WHen great and extraordinary dangers steal upon People , and give them no notice or warning at all of their approach , they produce in them strange Disorder and Confusion of Mind , a mighty Tumult or Hurry of Thoughts , then , as the Psalmist speaks of men tossed in an angry and tempestuous Sea , they are at their Wits ends , and know not what to do , fain they would according to the dictate and inclination of nature , preserve themselves , decline the impending evil , and the danger which approacheth them with an Aspect so menacing , or full of terrour , and th● first Act of their mind upon the apprehension of it , is to decree and determine that it must be avoided ; this is so great an evil that we cannot bear it , if it comes we are undone , it doth certainly bring ruine and destruction along with it ; therefore we must , and will ( if it be possible ) prevent , or stay its approach , block up all the avenues and ways by which it may make its passage to us . Whilst they thus resolve , every thing that offers it self as a means of safety , and comes with fair pretences of security , is welcome , and receiv'd with all expressions of love and joy , they applaud and hug it as their Friend and Deliverer , and their minds are so pleased & transported with it , that they are not at leisure to consider whether it be just and lawful , whether God and his law allow them to preserve themselves by such means ; to enquire , whether the safety it offers them at present , be not attended with more , and greater dangers hereafter : Whether that which they resolve upon as a means to save them now , be not inconsistent with their eternal happiness , and such as will ruine , or destroy them for ever .

For if either Reason , or Religion might be heard , they would satisfie and convince men , what a wild attempt it is to decline temporal dangers by such ways as lead to eternal miseries ; to make use of such Arts to save them from suffering here , as will expose them to the wrath and vengeance of God hereafter ; that no evil , unjust , or wicked thing is to be done , though according to the rules of humane policy it might preserve and secure us at present , because it is of infinite hazard to our Souls , and will be their eternal undoing .

When we can by fair and innocent ways provide for our safety , we are unjust to our selves if we do it not , but when these fail , and we are reduced to a sad necessity either to Sin , or Suffer , if we chuse rather to sin then suffer , we are prophane and wicked , have no Religion nor Fear of God .

But in great dangers there is no room for such thoughts or considerations as these , but every thing ( by some People ) is accounted good and lawful , or however , excusable , that promiseth safety and security , and when their Religion , their Lives , and Estates either are ( or are apprehended ) to be endanger'd , they hope God will not be extream to mark what they do amiss for the safegard and defence of them .

These seem to be the sentiments or opinions of the Authors and Promoters of the Bill of Exclusion , otherwise they would never have fix'd upon this as the only Expedient to obviate and disappoint the black and bloody design of the Church of Rome : An Expedient so highly and apparently unjust , so dishonourable and reproachful to our Religion , that tended to blast and brand it with eternal infamy , and make it the scorn of all the wise and honest world . Blessed God! Whither do pale and gastly fears , and blind or furious zeal hurry Men ? Had not our Nation incurr'd shame and contempt enough from Men , as well as the dreadful displeasure of God , by the barbarous murder and untimely fall of that incomparable Prince , King Charles the First , who was deposed , and murdered , and hurryed to an hasty grave by the Fears , Jealousies , and Suspicions of Popery , which the Enemies of his Royal Vertues and Greatness buzz'd into the ears and minds of his People ? For what moved them to leave their quiet dwellings ? to loath the peace and plenty they injoy'd ? What drew them into the field of War , but Fear of , and Zeal against Popery ? They were told by those , who they thought would not deceive them , that the King was turning Papist , that the Queen ruled all , that most of the Ministers of State , and the great Men at Court were Popishly affected and waited for a change , and if they let them alone the Romans would come and take away their Place and Nation . An accusation , though as false as the Devil , and such as had nothing to colour , or make it seem probable , yet all that wise and good Prince could do to confute the slander , to wipe off such an odious and lying imputation , all his excellent declarations , shewing his High Esteem , his Royal Affection , his Prudent Zeal for the Protestant Religion ; his frequent and learned disputations with some of the most Eminent Papists , who ( to their astonishment ) found themselves silenced and confuted by him , and unable to defend their Church against the mighty and convincing Arguments with which this incomparable disputant shattered and beat it down ; not his solemn protestation before a great concourse of People at his receiving the most Blessed Sacrament , nor any thing else he could either say or do , could clear him from the suspicion of Popery , or satisfie Multitudes of his People that he was not gone off from the Reformed Religion ; but so deep root had the calumny took in their hearts , that they persisted in the belief of it , and that excited their rage , and so inflamed their zeal , that in defiance to God and his Law they offer'd themselves as freely to fight for the Faith , as the Christians did in the Primitive times to suffer Martyrdom for it , and would not lay down their Rebellious and Unchristian Arms till they had beat him in the Field , seiz'd his Royal Person , and by the Mockery of Justice condemned him to die : But when they heard him in his last words and dying speech profess and declare himself a Protestant ( that being no time to dissemble either with God or the World ) then ( tho too late ) all of them that had any remains of honesty , or fear of God , perceiv'd their errour , and said in the bitterness of their Souls , what have we done ? How have we been cheated into Rebellion by Fears Jealousies and Rumours of Popery , & stain'd our impious hands with Royal and Innocent Bloud ? Wicked men , Sons of Belial , have blasphemed , and slandered the Lords Anointed , accused him to us as a Papist , and an enemy of the true Religion , and we were so wicked and credulous as to believe them , and contribute our accursed endeavours to depose and destroy him .

After such an horrid crime , and tremendous wickedness as this , had rendred our Nation and Religion odious and contemptible to the World , and we had endeavoured to make some reparation for it , by our impatient desires and longings for the return of our present most Gracious Soveraign , by Congratulating his arrival with the loudest acclamations and expressions of joy , by doing justice upon those execrable wretches that were the prime actors in that black Tragedy , and with solemn penitence beg'd Pardon of , and reconcil'd our selves to God , so that hereby we began to recover our lost honour , and the good opinion of our neighbour Nations : After all this , I say , to return to our vomit again , to be so frighted out of our Wits and our Religion , by the news of Popery , and the discovery of the Cursed and Cruel design of the Papists to destroy our King and Church , as to overlook and despise all lawful means of safety , and to resolve upon a wicked and barbarous Bill of Exclusion , as the only Preservative , or Expedient to save them ? What is this but to rave , and be mad again ? To brand our selves with new Infamy and Reproach ? To proclaim the Injustice and Impiety of our Nation ? To draw the eyes , and curses , and Arms of all the Christian World upon us ? Nay to defie Heaven it self , and all the Thunder Bolts of the Almighty , or as the unjust judg confess'd of himself , neither to fear God , nor regard Man ?

Sure this Popery is some horrible monster , a dreadful bugbear , that it can at every turn , thus fright our English People out of their Wits , prompt them to the wildest and most unreasonable practices ? That the very suspicion of it could exasperate and inrage them so against their lawful King , who had the Devotion of an Angel , the Piety and Innocence of a Saint , and more then humane Mercy and Goodness , as to bring them to that Impious Resolution , which the Jews took up against our Blessed Lord and Saviour , we will not have this man rule over us . And if not that , yet a probability of his being a Convert to the Romish Church , should provoke our Commons , and some few of our Peers in so high a degree , as to put them upon disinheriting and excluding a Son of such a Father , and forgetting all the Vertues and Glories of his Renowned Ancestours , treat him as a publick Enemy , and take from him all possibility ( as far as a Law could do it ) of wearing the Crown that encircled and adorn'd their Wise and Royal Heads .

Such premises as these must needs infer one , or or both of these conclusions ; That Popery is a vile thing , or they exceeding wicked men , that seek to prevent , and block up its passage to us with such Rampires and Bulwarks of Injustice , with the greatest Wrong , and Robbery , and Oppression . For my part I am no advocate either for Popery , or them that make such wicked and unchristian use of it , but renounce and abominate them both . That , 't is certain , is an evil and impious thing , but yet the fears and apprehensions of it , must not , ought not to provoke or instigate our People to do any unjust or sinful thing to keep it out , because this is to dread and fly from damnation one way , and to run into it another . But that their hatred of it is most just , appears from the causes of it , which are the Errours and Corruptions of the Romish Church in Doctrine and Worship , and the intolerable Rapines , Exactions , and Cruelties of it .

The Errours and Corruptions of its Doctrine and Worship , our People know very well that the Church of Rome locks up the Holy Scriptures ( which contain that most precious Treasure , the words of eternal life ) in a forreign language which they do not understand , and casts the greatest contempt upon them , by denying their sufficiency and perfection , by inlarging the Faith which they propound , by setting up such a way of worship as they forbid , and say God abhors , and against which they denounce the most dreadful curses , and horrible punishments ; by giving Men Dispensations to do what they condemn , and to omit what they require . These , and their other Errours are such an heap of dirt and rubbish , as hath made not only our People , but other Nations hate so foul a Church , which being often reproved and chidden for it , will not reform or cast it out of doors , but retains or keeps it as tenaciously , as if it were an heap of Silver , or pure Gold . Our People have no mind to worship Images , to creep to a Crucifix , to pray to Saints that can neither hear , nor help them , to kiss and fall down to their mouldy Reliques , nor to adore a consecrated Wafer , but would fain ( that they may please God , and save their Souls ) keep themselves from Idols , believe , and live , and worship their Creator , as he commands them in the Holy Scriptures , and therefore they abominate the Church of Rome , because it would not allow them ( if they were Members of it ) so to do , but would force them to make shipwrack of Faith , and a good Conscience , and that which is the result of these , Eternal Happiness and Salvation .

The other things that disgust our People , and render them such implacable enemies to the Romish Church , are its intolerable Rapines , Exactions , and Cruelties . Our People are not ignorant ( nor is it possible they should , so long as we have so many Records and Histories relating them ) what spoil and havock the Romish Clergy made of the Estates of their Forefathers , cheated them of their Money by selling them Pardons and Indulgences , by telling them they might be redeemed , if not from Hell , yet from Purgatory ( a Prison of the Popes making , and in a manner as disconsolate and uneasy , for the time the poor captives stay there , as Hell it self , if they were to be believed ) with corruptible things as Silver and Gold . How they exhausted the Treasure , drain'd away the wealth of the Nation by Peter Pence , and First-fruits , and Tenths , and Fees for Dispensations , and investing Bishops , and Appeals , and I know not how many other ways ; so that the Kingdom groan'd under their insatiable avarice , and beg'd of God , and his Anointed to ease them of such an intolerable burthen and oppression , not to suffer our Silver Thames ( as it is called ) to be the unhappy Channel to carry out the English Treasure , and cast it upon the banks of Tyber , to support the pride and grandeur of a Forraign Patriarch .

And indeed , the Flux was so violent , that if it had not been stop'd in time , it would have destroy'd the Body Politick , have let out the Bloud and Spirits of the Nation , discouraged their industry , and thereby beggar'd the People , for seeing their land devoured by Strangers , and Forreigners reap the fruit of their labours , being forced to send great sums abroad , and haunted continually with lazy Monks and begging Friars at home , the miserable People had no encouragement to imploy their time and labour to get Wealth for such Caterpillers to Devour .

And if Popery produce such oppressions , lay such grievous or heavy burthens upon them , 't is no wonder that the People are no fonder of it , and being by our Laws freed from such ravening Wolves , as the Romish Clergy were , when they had the Rule or Authority here , have no mind they should return any more , lest their long and forced abstinence render them more hungry then formerly , and whet their appetites so , that a moderate morsel or revenue cannot satisfie them .

But Mony is not the only thing they thirst after , for they delight in Bloud and Cruelty , think they do God good service , and offer him the most acceptable Sacrifice , when they kill those , they falsly call Hereticks , and root them out of the Land of the Living . Men of such a fiery or burning Zeal , that when they have Power in any measure equal to it , they make Living Bonefires , or Burnt Offerings of all that dissent from them , and will not truckle to their Superstition . Their horrid Massacres in France , their savage Executions by Duke Alva , and others in the Low Countries , their Inhumane Butchering , and cutting Peoples Throats in Ireland , their Gunpowder Plots , their Racks and Inquisitions , the Fires they make for the Living , and their Damning the dead Saints or Christians ( as far as the Popes Anathema's or Curses can do it ) to the everlasting Flames of Hell , are sufficient Instances and Monuments of their bitter Zeal , and barbarous Cruelty : These have enlightened and convinced a great part of the Christian World , that they are not of Christ ( have none of his good Spirit in them ) who came not to destroy mens lives , but to save them .