Neighbours This Prince Protestant Historians conclude to be the least deserving of all our Governours for passing by his youthful Rebellion the Murthering of his Nephew his Atheism c. which they record 't is he that lost our whole interest either by Conquest or Matches in France and discontenting all his People never obliged any body that I heard of unless the Mayor and Corporation of Lynne This yet is no excuse to the Pope but shews only the unhappiness of the Nation that it had not a more generous Prince for Sr. Rob Cotton call's him a licentious soueraigne to defend our Rights and Priviledges Now for Transubstantiation it is true that in this Councel the word was first made Authoritatively use of as in the Councel of Nice the word Trinity but the sence and meaning of both Trinity and Transubstantiation was in the Scripture and held from age to age Nay the word Transubstantiation it self was used by grave Authors in Writings before Object 2. Concerning the Decrees and Bulls of Popes he says that from Gregory VII they made such a trade of deposing Kings that no weak King could wear his Crown but at the Popes curtesie and that Boniface VIII declares in these words We say and define and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary to salvation for every creature to be subject to the Bishop of Rome To this I answer that in the next Century or a little more after K. John there were more weak Kings in England then eiher before or since viz. Hen. 3. Edw. 2. Ric. and yet the Popes did not offer to take away their Crowns or ever stirred to perplex them though their wicked Subjects gave the Pope opportunity enough Nay though Hen. 3. denied any acknowledgment upon the gift of King John yet the Pope assisted him against the Rebellious Barons And for the composition of Edward the Seconds troubles his Holiness sent him two Cardinals but the Rebels would not accept of their Mediation as knowing them too much of the Kings Party Besides I told you again and again that the Popes Decrees and Bulls are not alwayes held infallible and may be opposed as they often have been by stiff and Religious Papists nor will good Catholiques scruple to do it especially about Temporal affairs And if Popes should speak in such a Dialect as the Minister urges they mean subjection in Spiritual matters 3. Object Among the Divines that agree to the deposing of Kings he mentions some Jesuites as Bellarmine Suarez Valentia Parsons or Creswel Mariana also he names though he confesses him cōdemned Out of these he cites several places to this purpose viz. As Jehojada deposed Athaliah so may Popes deal with Kings To this I say Let the Jesuites answer for their own Doctrine for I am sure they are of age and able also neither did they ever tell me otherwise but that I might reject such and the like opinions they being only the private fancies of some of their Order It has never been my study to pore upon Schoolmen nor is it worth my pains now to search Libraries whether they have said so or no which truly I do very much doubt of For my part I cannot think Jesuites such King-haters because Kings would then hate them when as on the contrary we see all Princes caress them and make them their Confessors At this time the Jesuites are in this Office to the Emperor the Queen of England the King of France the Queen Regent of Spain the King of Poland and as I take it to the now King of Portugal for they belonged thus to the late old King and Queen of that Kingdom the Dukes of Bavary Newburgh and many other great Princes of Germany are also their Penitents all which considered I must look upon Jesuites in general to be faithfuller Subjects then Protestants imagine for Kings though Papists are not always fools But suppose Jesuites were Villains what is that to the Catholick Faith must Cambridge be Babylon and the English Religion false because the Mēbers of one Colledge suppose Emanuel were thought knaves and hypocrites The other Divines and Canonists whom the Minister urges are Baronius Bertrand Lancelotus Peron Rossaeus who say according to his citations things to the same purpose about deposing of Kings All this put together Reader is the force of his Argument The Objection about Councels and Bulls you see is nothing about Divines I have already given you a touch but now I will handle it a little fuller You must know the Soul of man being so sublime and towring there is no profession in the world but that the wits of it aim to resolve all difficulties that can be proposed in the Science This makes Philosophers Metaphysicians and Schoolmen run into those seeming odd subtleties with which their writings are cram'd In the like manner Casuists thinking it a disgrace not to be able to answer something to whatever can be proposed treat in their Books about all Cases which their nimble fancies can start Among many impertinent niceties and curious Questions this of deposing Apostatizing Princes comes to be handled some perchance are for it others in may be against it Now because some have adjudged That upon a notorious falling away the Church may give to the sound the Dominions of the infected sheep lest the whole slock might be tainted immediately the Minister and other Protestants declare that the dethroning of Kings is the Catholique Doctrine I am sure this was not so absolutely agreed to by the English Protestāts themselves at least in discourse that there could be none found among them who have favoured the opinion which we are said to hold how many well-meaning men fought against Charles the I only because they falsely thought him a Papist and I my self have heard those of condition say when the King was abroad that should the Pope and his crew peruert him they would oppose his return There was no danger of this because his Majesty like his Father and Grādfather has so great a veneration for Protestantism but yet this that I urge was frequently spoke of and no body that reads this but has heard such discourses often What has been done about Religion in this our Country I shall tell you hereafter and at present I shall shew you that we Papists are not the only Rebel-teachers but that there are Reformists that profess this Divinity also Luther says You complain that by our Gospel the World is become tumultous I answer God be thanked these things I would have be and wo me miserable if they were not Zwinglius If the Roman Empire or what other Soveraignty soever should oppress the sincere Religion and we negligently suffer the same we shall be charged with contempt no less then the oppressors themselves whereof we have an example in 15. Jer. where the destruction of the people is Prophesied because they suffered their K. Manasses being ungodly to be unpunisht
quite geven over my Minister for though he had no regard of himself me thinks he might have had more respect for our King then to parallel his Grand-mother with Wallis You must know Reader that Edward the First by his valour conquered Scotland and made all the Nobles swear Fealty to him About Ann. 1300. when all things were thus at quiet up starts Wallis a poore private Gentlemen who though he had distressed the English a while yet never so much as once pretended to the Crown either by Sword or Birth Afterwards he was taken by our King and executed for his Insurrections Is this man then a fit parallel with Mary Stuart owned not only as Queen of Scots abroad but by Queen Elizabeth her self also who often sent and received Embassadors from her with the same state as was used to the King of France or any other Potentate What King Iames and King Charles thought of the action I know not but I wish it had never been done Concerning the other part of his Answer First I did never charge the Kings Murther on any body but those that were the Authors of it he knows best whether he was one of them or no this I am sure of he can falsifie and to use Harrisons words blacken as well as the best of them as you may see all a long and especially in the next Section Secondly I do verily believe that King Charles died a sincere Protestant And lastly I am so far from laying any crime upon the Cavalier Protestants that I think them as brave and as worthy Gentlemen as any Nation bears But this I must say that the English Church though of an honest intention is built upon such Principles that as long as it lasts it will hatch a dissenting brood and these graceless Children upon every advantage will be ready to Rebel This is then the benefit entailed by Hen. 8. Reformation which has as Baker confesses so shaken the Church that it has stood indistraction ever since SECT XIII APOLOGY My Lords and Gentlemen We know who were the Authors of this last abomination and how generously you strove against the raging torrent nor have we any other ends to remember you of it but to show that all Religions may have a corrupted spawn and that God hath been pleased to permit such a Rebellion which our Progenitors never saw to convince you perchance whom for ever may he prosper that Popery is not the only source of Treason ANSWER XIII Here he says since we do know who were the Authors of the Abomination he desires us to be plain for he thinks I have spoke more truth then every man is aware Cardinal Richelieu he says began the Rebellion in Scotland then it broke out in Ireland blest with his Holiness Letters and Nuntio Lastly England we unsettled by giving occasion of jealousies which the Phanaticks made use of for their purposes Besides all this he says the Murther of the King also was agreed on in the Councels of our Clergy and therefore in vain could the Royallists resist the raging Torrent REPLY XIII Lord what blasphemies are here and what a heap of unsorted falsities are put together without any probability or proof Because Richelieu a great Minister of State who intrigued in every Nation is supposed to have dealt with the Presbyterians of Scotland the Papists of England were the cause of the Rebellion This is rare Logick especially every body knowing that fire and water agreed better then those Saints and we I wonder the Papists were not guilty of the dangerous commotion anno 1666 in that Kingdom But this is so ridiculous that I should be more abominable then he if I made more words of it Nor does that great Anti-Papist H. L. in his Reigne of Ch. 1. scruple to write that the Liturgy or Common Prayer was the Originall of the Scotch troubles In the next place if the flame break out in Ireland which Heath a Protestant historian sayes can be noe where more imputable then to the Parliament's unwarantable proceedure against my Lord Strafford we in England are again the cause of it so that if forraign Catholicks or forraign Protestants Rebel still we must be the Authors that never had any correspondence with either of these Nations nor have to this day as all the World sees Well then may this man falsely charge the Pope who is remote when he dares say thus of us who can so easily contradict his calumnies Lastly for England he urges we were the occasion of jealousies and they made the War O ridiculous impudence If the majority of both Houses conspire against the King suggest in open Debates fears of their own hatching and at the same time with all violence persecute Papists yet we are to be blamed and causers of the Commotions Certainly this is like him that cursed the Lord Chancellour because his horse stumbled I am sure many grave men of your Coat Mr. Parson ingenuously confest that it was the Translation of the Bible or the too frequent reading of it by the ignorant which is a consequent of the Translation that caused our disorders Consider now Reader this strange man for if his malice had not exceeded all bounds he would have told you That the Non-conformists took root assoon as the Reformation That Queen Elizabeths prudence kept them a little down That in King James his Reign they grew much stronger and that great Statesmen have often blamed that wise Prince because to keep things quiet in his Reign he occasioned the Tide to rush in with such irresistable force in our late unhappy times Thus was this storm by knowing Pilots foreseen long ago But would not a man now think this Minister had abused us sufficiently No he must yet go farther even The Kings death was agreed to in the Councels of our Clergy Doubtelss he cannot mean our Priests by the word for what did their agreeing signifie more then if the Mayor of Quinborough and his Brethren agreed that the Janizaries should strangle the Grand Seignior Had our Priests any power in England Were they not forced to skulk always in holes and hanged as often as taken I am sure Iesuites Seculars and Friers were executed no Order escaping al being fish that came to net But now I remember my self Mr. Parson pretends to be skilled in Rhetorick and perchance he uses a Trope of his own making that is That because two Negatives make an affirmative or a thing contrary to themselves therefore his four falsities in this one Section shall dubb an irrefragable truth opposite to each single assertion The Ministers meaning then it seems is this That in stead of our being false to the State We have been most intirely faithful to our King and Country Good Reader I must ask you pardon for saying any thing against these vain and groundless cavils seeing the whole World knows that never were men more earnestly Loyal then we Beware therefore of
been struck at but that the Bishops and Church of EnglaÌ„d felt also the blow and how much Episcopacy is advaÌ„tageous to Monarchy none can be now ignorant Who therefore My Lords and Gentlemen will be so little pitied as you if you should be twice deceived after the same method and maÌ„ner But to conclude no Kingdom I dare say looses-so much as ours by their cry against Catholicks for 't is very certainly true were not this a Bar and he who doubts it will soon be convinc'd let him step but beyond Sea that the Spanish Provinces in the NetherlaÌ„ds and for a small matter with their Kings consent as his case lately stood would joyfully put themselves under the gentle yoak of our easie Government nor are they in Normandy shie to say that had not Papists been so harrassed with us they would not have slipt so many late oportunities of returning to their Lawful Duke and Soveraign FINIS REader I hope this ImpressioÌ„ will be better theÌ„ the last which was very falsely printed For the Printer not only Italicated where he should not and omitted it where he should but also left out some words and changed others as if there had been a private correspondency betweene my Adversary and him for soe I le assure yow I am informed The only alteration I make is putting the Citations out of the Margent into the body of the treatise for I found that it distracted or at least much interupted the Reader in often running from one place to another especially if what I quoted were long I have also added to the list more Catholiques of quality that lost their lives for the King The names I receiv'd from some Ladyes of their Relations who are now become Religious at Paris I have plac't them by themselves after all to put the Readers in mind that they forgett not to insert also those whom hereafter they shall have notice of and had I time to send to friends I doubt not but the increase would be considerable A CATOLOGUE OF THOSE CATHOLICKS THAT DIED AND SVFFERED FOR THEIRE LOYALTY THe Earl of Carnarvan slain at Newbury first Battle Lord Viscount Dunbar at Scarborough and two of his sons much wounded Knights Sir John Smith Banneret who rescued the Kings Standard from the Rebels at Edgâ—il slain at Alresford in Hampshire Sir John Cansfield wounded at Neubury of which he died a lingring death Sir Hen. Gage Governour of Oxford slain at Collumbridge 11. Jan. 1644. Sir J. Digby wounded at Taunton and died at Bridgewater Sir P. Brown wounded at Naseby died at Nortbampton Sir Nich. Fortescue Knight of Malta slain in Lancashire Sir Troylus Turbervil Captain-Lieut of the Kings Life-Guard slain upon his Majesties marching from Newark to Oxford Sir J. Preston wounded at Furnace of which he died a lingring death Sir Arthur Aston Gouvernour of Redâ—ling slain at Tredaugh in cold blood Sir Thomas Tildesly slain at Wiggan Sir HeÌ„ry Slingsby beheaded on Towerhill Colonels Col. Th. Howard son of the Lord William Howard slain at Peirsbridge Col. Tho. Howard son of Sir Francis at Atherton-Moor The gaining which Battle was principally ascrib'd to his Valour Col. Tho. Morgan of Weston in Warwicksh slain at Newb. first battle he raised a Regiment of Horse for the King at his own charge and his Estate was given to Mr. Pyms son Col. Cuthbert Conniers at Malpass Col. Tho. Dalton of Thurnham mortally wounded at Newbury second battle and died at Marlborough Col. Francis Hungate slain at Chester Col. Poor Governour of Berkley-Castle neer Lidney Col. Will. Ewre son to the late Lord Ewre at Marston-Moor Col. Ra. Pudsey at Marston-Moor Col. Cuthert Clifton slain at Manchester Col. Cassey Bental at Stow in the Wolds Col. Trollop slain at Wiggan Col. William Bains at Malpass Col. William Walton at Tredagh Col. Rich. Manning at Alresford Lieut. Colonels Lieut. Col. Thomas Markham of Allerton slain neer Gainsborough L. Col. Lancelot Holtby at Branceford L. Col. Haggerston at Preston L. Col. Pavier at Linc. L. Col. Jordan Metham at Pontefract L. Col John Godfrey at Tewksbury L. Col. George Preston at Bradford L. Col. Will. Houghton at Newbury Lieut. Col. Phil. Howard slain at Chester L. Col. Middleton at Hopton-Heath L. Col. Michael Constable there also L. Col. Sayr at Nasby L. Col. Scot at Alresford L. Col. Thomas Salvin at Alresford L. Col. Richard Brown at Alresford L. Col. Goodridge wounded at Alresford and died at Oxford L. Col. Congrave slain at Dean in Gloucest Serjeant-Majors Major Cusand slain at the taking of Basing in cold blood Major Rich. Harborn wounded at Malpass dy'd at Kendal Major T. Vavasor slain at Marston-Moor Maior Panton wounded at Cover dy'd at Highmeadow Major Hudleston slain at York Maj. Thomas Ewre at Newbury 1. Major Lawrence Clifton at Shelfordhouse Maior Thomas Heskith at Malpass Maj. William Leak at Newbury 1. Maj. Rively wounded at Naseby dy'd prisoner at London Maj. Richard Sherburn at London Maj. Holmby at Henly Major Rich. Norwood slain before Taunton Captains Captain Marmaduke Constable Standardbâ—â—rer to L. Gen. Lindsey slain at Edgehill Capt. Wil. Laborn and Cap. Mat. Anderton at Sheriff-hutton in Yorkshire Capt. Joseph Constable at Newbury Captain Wiburn slain at Basing in oold blood Capt. Burgh slain at Cover Capt. Thurston Anderton wounded at Newbury died at Oxford Cap. Haggarston eldest son of Sir Thomas in Lancashire Cap. Anthony Rigby at Bazing-house Capt. Richard Bradford at Bazing-house Capt. Kenelm Digby eldest son of Sir Kenelm Digby raised a Troop of Horse at his own charge and was slain at St. Neotes Capt. Ratcliff Houghton at Preston Capt. Rob. Molineux of the Wood in Lancashire slain at Newbury 1. Capt. Charl. Thimelby at Worcester Capt. Robert Townsend at Edge-hill Captain Matthew Ratcliff neer Henly Capt. Richard Wolsole at Newbury Capt. Anthony Awd Capt. Thomas Cole at Newark Capt. Partison at Wiggan Capt. Maximil Nelson at Marston-moor Capt. Fran. Godfrey slain at Sherburn Capt. Tho. Meynel at Pontefract Capt. John Clifton at Shelford-house Capt Abraham Lance. Capt. Robert Lance at Rowton in Chesh. Capt. Anth. Hamerton neer Manchester Capt. Will. Symcots Capt. Lieut. to the Lord Piercy slain at Newberry 1. Capt. Tho Singleton at Newberry 1. Captain Francis Errington of Denton in Northumberland at Rotheran Captain George Singleton at Rotheran Capt. Mich. Fitzakerly at Liverpool Capt. Daniel Thorold at Nasby Capt. Franc. Clifton at Newberry 1. Capt. John Lance at Islip Capt. George Cassey at Hereford Capt. Langdale at Greekhovel in Wales Capt. Carver in Monmouthshire Capt. John Lingen Ledbury Capt. Samways at Newberry 2. Captain John Plumton slain at York Capt. Pet. Forcer at York Capt. Thomas WhittinghaÌ„ at Newberry Capt. Winkley at Leverpool Capt. Thomas Anderton at Leverpool Capt. Rich. Walmsly at Ormschurch Capt. John Swinglehurst and Capt. John Butler at Marston-moor Capt. George Holden at Usk. Capt. Richard Latham at Litchfield Capt. Tho. Charnock at Litchfield Capt. Rob. Dent at Newcastle Capt. Thomas Heskith and Capt. John Knipe at
A REPLY TO THE ANSVVER OF THE CATHOLIQVE APOLOGY Or a cleere vindication of the Catholiques of England from all matter of fact charg'd against them by their Enemyes M. DC LXVIII PREFACE TO ALL THE ROYALLISTS that suffered for HIS MAJESTY AND To all the rest of the Good People of ENGLAND My Lords and Gentlemen IF formerly the English Catholiques by their Apology did in treat your Intercession to our Gratious Monarch in suspending the execution of those severities then proclaimed I a member of that faithful Body must now beseech your Iustice against the malice of a Parson who not only strives to oppress the Loyal but also by the inferences of his Discourse would stifle hereafter zeal and mitigate if he could the fire that resides in the breasts of all generous Subjects Can any thing touch men of Honour more then after the loss of so many Lives and Estates insultingly to have it said It was but your Duty Nay to go yet farther even in a barbarous falsity that Necessity only forc'd us to what we did and that at all times you would rather far have had our room then Company What Preacher preacht this in the days of old Or who told us when Cromwel lived Be gone you are no friends to Caesar It was our Duty I confess and a Duty which no good man can refuse his Soveraign neither shall we ever be shockt in the fervour of it by the Doctrine of such a Rabby The reason why I now take up the Gantlet of this Goliah is to shew the candour of our Actions being yet purer then his words are black which though many could do far better then I yet here I appear challenged into the List as Author of the late Apology Author I can call my self if plain words may create that Title but the Duty and Submission is the sence of the whole Catholique Party and for the matter of Fact Books are the preservers of it which will for ever record our Innocence in despite of such detraction and calumny A Jesuit the Minister is pleas'd to call me though I had not the happiness to be bred in their learned Schools but the trick of this poor man plainly appears that thus he hopes to make Truth it self suspected because by the Preaching of such Pastors the ignorant as children consider Sarazens have most fond Ideas of the Society and of all Priests in general My Lords and Gentlemen Before I go any farther I think it most necessary to tell you what moved me to write that Pamphlet which wken you have well weighed you will find in the intention perchance that Piety which is usually lodged in an English Heart and that you may assure your selves of the sincerity of my thoughts Know that if my Arm was too weak to weild a Sword in the late just War I had then a passion to wish my years greater But though I thus lost the Honour of laying my life at the feet of the injured Father I had yet the satisfaction to hazard it for the Son even before and since his happy Restauration For my neer Relations they all suffered in the Common Cause which as it brought death to some so to others the sale of their cōsiderable Estates and the best Fortune that any could expect was to be crowded into the dreadful List for Cōposition I am sure my zeal to the Royal Family has been as forward to my power as the best more then which no body certainly can do nor have I ever been farther Satyrical against those that stand at Helm then by innocently saying We Catholiques are always most unfortunate This is the Profession I have lived in and in the same loyal Faith will I end my days Doubtless then I could have no sinister design in publishing the Apology the good end I had let the World consider My first Motive was the Law of Nature which gives the Needy leave to call for Mercy nor was there at any time a Nation so cruel that ever yet denied this favour Could there be a more frightful sight then to see the whole English World on a sudden point and cry Fie on them Fie on them What scoffing Blasphemies did the Seditious utter How did Tenants begin to confront their Landlords Nay omitting several insolencies of the Rabble I knew some Justices by reason of private spleen to their Neighbours seize on a Servant threatning his commitment unless he made Oath what his Master daily did Thus then in a trice we became an Eye-sore to our Friends and a by-word among the Common Ennemies But now my Minister will nimbly demand Is not this accusing the King and blaming the whole Parliament for their Advice and Counsel To which I answer first with the great Embassador of Heaven God forbid Nor is it possible for a man who would hazard whatever is dear to him on Earth for the glory of his Country to harbour such thoughts against lawful and just Authority Pray Master Parson let me ask you Whether Laws in all places are executed by inferiour Officers according to the intent of the Legislator Remember Sir the infinitely wise Bill of purging Corporations and you will find how private revenge converted it into quite another thing This is a Flayl against which perchance no wisdom can make defence but nevertheless 't is Vineger and may force a shriek from the opprest without offence to Government My Lords and Gentlemen I do with all submission acknowledge that Counsellors especially the Supream may advise their Soveraign to put Laws in force without giving a reason to the Publick and moreover I do farther say that it was mercy that they were till then suspended yet it is no crime even when they are revived humbly to beg for favour And to illustrate this consider I beseech you an Example Imagine that his Majesty being returned an honest Cavalier was restored to his House which with two parts of his Lands lay round about a City the prime Jewel in the Royal-Diadem Here the good man sitting now under his own vine daily blesses God for the happiness of the Nation and here each moment he conceives fresh joys by considering how superlative his late sufferings were If now on a sudden both Houses upon mature deliberation should beseech his Majesty to make use of old Laws to new fortifie this his most considerable place which consequently would destroy this Subjects Estate no body I think could wonder to see him amazed and troubled Suppose then to diuert this ruine the poor mā should beseech his friends to intercede should shew his sufferings should urge reasons that his house would be a strength to the Town and that the Kings Enemies have certainly some bad design by his calamity For all this the Prince is no way necessitated to grant his request Because reasons which seem strong to a Party concerned may yet in themselves be frivolous when they are weighed by judgments who know far better the state of things
Rebellion though many of the Reformed Divines are as I shal shew you of another sentiment Yet even those that do agree with me will nevertheless confess that by reason of carnal passions Grace must be predominant to resist so strong a torrent Was it not strange in the beginning to behold Abbies destroyed Bishopricks gelded Chanteries Hospitals and Colledges turned to profane uses Nay after a change of Liturgies and Rites to see people renounce their pious Vows and out of Godliness grow more licentious and loose These and the like unexpected alterations it being a pitiful thing as Stow says to hear the lamentations in the Country for Religious houses spurred men forward to resist for people saw the Conflagration and none knew in what it would determine or end But now Noble Country-men the Scene is quite altered for now we know the full scope of your designe now we are inured to the gentle Yoak of Protestant Kings and now we are so incorporated by our long acquaintance and joynt sufferings that all humane proneness to contend which our Enemies called Principles of Faith is wholly eradicated and taken away Having thus shew'd you that our Principles are not dangerous to Kings that our actions have been zealous for Kings and moreover that it is impossible we should again fall into those misdemeanours into which natural frailtie and misusage drove the foregoing age I will now with your permission examine the Answer of our Minister to each particular Paragraph and by it shall still farther let you see as well his pernicious ill nature as his detestable Positions and Designes But my Lords and Gentlemen I shall beseech you first throughly to peruse the Apologie it self it being the ground of the whole Dispute and because it hath been mangled by him into many imperfect Sections I have thought fit to print it here entire to the end you might run it over with the more ease and that by the whole connexion and dependance which mutilation spoils you may the better consider the real integritie I had in putting out that true and submissive Vindication TO ALL THE ROYALLISTS that suffered for HIS MAJESTY AND To all the rest of the Good People of ENGLAND The Humble APOLOGIE of the ENGLISH CATHOLICKS My Lords and Gentlemen THe Arms which Christians can use against Lawful Powers in their Severity are only Prayers Tears Now since nothing can equal the infinity of those we have shed but the Cause viz. to see our dearest Friends forsake us we hope it will not offend you if after we have a little wip'd our eyes we sigh out our Complaints to you We had spoken much sooner had we not been silent through consternation to see you so enflam'd whom with reverence we honour and also to shew our submissive patience which used no slights or tricks to divert the debates of Parliament For no body can imagine where so many of the great Nobility and Gentry are concern'd but something might have been done whenas in all ages we see things of Publick advantage by the managers dexterity nipt in the bud even in the very Houses themselves Far be it from Catholicks to perplex Parliaments who have been the Founders of their Priviledges and all Ancient Lawes Nay Mâgna Charta it self had its rise from us which we do the less boast of since it was not at first obtained in so submiss and humble manner We sung our Nunc dimittis when we saw our Master in his Throne and you in your deserved Authority and Rule nor could any thing have ever grieved us more then to have our Loyalty called into Question by you even at the instigation of our greatest Adversaries If we must suffer let it be by you alone for that 's a double death to men of Honour to have their Enemies not onely Accusers but their insulting Judges also These are they that by beginning with us murthered their Prince and wounded you And shall the same Method continue by your approbation We are sure you mean well though their designe be wicked But let it never be recorded in Story that you forgot your often Vows to us in joyning with them that have been the cause of so great calamity to the Nation Of all Calumnies against Catholicks we have admired at none so much as that their Principles are said to be inconsistent with Government and they themselves thought ever prone to Rebellion 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 Did Richard the First or Edward Longshanks suspect his Catholicks that served in Palestine and made our Countries Fame big in the Chronicle 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 We will no longer trouble you with putting you in minde 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 onely adde this that if Popery be the enslaving of Princes France still believes it self as absolute as Denmark or Sweden nor will ever the House of Austria abjure the Pope to secure themselves of the fidelity of their Subiects 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 never dreamt of 'T was never heard of before that an absolute Queen was condemned by Subjects and those stiled her Peers or that a King was publickly tried and executed by his own people and servants My Lords and Gentlemen We know who were the Authors of this last Abomination and how generously you strove against the raging Torrent nor have we any other ends to remember you of it but to shew that all Religions may have a corrupted spawn and that God hath been pleased to permit such a Rebellion which our progenitors never saw to convince you perchance whom for ever may he prosper that Popery is not the only Source of Treason Little did we think when your Prayers and ours were offered up to beg a Blessing on the Kings Affairs ever to see that
all was done in the dark nor would they ever own otherwise then that they dyed without violence For t was given out that the death of the first of these Princes came by extreame Griefe That the other Starved himselfe and that the last died of a Naturall sicknesse But the execution of the Queen of Scots was bare-fac'd in the sight of the World and which was more under the cloak of Law My Lord of Leicester was sensible of the dishonour that would accrew to the Nation and therefore sent Walsinhham a godly Divine to satisfie his conscience that it was lawful to poyson her but the Minister could no more convince his penitent then the Saints could Harrison about the clandestine Murther of the Grandchild And doubtless the whole intrigue against Q. Mary gave precedent and boldness to our execrable Parricides openly to do their detestable villany in a formal method and manner This procedure against the Queen contrary as 't was imagined to the Law of Nations she being both a Guest and an absolute Princess drew an universal odium upon the Kingdom for the Reproach was entailed on the whole nation by the apparition of a mimicall and Counterfeit justice as Osborne call's it nor did any Englishman either Papist or Protestant ever misse to be upbraided with it abroad till the greatness of the abomination against King Charles made them leave off a little speaking of the first to remember us more piquantly of the last Is it to excuse the two unheard of 〈◊〉 that he tell me of four or five Kings since the Conquest made away by Papists It may be it is that I should again retort that since Hen. 8. Reign there were but b four Protestestant Monarchs and three of them were said to come to violent deaths But what is Ravillac's murther of Hen. 4. to us in England more then to Saxony the poysoning of Edw. 6. by the Lord Robert Dudly for so Sir Richard Baker conceives he hid I know Clement the Frier destroyed Hen 3. so did Judas his Master and yet neither the Disciples nor Christian Religion were ever thought the worse for it For the Murther of the Protestants in IrelaÌ„d I shew'd you in the beginning how we detested it CoÌ„cerning the Blood spilt in FraÌ„ce I shall speak at large in the Paragraph about that Massacre But I wonder the PiemoÌ„thusiness should be unged by Royallist for I remeÌ„ber when CroÌ„wel made a CollectioÌ„ for theÌ„ in pretence but for himself in reality the Cavaliers ever stiled them Rebels and said the Duke of Savoy was necessitated for his quiet to subdue them thus by Arms. Yet for all their hard usage I wish we had as much freedome as they Now for Queen Maries Reign which this man so often calls the Bloody days I will here speak a little eternally to stop his mouth hereafter First Reformed Historians agree that the Queen her self was a marveillous good woman therefore it was not she but her Bishops that were cruel Again every Englishman knows that no man can be put to death amongst us without Law therefore they were not the Bishops but the Laws that were cruel which Laws still continue and have been made use of since the Reformation by Q. Elez. K. â—ames to burne Hereticks Yet for all these Laws there died of Protestants in the whole but 277. as Baker and other Protestant Writers record Besides were these 277. now alive 200. at least in stead of pity would be thrown into prison and there rot for Non-conformists but all things were called Saints in the dawning of the light even so much as Collins and his dog for Fox in his Act 's and Monuments say's that Collins beeing mad and seeing a Priest hold up the Host to the people tooke a dog and held it up as the Priest did the Host for wch he and the dog were burnt Yet though this Collins be own'd by Fox to be mad never the less he places him as a Martyr on the 10. of Octob. as may be seen in his Calendar In the next place let me know whether a man may be executed for this Tenets in Religion or no If it be lawful why might not Papists put to death men who they thought deserved it as well as Protestants If no man ought to suffer for his Conscience why did Edward 6. and Q. Eliz. condemn so many Hereticks in their time all which were executed but some few that recanted and so saved their lives Or why did K. James put to death Legat and Wightman but because he religiously thought it was unfit they should longer live to blaspheme Over and above these that died for a Religion of their own making I saw a Roll at Doway wherein to the year 1632. there suffered out of that one House 105. Priests since which there died many out of the same Colledge Add to these many out of the Portugal Spanish and Roman Seminaries many of other Orders and many Laymen also who have been executed for owning the Pope in Spirituals or for having a Priest say Mass in their Houses according to the obligation of their Consciences If these were then all numbred I am sure there suffered many more Catholicks omitting the innumerable Confiscations by the Protestant Government then ever there did Protestants by the Catholick Nay if together with Catholicks I should reckon all sorts of people that died for their Conscience though enemyes to Popery which may be found in Fox Stow and others in the Reignes of Hen. 8. Ed. 6. and Queen Elizabeth it is evident there has been more Blood spilt on a Religious account under our Princes that disowned the Pope then by the Papists from St. Augustins Conversion to Luthers time Iudge then if Catholicks be so bloody as they are reported and thought SECT XII APOLOGY 'T was never heard of before that an absolute Queen was condemned by Subjects and those stiled her Peers or that a King was publiquely tried and executed by his own people and servants ANSWER XII Here he says That the Q. of Scots was beheaded under Elizabeth by the same colour of right that Wallis suffered under Edw. 1. whom I call he says a brave Prince namely that of Soveraignty which our Princes challenged over Scotland but that King James and King Charles never imputed this to Q. Elizabeths Religion Concerning King Charles's Murther he says that I would take it ill a Turk should charge the Ministers faults and his Parties upon me but I do worse then a Turk in charging these mens faults upon the Protestants for the Murtherers were neither then nor since of the Ministers Communion He sayes King Charles declared he died for the Protestant Religion and Laws of the Land that also in his Letter to the Prince he says none of the Rebels were Professors or Practicers of the Church of England which gives no such Rules REPLY XII Nay now I have
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
have to believe the Plot it self a Trick and besides 't is plain the Body of the Catholicks had no hand or inclination to the thing which the wiâ—e K. James at last as I said well knew therefore was gratiously pleased to let the beams of his mercy shine again upon them SECT XXIX APOLOGY But suppose my Lords and Gentlemen which never can be granted that all the Papists of that age were consenting Will you be so severe then to still punish the Children for their Fathers faults Nay such Children that so unanimously joyned with you in that glorious Quarrel wherein you and we underweÌ„t such sufferings that needs we must have all sunk had not our mutual love assisted ANSWER XXIX He says suppose falsly to avoid truth for who says all Papists then were consenting or who can deny there be some in this age of the same Principles with those Traytors and though we be not punisht for our Predecessors actions yet we ought to be restrained that we may not do like them Though I would he says shuffle men of these Principles by the word unanimously among those that served the King yet those good Servants are not so many but the others may be easily distinguisht Concerning those that only suffered with the Royallists the Minister thanks them for their love but not for their assistance for the Protestant Cavaliers could not sink lower but some of us floated like cork and others swam upon the bladders of dispensation and therefore as they received no help from our swimming so they apprehend no assurance of us by our sufferings REP. to ANSW XXIX Pray Reader what is in this Answer that confutes the Apology for what man of our Party did not faithfully serve the King to his power and who of us in his Majesties absence had not estimation among the rest of the Cavaliers according to his ranck and quality was there any Party in England more deprest then we Were not Priests of all Orders hanged were not others imprisoned during life Had not we three times more Estates sold then any people else and were not the Laws put in force so that to those that had something two parts of it were also swept away Cromwel by is Maxims kept us poor because we should not be service able to the King and now our Gratious Monarch being returned this Godly Minister thinks fit to advise our restraint as he calls it which in plain English is to desire we should beused as that Tyrant used us for fear we should do like our predecessors i. e. assist his Majesty for I am sure all of them did so and many confirmed that duty with their Blood Can therefore be on Earth greater wickedness then this not only to be forgetful in prosperity but thus with calumny to asperse those who were faithful fellow-sufferers with the Royall Party in the height of all theire misfortunes Reader the hopes of this pitiless man is that rigour and despair may stagger us in our Loyalty but herin I defie him for nothing can move them to contend whom coÌ„science and Love have obliged to be obedient SECT XXX APOLOGY What have we done that we should now deserve your Anger Has the Indiscretion of some few incenst you 'T is true that is the thing Objected ANSWER XXX Sir our anger is only a necessary care that what you call your indiscretions may not grow up to be such as you lately called your misdemeanours SECT XXXI APOLOGY Do not you know an Enemy may easily mistake a Mass-Bell for that which calls to Dinner ANSWER XXXI We know he may upon a Fast-day for then you use to ring your Vesper-Bell before Dinner And how can a simple Heretick tell whether it call you to pray or to eat Fish But we do not know that ever any of you was brought into trouble about that Question SECT XXXII APOLOGY Or a Sequestrator be glad to be affronted being Constable when 't was the hatred to his person and not present Office which perchance egg'd a rash man to folly ANSWER XXXII Possibly he may be glad of it For 't was the Jesuitical distinction between Person and Office that first helpt him to be a Sequestrator and now he sees the distinction come in play he may hope to have his place again REPLY to ANS XXXII Reader you see he will divide a Paragraph and answer to each division as he hath done in these three last though it be gibbrish and nothing to purpose The ringing of a Mass-Bell in Lancashire the affronting a Constable and some other such things were Accusations brought to London against us But how impudent is the Minister to say we were never in trouble as he knows for this when as every body knows what a do there has been ever since these complaints were alleadged by the known Enemies of the Kingdom SECT XXXIII APOLOGY We dare with submission say let a publick Invitation be put up against any Party what soever nay against the Reverend Bishops them selves and some malicious informer or other will alledge that which may be far better to conceal Yet all mankind by a Manifesto on the House-door are encouraged to accuse us Nor are they upon Oath though your Enemies and ours take all for granted and true ANSWER XXXIII He says here 's an ambush for Bishops to have them esteemed Popish because I reverence them and obnoxious in such matters as I say it may be better far to conceal But he knows my kindness and defies my malice They are Olympia's Bishops need concealment but the Bishops of England are of another make and hold not their credit at any ones courtesie He farther says what could the Parliament do less then invite the People to bring in their grievances to the place of Redress and 't was great hardship he says that the House of Commons did not give Oaths to the Accusers which no House of Commons ever did upon any occasion REPLY XXIII If my respects to the Prelats of England have offended this Minister I am sorry for it We and the whole World know how zealous they are for Monarchy and therefore I wish they had no greater Enemies then Papists But if there be an ambush laid for them Judge Reader whether we or the Cobler of Glocester have done it 'T is an usual phrase among Catholicks when they shew the wickedness of Lyars to say they are so abominable that they will not stick to calumniate the Church it self therefore I think kind expressions ought to have had a better requital For Donna Olympia's Bishops I suppose those of our Kingdom take them selves to be of the same make for hers received their Orders from Rome and from the same Fountain as I have read the Church of England pretends to derive all Ordination whatsoever The Minister needed not to have told me that the Commons cannot administer Oaths for I know the Orders of that House better then his Worship I was not troubled that no