satisfie the only Scope Design and End of this Discourse A Brief Account of the several Plots Contriv'd and Rebellions Rais'd by the Papists against the Lives and Dignities of Sovereign Princes since the Reformation IN the year 1520. Anno 1520 about three years after Luther began to preach was that almost universal Rebellion in Spain against the Emperour Charles the Fifth which lasted four years Three years after Anno 1523 the Earl of Desmond entred into a Conspiracy against our King Henry the Eighth and had procur'd a promise of assistance from King Francis the First of France the Articles of which Agreement are yet extant whereby it appears that the Design was to make the Duke of Suffolk then in France King but King Francis being taken Prisoner at the Battel of Pavia the year following Anno 1524 and the Duke of Suffolk slain the Design fell The next year the Irish rebell'd Anno 1525 and murther'd many of the English Inhabitants But Ten years after Anno 1535 the Pope drew up his Bull against K. Henry though he did not publish it till 1538. Anno 1538 wherein he asserts his Authority over Kings to plant and destroy as he sees good and then proceeds with the Advice of his Cardinals to summon the King and all his Adherents to appear before him at Rome on a day appointed threatening them with the greater Excommunication in case of Non-appearance and declaring Him and his Posterity incapable of any Honours Possessions or even of being Witnesses absolves all his Subjects from their Oaths of Fidelity and commands them upon pain of Excommunication not to obey him or his Officers enjoyning all Christians to have no Commerce with him all Ecclesiasticks to leave the Land and all Dukes Marquesses c. under the same penalty to drive him out of his Kingdom declares all Leagues made with him by any Princes void exhorting them to endeavour his Ruine with their whole power bestowing all the Goods of his Adherents upon such as would seize them commanding all Bishops to declare the King and his Followers Excommunicate and denouncing the same Censures against whosoever should hinder the publication of this Bull. This piece of prodigious Impudence and Vanity would not satisfie the Pope but he immediately set his Instruments to work to prosecute the design of his thundering Bull so that the beginning of the next year this Letter was written from Paris to one Fryar Forrest Anno 1536 Brother WE behold how the King is changed from a Christian to an Heretick and how he hath robb'd Christ's Vicar of his Rights and Privileges by placing himself in his Holiness's Seat there as Supreme over the Catholick Church within the Realm It was the late damn'd Assembly of Lords and Commons furthered his Pride otherwise he could not nor durst not assume it to himself We have thought of these passages and do agree That there is no way to break this Tyrant's Neck but one Puff him up in his Pride and let our Friends say unto him That it is beneath so mighty a Monarch as he to advise with Parliaments but to act all in Person and that it behooveth his Majesty to be chief Actor himself If he assumes this it will take off great Blemishes from the Nation which the Church holds them guilty of and doe our Business For then the People it being contrary to their Laws will fall from him also the Catholick Party of his Council will be too strong for the Hereticks and then the Common sort will be the abler to declare his Tyranny This is to be contriv'd with the Church's Members and cautiously because it is observed that the Parliaments of England have hindred the Church in most of the Kings Reigns otherwise She had held her Party better than She does now You have our Convent's hearty Prayers for your Guide From St. Francis at Paris primâ— Id. Jan. 1536. Thomas Powell This Letter was found two years after among Father Forrest's Papers together with an account of vast Summes which he had expended for the Church of Rome and her Designs But this Design not being sufficient the Pope offered England to James the Fifth King of Scots and presented him with a Cap and consecrated Sword When that Offer of what was none of his succeeded not according to his Desires the same Pope Paul the 3d. by his Bull of the year following absolv'd in general Anno 1537 all Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance unto Heretical Kings Princes and States as they be Enemies unto the Holy See of St. Peter all Men from the tye of their Heretical Wives Wives from their Heretical Husbands c. which was accompanied with a Rebellion in Lincolnshire under the Conduct of one Mackarel a Monk to the number of Twenty thousand against whom the King prepar'd to march in Person but their first Fury being over they embraced the King's Pardon and returned home But this Commotion was succeeded by another more dangerous led by the Lord Lumley several Knights and Gentlemen with most of the Clergy this Army in the North consisted of 40000 Men well Armed who call'd themselves the Holy Pilgrimage and the Pilgrimage of Grace they had the Five Wounds of our Lord the Chalice and the Host painted in their Standard and the Name of Jesus upon their Sleeves their whole pretence was for Religion in their March they took Pontefract Castle but were at length appeas'd But soon after the same Persons raised another Insurrection in which several Monks came armed into the Field as Souldiers who were taken and with the Ring-leaders of the Rebellion Executed Two years after if not the next year to the last Rebellion Anno 1539 for some place it in the year 1538. the Marquess of Exceter the Lord Montacute and his Brother Sir Edward Nevill and others enter'd into a Conspiracy to depose the King and advance Reynold Pool then Dean of Exceter and afterwards Cardinal to the Throne for which the Marquess Lord Montacute and Sir Edward Nevill were Beheaded upon Tower-Hill In the year 1546. Anno 1546 Pope Paul the Third not content with his shewing his pretended Authority over Kings in the two Bulls mention'd before published another in favour of the Jesuits whereby he exempts them and their Goods from the Power of any but himself and commands all Princes to swear not to molest the Society or invade their Privileges and pronounces an Anathema against all who will not obey the Bull. Two years after this Anno 1548 King Edward the Sixth being settled in the Throne one Body a Commissioner pulling down Images by the King's Order was stabbed by a Priest and a Rebellion was rais'd in Cornwall Humphrey Arundell Governour of the Mount with other Gentlemen gathering together Ten thousand Men besieged Exceter and reduc'd it to very great Extremity declaring they would have Popery and the Six Articles restor'd They fought four several Battels with the
privately in the Habit of a Sailer to sound the Ports Rodolpho was furnished with plenty of Money from the Pope which he distributed to make a Party into which they drew the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland with others who perceiving their Plot discovered submitted and begged Pardon This Design the Pope was so zealous for that he assured the Spaniards he would go along with them himself if need were and engage all his Goods and Treasure in the Service Nor was this the only Design of the Pope at this time for in pursuit of his Predecessour's Bull against her he advised the Queen-Mother of France to seize on the Dominions of the Queen of Navarre because she was an Heretick offering if she approved of it by his Papal Authority to appoint one of the House of Valois to be King of those Territories which if she did not like he was resolved to give them to the King of Spain but that Prince knowing they must be won by the Sword declined accepting the Pope's Bounty Hitherto the Members of the Church of Rome made no scruple to resort to the Protestant Churches Anno 1569 both for Prayer and Preaching but this Year Pope Pius Quintus published his Bull against the Queen upon which they all withdrew from any such Communion with us In this Bull the Pope calls the Queen the pretended Queen of England a Servant of Wickedness affirms that her Council consisted of obscure heretical Fellows declares her an Heretick and cut off from the Unity of Christ's Body that she is deprived of her Title to her Kingdoms and of all Dominion Dignity and Privilege whatsoever and her Subjects absolved from all manner of Duty and Obedience to her and that by the Authority of this Bull he doth absolve Them and depose Her and forbidding all her Subjects under pain of Anathema to obey her With this Bull he sends Morton a Priest into England to spread this Censure and persuade the People to back it with an Insurrection upon which as Surius tells us out of Sanders many Persons of Quality resolved to execute it Accordingly the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland who were pardoned but the year before took Arms in the North trampled under feet the English Bible and Service-Book bearing in their Standard the Cross and five Wounds of our Saviour and being betwixt five and six thousand men they grew so insolent that they would give the Queen no better Title than the Pretended Queen but the Pope being too slow in sending the hundred thousand Crowns he promised them and they at length finding their numbers too small to cope with the Queens Army dispersed and every one shifted for himself The Earl of Westmorland escaped into Flanders where he dyed miserably but Northumberland being taken was beheaded at York who was nevertheless looked upon by the Romanists as a glorious Martyr and the drops of his bloud kept by them as holy Relicks That this Rebellion had no better success Sanders and from him Surius give this Reason Because the Catholicks had not timely notice of the Pope's Bull And the same Person informs us That those that were executed for this Treason refused to the very last to acknowledge the Queens Authority Among which Sanders mentions Plumtree and others as well as the two Earls who are termed glorious Martyrs of the Catholicks by Bristow in his Motives and several others To correspond with the Pope's Intentions in his Bull Ireland puts in for a share this year where Jame Fitz-Morice of the House of Desmond and two of the Botelers raised a Rebellion but the latter being drawn to a submission by the loyal Earl of Ormond Fitz-Morice after many shifts followed their Example and was pardoned But though the two Earls and their Accomplices had sped so ill yet Leonard Dacres renew'd the Rebellion in the North Anno 1570 and fought a bloudy Battel against the Queens Forces with great obstinacy though in the end he was forced to fly into Scotland And now that the Catholicks might no longer remain in ignorance of the Queens being deprived of the Kingdoms by the Pope one Felton this year had the hardiness to fix the Bull at the Bishop of London's Gates for which being apprehended he confessed the Fact and gloried in it at his death affirming the Queen had no right to the Throne being deposed by the Sentence of the Pope Yet doth Surius affirm that he dyed a Martyr for the Catholick Faith justifying the Action as done out of Zeal for the Church and in Obedience to the lawfull Commands of the Pope The fame is affirmed by Parsons Spondanus and Hilarion de Coste who styles him the valiant Soldier of Jesus Christ commends his invincible Courage and Zeal for the Faith and affirms that his Martyrdom is one of England's most glorious Trophies though the same Person can afford the Queen no better a Title than the Impious and wicked Queen the true Jezebel of our days And that all the World may see what they thought of him at Rome no sooner could Thuanus affirm that it was a very rash Action but the Index Expurgatorius commands that passage to be blotted out so jealous are they of the Honour of this grand Traitor With as great Encomiums do we find the Memory of Dr. Story celebrated by the Writers of that Church This man was one of the most violent Persecutours in Queen Mary's days Anno 1571 for which cruelties being questioned in Parliament in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign he answered that he knew no Fault he was guilty of but only that he busied himself in cutting off the Branches while he neglected to pull up the Root it self which if he had done Heresie had not got up again For this being imprisoned he found means to escape into Flanders but being apprehended and brought into England this year he rejoiced that he should suffer Martyrdom Upon his Tryall he declined the Jurisdiction of the Court affirming that he was a Subject to the King of Spain and acknowledged no lawfull Judge in England for which he gave this Reason That seeing the Pope had declared the Queen deprived of her Right he durst not acknowledge her Authority left he should fall under the Censures of that Bull And at the moment of his Execution being asked by an Earl whether the Queen was his Sovereign he replied She was not yet is he reckoned among the Martyrs for the Romish Faith The next Year was that bloudy Massacre of Paris Anno 1572 though contrived two years before wherein it being carried over all France above 100000 Protestants were butchered in cold bloud the Duke of Guise and his Party did all they could to have the King of Navarre and Prince of Conde slaughtered with the rest but they being preserved by the King the chief Design of the Papalins in that bloudy Action was prevented
was encouraged and persuaded to that horrid Fact This Pillar as appears by the date of the Inscriptions was not erected till the following year however having such a relation to their banishment which was decreed the 29th of December 1594. I thought it most proper to give an account of it in this place One would think that if any Fact would render men ashamed this murtherous Attempt was so horrid as to make those concerned in it blush but so far were they from that that Francis Veron a Jesuite wrote an Apology for the Murtherer calling the Enterprise a most holy most humane most laudable and worthy Act that it is acceptable to God and conformable to all Laws and Decrees of the Church and in the same Book he extolls Clement that stabbed the former King Thus Fruitfull were the French Romanists in their Contrivances of Rebellion and Murther and as willing were their Brethren in these Nations to promote Enterprises of the same nature for Tir-Oen in Ireland continued in the Rebellion which he began the year before but distrusting his own power submitted himself to the Lord Deputy yet the very same Month he rebelled again several Provinces revolting to him by which accession of Forces he grew very powerfull And in Scotland the Noblemen who were imprisoned and condemned for their Insurrection the last year having been pardoned by the King took Arms again being assisted with Money from the Spaniards and defeated the King's Forces under the Earl of Argyle though much superiour in number to them but were at length reduced so low that they begged leave to depart the Land which was granted them so promising to enterprise no more against the King they left the Kingdom Bothwell the chief of them went to Naples where he lived miserably the rest about three years after got their Pardons and returned home Yet were not these all the Popish Enterprises upon the Estates and Persons of Princes which were discovered this year for I find that about this time they employed Le Four and others to murther Prince Maurice of Nassaw General of the Forces of the United Provinces But the indefatigable Romanists Anno 1595 though so often disappointed would once more apply themselves to the Spaniard to favour their cause in England who to correspond with their Desires and satisfie his own Ambition sent Diego Brocher upon the English Coast who with four Gallies put into Mounts Bay in Cornwall fired St. Paul's Church and three small Fish Towns and this was all the King of Spain made of his vast expences and preparations against England Tyr-Oen having the two last years strengthned himself Anno 1596 writes this year to the King of Spain desiring him not to give ear to those who affirmed that he design'd any Accommodation with the English assuring him that he was resolved never to submit to or have any Treaty with them About the same time the Jesuites at London had laid a Plot to seize the Tower and keep it till the Spaniards arrived to their Assistance in one of their Letters from their Correspondents in Spain dated June the 20th 1596. they are put in hopes that the Spanish Armada should be with them about the August following cautioning them to advise all the Romanists of the Design before-hand and Proclamations were ready Printed in Spain to be dispersed at their Arrival here and the better to secure the Spaniards landing in Scotland the Conspiratours fortified the Isle of Elsay in the Western Seas for their Reception but were surprized before they had proceeded far so the Enterprize miscarried And now we are come to the last Conspiracy that hath been discovered against the Life of Queen Elizabeth which was the attempt of Edward Squire a Servant in her Stables to whom Walpoole Anno 1597 the Jesuite gave a very strong Poison which Squire undertook to press out upon the Pommel of her Saddle but before he could bring himself to undertake so horrid an Action he had several conflicts in his own mind which the Jesuite perceiving told him That the Sin of Backsliding did seldom obtain pardon and if he did but once doubt of the lawfulness or merit of the Act it was enough to cast him down to Hell exhorting him to go through with it †for if he failed he would commit an unpardonable Sin before God and at parting after having bless'd him he used these words My Son God bless thee and make thee strong be of good courage I pawn my Soul for thine and being either dead or alive assure thy self thou shalt have part of my Prayers Thus satisfied with the Jesuites he upon the first opportunity poisoned the Pommel of the Queens Saddle but it pleased God the Poison had not the expected effect upon which the Jesuites not hearing of her Death in some time suspected Squire of Unfaithfulness and got him under-hand accused of some Design against the Queen upon which being apprehended he confessed all and was executed But Tyrone created more trouble to the Queen in Ireland where daily he encreased his strength took fortified Places from the English and in several Skirmishes got the better of the Queens Forces And continuing his Rebellion Anno 1598 slew Sir Henry Bagnall and routed the English under his Command took the Fort of Black-water and in it great store of Ammunition and Arms and created James Fitz-Thomas Earl of Desmond and got several Advantages over the Forces of the Kingdom In England Anthony Rolston was employed by the Jesuite Creswell to prepare things for an Invasion which the Spaniard intended to make very suddenly in order to which a Fleet was prepared and a Proclamation drawn up by the Admiral justifying the Action and declaring his Intention to be to reduce these Kingdoms to the Obedience of the Catholick Roman Church This year also was apprehended in Holland one Peter Pan a Cooper of Ipres who confess'd That his Design was to murther Prince Maurice of Nassaw that the Jesuites of Daway for his encouragement promised to make his Son a Prebend and the Provincial gave him his Blessing in these Words Friend go thy ways in peace for thou goest as an Angel under God's safeguard and protection But almost innumerable were the Conspiracies against King Henry of France against whom after Mayenne and all others had submitted the Dukes of Aumale and Mercent continued obstinate refusing to acknowledge him and the Pope's Agent at Brussels first employed Ridicove a Dominican of Ghent to murther the King assuring him That the Pope and Cardinals approved of the Action but he after two Journeys into France about it was apprehended and executed confessing That the daily Sermons he had heard in praise of Clement who stabb'd the former King and was esteemed a Martyr among them had so enflam'd him that he resolv'd to follow his steps Besides this Man one Arger of the same Order
several Priests were found among the dead at Edghill Battle but the Endeavours of his Holiness to encrease those miserable Confusions were managed with all imaginable Secresie while the Irish were openly commended by him and assured of his Prayers for their success in his Breve to Owen O Neal dated Octob. 8. 1642. and so willing was he to lay hold on all occasions for the exercising his Deposing Power that because the Prince of Parma offended him he declared him to have incurred the greater Excommunication and deprived him of all his Dominions and Dignities But not content with sending the forementioned Breve to O Neal Anno 1643 his Holiness granted a Bull of plenary Indulgence May 25. 1643. to all the Catholicks in Ireland Anno 1644 who joined in the Rebellion which was prosecuted as fiercely as the Pope could desire and a defence of it set forth by an Irish Jesuite in Portugal Anno 1645 though the Title-page mentions Franckfort who asserts That the English Kings have no Title or Right to Ireland that if they had yet it is the Duty of the Irish to deprive them of their Rights seeing they are declared Hereticks Anno 1607 and Tyrants that this Power of deposing such Princes is inherent in every State but if the Authority of the Holy See be added to that Power none but a Fool or an Heretick will deny what the Doctours of Divinity and of the Civil and Canon Law do generally teach and which is confirmed by Reasons and Examples And so far did the Pope approve of the Contents of this Book that when soon after its publication the Irish had submitted to the King and promised to assist him in his Wars His Holiness by his Nuncio took upon him to be their General absolved them from their Oaths and imprisoned and threatened the Lives of those who had promoted the peace and desired to return to the King's Subjection which renewed the Rebellion again and brought infinite Miseries on that bigotted Nation At the same time above an hundred of the Romish Clergy were sent into England by Order from Rome who the better to promote the Divisions there were instructed in several Trades both handicraft and others these upon their arrival were ordered to disperse themselves and give Intelligence every month to their Superiours abroad accordingly they listed themselves in the Parliament Army and kept a constant correspondence with their Brethren Anno 1609 who for the same end served under the King The next year many of these Missioners were in consultation with those in the King's Army to whom they shewed their Bulls and Licenses for taking part with the Parliament about the best methods to advance their Cause Anno 1647 and having concluded that there was no way so effectual as to dispatch the King some were sent to Paris to consult the Faculty of Sorbonne about it who return'd this Answer That it is lawfull for Roman Catholicks to work Changes in Governments for the Mother Church's advancement and chiefly in an Heretical Kingdom and so they might lawfully make away the King which Sentence was confirmed to the same Persons by the Pope and his Council upon their going to Rome to have his Holiness's Resolution in the Point And now those of them who had before followed the King after his flight from Oxford agreed to desert the Royal Cause and as one of them inform us to ingratiate themselves with the Enemy by acting some notorious piece of Treachery and Father Carr who went by the name of Quarter-Master Laurence declared that he could with a safer Conscience join with and fight for the Round-heads than the Cavaliers in prosecution of which Resolve they dispersed themselves into all the Garisons of the King's Party to endeavour the Revolt of the Soldiers to the Parliament in which they succeeded as they had projected my Authour being one of those who seduced the Wallingford Horse from their Obedience and in Scotland the Lord Sinclare a pretended Presbyterian but a real Papist commanded a Regiment of his own Religion and it being a Maxim receiv'd among them That the surest way to promote the Catholick Cause was to weaken the Royal Party and advance the other they bent all their Endeavours to expedite and accelerate the King's Death and His Majesty having in the Treaty of the Isle of Wight consented to pass five strict Bills against Popery the Jesuites in France at a general meeting there presently resolved to take off his Head and this His Majesty had notice of by an Express from thence but two days before his removal from the Isle of Wight This Year Mr. Cressey published the Reasons of his leaving the Church of England and turning Romanist wherein obviating the Objection so often made against the Romanists about their rebellious Principles and Practices he sets down a Declaration which he affirms that they were all ready to subscribe and which differs but little from our Oath of Allegiance But here we may see what Credit can be given to the representations of their Doctrines which their Writers study to make as favourable as possible For though Mr. Cressy thought himself a good Representer in this point yet his Superiours were of another mind and therefore that Edition was soon bought up and in the next the Profession of Obedience quite left out and that this was not an omission of the Printer but the action of his Superiours we are assured by an honourable Person from Mr. Cressy's own mouth and we shall find in a little time that the same form hath been condembed by the Pope himself But the ensuing year Anno 1648 as it was dolefull to the English Nation so it brought great disturbances to the most potent Princes of Europe in France the Parisians rose in Arms shot at the Lord Chancellour Sequier and wounded his Daughter barricadoed the Streets and forced the King to set the Counsellour Broussell and other factious Persons at Liberty And at the Treaty at Osnebrugh when by several Articles of the Peace the possession of Church Lands were assured to the Protestant Princes the Pope displeased with it took upon him to make void the Peace by a special Bull declaring all those Articles unjust and of no Force and commanding the Princes concerned to observe his Bull in which he renews his Claim to the superiority over Princes and particularly the Emperour not only by the Bull in general but by asserting that ‖ the Electours of the Empire were established by the Authority of the Bishop of Rome But to come to their Contrivances in England where when several Papists had subscribed to some Propositions importing the unlawfulness of murthering Princes and breaking Faith with Hereticks and that the Pope hath no power to absolve Subjects from their Allegiance the very same with the Declaration published the year before by Mr. Cressy this Action was condemned at Rome
King's Forces but at last were entirely Routed and their Leaders Executed Anno 1549 Yet the next year in Norfolk they Rebell'd again and when the King sent them his Pardon they refus'd it 〈◊〉 after which they took the City of Norwich and fir'd it beat the Marquess of Northampton and were very near Defeating the Earl of Warwick whose Cannon they took and refus'd the King's Pardon a second time but were at length Defeated and so were another Party who took Arms upon the same Account that year in Yorkshire There were other Insurrections in this King's time which I will not at present mention only observe what is confess'd by a late noted Authour of the Romish Church ‖ That these Risings of the Laity in such numbers for their former way of Religion would not have been had not their Clergy justified it unto them After this Anno 1555 we find that Pope Paul the Fourth following the steps of his thundering Name-sake when the Dyet of the Germans at Ausburgh made an Edict for full Liberty of Conscience whereby the Protestants were maintain'd in the Possession of their Church Revenues fell into a furious rage publickly threatening the Emperour and King of the Romans That he would make them repent it protesting that if he did not recall the Edict he would proceed against them with as severe Censures as he intended to use against the Protestants telling all the Ambassadors in his Court That he was above all Princes that he expected not that they should treat with him as with their Equal that he could alter and take away Kingdoms as he thought good And one day at Dinner in the presence of many Persons of the highest Quality he affirmed That he would subject all Princes under his Foot No wonder then that the same Spirit of Opposition to Princes actuate the Members of the Church which possess'd their Head in such a degree that upon the Resignation of the Emperour Charles the Fifth Anno 1558 Ferdinand his Brother was rejected by the Pope who affirmed That none had power to Resign but into his hands and so it belong'd to him to nominate a Successor not to the Electors but he kept the Imperial Crown though the Pope would never acknowledge him for Emperour With the same Haughtiness did he demean himself towards Sir Edward Karn the English Agent at Rome who acquainting him by order from her Majesty of Queen Elizabeth's Accession to the Crown the Pope answer'd That the Kingdom of England was held in Fee of the Apostolick See that she being Illegitimate could not succeed and therefore it was great boldness in her to assume the Government without his leave yet if she would renounce her Title and refer all to him he would act as became his Honour But the Queen took no care to satisfie this blustering Gentleman who soon after dyed But the Pope who succeeded him Anno 1560 Pius the Fourth issued out a strict Bull commanding all the Learned of that Church to find out Arguments to persuade Subjects to break their Oaths of Allegiance in favour of the Apostolick See in order to which he granted several Dispensations to preach among the Protestants of England and to marry if need were And the same year his good Sons in Ireland by their example shewed their Obedience to it for Shan O Neale Earl of Tyrone rebelled but finding himself too weak submitted and had his Pardon though not till two years after In the mean while Anno 1561 viz. the next year the Pope's Nuncio in Ireland joyn'd himself to the Rebels publickly assisting them and by his Authority pronounced the Queen deprived of that Kingdom But the year following Anno 1562 though the Irish submitted yet Arthur Pool and others contriv'd to joyn themselves with the Duke of Guise land an Army in Wales and Proclaim the Queen of Scots to which the following Pope afterwards added his endeavours to get our Queen Murthered as the Writer of his Life informs us But in the mean time Anno 1563 that it might not be said of this that he neglected any thing for the advantage of his Supreme Power to keep his hand in ure he published a Monitory against the Queen of Navarre declaring That if she did not turn Romanist within six Months he would deprive her of her Dominions and give them to any that would conquer them but the King of France promising to stand by her his terrible Threat serv'd only to shew how ready he was to Depose all Princes that offended him if his Power had been equal to his Will And in this year it was that the Council of Trent made that excellent Decree whereby they confirmed all the Canons of Popes and Councils which set the Pope above Princes gave him Power over them and exempted the Clergy from being subject to them thereby endeavouring to Depose all Princes who knew themselves and their Rights too well to truckle under the usurped Power of their Supreme Head But though the Pope could not send any Sovereign Prince of his Errand to destroy the House of Navarre Anno 1564 yet such obedient Sons were the Cardinal of Lorrain and the rest of the House of Guise that they resolv'd its Ruine To which End they sent Captain Dimanche into Spain to get Assistance there designing to fall upon Bearn seize the Queen of Navarre the young King and his Sister and send them to the Inquisition in Spain to be proceeded against as Hereticks but this Design was discovered and so came to nothing But in the same year we are informed by one of the English Spies at Rome That the Pope granted Indulgences and Pardons to any Person that should assault Queen Elizabeth either in private or publick or to any Cook Baker Vintner Physician Brewer Grocer Chirurgion or any other Calling that should make her away together with an absolute Remission of Sins to such Person 's Heirs and an Annuity for ever and to be one of the Privy Council successively whosoever Reigned To the Endeavours of the Pope O Neale likewise added his by rebelling again and murthering the English committing the most barbarous Cruelties imaginable Anno 1565 but his Power was broken in a pitcht Battel the year following notwithstanding which he continued his Rebellion till two years after when he was Stabb'd by Alexander Oge whose Brother he had slain before Anno 1567 But though the Rebels had such ill success Anno 1568 yet the Pope will not be disheartened but the next year sends one Rodolpho a rich Florentine Gentleman into England to stir up the People against the Queen To him the King of Spain joins the Marquess of Cetona who under the pretence of an Embassy was sent over to countenance the Rebellion and command the Forces which the Duke of Alva should send from the Low Countries in order to which La Motte Governour of Dunkirk had come
who was then in the English College at Rome who likewise assures us that one of their Readers in Divinity before above two hundred Scholars affirmed That it was lawfull for any man of Worship in England to give Authority to the vilest wretch that is to endeavour the Queen's death but that this Pope did excommunicate the Queen we find in our excellent Annalist and is acknowledged by the Romish Priests in their Important Considerations printed the last year of that Queen's Reign But though he pronounced that terrible Sentence against her yet as is observed by one who had been a great stickler for the Romish Church he dealt a great deal more subtilly and more dangerously than his Predecessour for finding the danger the Romanists were daily exposed to by their endeavouring the Destruction of the Queen whom they durst not obey or cease to hurt for fear of the Curses denounced in the Bull he qualified it in such a manner that the Jesuite Hart as the Lord Burleigh tells us acknowledg'd The Bull of Pius Quintus for so much as it is against the Queen is holden by the English Catholicks for a lawfull Sentence and a sufficient Discharge of her Subjects Fidelity and so remains in force but in some points touching the Subject it is altered by the present Pope For where in that Bull all her Subjects are commanded not to obey her and she being excommunicated and deposed all that do obey her are likewise accursed which point is perilous to the Catholicks for if they obey her they are in the Pope's Curse and if they disobey her they are in the Queen's Danger Therefore the present Pope to relieve them hath altered that part of the Bull and dispensed with them to obey and serve her without peril of Excommunication which dispensation is to endure but till it please the Pope otherwise to determine Here we have a plain Confession of that learned Gentleman who is by them termed a Noble Champion of Christ and Holy Priest one that had taken deep root in the Foundations of the Faith and of sound Learning that the Loyalty of the Romanists depends upon the Will of man except they will affirm their Pope to be more than man which is a point they have been put in mind of from Rome itself since His Majesties Restauration as we shall observe anon This Qualification of the Bull was granted to Parsons and Campion two Jesuites upon their coming into England when among other things they desired of the Pope That the Bull should always oblige Elizabeth and the Hereticks but by no means the Romanists as Affairs now stand but hereafter when the publick Execution of the Bull may be had or made Furnished with this and other Faculties those two Gentlemen repaired into England setting themselves to contrive a way how to set Her Majesties Crown upon another head at first they came in the Habits of Soldiers afterward they went about in the Garb of Gentlemen and in the North they altered their Habits into the Vestments of our Ministers preaching there and being secretly entertained by the Popish Gentry and Nobility courageously executed their Commission in discharge of which Parsons exhorted the Roman Catholicks of those parts to deprive Her Majesty of the Crown and the way being thus broken many flocked after them for the same purpose At this time Mr. Sherwin being apprehended and asked whether the Queen were his lawfull Sovereign notwithstanding any Sentence of the Pope's he desired no such questions might be demanded of him and would give no other Answer But the Pope well knowing that this Generation of sturdy blades would in time be all gone for the breeding up of more to succeed them assisted Allen in setting up the Seminary at Doway for English Romanists allowing an annual Pension for their maintenance purposely for to plot and contrive ways to expulse the Queen and demolish the Church of England in obedience to the Pope's Bulls for which end every Scholar among them at his Education took this Oath I A. B. do acknowledg the Ecclesiastical and Political Power of His Holiness and the Mother Church of Rome as the chief Head and Matron above all pretended Churches throughout the whole Earth and that my Zeal shall be for Saint Peter and his Successors as the Founder of the True and Ancient Catholick Faith against all Heretical Kings Princes States or Powers repugnant unto the same And although I may pretend in case of Persecution or otherwise to be Heretically disposed yet in Soul and Conscience I shall help aid and succour the Mother Church of Rome as the True Ancient Apostolical Church I farther do declare not to act or contrive any manner of thing prejudicial unto her or her sacred Orders Doctrines Tenents or Commands without the leave of her supreme Power or the Authority under her appointed or to be appointed and when so permitted then to act or further her Interest more than my own earthly Gain and Pleasure as she and her Head His Holiness and his Successours have or ought to have the Supremacy over all Kings Princes Estates or Powers whatsoever either to deprive them of their Crowns Sceptres Powers Privileges Realms Countreys or Governments or to set up others in lieu thereof they dissenting from the Mother Church and her Commands c. Thus by all imaginable ways did this Pope provide for the Death or Deposition of that Virgin Queen Anno 1581 in order to which he had so possess'd the Missionaries with his power to dethrone Princes that it was offer'd to be prov'd to the World That the Priests which were apprehended and executed for Treason always restrained their confession of Allegiance only to the permissive form of the Pope's Toleration as for Example if they were asked whether they did acknowledge themselves to be the Queen's Subjects and would obey her they would say Yes for so they had leave for a time to doe but being asked if they would so acknowledg and obey her any longer than the Pope would so permit them or notwithstanding such Commandment as the Pope would or might give to the contrary then they either refused to obey or denied to answer or said they could not answer to those Questions without danger And at their very Arraignment when they laboured to leave in the minds of the People and standers by an opinion that they were to dye not for Treason but for matter of Faith and Doctrine they cried out that they were true Subjects and did and would obey Her Majesty Immediately to prove whether that speech extended to a perpetuity of their Obedience or so long time as the Pope so permitted they were openly in the place of Judgment asked by the Q's learned Counsel whether they would so obey and be true Subjects if the Pope commanded the contrary they plainly disclosed themselves in Answer saying by the mouth of Campion This place meaning
the Court of Her Majesties Bench hath no Power to enquire or judge of the Holy Fathers Authority and other Answer they would not make The very same Account with some other particulars is given us by the Secular Priests themselves of the Behaviour of Mr. Campion and the rest some of whom being asked which part they would take if the Pope or any other by his appointment should invade the Realm or which part ought a good Subject to take answered when that case happened they would then consider what they had best doe others that they were not yet resolved what to doe and others positively that if such a Deprivation or Invasion should be made for any Matter of Faith they were then bound to take part with the Pope Nay so zealous was Mr. Campion in defence of that rebellious Doctrine that being visited in Prison by some Gentlemen of Oxford one of them asked him whether he thought the Queen lawfull Heir or no to this he made no Answer but when the question was put whether if the Pope invaded the Land he would take part with him or the Queen he openly replied he would join with the Pope and very earnestly demanded Pen Ink and Paper with which he signed his Resolution which Principle he was so rooted in that he affirmed in the Tower to several Persons of Quality who demanded whether he did acknowledge the Queen to be a lawfull Queen or did believe her deprived of her Right that this Question depends much on the Fact of Pope Pius the Fifth whereof he is no Judge and therefore refused to answer farther The same loyal Doctrines were vented by several other Priests the ensuing year Anno 1582 who affirmed under their Hands to the Commissioners who examined them That the Pope had power to depose Princes and that Her Majesty was not be obeyed against His Holiness's Bull who hath Authority to discharge Subjects of their Allegiance which all of them viz. Kerby Cottom Richardson Ford Shert Johnson Hart and Filbee agreed in two of them only sheltring themselves with this General Assertion That they held as the Catholick Church held Johnson particulary affirming That if the Pope invaded her Majesty upon a civil Account he would take part with Her but if upon a Matter of Faith it was his Duty to assist the Pope In which diligence to poison the Members of their Church these zealous Priests did but follow the Example of their Holy Father who this very year as Mr Gage Agent for the Spanish Match at Rome informs us out of the Records of the Dominican Convent there laid out one hundred fifty two thousand pounds and some odd money for maintaining his Designs here of which Sixty thousand was allotted to foment Disturbances in Scotland and Ireland so very desirous was the Pope to regain his usurped Power over these Nations And it was not long before the end of all that Labour and Charge was found to be the Murther of that excellent Princess which one Sommerville of Elstow in Warwickshire undertook to effect at the instigation of Hall a Priest who finding this desperate young man to waver and that his Resolution was much shaken with the horridness and danger of the attempt Anno 1583 advised him to proceed promising his prayers for good success but the design being discovered Sommerville strangled himself after condemnation But this was not the only Plot which the Enemies of England had laid for its destruction for Throgmorton one of Sommerville's accomplices was the same year discovered having been employed to sound the Havens and procure a list of such Gentlemen in the several Counties as were disposed to joyn the Spanish Forces who were to land under the conduct of the Duke of Guise all which was confessed by Throgmorton before his death Thus we find how vast summs were expended by the Pope which had the same influence in Ireland where Desmond continued so desperately in rebellion that he swore he would rather forsake God than forsake his Men but neither the Pope's blessing nor purse could protect him from that deserved death which after long wandring in a miserable condition he suffered the latter end of this year But though the Pope could not preserve his rebellious instruments from the just punishment of their Treasons yet he would for the encouragement of others doe honour to their memories thus the Rector of the English College of Jesuits at Rome in presence of all the Students sung a Collect of Martyrs in honour of Campion of whose Treasons we gave an account before and his relicks with Sherwin's and others executed for Treason were kept and worshipped by our English Papists And because those positions which were found so usefull for the propagating Sedition Anno 1584 might if trusted only to the Missionaries to instill them into the People by their Sermons and Discourses be in time forgotten and neither believed nor obeyed the Romish Factors considering that Litera scripta manet to provide against the ill consequences which the fearfulness of the Priests or diligence of the State might produce by hindring the preaching of the former caused Gregory Martin's Treatise of Schism to be reprinted this year in which he exhorted the Ladies of the Court to deal with the Queen as Judith did with Holofernes for the Printing of which Carter the Romish Printer was executed and is reckoned among their Martyrs At the same time there was one Harper in Norwich a great Friend of Throgmorton's who was executed the year before who though pretending to be a zealous Puritan preaching with great diligence and fervour kept a constant correspondence with that Traitor among whose Papers was found a Letter in which he desired Throgmorton to let him know how their Friends in Spain and London did correspond and whether that King continued in his purpose that the Engagers might be satisfied and have notice upon this Discovery a Pursuvant was sent to apprehend him but he escaped just as the Officer arrived at Norwich And now was discovered a Design in which the Pope was particularly engag'd if we may believe Parrie's own Confession who in his Travels falling into acquaintance with Palmio a Jesuite told him that he had a great desire to doe something for the Romish Cause in England by whom he was encouraged his Zeal commended and the Lawfulness of Assassinating Her Majesty was maintained but being somewhat dissatisfied the Jesuite recommended him to Campeggio his Holiness's Nuncio at Venice by this means he wrote to Pope Gregory informing him of his Design and desiring a Passport that he might confer of it with his Holiness at Rome in the mean while he went to Paris where he was animated by Thomas Morgan who sollicited the Queen of Scots Affairs when receiving such a Passport as he desired he resolved to kill the Queen if it were warranted by some learned Divines and he could procure a
but being prevented by a Discovery another Resolution was agreed on to secure his Person at his return from Bois de Vincennes slenderly accompanied but failing in this also the Duke of Guise came to Paris contrary to the King 's express Order where he was received with great joy and soon after his Party being numbred and found considerable he openly rebelled barricadoing the Streets and forcing the King to flie who made his Escape with very few Attendants Soon after the King of Spain sent six hundred thousand Crowns to the Rebels and the Pope by solemn Letters applauded the Duke's Zeal compared him to the Maccabean Heroes and exhorted him to go on as he had begun but here the insignificancy of the Pope's Blessing again appeared the Duke of Guise being soon after slain at Blois and so receiving the just Reward of his continued Rebellions Thus were the Designs of wicked men who prostituted the holy Name of Religion to serve their Lusts baffled and defeated both in their Attempts against the incomparable Queen Elizabeth and the French King as also in a Plot against the K. of Navarre which by the same Divine Providence was this year discovered But the Scotch Papists were so possessed with Spanish Promises Anno 1589 and influenced by their Gold and the persuasions of Holt Creighton and other Jesuites that several Noblemen conspired to seize the King afterwards King James the First of England at his Palace in Edinburg where Huntley coming before the others was upon Suspicion apprehended which terrified the rest but being set at liberty joined himself to the Earl of Crawford and others in open Rebellion entred Aberdeen but were so terrified by the approach of the Royal Army that they retreated were taken and after Tryall imprisoned And here I find such an Account of the Conversions made by the Jesuites in Scotland as fully confirms the Observation made before of their Design in their diligent Endeavours to make Proselytes For Mr. Bruce the chief Agent for the Spaniards in his Letter to the D. of Parma commending the Zeal of the Missionaries in Scotland tells him that they had converted the Earls of Arroll and Crawford who were very desirous to advance the Catholick Faith and Spanish Interest in this Island and resolved to follow entirely the Directions of the Fathers Jesuites whence it appears their main design is to enlarge their Empire for as the same Gentleman affirms no sooner any person of Quality is converted by them but they forthwith encline and dispose their affections to the Service of the King of Spain as a thing inseparably conjoined with the advancement of true Religion in this Countrey so that by the Confession of this great Man Popery and Treason were inseparable at that time the Romanists being so in love with it that they made their Address to the broken Fleet of the Spaniards the last year to land what Forces they had several great Persons being ready to receive them And the two new Noble Converts wrote to the Duke of Parma testifying their entire devotednes to the Spanish Interest Nor was Scotland alone thus infected for in England the Earl of Arundell was this year tried and dyed in the Tower who rejoiced at the Spaniards coming prayed for their Success and exceedingly grieved at their Overthrow And the Jesuite Parsons prevailed to have a Seminary wherein to instruct Youth in such treasonable Principles as his own founded at Valedolyd But though this Island was sufficiently pestered this year by the Papal Agents and Factours for Rebellion yet were we favourably dealt with in comparison of the Treasons and Insurrections in France against Henry the Third a Prince of their own Communion who after the Death of the Duke of Guise was opposed by an almost universal Rebellion the Priests calling on their Auditours to swear to revenge the Duke's Death and railing with all manner of virulency against the King insomuch that Father Lincestre affirmed that if he were at the Altar and the Eucharist in his hand he would not scruple in that very place to kill him The Rebels styl'd him Tyrant Heretick and to have his Picture or to call him King was crime enough to deserve death they threw down his Arms and Statues and practised all sort of Magick Incantations and Charms to hasten his death The Parisians wrote to the Pope desiring to be absolved from their Allegiance with several other requests of the same nature and in their Letters to the Cardinals styled their Sovereign The late King of France and sent Agents to Rome giving them among other Instructions Orders to desire the Pope not to entertain or hear the King's Ambassadours and Messages and to excommunicate all that join with him and having chosen the Duke of Mayenne for their General would have had him take the Title of King but he refused it yet they broke the King 's great Seal and made a new one To these the City of Lyons joined affirming that Kings ought to be resisted and they will resist the King in conjunction with the Holy Union to whom the Parisians sent a Letter exhorting them to defend their Religion c. against that prodigal perjured cruel and murthering Prince the Duke of Mayenne refusing to have any Peace or admit so much as of a Truce and prosecuting the War with the utmost vigour To these Attempts and Perseverance in them they were encouraged by the Sorbon Doctours who in a Decree made Jan. 7. 1589. resolved That the People were freed from their Oaths of Allegiance and Fidelity and that they may legally and with a safe Conscience take Arms for the Defence of the Roman Religion against the wicked Counsels and Practices of the King Which Decree they ordered to be sent to the Pope for his Confirmation and this they affirm was concluded on and resolved by an entire consent of the whole Faculty not one dissenting And with the same Zeal and no more Loyalty they licensed a Book which asserted that the King ought to be assassined affirming that there was nothing in it contrary to the Roman Church To promote which they concluded that the King ought to be no longer prayed for declaring all such of the Body as should not agree to this to be guilty of Excommunication and deprived of the Prayers and Privileges of the Faculty And that there might remain no badg of Royalty to put them in mind of their Duty the Cordeliers struck off the Head of the King's Picture which was in their Church and the Jacobins defaced those in their Cloisters But this was done after the Pope had once more publickly owned the Rebels and their Cause who by his Bull asserted his Power of Rule over all Kingdoms and Princes of the Earth proceeded to admonish the King to release the Cardinal of Bourbon and Archbishop of Lyons in thirty days and within sixty days to make
where by a Congregation it was decreed unlawfull And now in prosecution of the Pope and Sorbon's Sentence the last year that excellent Prince King Charles the Martyr was by their contrivances brought to the Block which though they were willing to disown now yet at that time they were very sollicitous to let the World know that they were the promoters of it the Friars of Dunkirk expressed great resentment that the Jesuites would engross to themselves the Glory of that Work whereas they had laboured as diligently and succesfully as any and in several other places the Friars were very jealous lest that Order should rob them of their part of the Honour And the Benedictines were not a little carefull to secure their Land in England from the Jesuites for they thought their return sure upon the King's Death so that the Nuns contended vigorously among themselves who should be Abbesses in their own Countrey At the time of His Majesty's Execution Mr. Henry Spotswood riding casually that way saw a Priest on Horseback in the Habit of a Trouper with whom he was well acquainted flourishing his Sword over his Head in triumph as others did he told Mr. Spotswood that there were at least forty Priests and Jesuites present in the same equipage among whom was Preston who afterwards commanded a Troup of Horse under Cromwell Father Sibthorp in a Letter to Father Metcalfe owns that the Jesuites were contrivers of this murther and that Sarabras was present rejoycing at it one of the Priests flourishing his Sword cryed Now our greatest Enemy is cut off When the News of this Tragedy came to Roan they affirmed that they had often warned his Majesty that if he did not establish the Romish Religion in England they should be forced to take such courses as would tend to his Destruction and now they had kept their words with him And in Paris a Lady having been perverted from the Reformed Church by a Jesuite upon hearing her Ghostly Father affirm that now the Catholicks were rid of their greatest Enemy by whose Death their Cause was much advanced and therefore she had no reason to lament left that bloudy and rebellious Church and continues a Protestant ever since But though as Secretary Morris affirms there are almost convincing evidences that the Papists Irreligion was chiefly guilty of the murther of that excellent Prince yet we are beholden to the guilty Consciences of those Gentlemen that the World hath not been long since more fully satisfied as to every particular for Dr. Du Moulin in the first Edition of his Book Ann. 1662. had challenged them to call him to an Account for affirming that the Rebellion was raised and promoted and the King murthered by the Arts of the Court of Rome the Book came to a fourth Edition in all which he renewed the Challenge and in the last in these words I have defied them now seventeen years to call me in question before our Judges and so I do still affirming that certain Evidence of what he asserted should be produced whenever Authority shall require it I remember once a Jesuite attempted to prove the truth of the Nag's-Head Ordination because that Charge had been laid to our Church some years before any offered to confute it or to produce the Lambeth Record which he affirmed was an evident sign that the thing was true or else having such means to confute it they would not have been so long silent what then may we think of those Gentlemen who had so heavy a crime charged on them and yet for near twenty years together never called the Accuser to account The Doctour always refused to produce his Evidences till required by Authority only he gives us this Account That the Papers of Resolution in favour of the Murther when it was found to be generally detested were by the Pope's Order gathered up and burnt but a Roman Catholick in Paris refused to deliver one in his possession but shewed it to a Protestant Friend and related to him the whole carriage of the Negotiation And I am sure if the Protestants had been under such an Imputation the Papists would make good use of their silence to prove their Guilt But farther to shew their aversion to the Royal party no sooner had the Rebels of Ireland in consideration of the straits they were in made a cessation for some time with the Lord Inchequin but the Nuncio excommunicated all who observed it and upon the conclusion of a second Peace with the Duke of Ormond His Majesty's Lieutenant the Assembly of the Bishops and Clergy at James-Town renounced it and as much as in them lay restored the former confederacy anew but of this we shall have a farther account in its due place In the mean while Reilly Anno 1649 Vicar General to the A. B. of Dublin betrayed the Royal Camp of Rathmines to Coll. Jones Governour of Dublin for the Parliament which service he afterwards pleaded for himself to the safety of his Life which was in danger for his cruel Actions in the Rebellion and he well deserved more than bare safety from those men that defeat being the total ruine of His Majesty's Affairs in Ireland At the same time the Rebels in France encreased both in Insolence and Power daily the Coadjutour of Paris going to St. Germains in obedience to the Queens Commands was tumultuously stopt by the People who hindered the Nobility from following the King and broke their Coaches the Parliament forbad all places to receive any Garisons from the King listed men and resolved upon a War the Duke D'Elbease Duke of Lonqueirlle Prince Marsilliack afterwards D. of Rochfecault the Prince of Conty and many other persons of the greatest Quality joining with them Soon after Normandy and Poictou declared for the Parsians who sent Deputies to call in the Spaniards to assist them but these Troubles being in a little time appeased new ones began in Provence and Guienne the Parliaments of those Provinces prosecuting the War with great fury declared they would have no pardon from the King and one Gage a Priest endeavoured to persuade them to take the Sovereign Power on themselves which they declined but to maintain the War they treated with the Spaniards for Assistance both of Men and Moneys This Year the Prince of Conde joined himself to the Troudeurs Anno 1650 which was the usual Nickname of the discontented Party but finding that they intended the advancement of Chasteau Neuf his mortal Enemy he left them in disgust however the Parisians made several Insurrections and upon the Imprisonment of that Prince an open Rebellion broke out in Berry whose Example was followed by Normandy and Burgundy to support which the Spaniards agreed to contribute 2000 Foot and 3000 Horse besides great Summes of Money and soon after the Parliament of Bourdeaux declared for the Rebells During these Transactions the Popish Bishops of Ireland met at James-Town