_
Let us then _depart from the tents of these wicked men_ (who have brought
all this upon us) _and touch nothing of theirs, lest we be consumed in all
their sins_.
But you will say, the King is not to be trusted: judg not of others by
your selves; did ever any man observe the least inclination of revenge in
his breast? has he not betides the innate propensity of his own nature to
gentlenesse, the strict injunctions of a dying father and a _Martyr_, to
forgive even greater offenders then you are? Yes, I dare pronounce it with
confidence, and avouch it whith all assurance, that there is not an
individuall amongst you, whose crimes are the most crimson, whom he will
not be most ready to pardon, and graciously receive upon their repentance;
nor any thing that can be desired of him, to which he would not cheerfully
accommode, for the stopping of that torrent of blood, and extream
confusion, which has hitherto run, and is yet imminent over us. Do but
reason a little with your self, and confider sadly, whether a young
Prince, mortified by so many afflictions, disciplin'd by much experience,
and instructed by the miscarriages of others, be not the most excellently
qualified to govern and reduce a people, who have so succeslesly tried so
many governments, of old, impious and crafty Foxes, that have exercised
upon us the most intollerable Tyrannies that were ever heard of?
But you object further, that he has lived amongst Papists, is vitiously
inclin'd, and has wicked men about him: What can be said more unjustly,
what more malitious? And can _you_ have the foreheads to tell us he has
lived amongst Papists to his prejudice, who have proscrib'd him from
Protestants, persecuted him from place to place, _as a Patridg on the
Mountains_? You may remember who once went to _Achich the King of Gath and
changed his behaviour before them, and fain'd himself mad in their hands_;
had many great infirmities, and _was yet a man after Gods own heart_;
Whilst the Catholick King was your Allie, you had nothing to do with
Papists, it was then no crime: _God is not mocked, away with this respect
of persons_: But where is it you would have him to be? The _Hollander_
dares not afford him harbour, lest you refuse them yours: The _French_ may
not give him bread for fear of offending you; and unless he should go to
the _Indies_, or the _Turk_ (where yet your malice would undoubtedly reach
him) where can he be safe from your revenge? But suppose him in a Papist
Countrey, constrained thereto by your incharity to his Soul as well as
body; would he have condescended to half so much, as you have offered for
a toleration of Papists, he needed not now have made use of this Apology,
or wanted the assistance of the most puissant Princes of _Christendome_ to
restore him, of whom he has refused such conditions as in prudence he
might have yielded to, and the people would have gladly received; whilst
those who know with what persons you have transacted, what truck you have
made with the _Jesuites_, what secret Papists there are amongst you, may
easily divine why they have been no forwarder to assist him, and how far
distant he is from the least wavering in his Faith.
Pages:
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33