, or Honour, or Spirit.

It is to no Purpose to say, that they only aim at correcting Vice and ill Principles. For they often create Vice, and find it where it is not, in harmless Mirth and Amusement, and in Recreations where not only all Decency and regular Behaviour is observed, but where Vice and Impertinence are ridiculed and lashed, and where Lessons of Morality and Honour are recommended and inforced. And for ill Principles, what they call so, are often no other than harmless Speculations and Inquiries after Truth, or the Result of such Inquiries; often the most noble and beneficent Notions, such as represent the Deity uniform, dispassionate, and impartial, abhorring human Cruelties, forgiving human Weaknesses and Mistakes, pleased with a sincere Heart, nor expecting more from his Creatures than he has given them, and disengaged from all little Prejudices in favour of Sects and Parties.

This creating and multiplying of Sins, and finding Transgressions where the Bible finds none, has what the World calls Policy in it; because the more Sin abounds, the more necessary ghostly Men are thought; and this Policy they have improved so notably, where they have been encouraged, or even suffered, that they have turned almost every thing into Sin, except what is the most wretched and unmanly of all Sins, that of adoring and [II-213] obeying Priests. But this Policy is attended with one flagrant Inconvenience: Every Man of Discernment will be apt to ask, If Iniquities are thus increased, and Men grow daily worse, in spite of such numerous Monitors, in spite of their holy Counsels, their pious Examples, their awful and repeated Denunciations; then what avails an expensive Army of Priests, who own themselves daily conquered, and utterly unequal to the adverse Host? This looks like a Confession, that either Satan fears them not, or that they do not all that might be done against Satan.

In Popish Countries there are several Transactions, which appear like palpable Juggles between the Devil and the Friars, particularly in the Business of Exorcism, and casting out evil Spirits: The Devil in Possession often holds out a long and inveterate Siege, and when he is at last ejected, he is free to enter into the same Person again, or into somebody else. If they have indeed Power over the Devil, why do they not cast him quite out of the World, at least out of the Country? Would we not think that a General mocked us, if he asserted, that he had beaten the Enemies every-where driven them out of every Town, and every particular Place, but still they were as strong as ever, and still ravaging the Country? I should think that he and his Troops deserved to be broken, notwithstanding his boasted Skill, and invisible Feats.

Methinks it is not the deepest Craft for holy Men, armed with such high Powers, to be always appearing in a Fright, and crying for Help from unhallowed Laymen, upon every Phantom of Danger. Against the Cause of God, we are assured by himself, that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail; and to such as maintain his Cause by his own Assistance, what Danger is to be apprehended, what human Assistance can be wanted? The Apostles wanted none against the whole Pagan World, against all the Hosts of Jewish and Pagan Priests, breathing Persecution and deadly Rage: Yet the Apostles had no Establishment, no Revenues, no privileged Tribunals to harangue in, no Laws against Heretics or Gainsayers, nor even against Blasphemers; and were but a few Men, [II-214] dispersed over the World, without Money, without Mobs, and even without University Education.

At present, and for many Ages past, we have had Apostolic Men by Thousands in every Country, and Millions of Money they have cost almost every Country to maintain them. They are protected by Laws sufficiently indulgent, and without Number. Schools are erected and supported at the public Expence for their Education; they themselves govern these Schools, and conduct the National Teaching, both in the Schools and in the Pulpits. The first Thing learned by Infants is to reverence them; they catechise us when Children, they instruct our Youth, and when we are Men, we are not manumitted from their Instruction. Young Women are partial to them, old ones adore them. When we are in Health we wait upon them for Admonition; and, when sick, receive their Counsel and Discipline at home. ’Tis they that exhort, they that rebuke, they that preach to the People, they that pray for them; it is they who administer the Seals of the Covenant, work a holy and imperceptible Change in Wine, and Bread, and Water, and they who utter ineffable Mysteries: They bless, they curse; they offer Heaven, they possess Earth; they denounce Damnation; they cry aloud, they threaten, they terrify: They are Ambassadors from God; they know his Will; they bear his Authority; they communicate his Intentions, deliver his Commands, distribute his Rewards and Terrors, apply his Blessings and Judgments: They shut the Gates of Paradise; they open those of Hell; they admit us into Christ’s holy Church, they nurture us in it, or exclude us out of it, and are daily apprising us of their own Power and Importance.

Now what can annoy, what ought to frighten or alarm Men, thus endowed and reverenced, thus adored and exalted, thus dear to Heaven, thus absolute upon Earth, thus encompassed and guarded by Securities divine and human, so signal and many? It is too great a Compliment to the Powers of Darkness, and, in my Opinion, inconsistent with Orthodoxy, to suppose them a Match, much more an Overmatch, for the Children of Light, especially for the Envoys and Representatives of the Almighty. This would be introducing a terrible [II-215] Doctrine amongst Men; it would be finding a Reason and an Apology for the Worship paid by the wild Indians to the Evil Spirit; who being an Enemy to God, and long since vanquished and damned, can never be an Object of Terror to sound Believers: The Wicked One has no Armour that is Proof against a lively Faith, which, as it can remove Mountains, must easily drive away Satan. It is therefore want of Faith to fear the Devil, whom even Free-thinkers and Unbelievers fear not. It is indeed Matter of Lamentation, that Christians, yea the Directors and Conductors of Christians, should have less Courage than Men who are given up to a reprobate Mind; Men left to uncovenanted Mercy, and without Shield or Fence against the Assaults of the Enemy.

You therefore surprise me, by telling me, as you do, that a Pantomime, a poor Player, Tony Ashton, and his Comedians, have been able to ruffle and disquiet the Minds of the Reverend Ministers of the Kirk. What Tools he brings with him, terrible to the Hierarchy, I cannot conceive. The Laws, the Gospel, and private Persons, are protected by the Civil Power: And if Tony can hurt and insult neither Religion, nor Cæsar, nor Particulars, how comes he to occasion such Uproars and Alarms?

Doubtless there are several Plays too gross and licentious; and so, sometimes, have been many Sermons: Yet, when a Preacher has abused the Privilege of Preaching, advanced wild Opinions, and uttered dangerous and ridiculous Follies, as, upon Occasions, has happened, it has not been allowed to interrupt or contradict him. Nay, when the Civil Power has questioned him for insulting or calumniating the Civil Administration, his Brethren have waxed wroth and outrageous, that any of their Body should be questioned at any Tribunal but their own: A Right and Impunity, which, I think, are claimed as sturdily by the Fathers of the Kirk, as by our High-Church, or the High-Church in Italy.

But as this extravagant Claim implies, that all Rights and Powers whatsoever do, directly or indirectly, appertain to themselves, and dooms all Men to a vile and blind Dependence upon the Clergy in all Things; so it [II-216] should warn every Man, who would not blindly tread in the Steps, and hang by the Cloak or the Cassock of a Pedagogue, to preserve an Independence upon the Clergy in all Things where the Clergy have nothing to do. Other Commission, than that of counselling and exhorting such as will hear them, I know none that our Blessed Saviour has given them; and this he has given to all Men.

What have the Parsons to do with our Recreations and Amusements? Does the Gaiety and Openness of the Spirit, occasioned by Festivity and Diversion, lead to Sin and Lubricity? Who told them so? Upon me it had never any such Effect; and by what Rule do they judge? In my Opinion, the opposite Commotions of Spirit, those of Bitterness, Ferocity, and Uncharitableness, are in themselves sinful; odious and unsociable I am sure they are, and the genuine Attributes of Monks and Cynics.

With Pretences equally just, may they claim the Direction of our Persons, Tables, and Dress. The Ladies must not wear fine Silks, nor the Men fine Perriwigs, for Fear of exciting Concupiscence, and alluring one another: Nay, they must not wear fine Linen, nor wash their Faces, for the like Theological Reason. They must not enter a Tavern, for fear of being drunk; nor be merry, for fear of being profane; nor eat a good Meal, nor deal in Sauces and Dainties, for fear of pampering the Flesh.

There is no Length to which such impertinent Reasoning, when it is once admitted, will not go: And, in Effect, we see that in every thing which passes within the Heart of Man or Woman, or in their Dress, Eating, Drinking, and general Oeconomy, the Romish Priests act the Busy-body, and assume to be Comptrollers even in the conjugal Pleasures, those between a Man and his Wife, they assert a Right to be informed and to dictate. They of that Religion know this by Experience; and by reading their Books of Confession and Casuistry, every one may know it. What, in the Name of Wonder, is it to a Man who deals in Spirituals, whether, when a Woman, in Bed with her Husband, lays her Leg upon his, he is to take it for a Signal and obey it, though she [II-217] say never a Word? Yet this Query is put by a grave Casuist, and answered in the Affirmative; Imo, certe, says he, propter Modestiam Sexus. So favourable was the good Doctor to the Ladies!

This meddling of theirs in every thing, and meddling like Masters and Governors, will make People tired and uneasy to be under their Direction in any thing: So that where they are not armed with the Civil Sword, and the Terrors of an Inquisition, as, I thank God heartily, they are not like to be with us; they will lose the Credit which they might otherwise preserve, and grow contemptible by being troublesome and impertinent. The Pulpit is their Province, and even that is a Province which they should exercise with Modesty and Wariness; especially in a Generation like this, when People have learnt to assert their natural Liberty, and the Use of their Senses, and to dispute the Truth of Positions which they judge to be doubtful or false, however imperiously maintained by Men of Reverence and Name.

That Authority which depends only or chiefly upon the Esteem and Opinions of Men, is exceeding precarious, and will decay or perish as those Opinions alter, or that Esteem is lost, or lessens. Many have lost all Credit, by carrying it too high, or by maintaining it by false and deceitful Supports. What has been the Consequence of all the wild and unmeasurable Claims contended for in behalf of Churchmen, by Dr. Hickes, Mr. Lesley, and the other Champions of that Cause? It is true, they were greedily swallowed by many of the selfish and aspiring Clergy; infatuated many weak Brains amongst them, and deceived several of the People, chiefly the Vulgar in Condition of Understanding: But their Triumph was short and contemptible. These extravagant Demands for extravagant Power in Ecclesiastics, occasioned a Number of such Answers, as have not only set the Authority of Churchmen very low in the Opinion of almost all Men, and demonstrated, that from Christ they derive no Power or Revenue at all, but, for all that they have, must be beholden to Laymen and the Law; but they have likewise, by Reasoning and Examples upon that Subject, shewn the Spirit [II-218] of the Ecclesiastics almost in all Times, to have been so tyrannical, vindictive, and rapacious, that most Men are become loth to trust them with over-much Wealth or Power, or indeed with any, independent upon the Civil Government.

As the Writings of these Divines were visionary, absurd, and indeed arrogant, full of Principles destructive of Civil Liberty, and all Liberty, opposite to the Spirit of the Reformation, and contrary to all good Sense, and all Modesty; and yet greedily read and approved by Numbers of the inferior Clergy; Men who had better Sense and Discernment, and wished well to the free Constitution of their Country, conceived Indignation at the propagating and encouraging of Notions so wild and mischievous; and have exposed them so effectually, that such Notions, and the Authors of them, are now as much contemned, as they were insolent and chimerical. Such, in truth, was the Scheme of these Nonjurors, and their Followers; so exorbitant and wicked it was, that nothing but blind Popery, settled in the Church, and absolute Tyranny in the State, could have supported it; and I think, it is plain, that both these Supports were intended to be introduced. Indeed, the Scheme itself necessarily implied them; and without them, it was a mere Dream.

It is true, that some of these high Contenders for unbounded Power in the Church and the Crown, wrote against Popery, and set Bounds to the Prerogative in Church Matters. But it is equally true, that they only contended against the Popery of the Pope, and against owning the Jurisdiction of Rome: They, at the same time boldly asserted a Power to themselves equal to that of the Pope; asserted all the dreadful, all the selfish and lucrative, and most of the extravagant Positions of Popery; such as the Right of knowing Hearts by Confession; the Power of Damning and Saving; Prayers for the Dead; Extreme Unction; great and princely Power and Revenues, all holden in their own Right, without depending upon the Civil Power, and even in spight of it. If I must be enslaved or oppressed by an imperious, assuming Priesthood, what is the Difference to me, whether my Oppressor live at Rome, or Canterbury, or Edinburgh.

[II-219]

The Manner also in which these High-church Writers treat the Crown, is most insolent, shameless, and dishonest: They exempt themselves, and all that is theirs, which is whatever they have a mind to call so, from all Cognizance or Authority of the Civil Power of the Prince. Their Persons, they say, are sacred, as well at his; nay, more sacred, and their Possessions defended by Privileges divine: So that though they surrender him the Laity, to be used or spoiled, fleeced or flayed, as he pleases; though they bely the holy Name of God to sanctify Oppression, to secure the Oppressor, and to terrify the poor abused Sufferers from lifting up their Hand, or even their Voice and Complaints, for Relief; though they call every Attempt to preserve their Persons and Property, and to resist insulting Spoilers, a resisting of God, and for it threaten Damnation; yet, if he dare but to touch themselves, dare to meddle with their Revenues, to enter the Sanctuary, or to claim any Share of their Wealth or Jurisdiction, Heaven and Earth are summoned to assist them, and to resist him; Woes are denounced against the faint Heart, and feeble Hand; and the Crosier is reared against the Sceptre.

Is not such impudent Conduct enough to open the Eyes of all Men, even of the most stupid, bigotted, and blind? To see Religion turned into a manifest Market of Power and Wealth; the great God made the Voucher of an execrable Bargain between the Oppressors of Men in their Persons, and the Oppressors of Men in their Consciences; to see Men tied up, or let loose, made tame or furious, crouching under unrelenting Tyranny, or armed against legal Power, just as they are directed, scared, or inflamed by Priests! To see these Priests claiming to themselves all sorts of Privileges, and Wealth and Power without Bounds; to see them assuming Principalities and Power, by virtue of Successorship to the poor, wandering, and persecuted Apostles; and yet denying the abused Laity, from whom they have all things, to have a Right to any thing, not even to their Property, and their Senses! Will such Clergymen, after this, complain that such Clergymen are not reverenced? Men, who by their extravagant [II-220] and selfish Positions, discover a Spirit so unchristian and unsociable; such a one as undermines all the Rights and Pleasure of human Society, and of human Life. They are, indeed, contemned; and upon themselves they have drawn that Contempt. Will they complain of the Growth of Infidelity and Profaneness, when, by their Example and Principles, they had shewn that they had meant to debase Religion as far as it could be debased, by turning it into an Engine for Dominion and Opulence; and perverted the Gospel into a Scheme of Grandeur, Absurdities, and Persecution? What has propagated Infidelity so much as their own selfish Tenets and Conduct, and the vile Use which they made of the Bible; as if it had been nothing else but a Patent to exalt Priests, and inslave the Laity? Of all the Latitudinarian Books in the World, the Writings of High-church Men are the most fraught with mischievous and horrible Positions.

I wish, for the Honour of the whole Body of the Clergy, that the Convocation had at any time branded such infamous and pestilent Doctrines, by some just and public Censure, such as they have been very free to bestow upon Books and Propositions which defend the common Rights of Conscience and Society. By their utter Silence in this Matter, they have administered a Handle to some for suspecting (I hope unjustly) that, to Assemblies of Clergymen, the Happiness of the Laity was of little Concernment, and Liberty of Conscience a Matter of Offence: That they had Views irreconcileable to the Reformation, and the Establishment, and were pursuing an Interest opposite to that of the Public. What heightened this Suspicion, was the manifest Partiality of their Conduct: While they were assiduously searching after Books which defended the Civil Rights of Society, and the unalienable Right of all Men to think for themselves, in order to censure them; and in doing it, did notoriously misrepresent them; they thought fit to pass over Books which asserted the blackest of all Iniquities, that of Persecution; Books which reviled the Constitution, struck at the Root of public Liberty, contended for public Servitude (in the Laity only) and boldly revived and maintained the most dangerous [II-221] and impudent Opinions of Popery. And when such impious Writings were laid before them, their Boldness and pestilent Tendency shewn, and Passages quoted out of them, shocking to the Ears of Freemen and Protestants; still that Reverend Body persisted to make no Animadversions.

What Conclusion, advantageous to their Reputation, could be drawn from a Proceeding so evidently unequitable and unjust, when a Set of Men, assuming to be Judges, were apparently Parties, and had so little Regard, or rather so much Aversion, to righteous Judgment, that upon Truths the most obvious, upon Principles the most benevolent, their Wrath and Anathemas fell; while the most daring Arraignment of private Conscience, and the most bare-faced Insults upon public Liberty, Civil and Christian, incurred no Blame? In one, for Example, it was a heinous Crime, and loudly censured, to have said, “That our Saviour’s Kingdom was not of this World;” though after our Saviour himself he said it. But it proved to the Convocation no Matter of Offence, for another to have impiously maintained, that

“Heaven itself waited for the Sentence from the Priest’s Mouth, and God himself followed the Judgment of the Priest”———That “Kings and Queens are to bow down before the Priest, with their Faces towards the Earth, and to lick up the Dust of his Feet;”

with many other mischievous and unhallowed Extravagancies, to the Disgrace of Religion and common Sense. Was this the Way to be reverenced, to utter, as the Oracles of God, such impudent and poisonous Falshoods, or to defend them, or not to stigmatize them? Was it not rather a Way to forfeit all common Respect, and to incur universal Indignation and Scorn?

A Family is a small State, as a State is a great Family. Now, suppose the Master or Prince of a Family take into his Service a Chaplain, and give him Bread and Wages; Does this same Chaplain take a Method to be reverenced or believed, if he tell the Man who maintains him,

“I am your spiritual Prince, you are my spiritual Subject; I can absolve or damn you: You must tell me all the Secrets of your Heart, let me [II-222] judge of your Thoughts; submit without Murmuring or Hesitation to my Dictates and Censure, and be obedient to my Discipline. You must call me your Chaplain in no other Sense than you say, My Lord, and My God. You ought to fall down before me, and lick up the Dust of my Feet. My Government in your Family, as a Priest, is farther above yours, as you are a Layman, than Heaven is above the Earth; and my Revenue ought to be greater than yours, though you are a Prince in your House.

“And to make you Amends for thus sharing with you in your Power and Riches, I do hereby, in the Name of Heaven, doom all your Children and Servants, that is, all your Lay-Domestics, to be your Slaves, without Reserve; and I do assert your Authority over them, be it ever so cruel, unnatural and destructive, to be the Ordinance of God; and you to be his Vicegerent, however wicked and unlike God you prove. But my Person and Property you must not touch; for I am a sacred Person; in all the Money and Power which I take from you, I am independent and unaccountable; for I am the Lord’s Priest, and my Wealth is God’s Wealth. It would be Sacrilege in you to meddle with either; if you do, you will be damned; and if I can persuade your Lady, or your Son, to give me any Lands or Treasure, for the Good of their Souls, whatever Artifices I use to draw such Donations from them, you must protect me in the Possession, against your Grand-children, or any other Claimant whatsoever; for to take it from me, or from any future Chaplain for ever, would be to rob God and the Church.

“Moreover, if any of your Family, your Lady, Children, or Servants, should presume to differ in Opinion from me, and follow their own Conscience, this is Schism, it is a damnable Sin; for out of the Church, that is, without my Permission and Management, there is no Salvation: And such Schisinatics, Heretics, and Gainsayers, you must prosecute, that is, fine, imprison, whip, hang, or burn, as I shall direct you: If you do not, you favour Heretics and Schismatics, and I will excommunicate you, that is, [II-223] deliver you to the Devil; and then you are unworthy of any Authority, and I will excite your Family to turn you out of your House, unless by Submission to me you shew yourself penitent, and worthy to be restored: Upon this Condition I will recal you, and turn off the Person that I put in your Room, whom I will call an Usurper, if he do not humour me in all Things. For, ’tis I who can preserve Obedience, or stir up Strife and Fighting in your Family, and teach them the Necessity of obeying or resisting, by the Terrors of Divine Vengeance, which is always armed when I am angry, and asleep when I am pleased.”

Now, would Pretences and Claims, thus impious and shameless, be borne from any particular Chaplain, by his particular Lord or Patron? And yet are not such Claims asserted by the High Clergy in general? And do they not affect every individual Layman, by affecting the whole Body of the Laity? They treat us to our Faces, like Vassals blind and tame, and doom us without Ceremony, to bear Invasion and Tyranny with meek Hearts, and Hands bound. All that we have, is hardly enough for them. Yet were we to treat them as they treat one another, a very small Competency would appear a sufficient Appointment and Maintenance for the Successors of the Apostles. Do we not frequently see a Reverend Doctor possess three, five, nay eight hundred Pounds a Year, sometimes more than a thousand; and yet out of this great Revenue, which he thinks not too much, and hardly enough, though he do nothing for it, give no more than fifteen, twenty, thirty, or at most forty Pounds a Year to a Curate, for doing the whole Duty of the Parish? If this be enough for the Labour of a Clergyman, why do the Laity give any-where more? If it be not, why does the rich Doctor give so little? The Curate is furnished with all necessary Abilities and Qualifications as well as the Doctor, and has the same spiritual Powers, to baptize, to give Absolution and the Communion, to marry, preach, pray, bury, visit the Sick, and to take Tithes, if he had any to take.

Thus, in the Opinion of former Bishops, (Governors of the Church) who often kept Curates themselves, when they still retained a good fat Living in Commendam: [II-224] and thus in the common Practice of the inferior Clergy, Wages sometimes not much higher than those of a Carter, scarce ever so high as those of an Exciseman, are sufficient for doing all the Functions of a Clergyman. Would this not seem a Rule to the Laity, a Rule taken from the best Authority in the World, that of the Practice of the Clergy, how to rate the Work and Worth of a Clergyman? Why should they expect that Laymen should value the Labour and Use of a Clergyman higher, than the Clergy themselves do in Fact value it? They will not say, that three, or five, or eight, or ten hundreds a Year, is little enough for the Sagacity of chusing, and the Trouble of hiring, a Curate for twenty, or thirty, or forty, though sometimes things equally foolish and absurd are said; for there are many Laymen who can drive a hard Bargain, and pinch their Workmen, and we too often find the Reverend Deputy of a great Doctor full as bad and insufficient as if the Church-wardens had picked him up and hired him. I would therefore be glad to know why any Man, why especially a Minister of the Gospel, who should labour in Season, and out of Season, should have any Revenue, especially a great Revenue, for nothing?

But I ramble from my first Design, though, perhaps, had I pursued it, I should not have tired you less. But I am like other Authors, who, whilst they please themselves, think that they are furnishing Delight to their Reader. To your Information I pretend not to add any Thing, not even in telling you that I am, with great Affection and Sincerity,

SIR,

Your Faithful Servant,

G.

[II-225] [II-226]

[II-227]

[II-232]

The Craftsmen: A Sermon, or Paraphrase upon several Verses of the xix th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Composed in the Style of the late Daniel Burgess.↩

Nihil rerum mortalium tam instabile ac fluxum est, quam fama potentiæ non sua vi nixæ.

Tacit.

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1723.

[II-233]

[II-257]

A Serious Expostulation with the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London, on his Letter to the Clergy and People of London and Westminster. ↩

Those eighteen, upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they were Sinners above all Men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Luke xiii. 4.

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1750.

My LORD,

THE two successive Shocks of an Earthquake, which have lately alarmed the Cities of London and Westminster, and your Lordship’s Letter on the Occasion to the Clergy, and Inhabitants of those Cities, have led me to search into History for a memorable Instance of greater Calamities, and of the Conduct observed in the Midst of real Desolation by a celebrated spiritual Pastor, who afterwards attained to the Episcopal Dignity. In that melancholy Æra, while the Nation, single, and unallied, was struggling with three great Powers confederated against her, when a Pestilence had exhausted the City of London in 1665, and a Fire in the subsequent Year had laid thirteen thousand of its Buildings in Ashes; that very City, whose Zeal in promoting, but a sew Years before, a Cause the most obnoxious to the Church, had merited the whole Resentment of the Clergy, could yet draw from the justly admired Dr. Sprat, the following generous, and manly Consolation, together with the most laboured Applause, which his Eloquence could furnish, in Honour of the Constancy, Magnanimity, and Vigour, exerted by the Inhabitants, both in supporting, and repairing the heavy and general Calamity.

[II-258]

‘The Plague was indeed an irreparable Damage to the whole Kingdom; but that which chiefly added to the Misery, was the Time wherein it happened. For what could be a more deplorable Accident, than that so many brave Men should be cut off by the Arrow that flies in the Dark, when our Country was ingaged in a foreign War, and when their Lives might have been honourably ventured on a glorious Theatre in its Defence? And we had scarce recovered this first Misfortune, when we received a second and a deeper Wound; which cannot be equalled in all History, if either we consider the Obscurity of its Beginning, the irresistable Violence of its Progress, the Horror of its Appearance, or the Wideness of the Ruin it made, in one of the most renowned Cities of the World.

‘Yet when, on the one Side, I remember what Desolation these Scourges of Mankind have left behind them; and, on the other, when I reflect on the Magnanimity wherewith the English Nation did support the Mischiefs; I find, that I have not more Reason to bewail the one, than to admire the other.

‘Upon our Return, after the abating of the Plague, what else could we expect, but to see the Streets unfrequented, the River forsaken, the Fields deformed with the Graves of the Dead, and the Terrors of Death still abiding on the Faces of the Living? But instead of such dismal Sights, there appeared almost the same Throngs in all public Places, the same Noise of Business, the same Freedom of Converse, and, with the Return of the King, the same Chearfulness returning on the Minds of the People as before.

‘Nor was their Courage less, in sustaining the second Calamity, which destroyed their Houses and Estates. This the greatest Losers indured with such undaunted Firmness of Mind, that their Example may incline us to believe, that not only the best natural, but the best moral Philosophy too, may be learned from the Shops of Mechanics. It was, indeed, an admirable Thing to behold, with what Constancy the meanest Artificers saw all the Labours of their Lives, and the Support of their Families, devoured in an Instant. The Affliction, it is true, was widely spread over the whole Nation; [II-259] every Place was filled with Signs of Pity and Commiseration; but those who had suffered most, seemed the least affected with the Loss: No unmanly Bewailings were heard in the few Streets that were preserved; they beheld the Ashes of their Houses, and Gates, and Temples, without the least Expression of Pusillanimity. If Philosophers had done this, it had well become their Profession of Wisdom; if Gentlemen, the Nobleness of their Breeding and Blood would have required it: But that such Greatness of Heart should be found amongst the poor Artisans, and the obscure Multitude, is no doubt one of the most honourable Events that ever happened. Yet still there is one Circumstance behind, which may raise our Wonder higher; and that is, that amidst such horrible Ruins, they still prosecuted the War with the same Vigour and Courage, against three of the most powerful States of all Europe. What Records of Time, or Memory of past Ages, can shew us a greater Testimony of an invincible and heroic Genius than this, of which I now speak? That the Sound of the Heralds proclaiming new Wars should be pleasant to the People, when the sad Voice of the Bellman was scarce yet gone out of their Ears? That the Increase of their Adversaries Confederates, and of their own Calamities, should be so far from affrighting them, that they rather seemed to receive from thence a new Vigour and Resolution? and that they should still be eager upon Victories and Triumphs, when they were thought almost quite exhausted, by so great Destructions?’ Hist. of the Royal Society, p. 120.

The fatal Alteration both in the Temper of the People, and in the Conduct of their spiritual Guides under the bare Apprehension of Calamity, may be evidently seen by the late shameful Desertion of London and Westminster, and by your Lordship’s Letter. Happy had it been for the Reputation of the People and Pastor, if another Sprat had appeared among us at this Time of our apprehended Misfortunes.

Far from awakening the superstitious Fears of the Multitude, or perverting their Fortitude and Vigour to Humiliation and Despair, as he then took the manly Part of supporting their Spirit by Consolation and Praise, so [II-260] now would he undoubtedly have employed his masterly Pen in administring Comfort to a People already too much terrified with an Appearance, neither uncommon, nor dangerous, in this Country. He would not have snatched an Occasion, like this, to deject the Courage, to blind the Reason, and inhance the Terrors of his Countrymen, by construing a meer Accident of Nature into a Judgment from Heaven, well knowing, that this has been one of the primary Arts practised by Priestly-pride, and endured by Lay-bigotry in the neighbouring Nations, till the Liberty and Understanding of Europe, for the greatest Part, have been subjected to an implicit and servile Dependence on the most cruel, the most insolent and ignorant Clergy. He would not have offered Arguments, which should have given co-operating Aid to the Dreams of a poor lunatic Soldier, nor, in order to distinguish this great Metropolis as the single Mark of God’s Anger, have rashly hazarded his principal Argument on the Locality of the Earthquake, nor, in Consequence of the same Appearances in different, and more distant Parts of the Kingdom, have found himself exposed to the most mortifying Confusion, without the Possibility of Shelter or Defence. He would have protected us against the Terrors in our own Bosoms, against the Visions of Enthusiasts, and against the uncharitable Denunciation of Almighty Vengeance on two Cities, one of which, at least, may stand up and challenge all others to produce equal Examples of Vigilance, Discretion, and Impartiality, in the constant Administration of Justice, tempered with Humanity and Mercy. He would have spared us the Disgrace of adding one more Instance of national Pusillanimity to that shameful Panic in the late Rebellion; two Marks of Dishonour, which together serve but too plainly to demonstrate, that all that Constancy and Magnanimity, which a Century past were the just Subjects of his Praise, have now no longer an Existence in this Country. He would have convinced our Understanding, that there is no Retreat from that supreme Hand, which is felt every Moment of Life in the various Operations of Nature; that to search and discover her most hidden Laws is the laudable Object of our Enquiry, and the sublimest Exertion of those Lights [II-261] imparted to us by our Creator; that already these successful Discoveries have, in many Circumstances removed the Fears, and erased the Superstition of Mankind; that hence, if left to the Guidance of Reason, we are led to believe, that the most inscrutable Appearances of Nature, however formidable and destructive, are but the Effects of natural Causes, a Satisfaction to all, whether fearing, or feeling such Disasters, that they are not driven from the Earth by the distinguished Wrath of their Maker, to become immediate Partakers of eternal Vengeance; herein Philosophy inforcing, and uniting with the most comfortable Doctrine of Christ, who declares for the Quiet of our Minds under such general and unavoidable Misfortunes, that neither those Galileans, whom the cruel Hand of a Tyrant was permitted to destroy, nor those whom a falling Tower overwhelmed with its Ruins, were more sinful than other Men.

But if, amid real or apprehended Danger, the individual Sinner will take Warning for himself, and call his own Heart to a strict Account; if those, whom the Excess of Riot and Debauch have carried to Violence and Outrage, will make due Compensation to their insulted Neighbour; if those who have built their Fortunes on Extortion and Rapine, will make a due Retribution to the Injured; if those who are grown grey in one continued Course of Venality and Corruption, and have sold their Consciences and their Country to satiate the Thirst of Wealth and Power, will employ their scanty Remains of Time in repairing the Ruins which their own Prostitution hath made, then may such Sinners be allowed to make a laudable Use of the dreadful Phænomena in Nature. But I leave to your Lordship, the Perusal of the following Extract from Dr. Sprat, where he most amply delivers his Sense of those, who impute these public Calamities to the Sins of others, as well as his Opinion in favour of those whom you stile little Philosophers.

‘Thus far, I trust, it will be confessed, that Experiments are unblameable. But yet there is much more behind, of which many pious Men are wont to express their Jealousy. For though they shall be brought to allow, that all these Doctrines which I have named, [II-262] may seem to remain safe amidst the Studies of Natural Things; yet they still whisper, that they may chance, by Degrees, to make the Sincerity of Devotion appear ridiculous, and to bring the Strictness of holy Life out of Fashion: And that so they will silently, and by Piece-meals, demolish Religion, which they dare not openly encounter. I will therefore next endeavour the Removal of these Scruples, though I sufficiently understand that it is a very difficult Work, to confute such popular and plausible Errors, which have the Pretence of the Cause of God to confirm them.

‘The chief Substance of real and sober Piety is contained in the devout Observation of all those Ways, whereby God has been pleased to manifest his Will, and in a right Separation of our Minds from the Lusts and Desires of the World. The most remarkable Means, whereby he has made known his Pleasure, are those which have been fixed and revealed in his Word, or else the extraordinary Signs of his Authority and Command.

‘Concerning our Acknowledgment of his revealed Will in the Scripture, I have already spoken. And our Obedience to the latter, consists chiefly of two Kinds; an humble Submission to divine Prophecies, and a careful Observance of all remarkable Providences. In both which experimental Philosophy may well be justified. It may perhaps correct some Excesses which are incident to them: But it declares no Enmity against the Things themselves.

‘The Sum of the whole Doctrine of Prophecies is this, that the great Creator of the World has the Prerogative of foreseeing, appointing, and predicting all future Events: That he has often, in former Ages, made use of this Power, by the Visions and Raptures of holy Men inspired from above; that his infinite Wisdom has still the like Ability to do the same; that whenever such Predictions are accompanied with undeniable Testimonies of their being sent from Heaven, they ought to be preferred before all human Laws.

‘The true Foundation of divine Prodigies, is much of the same Nature with the other: It relies on these Suppositions, that all the Creatures are subject to God’s [II-263] Word, by which they were made; that he can alter their Courses, exalt or destroy their Natures, and move them to different Ends from their own, according to his Pleasure; that this he has often done heretofore; that still his Arm is not weakened, nor the same Omnipotence diminished; that still he may change the wonted Law of the Creation, and dispose of the Beings and Motions of all Things without Controul; and that when this is done, it is with a peculiar Design of punishing, or rewarding, or forewarning Mankind.

‘To the Belief and Assertion of these Doctrines, we are obliged by the very End of Religion itself. But yet their counterfeit Colours have seduced many virtuous Minds into manifold Mischiefs.

‘The Mistakes about Prophecies may arise, either from our abusing of the old, or a vain setting-up of new. We err in the first, when we translate the ancient Prophecies from those Times and Countries, which they did properly regard, to others which they do not concern. And we offend in the second, when we admit of new prophetical Spirits in this Age, without the uncontroulable Tokens of heavenly Authority.

‘We are guilty of false Interpretations of Providences and Wonders, when we either make those to be Miracles that are none, or when we put a false Sense on those that are real; when we make general Events to have a private Aspect, or particular Accidents to have some universal Signification. Though both these may seem at first to have the strictest Appearance of Religion, yet they are the greatest Usurpations on the Secrets of the Almighty, and unpardonable Presumptions on his high Prerogatives of Punishment and Reward.

‘And now, if a moderating of these Extravagancies must be esteemed Prophaneness, I profess I cannot absolve the experimental Philosopher. It must be granted, that he will be very scrupulous in believing all Manner of Commentaries on prophetical Visions, in giving Liberty to new Predictions, and in assigning the Causes, and marking out the Paths of God’s Judgments amongst his Creatures.

[II-264]

‘He cannot suddenly conclude all extraordinary Events to be the immediate Finger of God, because he familiarly beholds the inward Workings of Things; and thence perceives that many Effects, which use to affright the Ignorant, are brought forth by the common Instruments of Nature. He cannot be suddenly inclined to pass Censure on Men’s eternal Condition, from any temporal Judgments that may befal them; because his long Converse with all Matters, Times and Places, has taught him the Truth of what the Scripture says, that all Things happen alike to all. He cannot blindly consent to all Imaginations of devout Men, about future Contingencies; seeing he is so rigid in examining all particular Matters of Fact: He cannot be forward to assent to spiritual Raptures and Revelations, because he is truly acquainted with the Tempers of Men’s Bodies, the Composition of their Blood, and the Power of Fancy; and so better understands the Difference between Diseases and Inspirations.

‘But in all this he commits nothing that is irreligious. It is true, to deny God has heretofore warned the World of what was to come, is to contradict the very Godhead itself; but to reject the Sense which any private Man shall fasten to it, is not to disdain the Word of God, but the Opinions of Men like ourselves. To declare against the Possibility that new Prophets may be sent from Heaven, is to insinuate that the same infinite Wisdom, which once shewed itself that Way, is now at an end. But to slight all Pretenders, that come without the Help of Miracles, is not a Contempt of the Spirit, but a just Circumspection, that the Reason of Men be not over-reached. To deny that God directs the Course of human Things, is Stupidity; but to hearken to every Prodigy that Men frame against their Enemies, or for themselves, is not to reverence the Power of God, but to make that serve the Passions, and Interests, and Revenges of Men.

‘It is a dangerous Mistake, into which many good Men fall, that we neglect the Dominion of God over the World, if we do not discover, in every Turn of human Actions, many supernatural Providences and miraculous Events. Whereas it is enough for the Honour [II-265] of his Government, that he guides the whole Creation in its wonted Course of Causes and Effects: As it makes as much for the Reputation of a Prince’s Wisdom, that he can rule his Subjects peaceably, by his known and standing Laws, as that he is often forced to make use of extraordinary Justice to punish, or reward.

‘Let us then imagine our Philosopher to have all Slowness of Belief, and Rigour of Trial, which by some is miscalled a Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart. Let us suppose that he is most unwilling to grant that any thing exceeds the Force of Nature, but where a full Evidence convinces him. Let it be allowed, that he is always alarmed, and ready on his Guard, at the Noise of any miraculous Event, lest his Judgment should be surprized by the Disguises of Faith. But does he by this diminish the Authority of ancient Miracles? Or does he not rather confirm them the more, by confining their Number, and taking Care that every Falshood should not mingle with them? Can he by this undermine Christianity, which does not now stand in need of such extraordinary Testimonies from Heaven? Or do they not rather indanger it, who still venture all its Truths on so hazardous a Chance? Who require a Continuance of Signs and Wonders, as if the Works of our Saviour and his Apostles had not been sufficient: Who ought to be esteemed the most carnally minded, the Enthusiast, that pollutes his Religion with his own Passions, or the Experimenter, that will not use it to flatter and obey his own Desires, but to subdue them? Who is to be thought the greatest Enemy of the Gospel, he that loads Men’s Faiths by so many improbable Things, as will go near to make the Reality itself suspected, or he that only admits a few Arguments to confirm the Evangelical Doctrines, but then chooses those that are unquestionable? It cannot be an ungodly Purpose to strive to abolish all holy Cheats, which are of fatal Consequence, both to the Deceivers and those that are deceived: To the Deceivers, because they must needs be Hypocrites, having the Artifice in their keeping: To the Deceived, because if their Eyes shall be ever opened, and they chance to find, that [II-266] they have been deluded in any one Thing, they will be apt not only to reject that, but even to despise the very Truths themselves, which they had before been taught by those Deluders.

‘It were indeed to be confessed, that this Severity of Censure on religious Things, were to be condemned in Experimenters, if while they deny any Wonders, that are falsely attributed to the true God, they should approve those of Idols or false Deities. But that is not objected against them. They make no Comparison between his Power, and the Works of any others, but only between the several Ways of his own manifesting himself. Thus if they lessen one Heap, yet they still increase the other: In the main they diminish nothing of his Right. If they take from the Prodigies, they add to the ordinary Works of the same Author. And those ordinary Works themselves, they do almost raise to the Height of Wonders, by the exact Discovery which they make of their Excellencies: While the Enthusiast goes near to bring down the Price of the true and primitive Miracles, by such a vast, and such a negligent augmenting of their Number.

‘By this I hope it appears, that this inquiring, this scrupulous, this incredulous Temper is not the Disgrace, but the Honour of Experiments. And therefore I will declare them to be the most seasonable Study, for the present Temper of our Nàtion. This wild amusing Men’s Minds with Prodigies, and Conceits of Providences, has been one of the most considerable Causes of those spiritual Distractions of which our Country has long been the Theatre. This is a Vanity, to which the English seem to have been always subject above others. There is scarce any modern Historian, that relates our foreign Wars, but he has this Objection against the Disposition of our Countrymen, that they used to order their Affairs of the greatest Importance, according to some obscure Omens or Predictions, that passed about amongst them, on little or no Foundations. And at this Time, especially this last Year, this gloomy and ill-boding Humour has prevailed. So that it is now the fittest Season for Experiments to arise, to teach us a Wisdom which springs from the Depths of [II-267] Knowledge, to shake off the Shadows, and to scatter the Mists which fill the Minds of Men with a vain Consternation. This is a Work well becoming the most Christian Profession. For the most apparent Effect which attended the Passion of Christ, was the putting of an eternal Silence on all the false Oracles, and dissembled Inspirations of ancient Times.

‘There have been, it is true, some peculiar Occasions wherein God was pleased to convince the World from Heaven in a visible Manner. But if we consider the Arguments that used to move him to it, we may conclude that such wonderful Signs are not often now to be expected.

‘He has either done it in Times of gross Ignorance, or in the Beginning of a new Way of Religion, or for the peculiar Punishment of some prevailing Wickedness: Upon the Account of the two first, we have no Reason to expect Wonders in this Age; because all Sorts of Knowledge do so much abound, and because we have a Religion already established, against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail.

‘The third Time has been, when God has taken to himself the exemplary Punishment of some heinous Sin. From this, indeed, our Age is no more exempted, than it is free from those Vices that are wont to provoke the Divine Vengeance. This then we confess, that even at this present God may declare himself against the Iniquities of Men, by the supernatural Tokens of his Displeasure: But yet the Interpretation of such Punishments ought to be handled with the greatest Tenderness. For as it is said of the last and general Judgment, that no Man knows the Time when it shall happen; so we may also affirm of these particular Judgments, that there is no Man who understands the Circumstances, or Occasions of their Infliction, but they are one of the deepest Parts of God’s unsearchable Councils.

‘Whenever therefore a heavy Calamity falls from Heaven on our Nation, an universal Repentance is required; but all particular Applications of private Men, except to their own Hearts, is to be forborn. Every Man must bewail his own Transgressions, which have [II-268] increased the public Misery. But he must not be too hasty in assigning the Causes of Plagues, or Fires, or Inundations, to the Sins of other Men. Whoever thinks that Way to repent, by condemning the Miscarriages of those Parties that differ from his own, and by reproving them as the Authors of such Mischiefs, he is grosly mistaken: For that is not to repent, but to make a Satire: That is not an Act of Humiliation, but the greatest spiritual Pride.’

But you, my Lord, come in all Humility, not as our Accuser, but as our faithful Servant and Monitor in Jesus Christ, and tell us, that your Heart’s Desire and Prayer to God is for us, that we may be saved. Whom do you mean to save, my good Lord? Those who frequent Plays, Operas, Music, Dancings, Gardens, Cock-fighting and Prize-fighting? And why not those who frequent Masquerades, and Venetian Balls? Surely your Lordship cannot be a Stranger to the frequent legal Presentments, which, founded on the declared Sense of all sober Men, have stigmatized these dissolute Assemblies with the severest public Censure; nor can you be ignorant, that Venetian Balls, in their own native Soil, exhibit or occasion the most various Scenes of exaggerated Lewdness, which that most lewd, and effeminate of all Regions, Italy, can produce? Or did you, in the Innocence of your Heart, take it for granted, that our Imitations of these Balls were so purified by the Presence of the Greatest, as to make you fear the Censure of Uncharitableness, at least of Indelicacy, had they been included in your black Catalogue of sinful Recreations? Who knows, my Lord, that your courtly Omission of this new imported Diversion has not been the Means of sanctifying its further Use, for the very next Day after the expected Earthquake I observed one of these Venetian Balls advertised in the public Papers, as the first Place for our affrighted Countrymen to assemble and rejoice in, after the Dissipation of their Fears.

Yet, contrary to my first Design, I trifle with a serious Subject: I feel for the Vices of this Nation as much as your Lordship, not principally for those Vices which you enumerate; they merit but a small Degree of Animadversion and Concern, when compared with those [II-269] which shall now become the Subject of a more impartial and unspairing Detail than yours; Enormities which you, though professing to unfold the Sins of a whole People, in the awful Name of Christ Jesus, have thought proper to pass over in Silence, and conceal.

That all-beholding Eye, which controuls the Universe, pierces through all Disguises, and perceives, that the Diffusion of Vice through this Nation is derived from one Source, the Corruption of the Great; which, promoted by the most assiduous Arts, and vindicated by venal Eloquence, has at length absorbed all Regard for the Community into the two selfish Passions of Ambition and Avarice: And, when the most vigorous Effort was made to purge that Place, which, once cleansed, would have transfused its own Purity through all Orders and Degrees of Men, did not the flagitious Opposition to that Attempt, so essential to the very Being of Virtue, and solicited by the earnest and universal Cry of the People, produce an Instance of supererogatory Prostitution, which drew Wonder even from a Minister? For Want of this Barrier to confine Corruption, Honesty has been put up to public Sale, and found its Price to the Cost of a Nation, twice betrayed; hence a Loose has been given to public Profusion, and Rapine, unchecked, and unchastised; and the illicit Gains have been as profusely squandered by Individuals in Luxury, Sensuality, and every unmanly Gratification; and hence the Means of obtaining these ignominious Emoluments have been purchased by involving the Nation in Perjury, Treachery, and a general Dissolution of Manners. Ridicule and Contempt have been cast on the Laws, and principally by those whose Influence and Power should have given them Countenance and Effect: The recent Prohibition of Gaming, calculated to extirpate that Offspring of Avarice, that Parent of Selfishness, that Enemy to Humanity, Compunction, and every social Virtue, has been shamefully baffled by the Shelter afforded to that Enormity under the privileged Roofs of the Great, and met with a more open and contumelious Disregard from Personages invested with the most sacred Ensigns of Authority, in Places of public Resort, among the Gay, the Giddy, and the Young, where the native Allurements [II-270] of Vice have long been too prevalent to want Aid and Encouragement from such venerable and powerful Auxiliaries: The flagrant Example of those in high Station has necessarily extended its pernicious Effects to the lowest; then who has most Right to complain, either to God, or Man, a People abandoned by their Superiors to Corruption, or those who have encouraged the Example of Profligacy, to complain of the People?

Severity and Decency of Manners in high Life would command a similar Behaviour in the Multitude; a strict Execution of the Laws would come in Aid; since the virtuous Great must know, that the due Exertion of the legal Power is a principal Part of their Duty: Idleness, Debauchery, and wanton Recreations would not then have a Being among us to become the Objects of Animadversions and Censure, which leaving the Fountain-head of Vice untouched, and attempting the impracticable Task of restraining the Torrent at a Distance from its Source, most clearly denote the Parade of Reformation without the Reality, or even the Intention.

You conclude with recommending to the Masters and Mistresses of Families, a religious and moral Education of their Children; address yourself, my Lord, to the Offspring of high Life, as well as to the Children and Apprentices of Tradesmen; nor confine yourself to the general Phrases of Religion and Morality, but explain to the Great, wherein a religious and moral Education consists: Teach them to instil into the Bosoms of their Youth, Moderation and Oeconomy, Benevolence and Charity, to love their Neighbour as themselves, and to do unto others, as they would they were done unto; and early to know, and never to forget, that as the Public protects them in the Possession of superior Honours and Emoluments, so that Public in Return expects, and merits from their Hands, a superior and more disinterested Care of its Welfare, than from others.

Let those who are designed for the holy Cloth, and to be real Ornaments of the Church, be taught to acquire a double Portion of Humility; let Hypocrisy, Flattery, and above all, Avarice be rooted from their Hearts; let them, if engaged in Controversy, be instructed to disdain the Prostitution of advancing at one Time Doctrines [II-271] and Opinions, which may be consuted out of their own Writings at another; let them be taught to shun, like Perdition, the Smiles, the Hints, the Whispers from Court-Closets; and, if endowed with the most distinguished Abilities, and adorned with all the Acquirements of Learning, let them avoid the School of Politics, as incompatible with the Churchman’s Sanctity, lest all their Accomplishments, both from Art and Nature, be rendered fatal, instead of useful to Society; and when they rise to that Degree of Dignity, where the Rights, Privileges, and Liberty of a Nation are intrusted to their Consciences and Protection, amid their many Advantages let them remember, that they are made for their Country, and not their Country for them, to be sold on every Occasion, which offers a better Preferment.

If those of exalted Condition, both in Church and State, would frame their Conduct on Principles, like these, the Manners of the middling and inferior Classes would be free from Blame; but without the Example of the Great, no Laws, no Warnings, no threatened Judgments can save a People from Destruction, I mean from Slavery.

I am,
965.My Lord,

Your Lordship’s
Most obedient,
And most humble Servant,

A Citizen of LONDON.

[II-272]

Seasonable Advice to the Electors of Great Britain; with a Word or two relating to the Influence of the Clergy in Elections.↩

By John Trenchard, Esq;

Anno 1722.

I’ll thunder in their Ears their Country’s Cause,
And try to rouse up all that’s Roman in ’em.

Mr. Addison’s Cato.

Gentlemen,

YOU are now proceeding to a new Election, and what may depend upon it, God only knows! it behoves therefore every true Briton, to consider well with himself, and not to be be over-hasty in giving his Vote, but to weigh Matters thoroughly and impartially, since we cannot tell what may be the Consequences of this great Affair.

You will pardon me, therefore, my Countrymen, if I have the Presumption to direct you in this Juncture, when I tell you that it is out of the Love I owe to my dear Country; which I conceive I cannot better express at present, than in giving some seasonable Advice to those who have it in their Power to make us happy and glorious.

And though I would not be thought to know more than others, yet give me Leave to say, that what I have here set down are indisputable Points. Don’t wonder then, if I have not entered into smaller Matters, or Things of less Consequence, when those of a greater and higher Nature call for your Consideration; and without which, I will be bold to say, that all other Qualifications (how good soever) ought to be considered as nothing.

[II-273]

I have avoided to entertain you with false and scandalous Reports (though it is the Fashion of the present Time to do so) I have endeavoured to speak the Truth, and not harangue you with groundless Jealousies and nonsensical Observations. As therefore a whole Kingdom lies at Stake, as the Honour of your King, the Happiness of your Country, and the Security of our holy Religion are concerned, read and consider the following Advices.

In the first and chief Place, you should promote the Interest of those who are true Friends to his Majesty King George, and the Succession, as by Law established, in his Royal House; as it has been observed by a very great Man, That this is the very Life and Soul of these Kingdoms [*] : So you should fix your Eyes on those, who have shewn a particular Regard to the Protestant Succession, when most in Danger [†] . You cannot be too careful in this Point; you will do well to consider who are the Men that have obstructed the public Affairs, who you may have Reason to suspect of their Loyalty, let such be never thought on but with Disdain; on the contrary, espouse the Cause of those, whose Zeal for the Service of their King, have surmounted all private Views, and who have sacrificed their just Resentments to the public Good and Welfare.

The next Thing you are to consider of, is your Religion and Liberties; you will, therefore, take the greatest Pleasure in voting for those, who have been for strengthning the Protestant Interest, since without this, all other Hopes are vain and fruitless; on this depends your own and Posterity’s Happiness: O think, then, with how much Trouble, Anxiety and Loss of Blood, our Fore-fathers handed down our Religion and Liberties! Think what they underwent for our Sakes, to transmit us the Blessings we now enjoy! For Heaven’s Sake, then, put it not in the Power of any to lay Restraints on your Consciences; this is that Property whereby God has given every Man Power to judge for himself; that Person, therefore, who would fetter your [II-274] Conscience, and lead captive your Reason (under whatever Denomination he may go) is only an Agent of Rome, and an Emissary of some designing Priests. Look to it then, that you fix on those who will guard your Liberties, and not destroy them. And though some Men would now seem the only Advocates for your Liberties, who when they have had it in their Power, have always endeavoured to subvert them; let these be watched against with the utmost Caution, these are the Men who make Mountains of Mole-hills, and would have all People use a magnifying Glass, as well as themselves.

But I am afraid there is another Consideration, which you will expect I should offer to you, and which, if rightly considered, may be as useful at this Time, as any thing that can be said; I mean our late Misfortunes in relation to the wicked Management of the South-Sea Scheme; though in my own Opinion I cannot think it so important as the others which I have offered to you. You cannot be ignorant how this has been made use of by designing Men, and how it has misled many well-meaning People; and here, Gentlemen, be not overhasty in your Censures on this Head. Consider, in the first Place, that all Men are liable to Mistakes, that there may be such a Thing in the World as involuntary Error; that Men may design very well, and the Consequences be very bad. I would not be here understood, that I am vindicating any who designed to plunder us, or was in the Bottom of that Mystery of Iniquity. No, I would only fet Matters right: Allowing, therefore, that two, or three, or more, should have been Plunderers, for God’s Sake don’t think a whole Community, or Party is guilty, don’t condemn a whole Administration for the Sake of a few who have corrupted themselves; this is a Way of thinking and acting that becomes abject Minds and low Spirits, and not that of Britons. For Shame, therefore, Gentlemen, rouse your wonted Zeal and Bravery, I don’t mean false Zeal (for that carries Men beyond the Bounds of Reason) but that Zeal which is commendable in a good Cause, and sure the glorious Cause of Liberty should have this Zeal; be not led therefore by any Mistakes, let not designing Men guide you to work your own Ruin, and though [II-275] we were in as bad a Condition as they would represent (which thank God is not our Case) yet let us take Care not to trust those now, that we have formerly (for very good Reasons) opposed; for, can we think the Enemies of our Country are altered, or have they changed their Sentiments and Cause, have they kept themselves clear and honest in a Time of Degeneracy and Infatuation, or rather, have they not been as deeply concerned in our Misfortunes as others? In short, are they not the Men that now oppose the Healing of our Differences? Have we forgot their known Maxim, That no Government is worth serving without Jobs? Why then should we trust such, and think those now the only disinterested Men, who, when in Power, have been the most wicked and corrupt of any in the World?

But, Gentlemen, consider farther, if those Persons whom you call Plunderers, will not be your Choice, be sure take care that you do not change for those worst of Plunderers, even those that would sell, not only their own, but your Birth-right; these Plunderers exceed the worst of any others, as far as Heaven exceeds the Earth: You ought most seriously to consider this, think what it is that lies at Stake, ’tis your Liberties, and if ever you put it in the Power of those who are known Enemies to you, the Curse will fall on your own Heads as well as others; and the better to know these Enemies of the common Cause, think of the Men, who, though they have taken the Oaths to the King, yet think they owe him no Duty; who have abjured the Pretender, but not forgot him; who perhaps never engaged in any Rebellion or Invasion, yet have either in Words, pleasing Looks, or finally, by an avowed Silence, aided or wished well to a Popish Pretender; when the Cause of the King, the Protestant Religion, and the Liberties of England were in Danger. These are the Persons that when they have it in their Power, will plunder your Liberties, and these are the Plunderers you ought most to fear and despise. Let those, therefore, that would inslave you, know, that though some of you may have lost your Money, yet that you are resolved not to part with your Senses, nor to lose your Liberties; let them know, that the true British Spirit still prevails among you; and by [II-276] the Choice you make, let the World see, that you have had a Regard to such, who have signalized themselves in Defence of the best King, and the best Cause in the World.

There is one Thing more which I must caution you against (which, Heaven be praised, is not so needful now as formerly) that you would take Care not to follow a Multitude to do Evil; by this I mean, that you would not follow the Clergy, i. e. that you will not be Priest-ridden; for however useful their Profession may be to our Souls, we find the Generality of them no great Friends to our Bodies. It may be therefore at some County Elections, you may behold great Numbers of the sacred Cloth, on the Side of what they call the C———h, for where the Carcasses are, there will the Eagles be gathered together. It is my Advice, Gentlemen, that you would shun the Side which has got the Majority of these spiritual Guides with them; unless the Priests should, at this Election, turn honest, which, not to say impossible, is at present very improbable. This Hint, therefore, may not be altogether useless; however, let not the Word C———h, guide you one Way or other, you know it is a stale Artifice, and an old Ecclesiastical Bite, that has formerly hurried great Numbers of ignorant People to work their own Destruction; let not therefore this senseless Noise of a Stone Wall, consecrated Bricks, and other holy Lumber, be of any Weight with you in this Affair; remember that empty Sounds and noisy Words are no Arguments; and to follow such, is at once to give up your Senses and Reason.

It is highly necessary that all Places, who send Representatives to Parliament, should fix on such Persons, who either know, or are interested in Trade and Commerce; and as we depend on Trade for our chief Support, so none can be better Judges who is fit to represent them, than the Inhabitants themselves; I only recommend it to them, that they would chuse such Gentlemen who are qualified for so great a Trust, either to gain new Advantages for our Trade, or redress such Grievances which may have obstructed it. I doubt not but there may be found out enough of that Character I have [II-277] been pleading for; I insist on the Qualifications I have mentioned, as absolutely necessary, and without which I shall ever despair of seeing Truth and Justice prevail: But if we should be so happy as to know our true Interest, and distinguish between Light and Darkness, what glorious Effects may we not expect from so wished-for a Choice! we may then hope to see the King reign peaceably, and beloved at home, his Arms conquering or dreaded abroad, true Religion and Liberty flourish, and Virtue once more lift up its Head! We may then hope for an happy Union among all Protestants, whilst Rebellion, Bigotry, Persecution and Priestcraft shall lie groveling beneath our Feet.

A Gentleman of my Acquaintance having been at the Pains to paint a certain Set of Men in their hereditary Colours, I have (with his Leave) added it at the End of these Advices; perhaps it may be of some Service to those Genuine Sons of the Church, who have not seen their Pictures for a long Season; it may be useful to others, who have parted with their own Eyes to make use of the Parson’s: In short, ’tis offered to all that will take the Pains to read it; and then I doubt not but it will speak for itself.

[II-278]

The true Picture of a Modern Tory; or a High-Churchman painted to the Life.↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1722.

A Tory is a Monster, with an English Face, a Popish Heart, and an Irish Conscience; a Creature of a large Forehead, a prodigious Mouth, supple Hams, and no Brains: Noise and Debauchery, Oaths and Beggary, are the four Elements that compose him; his Arms are those of Isachar, an Ass couchant, of which the two Supporters are Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance. He seems to be descended from Esau, for he would fain truck away an invaluable Birth-right for a Popish Pretender; he has so great a Kindness for Popery and Slavery, that whenever they shall make a Match, he’ll be sure to put in for a Bride-man: But though some would fetch his Descendant from Esau, yet others (not without Reason) run his Pedigree a great deal higher, and take him to be a Noadite, or one of the Race of Cain, that would fain be persecuting his Brother, merely because he is more righteous than himself.

With respect to the State, a High-Churchman is a Caterpillar that devours every green Thing in a flourishing Kingdom, and would stab Liberty and Property to the Heart, that he and his Fellow-Brutes, like Beasts of Prey, might live wholly on Spoil and Rapine; they are fit only to be Subjects to Nebuchadnezzar, when (bereaved of human Sense) he herded with the wild Asses of the Desart. Though they boast themselves Englishmen, yet they act in all things like Antipodes to their native Country, and seem rather the Spawn of some staunch [Editor: word?] Jesuit; they are a Sort of wild Boars, that would fain root out the Constitution, and break the Balance of our happy Government, by rendering that despotic, which is [II-279] established and bounded by Law: He is so certain that Monarchy is Jure Divino, that he looks upon all People, living under Aristocracy’s or Democracy’s, to be in a State of Damnation; and fancies that the Grand Seignior, the Czar of Muscovy, and the French King dropt down from Heaven with Crowns on their Heads, and that all their Subjects (except the Priests ) were born with Saddles on their Backs. A right High-Flyer is as fond of Slavery, as others are of Liberty, and will be at as much Charge and Pains to obtain it; for he envies the Happiness of Canvas Breeches and Wooden Shoes: He admires the Mercy of the Inquisition, and prays for an Ecclesiastical Commission; he rails at Magna Charta as the Seed-plot of Sedition, and swears it was first obtained by Rebellion, and that all our Fore-fathers were Fools and Rogues, and did not understand Prerogative: He wonders why People should squander away their Time at the Inns of Court, or what need there is either of the Common Law, or the Statute-Book, since the King may at any time, with quicker Dispatch, declare his Pleasure in any Point or Controversy. But ’tis plain he means not his Majesty King George, whom he acknowledges to be so, because he has taken the Oaths to him. He will indeed boast of his Loyalty, but we never see any thing of it, unless it be to undermine the Government, he roars and swaggers, and promises Mountains, but performs Nothing, and by Lies and Misrepresentations, gives false Measures; and if he happens to be in a Place, or wear the King’s Cloth, it is not the Cause but the Crust that he barks for.

With relation to the Church, our Tory is either a Crab Protestant, that crawls backwards as fast as he can to Rome, or is at best but a Cats-foot, wherewith the Romish Monkies claw the Protestant Religion; he is one that does their Drudgery, though he has not the Wit to see it, and the Wages he must expect, is Polyphemus’s Courtesies, to be devoured last: He is a Flambeau, kindled by the Jesuits, and flung in to make a Combustion among us: He pretends High for the Church of England, but as he understands not her Doctrines, so he dishonours her by his lewd Conversation; the only Proof both of his Religion and Courage is, that he swears most fervently; [II-280] his Christianity consists in cursing all those that differ from him; his Tongue is always tipped with Damme, and Forty-One, and upon all Occasions belches out Huzza’s as fast as Mount Ætna does Fire and Brimstone.

He mortally hates Occasional Conformity, though himself can occasionally be present at Mass; and whilst he clamours at Dissenters for not coming to Church, he thinks it canonical enough to sleep over the Sabbath Day, to digest the Fumes of Saturday’s Debauch; or else he takes a Walk in St. Paul’s, peeps at the Preacher, and presently retires to the Tavern for a Whet to Dinner; if he happen to be of a more serious Temper, he is as superstitious a Bigot as any in the Romish Church, and he had rather have no Preaching, than that the Surplice should be left off, and thinks his Child not christened, if it be not done with the Sign of the Cross; he counts Opus Operatum sufficient, and thinks it a greater Abomination to eat Flesh on a Friday, than to defile his Neighbour’s Bed; and he abhors more, not to bow at the Syllables of the Word Jesus, than to swear by the Name of God; he is sure the Priests have a Divine Right from Jesus Christ, to do as much Wickedness as they please, and that it is the Duty of the Laity to bow down to them with their Faces to the Earth; he is fully persuaded, that the Clergy are so like the Apostles, that they came in an uninterrupted Succession from them; tho’ he seems to believe there are not more Gods than One, yet he knows there is no going to Heaven without a Ticket from the Lord’s Ambassadors, whom he firmly believes have the sole Right of disposing of Heaven and Hell: If you talk soberly with him about Religion, he slaps you over the Face with Heresy, Schism, and Faction, tells you he is of the Church, as by Law established, and so you are at once confuted by his unanswerable Arguments; he combats Truth with Curses, and Mercy with Madness; he takes Mischief for Merit, and his Priest for his Maker. In a Word, a Tory is a Tool of Rome, an Emissary of the Pretender’s, a Friend to Priestcraft, an Enemy to his King and Country, and an Underminer of our happy Constitution, both in Church and State.

[II-281]

A Sermon preached before the Learned Society of Lincoln’s-Inn, on January 30, 1732, from Job xxxiv. 30. That the Hypocrite reign not, lest the People be insnared.↩

Fieri potest, quod fit in multis quæstionibus, ut res verbosior illa sit, hæc brevior.

Cic.

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1733.

IN the thirty-fourth Chapter of the Book of Job, and the thirtieth Verse, it is thus written: - - - That the Hypocrite reign not, lest the People be insnared.

Friends, Brethren, and Countrymen,

I present myself before you, on this Occasion, with the greater Alacrity and Assurance, for that I am conscious of no Engagement to any Party or Opinion repugnant to Truth, and the general Interest of my Country: I am under no Pay or Influence to support ancient Prejudices and false Reasonings: under no Biass to flatter particular Fraternities and Factions, nor awed by the Fear of offending them. For the Rule and Guide of my Politics, I have the Constitution and History of England; and in my Religion, I am governed by the Bible and common Sense. He who walks by these Rules walks securely; and he who follows the arbitrary Notions, sophistical Distinctions, and bare Averments of Men, is sure to be deceived, at least can never know that he is not.

That the Hypocrite reign not, left the People be insnared.

The Task which from these Words I propose to myself, is to defend the Right of every Man to private Judgment [II-282] and Opinion, to shew the Absurdity and Wickedness of setting up Authority against Conscience, and to manifest the pernicious Tendency and Effects of Power and immoderate Wealth in the Clergy. As I go along, I shall apply my Reasoning to the Purpose of the Day; and, at the Conclusion, add a Word concerning the unhappy Prince, whose Blood was shed on this Day; with the proper Use to be made of it.

Good Sense is our first and last Guide, since by that we are to judge of all other Guides; and there is more Sound than Meaning in the Objection which some make to the Guidance of Reason, when they ask, “Whether we are to judge of that by which we are to be judged,” namely, the holy Scriptures; since we must recur to Reason to know whether the Scriptures be holy, and whether we are to be judged by them. ’Tis to little Purpose to tell us, that “for this we must take the Word and Authority of holy Men.” For, we must still consult our Reason whether these be holy Men or no, and whether we ought to believe them or no; seeing there are many Sets of Men all pretending to be holy, all claiming this Authority to themselves only, and all denying it to every other Set.

Our Reason must therefore determine, which of all these are the most holy, and whether any of them be more so than ourselves. If the Ways of Holiness and of Knowledge be as obvious to us as to them, we may have as much of either as they have; and, in Truth, the Sources of both are as open to us as to them. Besides, it ought to mortify their Pride, and be a Lesson of Humility to them, as it is surely one of Caution to us, to see that they never agree with one another; that even those of the same Society, professing the same Faith, subscribing the same Articles, and professing to believe the same Scriptures, agree not in the Rules and Explanations which they exhibit to us. Great is their Variance, not only about Ceremonies, Circumstantials and Discipline, but even about Essentials, about Principles to be believed, about Duties to be practised, and even about the Nature, Operations, and Attributes of the Deity; nay, equally great and signal is their Want of mutual Charity, as is their Want of Concord. Are these to be [II-283] our Guides, who thus pull us various and opposite Ways? Can they teach mutual Love and Forbearance, who hate and revile each other? And is it not notable Want of Modesty in them, who cannot agree with one another, to expect that we should agree with them all, or with any of them, when we approve not, or comprehend not, what they say, or when what they say is evidently for their Interest and against ours, as all their Aims at Power and Wealth evidently are?

This Reasoning, if it be true, as I think it is, will serve to condemn Archbishop Laud and his Associates, who exacted a blind Obedience to their own Tenets and Schemes, a rigid Conformity to all their Ceremonies, Inventions, and Innovations, and cruelly persecuted all who preferred Conscience to Complaisance, and were better Christians than Churchmen and Courtiers.

Surely it ought to check and cool the Fierceness of Religionists of all Sorts towards each other about Difference in Opinion, to behold how flaming and rigorous every Man is in behalf of his own; to behold the most ridiculous and pernicious Opinions defended with equal Obstinacy and Bitterness. The Jew, the Papist, the Mahometan, the Banian, have all equal Satisfaction in their own several Systems, have all equal Detestation for one another, and for every different Sect.

Is not this a pregnant Proof, that all this furious Zeal is false Zeal, that it is all miserable Bigotry and Prejudice, or constitutional Intemperance of Spirit? A zealous Jew, had he been bred a Papist, would have been equally zealous for Popery, and perhaps for burning those very Jews who are now his Brethren. Had the late Dr. Sacheverel been educated in the Scottish Kirk, he would, doubtless, have breathed as fierce Persecution against Prelacy as he has done for it, and treated it with as foul and uncomely Names, as he treated Dissenters and false Brethren.

The same is true of Archbishop Laud, and of other hasty and passionate Zealots; provided always, that all other Preferments in another Way be taken away; else the Batteries of their Zeal are often quickly changed, and turned against the Party for whom they were first erected: Witness Parker, Bishop of Oxford, and Ward, [II-284] Bishop of Sarum, once both holy, praying, and rigid Presbyterians, afterwards both rigid Persecutors of Presbyterians. Is it not probable that they would have died Presbyterians, had the Church Preserments been out of their Reach?

This Consideration therefore, that every Man is fond of his own Opinions, and not the less fond for their being very foolish and extravagant, ought to keep Men from quarrelling about any Opinions, and to look upon those who promote such Quarrels as Monsters, and their worst Enemies. This Enmity about Notions, Chimeras, Ceremonies, and other idle Disputes; this War about Words, and Creeds, and Articles, a War and Dispute which have produced such mighty Bloodshed and Desolation in the World, has been the sole Work and Contrivance of ambitious Clergymen; who, for Ends of their own, and the Gratification of their Pride and Fury, and other evil Passions, had the Art and Cruelty to make the Laity thus to persecute and butcher one another. What infamous Inhumanity was this in Clergymen? What Frenzy and Infatuation in the Laity? But such are ever the Effects of implicit Belief, which is naturally followed by implicit Obedience, which is the certain Beginning as well as the certain Consequence of Slavery. All this Evil, Uncharitableness, and Barbarity, arose from the wicked and impossible Attempt to force or suppress private Judgment and Conscience. Of such mighty Consequence it is, that the Hypocrite reign not; since, where-ever he does, the People will surely be insnared.

What added to this Evil and Insolence, this hellish Cruelty upon the Score of Opinion, and made it still more provoking and intolerable was, that it was all perpetrated in the Name of Christ, of the meek Jesus, and said to be for his Church and Cause: A Declaration so impudent and incredible, that it could only be made by Men who were void of Shame, to Men who wanted Eyes. It was as false as the Gospel was true; nor could a Revelation which inspired or warranted any Degree of Bitterness or Cruelty, ever have come from God, or from any but the Antagonist of God and Enemy of Man, from Hypocrites reigning, that is, tyrannizing in the Name of the Lord.

[II-285]

Yet so these hardened Deluders argued, trusting to the Power of Delusion; especially when to that Power of Delusion they had added a good Share of secular Power. And before they could make the Laity such blind Tools as to be the Tormentors and Executioners of one another, they had eradicated every Grain and Principle of Charity out of their Hearts, yet made them believe themselves the only true Christians.

This was the Use which such Clergymen made of the boundless Trust and Power given them by the Laity; and over the Laity they exercised it without Bounds or Mercy. Such was the Power of Laud and the Clergy of his Time, and such the unhallowed and inhuman Use which they made of it; yet that Use was the usual and natural Use, the Power itself being unnatural. Indeed, worldly Power and Opulence in such as preach the Gospel, are so repugnant to the Spirit and Precepts of the Gospel, that it is no Wonder they cannot thrive or indeed subsist together; but the Gospel must either destroy them, or they the Gospel. It is too visible on which Side the Victory has chiefly turned. Whatever fills Men with Pride and Hatred, and prompts them to Severity and Revenge, may be Popery or Mahometanism, but is just as contrary to Christianity, as Christianity is to all Pride and Hatred, to all Rigour and Vengeance.

From hence it is plain who they are, what Set of Men, that have hurt and abused, perverted and abolished Christianity most. I am sorry to say it, but it is too true, that in many Countries, and at many Times, the Church and Religion have been very distinct and opposite Things: Sure I am, that I have seen very good Churchmen who were very bad Christians, and some who were no Christians at all. I will not say that Laud was no Christian; but I may boldly affirm, that he resembled not the first Christians, nor possessed a Christian Temper: An extreme good Churchman I readily own him.

That it is not Religion or Christianity, but chiefly, if not only, Passion and Prejudice, which determine Men to a Fondness for their own Set of Notions and for their own Community, appears from hence, that if a vicious Man be on their Side, especially if he profess much Zeal for his Party, they cherish and extol him; whilst upon [II-286] a very unblameable and pious Man, who is not of their Party, they are apt to bestow very ill Language, and often ill Usage. This is not the Spirit of true Religion, but of Passion and Partiality: Yet this Spirit too many derive from their particular Religion, which they think the best, but which surely is very bad; and it were better they had none, than one which banishes their Reason and Humanity. Now, if such a Spirit should ever happen to possess those who profess to be our Guides, we may judge how wise and safe it would be to trust to their Guidance, or even to own them as Guides. Had there been no such Guides about an hundred Years ago, we should not, in all Likelihood, have had this Day now to solemnize. The strange Doctrines and bitter Oppressions in those Days, naturally produced such a Day as this Day.

It is not Religion, at least not the Christian Religion, that heats and animates such Men; it is only Faction, a Complication of evil and unhallowed Passions. Whoever loves or hates, blesses or curses, from Anger or Fondness, from Obligation or Resentment, belies Religion, if he pretend, under its holy Name, to hide base Ends, and a worldly and partial Heart. It is by such selfish and unworthy Ways that the Church and Religion have sometimes come to signify contradictory Things: It is thus that Men who have had no Religion or Virtue, have been extolled as excellent Churchmen: It is thus that Men of the highest Religion and Virtue, have been, and often are, reviled and condemned as bad Churchmen; and it is thus that pious Christians have been punished, sometimes burned, by such as were special Churchmen, but not Christians. And indeed, whenever such false Zealots manifest such a Spirit of Impatience, of Rage and Reviling, they cannot give a clearer Proof that such Spirit is not of Christ, since it is so opposite to his Spirit. Nor can Men who shew themselves full of Bitterness and want of Charity, be at all commissioned by him, who was all Meekness, and gave to his Disciples a new Commandment, that they should love one another, and even love their Enemies. Yet who so sudden to wax wroth as many of his pretended Successors? Who more forward and unmanly in calling unseemly Names; a [II-287] Practice as common with many of them, as with the meanest Men, and even the lowest Sort of Women? Heretic, Atheist, Infidel, are amongst such Churchmen Words of Reproach, equivalent to the foul Language which the Vulgar throw at one another, and equally shocking to well-bred Men and true Christians.

Surely, from Men who come from God, and are Vicegerents to his Son, one would naturally expect a Godlike Behaviour, with an uncommon Store of Christian Meekness and Benevolence. How does Rage, how do gross Names of Abuse, how does Uncharitableness, Revenge, Avarice, Ambition, and the most savage Passions and Demeanour, suit with a Commission from Heaven, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost?

I proceed now to discourse more directly upon the undue Wealth and Power of the Clergy, and the great Evils attending the same; from whence will appear the Calamities and certain Thraldom attending the Reign of Hypocrites.

The Clergy, whenever they were left to take as much Power and Wealth as they pleased, rarely thought the Whole too much; nor do I remember any Instance where-ever they owned that they had enough. Thus they have ingrossed some Countries whole; of others the greatest and best Parts; and as much as they could of all. Where they have the Soil, they have the Power in Course; and where they have both (that is to say in Popish Countries) they are the most unmerciful of all Landlords, and the most oppressive of all Magistrates, Look over the fine Continent of Italy, and other Climes where Priests riot and tyrannize, you will find the Laity there and every where starving, when the Clergy are the Land Owners.

Ought not the Laity in other Countries to take Warning by this? And is it not monstrous and unnatural for any Number of Laymen to concur with the Clergy in their exorbitant Claims? Should not the Laity too learn, by the Example of the Clergy, to take Care of themselves? What Wealth the Clergy have, they have from the Laity: By the Power that they seek or assume, they would bind and govern the Laity. Is it natural, or just, [II-288] or wise in the Laity, to impoverish themselves in order to enrich the Clergy, to forge their own Chains, to exalt their own Creatures and Pensioners into Tyrants and Taskmasters; or to suffer them so to exalt themselves? Can they forget the Insolence and Tyranny of Archbishop Laud, the terrible Height of Power which he had usurped, with his aspiring Views to raise the Clergy above the Laity and the Law? Can they forget his saucy Declaration, that he hoped to see the Time when ne'er a Jack Gentleman in England should dare to be covered before the meanest Priest? And as an Indication how much many of the Clergy thought, and wished, and designed, as he did, they of this Stamp have been ever since adoring and extolling this usurping Archpriest, this Persecutor and Oppressor, this Instrument and Prompter of Oppression.

The Man who contends for Power and Riches to the Priests, is ever popular with the High-Priesthood, ever their Darling; nor are they always over anxious about the Soundness of either his Faith or Mora’s. Is not this too a Rule and Example to the Laity? And ought not the Laity to prize and protect, and encourage any Layman who asserts the Rights and Privileges of his Brethren the Laity? Is it not equally fair, and grateful, and honourable, to cherish and esteem any Clergyman, or Number of Clergymen, who are candid enough to maintain the Interest and Independency of the Laity? Is it not foolish, ungrateful, dishonest, and even barbarous, to revile or evil-intreat such Clergymen; to abuse and weaken these our Friends, and to join with our Enemies, with such as would enthral us, and bring us under their blind Guidance? Where the Clergy are opulent, do not the People starve? Where the Clergy have Power, are not the People Slaves? Is it not thus in Spain, thus in Italy? In these Countries, where they are Proprietors of all Things, and govern all Men, can they be even said to be Teachers, or even to be Christians? No; their Teaching is deceiving, their Doctrines are Lies and Impieties, and their Lives antichristian. Christianity and Truth would undo them. They have therefore banished Christianity and erected the Priesthood; and for Christ and Truth, they preach themselves and Fables. Every [II-289] one, from the least even unto the greatest, is given to Covetousness; from the Prophet even to the Priest, every one dealeth falsely. Jer. viii. 10.

This is the Effect of Power and Wealth in Churchmen; two Things which have proved such a certain and heavy Curse upon Religion and the World, as if the holy Author of both meant thence to convince Mankind, how pernicious, how destructive they every-where are to his Church and People, and to warn all Men and Nations against suffering or encouraging them.

Great Power and Revenues in Churchmen have not only produced and multiplied every Mischief formerly known in the World, but also produced Mischiefs so new and terrible, as the World, even the Pagan World, never knew before; such as Persecution and Butchery for Conscience and Opinion, Wars and national Massacres for Religion, with that mighty Compendium of all that is horrid, treacherous, and cruel, upon Earth, the execrable Tribunal of the Inquisition. What had Paganism so shocking and horrible, as to be compared to this? Not even their human Sacrifices, which were few in Comparison, occasional, and stated. The Inquisition is a continual human Slaughter-house; and in it Men, Myriads of Men, have been immolated, after tedious Macerations in dark and frightful Dungeons, after unrelenting Racks and Tortures, with every Species of Treachery, Misery and Terror; and all for the best Thing which they could do, for their Sincerity and Piety in worshipping the Deity in the Way which they were persuaded he liked best.

Now, as the Inquisition is nothing but the highest Improvement of Persecution, which begins with Tests and negative Penalties, but ends in Fires and Halters, I will enumerate a few of the many Causes for which Men are committed to it; and they are such, and so various, that no Man, who in the least exercises his own Faculties, or practises common Charity and Mercy, or even has common Commerce with the World, can avoid it.———If he has heard a Heretic preach or pray (that is, if he has thus heard the best and wisest Man upon Earth, who differs from the Extravagancies of Churchmen:) If when he is summoned he appear not: If being excommunicate, [II-290] he sue not for Absolution: If a Heretic (for Example, a Mr. Locke, or a Sir Isaac Newton ) be his Friend: If he do any Act of Kindness for a Heretic; visit him, treat him, assist him, or shew him Pity, or give him Counsel: If he suspect the Truth of their lying Legends and forged Miracles: If he assert the Indifference of Meats or of Days, or interpret Scripture according to his own and to common Sense: If he conceal any Heresy, his own or other People’s: If he spare Father or Mother, Wife or Child,———he is for these, or any of these Causes, and for a thousand others, liable to the unparallel’d Cruelties of the Inquisition. Let me add, that by Heresy is meant every conscientious, honest, rational, and benevolent Opinion, differing from the senseless, narrow, barbarous Whims and Grimaces of the Priests.

As a Proof what quick Havock such a Tribunal must make in a Country, Cardinal Turquemeda, the first Inquisitor-General in Spain, even in the Infancy of the Inquisition, brought an hundred thousand Souls into it in the small Space of fourteen Years: Of these, six thousand were burnt alive. Observe too, that when such Persons are seized, all that they have is also seized, and their Families left to starve, or sent thither too, if they shew Pity, or attempt Assistance.

Can the merciful and wise God, can the meek and compassionate Jesus, who laid down his Life for Men, have any thing to do with such a Church, or with such hellish Instruments and Butchers, impudently calling themselves holy, and their Scene of Butchery the holy Office? Wisely did our first Reformers disown her being a Church: Laud, afterwards, and his Followers, laboured to restore her Credit, contended for her being a true Church, and even derived themselves from her; nay, strove to shew themselves worthy of the Kindred and Descent, by assuming her Pride and Cruelties: Witness their numerous Imprisonments, excessive Fines, Whippings, Dismembrings, and other Barbarities; to their own Infamy, and to the Dishonour of Protestants and of our Nation.

Equal to its other Horrors is the black Treachery practised by that detestable Court, and by all who belong to, [II-291] or assist it. In order to insnare a Man into the Inquisition, they will travel Countries, and cross the Seas, to become acquainted with him; will court, caress and flatter him, treat him, make him Presents, lend him Money, administer to his Pleasures, seem to love and adopt his Opinions, rail at the Church, curse his Persecutors and the Inquisition, and swear him an eternal Friendship———all with a black and murderous Purpose, to seize him in a proper Place, and carry him off to the Fires and Racks of that infernal Tribunal. But where the Interest of that Church is concerned, Villainy changes its Nature, and becomes meritorious; and the blackest Perfidy, and even Perjury, is esteemed and practised as good Policy. Thus the Pope’s Legate, at the Head of a Crusade against the Albigenses, entrapped their Protector and General, the Count de Beziers, solemnly sworn not to hurt him, and then seized and imprisoned him.

Let me just add upon this Head, that Blasphemy, or any outrageous Words and Defiance offered to Almighty God, is not punishable, nor cognizable in the Inquisition. The great Crime and Pursuit there is Heresy; that is to say, Blasphemy against the Trade and Opinion of Priests. So that any profane Wretch may blaspheme God without Fear of the Inquisitors, provided he blaspheme like a good Churchman, and say nothing against the Priests or their Gear: But if Heresy be mixed with his Blasphemy, he cannot hope to escape. Most remarkable too and shocking is the Impudence and Hypocrisy of these Inquisitors, when after having long starved in their horrid Dungeons the wretched Offender; after having long terrified, misused and tortured him, they at last deliver him over to the secular Arm: They have the solemn Assurance, to beseech the Civil Magistrate, in the Bowels of Jesus Christ, not to hurt his Life or Limb; yet would excommunicate the Civil Magistrate, if he did not burn him alive.———Such is the terrible Power and Falshood of Hypocrites reigning.

I am far from thinking that what I have said about the Inquisition is a Digression. That terrible Part of Popery, or indeed any other Part of Popery, which is all terrible, is too little known in England. For some time after the Reformation, a due Horror was kept up [II-292] amongst the People by our Preachers against the Church of Rome: And it was done like Protestants, and is their Duty at all times; and they who omit it are unworthy of the Name, and I doubt have dark and unprotestant Designs. But when our Clergy began to contend for equal Dominion and Wealth, they found that they could not consistently rail at the Church of Rome, and yet follow her Example. And so far altered was their Stile at last, that instead of painting and reviling her, as an old withered Harlot, the Mother of Abominations and Whoredoms, and drunk with the Blood of the Saints, it became fashionable to defend her, nay, to praise her, and even to punish such as exposed her; such uncommon Friends she found in Laud and his Adherents. It is true, he and some others of that Cast wrote Books against some Parts of Popery. But what signified writing against Papists, when he was introducing and practising Popery at home? For, all Cruelty, or even Severity for Opinion, and all Authority assumed over Conscience and the Soul, is Popery, by whatever Name it be called. Besides, it was natural for Laud, who was acting as Pope himself, to deny the Power of the other Pope, at least here; and for the bare Notions, the Ceremonies, the Grimaces and Mummery of Popery, they are of little Consequence, any farther than as they tend to introduce and preserve its Power, by creating or continuing Delusion in the People.

Laud and his Adherents were notorious Persecutors; and all Persecution is Popery; and every Degree of it, even the smallest Degree is an Advance towards the Inquisition. As negative Penalties are the first Degree, so Death and Burning is the last and highest; all the other Steps are but natural Gradations following the first Degree, and introducing the last. For the smallest implies the Necessity of a greater, where the former fails; and consequently of the greatest of all, which is the Inquisition.

Was it now at all wonderful, that Laud and his Associates were chargep with being Papists, when they were openly introducing and exerting all the terrible Parts of Popery, Church Power and Persecution, and thus establishing Church Tyranny and an Inquisition? [II-293] For, it was thus that that bloody Court was established; and the like Claims and Practices will always introduce and establish it. Madam de Motteville, in the Memoirs of Anne of Austria, says expresly, upon the Authority and Information of King Charles the First’s Queen, that Laud was a good Catholic in his Heart. It is certain, that he brought in what was most terrible in Popery, its Power and Cruelty, with not a few of its Fooleries and Superstitions. Whoever is a Tyrant and Persecutor is a Papist, in the only Sense of the Word that Protestants and Freemen are concerned about.

Let such as claim Power to controul Conscience and Opinion consider this, if they have not considered it already. Let those too over whom such Power is claimed consider it, and look upon the Men who claim it, as Enemies and Deceivers, that would seduce them in order to inslave them. How would any Man, any Protestant (who dares own his Opinion) like the Inquisition? Without doubt he would abhor it: Let him likewise abhor the Ways and Practices that lead to it; for it is supported entirely by the Power of the Clergy, which never has, never can produce any Good. As Dominion over Thoughts and Notions is in itself a Monster, the greatest of all Monsters, it must be supported by monstrous Means, even by Priests wielding or directing the Civil Sword; the pretended Followers of the humble Jesus, treading upon the Necks of Nations, engrossing their Wealth, and spilling their Blood.

Is any Man fond of his Liberty, as all Men naturally are, and of his own Opinions (for this too is natural) and of examining all Opinions; which every Man has a Right to do? Would he worship God after his own Way, be subject to no Man’s insolent Rebukes and Controul, be exempt from vexatious Suits and Prosecutions, from clerical Curses followed with Civil Punishments, with Dungeons, and (as they say) with Damnation? Would he preserve his Conscience, his Person, his Time and his Property, and all that is dear to him, safe and intire? He is in consequence of all this obliged for ever to oppose all Power in the Clergy, at it has been ever found utterly repugnant to whatever [II-294] is dear to Men and Societies. I know not that ever they possessed Power without using it perniciously: I know not that ever they could persecute, and did not persecute: Such of them as had most argued and inveighed against Persecution, when they were under it, exercised it afterwards without Shame or Remorse, whenever they got the Rod into their own Hands. Thus the Catholics acted against the Arians; thus the latter acted against the former; both complaining heavily of Persecution, both heavy Persecutors.

St. Athanasius could at one time argue,

“that the Devil does therefore use Violence, because he has a bad Cause, and the Truth is not on his Side. Jesus Christ, on the contrary, uses only Exhortations, because his Cause is good: If any Man will be my Disciple, let him follow me. He forces no Man to follow him; nor enters by Force where he is shut out,” Whence that Father observes, “that this persecuting Sect could not be of God.”

So argued all the Orthodox upon that Occasion, and I think very truly. St. Hilary urges the same Argument to an Arian Emperor and Persecutor, and denies the Arians to be the true Church, for this very Reason. But the Orthodox, when they were uppermost, changed their Tone; and never were there more merciless Persecutors, Oppressors, and Butchers than they. Hence their own Reasoning has been frequently turned upon them; and the Heretics have charged them, in their Turn, as being none of Christ’s Flock, because they had renounced his Spirit, and exercised Force and Cruelty. The Donatists particularly insulted them upon this unchristian Inconsistency.

But so it hath eternally happened, that no Reasoning, not even their own Reasoning, could ever restrain Churchmen, orthodox or heterodox, when they were invested with Power, or with the Direction of Power, from using it violently. The Presbyterians justly exclaimed against the Violence and Tyranny of Archbishop Laud and his Brethren, for harassing, imprisoning, fining, and persecuting them, and even driving them from their native Homes, to seek Peace and Shelter, and the quiet Worship of God in the Woods of America. He [II-295] had converted the High Commission Court into an Inquisition; nay, every Bishop’s Court was become an Inquisition; and many of the best Churchmen were silenced, fined, and even deprived, for adhering honestly to the Doctrines of the Reformation, to primitive Strictness of Manners, and for observing the Sabbath.

Did the Presbyterians afterwards, these very Presbyterians, who had thus groaned and smarted under Persecution, and complained of its Injustice and Fury, exercise Charity and Forbearance towards others who dissented from them, when they were become Masters of Ecclesiastical Rule? No: Never was a more bitter, untolerating Race, or more rigorous Exactors of Conformity. Every Man who differed from them was an Enemy to the State, an Innovator, forsooth, whom it behoved the State to suppress. They had forgot that Laud had brought the same Charge against them but a little before, and how unmercifully they had been then used as public Incendiaries, Enemies, and Innovators. Nor do any Set of Priests fail to draw down, if they can, the Anger of the Crown upon any Man who has merited theirs. Thus the Monks of St. Denis in France, in the twelfth Century, accused the famous Abelard, then amongst them, with being an Enemy to the Glory and Crown of France, only for denying that their Founder was Dionysius the Areopagite, mentioned in the New Testament. It is indeed a Charge which all domineering Priests in the World have ever brought, will ever bring, against all who offend them, against all who withdraw from their Power, and disown their Systems. The Presbyterians, when undermost, felt this to be true, both before and afterwards; and always when they felt it, exclaimed against it; but took it up themselves without blushing, as soon as ever they tasted of Dominion.

The Churchmen too, they who had persecuted the Presbyterians without all Mercy, the Moment they found themselves persecuted by Presbyterians, made heavy Outcries against Persecution, and preached and wrote for Toleration. It was then that Dr. Taylor published his Book, intitled, The Liberty of Prophesying: An excellent Book it is, and was then extremely applauded by his Brethren of the Episcopal Profession. But did these [II-296] Churchmen, did even Dr. Taylor, after the Restoration, observe their own Reasoning and Writings for Indulgence to Dissenters? No; it was the great Business of the Churchmen, when they had resumed their old Seats and Revenues, to preach, to write, to solicit severe Laws, and then the Execution of these Laws, against their Protestant Brethren, during all that long Reign.

Was not all this strangely inconsistent, as well as strangely unchristian, on both Sides? And was it not strange Madness, as well as Wickedness, in the Civil Power, to gratify the sour and aspiring Spirit of the Ecclesiastics, by plaguing and punishing the People about Religion? There is no End of their Demands, nor of the Unreasonableness of such Demands. In Spain, where they profess to burn Heretics, that is to say, Protestants, they complain of it at the same time, as Persecution in a Protestant Country, to imprison a Romish Priest, however factious and busy he be in perverting of Protestants. The High Clergy in England, though avowed Enemies to a Toleration here, would think it terrible Persecution to deny it to themselves, or their Brethren in Scotland. Ay, but we of the Church of England are the true Church of Christ, says the English Episcopalian: And so says Rome of herself, so says Scotland, so says Geneva and Greece, and so say all Churches in the World; and each of them would persecute and abolish all the rest as false or defective.

This is not the Spirit of Religion, nor of its Author, but an open Departure from that Spirit. It is the Spirit of Faction and Fury, which utterly blinds Men, and extinguishes that of Peace and Charity, without which Men cannot be Followers of Christ. Did we not daily see it, it would be incredible, to what Extravagancies religious Disputes will carry Men. Daniel Tilenus, a learned Man, and public Professor (I think, of Divinity) became so heated in favour of Arminiasm, in opposition to Calvinism and Predestination, that he declared, were he obliged to change his Religion, he would turn Turk sooner than Calvinist; for he denied that the Calvinists believed in God, and owned that the Turks did. Grotius, when Ambassador for Sweden in France, had two Chaplains, a Calvinist and a Lutheran, [II-297] who preached by Turns. What they principally laboured was to revile one another, and their Sermons were only Invectives. The Ambassador, tired and ashamed of the Extravagancies of these reverend Madmen, begged them to explain the Gospel, without wounding Christian Charity. This good Advice neither of them relished. His Lutheran Chaplain particularly replied, that he must preach what God inspired; and went on in the old Strain. For, all the Ravings of hot-headed Divines are fathered upon God. Grotius at last ordered him either to forbear railing or preaching. The meek Preacher turned away in great Wrath, expressing his Amazement, that a Christian Ambassador should shut the Mouth of the Holy Ghost. This he thought terrible Usage, and Persecution, and published his Complaints every where, that Grotius had shut the Mouth of the Holy Ghost; that is, his Chaplain’s Mouth.

I return to consider the Consequences of Power and great Wealth in the Clergy. These Acquirements of Opulence and Dominion were so foreign to the first preaching of the Gospel, so little known to its Author, and his Disciples, that ’tis no Wonder they assorted so ill with it, and at last so strangely transformed it, and even banished all but the Name. What can be seen of Christ and his Humility, of the Apostles and their Poverty, in the Pomp and Pride, in the Fierceness and Domination of Priests? Is ought of the Plainness and Simplicity of the Gospel to be found in the Intricacies of School Divinity, in the endless Wranglings and wonderful Distinctions of Ecclesiastics? Does the Pope, or such as resemble, or would resemble the Pope, bear any Likeness of Christ, or of St. Peter? Did the Ambition of the Bishops and Clergy, their Avidity for Power and rich Churches, for which they contended with Blows, and Bloodshed and Slaughter, come from Christ, or from the Genius of his Religion? Were the Seditions, Tumults and War which ensued such ambitious Pursuits, the Effects of a Christian, or of a Clerical Spirit? Yet were not such Evils and terrible Calamities immediately derived from the Thirst of the Clergy after Grandeur and Authority?

[II-298]

At first they had no Revenue but Alms, and of these Alms they had only a Share; but to that Share they at last added (I had almost said feloniously) the Whole, cheating the Donors, and robbing the Poor. They afterwards greatly enlarged these Revenues (which were at first chiefly usurped) by Arts and Contrivances sufficiently wicked and vile, even by deceiving silly Women and Bigots, and selling them Salvation for present Money and Rents; by terrifying the Weak and Dying, and forcing them to compound for Heaven, by parting with all that they possessed on Earth. Father Paul, that rational and honest Clergyman, says, that the Church is beholden for her greatest Legacies and Donations, to the Bounty of infamous Women, Strumpets and Prostitutes, or to that of peevish People, who thus gratified their Spite towards their own Blood and Relations. And as the Church had no Riches but what were freely given her, or taken or gotten unjustly by her; so she had no Power but what was either begged or usurped. What Use they have made of both, we have already seen. It is most natural, that what is ill gotten, should be ill used.

It would make a curious History, to discover and explain minutely, from what particular Men, and by what particular Arts and Application, every Farm, every Estate and Donation, now possessed by Churchmen, was at first acquired. I question, whether any Revenues in the World were ever so wickedly procured; since to inrich the Church, all Means, even Wickedness, Murder and Impiety, were deemed lawful. Thus Assassins and Blasphemers merited Protection and Absolution; Tyranny and Oppression were warranted and sanctified; holy Snares were laid, false Terrors spread, Miracles forged, God’s Name belied, and Jesus and his blessed Mother profanely personated by Priests, to delude Enthusiasts; as if these heavenly Beings had thus honoured them with a Visit in Person.

It were endless to enumerate all the Arts and Impieties, Impostures and Lies, by which Churchmen formerly filled their Coffers, at the Expence, and through the Stupidity of Laymen. And though no Possessions were ever so impiously obtained, I never heard any Instance [II-299] of their parting with them from Remorse or Shame, even whilst the right Heirs, by being thus deprived of their Estates, were starving, and the Possessors (or rather Usurpers) gorged with more Wealth than they could use even in their Luxury and Debauches. Whatever was once annexed to the Church, in these Days of Usurpation and Darkness (however knavishly or violently obtained) was forthwith sacred and unalienable; nay, it became no less than Sacrilege, to divest her of what she had gained by Robbery and Fraud. For, whatever was once hers, even her Frauds and Crimes, were holy; and it was profane to censure them, or indeed to see them; and he was profane, nay atheistical, who did it. Whoever found Fault with the Church, was an Enemy to the Church; and he who was an Enemy to the Church, was an Atheist. Hence the frequent and ridiculous Application of Atheism and Blasphemy, till these two Words, of themselves very awful, grew contemptible. As to the Quantity of the Church’s Wealth, she never knew any Stint or Bounds; but whilst the Laity had to give, she took, till in some Countries she had all, and they Rags and no Bread.

Even in this Protestant Nation, it is computed, that they have a fifth Part of our Wealth; yes, that fifteen or twenty thousand Priests are endowed with the fifth Part of the Property of eight Millions of People. Are they satisfied with this? And do they never aim at more, or complain of this as too little? If they do, ’tis not for the Reputation of their Modesty: I am sorry to add, that they are in a Way of draining and monopolizing all the Wealth of England. It is thought, that the Revenue of the Churchmen is at present as large as in the Times of Popery, notwithstanding the Demolition of so many Monasteries, and the Seizure of their Revenues; considering that the Clergy then maintained the Poor, who are now supported chiefly by the Laity, at an immense Charge, no less than two Millions a Year. There are indeed some Individuals who have very small Salaries: But whose Fault is that? Are there not others, who wallow in Thousands, yet do less Duty than such as are in constant Service with Appointments of ten or twenty Pounds a Year? Why should not the Wealth of [II-300] the Church be more equally and charitably divided. But so it often is, that the more Churchmen have, the more they seek, yet the less they do. To all this I wish it were not in my Power to add, but it is true, and I must add it, that whatever Corruptions have crept into the Church, did so by the Contrivance, at least by the Connivance, of Churchmen, and were never afterwards removed by their Consent.

They are always forward to complain of Innovations, and of disturbing Things that are settled. But who have made more Innovations than Churchmen? Who have more disturbed and changed Religion and States, by their Ambition, by their Disputes, by their turbulent Behaviour and exorbitant Claims? And, who are so much given to change? What Changes, what violent and lawless Changes were there not wrought by Laud and his Brethren in his Time, and always attempted by those of his Spirit ever since? The Laity have been only on the defensive, warding off the Attempts and monstrous Demands of such of the Clergy, and answering their wild Writings. What is a great Part of Ecclesiastical History, but a continual Detail and Repetition of the Efforts of the Clergy to govern Mankind, and to master the World? Was not this an Innovation with a witness, a Propensity to change, and actual and alarming Change? Were they not continually attempting to be what they were not, to have what they had not, still to be richer, still to be greater? Could there be a greater Change than from the Almsmen of the People to become Lords and Princes; from Poverty and Humility, to rise to Mitres and Diadems, and Dominion? And could such a Change, a Change so mighty and unnatural, be accomplished without turning the World upside down?

This is something more than quieta movere, something more than disturbing Things that were quiet. Did not Laud actually master and abolish the Laws of his Country, assert the Independency of the Clergy upon the Civil Power, and terrify the Judges from issuing Prohibitions, as they were actually sworn to do? And did the Spirit of Laud, and this Passion in the Clergy of his Stamp, for Dominion, Independency, and Princely [II-301] Revenues, die with Laud? No: They have even improved upon his Scheme, and added, if possible, to his wild and enslaving Pretensions; and, as a Proof that they were the Pretensions of the Body, at least of the Majority, the Convocation could never be persuaded to censure them.

In short, whoever doubts, whether they (I mean all along, such of the Clergy as ambitiously pursued Power) have not been the Authors of Changes in the World, of great and calamitous Changes; whether they have not themselves changed and degenerated from their Patterns and Original, need only read History, and compare them with Christ and his Apostles, compare their Pretensions, Pomp, Luxury, and Possessions, with the Simplicity, Humility, Labour, and Disinterestedness of the Primitive Christians.

The Truth, I doubt, is, when they make this Complaint, which is very usual with them, then it is not safe to disturb Things which are established, they only mean to discourage People from disturbing them in their favourite Pursuit after Power and Riches. Whatever is established by the New Testament and the Law, no Man that I know is for disturbing. But if they have Aims and Demands which are neither warranted by Christ nor the Constitution, it is right, and christian, and legal, to disturb, and even to defeat them.

Such high Claimers, therefore, of Princely Rule and Opulence (if there be any such) are the Men given to change; and it is always just to oppose Usurpation, to redress Grievances, remove Nuisances, and to attack Fraud, Avarice, and Nonsense.

It would be endless to deduce Particulars. But suppose any assuming Clergyman were so extravagant and daring, and had so little Regard to Conscience and public Tranquillity, as to attempt to establish an Ecclesiastical Tribunal in our Colonies abroad, to the Terror and Affliction of our Brethren there, who were many of them first driven thither by the Oppression and Barbarity of such Courts here, especially in Archbishop Laud’s Reign; would not such an Attempt tend to a bold Innovation, and discover a busy, an arrogant and dangerous Spirit in such a Clergyman; and would he [II-302] not be a good Subject and an honest Man, who set himself against such a lewd Attempt, and exposed its wicked Tendency?

Suppose any other Clergyman such an Enemy to the Civil Constitution, and to the Church of England, or such a Deserter from it, as to contend for the Indepency of the Clergy, for their Exemption from the Civil Laws, nay for trying a Clergyman when he is tried, by a Jury of Clergymen; would not such a Man deserve severe Animadversion and Punishment; and would it not be honest and meritorious, to defend the Laws, and repulse this their Enemy, this Innovator, this Papist?

Suppose any other designing Priest, fond of promoting Superstition for the Ends of Authority and Gain, should abuse the Credulity of the People, by pretending to convey Holiness into Ground and Stone Walls; as if Earth or Stone, or any thing inanimate, were susceptible of Sanctity, or their Quality to be altered by solemn Words; and all this without any Colour of Warrant from Law or Gospel, but in Opposition to the Spirit of both; would not such a crafty Priest be a false Guide, an Innovator, who relinquished Truth and the Protestant Religion, to promote Error, and to introduce Popery and Delusion? And would not he who resisted and confuted him, be a Friend to Society, a Defender of Truth, and a Foe to Fraud?

Suppose any Clergymen so bent upon exalting Churchmen and their Revenue (for the sure Way of raising Them is to raise That) that he encouraged Designs and Schemes for transferring the whole Wealth of a Nation, by no slow Degrees, into the Coffers of the Clergy; would not such a Man be a Promoter of Change, of a universal and melancholy Change, and a declared Enemy to the Laity? And would it not be becoming Laymen, nay, incumbent on them, to be upon their Guard, to secure their Estates, and to preserve themselves and Posterity from Poverty and Vassalage?

Suppose (once more) that any other Clergyman should have the Boldness to declare publickly, that a Brother Clergyman (a Bishop, for Example) still continued a true Bishop of the Church of Christ, even though he stood convicted of, and deprived for the highest and [II-303] blackest Crimes, namely, Perjury, Disloyalty, Conspiracy, Treason and Rebellion; would not such a Declaration be highly insolent, scandalous, and punishable? To tell those who make Priests, that they cannot unmake them, nor one of them, would be to tell them, that Priests are above the Law and the Laity; that the Clergy have a Power and Designation which Laymen cannot take away, though the Laity and the Law actually create them, and confer upon them the only Designation that they can have, nay, confer their whole Office; nor does our Constitution particularly own, or know any Character in any Subject whatsoever, but what the Law alone bestows; and all the Clergy renounce upon Oath all Power whatsoever but what they derive from hence. An Act of Parliament would to-morrow effectually degrade all the Clergy in Great Britain; that is, reduce them all to Laymen, and create so many Priests immediately out of the Laity, without a Jot more Apparatus or Ceremony. Whoever is declared to be a Priest by any Society, is a Priest to them, and ceases to be one the Moment they declare him none. The strange Notion of an indelible Character is arrant Nonsense and true Priestcraft, nay the Ground-work of all Priestcraft. Would it therefore be borne by an Assembly of Law-makers, so tender of their Liberties and of Protestantism as ours are, to have this same indelibel Character, this Root of Popery, maintained to their Faces? And would it not draw down their Indignation and Censures upon the bold Offender, I had almost said, Deceiver? Surely it would; and therefore

I mention these Instances as bare Possibilities, which can never be suffered in this free Protestant Country, but are common in Popish Countries, nay, are some of the reigning Tenets and Practices which support Popery. How zealous Laud was in such Popish Practices and Tenets, I have not now Time to explain. Read his Life and Trial.

It is now high Time to draw towards a Conclusion, by considering briefly what produced the Tragedy of this Day; a Consideration which will lead us to see how such Tragedies are to be prevented. The immediate Instruments of the King’s Murder were violent Men, supported by a powerful Army, gained and commanded [II-304] by a Usurper. This Power in the Army, and his Power over it, were the Effects of the Civil War, which was itself caused by the Misunderstanding and Struggle between the King and Parliament. What originally produced this Misunderstanding, which produced all the rest, is what we are principally to attend to. It is of much less Moment to know by what Hands the King fell, than to know how such Hands, or any Hands, came to be lifted up against him.

Now, if we enquire into the first Cause, from which all the rest naturally followed, we shall find that the Violence of his Reign caused his violent End. It is not to be denied nor disguised, that from the very Beginning the Court aimed at arbitrary Power, openly pursued it, and for fifteen Years together practised it, raising Money without Law, and against Law; which was Robbery in those who enforced the Collection of it; imprisoning Men, the best and greatest Men, without Law and against Law; which was lawless Cruelty; seizing the Lands and Estates of others, without Right and against Right; which was flagrant Oppression and Violence; assuming and exercising a Power to dispense with Laws, that is, a Power to make and annul Laws; which was manifest Usurpation; and, in short, establishing an Arbitrary and Turkish Authority over the Persons, and Rights and Fortunes of the People; which was apparent and undeniable Tyranny.

Between Law and Violence, between Right and Tyranny, there is no Medium, no more than between Justice and Oppression. If King Charles had no Right to act thus, then his acting thus was Tyranny. If he had a Right, of what Force are Laws and Oaths, and where is our Constitution, and boasted Birthrights of Englishmen, and our ancient Magna Charta? Why was his Son King James turned out? why declared to have forfeited? And I would ask the Admirers and Defenders of King Charles I. how they would have liked, how borne such Violences, such lawless Doings and Misrule in King William; how in the late Reign; how in this? How would they have relished the Imprisonment of their Persons, Taxes laid on and exacted without Consent of Parliament, arbitrary and excessive Fines, their [II-305] Estates seized, their Families impoverished or famishing? Doubtless, no Men would have been louder in the Cry of Tyranny; and very just and natural would have been such a Cry. No sort of Men talk more warmly and frequently now in favour of Liberty and Law. How do they reconcile such Zeal and Professions with an Approbation of the Reign of King Charles I. which was one continued Series of Oppressions, had abolished Liberty and Law, and established universal Slavery? How would they have borne such terrible and tyrannical Usage? Very impatiently, I dare say. If they say otherwise, no reasonable Man will believe them, nor have they, upon Trial, ever shewed much Passiveness of Spirit. Besides, if they justify the enslaving Measures then; they are not in earnest, or utterly inconsistent with themselves now, when they extol public Liberty, and are for restraining Kings and their Ministers to Reason and Law.

What we have therefore to do on this Day, is not only to abhor the bloody Death of the King, and wicked Instruments of it, but to abhor also his evil and wicked Government for fifteen Years together; abhor the impious Principles which were then countenanced and prevailed, with the traiterous and ungodly Broachers and Promoters of such; and all the evil and arbitrary Counsellors then and since. And as we lament his latter End, let us detest the Beginning and Course of his Reign, which was as enormous and guilty, as his Catastrophe was mournful and barbarous. Was it crying Guilt thus to cut him off, as surely it was? Was it not also crying Guilt in the Crown, to abandon its Duty, to violate the Coronation Oath, to tread upon Law and Justice, to persecute Conscience, to rob and oppress the People, and from limited and lawful, to become lawless and arbitrary? And is it not equally reasonable, equally becoming us, as Englishmen and Freemen, to commemorate and detest an Administration so pernicious and devouring, Measures so black and lawless? Is it not our Duty to take Warning by them, and whenever we are threatened with them, to guard against them; to watch every Principle of Slavery, and suppress it betimes; to rejoice that we live in happier Times, live in a free Government, [II-306] and under the free Course of the Laws; to pray for the Continuance of such an invaluable Blessing, and be dutiful and assisting to that good and great Prince who secures it to us, and claims nothing to himself, but what our Parliaments and the known Laws give him?

Let us also learn a Lesson from the Behaviour of the Clergy at that Time; and as they were then become wanton with extravagant Power, and used it very cruelly, in persecuting and oppressing their Fellow-Subjects; let us take Care for the future, that they who are set apart for the Purposes of Holiness, be not spoiled by the unnatural Possession and Exercise of worldly Business and Authority. Methinks it is profaning holy Men, as they are, to embark them in secular Affairs, in the Commerce and Occupations of Laymen and Worldlings. As they miserably misled that unhappy Prince, King Charles I. it may serve as a Warning to other Princes from being led by them: And as they promoted and justified all unlawful and merciless Impositions upon the Laity; as they contended that we were obliged to undergo all Servitude, to be tame Slaves to the mere Will of the Prince, and to obey it as our only Law; we may from hence infer, that whenever they leave preaching the Gospel, and turn Courtiers and Politicians, they are out of their Element, and thence grow more wild and extravagant, as well as more wicked, and shameless and false than other Men are.

It would never have entered into the Heart of a Layman, that the merciful God authorised Iniquity, Perjury, Perfidiousness and Tyranny; and that any miserable Wretch, who had all these crying Sins to answer for, was still sacred, and the Vicegerent of God; or that God, who hates Wickedness, had forbid to resist, that is, to remedy the highest and most complicated Wickedness, nay damned all who had Sense and Virtue enough to do so.

These Positions were Monsters, formed by Clergymen out of their Sphere, and in high Fashion with Laud and his Associates. Was it very natural for the Laity to love and reverence such Clergymen, or these monstrous Positions? The Lord said unto me, The Prophets prophesy Lies in my Name; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: They prophesy unto you a [II-307] false Vision and Divination, and a Thing of nought, and the Deceit of their Hearts. Jer. xiv. 14. Would it not therefore be prudent to keep all Clergymen from thus exposing themselves to Hate and Ridicule, and from promoting Mischief and Misery amongst the Laity? And is not this their Guilt infinitely more heinous and aggravated than that of the greatest private Sinner can be, as it affects and involves whole Nations, and is impiously covered with the Veil of Religion?

According to this Rule, and I think it a true Rule, the blackest Felon that ever suffered, was an Innocent in Comparison of Laud, and those of his Leaven; and had Laud consumed his Time in Debauchery, he could have done but small Hurt, compared to what he did as a Troubler and Seducer of the World. His Morals, as a private Man, did but heighten his Credit to do Mischief. With what an ill Grace must such Men rebuke private Vice and the Detail of Sins, they who vend and commit Sins by the Gross? This is indeed to swallow Camels and strain at Gnats. Crimes are to be measured by their Consequences; and he who persecutes Men, he who misleads them and enslaves them, is the most guilty, the most monstrous and gigantic of all Criminals. Had Laud been a Parish Priest, and confined himself to the Duties of one; or being a Bishop, had he done so; he, who was a Man of Learning and Morals, might have been an innocent, nay, an useful Man. But as he and his Brethren would needs sway the Court and the Nation, they overturned both by the wickedest of all Means, even by an Excess of Tyranny and Oppression. It was they who raised, or at least increased the Storm, which at last ruined the Public, and overwhelmed them in the public Ruins.

These therefore are the Things and Persons now proper to be commemorated. From these we are to take our Marks and Warnings against a Relapse into the like evil Days and Calamities: And if there be any Curse still subsisting, derived from the King’s Blood, it must justly lie upon them who approve the Men and Measures that first rendered him arbitrary and oppressive, and thence unpopular and distrusted. Here the Evil began, and from hence it was propagated like a Train. Had [II-308] he always ruled, as he afterwards too late proposed to rule, when Men were irritated and engaged, and full of Distrust, there had been no civil War, nor a conquering Army, nor an Oliver, nor consequently Royal Blood spilt. His Design and Promises to govern better afterwards (when he found that the Laws and Constitution would prevail) have been often urged and repeated, and are a Confession that he had governed ill before. Perhaps he meant to perform them. It is certain his Misrule had been sadly felt; nor is there any Proof but his Word, that he intended to change: That Word had been often and egregiously broken, especially in the Bill of Rights, which he solemnly promised to observe; yet he afterwards openly violated that just Bill.

How this Prince comes to be still so extremely popular amongst many of the Clergy, and consequently amongst many of the Laity, influenced by them, is obvious enough. He was a very great Bigot to the Church, to Ceremonies and Shew in Religion, and to the Power and Pomp of Churchmen. These he cherished, and exalted, and obeyed; invested them with his own Power, and surrendered to them almost the whole Supremacy; and not only suffered them to enjoy the Use of it as a Present from him, but suffered them to seize it for themselves, and even to deny his Title to it. For such Court and Favour to them, for humouring them in their Persecution of the Puritans, for his glutting them with Power, and becoming their Creature, rather than Sovereign and Head of the Church, they promoted and consecrated all the Excesses, Oppressions, and lawless Measures of his Reign, because all these Violences were exercised over the Laity; and the Churchmen were so far from feeling them, that they shared in his Domination, and acted the King too in their Place and Turn. This is the true Source of so much Merit and Praise; for this he is adored and sainted; for this he has been often compared to Jesus Christ in his Sufferings; and for this the Guilt of murdering him has been represented as greater than that of crucifying our blessed Saviour.

These their Panegyrics are, in truth, partial and shameful in all Respects, as well as impious and profane; since thence they who utter them make it evident, [II-309] that they care not how a Prince abuses his Trust, and oppresses his Lay Subjects, if he will but humour and aggrandize the Clergy; else why so much Incense and Applause bestowed upon a Prince who actually did so? This is partial and dishonourable; nor can there be a greater Insult upon the Laity, than to desire, or even hope, that they should join in such Praises and Applause. They who feel Oppression, cannot extol him who commits it, nor reckon him a good King, who uses them like Slaves.

No Sort of Men are more tender than the Clergy, when their Property, or Persons, or Privileges are touched, or more severe and resenting, or even more unforgiving towards such as meddle with either. I fear much, that had the Clergy been then used as the Laity were, treated like mean Slaves, worried with arbitrary Power and Impositions, and imprisoned upon mere Will and Command, this Day would not have been commemorated at all, or perhaps commemorated in a very different Manner. Why should not the Laity too have felt and resented Indignities done, and Violences committed against the Laity? Was it natural or possible to praise and honour the Author of such Violence and Indignities? When the Clergy were pleased and gratified, they might rejoice, though it be not generous to triumph when others suffer, nay, by their Sufferings. But the Laity could not express Joy, when they had just Cause to sorrow and mourn; or was it possible they should?

Such is the Difference between the Laity and the High Clergy, with regard to King Charles I. and Archbishop Laud. They adore the Archbishop, because he raised their Power beyond all Reason and Law, and was furious in the Exercise of such usurped Power: They adore the King for suffering such Encroachment, for being subservient to the Pride and Pursuits of Churchmen, and for dividing the Sovereignty with them. But as both the King and the Archbishop abused their Power, oppressed and persecuted the Laity, the Laity can commend neither; and have good Reason to pray, that they may never see such a King, nor such an Archbishop, any more for ever, and bless God for their present happy and different Situation. This is indeed just and copious [II-310] Cause for Joy and Thanksgiving. King George reigns, the Laws prevail, Dissenters and private Conscience are protected, the Clergy have their Dues, and to all Men their Property is religiously secured. This is Protection, this is Liberty, this is Renown, and we are happy, and ought to be dutiful and content.

As to such Churchmen who will be contending, that the Clergy are a distinct Body from the Laity, with separate Interests and Views, they cannot be surprized to see, that the Laity improve the Hint and Example, and take Care of themselves. It is very natural for the Laity to remember, that they alone give and continue to the Clergy what they have, and make them what they are. It is natural for them to be alarmed, when they hear the lawless Rule of King Charles I. applauded, his lawless and oppressive Measures justified or excused, and himself sainted and adored. This is a bold and awakening Insult, and a full Declaration, that if High-Churchmen can but flourish and domineer as they did then, they care not how much the Laity droop and decay; nay, approve and encourage the Bonds and Distresses of the Laity: And as a Proof how violently in earnest such High-Churchmen are in their Panegyrics upon that King and his Reign, they treat as Monsters and false Brethren, all impartial Clergymen, that refuse to falsify and daub as they do; insomuch that such reasonable and moderate Clergymen as confess the Truth, and love the Law and the Laity, and are willing to do Justice to both, are scorned and derided, and reviled, as bad Churchmen, that is, as Friends to the Constitution, to Liberty, and Laymen, and such only as the Laity ought to esteem. Surely the Laity cannot but consider as open Foes, such Men as vindicate the Oppression and Bondage of the Laity: And that the Laity were thus used by that King, is Fact; and it is Fact also, that in using the Laity thus, he was abetted and prompted by all High-Churchmen then, and justified by all such ever since. Is it not full time for us Laymen to see these Things, to resent such Insults, and to mark such Insulters? Is it not fair in us, is it not natural for us, to distinguish with all Countenance and Favour, those Clergymen alone, who contend for the Liberty and Rights [II-311] of the Laity, and condemn all the mad and extravagant Claims, and all the selfish and violent Tenets of High-Churchmen?

As to the black Fact committed on this Day, all Men agree to condemn and abhor it, as utterly unlawful, violent, and full of Guilt. But this is not enough for High-Churchmen, unless all the Oppressions and Excesses, all the wicked Counsellors and Instruments of that Reign be likewise excused, if not extolled. This is what they themselves have ever confidently undertaken to do, in the Face of the most glaring Truth and Facts. How we Laymen ought to consider this Day, and these Men, I have already said. In truth, had not there been such Men then, there had not been such a Day now. By them the unhappy King, of himself, very vain of unbounded Power, and fond of setting Royalty above Right, was abetted and encouraged to pursue such Measures as ended in much Misery to him, as well as to his People: By such Men his Son was tempted to try the same dangerous and guilty Experiment; and by trusting to such Men, to their unnatural Whims and deadly Flattery, he lost his Crown and his Honour, lived an Exile, and died a Beggar.

From hence, and from all that has been said, let us learn a Lesson proper for this Day, and for every Day; that is, let us take great Care, according to the Words and Warning of my Text, that the Hypocrite reign not, lest the People be insnared.

P. S. The Author of this Sermon finding his Matter increase, and his Sermon already too long, reserves what he has farther to say, to a Supplement, which he will soon publish, addressed to a very important and most solemn Churchman.

[II-312]

A Supplement to the Sermon preached at Lincoln’s-Inn, on January 30. 1732. Addressed to a very important and most solemn Churchman, Sollicitor-General for Causes Ecclesiastical.↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1733.

Holy Father,

I Apply to you without Form or Compliment, about certain Doubts and Difficulties, which, I am told, no Man is so fit as you to answer and resolve. Your great Abilities (I do not say in Divinity; for that is a very different thing, but) in Canons, Distinctions, Discipline, and all Parts of Church-Attorneyship, are allowed by all Men; even such as dispute his Majesty’s Title to the Crown, allow you that of an Excellent Churchman. As I aim at no Preferment, and therefore bring no Incense, I was willing to shew you, that it was possible to dedicate to you without Worship or Daubing. Besides, I take this my Address to you to be exceeding suitable; since you, who have made Church-Power and Church-Revenues so much your Care and Pursuit, are a proper Judge, whether what I have said of the evil Influence of Church-Power and Revenue over Religion and human Society be true.

You, who must have traced Ecclesiastical Grandeur up to its first Sources, and marked its Progress, Improvements and Variations, can readily explain how it arose, how it was used, whether righteously acquired, whether honestly employed, how it affected the Laity, how the Clergy; what Tendency it had to advance Religion and civil Happiness, what Success in mending the Morals, and increasing the Humility and pious Labours of Churchmen.

[II-313]

You, who are known to contend for Ecclesiastical Authority, can demonstrate what that Authority is, whence derived, by whom and over whom to be exercised, how to be reconciled to Conscience, Christianity, and common Sense; whether it can produce or preserve Conviction, and make Men Christians, or continue them so; and whether such Authority be consistent with Reason and Grace, or whether Reason and Grace do not exclude and destroy such Authority; as also how such Authority consists with the Oaths of the Clergy, who swear to renounce all Claim to any Power of any Kind or Sort whatsoever, but what they derive from the Crown.

Pray tell us, what any Clergyman can do, which any Layman, who can read and write, cannot do, and may not do, if the Law appoint him? Is it not the Law alone, which has the Power to qualify, and can alone disqualify? Whoever maintains the contrary, incurs a Præmunire. Have the Clergy any Revelation but the Bible? And is not such Revelation made to the Laity, and indeed, without Restriction, to all Men? And are not the necessary and practical Parts of the Bible very plain and intelligible to Laymen? And have Clergymen ever agreed about explaining the dark Parts? I wish none had ever endeavoured to darken the clearest Parts of it, or to hide and suppress the Whole. If the Assertion of any Powers invisible in Men, that is, Powers which have no visible Effect, be other than a Dream and Forgery; you will do well to shew what they are, whence they are, and how they effect their strange and invisible Feats. To read Prayers, and Scriptures, and Sermons; to give Bread and Wine, and say Words over them; to sprinkle Water upon Babes; to declare what offends God and his Law; and to wear Gowns and Bands, and broad Hats, are Exploits which may be performed by very mean Men amongst the Laity: And to judge and declare who are qualified to perform them, is a Task as easy as the rest. Will you say, that such Functions are less effectual in a Layman, or more so in a Clergyman? Who told you so? It may be so said in the old Popish Canons, or Schoolmen, and [II-314] in the extravagant Writings of some Ecclesiastics; but no where in the New Testament.

Will you say, that God blesses any pious Office done by a Layman, less than when done by a Clergyman? And what Idea would this give us of God? Will you say that a little Infant, free from Offence, and incapable of offending, is therefore debarred from Heaven, or any Part of Bliss, because he dies unbaptized, or was baptized by a Layman? And what Idea does such a Tenet exhibit of the divine Being? Or, if a Layman can do this sacred Office effectually, why not more Offices, and all?

You know what impious Notions many Clergymen have broached and held about Baptism, as if no Salvation could be had without it, and no Baptism without them. This is one of the monstrous, I had almost said blasphemous, Whims resulting from the other monstrous Whim, that of an indelible Character; which is a Whim so very strange and inconceivable, that where ’tis once believed and established, ’tis no wonder to see the wildest Extravagancies, and even Impossibilities and Contradictions maintained and believed in consequence of it: Since from any senseless Position whatsoever, endless Deductions of Nonsense can be drawn, and may seem naturally to follow; and one Contradiction shall produce, and illustrate, and prove an hundred Contradictions. Thus, if either the indelible Character, or apostolic Succession, or Infallibility, or Power of binding and loosing be but allowed; from these, or any of these, all the most fraudulent, fanatical, and engrossing Claims of the Pope and Popish Clergy, may be deduced and established.

May not a Layman perform all spiritual Offices, where there are no Clergymen? Is a Chapter of the Bible less edifying, when read by a Layman, than when read by a Clergyman? I ask this the rather, because I knew a Tradesman, who read Prayers and the Scripture on Sundays, at a foreign Fishery, where there were no Clergy, and he was therefore thought proper to be put into Deacon’s Orders, as if he had been thence the better qualified for reading Prayers and the Bible. Was this Employment in him, either more sacred, or more effectual [II-315] afterwards than before? If it was, what an Idea does this too give us of the Great God? Or, have the Clergy succeeded better than Laymen, in appointing one another? Father Paul says, and History says, the contrary. That excellent Writer lays it down as Fact, that the best Bishops were made by Princes; and that whenever the Clergy had the conducting of their own Elections, infinite Disorders ensued: So little, or so ill Effect had their indelible Character in making and appointing one another. Was not this Pretence to an indelible Character, one great Source of Popery and the Inquisition, and of all the Terrors, Frauds, and Deformities of Priestcraft? And was it not natural for Indelibility to produce Infallibility; and is there more to be said for the former than for the latter?

I should also be glad to hear you discourse rationally about Pluralities and Commendams, and shew their Consistency with the Duty and Call of such Churchmen as possess them. As they who do not reside, do not labour, Should such as do no Work, receive Pay? Beneficium propter officium, was the Stile of old; and Benefices were given for spiritual Purposes. Indeed, the temporal Part was only considered in a second and circumstantial Sense. “Afterwards, says Father Paul, the spiritual Part was forgot, and nothing but the Profits regarded.” This was lamentable Corruption; yet such as dealt in it, and, in truth, in little else, called themselves holy Men; that is, the most sordid, the most corrupt and covetous, such as made Traffic of Churches and Souls, assumed to be holy, and claimed an indelible Character.

In the primitive Times, it was scandalous and forbidden, that any Clerk should quit his Cure, though ever so poor, for another though richer. It was alledged and ordained, That if any Bishop despised his Bishopric for being small, and sought after a greater Diocese and larger Rents, he should not only never obtain the greater Bishopric, which through Avarice he desired, but even lose that which he already possessed, and thro’ Pride despised. What can be a more sacred Trust than a Trust of Souls; what so important? Does it not require all the Time and Attention that mortal Men can [II-316] bestow? And how is such Duty to be reconciled to Pluralities and Commendams, how to Non-residence? The holding of more Churches than one, was adjudged by some principal Fathers of the primitive Church, to be spiritual Polygamy: And I question, whether a Plurality of Wives, though Felony by our Law, be so sinful, or can have such bad Consequences, when we consider that some Pastors, who are greatly endowed, hardly ever see the Faces of their Flocks: Some have several Flocks, and feed none of them, but take vast Pay for nothing, and employ Underlings for poor Wages. If these Underlings, and these poor Wages are sufficient, as by their Practice these great Clergymen shew that they think, Is it not natural for the Laity to desire to make as good Bargains as the Clergy? Is it not natural to conclude, that since the highest and most solemn Offices may be performed at a small Expence, as is manifest from the hiring of Curates, it would be but Prudence to save such high Revenues given to such as do nothing but hire others?

How a spiritual Trust once conferred, could be afterwards delegated to another, the Trust itself transferred, and the Advantages reserved, I could never yet account either from the Gospel of Christ, or from the natural Ideas of Morality! Yet are not great Revenues daily desired upon the Erection of any new Church, though he who is to enjoy them, often does no Duty at all, but leaves it to a cheap Hireling? And is not that Service for which the Parish is to pay many Hundreds a Year, often performed for thirty or forty Pounds a Year? Some Civil Trusts may be thus executed by Deputies; but is this a Way to deal (I had almost said to traffic) with Souls, and to be answerable for them? Is this spiritual Fathership? Is this apostolic, or are those who do so still Successors to the Apostles? I should be glad to hear you explain this, and shew whether any Man who prosessed to turn Religion into a Trade, could act in a different or more lucrative manner.

I have likewise some Doubts to propose to you about Excommunication, which, I fear, is little understood, and greatly abused. If it were originally no more than turning a Man out of a Society with the Laws of which [II-317] he would not comply, as was really the Case, and as is daily done in common Clubs, and in Juntoes of Traders; is it not notorious Abuse, as well as extremely daring and wicked, to construe it into the dismal Delivery of a Soul to the Devil and Damnation? Will you say, dare you venture to say, that a Person excommunicated is in the Power of Satan, and that such a Sentence sends him thither? If it do, they who pronounce it must be the most wicked and impious of all Men; nor can any earthly Consideration excuse them. Is it for Tithe? Then is their Tithe dearer to them than an immortal Soul. Is it not for Tithe, but for Contumacy, in not appearing and owning their Jurisdiction? Then is their Pride and Jurisdiction of more Weight with them, than the Salvation of Men? But if Excommunication have no such Effect, why is not the Bug-bear removed, by explaining it into a reasonable and a christian Meaning? Or rather, why is a Practice which cannot be of God, suffered to continue, why impiously continued in his Name? And can any Man who defends Excommunication, argue against Purgatory? The temporal Effects of it are sufficiently heavy and hard; so hard, that nothing under the highest Consideration can justify the Man who brings them down upon another. Its spiritual Operation, were it true, would indeed be shocking and frightful. But who would affront the Divine Being, by believing that he, the Author of Mercy and Wisdom, could contradict his own Nature to gratify the Peevishness and Cruelty of weak and revengeful Men?

They who are apt to bring the Charge of Blasphemy against others, often upon very small, sometimes upon very ludicrous Occasions, would do well to consider, Whether there can be higher Blasphemy, than to assert a Power in Man of directing or obliging the Almighty; a Privilege to apply the Might and Terrors of Omnipotence to the Perdition of Men? I presume you will not say of Excommunication, what I am told the reverend Dr. Fiddes says of Popish Indulgences in his History of Henry VIII. That they were a Treasure which the Church had been long in Possession of.

[II-318]

I leave it therefore to your Judgment, whether this spiritual Engine be for the Service of Christ’s Church, or for the Credit of such as call themselves his Ministers; and whether what is shocking to Sense and Humanity, can ever be true in Religion, or a Part of Religion, I mean of the Christian Religion.

I would also humbly propose it to your serious Thoughts, whether amongst your public Admonitions and Reproofs to the Laity, you might not think it adviseable, and find Cause, to let your Brethren the Clergy have their Share. Are there no prevailing Mistakes or Disorders amongst them? No strange and unreasonable Claims maintained by them who are called Orthodox, no extravagant Writings published, no wild and passionate Sermons preached? Is Orthodoxy alone never preferred by you to eminent Piety and Sufficiency, under Suspicion of Heterodoxy? Is the Man who asserts Christ’s Kingdom not to be of this World, as dear to you as they who would found worldly Power upon the Gospel of Christ, and erect a Priesthood with Power, in virtue of being Successors to him, who had no Power, and disclaimed all Power? Are you equally tender to the Failings of Laymen, as to those of Clergymen? Or, is it your Opinion and Policy, that the same should be concealed and dissembled, at least not exposed to the profane Laity?

I remember an Instance, where I thought the Partiality of a more than Reverend Clergyman too apparent; for whilst He manifested much just Zeal for capitally punishing certain beastly Offenders against the Law, and Purity and Design of Nature, I mean Lay-Offenders; all His Zeal cooled, at least produced small Effect, in the Case of a Brother Doctor found to have been flagrantly guilty of that Abomination for many Years, and often in a very sacred Place; yet this Doctor escaped with an Admonition and a small Fine, in a Court too where that more than Reverend Clergyman was thought to have no small Influence. And I suppose, that that unnatural Sinner was still esteemed to be a true Minister of the Church, since he is still left to act as such, and to receive the Stipend of such, doubtless to the great Edification of Souls, and Credit of Orthodoxy and of Episcopal [II-319] Courts. So far was that more than Reverend Clergyman from applying, on this Occasion, to the secular Arm, though He had just before praised it for finding out, and pouring down its deadly Terrors upon, such bestial Criminals.

A little of your public and private Advice to your Brethren, recommending to them more Meekness and Moderation, with a Behaviour more complaisant and less litigious towards the People, would be of use. I hear that you give them very different Advice, even to be as troublesome and vexatious to their People as they can, by departing from settled Customs, and starting new Demands. Such Advice is by no means proper for them, nor do they want it. It is certain, they would do well not to render themselves daily more unpopular and obnoxious by Haughtiness, Greediness, and Law-Suits. My Lord Clarendon owns, that the Clergy of that Time, supported and animated by Archbishop Laud, grew assuming, and lived not well with their Neighbours in the Country. This bred ill Blood towards them; and when they were pulled down, it was remembered how insolently they had behaved when uppermost: Hence the easier Way was made for the sowre and gloomy Set who succeeded them.

The present daily Increase of their Property, their Monopoly of Advowsons, their breaking all the Modus’s, their frequent Success in troublesome Suits, and their apparent Fondness of such, help to sooth and exalt them: But all this is seen, and felt, and regretted by the whole Body of the Laity, it may bring a Storm strong enough to overthrow all these Advantages. Perhaps too, Abuses, not now thought of, will be then sought, and found, and severely redressed.

This Thought is really painful to me; in the Sincerity of my Heart I speak it; for I dread all great Changes, and all Approaches towards such. I would therefore have the Clergy provoke none: They must not, in this inlightened Age, and an Age of Liberty, think themselves a Match for the Laity, were the Laity once tempted to exert themselves. Perhaps they were never less a Match for the Laity than now. Times and Countries have been, when the People were so blind, or [II-320] so awed, that though Religion was turned publickly into Power and Gain, they could not perceive it, or durst not censure it. Such Times are no longer, nor is England that Country now.

Modesty and Meekness, in the Language and Writings of the Clergy, is likewise always commendable, and no more than good Policy. The fierce and provoking Stile is not the Christian, nor the gaining Stile; and Pride and Passion are ill Proofs of Religion. But most unpardonable is the Practice of such, who, when a Man differs from them in any Ecclesiastical Point, though utterly foreign from Religion, yet charge him confidently with Infidelity, let his Stile be ever so Christian, and his Professions for Christianity ever so strong. This Practice, follow it who will, is unchristian and malicious, but shamefully common. I therefore like Dr. Conybear’s late Book for his Temper and Civility; nor, as far as I have looked into it, could I find any Strokes of Pertness or Anger; two Ingredients very common in the Works of Ecclesiastics. Another Doctor, of some Name in Controversy, and an Advocate and an Answerer on the same Side, hath shewn such wild Trausports, such Virulence and Scurrility, that it is not to be determined, whether the Madman, the Scold, or the Executioner, predominate most in his Composition.

I have heard that even you, holy Father, with all your Affectation of Smoothness and Temper, have treated Gentlemen with very coarse Names, for no other Reason, than that they differed from you about Matters of Power and Speculation. This was not wise: (that it was ill-bred, I do not wonder) and it might tempt, and perhaps warrant Gentlemen so used to treat you very roughly. A Monster is by no means a proper Name for Gentlemen, some of them as well esteemed and as generally beloved as you are. I could paint such Usage in Colours which you would not like. I could likewise draw such a Character of some who are dead (for upon the Dead and Living, Monster and Infidel are Names which, it seems, you freely throw): I say, I could represent some of them in such Lights, such true Lights, as would equal, and, I doubt, much foil the best that you can be shown in. I could represent their [II-321] amiable and benevolent Minds, their great Knowledge, their elevated Capacity, their universal Integrity and Love of Mankind, their Scorn of Hypocrisy and little Party Views, of narrow Spirits, and of every mean and selfish Artifice.

But I want Room and Time to enter fully into the pleasing and mournful Theme. Neither do I think myself qualified to make equal Returns to coarse Usage. Let me just say, that the Words Infidel and Infidelity, as they are grown Terms of Anger and Reproach, can seldom become the Mouth or Pen of a candid or well-bred Man. Pardon me, when I assert, that every Man living has as good a Right to differ in Opinion from you, as you have to differ from him: If you think, or maintain the contrary, you have a monstrous Share of Pride or Folly; nor do I know a greater Monster amongst Men, than the solemn Hypocrite, who pretends to derive Pomp and Power, and worldly Wealth out of the New Testament; who would confine the uncontroulable Freedom of the Soul by human Articles and Restrictions, and treats such as follow Reason and not him, with Spite and saucy Language.———But I check myself; nor will I finish my Picture of this Sort of Monster, lest the Likeness might be too glaring. I therefore return to advise you; and here let me assure you, that it is repugnant to all Candor, and unworthy your Character, to descend to mean Solicitations, and to teaze for Prosecutions against such Writings and Authors as thwart you. In Matters of Religion, no Book which can be answered, ought to be prosecuted; nor can you find any Honour in such Prosecution, no more than you can shew Charity in procuring it. A Minister of Truth begging the Aid of worldly Penalties, in a Dispute about Spirituals, makes a poor, a strange, and a scandalous Figure. Such Conduct seems only to suit with worldly Designs, and to bewray, if not the Weakness of his Cause, at least his Insufficiency to defend it.

To oppose Force to just Reasoning, is unjust; to answer false Reasoning by Force, it foolish and needless. A bad Cause is quickly refuted, a good Cause easily defended; and Christianity, though it can bear much Severity and Violence, can never exercise nor warrant any; [II-322] nor was the Christian Name ever more abused, than when prostituted to justify Rigour and Violence: And Punishment for Opinion might indeed be of Ecclesiastical, but could never be of Christian Pedigree.

You have, Holy Father, the Reputation of a strong Churchman; and Charity obliges me to believe you a Christian; (for the Christian Spirit is not suspicious no more than revengeful) be the Churchman still; but let the Christian predominate, and then I dare say you will never sollicit another Prosecution. The Clergy, to a Man, believe your Heart bent upon Church Power, and upon all the Means that lead to it. You have also thoroughly convinced the Laity in this Point, though ’tis said that you had rather they were not so convinced, and are wont to speak to them in a Stile not at all savouring of a Passion for sacerdotal Rule: Which Behaviour in you is only artful, and must not be called false or insincere, since Insincerity is not a Christian Virtue. But such Art, when found out, loses its Use: You would therefore do well to drop such of your grand Views as bode not well towards the Laity; for they are upon their Guard, and I would not have you put them upon trying their Strength and Mettle.

Rather take a contrary and securer Method; surrender your weak Passes, give up indefensible Points, claim nothing but what the Constitution gives you, affect not to be more than what the Law makes you; separate not yourself and Brethren too much from the Laity; for woe be to you, if ever they should separate themselves from you. If upon Examination you find any Milstones about the Neck of your Cause, any excessive Absurdities, any contradictory Tenets, any terrible Claims, any hurtful or oppressive Practices, any unpopular Principles or Rules, such as square not with the general Interests and Sentiments of the Laity: Begin, O holy Father, to throw off such Milstones into the Sea, lest they pull you thither after them. ’Tis better to quit, with a good Grace, even the most favourite Point or Mistake, than be forced to quit it with Shame and the Imputation of Obstinacy.

What those Milstones, those indefensible Points are, I pretend not farther to explain to one of your Sagacity. [II-323] Some of them I have named. In your Researches for others, perhaps it may merit some Inquiry, or perhaps very little, whether Ecclesiastical Courts be any considerable Support or Credit to the Cause of the Church (for I think Religion has little to do with them). I will venture to say, that Excommunication is a Matter of very serious, of very melancholy Attention to every Man who believes in God, and has a Regard for the Bodies or Souls of Men. Are there not moreover some Things in the Oath given to Church-wardens, hard, if not impossible to he kept; either obliging them to be perjured themselves, or uneasy, and even intolerable to their Neighbours? And are there not certain odd and contradictory Oaths in the Universities, which are a Scandal to Religion, and a Contradiction to Learning, and even to Morality? And, does it not become the Zeal of any Christian Pastor, to remove all such Scandals? And, would they not be removed, if Religion were as much considered, as Ecclesiastical Policy and Power?

I would likewise humbly propose, whether a true, a good, or even a Christian Use has been generally made of the 30th of January? whether those of your Order have generally acted upon it like Ambassadors of Truth and Peace? and whether either the Civil Government of King Charles I. or the Ecclesiastical Government of Archbishop Laud, be proper Patterns to be followed in a free and Christian Country? I think that, in my Sermon, I have amply shewn that they are not. Let me add here one remarkable Passage out of Rushworth:

“About this Time (in the Year 1636) the new Statutes for the University of Oxford were finished and published in Convocation. The Preface disparaged King Edward the VIth’s Times and Government, declaring the Discipline of the University was discomposed by that King’s Injunctions, and that it did revive and flourish again in Queen Mary’s Days under Cardinal Pool; when, by the much-to-be desired Felicity of those Times, an inbred Candor supplied the Defect of Statutes.”

Was there ever in any Declaration, even from the Vatican, more of the Popish Stile and Spirit? The Times and Government of that excellent Prince, that pious Protestant [II-324] and Reformer, Edward the VIth. are traduced by an English Convocation, for his having unsettled the old Popish Discipline, and reduced it nearer to the Genius of the Reformation. The Days of that Popish Bigot, Queen Mary, are wished for; that is, the Days when Popery, with all its Power and Fury, was restored, the Protestant Religion abolished, and Protestants openly and mercilesly burned; a Romish Cardinal is mentioned and extolled for his Church Government, and Popish Superstition, and Bigotry, and blind Obedience, are represented as inbred Candor.

Say, Holy Father, were the Members of this Convocation Protestants, or was Laud, who governed them, a Protestant? And, was it any Hardship or Wonder, that he and they were represented as Papists? And what was that King who submitted to, and assisted them in, all their violent and popish Pursuits? nay, was their Advocate against himself; when, instead of asserting his Prerogative and Supremacy, and supporting the University of Cambridge, who opposed Laud’s Visitation of them, as what he could not undertake without the King’s Commission; he, even the King in Person, argued for this Usurpation, for this Invasion of his Royalty, for this Seizure and Impropriation of his Power and Dignity?

Strange Condescension and Folly in him, as well as Inconsistency of Character! fond of exalting the Prerogative over the Belly of Law and Justice where the Laity were concerned, yet poorly laying it under the Feet of the Clergy, where the Protection of his People, and his own Duty and Honour, called upon him to preserve and exert it. I shall here add a further Catalogue of his Oppressions, as the same are summed up in a lively manner, by the late excellent Mr. Trenchard, in his Short History of Standing Armies in England.

——— “This King’s whole Reign was one continued Act against the Laws: He dissolved his first Parliament for presuming to enquire into his Father’s Death, though he lost a great Sum of Money by it, which they had voted him: He entered at the same time into a War with France and Spain, upon the private Piques of Buckingham, who managed them to the [II-325] eternal Dishonour and Reproach of the English Nation; witness the ridiculous Enterprizes upon Cadiz and the Isle of Rhee: He delivered Pennington’s Fleet into the French Hands, betrayed the poor Rochellers, and suffered the Protestant Interest in France to be quite extirpated: He raised Loans, Excises, Coat and Conduct-Money, Tunnage and Poundage, Knighthood and Ship-Money, without Authority of Parliament; imposed new Oaths on the Subjects to discover the Value of their Estates; imprisoned great Numbers of the most considerable Gentry and Merchants for not paying his arbitrary Taxes; some he sent beyond Sea, and the poorer Sort he pressed for Soldiers: He kept Soldiers on free Quarter, and executed Martial Law upon them: He granted Monopolies without Number, and broke the Bounds of the Forests: He erected arbitrary Courts, and enlarged others; as the High Commission Court, Star-chamber, Court of Honour, Court of Requests, &c. and unspeakable Oppressions were committed in them, even to Men of the first Quality. He commanded the Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Lincoln not to come to Parliament; committed and prosecuted a great many of the most eminent Members of the House of Commons for what they did there, some for no Cause at all; and would not let them have the Benefit of Habeas Corpus: Suspended and confined Archbishop Abbot, because he would not license a Sermon that asserted despotic Power, whatever other Cause was pretended: He suspended the Bishop of Gloucester for refusing to swear never to consent to alter the Government of the Church: Supported all his arbitrary Ministers against the Parliament, telling them, he wondered at the foolish Impudence of any one to think he would part with the meanest of his Servants upon their Account: And indeed in his Speeches, or rather Menaces, he treated them like his Footmen, calling them undutiful, seditious, and Vipers: He brought unheard-of Innovations into the Church, preferred Men of arbitrary Principles, and inclinable to Popery, especially those Firebands Laud, Montague, and Manwaring, one of whom had been complained of in [II-326] Parliament, another impeached for advancing Popery, and the third condemned in the House of Lords: He dispensed with the Laws against Papists, and both encouraged and preferred them: He called no Parliament for twelve Years together, and in that time governed as arbitrarily as the Grand Signior: He abetted the Irish Massacre, as appears by their producing a Commission under the Great Seal of Scotland; by the Letter of Charles the Second, in favour of the Marquis of Antrim; by his stopping the Succours that the Parliament sent to reduce Ireland, six Months under the Walls of Chester; by his entering into a Treaty with the Rebels, after he had engaged his Faith to the Parliament to the contrary; and bringing over many Thousands of them to fight against his People.———

“Upon Pretence of the Spanish and French War, he raised many thousand Men, who lived upon free Quarter, and robbed and destroyed where-ever they came: But being unsuccessful in his Wars abroad, and pressed by the Clamours of the People at home, he was forced to disband them. In 1627 he sent over 30000 l. to Holland, to raise three thousand German Horse to force his arbitrary Taxes; but this Matter taking Wind, and being examined by the Parliament, Orders were sent to countermand them. In the 15th Year of his Reign, he gave a Commission to Strafford to raise eight thousand Irish to be brought into England: But before they could get hither, the Scots were in Arms for the like Oppressions, and marched into Northumberland; which, forcing him to call a Parliament, prevented that Design, and so that Army was disbanded. Soon after he raised an Army in England to oppose the Scots, and tampered with them to march to London, and dissolve the Parliament: But this Army being composed, for the most part, of the Militia, and the Matter being communicated to the House, who immediately fell on the Officers that were Members, as Ashburnham, Wilmot, Pollard, &c. the Design came to nothing.”

I could quote much more from the same Pamphlet; but, to use the Words of the Author, it is endless to enumerate [II-327] all the Oppressions of his Reign. What think you, holy Father, of the Panegyrics made upon such a Prince for almost a Century past by the Clergy, or of the Clergy who made and make those Panegyrics either upon him or Laud?

I think nothing is more manifest, than that in those Days there was a settled Purpose, both in the Court and in the Churchmen, to overturn the Reformation and the Constitution; nay, each of these Designs was well nigh accomplished; and it was already the Fashion, not only to treat such who adhered to the Law against the Violence and mad Maxims which then prevailed, as Traitors; but the Name of Traitors and Rebels were, by Laud’s Followers and Creatures, bestowed upon our first pious Reformers; and with the Reformation itself great Faults were found, especially with those Parts of it which retrenched the Wealth and Power of the Clergy: Popish Ceremonies were daily restored, with the Bowings, Grimaces, Pictures, and Forms usually seen at Popish Chapels and Masses; and all Men were persecuted, many ruined, who opposed such scandalous Innovations, tending only to advance Superstition and Priestcraft.

Why many of these Innovations, and such Defection from the Reformation still continue, I leave you, Holy Father, to consider and explain. I desire this of you the rather, for that I am told, that you often hold up your Hands, and wonder how Clergymen can, by their Writings, contradict what they have once subscribed.

That you should wonder at this, is indeed matter of Wonder. Is there one of you that conforms to the genuine Sense, or even to the Words of the Articles? Are not these Articles Calvinistical? Were they not composed by Calvinists? And are you not now, and have been long, all Arminians? And do you not preach and write against the Presbyterians who defend Predestination, which is one of your own Articles?

Will you say that Articles, will you say that Oaths, are to be taken in a Sense different from the Words, different from the Meaning of those who compose them? If you do, then you maintain that Papists, nay, that Mahometans may subscribe our Protestant Articles, and [II-328] be still Mahometans and Papists; and that Jacobites may take the State Oaths, and be still Jacobites.

What Subscriptions or Declarations, or indeed what other Ties can bind Men, who, after they have solemnly testified that they are called by the Holy Ghost, yet subscribe the direct contrary to what they believe, subscribe the Doctrines of Calvin, yet remain Antagonists to Calvin? Is this Practice, this solemn Assertion of a Falsehood, for the Honour of Religion, or of Churchmen? Or, is it not the direct Method to harden Men against Truth and Conscience, and to turn holy Things into Contempt? Yet you still go on to subscribe those Articles, still to disbelieve and contradict them, yet never attempt to alter or abolish them. Does such contradictory Doings shew any Regard for Religion, or for Truth or Decency?

After such Departure from the doctrinal Articles, you cannot, with any Decency, blame such who differ from your Notions about Church Power and Discipline. The Church and Constitution of England neither owns nor knows any Clergymen but such who derive all their Power from the Law: All others are Pretenders, or rather Deserters, and would be Usurpers, if the Laity and the Law would let them. Such Clergymen therefore as disclaim all Power, and Pomp, and Revenue whatsoever, but what the Law and Laymen give them, are the only Clergy that Laymen ought to reverence, or indeed acknowledge: All the rest, who assert a prior Right, and have superior Demands, should be considered as lurking Enemies, or bold Invaders, and carefully watched and resisted. Nor is it small want of Modesty in you, and such as are like you, to censure such Clergymen as adhere to the Law and Constitution, whilst you assume to yourselves a Latitude to dissent from your very Articles, with spiritual Characters and Powers, superior to the Law, and independent upon it.

Can any Layman, who has common Sense, or common Notions of Truth and Liberty, bear with Patience a Spirit so arrogant, with such a saucy and inconsistent Behaviour? Far different, and indeed quite opposite was the Spirit of the Reformation. Nor is Reverence due to any Clergyman in whom this last Spirit is not found. [II-329] Neither are they at all Clergymen of the Church of England, in whom the contrary Spirit is found. Can any Layman be at a Moment’s Loss to know, what Sort of Clergymen are most useful and amiable to him; they who set up to command him, and consequently to put Chains upon him; or they who claim only the Liberty to instruct and advise him, and therefore leave him still as free as he was before?

Be pleased also, holy Father, to instruct me in the Nature and Efficacy of Absolution. Is it authoritative, and proceeding from the Power of the Priest only? or is it conditional, and only a Declaration that God will accept, or hath accepted sincere Repentance? If God pardons, upon Repentance, what Force is in Absolution, or what Use, further than to ease poor Sinners, by assuring them, that if they have repented, God has forgiven them? If this be all, any Man, even the Sinner himself, may pronounce such a Declaration upon himself. Or does God stay to forgive, even after Repentance, till the Priest pronounces Absolution? If so, has not the Priest a greater Share than God in saving Men: nay, a superior Power, if his Part comes first, and his Absolution takes place of, and introduces God’s Pardon? If Repentance suffices without a Priest or Absolution, then what signifies either upon such Occasion, further than for a Declaration of Comfort? And without Repentance, what avails Absolution? Will you say that it avails? Or has our blessed Saviour ever said so? You must needs know what extravagant Positions, and what impious Claims of Power, have been confidently derived from this Privilege of Priests to pronounce Absolution, as if it inferred a Power to damn and save; tho’ it be really no more than what any Man may pronounce to another, or to himself, or to many, if they desire it, or will hear it. Has not this, therefore, as well as many other pious Practices, been horribly abused and perverted by the ungodly Craft of selfish Priests?

Whilst I am giving you all this Trouble, and tiring you with so many Questions, permit me, holy Father, to mix a little Comfort with so much Freedom and Importunity. I am told that your Ease and Rest are greatly interrupted and broken by the Increase and Prevalence [II-330] of Free-thinking. Be not too much frightened; the Mob and the Many will always be orthodox, always true to the Church, to Holy-days, and pious Rioting, for Reasons too apparent to need mention. The Number of Free-thinkers, that is, of Men who bring all Things to the Bar and Trial of right Reason, can never be so very great as justly to alarm the Clergy, can never greatly diminish the Majority of a Country, who will always be of the Church in vogue, always have Religion, if not that of Reason and Nature, yet surely that of Authority and of the Priesthood, who are themselves always conformable to Establishments and to Tithes, and the prevailing Faith.

I doubt it will not be equally pleasing to you, to be told, at least to have the Public told, that it is by no means Free-thinking which fills the Gaols, or loads the Gallows, or even peoples Exchange-Alley, or increases public or private Knavery, or contributes at all towards it. Was the South-Sea Scheme the Effect of Free-thinking? Sir John Blunt was a great Saint and Frequenter of the Ordinances; nor were any of his Confederates suspected of Deism. Was it Free-thinking that contrived or promoted national Massacres, that of Ireland or of Paris? Has it produced or assisted the Inquisition or Persecution? Was the Monk St. Dominic a Free-thinker, or was Bishop Laud one? Has Free-thinking encouraged, or have Free-thinkers perpetrated particular Murders or Assassinations? Was Ravillac a Free-thinker? Or was he who murdered the Prince of Orange? Or was he one who offered to murder the late King? Are the Banditti and Assassins in Italy Free-thinkers? Are not these Villains good Catholics, and Frequenters of Churches? Do any of our own Thieves die Free-thinkers? Do they not generally die good Churchmen, Catholic or Protestant, and always of some Religion? Was the famous Murderess Sarah Malcolm a Free-thinker? Did she die one, or declare that she had lived one?

No; Holy Father: Free-thinking has no Proselytes in Newgate or Exchange-Alley. I doubt it will be found that it is not Free-thinking that steals in Shops, or cheats behind Counters, or robs Houses, or cuts Throats. Nor is it Free-thinking that absolves Criminals of any sort, [II-331] much less Traitors and Assassins; nor consequently encourages such Crimes. I could, had I time, enlarge with Success on this Subject, and convince all Men, that Free-thinking disclaims all Alliance with Vice and Mobs, and dissolute Men; and leaves all Knaves, Profligates, and Hypocrites, to Conformity and Creeds, and the numerous Train of Orthodoxy.

It seems you have likewise found great Evils occasioned by People’s not coming to Church. My own Opinion is, that when People find themselves edified by going, they will go; when they are not edified, their going avails not. If the People had the Choice of their own Ministers, as in the primitive Times they had, it is more than probable they would go oftener. But when they neither like the Man nor the Matter, it is not likely that they will hear either. I was therefore surprized to hear that some of your Scouts and humble Agents (employed, I suppose, to try the Pulse of the Public) have mentioned compulsory Laws, still in Force, to oblige People to go to Church. Pray, can you reconcile such a Law, if there be one, to the Principles and Laws of Toleration! Could any such Law be at first procured but by the Solicitations of the persecuting Clergy? Or could any but Persecutors sollicit such a Law? Is it just or christian, to force any Man to hear what or whom he likes not? Would a High-churchman care to be forced to hear a Presbyterian Preacher, suppose in a Country where there were no other, as in Geneva? And should he not do as he would be done by? No penal Laws whatsoever were, or ever could be, prompted by a Christian Spirit. And besides this Consideration, I wonder how any Man can contend for the Continuance of Tests and Penalties here in England, as you do, and yet be against the Exercise of such in Scotland. Is this equal Justice, or equal Charity?

I should be quite too tedious to my Readers and myself (to you, Holy Father, I have been so already) should I but touch every Topic that deserves your Animadversion and that of the Public. I cannot forbear mentioning one Practice very common amongst you Churchmen, though it be destitute of all Candor, of all Truth and Charity. Whenever any clerical Folly, or Artifice, or [II-332] Usurpation, or false Position, is attacked, he who does so, scarce ever fails of being accused, of having attacked whatever is serious and sacred; and he is confidently charged with Irreligion, though he has evidently espoused and defended Religion against such as had profaned it, and blended it with Superstition and Power.

This Method of yours may have some Effect upon the Vulgar; but with Men of Sense, it hurts you, by discovering what you mean by Things serious and sacred. If by these Words you understood only the Gospel, and Conscience, and the Duties enjoined by either, you could have taken no Offence at any Writings which commend and vindicate Christianity, and only expose what weakens and defaces it, even the Pride and Violence of domineering and superstitious Priests. That there are such Priests, I presume you will not deny; nor that such Priests act not in all Things, or indeed hardly in any, upon the Foot and Motives of the Gospel.

That my late Sermon is intirely upon the Christian Scheme, and in the Christian Stile, I aver, and every Man may perceive; and therefore no Man, who regards Christianity and civil Liberty, can possibly dislike it. What it attacks is clerical Wantonness, clerical Superstition and Fury, Tyranny and Usurpation, both in the State and in the Church. If therefore that Sermon provoke you, it is manifest what pleases you, what you approve, and what you pursue. For myself I can say truly, and therefore boldly, that my Writings are intirely conformable to the Religion and Laws of my Country: Nor can any impartial Judge affirm of that Sermon, or of any Performance of mine (if there be any more of mine, besides that and this) what I have often heard the ablest Lawyers in this Nation affirm of a bulky Performance of yours, That it is a Libel upon the Laws and Constitution of England, and ought to be burned by the Hand of the common Hangman.

Here I humbly bend my Knee, Holy Father, and kissing your Vestment, subscribe myself, with profound Adoration,

Your Great Admirer and Dutiful Son,

Lincoln’s-Inn,
March 8. 1732-3.

A Layman.

[II-333]

A Letter to the Reverend Dr. Codex, on the Subject of his modest Instruction to the Crown, inserted in the Daily Journal of February 27 th, 1733. From the Second Volume of Burnet’s History.↩

The Fourth Edition, Corrected and Enlarged.

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1734.

Reverend SIR,

THE Vacancy now in the Church hath been long unsupplied, and the World have beheld this Accident with that Regard which is so justly due to Supreme Authority. No Man hath presumed to allow himself Liberties on this Subject beyond the decent Bounds of private Animadversion; and to these reasonable Limits such Persons as are the most tenderly interested in this Affair, would have restrained their Reflections, had not you, Sir, made your Appeals to the Populace, as privileged beyond other Men, how much soever above you in Rank, or Dignity, or Merit.

What I mean by your making Appeals to the Populace is best to be explained by reciting a Paragraph inserted by your Direction in the Daily Journal of February the 27th. Your Care and Expence, at all Times bestowed in so judicious a Manner, can never be too much applauded, but it deserves a most particular Acknowledgment, that you should be at the Trouble and Charge of informing the Public, in a Paper of Coffee-house Intelligence, That

‘In the second Volume of Bishop Burnet’s History, p. 119. published a few Days since, there is this remarkable Passage, viz.

‘The State of Ireland leads me to insert here a very particular Instance of the Queen’s pious Care in the [II-334] disposing of Bishoprics. Lord Sidney was so far engaged in the Interest of a great Family of Ireland, that he was too easily wrought on to recommend a Branch of it to a vacant See. The Representation was made with an undue Character of the Person; so the Queen granted it; but when she understood that he lay under a very bad Character, she wrote a Letter, in her own Hand, to Lord Sidney, letting him know what she had heard, and ordered him to call for six Irish Bishops, whom she named to him, and to require them to certify to her their Opinion of that Person. They all agreed, that he laboured under an ill Fame, and till that was examined into, they did not think it proper to promote him, so that the Matter was let fall. I do not name the Person, for I intend not to leave a Blemish on him, but set this down as an Example sit to be imitated by Christian Princes.’

This prudent and modest Instruction, which you thus have set forth for Christian Princes, will undoubtedly draw their Acknowledgments, as well as mine, in your Favour. To Persons of their Distinction, who cannot have the Leisure, or Opportunity, or Inclination, of tracing your Steps, as I have done, the Consideration, that none but you could be sufficiently interested to set forth this remarkable Paragraph, as you call it, and that none but you could possibly consider it as remarkable, more than any other Paragraph: This will to them be as proper a Ground for their Thanks as if they were in the same Light with myself, and possessed the same Evidence which I am Master of, concerning the Person who handed it to the Press, and paid for its being inserted in that Paper.

If the Merit of so much Zeal to find out fit Examples for the Imitation of Christian Princes, could admit of any Delay, it might possibly be objected to the Manner of such a Procedure, that Princes may be applied to by much more decent Means of Information, than by a Paragraph inserted in a common News-Paper, for the Amusement of Coffee-houses. It may be objected, that the Dignity of Princes forbids any particular Subject to dictate publicly to their Conduct, or to make that Counsel public which he submits to their private Consideration: [II-335] That to exhibit Instructions to Frinces for the Exercise of any particular Prerogative, or for the Decision of any depending Contest, and to do this in one of the Daily Papers, is a rude Attempt upon the Liberty of the Royal Judgement; an Attempt that rather prescribes to Princes than advises them; an Attempt that lays a Foundation for Clamour and Abuse. It doth not so much convey Matter of Consideration to Princes as it points out a Matter of Censure to partial unexamining Men; so that the Prince who is thus directed by a public Advertisement of an Example fit for him to imitate, must, if he act otherwise than the Instruction requires him to act, either descend to publish minute Accounts in Justification of his own Conduct; or he will be reproached for the free Use of his own Judgment in the Exercise of his own lawful Authority, and will be said to have acted contrary to an Example fit for all Christian Princes to imitate.

Give me leave, Sir, to warn you on this Head with all the Caution of a Friend. You convey to the World a Paragraph suggesting the Character of a Person whom you do not approve, to be very bad; you insinuate that he labours under an ill Fame, endeavouring thereby to draw the Displeasure of his Prince upon him. You ought to be strictly careful, on a double Account, in all Attempts of this Nature, that you do not indulge your own Malice against such Persons as you accuse, and that you do not furnish Matter to the Malice of others against those Princes whom you thus propose to influence.

If you, Sir, should ever have had the Honour and Happiness of free Approaches to such Princes, it may still inflame the Charge against you, that you take the Freedom of instructing them in their Behaviour by Paragraphs printed in News Papers: And perhaps some Princes might be of Opinion, that a Person who knew no better how to employ the Privilege of advising them, should, for the future, have no other Means of conveying Advice to them.

If such a Paragraph can be remarkable more than any other, if such an Example can be fit for Imitation, more than any other mentioned by the Reverend Historian, it can be so in no other View than this, that particular [II-356] Princes have now a parallel Case before them. And if you mean any thing at all, you must intend to suggest, that there is a present Recommendation to a vacant See, which appears to you in the same Light with Lord Sidney’s Recommendation to a Bishopric in Ireland. You thus suggest that a Great Counsellor of the Crown hath recommended a Person to the Favour of the Crown, with an undue Representation of his Character; that such Person lies under a very bad Character; that he ought not to be promoted till six Bishops have certified their Opinion of him; that if they these six Bishops agree he labours under an ill Fame, he is not to be promoted. And this is set down as an Example sit for Christian Princes to imitate.

If this is a Method of trying and stigmatizing Characters that I should make Exceptions to, I would not be understood to reflect, at this Distance of Time, on the Wisdom or Justice of that excellent Queen under whom this first Instance happened. We can have no other Lights of such a Transaction, than what this Paragraph in Burnet’s History affords us; and we may in Charity believe, that the Accident was circumstanced as he relates it to have been, that the Person set aside did labour under an ill Fame; that the Queen heard it from no malicious Whisperers, or interested Tale-bearers; that it could not answer any selfish Purpose to represent him as one of a bad Character, if he really deserved a good one; that the six Bishops who were referred to, and who certified their ill Opinion of him, were equal, unbiassed, indifferent Judges, incapable of any Intention to shake off their due Dependency on the Royal Supremacy; incapable of any Scheme or Project to turn their Hierarchy into an Aristocracy; incapable of setting on Foot a Cabal to take the Nomination of Bishops to themselves, in Prejudice and Dishonour of the Crown; incapable of any malicious Design to defame and stigmatize all Men, however virtuous or deserving, who would not conform to the Obedience required, and become subservient to the Intrigues carried on by such a spiritual Cabal; incapable likewise of being the Creatures and Slaves of a proud, ambitious, and mercenary Prelate, who aspired [II-337] to engross Ecclesiastical Power, and to usurp on the sacred Prerogatives of the King his Sovereign.

I make these liberal Concessions in favour of those six Bishops, because however willing I am to think candidly of their Certificate, that the Man whom they set aside laboured under an ill Fame, yet it is too plain, should such a Method prevail of trying and disqualifying Candidates for Ecclesiastical Preferments, it must give a dangerous Scope to all the Practices which I have enumerated, and therefore I do not think it a fit Example for Christian Princes to imitate, nor a fit Example for a free People to be fond of.

I need not tell you, Sir, how odious the Cabals of Ecclesiastics are to the Laws of this Kingdom; you very well know the Law that restrains the B———ps from meeting together without the King’s Authority in any Company beyond a certain Number; you know the Supremacy which you have all sworn to maintain in the Crown; you likewise know, that in virtue of this Prerogative, the Crown hath an uncontroulable Power of making Bishops and Dignitaries in the Church, which before the Reformation Ecclesiastics had wickedly incroached on, pretending to the Right of electing one another, and that the Confirmation of such Elections belonged to a sovereign Pontiff: All which, Sir, you have renounced by your Oaths, are ipso facto excommunicate, if you pretend to any such exorbitant Power, and incur the Penalties of a Premunire, whereby you forfeit your Goods and Chattels, the Revenue of your Lands, and the Liberty of your Person.

It avails nothing at all in Sense of Justice, or to the Safety of Mankind, that these wise Provisions were made by our Ancestors, if B———ps, eluding the Laws, and their Oaths, shall ever claim that Power from the Grace of the Crown, which they renounce all Right to by the most solemn Sacraments. It would be a much more dangerous Practice than any which can be attempted; because, at the same time that it might seem to acknowledge the Force of the Law, it would destroy the Effect of it, and whilst it might speciously submit to the Forms of the Constitution, would subvert the Foundation of it.

[II-338]

You will therefore allow me, Sir, to consider this Scheme of trying all Candidates for Preserment in the Church with more Indignation, as it tends to give a Junto of B———ps a Negative upon the Nomination to any Bishopric, than it might be proper to express, with regard to that Malice and Defamation which may at any time be employed to deprive a particular Person of the Advancement intended him.

It must be admitted, that nothing can be more cruel, dishonest, and detestable, than to defame an innocent Man, and to fix, by malicious Arts, an ill Fame upon him, in order to make him lose his Preferment. But there are Views and Designs which may be the Motives of such an Attempt, and which will make it infinitely more alarming than any Hardship done to a single Person. There may be the Project of bringing all Promotions in the Church into the Hands of a few ambitious arbitrary Churchmen, so that the highest Counsellor of the Crown shall not recommend the Friend whom he best loves, and the Man whom he most approves, without exposing such Person to be deprived of his Reputation by those who may be averse to his Advancement: And the Prince on the Throne, if he shall espouse the innocent Party, after such Reverend Defamers have testified their Dislike of him, shall be exposed to the same Ecclesiastical Malice, nay, shall be set sorth to all his Subjects, by one who is the Creature of his Power, and the Abuser of his Favour, as an Example not fit for Christian Princes to imitate.

It is Part of the Impeachment of the House of Commons against Archbishop Laud, Article VI.

“That he traiterously assumed to himself a Papal and Tyrannical Power, both in Ecclesiastical and Temporal Matters, over his Majesty’s Subjects in this Realm of England, and in other Places, to the Disherison of the Crown, Dishonour of his Majesty, and Derogation of his supreme Authority in Ecclesiastical Matters.”

The Commons proceed in the Eighth Article of that Impeachment, to charge him,

“That for the better advancing of his traiterous Purpose and Design, he did abuse the great Power and Trust his Majesty reposed in him; and did intrude upon the Places of divers [II-339] great Officers, and upon the Right of other of his Majesty’s Subjects, whereby he did procure to himself the Nomination of sundry Persons to Ecclesiastical Dignities, Promotions and Benefices belonging to his Majesty, and divers of the Nobility and Clergy, and others; and hath taken upon him the Commendation of Chaplains to the King, by which means, he hath preferred to his Majesty’s Service, and to other great Promotions in the Church, such as have been Popishly affected, or otherwise, unfound and corrupt, both in Doctrines and Manners.”

I chuse, Sir, to cite these Articles for your Consideration, to shew you the Sense and Judgment of Parliament, on the Matter before us; and if it should ever appear in a National Enquiry, that B———ps have assumed to themselves the Nomination of Bishops, that they have haughtily and arbitrarily claimed the sole Right of advising and recommending in Ecclesiastical Promotions, pretending that the highest Counsellor of the Crown hath no Right to offer his Advice, on such Occasions, it may beget a Question, which I am afraid, some Persons will know not how to answer.

For Instance, if an insolent domineering Prelate should ever pretend to advance it as his Right, to nominate Bishops in the Manner as the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain advises the Crown, in the Nomination of Judges, if he should be arrogant enough to affirm, that he might as properly interfere in supplying the Vacancies of Westminster-Hall, as that Great Officer may recommend to vacant Sees, there can be no Difference made between such a Behaviour, and the Case of Laud himself, as described in these Articles of Impeachment before us.

The Clergy of this Kingdom have sworn to the Royal Supremacy, and hold all their Powers, Emoluments and Ecclesiastical Offices, by the Gift of the Civil Government; and as the Order of Bishops arises from the Institution of Temporal Laws, its Vacancies are to be supplied by the Mediation of Temporal Officers. You know, Sir, it is the Great Seal alone, that hath any Virtue or Effect in the Ordination of Bishops. Without it the Clergy can have no Dignitaries amongst them, and the Holy Ghost must cease in this Kingdom, as to its [II-340] Effect in conferring of Characters. The Chancellor may refuse to affix this Seal, if he shall see Cause in his own Discretion; for, neither the Conge d’Elire, nor any Instrument which relates to the making of Bishops, are Writs of Right, nor is he bound to pass them ex officio, nor implicitly to obey the Warrants which transmit them to him. He hath no Perils or Fears attending his Refusal; though if he shall think it proper to affix the Great Seal in such Cases, the Clergy of all Orders and Degrees must obey it, on pain of the most severe Penalties. To seal such Instruments of Nomination is, on his Part, an Act of Conscience, wherein he is to advise with his free Judgment, and freely to offer the King his Opinion: But, if he seals them, the Conformity of the Church and their Obedience to the Crown, are Acts of the highest Necessity, wherein they are no more allowed a Latitude of judging or considering, than Sheriffs are in obeying the King’s Writs of Execution. They perform them as Acts of the most simple and unconditional Obedience, which admit of no Delays, nor Deliberations, nor Rescriptions to the Prince. When the Clergy of this Kingdom are without Bishops, they have no Right to any but from the King’s Pleasure, who may keep the See vacant to an indefinite Term; for no Time lapses with the Crown. When it is the Royal Pleasure, that such vacant See shall be supplied, the Chapter of the Diocese have Leave to elect, and Letters missive pass with the Conge d’Elire, requiring them to elect such Person as the King therein nominates. If they do not return the Conge d’Elire, according to the Requisition of the Letters missive, within twelve Days, the Act of Parliament made in the five and twentieth Year of Henry VIII. Chapter the twentieth, expresly says,

“that the King’s Highness, his Heirs or Successors, at their Liberty and Pleasure, shall nominate and present, by their Letters Patents under their Great Seal, such a Person to the said Archbishopric or Bishopric, as they shall think able and convenient for the same.”

The Statute proceeds in the next Section thus:

“And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that whenever any such Presentment or Nomination shall be made by the King’s Highness, his Heirs or Successors, [II-341] by Virtue and Authority of this Act, and according to the Tenor of the same, That then every Archbishop and Bishop, to whose Hands any such Presentment and Nomination shall come, shall with all Speed and Celerity invest and consecrate the Person nominate and presented by the King’s Highness, his Heirs or Successors, to the Office and Dignity that such Person shall be so presented unto, and give and use to him all Benedictions, Ceremonies, and Things requisite for the same.”

The same Statute proceeds still more vigorously in the sixth and seventh Sections of the aforesaid Cap. 20. viz.

“VI. And be it further enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That every Person and Persons being hereafter chosen, elected, nominate, presented, invested and consecrated to the Dignity or Office of any Archbishop or Bishop within this Realm, or within any other the King’s Dominions, according to the Form, Tenor, and Effect of this present Act, and suing their Temporalities out of the King’s Hands, his Heirs or Successors, as hath been accustomed, and making a corporal Oath to the King’s Highness, and to none other in Form as afore rehearsed, shall and may from henceforth be trononised and installed as the Case shall require; (2) And shall have and take their only Restitution out of the King’s Hands, of all the Possessions and Profits belonging to the said Archbishopric or Bishopric whereunto they shall be so elected or presented, and shall be obeyed in all manner of Things, according to the Name, Title, Degree and Dignity that they shall be chosen or presented unto, and do and execute in every Thing and Things touching the same as any Archbishop or Bishop of this Realm, without offending the Prerogative Royal of the Crown, and the Laws and Customs of this Realm might at any Time heretofore do.

VII. “And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if the Dean and Chapter of any Cathedral Church where the See of an Archbishop or Bishop is within any of the King’s Dominions after such Licence [or Conge d’Elire ] as is afore rehearsed, shall be delivered to them, proceed not to Election, and [II-342] signify the same according to the Tenor of this Act within the Space of twenty Days next, after such Licence shall come to their Hands: (2) Or else if any Archbishop or Bishop within the King’s Dominions, after any such Election, Nomination or Presentation, shall be signified unto them by the King’s Letters Patent, shall refuse, and do not confirm, invest, and consecrate, with all due Circumstance, as is aforesaid, every such Person as shall be so elected, nominated or presented, and to them signified, as is above-mentioned, within twenty Days, next after the King’s Letters Patent of such Signification or Presentation shall come to their Hands. (3) Or else, if any of them, or any other Person or Persons admit, maintain, allow, do or execute any Censures, Excommunications, Interdictions, Inhibitions, or any other Act or Process, of what Nature, Name, or Quality soever it be to the contrary, or lett, or Hindrance of due Execution of this Act, (4) That then every Dean, and particular Person of the Chapter, and every Archbishop and Bishop, and all other Persons so offending, and doing contrary to this Act, or any Part thereof, and their Aiders, Counsellors, Abettors, shall run in the Dangers, Pains and Penalties of the Estatute of Provision and Premunire, made in the five and twentieth Year of King Edw. III. and in the sixteenth Year of King Richard II.” Vide 1 Eliz. 1 and 8 Eliz. 1.

Thus the Law of the Kingdom, makes the Clergy of the Kingdom, howsoever dignified or distinguished, the meer passive involuntary Agents of the Crown, moved by the absolute Will of the Sovereign, signified to them by Writ or Patent under the Great Seal, to be issued or refused according to the Conscience of him who hath Custody thereof. Whomsoever the Pleasure of the Crown shall prefer as a Bishop, the Clergy have the Honour to adopt as their Election. And though he is to all Intents and Purposes, a Bishop without their Election, yet still they are under the strictest Necessity to elect and confirm him, how little soever he, or the King presenting him, stands in need of their Election or Confirmation; which the Wisdom of our Law hath apparently [II-343] enacted to shew, that they, the Clergy, are at the same time entirely useless, yet absolutely dependent. They are without Power, to do any thing in the Case, but to shew their most humble Obedience. They are, without the smallest Portion of Liberty, to delay, or deliberate about the Election or Consecration required of them. They may, by the King’s Permit, make his Nominee their Bishop, who whether they will or not, must in all Events, by the King’s Patents, be made their Bishop. Whether he is made by Election or Nomination, they must consecrate him, and whether he is elected or consecrated, the King’s Authority, which in that Case can create, will likewise install him Bishop with full Episcopal Power, so that the Great Seal makes him a Bishop of his particular Church, and makes him at the same time, Bishop of the Church at large. Thus whilst the Clergy are bound by all these penal Laws, the Chancellor is under the Injunctions of none; and it is most clear, that as well the Mandates of Consecration, as the Letters of Nomination, are equally trusted to the Discretion and Remonstrances of the Lord Chancellor, for the Time being, equally to be obeyed by the Clergy implicitly, and under the strictest Penalties; whereby it must appear, that the Power of the Great Seal is the only Source of Ecclesiastical Holiness, and Stamp of imagined indelible Characters.

Thus in the making of Bishops or other Dignitaries, Submission, absolute and unreserved Submission to Royal Prerogative, is the only Share which the Clergy are, by the Laws of England intitled to; but the Chancellor, who affixes the Great Seal to every Instrument of Election or Creation, He, who by his Office gives Life to every Nomination of Bishops, Dignitaries, and Churchmen preferred by the Crown, it is his Right, and it is his Duty to advise the Crown. It belongs so justly to his Province, that were he to neglect it, there can be no Doubt that it would be a Crime in his Conduct, and he is so far from being restrained as Churchmen are from advising in these Matters, that he is sworn to it when he receives the Great Seal, nor ought to affix that Seal in such Cases, until he hath discharged this Duty.

[II-344]

Do you not see that the highest Churchman of this Kingdom was impeached in Parliament, for that notwithstanding he had taken the Oath of Supremacy, he took to himself the Nomination of Ecclesiastical Dignitaries, in high Dishonour and Disherison of the Crown. Shall then a subordinate Churchman pretend more Right to advise the Crown in the Exercise of this Prerogative, than his Metropolitan is by Law intitled to? And, shall he, with superior Insolence, pretend a greater Right than the Great Keeper of the King’s Conscience? That Officer, whose Capacity for advising and judging in Ecclesiastical Promotions the Law of this Kingdom acknowledges with the most favourite Distinction, by reposing so high a Confidence in his Wisdom and Integrity, that it is the inherent Right of the Great Seal to present to All the Livings in England, valued in the King’s Books under 20 l. per Annum. The Person who hath Custody of that Seal supplies all Vacancies in the Church of this sort, by his own official Authority, without any Warrant whatever. Can it, after this hath been mentioned, be doubted, where the Law of England hath vested the Presentations of the King, to so vast an Extent in the pure Discretion of his Chancellor, that it hath not given him as large a Right to advise in Promotions above that Value, as it hath given him plenary Power to dispose of all under that Value? And, can it be conceived, that this Officer of the Crown, who hath Authority to act in this Extent for the Crown, hath not a much more extensive Province to act in as an Adviser of the Crown? Shall then a subordinate Churchman, whom the Laws have expresly restrained from acting or advising at all, proceed against the fundamental Principles of the Constitution, incroaching upon the Rights of the Seal, and intruding upon the Royal Prerogative? And, shall not the Chancellor of Great Britain remember the Oath which he swore when the King delivered the Seals into his Keeping,

“That he shall not know, or suffer the Hurt or Disheriting of the King, or that the Rights of the Crown be decreased by any Means, as far forth as he may let or hinder; and if he may not let or hinder it, he shall make it clearly and expresly known to the King with his true Advice and Counsel.”

[II-345]

You have now, Sir, seen, that this Great Officer hath an undoubted Right of advising, as well in the Nomination of Bishops as of Judges; and that Churchmen have no Right of interfering in the Nomination of either. This is most evident from the Laws, and apparent from Reason. If the Head of that learned Profession is advised with in the Promotion of Judges, it is most undoubtedly true, that none are so fit as Lawyers to recommend those who are best skilled in the Science of Laws; and it can by no means in the World hurt or endanger the Public, that they recommend one another: On the other hand, it is as true, that the Case is very different in the Church, where the essential Qualifications of Priests being Charity, Humility, and Christian Piety, may easily be judged of by the Meanest of the People; where likewise the due Discharge of the Trust reposed in them depends more on their Honesty and Moderation, than on their Learning and School Sufficiency; and where the Course of Church Preferment cannot arise from a Cabal of Churchmen, without indangering the Royal Prerogative as well as the Rights of the People.

It would not indeed surprize any Man, who knows the World, if he should hear a Churchman pretend, that “he has as much Right to nominate Judges, as a Chancellor hath to advise in the Nomination of Bishops.” I fear such aspiring immoderate Men, would be glad to nominate one, as well as the other, if it might be permitted them; and considering that wonderful Codex, which you have compiled, I should think it extremely natural, that one of your Talents and Temper, in framing a System of Law, should have an extraordinary Passion for introducing a Set of Judges to support it. You will give me Leave to refresh your Memory with some Particulars in our History. When Bishops nominated Bishops, they made themselves Chancellors likewise. When they once incroached so far on the Rights of the Great Seal, they soon obtained the Custody of it, as the Privilege of their Function. But the Reformation of the Church restored the Authority of the Law, and when an exorbitant Churchman began to unravel the Reformation, he made it a Part of his [II-346] Scheme, to subdue the Power of the Law. He took the Nomination of Bishops to himself; he took upon him the Power of controuling the Courts of Justice, and as a Commencement of his Claim, in making of Judges, he prevailed on the King, to injoin the Lord Chancellor, that half of the Masters in Chancery should be appointed from among the Doctors of the Civil Law, because Civilians usually practise and officiate in the Courts of the Bishops.

This Usurpation of a Papal and Tyrannical Power, both in Spiritual and Temporal Affairs, to use the Words of the Commons in their Impeachment against him, drew the Weight of that Prosecution upon him, and as the Lord Clarendon wisely observes, the Justice of the Kingdom, will at some time or other, be too hard for the strongest Opposers and Oppressors of it.

It is to be hoped, that after so heavy a Censure on one who was placed at the Head of his Profession, for assuming illegal Powers, and unwarrantable Functions, no subordinate Churchman, will ever pretend to act in that Capacity, which, if it were a lawful one, could only belong to the Head of his Order. What would you, Sir, say, if ever your Fate should mount you up to the Top of the Ladder Ecclesiastical, and one of your Suffragans should assume, in Exclusion of yourself, the most exorbitant Powers, that any in your own exalted Station ever pretended to; despising the Authority of the Law; invading the Rights of the Crown; dictating to Lords High Chancellors what belongs to their Office; and dictating to the King, his Sovereign, by public Instructions in printed Papers, what Examples are fit for Christian Princes to imitate.

I hope, Sir, you will agree with me, that if ever any such daring Pretender to lawless and unrighteous Domination over us should appear amongst us, it will be our Duty, and I trust we shall neither want Spirit nor Means, to defeat him. An honest Englishman, and a dutiful Subject, must be moved in this Case, by the strongest Dictates, which Love to his Country, or Allegiance to his Prince, can in any Case suggest to him. Whenever an assuming Prelate, whose selfish and arbitrary Views are as evident as his Malice and Cruelty against all who [II-347] oppose them; whenever such a Prelate shall lay claim to the Nomination of Persons to Ecclesiastical Promotions, Dignities and Benefices in the Disposition of the Crown, the Success of his Attempt must indanger the King, and the fundamental Constitution. If once he prevail in this Practice, and gain such an undue Share of Favour, as to recommend in supplying vacant Sees, and to set aside in such Promotions, all who are disagreeable to himself, he will bring the whole Power of the Crown in Ecclesiastical Affairs, into his own Possession; he will draw all the Church Endowments and Dignities belonging to the Royal Nomination, within the Circle of his own Creatures and Dependents; he will divest the King of his princely Prerogative, to reward the Merit of his most deserving Subjects, and to attach the Affections and Gratitude of those who might be most useful to his Service: And when such a Prelate hath long proceeded in this Course of advancing to the highest Stations, and the most valuable Promotions, his own Set of Flatterers and Slaves, it will not, I fear, be found that they hold themselves under Obligations to their Prince, but to this Protestant Pontiff, who will teach them, that the Power delegated to them by the Crown, may be a Weapon in their Hands, to wound the Prerogative of the Crown. Whatever Usurpations he shall attempt on the King’s Authority, he will incite them to join with him in, for the Advancement of their common Ambition: And if such Ambition and Insolence shall at any time be repressed by a Prince jealous of his Honour, and justly attentive to the Preservation of the ancient Rights belonging to his Crown, they will threaten to cabal against him; they will tamper with Civil Factions, to revenge the just Rebukes which they may receive from their injured and offended Sovereign; they will contrive Bargains with Parties, to distress the Crown for the Exaltation of themselves; they will employ the Weight and Interest of their Temporalities to make Divisions in the People, to influence the public Councils, and even Parliamentary Elections: Evils, none of which can happen, if the Crown shall retain to itself intire, the Exercise of its own Prerogatives: For, if the Prince on the Throne shall continue to advise with his Civil [II-348] Counsellors, or resort to his own Knowledge of Mankind, in all his Nominations to Ecclesiastical Dignities; if he shall constantly promote Men whom he knows to deserve his Favour, and to regard him with faithful Affection, if he does this without the Interposition of any selfish designing Churchman, however possible it is, that some Mistakes may happen in Particulars, yet on the whole, it is morally impossible, that the Dependence of those he promotes can belong to any Interest but to that of the Crown; they will owe the Crown their natural Gratitude; and having received the Favour of their Advancement from the King alone, none will stand in the Way to intercept that Duty and Service which they ought to return him; whereas if he should, at any time to come, suffer his Church Promotions to be modelled by any single Prelate, he will see that Prelate vested in a short time with a Power almost able to controul supreme Authority; he will see the Devotion which ought to be paid to him alone, in right of his Royalty, paid in his high Dishonour and Wrong to a Priest, a proud assuming Priest, who will threaten, that if his own Creatures are not advanced, or if any Person, disagreeable to his Humours or Interests, shall be advanced, that he will never be seen in the Court, nor appear in the Service of his Prince; and even that he will arm all the Ecclesiastics in the Kingdom with Clamour and Fury, to avenge his unchristian Quarrel.

Such a Spirit as this, or any that resembles it, ought to be suppressed with early Care. There is no Service to a Court, that can pretend to palliate the Growth of such alarming Encroachments upon the Power of the Crown, and there is no Encroachment upon the Regal Prerogative, so dangerous to Mankind, to Civil Liberty, and common Safety, as the Usurpation of Ecclesiastics. If ever the least Sign of such Encroachment should appear, stop the Progress of it immediately. If indulgent Grace and Favour may at any time suffer it to go too far, let nothing be neglected to restrain it. Nothing can be too great a Venture, to risque in the Undertaking. Nothing can be a more dreadful Hazard, nay, more certain Ruin, than to suffer that it should proceed. If ever its Progress should appear to be beyond Restraint, [II-349] the Power of the Crown, the Legal Prerogative of the King, is then swallowed up, perhaps, beyond Recovery; and the Prince on the Throne, who should suffer his Clergy to flatter him out of his most essential Authority, would find such Flatterers become his Tyrants, and the Power with which he parted to oblige them, would be employed to distress his Affairs; nay, to destroy himself and his Family; he would be but the Cypher of Royalty; he would be environed by the Power of the Church, and engrossed by a vile Cabal of insolent Ecclesiastics.

It is most evident, that the Growth of this Ecclesiastical Tyranny would take its Rise, Sir, from that Scheme which you propose for the trying and disqualifying Candidates to Church Preferments; I must therefore adhere to my former Opinion, that the Example which you advertised for the Use of Christian Princes, in the Daily Journal of February 27, is not fit for Christian Princes to imitate.

I am apt to fear you have made an ill Applicatson of an excellent Treatise set forth some Years since by a reverend and eminent Person, to conciliate the Minds of the Clergy, when they were divided by a Commitment of one of their Bishops, on a Charge of High Treason. This Letter to the Clergy, which was published in the Year 1722, is still preserved in the 24th Volume of the Political State of Great Britain; and as it is there said, by Mr. Abel Boyer, was generally reported to have been written by the R. R. Dr. G———n then L——— B——— of L———ln. Now, since so great an Authority must have passed into every Man’s Hands, it must be confessed, there were some Passages in that Letter, which coming from one so deservedly trusted in the Depth of Ecclesiastical Secrets, may possibly have misled the Weak and Undiscerning, to entertain false and incongruous Notions of the Manner in which our Church is governed.

I fear, most worthy Dr. Codex, you have imagined, that such a Scheme as you have proposed for trying of Ecclesiastical Candidates, might one Day or other prevail, because the Rev. Dr. G———n, if he was the Author of that Letter, after he hath said in the first Division [II-350] of his Discourse, Par. IV. that it had been his Majesty’s continual and prudent Rule to consult or be directed by his Bishops, in the Disposal of Preferments of every Rank in the Church, proceeds in this manner to exult upon the Occasion,

“What, says the Reverend Writer, can shew a greater Trust placed in, or Deference paid to, his Bishops, than to share as it were his Royal Prerogative with them, and make himself but a kind of Executor of their Pleasure.———Here then adds the Letter-Writer, let us, the Clergy, rejoice, &c. ”

Now, should this amazing Passage be thought too much for a modest Clergyman to say of his own Order or of his anointed Head, should it be thought stupendous Insolence, to tell the World that the K——— himself is directed by B———ps, that he shares his Royal Prerogative with Ecclesiastics, and is but an Executor of their Pleasure: Let us ask ourselves at the same time, hath not this very Clergyman, who writes in this manner during thirty or forty Years past, both preached and sworn to maintain the Royal Supremacy of the King his Sovereign in all Causes, and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil? And how is such a Clergyman to be regarded, when after having intitled himself to so many Dignities and Emoluments, by the Repetition of such Oaths, he shall, in Defiance of them, affirm that the K——— himself, his supreme Head and Sovereign, hath been directed by B———ps, who have sworn to be directed by him; or that a Prince of so sublime a Dignity could ever submit to such Dishonour and Disherison of his Crown, as to share his Royal Prerogatives with his Ecclesiastics: And what is still more injurious to Imperial Majesty, and ignominious to his sacred Character, that He, our Sovereign Lord the K———g could ever make himself to be considered and spoken of as but the Executor of the Pleasure of Priests!

Were these Expressions ever to be described in the Language of an Impeachment, and in the vigorous Stile of Parliaments, they would be charged by an House of Commons, as insolent, wicked and traiterous Words, expressed in high Contempt and Derogation of the Royal Authority, in Diminution of the supreme Dignity of [II-351] the Imperial Crown of these Kingdoms, and highly disrespectful to the sacred Person of our Lord the K———, tending to infuse groundless Jealousies into his Majesty’s Subjects, that his Royal Prerogative is shared, and his Administration directed, to the Prejudice of the People, and to the Dishonour of the Crown, and tending to lessen that Reverence which all his Majesty’s Subjects owe to him their liege Lord and Sovereign.

Yet whilst the Meaning of this Reverend Letter-writer comes under these alarming Considerations, we are still, if possible, startled more by what he says in the second Part of his Discourse, Section I. Par. V. where enumerating the Oaths taken by Clergymen, among which the Oath of Supremacy is one, he adds,

“That after this Gordion Knot is fastened on the Consciences of Clergymen, which no Art or Time can loosen, and which nothing but Violence and Wickedness can cut, how must they appear to the World? How black, how detestable, if they act contrary to this sacred Engagement? How much must the Christian Religion, how much must even Natural Religion be weakened by such a Behaviour in the Clergy? Believe me, Brethren, continues the Writer, that no Imputation, no Stain can fix so fast to our Church as this. It is a Stab almost in a vital Part, and only a visible contrary Behaviour in us can be the effectual Remedy in a Case of so much Danger.”

Tell me, Sir, what your Opinion must be of a Writer, who, whilst he was cherishing such a Spirit and Disposition in his own Mind, and whilst he was advancing such Pretensions, in the Letter which he was writing, hath in the same Breath loaded them with such Weight of Guilt and Infamy, as the last recited Paragraph contains.

Dr. G———n, or the Author of that Letter, was likewise pleased to say in the sixth Paragraph of his first Division, in this Discourse, That it had been experienced, that it was much safer to lay the Loins of the Law upon a Layman, than the little Finger of it upon a Clergyman.

However possible it is that vain and ignorant Men may feed their Hopes with such Imaginations, let me as a Friend, warn you not to err on this Head, for if ever [II-352] your Practices shall deserve a public Enquiry, or an exemplary Punishment, you will find, as the worthy Lord Clarendon said, That the Justice of the Kingdom will one Day or other be too hard for you, however strongly you may oppose or oppress it.

Do not therefore indulge a Dream which reflects so much Dishonour on the Justice of the Kingdom. Do not imagine, that in these Times it can be at all safer to lay the Loins of the Law on a Layman, than the little Finger of it on a Clergyman. Dr. G———n, however he happened to drop this Expression, will be so far from supporting you, that he will be cited to shew you the Folly and Wickedness of such vain Apprehensions.

Give me leave then, Sir, to lay before you his Sentiments on the Crimes of Ecclesiastics, and the Punishments which Societies ought to provide against them. A Lesson which I hope will have some Influence on your Conduct, as it comes from such Authority.

In the tenth Paragraph of the last cited Division of his Letter, he addresses himself to the Clergy in this remarkable Manner.

“I presume, says he to his Reverend Brethren, there is no Protestant among us who believes that a Bishop, as a Bishop, is, or ought to be, exempt, from civil Enquiries. That erroneous Notion was banished from our Isle with Popery, long ago, and the King’s Supremacy over all his Subjects is not doubted of by any Member of our Church. Indeed, when a Prelate acts within his proper Sphere, a larger Portion of Respect is due———But whenever any one of that high Station acts contrary to his Religious Character, and strikes at the Establishment of his Country, it is his Interest that his sacred Office be not regarded in the Question, lest it serve only to aggravate the Crimes proved against him; or to speak in the Language of the great St. Paul, to make his Sin exceeding sinful. It may be considered further, that a Crime against the Constitution is equally dangerous, whether it be carried on by Lay or Episcopal Hands, by one that wears a Sword, or a Habit of Lawn. That State must be unwise to a Proverb, which will not take the same necessary Precautions against the one as the other; for, the [II-353] Care of the Public is above any private Regard, because it includes in it all other Relations, whether natural, civil, or ecclesiastical——— For my Part, says Dr. G———n, I cannot but look upon this as an Instance of steady and impartial Justice, such as every Government ought to observe; and I would not wish myself a Member of a more Platonic Commonwealth, than where every Man who enters into such Measures as endanger my Liberty, my Property, or my Religion, be he civil or sacred, wear he a Garter or a Mitre, is, upon Discovery of his Designs, brought to a fair Trial, and does, upon Conviction, pay that Debt of Punishment which the known Laws of his Country demand.”

In the next Paragraph, he still speaks in the same just and forcible Manner,

“That the Justice and Safety of the Nation require that all Delinquents be considered and censured as Delinquents, without any Regard to the Office, or Title, or Honour, which they bear.”

I hope, Sir, after this you will never delude yourself to think, that it can be safer to lay the Loins of the Law on a Layman, than the little Finger of it on a Clergyman. You will be of Opinion with me, that it is a Position full of Insolence and Scandal to the Justice of the Kingdom; a Position which is fraught with Malice against our Constitution, and which imputes the most partial, oppressive, and unjust Proceedings to the good People of England.

If, Sir, you should still entertain any Fondness for these detestable Notions, let me expostulate with you in the admirable Words of the Reverend Writer, in the third Paragraph of his first Division, where he tells us, he is appeasing the little Jealousies and Suspicions which such as you are apt to harbour in you.

“I know, says Dr. G———n, that it is natural for Men of all Societies, even of incorporated Trades, though never so mean in the Esteem of the World, to be alarmed at any Thing which may seem to reflect Dishonour on them as a Body, or which brings the Persons of their particular Governors in Danger; for, where there is an Union of Interest, there is always a common Jealousy of Danger. But why should [II-354] not we, Gentlemen, addressing himself to the Clergy, we who are bred up to Letters, and have received that generous Education in our Universities, which is usually thought not unworthy the Youth of the highest Quality; why should not we, who understand how to distinguish and separate those things in our Minds which the unwise and unlearned confound, see clearly, that it may be reasonable and necessary for the Government to animadvert upon one of our Order, even in the strictest Manner, at the same time that it reverences the holy Function with which he is invested.”

You will not imagine, now you have heard such Recitals from this judicious Divine, nor durst you suggest, that Dr. G———n can possibly serve you as an Authority in any of your unwarrantable Claims, or cover you from the Censures due to your unlawful Usurpations. If any thing, Sir, could reclaim you to the Humility of a Christian Clergyman, or to the Duty and Allegiance of an English Subject; if any thing could inspire you with a just Sense of your Oaths and Obligations, it must be the Words of this great and able Churchman, whose Letter of Advice to the Clergy, I can never be weary of transcribing.

The second Part of his Discourse, Section the first, is opened in these Words.

“Give me leave to represent that with too many Men, we the Clergy lay under the Scandal of being a restless and ungovernable Body. The Charge, I know, is not a true one, but it would grieve the Heart of a good Man, to find that there should be any the least Handle for such an unworthy Aspersion; for, Sedition, or Designs against the Constitution, is in a Clergyman an accumulated Crime; it is a whole Cluster of Sins in one, and as many more Aggravations when committed by us than by any others. For,

“We have solemnly dedicated ourselves to the Ministry of holy Things, we have turned our Backs upon the Cares of a secular Calling, and have confined ourselves to the more immediate Service of Religion; so that for us to be concerned in public Affairs, which are not made a Part of our Duty by the Laws, even though we should act in them uprightly, is hardly [II-355] justifiable, and may well seem a temporary Departure from the Business of our Calling: Besides, we never had yet much Reputation for our Skill in judging of public Matters—Why then should we quit that sacred Province in which our Fellow Subjects will easily allow us to be able Judges of Divinity, for that in which (let us confess it freely for all the World knows it, and I think it for our Credit) we are not, we cannot well be Judges of Politics.

“We are all of us Men appointed to promote the Peace of Mankind, and to preach the Doctrine of Obedience to the higher Powers in being, and of mutual Love and good Will to one another; and can it seem less than a vile Hypocrisy, or a direct Disbelief of the great Truths of Scripture, if we give any just Occasion for our civil Governors to suspect us as seditious and disobedient Subjects? We say, and rightly too, in our Sermons, that we are an Order of Men necessary to Government: Let us then, by our Actions, prove this Truth to those who think otherwise of us. We are some of us eloquent and copious, in proving that Society cannot long subsist without Teachers of Religion: Let us then, I beseech you, make it visible to all Men, that we endeavour to support the Society in which we are so happily planted, and labour, with all our Power, to disappoint the Attempts of those who would overturn it.

“We of all Men do, with an ill Grace, endeavour to work up our Audience into Fury, especially against the State; it is the very Reverse of our Profession, and is just such a Solecism in Divinity as Superstition in Philosophy.

“We are to consider ourselves still further, as in some sort Pensioners to the State in which we live. Left this be not understood as it is meant, give me leave to express myself more clearly, by saying, that though we have a Claim from Scripture and Reason, to a Maintenance in the Labour of the Gospel, yet the particular Assignment of that Portion which we enjoy, is the Free Gift of our Government; or if any one will make a Difficulty in allowing this, yet he cannot deny that the large Revenues, as well as the Honours [II-356] attending the higher Stations of the Church, do intirely flow from the Bounty of our Laws, and are the Pensions which a wise Society pays to its distinguished Ecclesiastics, for the Reward of their uncommon Piety and Learning, and of the Pattern which they are supposed to give, of Submission to their civil Governors. Some of us enjoy not only what is necessary for supporting us in the sacred Business of our Calling, but have an Abundance sufficient to make us sit down in the Rank of the Great and Wealthy. And I have often thought, that if some amongst us, who have been the warmest Advocates for the divine Right of our Incomes, were strictly to take the Measure of them from what is said concerning them in the Gospel, they would lose at least one half of their Revenues in the dangerous Experiment, and perhaps have but the Tythe left them of what they now enjoy from the Munificence of the Legislature. This therefore is an Argument of much Weight! and may teach us, that as our civil Governors are our Benefactors, whoever resists them must appear basely unthankful, and cannot shake off his Obedience, without taking upon himself a full Load of the Infamy of Ingratitude.”

I have now compleated such Extracts from this Letter of Dr. G———n, as can be sit for your Attention, most Reverend Dr. Codex. You have now seen the Judgment of Parliament in the Impeachment of a former spiritual Offender, for taking to himself the Royal Nomination to ecclesiastical Dignities, and intruding upon the Place of great Officers appointed to advise the Crown. You have seen the severe Animadversions of the grave Author, your Reverend Brother, so often cited against you; and it may be expected you will not hereafter advance a Claim of Right, that any of your Profession should direct the K———, or that any Ecclesiastic whatever should share his Royal Prerogative, or that his Majesty should make himself but the Executor of your Pleasure.

It is however clear and incontestable, that this will be the Case, this daring and dangerous Encroachment will be carried on, if ever a governing Prelate should assume to himself the Right of repudiating Characters, when they shall be recommended to ecclesiastical Preferment. [II-357] Let any Man consider the Consequence of this Practice, and he must see, that Ambition and Avarice would by such Means have the largest Opportunity of extending their most destructive and rapacious Projects. If an Inquisition were lodged in the Hands of one or more Churchmen, to try and judge any Candidate for Royal Promotion in the Church: If this might be done by the Evidence of low and profligate Persons; by Discoveries of loose Words and private Conversations, pretended to have happened at any former Distance of Time, so that the Opportunities may be irrecoverably lost, of recollecting every material Circumstance, of setting Things in their true Lights, and bringing those who were present, besides the infamous Informer, to bear Witness of what was really spoke in his Hearing: If this, I say, is to be the Scheme and Process of such an Inquisition, no arbitrary Churchman, in future Times, will ever be without a Retinue of Ecclesiastical Affidavit Makers, and Spiritual Preferment Stoppers, who will prostitute their Oaths and Inventions, to blast the Characters of all Men, who may be likely to rise in the Church contrary to his Interests, so that he may indulge his Love of Power, his Lust of Lucre, his Envy, his Hatred, his Caprice or Whim, to ruin the fairest Reputations: And as the best Men in the World will be the most obnoxious to his Resentments, the most formidable to his Power, and the most to be dreaded by his jealous Ambition, such Men will be the first to feel the Fury of his Inquisition, and to be defamed by the pestilent Tribe of his abandoned Informers.

Such were the Practices common in this Kingdom, before the Reformation of the Church, when Edmund, the cruel and violent Bishop of London, eclipsed the Power of the Crown, branded the most deserving of the Clergy, and butchered the most innocent of the Laity. As he carried on every iniquitous Project, he retained every infamous Prostitute; and a memorable Instance of his vengeful Temper occurs to my present Recollection. He had seen a Clergyman rise to a Deanary by the Assistance of very honourable Patrons, whose Power he considered with as much Awe as he beheld it employed to his sore Vexation: Whilst the Affair depended, he had [II-358] tried every decent Artifice to defeat them; he was not immediately willing to break with them, and thought that his Ends might be carried by smooth Expedients; but when once he found his Intrigues were baffled by their superior Discernment, and the Promotion was obtained so much to his Disappointment, he gave the utmost Scope to his Malice and Revenge. The first vacant Bishopric was made use of as the fittest Occasion for the Exercise of both. The very Person whose Advancement he had so lately laboured to obstruct, did he himself officiously name to supply that vacant See, when no Man asked or expected it: And this most insidious Offer he made with express Design to possess himself of a proper Opportunity, whereby he defamed the Person, and set him aside in the Promotion which he with so much Treachery had officiously pretended to design in his Favour; making his Reputation the Butt of spiritual Informers, and fixing his Prelatical Brand on his Name, as a lasting Punishment due to that Ecclesiastic who had dared to rise in the Church without his Consent, and as a perpetual Incapacity ever to rise in any future Instance. I must not dismiss this Affair without a just Remark. It was the Glory of a most renowned Protestant Queen, that she mortified the Pride, and crushed the Power of this unchristian Prelate.

If I should view this Scheme of an Inquisition, in the Lights of your own Interest, I believe I could easily deter you from pursuing any such pernicious and detestable Project. Are you, Sir, so warm in your Situation, that you desire no earthly Advancement, or are you so secure in your Reputation, that such a Method of Practice, such an Inquisition, might not easily destroy it? And are you sure that you have no Enemy in the World, whose Aversion to your higher Promotion, might not induce to seek out Witnesses of your former Life and Behaviour? Think then, that if a proud, ambitious, and malicious Prelate, should ever have the Opportunity of obstructing your Exhaltation, by fixing a Stain on your Character, Whether his Resort among your old Comrades might not furnish such an Adversary with fit Instruments to asperse you? And whether the Lure of his [II-359] Favour, might not seduce some hungry starving Ecclesiastic, to testify that which every Man would reject with Scorn, were it not sanctified by those Solemnities which provoke our Abhorrence? Suppose that any one should have so much Ill-will, and allow himself so large a Liberty, as to aver against you, Sir, that thirty Years since, or upwards, you were a most virulent Jacobite, and not only expressed the utmost Rancour against the Revolution, but pledged, in divers Companies, the most unlawful Healths, and refused the Oaths by Law required: Or that such a Charge hath been so notorious, and you so extremely sensible of its Weight against you, that the last Incumbent of the See now vacant, was by your Arts and Influence obstructed for ten Years together, in his Rise to a Bishopric, because he had said, that you was a Jacobite by Nature, and a Whig by Grace. Do you not think, that were it possible to procure such Depositions, it would be very hard upon you, if Encouragement should be given to evil or envious Men, in the Business of defaming you, and that such Defamation should prevent you from the Benefit of such Promotions, as the greatest Persons had endeavoured to procure, or Royal Favour intended to give you? And would you have been content to have lost a Bishopric, or would you be willing to hazard an higher Promotion on such an Experiment, as bringing to Light the Iniquities which might be possibly charged on the Course of the Life, in a Train of Exactions, Extortions, Oppressions, and Acts of Injustice?

Do not therefore recommend such Schemes to the Public, or to the Crown, as must, and will be, one Day or other, the Introduction of this Practice, and may be the Destruction of your own Credit. If you did but reflect on what some Men have done, you would tremble to consider what Persons of their Complection may do. I have heard of a Churchman, who promoted a Prosecution against a very scandalous Offence: and on the Accusation of that unnatural Sin, many were pursued, even to the last Sentence and Execution of the Law. This Person, with great Oftentation, boasted of this Service which he had performed to the Cause of Religion [II-360] and Virtue. It nevertheless happened, that a Priest, in the District where he had Authority, a Man of the most profligate Principles, and in all Respects of the most infamous Character, was known to him by the meritorious Distinction of a most violent Bigot; as he was known to all the World by every immoral Practice, and by his avowed Disaffection to the Royal Family. This wicked Man, and what better could be expected from him, was as unnatural in his Vices, as he was odious in his Behaviour. He had long been made scandalous by his most shocking Amours, and at length was exposed by one of a flagrant kind carried on with the Clerk of his own Parish; he had, by his Practices on this Person, brought him into the Hands, and under the Operations of Surgeons. The Fact was too notorious for the Crime to pass unpunished, The honest Laity thought it a Matter fit for the Cognizance and Correction of the civil Magistrate; but whilst this Purpose was in Agitation, his Reverend Superior interposed, for the Honour of his Order, desiring that this vile Delinquent might be first prosecuted in the spiritual Court, where having once been formally divested of his Ecclesiastical Character, he might then be decently delivered up to the Secular Power, and punished in his Lay Capacity, for Crimes which he actually had attempted in his Clerical Habit. The Prosecution under this Management, was begun, was spun out with tedious Delays, and after the most trifling Defence, was at length concluded to the Condemnation of the accused Party. An Appeal was then lodged, was protracted in an extraordinary Manner, and the Appellant found Guilty again of those unnatural Practices which had been laid to his Charge. See now the Use of these Delays! The Prosecution had been so long depending, that it would have had no Countenance in the Civil Courts, had an Indictment been preferred so long after the Fact was committed. The Father of the Flock having therefore, with this Design, prevailed by his Influence, that the Process should continue so long depending, did, at last, with great Humility and brotherly Love, by his good Offices, moderate the Judgment, and screen the unnatural Offender from Justice, so that the [II-361] spiritual Judge condemned him as guilty of all those unnatural Practices, yet discharged him by a Commutation of 100 l. Costs, reproving him in the gravest Style for this criminal Conversation with his Clerk, and enjoining him not to commit such filthy Sins in Time to come. Thus was Justice disarmed of her Power to punish the worst Offences! Thus did an intriguing Ecclesiastic screen Enormities in his own Order, which he had followed with all the Vengeance of Law in the Case of other Men; And do you not think, that were such a Man to be intrusted with supreme Power in the Church, he would employ it as wickedly and as partially, in stigmatizing some, as he hath employed it in screening of others? And that as he can protect the worst sort of Men in their Crimes, for being subservient to his exorbitant Projects, he would blacken the fair Reputation of others, for being too honest to join in supporting his Iniquities?

Such Behaviour in any Churchman, contributes more than all the Works of Infidelity, to blemish the Honour, and subvert the Foundation, of the Christian Religion. Those who have the Cause of Virtue and Piety most at Heart, lose their Zeal in the Service or the Support of a Church, whilst they see Churchmen acting in such a Manner, and Church Authority prostituted to such unchristian Ends. One Pastor of this Complection confutes all the Pastoral Letters that ever were written; and the World will be apt, however unjustly, to conceive, that nothing was ever charged on Ecclesiastics, which was not true, if ever they shall see there is nothing immoral, but what some of the Order can commit, especially if such Offenders should be of such Rank, that their Example cannot be of more extensive Influence, than it ought to be of lasting Infamy.

But if ever we should have the Misfortune to see the Scheme which you have recommended to the Imitation of Christian Princes, obtain under our Constitution; if ever we should see a dishonest and a defaming Churchman, endeavour by his Calumnies and his Informers, to propagate Falshoods, and promote Perjuries, thereby to disgrace an innocent Man, whose Merit he envies, and whose Integrity he looks on with fearful Eyes; if thus [II-362] he shall labour to circumvent the most worthy, and ruin the most amiable Character, may there never be wanting a great and powerful Patron to sustain the Cause of Innocence, whose Authority to protect him, may be as irresistible as that Eloquence with which he shall vindicate his Fame, and whose Honour shall make him incapable of giving up his Friend to the Loss of his dearest Reputation, when the Favour which he sought to procure him, shall have incited such scandalous Church Jobbers to disgrace him.

It is a Security, as it is a Comfort to us, that the Honour of the Crown, and the Wisdom of that Prince who wears it, will never permit his Favours in the Church to be ingrossed by any ambitious Churchman, nor his Royal Grace, at any Time intended to be conferred on a deserving Clergyman, to be intercepted by the base Attempts of prostitute Informers. He will be too jealous of his Imperial Dignity, to suffer that any Ecclesiastic whatever shall openly boast, in Derogation of his Royal Supremacy, That the K——— is directed by him, that his Majesty shares his Royal Prerogatives with him, and makes himself but the Executor of his Pleasure.

Our Sovereign, Sir, is not to be treated with such Insolence and Pride. He hath shewn to the World that he will be King of his People; and will be as far from allowing an ambitious Churchman to divide his sovereign Authority, as he will be from suffering any such Scheme of Ambition to be carried on by the vile Arts of perjured Information. He will neither gratify the Wicked in their unjust Usurpations, to the Diminution of his own Glory, nor give up the Worthy and Innocent a Prey to their vindictive Revenge. He will, whenever he finds it expedient, abate the Pride of such Men, though they should be as insolent in their Threats of opposing his Service, as they were indecent in their Boasts of making him the more Executor of their Pleasure; and they will see, when they provoke his Royal Indignation, that in the steady Course of impartial Justice, it is as safe to inflict the Punishment of Law on an offending Clergyman, as on any Layman whatever.

[II-363]

As this is the Light in which every faithful Subject regards his Prince, I hope, Sir, that since it is your Duty, you will soon find it to be your Interest to treat his Royal Person with the same Respect and Decency; and that you will apply to Christian Princes, on future Occasions, in a much more becoming Manner, than by Paragraphs printed in the Daily Papers, setting forth to the World what Examples are fit for such Princes to imitate.

I am,
SIR,

Your most humble Servant, &c.

Lincoln’s Inn,
5 March 1733.

[II-364]

The Preface to the Fourth Collection of Cato’s Letters. ↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

I Readily comply with the Desire of the Publisher to write a short Preface to the new Collection he has made of my Letters for the last four Months. I am more concerned than surprized, that these Letters should be ill understood, and maliciously apprehended by those, who, having no Principles of their own, are apt to wrest my Principles to favour their own Prejudices.

These Men are Friends to Truth out of Anger or Chance, and not for her own Sake. I am, however, glad that they have been brought to read and approve a general Condemnation of their own Scheme. It is more than ever they did before; and I am not without Hopes, that what they have begun in Passion may end in Conviction: I am happy, if I may have been the Means of bringing those Men to think for themselves, whose Character it has been to let other Men think for them———a Character which is the highest Shame and the greatest Unhappiness of a rational Being. These Papers having opened the Principles of Liberty and Power, and rendered them plain to every Understanding, may, perhaps, have their Share in preventing, for the time to come, such Storms of Zeal for Nonsense and Falshood, as have thrown these Kingdoms more than once into Convulsions. I hope I have helped to cure and remove those monstrous Notions of Government, which were instilled by the crafty Few into the ignorant Many.

For those who profess to entertain the same Sentiments with myself upon this Subject, and yet have been offended; as this their Offence was neither my Fault nor Intention, I can only be sorry, for their Sakes, that the Principles which they avowed at all Times, should happen [II-365] to displease them at any Time. I am willing to believe that it was not the Doctrine, but the Application that disobliged them.———Nor am I answerable for this; they themselves made it, and often made it wrong. I abhor all Attacks upon the Persons and private Characters of Men, and all little Stories and Calumnies invented or revived to blacken them. These are base and dishonest Practices; the Work and Ambition of little and malicious Minds only. Nor wanted I any such ill-bred and contemptible Artifices to gain Readers. I attended only to general Reasonings about public Virtue and Corruption, unbiassed by Pique or Favour to any Man. I can say this with as much Truth as any Writer ever could. As I have abused no Man’s Person, and courted no Man’s Fortune, I have dreaded no Man’s Resentment.

The Faults found with these Letters are so frivolous and ill grounded, that to mention them is almost sufficient to answer and expose them. The putting some Words in Italics, or different Letters, has given Offence; and I own, in some Instances it has been indiscreet: But though it was none of my Doing, and I have often blamed it, yet I dare answer that it was not maliciously done. However, I have directed it to be altered in this Collection.

Other Letters and Passages and Advertisements in the Journal, have been dishonestly blended with Cato’s Letters; and when they were called Crimes, Cato has been called the Criminal—A wicked and a base Charge! Any intelligent Man may see that Cato has nothing farther to do with the Journal, than the writing those Letters which are signed with his Name.

I know it has been said, and but said, that Cato has spoken disrespectfully, nay insolently, of the King. If this were true, I should be the first to own that all the Clamour raised against me, was just upon me. But the Papers vindicate themselves; and it is certain, that no Prince was ever treated with more Duty and Regard, in any public or private Writings, than his present Majesty has been in these. In Point of Affection and Principle his Majesty has not a better Subject than myself; and if he has any bad ones, they are none of my making. I [II-366] know that this Nation cannot be saved without this King; and I am still persuaded, that nothing tended more to his Advantage and Popularity, or more to the Credit of the Ministry, or more to the Security of the Subject, than the pursuing, with quick and impartial Vengeance, those Men who were Enemies to all Men. And I have the Votes and Proceedings of Parliament, to shew that that great and honourable Assembly were guided by the same Sentiments, as were the whole Nation.

But it seems I once spoke Latin to his Majesty, and spoke to him in the singular Number——— quis te vituperavit. If this be a Libel, they who make it so, are the Libellers. In itself it is a Panegyric; nor could it be a Satyr in my Mouth, who have ever thought and spoken dutifully of the King, and endeavoured that all others should do so. As to the Word, Te, addressed to his Majesty in the singular Number, which is the Objection, I am told, of some able Lawyers; I would, in answer, acquaint these learned Goths, that the Purity of the Latin Tongue warrants that way of speaking, and no other, and that none but Monks and Pedants practise any other. VOS regere imperium ———And hæ VOBIS erunt artes ———would be beautiful Emendations in a new Edition of Virgil. But as the above ridiculous Objection was made by no Lawyer of Genius or Politeness, it is no Reflection upon his Brethren.

Thus much I think is more than a sufficient Defence against this Latin Crime; which however I have cancelled, though not for their Sakes who make it one.

In answer to those deep Politicians, who have been long puzzled to know who were meant by Cicero and Brutus; intending to deal candidly with them, and put them out of Pain and Doubt, I assure them that Cicero and Brutus were meant: That I know no present Characters or Story that will fit theirs; and that those Letters were translated for the Service of Liberty in general, without intending by them either Reproof or Praise to any Man living. And if these guessing Sages are in Perplexity about any other Passages in Cato’s Letters, it is ten to one but the same Answer will relieve them.

[II-367]

In Brutus’s Letters it is said, we do not dispute about the Qualifications of a Master; we will have no Master. Which is the genuine Sense of the Latin—Nisi forte non de servitute, sed de conditione serviendi recusandum est a nobis. From hence some have inferred, that, because Brutus was against having a Master, therefore I am against having a King—a strange Construction, and a wild Consequence! As if in translating Brutus’s Letter, I was not to follow the Sense of Brutus; or as if there was no Difference in England between a King and a Master, which are just as opposite as King and Tyrant. In a neighbouring Kingdom, indeed, they say that their Monarch is born Master of the Kingdom, and I believe they feel it too; as they do with a Witness in Turkey ———But I hope it is not so here. We have a King made and bound by the Law; Brutus having killed one Usurper, was opposing another, overturning by Violence all Law. Where is the Parity, or Room for it?

It may, perhaps, be expected I should say something here of a late Attempt, to answer this and all other Writings, in a Way that was never before taken, nor heard of———a new Way without a new Occasion! And a Way more terrible to Liberty than to me! Nothing is the best Thing I can say of it; and even for that I deserve the Thanks of the Projectors: May it be for ever covered with Oblivion! A Wish, in which I dare say I have their hearty Concurrence. No Man desires to be remembered but with Honour.

Thus much by way of Preface, I thought might be modesty said, in defence of a Paper which has more Friends and Readers, than any Paper that has hitherto appeared in the World; and for its Foes, they are, as to their Number, inconsiderable.

As to myself, who perhaps have more public Spirit than private Prudence, having done my Duty, I can say with Tully, Quid est, proh deûm hominumque fidem! In quo ego Reip. plas hoc tempore prodesse possim?———Quid est, quod aut populo Rom. gratius esse debeat, aut sociis extcrisq; nationibus optatius esse possit, aut saluti fortunisque omnium accommodatius sit?———Quis tandem esset qui meum concilium aut factum posset reprehendere?

[II-368]

“I appeal to Heaven and Earth, whether I could have done more for the Benefit of the Public in this its woful Distress?———What more agreeable to the Interest and the Wishes of our People at home, what more conducive to our Reputation abroad, or what more desirable for the Security of the universal Rights and Properties of all Men? What Falshood have I uttered, what evil Counsel have I given, and do the Innocent accuse me?

The Preface to the Sixth Collection of Cato’s Letters. ↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

I Have said so much by way of Preface to the other Collections of these Papers, that little is left for me to say in This. The present is a Collection of all the Papers written last Winter and till now upon Government, ex proposito, and in a System; and those about Caesar being near a-kin to the Design, and containing a good Part of the Argument, I have joined them to the rest, as I have done two late ones about Elections, for the same Reason; and to the Whole I have prefixed one written last October, concerning the general ill Condition of Mankind.

I leave the Argument handled in these Letters to justify itself, as it is stated there, I cannot help thinking it is supported by the united Consent of Experience, Reason, and Nature; and is not like to be shaken by any thing that can be said against it. The Sum of the Question is, Whether Mankind have a Right to be happy? or, whether any Man has a Right to make them miserable?

[II-369]

I am not so much surprized, that many of the Tories should assent to the Lawfulness of killing Cæsar, because Men out of Power are naturally in the Interest of Liberty; as I am sorry that any of the Whigs should deny it. Is the Unlawfulness of killing Tyrants maintained at last by the Whigs, whose very Spirit and Character is founded upon the very opposite Principle? I wish they would define and explain this modern Whigism, especially upon the Principles of the old, and distinguish it from the most obnoxious Part of Toryism. I doubt I have set them a hard Task.

They who wildly apply to the Court what has been said about Cæsar, make the Court but an ill Compliment, whatever they may intend. How can any Court, which does not do what Cæsar did, be affected with what was done to Cæsar, or with what is said about him?

CATO.

[II-370]

The Creed of an Independent Whig; with an orthodox Introduction, concerning Canons, Councils, Mysteries, Miracles, and Church Authority.↩

By Thomas Gordon, Esq;

Anno 1720.

To all Believers, the orthodox Author sendeth Greeting;

THE Opinions of Mankind are as various as their Complexions; and he must be a very bad Marksman, who shoots among a Crowd of People, and misses every one: But notwithstanding there is such a Diversity of Faith in the World, yet I am persuaded I shall meet with many who will heartily embrace my Sentiments in the following Creed. I challenge the Universe to disprove any one Article; and what makes me the more sanguine herein, is, that I am very well assured that there is not a Tenet which can be justly called Pseudodox.

I am sensible of the numerous Herds of Bigots, who will not allow a Man to have a Competency of orthodox Learning, who has not trifled away a few Years at a University; but if we would follow the Example of the good Husbandman, and purge our Granaries, we should quickly find more Tares than good Corn.

It grieves me to see that the World has such a just Cause to reflect on Alma Mater, and affirm, that (for many Years past, and even to this Day) instead of administring wholesome Nourishment, she has, and does, viciate the most hale Constitutions. Oh, that she would retrieve her lost Reputation of being one of the best [II-371] Nurses in Christendom! But her Milk is become sour, and curdles in each tender Stomach.

I have spent many a tedious Night in searching diligently into the Lives and Characters of the primitive Believers; nor have I been remiss in endeavouring to discover the Manners and Behaviour of the Moderns: For the Satisfaction therefore of our Houshold, to corroborate the Weak, to establish the Wavering, and in full and certain Hope of making Proselytes, I have with much Pains and Watching, Fatigue and Study, finished my Creed; a Work much desired, and long wanted.

Take heed, my Brethren, that ye do not relapse into Infidelity; let me caution ye not to be deluded by the Wiles and Artifices of a particular Set of People called Hocus-Pocus Blades: These Sons of the Craft pretend to prove a Succession of Legerdemain Gentlemen from the first Juglers, and treading in the Paths of their Predecessors, have entered into a mutual Compact to bambouzle our Senses, and to deprive Mankind of Reason.

These Men have more Ways of imposing upon you, than by their Hands, though I must acknowledge That to be the chief Imposition of any. You may safely belive one Thing which they tell you, though at the same time they would not have you give Credit to their Words, viz. If your Eyes are not as nimble as your Fingers, they will deceive you.

So I have seen a Carpet laid, and when the proper Utensils were spread upon the Table, a Jugler begin his Farce with this short Prologue.

Behold my little Cups and little Ball;
See, there are no false Bottoms here at all.

You may easily judge from this inimitable Piece of Poetry, that the subsequent Oratory must needs be very elegant. He has an admirable Knack of deluding the Credulous with three little Balls, which you see him place fairly under three Cups; but by using a few of his Rhetorical Flourishes, as Presto, pass, begone; the three Balls are not to be found, but instead of them, you behold one large one. Now, to convince you that he is a Master of Art, he again pronounces the aforementioned [II-372] Words, which are of such Efficacy, that the one Balvanishes, and the Three appear in statu quo. Nay, he will bring back the one Ball, and change it into a living Body; as a Hen, a Chicken, or the like: How great then is the miraculous Power of Hocus-Pocus? But I should have told you, that if you have but Ten-pence in your Pocket, he will demand one with an authoritative Air, which you must pay for being deluded; so that he is sure to have you here or there, as he terms it in the Prologue.

There are another Set of People, whom you ought carefully to avoid, Men of pretended Sanctity, I mean Priests, whose Love to their Bottle and Mistress exceeds any Layman’s. And by the Bye you may note (for it is an Axiom that will not bear Contradiction) that much outward Piety is an infallible Indication of an Exuberance of inward Knavery. They will offer to persuade you that they can wash an Æthiopian white, and release you from your Debts; but beware that you rely not on their Words, lest you incense your Creditor, and he casts you into Prison for being insolvent.

A Priest, with much Importunity, was prevailed upon to quit his Pipe and Glass, and attend a Gentleman who was making his Exit. The holy Father was very diligent in the Execution of his Office, and performed all the superstitious Ceremonies customary to be done to a dying Person. It happened, that while he was pronouncing the Absolution, and one Hand was signing the Gentleman with the Mark of the Cross, the other (through Inadvertency rather than Design) was very busy in picking his Pocket; the sick Man’s Thoughts were not so very intent upon the other World, as might be expected from one in his Condition, but observing what the Priest was doing, starts up in his Bed, and laid hold of his Breeches. By this sudden Motion he broke an Imposthume which was within him, and had caused his being so very weak; and recovering his Health in a few Days, renounced the Heterodox Faith in which he had been educated, and embraced and adhered to that which was orthodox.

The last Advice which I shall give you is, to weigh Things maturely before you proceed to a final Determination: [II-373] Condemn not other People because they cannot be of the same Opinion with you in all Matters; for by the same Parity of Reason, they may condemn you. Remember that there are more Ways to the Wood than one. Does that Man merit the Name of Saint, Pope, or Bishop, who in a diabolical Passion shall pronounce whole Nations damned, who cannot swallow all and singular of his Absurdities? Who shall deliver over to the Devil and his Angels the major Part, not only of the Christian World, but also of all the Inhabitants of the Earth, to be tormented in Hell for ever; merely because they will not sacrifice their Reason (that noble Characteristic of Man, that Portion of Divine Goodness) to Forgeries and Blasphemy? Must we be damned for opposing this false Doctrine? This is a hard Saying, and who can bear it?

As I have laboured hard in the Vineyard, so I hope I have brought forth Wine; and they who approve the Juice of my Grapes, shall drink, make their Hearts glad, and be welcome. I will force no Man; Compulsion is neither hospitable nor lawful; I shall therefore allow a Liberty to all Men, observing the golden Rule, of doing as I would be done unto. I shall not speak in dark Parables to deceive any Man, but am willing to declare the Truth, and abide by it, tho’ perhaps this may be deemed a Work too dirty for the Sons of Levi to meddle with; which Practice I recommend to you my Fellow Believers, and persuade myself you will fight manfully under so glorious a Banner, even though the Jesuits, or any of the Order of Friar Francis should oppose you.

[II-378]

[II-386]

Priestianity: or, A View of the Disparity between the Apostles and the Modern inferior Clergy.↩

By the Author of The Creed of an Independent Whig.

Anno 1720.

[II-396]

[II-420]

Just publish’d, Price 3s. ↩

ORDERS, STANDING ORDERS, and RESOLUTIONS of the Honourable House of COMMONS, relating to their FORMS of PROCEEDING, PRIVILEGE, &c. &c. Collected out of the JOURNALS, and digested under their several Heads.

IF it is reasonable to wonder, that this Manual was never published before, it will be so much the less necessary to apologise for publishing it now: And, surely, if it appears, that not only all who have Seats in Parliament, or who are in a Capacity to sit, or who have Business to transact there, but the whole People in general, are interested in the Rules and Orders of their Representatives, it will not be disputed, that they ought to be acquainted with them; and the Persons will rather deserve their Thanks than Censure, who put it in their Power to be so.

Now, barely to read them, is to be convinced of this; for they will be found to reach almost all Orders of Men, either mediately or immediately. And it is fit for those without Doors to reflect, with a due Mixture of Reverence and Attention, that the Word Privilege is become as sacred as the Word Law; and that Ignorance may be held as insufficient a Plea, in case of an Offence, against the one as the other.

Then for those within, if we may presume to speak of them at all, it can scarce be said, that they are qualified for the Trust reposed in them, till they are acquainted, in some Degree, with the Methods in which it is to be discharged: And this is a known Truth, that Men of very slender Parts, by rendering themselves thorough Masters of the Forms of the House, have made themselves considerable, have fancied themselves to be more so; and, by the mere Dint of calling to Order, and quoting Journals and Precedents, have sometimes defeated Arguments they could not answer, and triumphed over Talents and Abilities that infinitely transcended their own; which is all that need be said to recommend a Study, hitherto, perhaps, too much neglected; and to justify this Publication.