An Apologie for the Royal Party; and A Panegyric to Charles the Second | Page 9

_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.
But since you have now declared that you will tollerate all Religions,
without exception; do not think it a sin in him, to gratifie those that
shall most oblige him.
For his vertues and Morality, I provoak the most refined Family in this
Nation to produce me a Relation of more piety and moderation; shew
me a Fraternity more spotlesse in their honour, and freer from the
exorbitances of youth, then these three Brothers, so conspicuous to all
the world for their Temperance, Magnanimity, Constancy, and
Understanding; a friendship and humility unparallel'd, and rarely to be
found amongst the severest persons, scarcely in a private family. It is
the malice of a very black Soul, and a virulent Renegado (of whom to
be commended were the utmost infamy) that has interpreted some
compliances, to which persons in distress are sometimes engaged, with
those whom they converse withall, to his Majesties disadvantage:
_whilst these filthy dreamers defile the flesh themselves, and thinking
it no sin to despise dominion, speak evill of dignities, and of the things
which they know not. But woe unto them, for they have gone in the

way of Kain, and run greedily after the errour of Balaam, for reward,
having mens persons in admiration because of advantage._
For the rest, I suppose the same was said of Holy David, when in his
extream calamity, he was constrain'd to fly from Saul. _For every one
that was in distresse, and every one that was in debt, and every one that
was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became
Captain over them._ And to this retinue, has your malice and
persecution reduced this excellent Prince; but he that preserv'd him in
the Wood, _and delivered David out of all his troubles_, shall likewise
in his appointed time, deliver him also out of these distresses.
I have now answered all your calumnies, and have but a word to add,
that I may yet incline you to accept of your best interest, and prevent
that dreadfull ruine which your obstinacy does threaten. Is it not as
perspicuous as the Sun, that it lies in your power to reform his Counsell,
introduce your selves, make what composition you can desire, have all
the security that mortall men can imagine, and the greatest Princes of
Europe to engage in the performance? This were becoming worthy men,
and honourable indeed; this ingenuous self-denyall: And it is no
disgrace to reforme a mistake, but to persist in it lyes the shame. The
whole Nation require it of you, and the lawes of God command it, you
cannot, you must not deferr it. For what can you pretend that will not
then drop into your bosomes? The humble man will have repose, the
aspiring and ambitious, honours: The Merchant will be secure, Trades
immediately recover, Aliances will be confirm'd, the Lawes reflourish,
tender Consciences consider'd, present purchasers satisfied; the
Souldier payed, maintained and provided for; and what's above all this,
Christianity and Charity will revive again amongst us, _Mercy and
Truth will meet together; righteousness and peace shall kiss each
other_.
But let us now consider on the other side, the confusion, which must of
necessity light upon us if we persist in our rebellion and obstinacy; We
are already impoverisht, and consum'd with war and the miseries that
attend it; you have wasted our treasure, and destroyed the Woods,
spoyled the Trade, and shaken our properties; a universall animosity is

in the very bowells of the Nation; the Parent against the Children, and
the Children against the Parents, betraying one another to the