Besides, by the Revolution, which Mr. Paul thinks fit to call a Rebellion, we have obtain’d an irrevocable Law, that none who has been a Papist, is a Papist, or marries a Papist, shall from henceforth sit on our Throne; but that they shall always be of the Communion of the Church of England, as by Law establish’d. This is such a Security for our Religion, as England never had before. And as to our Civil Rights, Liberties, and Properties, we have, by the Declaration of Rights, enacted into a Law, such a Security, as our Ancestors never enjoy’d a better, nor can any Nation in Europe shew the like. With what face then could this dying Traitor say, that our Religion, Liberties, and Properties are ten times more precarious than ever? Certainly a Man who could thus appear before the Tribunal of Heaven, with such a Lye in his Mouth, must have been judicially harden’d, and given up to a reprobate Sense.
As to his Question, Who can say he is certain of his Life or Estate, when he considers the Proceedings of the present Administration; it is brimful of the greatest Malice and Falshood, and utter’d on purpose to expose the Ministry to the Rage of the Jacobite Mobs; which shews us how sincere Mr. Paul was in his Professions to forgive his Enemies. But it is our Happiness that none of the Party can say, that the present Ministry pack Juries, or suborn Evidence, to swear Men out of their Lives and Estates, as the Tories always did when they sat at the Helm. Nor can Malice charge the present Ministry with bringing Quo Warranto’s, to deprive Corporations of their Charters, on pretence of having forfeited them by Tumults; as was practis’d in the Reigns of King Charles and King James II. notwithstanding the just occasion which the Faction has given for doing it every where, by such groundless and barbarous Tumults and Rebellions, as were never heard of in England before. As to the Security of our Lives and Estates, the Rebels themselves, who have been brought to Tryal, can bear Witness, that they have had the Benefit of the 7th of William III. which is more favourable and indulgent to Traitors, than the Laws of England before the Revolution; for by this Act they are allow’d a Copy of their Indictment five days, and a Copy of the Pannel two days before Trial, to make their Defence by Counsel, and Proof by Witnesses upon Oath. And the Court is oblig’d, on the Request of the Prisoners, to assign them Counsel, who are to have free Access to them; besides which, none can be try’d according to that Act, but on the Oath of two lawful Witnesses, either both to the same Overt-Act, or one to one Overt-Act, and the other to the other: which are all such Privileges as Englishmen never enjoy’d before the Revolution.
Since all this is evident by our Statute-Books, and by Matter of Fact, it plainly shews the Ignorance and Malice of Mr. Paul and his Speech-makers.
As to his other Insinuation, that the Revolution, instead of keeping out Popery, has let in Atheism, nothing but unparallel’d Impudence could have utter’d it. The late Bishop of Sarum did justly observe at Sacheverel’s Trial, that nothing had so much contributed to the Growth of Atheism in the Nation, as the Clergy’s playing fast and loose with Oaths: and as this was the avow’d Practice of Mr. Paul and his Party, to take Oaths to the Government, on purpose to undermine it, and to abjure the Pretender, while at the same time they carry’d on his Interests; the Growth and Patronage of Atheism; is justly ascrib’d to his own Faction. There can be no stronger proof of this, than their Breach of solemn Leagues and Oaths, and making the late Queen Anne so notoriously contradict her self from the Throne. Besides, does not all the World know, that her Tory Ministry, and particularly two of her Secretaries of State, were guilty of the most avow’d Perjury? Were not the Generals of the Rebels, as well as he who betray’d the Confederate Armies to France, guilty of wilful Perjury? And were not many of the High-Church Members of the House of Commons, and the High-Church Clergy guilty of the like? Can any thing be a greater Proof of Atheism than wilful Perjury? Does it not deny the very Being, and all the Attributes of God Almighty? With what face then could this dying Traitor charge others with Atheism, of which he and his Party are so demonstrably guilty?
He seems to make a Distinction betwixt Atheism and Popery, and to give the latter the Preference, which is another Proof of his Ignorance and Malice; for every Man who has read the Casuistical Divinity of the Jesuits, which is the very Soul and Support of Popery, must needs know, that the whole Scheme of that Divinity is Atheistical: and therefore it has a long time been the Opinion of some of the ablest Protestant Divines, that it is next to impossible for a Man of Learning and Knowledg of the World to be a Papist, and not be an Atheist at the same time.
For Mr. Paul’s other Insinuation, that Heresies abound every day, and that the Teachers of false Doctrines are patroniz’d by the Great Men now in the Government, he ought to have given some well-known Instances to support his Assertion; but his Business was to slander: so that this needs no other Answer, than that it ill becomes those who preach and maintain the abominable Doctrines of Popery and Slavery, Heresies destructive to the Bodies and Souls of Men, to charge the Ministry with patronizing the Teachers of false Doctrines, merely because they won’t break thro Law to gratify the persecuting Humour of High-Church, against Men who differ from their Brethren in some Matters of Speculation, or mere Circumstantials of Religion.
But the true Cause of all this Malice is, that Mr. Paul was now for his Rebellion brought to the Gallows, which he calls the Murder of a Priest of the Church of England for doing his Duty. We have heard before, that the Practice for which he was condemn’d to be hang’d, is directly contrary to the Doctrine of the Liturgy of the Church of England; so that ’tis ridiculous as well as hateful for him to call a due Course of Law Murder. Faux and Garnet, when they were hang’d for the Gunpowder-Plot, and those who suffer’d in King William’s time for the Assassination, went out of the World with the like Reflections upon the Government; so that these being only Words of course from Rebels at the Gallows, they deserve no further regard.
Nothing can be more villanous and profane than the last part of this Paragraph, where he falsly asserts, that the Priesthood was struck at thro him, &c. How he could reckon himself a Priest, since he was ordain’d by a Schismatical Bishop in 1709, I can’t tell; but be that how it will, ’tis never reckon’d a Disgrace to the Clergy in a Protestant Country, when any of that Order are justly executed for capital Crimes: nor was it reckon’d so even among his Brethren the Papists in Spain and Catalonia, where Priests were hang’d for Rebellion on both sides by the Houses of Bourbon and Austria, according as either prevail’d; but more especially by King Philip, since Mr. Paul’s Friends, the late Tory Ministry, betray’d the Catalans: and I suppose that no body will doubt that those two Royal Families have as great a Respect for the Order of the Priesthood, as our High Churchmen. It is true indeed, that the Pope, the Great High Priest, has always claim’d the sole Power of animadverting upon the Clergy, as his own proper Sons; but one of the most Christian Kings, who took a Bishop in Rebellion, with a Coat of Mail upon him, knew very well how to distinguish betwixt the Priest and the Rebel; and when the Pope demanded the Bishop to be set at liberty as one of his Sons, the French King sent his Holiness the Bishop’s Armour, and bid him see whether that was his Son’s Coat or no; making use of the vulgar Latin Translation in the Case of Joseph’s Coat that was sent to his Father, Vide an hæc sit tunica filii tui? Had Parson Paul gone to the Gallows with the Lay-Habit in which he rebell’d in Lancashire, and was taken up in London, it might have sav’d the Honour of the Gown, but it would have been no Argument for the Honesty of the Priest.
The Conclusion of this Paragraph is so very profane and blasphemous, that it can’t be repeated without Horror. The Text here, misapply’d by Mr. Paul, was spoke with relation to our Saviour’s Apostles, so that the Missionaries of Popery and Slavery have nothing to do with it. Our Saviour is represented by St. John the Divine, to walk in the midst of the seven Golden Candlesticks; but those of Brass, like Parson Paul, who rebel against Christianity, in behalf of Antichristian Idolatry, have their Mission from the Pope and the Devil: so that a Man cannot be a good Christian, without despising them and him that sent them.
The SPEECH.