Daniel Defoe

“ 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. ”

“ Were not the Generals of the Rebels, as well as he who betray’d the Confederate Armies to [Pg 20] 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? ”

“ And as it is your Duty to serve him, so it is your Interest; for till he is restor’d, the Nation can never be happy. You see what Miseries and Calamities have befallen these Kingdoms by the Revolution; and I believe you are now convinc’d, by woful Experience, that swerving from God’s Laws, and thereby putting your selves out of his Protection, is not the way to secure you from those Evils and Misfortunes which you are afraid of in this World. Before the Revolution, you thought your Religion, Liberties, and Properties in Danger ”

“ To publish an Untruth of this nature, in view of the Bar of Heaven, proves the poor Man, or at least his Speech-makers, to have been more than case-harden’d. What the Design of the Faction could be, in handing such a Story as this to the World, which can be contradicted by Thousands of Eye-Witnesses, and by Mr. Hall’s Fellow-Rebels as well as by the King’s Troops, is not easy to be imagin’d; unless it be to spirit up the Faction to a new Rebellion, by telling them, that their Friends were Conquerors, but unhappily betray’d into a Surrender by their Leaders. ”

“ May he strengthen him, that he may vanquish and overcome all his Enemies! And finally, when it pleases his infinite Wisdom to take him out of this World, may he take him to himself, and reward him with an everlasting Crown of Glory in the next! ”

“ Paul to Tyburn in his Priest’s Vestments was a Disgrace to the Church. There are some in the World, who think the Character of a Jacobite Priest indelible, tho they did not think so of that Brave and Learned Patriot, Mr. Johnson. But however that is, ’tis no more Reflection upon the Government, that Priests should be hang’d in their Habit, than kill’d in the Field for Rebellion; and this we may venture to say, that Parson Paul dishonour’d the Habit more by wearing it in the Pulpit, than at the Gallows. ”

“ It is out of my power now to do any thing more to serve the King, than by employing some of the few Minutes I have to live in this World, in praying to Almighty God to shower down his Blessings Spiritual and Temporal upon his Head, to protect him and restore him, to be favourable to his Undertaking, to prosper him here, and to reward him hereafter. ”

“ I declare before Almighty God, upon the Word of a Clergyman, I never brought any Letter out of Preston, or went to any one Gentleman, or spoke the least thing that tended that Way, viz. to Rebellion, but came into my own Country, as fast as I could, and so to London, where I was seizd and sent to Newgate. I humbly desire your Grace once more to believe me, and to use your utmost Endeavours to save a poor Clergyman’s Life: If it will not be granted to spend the Remainder of it in England, I beg you’ll be pleesd to send me to the Plantations, or any where rather then Tyburn. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ His way of forgiving others is very extraordinary, when he calls them with his dying Breath his most inveterate Enemies; and among those, he points out the King, under the Title of Elector of Hannover, and my Lord Townshend. This smells of so much Rancour, that it is not reconcilable with the Spirit of Christianity, and at the same time it shews the height of Prevarication with God and Man; since in his Applications for Mercy he gave the King his Royal Titles (which he now denies him) and him whom he call’d his King at the Gallows, he thought fit to call a Pretender in his Petitions. ”

“ It is in vain for them to alledg, that they dispute King William’s Power, because he was not a Lawful King; for we have heard already, that by the antient Constitution of England, our Parliaments always asserted their Power to dethrone Tyrants, and to set up such in their stead as would maintain the Nation’s Privileges. ”

“ And if you have any regard to the last Breath of one who is just going out of the World, let me beg of you to be dutiful, obedient, and loyal to your only Sovereign Liege Lord, King James the Third: be ever ready to serve him, and be sure you never fail to use all your Endeavours to restore him ”

“ I shall say no more to this Paragraph, but that Mr. Hall seems to have dy’d as bad a Protestant as a Subject, since he joins his own Repentance and Sufferings to the Merits and Sufferings of our Saviour, as the Foundation of his Hopes for Mercy: which, with what has [Pg 34] been observ’d already in Mr. Paul’s Speech, may serve to convince the World what sort of Protestants our High-Church-Men are. ”

“ Paul were so far from being stedfast to the Pretender’s Interest, as is given out in [Pg 4] the Speeches, and so little fond of what they call Martyrdom, that ’tis very well known they us’d all possible Endeavours to save their Lives, would have disown’d the Pretender’s Claim, and renew’d their Oaths to the Government, could they have obtain’d their Pardon on that Condition. The Speech-makers were not ignorant of this, but they resolv’d to delude the unthinking Populace, and to make those Men pass for Valiant and Glorious Martyrs ”

“ And therefore if you would perform the Duty of Justice to him, which is due to all Mankind, you are oblig’d in Conscience to do all you can to restore him to his Crown: For it is his Right, and no Man in the World besides himself can lawfully claim a Title to it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I heartily forgive all my most inveterate Enemies, especially the Elector of Hannover, my Lord Townshend, and all others who have been instrumental in promoting my Death. Father, forgive them! Lord Jesus, have mercy upon them, and lay not this Sin to their Charge.
REMARKS.
After he has rail’d at the Church and State, he pretends that he has ask’d Forgiveness for himself, and comes to forgive others; and first, those who under the Notion of Friendship persuaded him to plead guilty. ’Tis common, we see, for those who are false themselves, to call others False Brethren ”

“ But farther, since all the Episcopal Power which the Bishops of England can pretend to, is deriv’d from Laymen (if the King and Parliament must be call’d so) it follows in Reason, that a Lay-Deprivation is sufficient to make void a Lay-Institution, if the Deprivation be founded on a just Cause, as disowning the Government certainly is. ”

“ Paul’s Death; the Speech-maker gives himself the lye, by exciting his Auditors to a new Rebellion: and the Motives he uses for it are only a parcel of vulgar Topicks and bold Assertions, suited to the Taste of the Jacobite Mob, without one word of Argument to support his Propositions; for he knew the Credulity of the High-Church Faction, and that if he cou’d prevail upon them to exert themselves for the Pretender, they wou’d not fail in their usual brutish manner to attempt a Revenge on those, whom he points out as his own and the Pretender’s Enemies. ”

“ There’s such an Uniformity in the Stile, Matter, and Way of Arguing, as sufficiently proves this; so that instead of being the Speeches of the deceas’d Rebels, they plainly appear to be the Composure of others, who endeavour to serve the Cause not only at the Expence of those poor Mens Reputation, but even of their Souls, by prevailing upon them to deliver such Papers as their dying Sentiments, and the Result of their own Thoughts. ”

“ And his Majesty is a Prince of that Justice, Vertue and Honour, that you have no manner of Reason to doubt the Performance of his Royal Promise. He studies nothing so much as how to make you all Easy and Happy; and whenever he comes to his Kingdom, I doubt not but you will be so.
REMARKS.
This Paragraph continues Parson Paul’s rebellious Declamation, which is very well adapted to the Cause he dy’d for. ’Tis the Encomium of a false Prophet upon a spurious and counterfeit Prince, who stands attainted by our Laws as an Impostor. ”

“ As to the Laws of Great Britain, our Adversaries will never be able to prove any other Hereditary Right than what was deriv’d from those Laws; which being alterable, according to the Nature of all human Constitutions, succeeding Generations must always, according to the Laws of Nature and Reason, have the same power to alter them for their own Security, as their Ancestors had to enact them for theirs. ”

“ One might have expected, from a true and ingenuous Penitent, an Account of the Reasons why he calls the present Government an Usurpation: for tho perhaps he might think, that the Word of a dying Priest was Authority enough for the Bigots of his Party, he ought to have consider’d, that others would expect very strong and convincing Arguments to prove, that his single Judgment should be prefer’d not only to that of our present Legislature, but of all our Parliaments ”

“ 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 ”

“ Sancroft and his Brethren did so much resent these Tyrannical Proceedings of King James II. that they concur’d with others in the Happy Revolution: and Archbishop Sancroft himself, tho afterwards the Head of the Nonjuring Party, did take the Keys of the Tower from Skelton, K. James’s Lieutenant, and join’d, with other Bishops afterwards Nonjurors, in a Declaration for applying to the Prince of Orange, on the 11th of December 1688, after King James had run away, to obtain a Parliament for securing our Laws, Liberties, Properties, and the Church of England in particular. ”

“ But were it otherwise, the Parson dies with a Lye in his right hand as to the Character of his pretended King: for the World knows, that instead of giving that Security [Pg 23] which the Parson promises in his Name for the Church of England, he would not so much as take an Oath for supporting the Traitor’s dear Brethren, the Nonjuring Episcopal Party in Scotland ”

“ The Speech enumerates so many sorts of Churches of England, that it will be hard to tell, according to the Notions of the Faction, how many they will come to at last. Here’s a Schismatical Church of England, a Nonjuring Church of England, a Revolution Church of England; he might have added a Perjuring Church of England, of which he himself, and his Fellow Criminal Mr. Hall were noted Members. ’Tis ridiculous to assert, that the Nonjuring Church has kept it self free from Rebellion ”