of Righteoufnefs feared no Man. That they were Men hating Covetoufness, plainly appears by their Votes againft a late Corruption of Penfioning: Gold would not blind their Eyes, and being Men of Eftates, and abhorring Covetoufnefs, they endeavoured to take away the Temptation. And lastly, that they were induftrious, is manifefted to all, by their Pains took, thinking it no labour Night and Day to ferve their King and Country; and by the many useful and beneficial Acts, tending to the Good and Benefit of this Nation, which they were promoting with all indefatigable Pains and Industry. Thefe are the Men that are diffolved, their Power broken, and our Trust, Hopes, and Confidence caft down... It is for this England laments and mourns; the City is afflicted, and the Country in Trouble, and all good and loyal Englifomen, with dejected Countenances, fad Hearts, and wet Eyes, bemoan their Lofs. It is now a Time of Trial and Affliction. Calamitas vertabis occafio eft. It is in Calamity that our Vertue will appear, let us not be afraid to petition his Majefty in this our Diftrefs, let him behold our fad Hearts, and our Faces befprinkled with Tears; let him know our juft Fears, lay before him our Jealoufies and Diftreffes, let him hear our Complaints and Lamentations, and let us not be dumb; and withal, let every one endeavour to reform himself, and publickly call upon God, to defend and protect us: For be is King of all the Earth; he is a God that doth Wonders; be bath declared his Strength among the People: He is a Sun and a Shield; he will give Grace and Glory, and no good Thing withhold from them that walk uprightly: Therefore let us fay with the Prophet Ifaiab, We will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is our Strength, be is merciful and gracious, he will at last hear the Groans of his People, and fwallow up Death with Victory, and wipe away Tears from all Faces, Amen. So be it. A SPEECH spoken by ISAAC CREW, an Orphan of the Grammar-School in Chrift-Hofpital, to his Majefty King WILLIAM III. in his Paffage through the City of London, November 16. 1697. on his Return from Flanders, after the happy Conclufion of the Peace. A MIDST the loud, repeated Acclamations of your joyful People; which, like the Voice of Thunder fly round our Ifle, vouchfafe (Dread Sir!) a gracious Ear to us poor Children, who, in fofter Accents, but with no less Loyalty of Affection, congratulate your long defired Return in Peace and Triumph, to this once more happy Nation: Whofe antient Government and pure Religion, whofe Laws and Liberties, whofe Rights and Immunities, (Things dearer than our Blood, and always higheft in the Efteem of wife and good Men) Men) your facred Majefty, with utmoft Hazard of your unvaluable Perfon, has fo glorioufly retrieved, and with fuch matchlefs Gallantry continues to maintain. Nor doubt we, but fo immenfe Goodness, joined with fo great Prudence, is ftill preparing a fairer Scene of Things, and new Joys for your People. It is you, (Illuftrious Sir!) who are the Support of all our deareft Intereft, the Palladium of our prefent Felicity, and the Pledge of our future. But your unparallelled Virtues are a Subject too lofty for our Praifes, fufficient to exhauft the Vigour of the boldeft Panegyrift: Nor can the Stock of the whole inspired Tribe furnish out an adequate Encomium. Your great Atchievements fill our Hiftories and Annals; and Fame, which has fpoken fuch mighty Things concerning you, almoft Staggers in the belief of her own juft Reports. Go on, (Great Sir !) beloved of God and Man; and having furpaffed all antient Heroes, be your own great Rival and Example. Heaven smile on all your Enterprizes, and favour all your great Designs, for the Advancement of the Proteftant Intereft, the Profperity of thefe Nations, and the Weal of Europe; and crown that Zeal with which your great Soul is inflamed towards the Publick, with fuitable Succeffes and Rewards. May you long fway the Scepter of these flourishing Kingdoms, in Security and Eafe, bleffed always with the faithful Counfels of the wifeft Senate, and the entire Obedience of a moft loyal People. And amidst all the Glories of fuch Sovereign Greatnefs, vouchfafe to look down on us poor Orphans, and grace our numerous Foundation with your Princely Favour. May no Alaftors henceforth infeft your State, no factious Jars disturb the civil Harmony; but in an entire Accord, may all Orders apply to their refpective Duties, and wifely and thankfully enjoy their Happiness, under the best of Princes, the best of Governments, in the best of Kingdoms. The The ADDRESSES importing an Abhorrence of an SIR, I In a Perceive by your's of March the 4th, that the Fermentation which the Nation is put into, must be cherished by the fame Ways and Methods that it was first occafioned and caused: For fhould the Heats and Animofities among Proteftants be once fuffered to affwage and abate, the Romish Designs against the Proteftant Religion, and the Liberties of England, would not only mifcarry and prove abortive; but they who have been wheedled to betray God and their Country, by contributing ignorantly to the Promotion and Service of their Ends, would be the firft to exprefs their Indignation against the Papifts, both as an Effect of their Refentment, for having been, through their Influence, thrown into a Lunacy and Delirium, and as an Evidence to the Kingdom that they are at last cured of their Distraction. And therefore the Operation and Efficacy of the Declaration against the two laft Parliaments being wholly spent, I am not furprised to find an Advantage taken from a pretended Paper, importing an Unlawful Affociation against the Government; for the perpetuating Rancours amongst His Majesty's Leige People, and the cafting those back again into a Fever, who were recovering their Senfes, and coming to a Sedate Mind: And as all Men are worfe upon Relapses than they were of their first Diseases; fo we are not to think it ftrange, that People are more extravagant in their late Addreffes, than they were in the former. But there being fo many things to be faid in return to your Letter, and being by Command confined to represent my Thoughts in one Sheet, I fhall preface no farther, but apply myself to obey you in the most compendious Manner I can. Nor fhall I pronounce that of the late Addreffes, which a celebrated CourtAuthor doth, concerning thofe made to Oliver Cromwell; namely, That they were no other than Leagues Offenfive and Defenfive, between him and the Faction; and that while his Care was for engaging one Party, it was for deftroying another: * For though fome little Folk, who officiously manage this Affair, may have fuch a Project, yet it is impoffible that His Majefty fhould either propose or countenance fo base and deftructive a Defign. Nor will I fay, That it had been but reafonable, That they who do embark in new Addreffes, fhould have firft feen the Fruits and Effects of their former : For whereas they seek to juftify themselves in what they did, by the Affurances which they fuppofe His Majefty gave them of having frequent Parliaments, though he had diffolved Two or Three, without giving them Time to perfect thofe Important Matters which the whole Nation apprehended they were called for; fo it would have been fome Argument of the Candour and Sincerity of their Intentions in what they did before, if they had forborne their late AppliVOL. II. Tt * Memento, 2d Edit. p. 29. cations cations, till they had found, that they were not mistaken in the Grounds upon which they think to vindicate themselves for what they then did. Neither will I infift upon this, That it had become them to be well affured that there was fuch a Paper, ftiled an Affociation, found in my Lord Shaftfbury's Clofet, before they took uport them to talk fo loudly of it, and vent themselves in fo ftrange and unaccountable Expreffions upon Mr. Gwyn's bare Suggestion of fuch a thing. For as it is most certain, that it was not the Foundation of my Lord's Apprehenfion and Commitment, feeing the Bag into which it was put, when faid to be seized in his Lordship's Study, was not opened till after his Confinement in the Tower for High-Treafon; fo it is not impoffible but that they who had the Confidence to impofe other things upon this Noble Peer in the printed Relation of the Proceedings at the Old-Baily, than were deposed by the Witneffes in Court, might with the fame Liberty, and for the fame End, forge and invent this Paper, and afcribe it to his Lordship. For whereas Smith, upon giving his Evidence at the Bar, faid, that the Earl of Shaftfbury told him he was forry that the King faw not his Danger, &c. they who undertook the communicating thofe Proceedings to the World, make Smith declare upon Oath that the faid Earl told him, he was glad the King saw not his Danger. Nor fhall I infift upon this, That it had been but congruous, and what became English Men, to have teftified their Deteftation of the many late Sham Plots, whereby our Enemies have been endeavouring to deftroy loyal and innocent Proteftants, as well as their declaring an Abhorrency of a pretended Allociation against the Monarchy; and the rather, because the forging Crimes for involving guiltlefs Perfons in Danger, hath been real; whereas fuch an Affociation as the late Clamour is raised upon, was, for what yet appears, only feigned and imaginary. We have feen fome of the best Perfons in the Kingdom caft into Prifons, and arraigned in Courts, upon malicious Subordinations, and Popifh Sham Confpiracies; but no Man can produce fo much as a Name subscribed to any Paper, whereby to perfuade himfelf or others of a Combination against His Majefty and the Government. Nor can they be thought to bear any great Loyalty to the King, who have not fome Regard for the Safety of his Proteftant Subjects, and the Reformation of the Proteftant Religion. And therefore while fome are fo bufy here and there to gather Hands to Addreffes of another Nature, it were but a feasonable Piece of Service to the King, and a Duty which all Law both Divine and Human will justify, for others to make an Address to His Majefty, that we may have the Benefit and Protection of his Government, and that our Lives and Eftates may be defended from the Malice of thofe, who by hiring and fuborning mercenary Villains to fwear forged Crimes against us, have been unweariedly defigning our Ruin. And as it is not to be fuppofed that an Application of this Nature would be unacceptable to the King, the End and Aim of his Reign being not only to look after our Obedience to his Law, but to fee that we are kept fafe from the Wrath and Rage of our Enemies; so it would tend to the Honour of London, to lead the Way to others in fo ufeful, and at this time so neceffary a Duty. Nor fhall I do more but barely intimate, that it looks ill, and seems calculated for no good Defign, to find Addreffes for diffolving Parliaments, and abhorring all Affociations, countenanced and promoted, while Petitions for a Parliament Parliament were forbidden by Proclamation, and the Petitioners publickly reprimanded. For fuppofing that fome one Paper, bearing the Name of an Association, was unduly framed and worded; is this a juftifiable Ground to ridicule and abhor every Alfociation, tho' never fo well adapted for the Prefervation of His Majefty's Perfon and Dignity, and promoted in a Parliamentary way, and not to take till it receive the Royal Stamp? How ftrangely does it look in a well-governed State, to find fuch a one as the Mayor of Gl-who was admitted into the Freedom of that City, for the good Service which he did in fighting against Charles Stuart at Worcester (as the Words inferted in their TownBook bear) to be hug❜d and embraced for advancing Addreffes of one Complexion, while in the mean time many Loyal Gentlemen, who fhed their Blood, loft their Eftates, and underwent Imprifonment and Exile for the King, are frown'd upon for offering to appear in Applications of another Figure. Men of Principles act always uniformly; whereas fuch as are fway'd by Interest are ready to engage with the fame Heat in every thing that lies in Subferviency to their Gain. Some People think it not enough to atone for their former Actions by their future Loyalty, but they feek to expiate their Crimes on one Side, by running into Illegal, Rigorous, and Mad Exceffes on the other. And I heartily wish, that an eminent Magiftrate in the City of London may not hope to make a Compenfation for having been a Clerk to a Regiment in the War against the late King, by complying with and pursuing whatsoever fome Men about the Court, or fuch who are influenced by those that are, put him upon. But what is this Age degenerated into, that they who have served themselves of Diffenters in order to their getting into Places of Truft, by proclaiming what Bleffed Opportunities they have enjoyed with that Sort of Men under this and that Non-conformist Minifter, fhould, instead of expreffing a Concern for the Proteftant Religion, anfwerable to the Care of it, and the Stations they are in, not only abandon, but from Weakness, Fear, or worse Principles, fubmit to be Tools to accelerate it's Ruin. However, I am fure the Government hath no Caufe of apprehending Danger either from Fanatick Preachers or People, feeing fome of the most famed amongst them, after having been a hundred Times deceived and imposed upon, are still ready to be bribed by a Dinner or a Smile, or wheedled by a fair Word, to co-operate with their Enemies, and become inftrumental of their own Destruction. And therefore it is to be defired, that fome of the Diffenting Ecclefiafticks would be contented with Grace, which is the Talent that God hath given them, and not pretend to Civil Wisdom, feeing it is evident to all the World, that the Great Difpenfer hath withheld it from them. These things being briefly intimated, it is now Time to advance thofe Reflections and Obfervations, which we judge proper to be offered upon the Occafion of the late Abhorring Addreffes. Nor will it be amifs, in the firft Place, to take Notice how fome Mens Opinions concerning thefe kind of Applications, do alter and vary according to, and in Correfpondence with the Defign and Interests which Men ferve. For the very Perfon that is not only principally employ'd, in framing the Draughts which are remitted into the Country, where Lieutenants, Juftices and Curates, are commiffioned to procure Subfcriptions to them, but whofe Province it is to publifh their Usefulness to the Government, and to make the World believe what Security the State receiveth from them, in order |