ſons it is that all bigoted clergymen, and friends to church-power, paint this man as a ſaint in his life, though he was ſuch a mighty, ſuch a royal ſinner; and as a martyr in his death, though he fell a ſacrifice only to his own ambition, avarice, and unbounded luſt of power. And from proſtituting their praiſe upon king Charles, and offering him that incenſe which is not his due, it is natural for them to make a tranſition to the diſſenters, (as they commonly do) and to load them with that reproach which they do not deſerve; they being generally profeſſed enemies both to civil and eccleſiaſtical tyranny. WE are commonly charged (upon the Thirtieth of January) with the guilt of putting the king to death, under a notion that it was our anceſtors that did it; and ſo we are repreſented in the blackeſt colors, not only as ſciſmaticks, but alſo as traitors and rebels and all that is bad. And theſe lofty gentlemen uſually rail upon this head, in ſuch a manner as plainly ſhows, that they are either groſſly ignorant of the hiſtory of thoſe times which they ſpeak of; or, which is worſe, that they are guilty of the moſt ſhameful prevarication, ſlander and falſehood.—But every petty prieſt, with a roll and a gown, thinks he muſt do ſomething in imitation of his betters, in lawn, and ſhow himſelf a true ſon of the church: And thus, through a fooliſh ambition to appear conſiderable, they only render themſelves contemptible.
But ſuppoſe our fore-fathers did kill their mock ſaint and martyr a century ago, what is that to us now? If I miſtake not, theſe gentlemen generally preach down the doctrine of the imputation of Adam's ſin to his poſterity,as
