bold as Hectors in their denials that has affirmed the Church of Rome never governed the civilized World But since this Minister mentions here Popish ignorance I must desire the Reader if he knows any of our Profession in the Country to tell me whether generally speaking they are not esteemed more learned then their Neighbours of the same rank and degree I am sure they that live at London are thought by their Protestant Acquaintance as well bred and as greate scholars as any of their condition with whom they usually converse Concerning our Priests consult their Books and tell me then whether they have been out done or no and if any English man would know how they are abroad let them go but to his next Neighbours the French and there in every Diocess he shall find a Clergy not only learned to admiration but so far outgoing the Hugonot-Ministers that one would think they lived not in the same Clime or Region Nay what is yet more there is neither private nor publick Library in this very Island but seven of ten of the choice Books in all Sciences were writ by Catholicks Is not this Good Reader strange ignorance for Protestants to be thus deceived and implicitly led on by their Pastors contrary to what they hear and see This I must say is incredible blindness and exceeds that of the silliest Papists who if they are cozened it must be in things beyond their capacity or by distance far remote from them But now in England nothing is more common then to have wise Protestants run into this and the like fond fancies and at last when they can say no more they are fain to shift it off with this Phanatical evasion That it is true Papists are carnally but not spiritually learned SECT V. APOLOGY Did Richard the first or Edward Longshanks suspect his Catholicks that served in Palestine and made our Countries Fame big in the Chronicles of all ages or did they mistrust in their dangerous absence their Subjects at home because they were of this Profession Could Edward the third imagine those to be Trayterous in their Doctrine that had that care and duty for their Prince as to make them by Statute guilty of death in the highest degree that had the least thought of ill against the King Be pleased that Henry the fifth be remembred also who did those Wonders of which the whole World does still resound and certainly all History will agree in this that 't was Old-Castle he feared and not those that believed the Bishop of Rome to be Head of the Church ANSWER VIII To this he says the Reigns of these Kings were in the dark times of corruption yet that Richard I. bequeathed his Pride and Lechery to the Clergy and Monks That Edward I. outlawed the Clergy for obeying the Pope in not paying Taxes That Edward III and Hen. V. made good Laws against the Popes usurpation and Becket vext Hen. II more then Hen. V feared Oldcastle Moreover that all these Kings did not differ so much from Protestants as the Papists now do and to conclude he asks did not the Pope force K. Iohn to do homage for England wrestle with Edward the first for Scotland and often lay claim to Ireland REPLY 8. Certainly Reader the Minister is besides himself since he can say the English differed not so much from the Protestants then as we do now Has the man railed all this while against the Tyranny of Popes and urged those times as the height of their Authority and then comes to this evasion I would fain know if the Clergy and Religious were since ever more in power then in those days was there ever more of Pilgrimages and all sorts of Devotion which Protestants call Superstitious were not Schoolmen then most in their splendor And lastly could any Publican Lollard Wickliffian or new Sect stir but the whole Kingdom presently detested them Who then will ever believe a word more he says when he is so strangely impudent to no purpose But these are the worthy tricks used to keep the poor people in ignorance and just with as much truth are the Fathers called defenders of the Protestant Religion for the Fathers stiled them always Hereticks that ran out of the visible Church For the Laws that have been made by any of our Kings if they made any against Ecclesiastical usurpations God reward them and to this all Catholicks will say Amen Concerning K. John we have already spoke enough And for the Popes claim to Scotland judge Reader whether any man can be fuller of falsity and malice then this Minister my Adversary For here he would have the World think by his placing this Accusation after King Johns business and by calling it the Popes wrestling with Edward I. for the Soveraignty of Scotland there was some notorious injustice done by the Sea of Rome In short the business was only this as you may find in Hollingshead the most violent English Historian against Papists that ever yet writ The Scots having always an animosity against the English and not knowing how to resist the Victorious Arms of Edward who was again coming with a great Army against them surrendred the Kingdom or so pretended to Boniface 8. He thereupon sent to the King to desist because the Crown belonged to the Church Edward immediately returned an Answer and so did all the Barons of England to manifest the Kings right and the invalidity of the new pretence The Pope says Hollingshead when he deliberately pondered the Kings Answer with the Letter from the English Barons waxt cold in the matter and followed it no farther Thus Reader you see how the case stood and how Catholiques are wronged by ill men nor is there any difference between a false aggravation and a downright lye In the same manner are we used in this Accusation of Ireland for the Pope never medled with Ireland but since the Reformation and so invaded it in the time of Queen Elizabeth of which you shall see farther in the Section of Popish misdemeanors in her Reign The parity between S. Th. Becket and Oldcastle is doubtless very odd the last being a Rebel with Complices in arms against Henry the fifth the other disputing only about Priviledges which he said were grāted to Priests Just as if our Peers should stād upon the freedome of their Persons were there a design to have them imprisoned as other Subjects or tried by a common Jury Besides all Princes of Christendome then owned Becket for a Saint when as no body unless such a man as Fox thought Oldcastle deserved any thing but the Gallows SECT IX APOLOGY We will no longer trouble you with putting you in mind of any more of our mighty Kings who have been feared abroad and as safe at home as any since the Reformation of Religion We shall only add this that if Popery be the enslaving of Princes France still believes it self as absolute as Denmarck or Sweden ANSWER IX He
says the King of France will believe what he pleases For his Majesty well knows the Pope gave away France formerly fomented War against Hen. 4. and would do the same against him were it not for his Power and Religion REPLY IX I shewed you before in the sixth Reply that though the Reformed have actually taken away from their lawful Governours so many Dominions yet the Pope never gave away but England and France which nevertheless are still under their proper Soveraigns Consider then whether since the light of the Gospel appeared the Protestant or Popish manner of dealing has been most destructive to Princes and judge if this be an Answer to my demand which was Whether France acknowledging the Pope be not as absolute as Sweden or Denmark that are Protestants If so it follows then that Popery does not enslave a King We are beholden to the Minister for confessing the King of France is of the same Religion with the Pope for I have heard some in England say he was a Protestant Thanks be to God there is no danger of a breach between Rome and France in matters of Faith for as the very Gazets told us An. 1664 when the French Army was in Italy The King having owned the condemnation of Jansenius even then sent to the Pope to prosecute the Jansenists in France Henry the Eighth will be a warning to his Neighbours for revolting hereafter from the Church for instead of a little Ecclesiastical dependence on the Sea of Rome he has embroiled England in perpetual confusion about Religion millions of Sects daily dividing and subdividing each of which pretend they are in the right and each quote Scripture for their Opinions And by the way Reader be pleased to remember that had not this King of ours destroyed Religious Houses all the truly devout Sectaries at present would have voluntarily been cloister'd there who now distract both the Kingdom themselves for having no quiet place to vent that zeal which boyls within they become a prey to a few wicked men that blow up their well-meaning Piety into disorders and sedition Nay many of the discontented Factious themselves who now lie open to the sway and hurry of their own passions would have been glad of such a retreat honorable to all even from the Monarch to the Pesant Therefore I see now why Speed a Protestant when he made an end of his Catalogue of the destroyed Abbies spoke in this manner We have laid to your view a great part of King Henry's ill the waste of so much of Gods revenue however abused But Cambden is yet more tart for he says That many Religious places Monuments of our Forefathers Piety and Devotion to the honour of God and Propagation of Christian faith c. were in a moment prophaned and the Riches disperst which had been consecrated to God since the English Nation first profest Christianity SECT X. APOLOGY Nor will ever the House of Austria abjure the Pope to secure themselves of the fidelity of their Subjects ANSWER X. To this he says the Austrian Family being so linckt to the Pope by possessing Naples Sicily and Navar by his Gift and theire Subjects also being Papists it were a mad way to secure themselves by changing Religion But what is that says he to England where since the extrusion of that trash we call the Catholick Faith the King and people are no more Papists and having been often troubled by us have reason by experience to fear our designs REPLY V 10. To this I reply That the Spaniard being now in actual possession can as well defend these places were he a Protestant as Millan Flanders c. which are not the Popes gift or as well as other Reformed Princes have done their Countries And for the Subjects being Papists that is nothing For all subjects before Luthers time were Papists also The Minister therefore grants me here all that from the first I desired For if our former Kings were considerable abroad and as safe at home as since the change of Religion If the King of France be as absolute as Denmarck or Sweden and if the House of Austria cannot better secure the fidelity of their Subjects by becoming Protestants then by continuing Papists I say it must necessarily follow That Kings and Kingdoms by being Papists are not less absolute then if Reformed and by the same Consequence their Subjects not one whit faithfuller to their Lords by being Protestants then if they were Papists Tell me then where is the Temporal advantage of Reformation and whether our Answerer has not bauld long in vain since he now by this grants me that Kings may be absolute and Subjects faithful under Popery and yet lately he affirmed That Popery is inconsistent with Government by reason of Princes dependence on the Pope in Ecclesiastical matters and that all Papists are prone to Rebellion by the Determination of our Councels Bulls and Divines But the Minister says What is all this to England where Prince and people are Protestants I answer 't is thus much to England That now it is plain 't is an errour that Popery is inconsistent with Government and it also shews that Princes get no power in the long-run by reforming but on the contrary perpetual disorders follow How dangerous we have been to our Protestant Princes shall be discust in the Reflexion on the Popish misdemeanours in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James But how faithful and serviceable we were to King Charles the First and Second all Europe has sufficiently declared in our behalves SECT XI APOLOGY We shall always acknowledge to the whole World that there have been as many brave English in this last Century as in any other place whatsoever Yet since the exclusion of the Catholick Faith there has been that committed by those who would be fain called Protestants that the wickedest Papist at no time dreamt of ANSWER XI Here he asks what may that be for four or five of our Kings of our own Religion have been murthered by Papists that lately Hen. 4. of France was killed by Ravillac and. Hen. 3. by Frier Clement And besides this we have killed by whole Townships in England Ireland France and Piedmont REPLY 11. What a Volume might there be here writ if every matter mentioned were to be fully discust But these are the artifices of the Brethren that when they know not what to say run to another thing in hopes to puzzle an ordinary Reader who cannot imagine hearing so great a buzze but that there must be something at least of real My assertion in the Apology was That our former English Papists never did such villanies as have been committed since the Reformation To this he answers nothing but impertinently runs to the private Murthers of some of our Kings Is this proportionable Good Reader Who knows not that the Murtherers of Ed. 2. Ric. 2. and Hen. 6. were so conscious of their wickedness that
this man for it was he or some of the like Principles that out of malice against the late King wickedly divulged That his Majesty had underhand caused the Irish Rebellion that he had a mind to bring in Popery and to enslave the Nation had sent for an Outlandish Guard Thus cried the English Rebels against their glorious Prince and thus now invents this Minister Stories to mischief if he can his innocent fellow-Subjects and Country-men And who can be guiltless if assertions without any shadow of proof shall be received against him SECT XIV APOLOGY Little did we think when your Prayers and ours were offered up to beg a blessing on the Kings Affairs ever to see that day in which Carlos Gifford Whitgrave and the Pendrels should be punished by your desires for that Religion which obliged them to save their forlorn Prince and a stigmatized man for his offences against King and Church chief promoter of it Nay less did we imagine that by your Votes Hudlestone might be hanged who again secured our Soveraign and others free in their fat possessions that sat as Juddes and sealed the Execution of that Great Prince of happy Memory ANSWER XIV He says That many of my Church were not of my Party and that if some of them did the King eminent service in the Critical day of danger so did the Protestants too therefore it is not to be ascribed to our Religion Nor is it reasonable to requite particular men by having those Laws abandoned which secure us against as great a danger 'T is barbarity for any Christian but those of our Sect to question his life that exposed it for his Prince or to do this in any age except Queen Maries for then Sir Nich. Throgmorton was so dealt with But the Minister detests such times and such examples and he knows the King will reward deserving persons without trespassing on his Laws Lastly he desires me to be favourable to the stigmatized man whom I do not hate he knows for his offences because the King whom he formerly displeased bears with him for he contributed much against the Phanaticks to his Majesties restauration and would not willingly live to see the Pope turn him out again REPLY XIV What is the meaning of this distinction That many of my Church were not of my Party Have we not been all of the same Party or can there he named a Papist that was not for the King even in te worst of times But Good Mr. Parson have you all this while cut our throats and do you now come with your insignificant flatteries that there were some eminent among us for Loyalty I fear not the worst you can say and for the best I scorn it Did I ever say otherwise then that the Protestants were to be honoured for their wonderful service to the King Was not the Apology directed to them and have I not always declared that his Majesty ows as much to them as ever Prince can owe to Subjects Certainly 't is no lessning of their worth because we did our endeavours and have been fellow-sufferers with them in that Glorious Quarrel I never prest in the Apology to have any particular body exempted We only say there Little did we once think that the necessity of affairs would occasion the Royal Party to advise the punishment of us all and in the crowd those worthy Preservers of the King at Worcester Yet Sir with your permission it were not so unreasonable neither as you would have it for the service of some few to suspend the Laws against a Party You have read I know the Scripture and therefore may remember Mordecay's case who by saving the Kings life not only preserved himself and his Nation from Ruine but obtained also honour and freedom for them all But what do you drive at by Throgmortons usage Will you never leave perverting History or at best betraying your own ignorance First you must know Reader that Throgmorton by none of our Historians is mētioned to have done any service for Queen Mary Yet Hollins head has his trial at large which John Lilburn afterwards copied out to the life where no evasion is omitted and certainly it had been then a fit time to urge merits had he had any But suppose he was as eminent and faithful as Bedin field Jerningham c. Must that excuse a man from being fairly tried for Treason This Sir Nicholas Throgmorton you must know with others was accused as a Conspirator with Wyat for which he had a Tryal and was acquitted by his Jury Why distempered Sir 't is so far from our business that we do earnestly desire in the Apology upon the least offence against the State the Transgressour may die without mercy and this I 'le be bound Col. Carlos and the rest of those brave men shall willingly subscribe But will you worthy Country-man that know his Majesties thoughts so well engage that none of the factious shall murmure at him for rewarding those that have done well Now for the stigmatized I find Mr. Parson you pretend to be very well acquainted with their actions If they have done any thing which God knows is little and not to the hundreth part of their transgression let them thank God for the grace he has given them to do the King at length service but I am sure if they really meant well they would never promote the harassing of a faithful Party till they found them machinating against their Prince I have no particular spleen to any man yet cannot look on those men as either of wit or honesty who needlesly disoblige and who strive with violence to have Christians persecuted for Religion when as they themselves are the first that rail against all mankind if their own Consciences be toucht though it be by the establisht Laws of the Nation SECT XV. APOLOGY We confess we are unfortunate and you just Judges whom with our lives we will ever maintain to be so nor are we ignorant the necessity of affairs made the King and you do things which formerly you could not so much as fancy yet give us leave to say we are still Loyal nay to desire you to believe so and to remember how synonymous under the late Rebellion was the word Papist and Cavalier for there was no Papist that was not deemed a Cavalier nor no Cavalier that was not counted a Papist or at least thought to Popishly affected ANSWER XV. He will pass over our fawning on the Parliament and commending our selves and believes us as we did the Sectaries that called the Cavaliers Papists He wonders why these Royallists should be termed Popishly affected but if the Papists were judged Cavaliers they afterwards were ashamed of it In Ireland whole Armies were up against the King In England some came in voluntarily to serve him but more were hunted into Garrisons it being well known we should bring his Majesty more hatred then service The greatest part of us that
then Wife to the Dauphin This Hostility and the private designs of Spain hindred all intrigues of the Queen of Scots friends to secure the Succession Things being in this condition our Queen dies nor did the Dauphin make any present claim which together with the natural coolness of Englishmen to all strangers especially the French moved Archbishop Heath to what he did About some six months after this the Dauphin takes upon him the Title and Armes of England and immediately also by the death of his Father the Crown of France fell to him which gave him the name of Francis the Second But by that time Q. Elizabeth was too well setled to be deposed without blows and before things could be ordered for such an enterprize the Hugonots lay so heavy on his shoulders that he was necessitated to the Treaty at Edenburgh by which he was to relinquish his former pretences in relation to England yet before these Articles were sealed the King himself died and so all things stood as they were before The Q. of Scots being now a widow returns with much ado to Scotland which was all in a flame by the seditious preaching of the new Reformists Assoon as she arrived there Q. Elizabeth having often sent to her to ratifie the Treaty with her Husband she after consideration returned answer That she was content to do so upon condition she were by Parliament declared her Heir This Proposition seemed not strange to her English well-willers because our Histories could tell them That Maud the Empress was necessitated to the like by King Stephen But Queen Elizabeth would not harken to those terms whereupon presently Margaret Niece to Henry the Eighth the Earl of Lenox her husband Arthur Pool and his Brother Grandchildren to George Duke of Clarence Fortescue and others were apprehended for intending to set up the Queen of Scots interest The fact they confest but as all malefactors find something to extenuate their crimet hey pitcht upon the weakest excuse that ever was heard of viz That they intended not to depose Queen Elizabeth but to be beforehand in Arms because Conjurers had told them she would dy that year After this the vigilancy of Q. Elizab. was such and the disasters of Scotland so great that the Catholiques were forc'd to sit quiet for a while Instead of Peace with the Rebels the Queen of Scots was necessitated to seek for shelter in England where had she been used as the Honour of the Nation required she would have concluded an inviolable agreement between the Queen and those Catholiques that stood for her Title But when this Royal Guest had once trusted her self among her Enemies she was both denied access to the Court and also refused the liberty of retiring into another Kingdom This inhumanity was quickly noised about the World whereupon Pius V. sent Ridulph a Florentine to consult with the Catholiques about the Interest of their Queen All Arguments were used which could possibly be thought of to persuade her Enemies to let her go and when no fair means would do the Rising in the North happened 'T is true the Declaration of those great Lords that were up mentioned no other motive but Religion because this could not shock either the Queen or People so much as the name of the Queen of Scots would have done for that implied ipso facto the altering both of Religion and Government also Who is ignorant that that Great man our General whose memory all ages shall for ever honor concealed at first what he had long determined well knowing that the once naming of the King would ruine that design which his wit so well laid and his conduct so happily executed Besides this Reader you must know before this Rebellion broke out Leonard Dacres second Son to the Lord Dacres of Gylsland undertook the delivery of the Queen being then in Darbyshire in my Lord Shrewsburie's custody Of this design my Lord Northumberland was complotter therefore 't was plain he being Chief in the Northern Insurrection intended her Title though there was nothing of it in his Delaration Consider therefore how notoriously false this Minister is there having been Claims Plots and endeavours by the greatest of the Land before the rising in the North and when it happened that also was on the Queen of Scots account 'T were tedious Reader to tell you how many attempts followed this Insurrection for there scarce passed a day till the death of the Queen of Scots but something was contrived to prevent the machinations of her unkind Kinswoman By all this you may see that while Queen Elizabeth used her distressed Guest with any kindness the piety of that Princess which moved her rather to be contented with the Succession then put England in a perpetual broyl caused her to command the English Catholiques to lie still whom according to the Ministers own confession the prohibition of their Religion forten years had not exasperated to Commotions But assoon as their Queen was imprisoned without hopes of liberty and they left to the dictates of their own Loyal inclinations they never ceased either at home or abroad to sollicite the destruction of their Enemies Consider also I beseech you the carriage of the Popes who used all fatherly and gentle means imaginable because they saw the Queen of Scots whose right they deemed it was of her self inclining like another Maud to expect till the death of her Cozen should put an end to all pretences These Popes were sufficiently urged by the Duke of Guise and others yet upon the former considerations being desirous of peace they never had practices against Queen Elizabeth till Mary Stuart was in prison nor ever publisht the Excomcommunication till the Queen absolutely refused her liberty even after the intercession of the French and Spanish Embassadours But the Minister says the Popes owned Queen Elizabeths Title and therefore Papists ought not to have disputed it 'T is true he says so and yet confesses that Paul the IV. who governed the Church when she came first to the Crown would not acknowledge her Legitimate But how comes the Gentleman to say that the other cause of his Holiness's not acknowledging her was because she audaciously assumed the Crown without his leave Does he find any such record in our Histories Did Queen Mary ask his consent Did any Pope send in this manner to Edward the Sixth Or lastly which of all our Kings used to entreat his favour to be Crowned Reader this is a pretty capricchio of the Parson as it had been unusuall if the Pope had made such a claim Pius the Fourth succeeding the said Paul for the reasons aforesaid shewed as much prudence and good nature as ever man did in hope to compose things without effusion of blood and certainly after his death as much had been spilt as ever was in any Reign had not Queen Elizabeth been the wisest woman that ever swayed Scepter Pius V.
must beseech our Gracious Soveraign for us others must again undeceive the Good though deluded Multitude Therefore all are to remember who are the prime raisers of the Storm and how through our sides they would wound both the KING and You for though their hatred to our selves is great yet the enmity out of all measure encreases because we have been yours and so shall continue even in the fiery day of trial Protect us we entreat you then upon all your former Promises or if that be not sufficient for the sakes of those that lost their Estates with you many of which are now fallen a sleep But if this be still too weak we must conjure you by the sight of this Bloody Catalogue which contains the Names of your murthered Friends and Relations who in the heat of Battail perchance saved many of your Lives even with the joyful loss of their own The Catalogue of Names is at the end of the Book A material Advertisement to the Reader both concerning the Answerer of the Apology and the Method of this Reply READER ABout the middle of Novem. 1666. when the known Enemies of the Kingdom had enflamed the minds of several honest and well-meaning people I put out this sincere Apology The Reasons therein having nothing but truth and reallity in them satisfied many for every body of themselves saw there was no ground and most confest they were disordered because they saw others so 'T was after Christmas before I left London and truly I suppos'd that if any body could be so malitiously impertinent as by an Answer to cavil at so innocent a thing he would have done it in two moneths it being but a sheet of Paper against which he was to write and then being neer at hand I should have been as quick in my Reply Though the worthy Answerer took much more time for his solid Piece yet in the interval mine was egregiously confuted Nor was ever Gonvil's plain Testament so tore and repiec'd as this Pamphlet by the wise and numerous Assailants One said that the whole thing was harmless and reasonable but that Magna Charta seemed to be struck at His fellow answered that Magna Charta was Magna Farta and of it self Popish and that all was well had not Queen Elizabeth been abused To this a third answered that Q. Elizabeth was now no more to them then William Rufus and all that was said was out of Protestant History but the only thing he blamed was that the fifth of Nov. which was still a Festival was defamed and consequently they themselves jeer'd at in their Annual observation At him another presently laugh'd and askt whether any people ever reverenc'd a Solemnity against themselves for his own part he cared not whether the Papists were guilty or not let them look to that therefore he was sufficiently satisfied with the Apology had the Catalogue been omitted of those that died in the War for by it it seemed as if the whole Royal Army were Papists because so many Popish Officers and men of great Condition were killed in that Service To this a Neighbour said that he knew many more of the Party then were mentioned that thus fell for their Allegiance and that it was hard that so cheap recompence should be denied men for their lives but the sole thing which he stumbled at was the timing publication of it Against whom the whole Company concluded that if ever the time was fit 't was then when the flame appeared and that 't would have been ridiculous to Apologize when there was no stir or clamour Thus have I been vindicated by my Reprehenders and thus have I both read and seen in matters of Religion where the several Antagonists have solved the Popish difficulties themselves After Christmas Reader as I said before I not only went out of Town but have ever since been many score of miles distant from it which is the cause I saw not this Answer so soon as otherwise I should have done at last it was sent me by a Protestant Gentleman who had seen the Apology before it was printed When I had read it I began to admire not only at the malice of the thing but also at the weakness of the man that thus needlesly took up the Cudgels Who the Author is to this day I know not nor can any man desire his Acquaintance unless it be to say they have seen the Eighth Wise man I do not say that he may not be a man of Wit but nevertheless I am sure he is neither of Judgment nor Principles For had he been a Royallist he would have had more Gratitude and good Nature then to have forgotten faithful friends in a storm and added as he hoped fuel to the flame when we were underhand bespattred by Enemies to us both Nor was there any drift in the Apology but to settle a Distemper raised without either cause or reason A Presbyterian I can never think him because they being men of depth and prudence know that the effects of their crying against Papists in 1640. are too fresh in memory nor can it be an advantage for them to harass mens Consciences while their own are within reach of Law I can also as little fancy that an Independant or any real member of that many-headed and uncompacted Body could soberly by writing wish a Persecution for Religion being them selves obnoxious upon all accounts and if severity should universally fall they cannot imagine but that men of Birth men of Breeding men of Loyalty must needs at all times find more friends then they Who he is God knows a man of Principles as I said I am sure he is not nor do I doubt but his officiousness will at last find its reward and since he has called me Turk and worse as you shall see by and by I suppose he will not take it amiss if I speak my thoughts viz. that though he carps in a Ministers Dialect yet doubtless he is a Jew of the Dukes Place Reader When I received this Answer both by my Letters and Friends neer me I was perswaded not to reply because it had no force in it self nor had any applause at London I could not upon this information but assent but now lately I have been awak'd by a new occasion I had some days ago sent me a Pamphlet called A Discourse of the Religion of England a simpler thing was never yet writ I am sure and take this for a proof for he says among many hundred of his silly things that Holland Scotland and Geneva brought in the Reformed Religion without Rebellion He has been well whipt by a Protestant but deserves much more For Scroop was excepted out of the Act of Oblivion and hanged for excusing to Sir Richard Brown after mercy instead of being contrite for his crime yet this man that owns himself a Presbyterian which I believe as much as that my Minister was a Cavalier says The Non-conformists were only
Calvin Earthly Princes do hereave themselves of Authority when they erect themselves against God yea they are unworthy to be accounted in the number of men therefore we must rather spit in their faces then obey them Passing by what Beza did in France Davila often mentions He writ a Book of the Power of Magistrates which Mr. Sutcliffe confesses armed Subjects against their Prince Sundry Englishmen writ wholly of this Argument That the Councellors and rather then fail the very people were bound to reform Religion whether the Queen would or no though it were by putting her to death I shall trouble you Reader with no more Citations of which our Books are full for I content my self with naming these of the greatest eminency and certainly the opinions of these Doctors may be more justly charged upon Protestants in general then the opinions of private Catholicks upon us because Luther Zwinglius Calvin and Beza were the first Reformers and if the Spirit of God taught them so much truth as they are said to preach why should this be more questionable then the rest Therefore the Pope being Pharaoh and Popery Egypt as Ministers daily affirm in their Pulpits we may well say These are thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt These Apostles rested not in the Theory but fell to the Practice also for whereas the Popes since the first rise of the Reformation never gave away evenby word but two Crowns viz. England and France the Reformed have actually deposed the absolute Princes of Scotland Denmark Swedeland and Geneva have ravisht also from their lawful Governours the Low-Countreys Transylvania and many Towns which are now called Free And for Rebellion and Tumults they have been eminent in Poland Boheme Hungary France Germany and in short in all places where this Gospel has been preacht This every Historian can tell you nay blind Mr. Heylin plainly saw it therefore did all he could when these Countries in his Geography were to be handled to purge the Reformed from the Rebellion truly laid to their charge but finding that washing a Blackmore was labour in vain he was forced with his Brother Sleidan to fly for shelter to this abominable and prodigious Argument viz. That Christ foretold that Fathers should be against their sons and brothers against brothers for his sake and that we find not in any Story the true Religion was induc'd or corrupt about to be amended without War and Bloodshed It is true the lawful Protestant Church of England teaches no such Doctrine but this I do not much wonder at for why should men the King being so absolute in Spirituals run the risk to be undone for venting such notions when as their Monarchs have been so strict Professors of their Religion The test of this would be if the Prince and people were different or like to be so in Faith and Worship 〈◊〉 what the English have done herein whâ—â— this has happened I will shew you 〈◊〉 said by and by For my part I look upon the English to be the most well-meaning and most Religious people in the World and it is that which makes them all so violent in what their Conscience tells them is true This made Papists so earnest for their Religion which had governed England so long in glory This made Protestants fierce to root out what they thought Idolatry This made Presbyterians desire to have Prelatick Superstition reformed and this made Independents and their brood cry down every thing standing stiffly as they imagined for the Kingdom of Iesus Christ I say this great sincerity and zeal makes all our Countrymen so violent which good intention wicked people taking advantage of have caused so many disturbances among us nor can Sectaries ever be quiet till they are convinc'd that some Church or other is infallible Thus Reader have I answered to this strange Calumny against us That our Principles are inconsistent with Govenment by shewing that deposing of Kings is no part of the Catholick Faith which Catholique Princes do very well know and also that in Doctrine and Practice the Reformed have been wheresoever they came far more faulty then we SECT VII APOLOGY My Lords and Gentlemen Had this been a new Sect not known before something perchance might have been doubted but to lay this at their doors that have governed the civilized World is the Miracle of Miracles to us ANSWER VII Here he says that they that have read most and have had the most experience can best cure â—s of the wonder and that K. Iames who had reason to know us said in the Parliament That there were some that might be honest of the Party being ignoraÌ„tly seduced but they that truly knew our Doctrines could never be good Subjects Then he asks when it was that we governed the civilized World For he says the Eastern and Southern Churches never were under our Government nor the Western neither but when ignorant and barbarous REPLY VII Now I plainly see the design of this Minister is to the end his flock may believe every thing answered to say something to each Paragragh let it be never so frivolous Who is it Reader that having read History is ignorant of the great power the Bishop of Rome had over the East as the Greek Fathers tell us for wee read in Eusebius that Pope Victor about anno 200. Excomunicated the Eastern Church for not keeping Easter the Roman way and this Grimston also has in his account of Popes Or who knows not of the Appeals from Africk when matters of moment arose even in the most acknowledged Primitive times But I ask your pardon for asserting this because in the Primitive times they say the Popes themselves were Protestants Yet though this were so I wonder the Minister should be so forgetful of the Great Antichrist Boniface the III who is baited by every Shoolboy This arrant Pope lived above 1000. years aago and not only called himself Universal Bishop but was owned so too by Phocas the Universal Emperor as all Protestants declare Might not then a man modestly say that Popery governed the civilized World when it governed the whole World But I d of willingly forgive a man this that has the confidence to say that we did not govern the Western World till it grew ignorant and barbarous It may be he means that those Parts have been so ever since Christs time otherwise till this late Reformation there was never any Government on this side Greece that denied the Popes Jurisdiction and Greece it self owned it in the Councel of Lateran and in Hen. 3. time also as Protestant Sir Richard Baker testifies Ever since Rome made het self Mistress of all Arts and Sciences the West took the name of the only civilized place Therefore had he understood civility he would not have made so simple a cavil and I dare say he is the first ProtestaÌ„t Writer though they have been as
next for the Church of England is no Manna to relish in every palate and some wise men also think that a man may do very well though he has little Disputes with this his holy Mother Why does this Gentleman say we never knew the Laws executed I am sure there have died by these Laws at least 300 Priests besides Laymen and how often we have been rackt in prison and how infinitely our Estates have suffered for our Consciences no body I think is ignorant But I hope the brave people of England will intercede for us to his Majesty that since he the Messiah only expectation of the Nation is come we may not feel in his days what we suffered under Cromwel even by virtue of those Acts which have been formerly made Nor could Osborn a Protestant in his Memoires chuse but confess That against the poor Catholiques nothing in relation to the generality remains upon due proof sufficient to justifie the severity of the Laws daily enacted put in execution against them SECT XXI APOLOGY It has been often urged that our misdemeanours in Queen Elizabeths and King James's time were the cause of our punishment ANSWER XXI Your misdemeanors we cry you mercy if they were no more but that comes next to be argued whether they were misdemeanors or Treasons REPLY XXI Reader This is the subtlest Sophister that I ever met with for before this distinction I never knew but that Treasons were misdemeanors and therefore I think the word misdemeanour is not improper SECT XXII APOLOGY We earnestly wish that the Party had had more patience under that Princess But pray consider though we excuse not their faults whether it was not a harder Question then that of Yorck and Lancaster the cause of a War of such length and death of so many Princes who had most right Queen Elizabeth or Mary Stuart For since the whole Kingdom had crowned and sworn Allegeance to Queen Mary they owned her as the legitimate daughter to Henry the Eighth and therefore it was thought necessarily to follow by many that if Mary was the true Child Elizabeth was the Natural which must needs give way to the thrice-noble Queen of Scots ANSWER XXII He says that I wish the Catholicks had had more patience under Q. Elizabeth but he thinks they needed none for in the first ten years of her Reign though what the Papists had done in Queen Maries time was fresh in memory none of them fuffered death till the Northern Rebellion raised against her meerly upon the account of her Religion 't was she then that was persecuted and had occasion for patience and therefore I should have wisht them more Loyalty But it appears I account Rebellion no fault in saying 't was a hard Question whether the right lay in Queen Elizabeth or the Queen of Scots because many thought Queen Elizabeth illegitimate Here he asks Who thought so Or when the Question arose For says he First Archbishop Heath a Papist said in his Speech no body could doubt the justness of her Title Secondly the Kings of France Spain and the Emperour offered Marriage to her and thereby hoped to get the Crown Thirdly the Queen of Scots and King James acknowledged her and claimed nothing but to be her Heirs and Successours Then he tells that Paul the Fourth was the First that questioned her Title because the Kingdom being a Fee of the Papacy she had audaciously assumed it without his leave and secondly because she was illegitimate But his Successour Pius the Fourth would have owned her if she would have owned him which because she would not the next Pope Pius V. issued out his Bulls and deposed her not for Bastardy but for being a Protestant upon which the Northern-men and others of her Subjects rebelled and were every foot plotting against her 'T is true he says the Queen of Scots Title was pretended but he demands what would we have done if that Queen had not been Catholick or Queen Elizabeth not thought illegitimate He proceeds That Gregory the Thirteenth had occasion to consider this having a Bastard of his own and another of the Emperours to provide for to the first of which he gave Ireland and sent Stukely to win it for him and to the other England with leave to win it for himself But what was this to the Q. of Scots who he says might perhaps have been preferred to marry one of them upon condition her son Iames might have nothing to do with the Succession For when she was dead and her right in King Iames Sixtus V. not only took no notice of him but curst Queen Elizabeth again and gave her Kingdom to Philip the Second of Spain Pope Clement the Eighth seeing he could do no good upon Queen Elizabeth to take care another Heretick should not succeed her sent his Breves both to Clergy and Layity forbidding them to admit any but a Catholique to the Succession though never so neer in blood which was in plain words to exclude King James so that the Popes never stuck at the hard question And now he asks What our Country men did or suffered for it And answers himself that they acted for the Papal interest making use of the House of Scotland only for a cloak while the Title was in Queen Mary but when it was in King James none of them stirred or suffered for it yet they were not idle but as busie as Bees in contriving to hasten Queen Elizabeths death and to put him by the Succession To prove this he urges the Spanish Invasion presently after his Mothers death negotiated and defended by Papists That the Jesuites procured Huntly to rebel in Scotland That they persuaded the Earl of Darby to set up a Title to the Crown of England which he revealing was poysoned soon after as Hesket had threatned him That when their single shot failed F. Parsons gave a broad-side to the Royal House of Scotland in a Book published under the name of Doleman setting up divers Competitors and to provide a sure Enemy he found a Title for the Earl of Essex to whom he dedicated the Book being the most ambitious and popular man in the Nation But the the Book he says prefers the Title of the Infanta before all others Then he concludes from this his Discourse in which he says nothing material can be denied that it appears That this hard Question was not between the Parties themselves in one of whom we confess the right was For the Pope easily resolved it who denied both sides of the Question assuming the right to himself and as concerning the English Catholiques he says they sided with the Pope against Queen Elizabeth and Queen of Scots also and lastly that their misdemeanours were inexcusable Treasons if any Treasons befriended by such an Apologist can be inexcusable REPLY 22. 'T is strange to me that I must be denied the liberty which all people else have No man is forbid to declare their pretensions
when he speaks of the commotions of a Party yet here I am accused to think Rebellion no crime and to excuse their faults because I tell you what Papists in those days said for themselves The Minister can call himself a Loyal Subject and yet defend the Hugonots who were the most notorious and insolent Rebels that any History can shew nor had they any other pretence for the Massacres and continual ravages committed by them but Mr. Calvin and Mr. Beza's telling them God said thus and thus and therefore unless their respective Kings would suffer them to destroy a Religion in quiet possession since the Reign of Clouis they would bring Armies into the field and fortifie Towns against their Liege-Lords as every body knows they did till subdued in the time of Lewis the XIII I think good Mr. Parson I am as well known in England as your self and am sure can find more Protestants of Quality that shall engage for my Loyalty thē you can people of any sort 'T is not this Minister Reader only but others have called my narration of the matter of fact a questioning of Queen Elizabeths Title judge you by my words in the Apology whether it be so or no nor could I omit in honour the Plea of the foregoing age their misdemeanours being every day thrown in my dish But suppose I had questioned her Title there is no Treasonable intention in it I am sure because the Title of our King has no dependance upon that Princesse nor was she the first of our Monarchs against whose right Posterity has argued No body is blamed for saying King Stephen was an usurper or that Edward the Fourths Title was better then that of the three preceding Henry's What is 't then I beseech you were the fact proved against me I have committed that Protestant Authors have not done and worse Sr. Walter Rawley in his Preface of the History of the world has not only something to say against almost all the Kings of Englād but Buck in his Ric. 3 has bastardized Hen. 7 and all his offspring and thereby invalidates theire title to the Crowne either as Yorkists or Lancastrians Nor does Speed refraine from questioning the right of most of our Princes from the Conquest till Henry the fowrth's Reigne Yet none of these have been branded with the Character of ill Subjects 'T is he that is to be accounted wicked who sedititiously descants on Titles to breed Commotions and Disorders The Minister says I defend the calumny of those Catholicks in saying 'T was a very hard question whether the right to the Crown lay in Queen Elizabeth or in the Queen of Scots Reader that which I said was That this was a harder Question then the Dispute of York and Lancaster which cost so much Blood and Treasure and because I would know your opinion I will state these two Questions to you York had the interest of a third brother by Marriage Lancaster that of a fourth Brother and these two dispute about the Crown of England which women are capable of The second Question is this Henry the eighth married his brothers wife who was said to be a Virgin for Prince Arthur was but fifteene and a little more wen he died By this Princess K. Hen. had our Q. Mary and after he had lived with her 20 years he fell in love with a handsome young Lady whereupon he had in short time a scruple of Conscience that it was unlawful to live longer with his old wife because she had been-married to his brother His Conscience being still tender he caused the Scriptures to be searched and found not only there the Marriage to be void but that the Pope himself had no power in England and besides that rich Abbies were also contrary to the word of God Being thus truly informed he threw away Wife Pope and Monks and married the other by whom he had Queen Elizabeth while his first Wife lived 'T was thought by many curious wits that there could be but one of the daughters legitimate because both Mothers were contemporaries and that to Christians the Scripture permits but one wife at a time After the death of this King and his Son 't was put to the Kingdom to decide which of these children were lawfully begotten both Lords and Commons acknowledged Mary for their Queen which was as much to say she was born in true Wedlock Nor did Luther himself fail to disapprove of Queen Elizabeths birth I doubt not but the people were informed of the cause of the Kings scrupule as also that this brother Arthur had never known his wife Nay before K. Henry married Queen Katherine she protested she was a Virgin and offered to be tryed by Matrons The Bishop of Ely also deposed That the Queen whom all even the King himself esteemed for a Saint had often in confession told him she never carnally knew the Prince Nor in the whole examination was there any colourable pretence produc'd but the common vanity of all boys to be thought men before their time For 't was affirmed Arthur should say the next morning after Marriage that he had been in Spain that night Besides this there were those I believe that told the People that though St. John forbad Herod to take his brother Philips wife because his said Brother was then alive for Josephus sayes Herodias parted from her husband Philip in his life time and in contempt of the lawes married Herod yet he never prohibited by those words a Christian to marry his sister in-law if her Husband were dead The Case being thus fancied by the Papists in the time of Queen Elizabeth they argued that if Mary was the true Child then the other was the Natural but Mary was owned Legitimate And my Lord Bacon say's the ligitimation of Queen Mary and Elizabeth were incompatible Ergo the Kingdom not being Elective Mary Stuart the next Legal Heir must necessarily succeed her Yet suppose these Papists were wrong in their conclusion I am sure nevertheless I am still in the right viz. That it is a harder Question to resolve whether the Marriage be Null if a woman marries two Brothers then whether a third or fourth brother has the better Title to the Crown for that was the contest betwixt York and Lancaster But the Minister urges if the Papists thought Queen Elizabeth an Usurper why did not they stir sooner for there was no Rebellion he says in ten years and when after ten it broke out in the North there was not the least mention made of the Q. of Scots or her Title I wish the Catholicks had not only sat still ten years but forty five years also yet to shew you that this Minister will be wrōg in every thing I shall give you a most succinct account of this business Queen Mary of England in the latter part of her Reign was in open war with France and the Qu. of Scots was
have viz. a Preist to assist her at her death she was again recomforted when she knew by the Earl of Kent that she died for her Faith for he told her that her life would be the destruction of their Religion Reader I must now here end and cannot but ask this Question If the Reformed have for defence of their Religion effected the death of their Queen or at least undoubted Heir and if they have set up Jane Gray that had no title because their lawful Prince was Catholick who have been I would fain know in England more faulty in this case they or we Pray what advantage has this Minister got by loading us with crimes of which we are innocent And if as he urges in the beginning we obey'd Q. Elizabeth ten years without stir it then shows that Papists can be obedient to a Prince of another Religion though they doubt their right whenas the former Protestants would do any thing rather then permit a Catholick to govern let the Title be never so just Judge now Reader whether it be not superlative injustice to incense the World against us as if our Religion taught nothing but blood and theirs all gentleness imaginable I must invoke both Angels and Men to consider our wrong who are termed trayterous in our Principles even to this day We in our own persons have shewed all the duty that men can fancy and for our Ancestors you have seen what their Plea is if it be bad they have justly suffred if other wise let them then feel your anger who would deceive you thus with lies and remember that 't is not possible a Religion which governed England with glory so many years can teach a Doctrine destructive to Princes or infuse Maxims that will breed commotions among the people SECT XXIII APOLOGY 'T was for the Royal House of Scotland that they suffered in those days and 't is for the same illustrious Family we are ready to hazard all on any occasion ANSWER XXII Sir We have found you notoriously false in that which you affirm Pray God you prove true in that which you promise SECT XXIV APOLOGY Nor can the consequence of the former procedure be but ill if a Henry the Eighth whom Sir Walter Rawleigh and my Lord Cherbury two famous Protestants have so homely characterized should after twenty years co-habitation turn away his wife and this out of scruple of Conscience as he said when as History declares that he never spared woman in his lust nor man in his fury ANSWER XXIV This Character he says agrees better with some Heads of the Church then with King Henry the Eighth of whom better Historians naming Thuanus say better things but if he were such a Monster 't was for want of a better Religion for he was of ours except in the point of Supremacy and therefore I have no reason to flurt at him except having undertaken to colour Treasons I think 't is something towards it to bespatter Kings I use he says the same Art in the next Paragraph to excuse the Powder-Treason calling it a misdemeanour the fifth of November a Conjuration all soft words but deal hardly with the great Minister of State whom I make the Author of it as if the State had conspired against the Traytors not the Traytors against the State Then he tells the old Story of the Gunpowder-Plot and how discovered by my Lord Mounteâ—gles Letter and also how the Jesuites Baldwin Hammond Tesmond and Gerrard were named by the Conspirators as privy with them The Narration is in any Book that treats of King James and well known by every body therefore for brevities sake I have omitted it here REP. to ANSW XXIV Reader If the Character do agree better with many heads of our Church then I say in Gods name let it be given them But I much admire how Thuanus comes to be esteemed a better historian in English affairs then Sir Walter Raleigh or my Lord Cherbury whom we poor English-men think very excellent But why do I trouble you wiâ—â— the extravagancies of this strange man wâ—â— when he finds as he fancies a present expedient cares not though he be forc'd to deny it again in the next page What I have said of Henry the Eighth these two famous men have said it and a thousand times worse though they were Protestants and the first of them the great admirer of his Mrs. the daughter of this very Prince Nay omitting the unexpressable foul Language of the Reformed at home and abroad especially of Luther himself the Bishop of Hereford a Member of the Church of England calls him unsatiable glutted with one and out of variety seeking to enjoy another I shall speak no more to this nor any thing separately to the next four Paragraphs for they all concern the Powder-Treason You shall see what he says to each of them and then my Answer shall follow in one intire discourse SECT XXV APOLOGY Now for the fifth of November with hands lifted up to Heaven we abominate and detest ANSWER XXV Here he asks Whether it be the Festival 〈◊〉 the Treason we abominate and detest If the 〈◊〉 he says he will believe us without lifting 〈◊〉 our hands If the Treason he asks why we do not call it so which while we cannot afford to do lifting up our hands will never perswad 〈◊〉 we abominate and detest it SECT XXVI APOLOGY And from the bottom of our hearts say that may they fall into irrecoverable perdition who propagate that faith by the blood of Kings which is to be planted in truth and meekness only ANSWER XXVI He says I should be cautious of throwing such Curses for fear of hitting our Father the Pope as the Philosopher told the son of a common-woman that threw stones among a multitude SECT XXVII APOLOGY But let it not displease you Men Brethren and Fathers if we ask whether Ulisses be no better known or who has forgot the Plots of Cromwel framed in his Closet not only to destroy many faithful Cavaliers but also to â—ut a lustre upon his Intelligence as if nothing could be done without his knowledge Even so did the then great Minister who drew some few ambitious men into this conjuration and then discovered it by a Miracle ANSWER XXVII Here he calls me Apostle and Poet full of Gravity and Fiction Then he says I would make the World believe they were drawn into this Plot by Cecil yet am so wise as not to offer to prove it but would steal it in by the example of Cromwel Again he says admitting this for true they were Traytors nevertheless in doing what they did had there been no Cecil in the World and therefore the excuse only implies they had not wit to invent it though they wanted not malice to execute it for according to my illustration as the Cavaliers whom Cromwel drew in had their Loyalty abused and were nevertheless faithful still so the Powder-Traytors whom Cecil
opposite to all the designs of a Conspirator for 't was certain either it would make my Lord carelesly contemn the admonition since it came from an idle fellow in the street or else if he were apprehensive he would necessarily shew it to friends by which as I said there might be no little hazard to have all found out Now on the other side this interval was benecifial to a Machivilian because he knew 't would not only be more grateful to the Privy-Councel to have time to consider on difficulties but also foresaw if the King and Lords through surprize or otherwise should not hit on the Plot he must be forc'd to start hints the execution being so neer at hand which might easily have made him suspected for contriver and how ungrateful sulch a wickedness would have been to an upright Prince he him self could not but well imagine Thus Reader you see the intention of the Letter was to have the thing discover'd and thus could he ruine his Enemies and make his own vigilance appear for without such and the like remembrances the wit of great Ministers is soon forgotten both by their Prince and People Nor did Cecil miss of another reward also for as Sanderson says he was made Earl for his service in this business That which I assert here does not lessen the quickness of the Kings judgment for his insight as much appears whether the Letter were writ by a Statesman or a Conspirator Neither does this strike at the Festival enacted because the Parliamēt finding by the prisoners taken there was such a Plot could not but thank God that theyr trayterous intention was discovered And truly if a score of wicked Christians had conspired against Nero himself I would not gain say the remembrance of the delivery in what Countrey soever it were observed All that I here shew is that the Catholique Party had no hand in the Treason there being but thirteen Laymen in all as you see plainly proved and these very thirteen were doubtless drawn in by their mortal Enemy for the Letter came by his contrivance beeing as Osborn b confesses a neate devise of the Treasurer's nor was he ignorant from time to time of all their actions He that lived in our times has seen the Reign-of Queen Elizabeth reacted For in those twelve years from 1646. to 1658. you may remembrer the establisht Religion of the Nation altered an absolute Soveraign executed with formalities and pretences of Law The French fond of our amity the Spaniard beaten and lastly the zealous youth drawn into Plots with all ease imaginable His Majesty had those about him that had learnt this Art in their old Mistress's Service and this the all-knowing King at last found out for 't was impossible that ever he would have been favourable to the Catholikes again had he not in length of time been assured thad they were innocent of all machinations against him Reader he was a constant Protestant and yet so kind to us the last half of his Reign of which Wilson complains that neither the Spanish Match nor any other worldly hopes could have obtained this had he not been convinc'd we never had a design of destroying him and His. Nay the King in his own Declaration about it says That the generality of his Catholique Subjects did abhor such a detestable Conspiracy no less then him self Having thus replied to his Answer in the four last Paragraphs there rests now a little to be said to some short jerks of his which he loocks upon as witty and home First he is troubled that I call the Powder-Treason Misdemeanor Fifth of November Conjuration all of them being soft words To this I say I am very sorry I have offended him and in my next Apology if that will content him I 'll speak in the longest sentence of the Cōmon Prayer about the matter but my past errour grew from this because significant brevity is aimed at by most and therefore when we speak of or to the King we say Sir or your Majesty and not at every word Charles the Second by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France Ireland Defender of the Faith c. so in handling this affair I use those short words that express the whole matter to the full for I think Treason is a Misdemeanor when more then one are in it 't is a Conjuration and the Fifth of November is the common phrase of the Kingdom 2. ly He says that K Iames's Male-Line were to have been all destroyed Now Baker says That the late King then D. of York was only to have been suprized by Percy But the matter is not material and I cite these Protestant Authors only to shew that the malice of the Minister will make him erre in every thing Thirdly He thinks that my comparing of Cromwels drawing in the Cavaliers with this of Cecils is very odd and unequal For the Cavaliers he sayes were cheated into a lawful Action but the Powder-Traytors were out-witted into Treason To this I say that my comparison was never intended as you may see if you look into the Apology to make an equality of Justice or Honour in their sufferings but to remember you how easie it is for Trapanners to draw people into Plots and from thence to the Gallows Fourthly Concerning his desire to know who was Cecils setter to decoy in the rest I answer I cannot tell Nor should we ever have known who was Cromwels Instrument had not Sir S. Morland most Loyally discovered him There were three or four the Minister names discovered by the Conspirators who knew of the Plot and afterwards died obscurely abroad Even so died Gifford the Priest Walsingham's setter never visibly rewarded who corrupted the Brewer and so drew the Queen of Scots into the trap that ruined her as has been already mentioned Fifthly Because he is angry with the word Desperadoes I have altered it in this Edition and put in lieu Ambitious men I am sure the word in it self is proper enough for most were poor and King James in his Proclamation against Percy call's them men for the most part of desperate estates But had they been never so rich or in esteem it would well have fitted with them also for my Lord of Essex and Marshal Byron were really Desperadoes and yet wanted nothing had they known their own happiness Lastly He says few knew the manner but most knew there was a design on foot and prayed for the success of it Suppose Reader this were true that a design was recommended to the prayers of the Catholicks what were they guilty of by it for at that time the Chief of them were solliciting at Court to get some little ease after their long misery and therefore the rest might well think their prayers were fit to be desired But all this is a fiction Thus Reader I have now left nothing unanswered that he has urged and thus you see the Reasons I
good therefore I am sure can come to Protestants by it much harm perchance may since it will stir up Catholique Governours to use the like severity to dissenting Subjects who otherwise might live in greater tranquillity and ease 'T is not we that proclaim our persecution as this Minister taxes us in forreign parts but the Agents of Princes who comment as they please on things and fill Europe with noise that the English of all people are most ungrateful being earnest to have that done against their tried friends which Cromwel was almost ashamed to do though we were his profes't and sworn Enemies I shall never omit to render my thanks to Almighty God that I know not one who staggers the least in duty for all this our reproach and suffering Who is it that now loves the Dutch one whit the more or who is it that contemns not a Frenchman whilst he is an Enemy to England Nor did ever any Party in this Isle That deemed it self opprest by Laws before fail of favouring those that were in hostility with the Kingdom The Presbyterians in Scotland were up actually in Arms when two the powerfullest Nations of Europe assisted also with Denmark made the last War upon us And for the Independants all who were in pay in Holland openly abjured their Countrey and many of them headed by Doleman did us the mischief at Chattam for forreign Nations must never hope to foil the English without the additional courage of English Just contrary to this has been the procedure of Catholicks for not only the Scotish Papists with their Commander my Lord Douglas left France upon the breach but valiantly also fought with the loss of many of their lives when those Traytors as I said at Chattham assisted the Dutch last summer I need not repeat how zealous the Popish Guards were in all these three years Wars every body being an eye-witness of it and for the Papists abroad I am sure they have been so earnest for the Honor of the Nation that at Paris Flandres Rome Liege c. they were still detecting the Dutch forgeries and proclaiming our Victories to all People Nay the HollaÌ„ders were ever so sensible of the fervour of the English Catholicks in behalf of their Country that when De Wit was solliciting for a Guard he caused it to be published in the Gazzets of Amsterdam that he was in danger of his life for that two of our Jesuits had undertaken to kill him Consider therefore Loyal Sirs our services and though in themselves they are but Duties yet Duties may sometimes merit a reward at least for the inciting of others Nothing assuredly can ever settle more our Country in peace then the free liberty of Religion and if the tenderness of the Kings heart as all the world knows him merciful should move him to hear the cry of his late Enemies and grant them the enjoyment of their Consciences certainly no body could think it straÌ„ge if he gave the same freedom to us his friends who never yet deserted him or his Father in their greatest misfortunes and sufferings Nay moreover if there be still pity left amongst mankind upon that score also had Papists no other Plea we might more justly pretend to Indulgence then any Nonconformist whatsoever For none of the Sects can in reality alledge more then that the Protestant manner of worship is nauseous and of no edification to them my Reason is because we see â—t least the Rich in all Countries go often to Church and yet are owned still members by the Party Now such a Conformity is diametrically opposite to the Conscience of a Catholick and any such Communion is a deadly sin We are not here to Dispute whether Papists are not too scrupulous for this Argument may be used against any one of a contrary JudgmeÌ„t But supposing such and such things are the points of a Religion and favour desired in the suspension of Laws I say Mercy is fitter for them that according to the profession of their Faith cannot comply without sinning then for those that do it without such offence and truly I am not so disingenious as to believe that were this Conformity in their own Opinion a sin that so many persons of all Orders amongst the Presbiterians and Independents would have gone to Church or that their respective Congregations would have still received them as theirs This favour I crave I wish for all people as well as for my self for I cannot be so partial as to think my Conscience ought not to be forced and yet that my Neighbour may dispence with the scruples he finds in his Punishment never lessens the ResolutioÌ„s of ChristiaÌ„s but always heightens Zeal and draws sometimes wellmeaning men into those Leagued Factions which ease and favour would assuredly have prevented What thoughts can men have when they find not themselves opprest but the publick interest of their Country It follows not also that Toleration prejudices the establisht Religion of a Nation for experimentally we see the Calvinists of France never had fewer Proselytes then when they were securest from Massacres and the like Whilst the House of Valois was in being which used the great rigour they speake of their History declares how numerous they grew but since those of Burbon were Kings who toucht neither Life nor Estate only took away Garisons the Nests of Rebellion I never found they much vaunted in theire Conversions and increase My Lords and Gentlemen Religion is God Almightie's own Cause and for manifestation of the Elect Heresies are permitted 'T is he only and that at the last day also that shall satisfactorily convince us all who is in the right Persecution therefore may easily disioint a Kingdom but can never destroy this Hydra when she is fully rouz'd But now afore I end I must here declare if any other ill men such as this Minister and his Momentous friend who writ the Discourse of the Religion of England hope by Persecution of Papists to make us the less passionate for the Government when their Plots are ripe they cozen themselves and reckon without their Host for the Travellers-Cloak which is our tried Allegeance to lawful Power can never be blown up by a Wind. And if Papists were so fleeting as for affliction to renounce a duty which they hold be the Command of God why should they do you think suffer for Conscience since by going to Church or taking Oaths they may when they please enjoy the ample Priviledges of their Birthright Take this therefore for a certain Maxime That be who is faithful to God can never be unfaithful to his Country and I am sure in all kinds of disorders about ReligioÌ„ here at home the Reformed in each of their respective Sects have been far more faulty then we if we consider as I said what was done against QueeÌ„ Mary the usage of the QueeÌ„ of scots or the late unparallel'd RebellioÌ„ neither for these many years have the Papists