ctrine of Calvin, and principles of Buchanan, that they set the
people above the magistrate; which, if I mistake not, is your own
fundamental; and which carries your loyalty no farther than your
liking. When a vote of the House of Commons goes on your side, you are
as ready to observe it, as if it were passed into a law: but when you
are pinch'd with any former, and yet unrepealed, Act of Parliament, you
declare that in some cases you will not be obliged by it. The passage
is in the same third part of the _No-Protestant Plot_; and is too plain
to be denied. The late copy of your intended association you neither
wholly justify nor condemn: but as the Papists, when they are
unoppos'd, fly out into all the pageantries of worship, but, in times
of war, when they are hard pressed by arguments, lie close intrenched
behind the Council of Trent; so, now, when your affairs are in a low
condition, you dare not pretend that to be a legal combination; but
whensover you are afloat, I doubt not but it will be maintained and
justified to purpose. For indeed there is nothing to defend it but the
sword: 'Tis the proper time to say anything, when men have all things
in their power.

In the meantime, you would fain be nibbling at a parallel betwixt this
association, and that in the time of Queen Elizabeth. But there is this
small difference betwixt them, that the ends of the one are directly
opposite to the other: one with the Queen's approbation and
conjunction, as head of it; the other, without either the consent or
knowledge of the King, against whose authority it is manifestly
design'd. Therefore you do well to have recourse to your last evasion,
that it was contriv'd by your enemies, and shuffled into the papers
that were seized; which yet you see the nation is not so easy to
believe, as your own jury. But the matter is not difficult, to find
twelve men in Newgate, who would acquit a malefactor.

I have one only favour to desire of you at parting; that, when you
think of answering this poem, you would employ the same pens against
it, who have combated with so much success against Absalom and
Achitophel: for then you may assure yourselves of a clear victory,
without the least reply. Rail at me abundantly; and, not to break a
custom, do it without wit. By this method you will gain a considerable
point, which is, wholly to waive the answer of my argument. Never own
the bottom of your principles, for fear they should be treason. Fall
s