enacted or may do for the securing of our Religion or Restraint of Catholicks is no more valid no more obliging with them than the Acts or Ordinances of meer Usurpers nor do they owe nor will they pay them more observance when time serves than to the Constitutions of so many Thieves and Robbers But suppose our Laws were valid and Enacted by a competent Authority yet being against the Laws of the Church the Soveraign Authority of these will supersede the other For so they determine that when the Canon and the Civil Laws clash one requiring what the other allows not the Church-Law must have observance and that of the State be neglected Their Law provides for its preeminence in these words Constitutions against the Canons and Decreet of the Roman Bishops are of no moment Their best Authors are positive in it and our own Countrey affords us Instances of it The Statutes of Provisoes and others of like nature made in the Reigns of Edward the First Edward the Third Richard the Second and Henry the Fourth for the relief of the Nation against Papal Incroachments They were defeated by the Popes Authority and in effect repealed there being no effectual Execution of them till Henry the Eighth's time And if the Pope the Throne being once at his Devotion should appear against any Statutes or Provisions made for our security as Pope Martin the Fifth did against the Statutes of Edward the Third and Edward the Second that would be enough to null them as to the Consciences of Roman Catholicks or to lay them asleep and render them ineffectual to the purposes they are designed for We may see hereby what Laws made now for our Security will signifie when such a Successor is in possession Upon the whole our danger as to all our concerns Civil and Religious is very apparent and looks upon us with such a terrible Aspect as scarce any true Protestant can fully view it without Horrour and Trembling Our Estates Lives and Souls are in extreme hazard and what have we more That which will not secure us is discernable by the Premises what expedient may be effectual to rescue us and our Postery who with us and all that is dear to both are now in the very Jaws of Destruction is humbly lest to the Wisdom of the Nation in Parliament FINIS a Caput Vergentis de Hareticu By the Law of their Church Sic omnes Apostolicae sedis sanctiones accipiendae sunt tanquam ipsius divini Petri voce sirmatae sint Distinct 19. Cap. 2. All the Constitutions of the Roman See must be received as if they were made firm by St. Peters own mouth And it is enacted by a general Doeree Generali Decreto constitutmus That whatsoever King Bishop or Noble-man shall believe that the Decrees of the Roman Bishops may be or shall suffer them to be violated in any thing be accursed execrandum Anathema fit and shall for ever remain guilty before God as a betrayer of the Catholick Faith Gans 25. q. 1. cap. 11. b 7 Decretal Lib. 5. Tit. 3. de Hareticis c Caput Infames 6. q. 1. cap. alieni 2. q. 7. Cap. Excommunicamus 1. Sect. credentes de Haereticis Cap. Statum de baret in 6. d De Fide Disp 21. Sect. 5. N. 3. e Suarez ibid. Diana Sum. v. baeret n. 9. Pet. St. Joseph in 1. Decaâ—â— p. 39. Tho. Sanchez op Moral Lib. 2. n. 12. f Suarez ibid. Num. 〈◊〉 g Con. Lateran sub Innocent 3. in crab Tom. 2. Concil p. 948. h Regul Juris 87. in 6. i De haereticis cap. ut Commiss in 6. k Faber Teraquillus Cantera Otalora in Sanchez ibid. l. 2. c. 29. n. 1. l Cap. 2. Sect. Haeretic de baereticis in 6. m Aquinas Soto Castor Azor Simanca Suarez ibid. Disp 21. sect 5. num 12. By the Constitution of Gregory 9 an Heretick is deprived of all Jurisdiction whether Natural Civil or Politick Simanca Instit tit 46. sect 74. Juxta Constitutiones Gregorii 9 c. n Cap. Final de Haretecis o Azon Instit Moral Tom. 1. l. 8. c. 12. q 7. Penna Molina Sanchez Ibid c 24. m 10. 11. p Cap. 2. sed final de Haereticis in 6. q Bonacina de obligatione denunciandi Disp 4. p. 2. n. 3. It a Farinacius Azorius alii ferè communiter Idex aliis Sum. Pontisicum Constitutionibus probat Penna Ibid. * 7 Decret de heretic c. 3. r Cap. Cum secundum leges de harâ—ticis in 6. s Suarez Ibid. Disp 22. Sed. 1. N. 2. t Cap. Vergentes vers cum enim de Haercticis Cum longè sit gravius aeternum quà m temporalem laedere Majestatem u Ibid. sect 3. n. 1. x Ibid. cap. 22. n. 2. * Quast Theol. lib. 1. q. 36. p. 290. y De Haereticis Cap. cum secundum Legis in 6. z Suarez De Fide Disp 22. sect 4 n. 11. Sanchez ubi supra c. 21. n. ult a Simancha Vasquez in Suarez Ibid. n 11 12. b Idem ibid. sect 4. n. 9. c Ibid. sect 1. num 5. In hoc offectu concors est sententia omnium scribentium d Ibid. Lib. 22. Num. 33. e Idem ibid. n. 61. f Ibid. n. 68. g Ibid. n. 76. h Cap. Vergentis de Haereticis i Menochius alii in Diana Sum. V. Praescrip N. 2. k Sanchez l. 2. c. 22. n. 41. l Zanardus Director pars 2. p. pag. 126. m Cap. ad abolendum de Haereticis Vide Suarez ubi supra Disp 23. sect 2. n. 1. 3. n Direct pars 2da pag. 754. o 2. 2dae Q. 10. Art 8 Corp. p 7 Decretal l. 5. tit 3. cap. 9. q Saecularis relinquantur arbitrio potesatis animadversione debita Puniendi Which expression they thus explain Debita nimirum secundum jura Civilia quae est paena mortis So Suarez ibid. Disp 23. Sect. 2. N. 3. r Idem ibid. Sect. 2. N. 5. 6. s Quia est occulator hareticorum ideo meritò judicatur fistè coâ—â—ersus Ibid. Sect 6. t De Hereticis 7 Decretal Sect. inconsutilem u Jac. de Grass decis l. 2. cap. 9. n. 2. Suarez ubi supra n. 4. x Zanardus Director 2 da pars pag. 755. y Onufrius Vita Pauli 4. z De restitut Disp 2. q. ult sect 2. n. 7. Sum. V. Bellum n. 5. Theol. Pract. Tr. 2. c. 13. n. 3. a Admonition to Nobility and People p. 41. b Vid. Silvest V. Bellum c Lib. de unione Ecclesiastica ad sinem And this was he who made it his business in so many Courts to form a League against England having renounced the Popes Supremacy perswading the Popish Princes that it was more necessary and meritorious than a War against the Turks d See the Brieves of Greg. 13. Anno 1580. and Clement 8. 1600 e Dugdales Deposition at the Tryal of the Five Jesuits p. 25. f In Colemans Tryal p. 78. g Ibid. pag. 43 77. h Bradshaw in Prances Narrative page 23. Giffard in Hist Plot. pag. 213. i De Fide Disp 23. seâ—l 1. n. 3. Zanard Ibid. cap. 7. pag. 119. * Epil contra Venetas k Prances Narrative pag. 4. l Ibid page 10. m Epist Fron. duc page 189. n Gunpowder Treason pag. 74. * â—â—â—â—â—bon Ibid. p. 184. o Mitigatiâ—â— page 130. p 〈…〉 of the Five Jesuits page 25. q Cap. ut officium r 〈…〉 l De primo praecepto p. 94. Å¿ 〈…〉 praecept Diâ— 3. q. 2. puâ—â—l 8. prop. 3. n. 159. u Manual l. cap. 15. n. 15 16. x De fide l. 3. c. 27. y Cathol Instit Tit. 46. N. 52. z Sum. 2 da 2 dae Q. 70. Art 1. a Manual l. 5. c. 15. n. 25. b Philopat p. 109. c Cap. Excommunicamus de Haereticis Sect. moneantur d Graff decis l. 4. c. 11. n. 6. Becanus de Fide c. 15. q. 8. n. 6. Soto 4. Distinct 25. Q. 1. Art 1. Citing two Texts of their Law for it Cap. Sicut de Haereticis Cap. siquis forte 24. Q. 1. e Controvers Anglican p. 131 132. f In Foulis pag. 60. g Zanard Direct Pars. 2. pag. 61. h Cap. Excommunicamus de Haereticis i Cap. Error 83. Distinct cap. Qui alius de Haereticis k De Fide Disp 24. Sect. 1. N. 6. l Ribadeneira de Principe l. 1. cap 15. m Orat. contra Politicos p. 15. 24. in Hospin Histor Jesuit l. 4. c. 11 sect 2. n Dr. Oats Narrative pag. 4. n. 5. p. 3. n. 4. p. 8. n. 13 p. 10. n. 16. p. 15. n. 13. p. 10. n. 29. p. 39. p. 64. n. 6. o Cap. Excommunicamus Sect. credentes Tit. de haeretiâ—iâ— p Jurta constitutiones Greg. 9. Haereticus privatur omni Dominio naturali civili politico Simanca Instit Cathol Tit. 46. N. 74. q 〈…〉 r Victoria relect pag. Navar. Manual c. 7. n. 1. Fumus v. lex n. 7. Bâ—nacina Tom. 2. Disp 1. Q. 1. punet 4. n. 17. Diana Sum. v. in puisitor n. 10. after Barbosa and others s Barnet Hist Reformation page 110.
of all Nations round about us We need go no further than our Native Countrey where in the days of the last Popish Successor it is proved by near 300 Witnesses that their Laws will have all sorts of us burnt alive without regard of Age Sex or Quality And if we will not be satisfied that they may lawfully burn us Man Woman and Child unless we have Scripture for it they have it ready John 15. 6. If any one abide not in me men gather them and cast them into the Fire and they are burned Alledged by divers of their prime Authors for this purpose which proves as plainly and infallibly that Protestants must be burned as Feed my sheep proves that the Pope hath power to kill both King and People The Process against Hereticks in the Inquisition is remarkably merciful for there a Protestant shall not have the favour to be burnt at first and dye once but must suffer many Deaths before by enduring divers tortures more grievous than Death before he be brought to the Fire One that hath the spirit of a Christian and reads the account of the Tortures there in use would scarce think that any but the Devils could be either the Inventors or Executioners of them But Pope Paul the 4th would better inform him who ascribes the setling of the Inquisition in Spain to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and there is no doubt but his Successors would attribute it to the same inspiration if they could get it setled in England And they are highly concerned to endeavour it If they believe the Words of a dying Pope For Paul the 4th in a Speech before his Death and so before his Infallibility expired declared to the Cardinals that the Authority of the Roman Church depends only upon the Office of the Inquisition And indeed it is very fit that such an Authority should have such a foundation Nor can any question that it is necessary and pious to exercise all the cruelties of the Inquisition upon us without shaking the whole foundation of the Roman Church and all the Authority of it Hereupon how are we concerned to look about us We ought to remember for they are not like to forget it that as soon as ever the Papal Authority is admitted among us all the Protestants in these Nations are dead men in Law being under a Law that hath sentenced us already to be burned alive and under a power that hath declared it necessary that no one of us escape with Life But they are not yet quite ready for burning us though they are impatient till they be so and shew what design they have upon our persons by turning our houses and Goods into flames For this course they think not fit to take how just and pious soever they estâ—em it meerly because they cannot or dare not till they have the Law in their hands and Power to Murder us by a judicial Process Where Protestants are numerous and potent the way they then take for discharging the obligation that is upon them to destroy us is by treacherous Massacres or open Wars or Assassinations They hold it lawful to make War upon Hereticks for their Heresie So Bonacina Diana Castro Molanus and others but Cardinal Allen our Countreyman may suffice who asserts it to be not only lawful but necessary to take Arms against his Prince and People being Hereticks It is clear saith he that what people and persons soever be declared to be opposite to Gods Church with what obligation soever either of Kindred Friendship Loyalty or Subjection I be bound unto them I may or rather must take Arms against them And then must we take them for far Hereticks when our lawful Popes adjudge them so to be Not only Soveraign Princes and the Pope but a Bishop may raise War for the Faith against those that are Excommunicate if they submit not So Hostiensis and others after him They count it a more necessary and holy War which is levied for the destroying of Hereticks than the War against the Turks Hence Cardinal Pool in his Address to Charles the Fifth importunes him to turn his Arms against the Protestants being more concerned to ruin them than the Turks They think the destroying of Protestants by Massacres sometimes more advisable for avoiding the hazards of a War and these how bloody and treacherous soever will be both lawful and meritorious being for the rooting out of a pestilent Heresie and the promoting of the Roman Interest The barbarous Irish never thought their hands and weapons better imployed than in butchering the Protestants And this not more from the savageness of their nature than from the Laws and Doctrine wherein they have so much encouragement for such bloodiness The least they could expect for it was full pardon of all sin such as is promised to those who make War against the Turks and for the recovery of the Holy Land For several Popes had thus rewarded the Irish for less bloody Feats than these and thereby testified how meritorious it is to shed the blood of English Protestants Charles the Ninth with the French Papists never acted any thing with more satisfaction to his Holiness than that Tragedy in Paris and other Cities where so many Thousand Hugonots were most treacherously and inhumanely slaughtered The Pope would not have so great delight as he took therein to be transient but that it might afford him a continued entertainment would have it Painted in his Palace And for this Triumphs were made by the Papists almost every where as a most glorious Action And that there might be a concurrence of the greatest impiety with the greatest inhumanity publick thanks must be returned to God in France and Italy for the Stabbing Drowning Pistolling and Cutting the Throats of so many Thousands inticed thither by the Solemnity of a Marriage with all the Security that the Promise and Oath of a King could give them But nothing is unlawful that will ruine the Protestant Religion Only in one thing these fell short for though near Three hundred thousand were thus Murdered in both Nations yet they kill'd not all whereas if they had not suffered one Protestant in France or Ireland to escape with life the Catholick design had been there perfectly accomplished and the bloody Actors had more highly merited for that merits most which most promotes the Catholick Interest which is most promoted when Heresie and Hereticks are quite extirpated and so to kill all Hereticks is most meritorious This was it that our Conspirators aimed at they intended to leave no Protestants alive those that escaped the Massacre should have been cut off by their Army And Coleman saith Their design prospered so well that he doubted not but in a little time their business would be managed to the utter ruin of the Protestant party in his Letter to the Internuncio The effecting of this with the consequence of it was a thing so
tendency can in reason be expected from Parliaments without securing the Throne For if the Conspirators once gain that it may be they will have no Parliaments A Government more Arbitrary and Violent is more agreeable to their Principles and Designs It is apparent that Popery as it hath been by many occasions sublimated since the Reformation hath in a manner quite stifled the English Spirit in English Papists They are for another Government in which the Pope must be Supreme and to which our Kings must be subjected or kill'd And in Civils they are for an Vniversal Monarchy by which this and others must be swallowed up and so they are still ready to devote themselves to that Prince who bids fairest for it So they did to the Spaniard in Queen Elizabeths time and now upon that account are wheeled off to the French They have been forward upon all occasions to Sacrifice the Honour of the King and the Liberty of the Subject to the Roman Moloch they are much more his Subjects than the Kings and they are no more to be trusted as to the true English Interest than the Italians or Spaniards They pass for Natives indeed being born among us but are plainly Foreigners as to Government Principle Interest Affection and Design We may well believe on these accounts they are no Friends to Parliaments if they did not otherwise openly declare it But if the necessity of their affairs should require a Parliament there is no great question but they may get such a one as will serve their turn For so hath every of our former Princes in all the changes of Religion that have been amongst us So did Henry the 8th both when he was for Popery and when he was against it and when he was partly both for it and against it So did Edward the 6th when he was wholly Protestant So did Queen Mary when she was for burning them alive So did Queen Elizabeth when she run Counter to her Sister There are English-Papists enough already to furnish both Houses and there will be more if Popery were once enthron'd The strongest Arguments which divers have for their Religion are drawn from the Throne The indifferency which is visible in too many signifies that they will be determined by their interest and their Estates are like to out-weigh their Religion The warping of divers upon advancement and acting Counter to themselves when lower shews there is something higher in their hearts then that which should be Supreme The little concern they shew for Religion who in regard of their Station in the Church should have the greatest Zeal for it disappointing and astonishing those who esteemed them Protestants and great supports of that Profession The little sense of any danger when our Religion was never in such extreme hazard since we and our Fathers were born the obstructing in one or both Houses of all that is offered to secure us or hath the most probable tendency to it by those from whom it was least expected Those greater heats against true Protestants differing from us in some small things than against Papists when represented by this horrid Plot in their own Colours shews that Popery is no such formidable thing to many now under another profession as it is and will be to Hearty protestants and such as have effectually received the Love of the Truth However by the Laws which will be in force when the Throne is Papal All Protestants must be excluded from both Houses For all these must then pass under the notion of Hereticks and as such not only by the Constitutions of several Popes but by the Decree of a General Council received as obliging in Popish Countreys they are made uncapable of being admitted to any publick Counsels or of chusing any to sit there This is but a branch of one of the last Penalties we must then lye under and thus all hopes of any Relief by Parliaments under such a Successor are quite blasted As for Laws such as are or may be made before-hand for restraining Popery and securing our Religion under a Popish Soveraignty they will then be judged Nullities for they are no Laws which are against the common good but these will be counted mischievous Acts of a pernicious nature and tendency being for the support of Heresie against their Catholick Interest They will be null and void also without any formal repeal upon another account viz. because Enacted by an incompetent Authority For our Parliaments are now and have been long Constituted of such as they count Hereticks and these by the Decrees and Principles of their Church have no Jurisdiction at all much less that which is Soveraign and Legislative They have no right to proceed in Judgment upon Laws duly made so far are they from all just Power to make any And whereas no Laws can be made in these Realms without the concurrence of every of the Three States in Parliaments they will not own any of them to be in a capacity to concur therein The King being an Heretick is with them no King he is devested of all Prerogatives and Royalties hath no power to call Parliaments or pass any Bills there tendred He is no better with them then a private person nay in a worse capacity than a good Subject for by their Principles he may lawfully be killed by a private hand The Nobles being Hereticks their Blood is tainted by the highest Treason the Attainder good in Law that Law which will then be of most Soveraign Obligation they have lost all Priviledge of Peers they have no Titles to Baronies no rights to be Summoned by Writ if there were any that had right to Summon them They have forfeited what they had by Descent though from Popish Ancestors and what they had by Patent is null and void Since our Princes were Protestants they are no more Lords in the sense of the Romish Laws nor have more Right to sit as Peers in making Laws than Laws of Jack Straws creating This is manifest by the first Penaltie forementioned and awarded against Hereticks by the Laws of the Roman Church which takes effect from the first day of their supposed Heresie before Sentence of any Judge The Commons being Hereticks are no Proprietors and so have no Power no Priviledge doe to the Commons of England they are born to no Estates if they be the Issue of Protestants The Estates of their Fathers being confiscated before they were born and so is all they have acquired since by Purchase or otherwise So that they have no Right to be chosen nor have Protestants any Right to chuse them being no Freeholders nor having title to any Goods or Lands by any Tenure whatsoever In short By the Judgment and Sentence of their Church all Ranks among us are in a State of Vsurpation we have no right to Estate or Life as we are like to find when they have power much less any Authority to make Laws What our Parliaments have