from the Pope to the next lawful General Council Which Appeal the Pope rejected as being unlawful and against the constitution of one of his Predecessours He also declared that there should be a General Council but that the calling of it belonged not to the King but to himself And soon after the term that he had set for the restoring of Queen Katharine being now expired he caused his Sentence against the King to be openly set up at Dunkirk which was then in the Emperours Dominions This was only a declarative Sentence in the case of Attentates as they term it but this being passed there was no doubt but soon after he would proceed to a Definitive Sentence in the cause The King was now concerned to look about him and to provide for the worst that could happen Therefore first with the advice of his Council he acquainted his Subjects with his Appeal which he caused to be set up on every Church door throughout his Kingdom And that his people might understand the validity of it he commanded that they should be taught that a General Council is above the Pope and that by Gods Law the Pope has no more to do in England than any other Forein Bishop Next he sent to engage as many Forein Princes as he could into a stricter Allyance with him And yet lastly to shew that he sought not these ways but was driven to them he desired the Bishop of Paris who was then Embassadour in England to get his Prince to deal effectually with the Pope and to promise in his name that if the Pope would forbear to pass any definitive Sentence till the cause might be heard before indifferent Judges he would also forbear what he had otherwise purposed to do that is to withdraw his obedience from the See of Rome The Bishop gladly took the office of Mediation upon himself and though it was now the dead of Winter yet he went post to Rome to discharge it There in Consistory he delivered his Message to the Pope and so far prevailed that at his earnest request there was a present stop of proceedings on condition that the King should send a Ratification of his promise precisely by such a day In prefixing the day they seemed not to have considered the time of the year For though the Messenger whom the Bishop sent into England found a present dispatch there yet being hindered by weather he did not return within his day The Pope as if he had watcht for that advantage resolved immediately to proceed to a definitive Sentence There being a Consistory called for that purpose the Bishop once more came in and pressed for a longer time He begg'd no more but six days which as he said might be granted to a King that had waited on them with patience for six years It was put to the vote where through the eagerness of the Imperial Cardinals not only that small request was denied but such precipitation was used that as much was done at once in that Consistory as would have askt no less than thrice according to their usual forms Such hast they were in to cut off and to destroy him whom three Popes successively had entitled their Defender and Deliverer When they had done their will within less than fix days that is the second day after this rash and hasty Sentence the Post returned from the King with a Ratification of all that had been promised in his name And he brought this further offer from the King that he would submit to the Judgment of that Court on condition that the Imperial Cardinals who had made themselves Parties against him should be none of his Judges There was an Authority sent for Proctors to appear for him on that condition At which great submission of the King compared with their precipitation the wiser Cardinals were astonished and petitioned the Pope for an arrest of Judgment Which could not well be denied him in those Circumstances And yet it was as if it had not been granted for they that got the Sentence passed by majority of Votes had the same will and power to get it confirmed And confirmed it was with this advantage that the Execution of the Sentence was committed to the Emperour who would be sure to see it done thoroughly as well to enrich himself with the Spoyls as to take his revenge in the ruine of a Prince that had provoked him no way more than in his zeal for the deliverance of this Pope out of his hands In this series of things I cannot but observe the hand of God and adore that unsearchable wisdom by which he made way to bring in the Reformation of this Church There was no King in that Age so zealous for Popery as he had been that came now to throw it out of his Kingdom Whosoever considers him from first to last in this business cannot but see he had no intention to do this He did all things to avoid it that could be done by one who was perswaded of the Justice of his cause And those Princes and Prelates who were perswaded as he was did their parts to hinder things from coming to this extremity None desired it but the Spanish and Imperial Faction unless perhaps the Pope himself could desire to lessen the Papacy by cutting off a whole Kingdom from the Church but he seemed to mind nothing but the raising of his Family and in order to that let the Imperialists do what they would with him Perhaps he might think when his own turns were served to give the King satisfaction afterwards as it may seem by what one says that when the Sentence was past he suspended the Execution of it till the end of September next But he died before that time and so his Sentence continued in force The next Pope that came after him did not approve what he had done for to use his own words he had urged him to right the King in his Divorce and would have perswaded the Emperour to have born it patiently But as then he could not prevail on that side so now he came too late to be heard on the other For on the day of his Coronation at Rome the Parliament met here in England that made the Act of Supremacy The edge of which Law falling severely on the Friends of the Papacy even while the Pope was offering at a reconciliation he was thereby provoked to curse the King afresh by a Bull which yet was not published till some years after When the King having presumed to Un-saint Thomas Becket the Pope thereupon pronounced him no King which made the breach quite unreconcileable I have given so large account of this matter because it is brought into common discourse and as it is told serves to blacken many other beside the King who was only or chiefly concerned in it Otherwise it would serve for our
present occasion to show which I think I have sufficiently done that he had cause to Appeal from the Pope to a Council that he did Appeal in due form of Law and prosecuted it with great Moderation which was enough to acquit him from Schism as far as we are concerned in it That on the other hand the Pope rejected his Appeal to the affront of that Supreme Tribunal among Christians and not only proceeded against the Appellant in which case the Appellant might and ought to resist him but he also took a course that the case should never be otherwise For whereas the Pope assumes to himself the only power to call Councils and whereas there had been none in Ten years to say no more and therefore a Council ought to have been then according to the Canons yet the Pope would have no Council then nor afterwards till he had tried all other ways to destroy both the King and his Kingdom When at last after many years talk and deliberation a Council was called that at Trent which pretends to be a General Council it was such as the King could not think himself bound to acknowledge nay he was bound to oppose it as well for his own preservation as to maintain the Common Right of Christians according to the Principles then received in the Western Church By his Appeal he was not bound to submit to any other than he expressed in it that is a Lawful General Council Such the Councils of Constance and Basil were then generally acknowledged to have been And it was the cry of the Western Church as well in this as the foregoing Ages for such a Council as those were to reform abuses as well in the Head as in the Members But the Head was as it would be and therefore being to chuse would take no Physick to cure it self This was visible in the Popes extreme averseness to a Council till he saw that without it the Nations were likely to Reform themselves Then he began to think it needful to call one himself But at first he named no time or place Then he named first one Town and then another When men began to think he was in earnest for they had been often fooled with reports the King declared he would not own a Council called by the Popes single Authority It was the Judgment of the Church of England that he ought not to own it for so their Synod declared that neither the Bishop of Rome nor any one Prince whatsoever may by his own Authority call a General Council without the express consent of the residue of Christian Princes When afterwards it appeared that the Pope was intent upon it the King on the same grounds made his publick Protestation shewing that the Indiction of a Council belonged not to the Bishop of Rome but to the Emperour and Princes which should send or come thither The like Protestation he sent abroad into all forein Countries And he afterward made it good by not sending one Bishop to the Council when it met though one of his Subjects was there whom the Pope was pleased to make a Bishop with a Title in this Kingdom Having thus no obligation to own this for a General Council he was therefore obliged to oppose it as being the Mockery and Abuse of that Supreme Judicatory joyned with the defrauding all Christians of their right in it and particularly himself of the benefit of his Appeal to it Which things he ought to have considered had it been held in the most innocent manner But much more being held as it was with most apparent design to establish those abuses which all Christendome cried out to have reformed to deprive the diffusive Church of that which was the only remedy for them to bring it to pass that there should be no more General Council as now we see there is like to be none while the world stands particularly as to himself he had cause to oppose the Trent Council as far as he was able For it was originally designed to please the Emperour and thereby to oblige him to head the Party of Christian Princes whom the Pope was then uniting to make War against England And as that Council was framed in all its circumstances the King could consider it no otherwise than he did the Pope himself who was his open and implacable Enemy For as the Pope called it by his single Authority so he always presided in it by his Legates He had it filled with his Creatures Italians and others who were sure to carry every thing by their Number And yet for fear they should forget themselves every thing must be examined at Rome before it could pass through their hands And being past yet it was of no force till it had the Pope's Approbation By which means he made himself so far Lord of this Council that though perhaps he could not pass whatsoever he pleased yet nothing could pass that should displease him in it And least by taking all this care the Pope might seem to intend no more but only to secure himself without doing the King a farther injury there was one thing which made it appear that he had as great a mind to plague the King as to provide for his own preservation For among all his number of Cardinals he could find none fitter to preside in the Council and there to judge the King's cause if he were so unwise as to send it thither than one that was the King's Enemy more than the Pope himself if it were possible That was Cardinal Pool the King 's unnatural Subject and Kinsman who being brought up by him and sent to travel for his farther improvement and while he was abroad being intrusted by him in his cause forsook it and joined himself to the Imperial party In which though he might pretend that he followed his Conscience yet nothing could excuse him for practising against his King and his Country He was the man employed to write against the King's Divorce and out-did other Writers in this that he stirred up the Emperour to revenge his Aunts injury for fear he should forget it and not only so but went about from Prince to Prince and from Country to Country to stir them up to War against this Realm For which so unworthy and so officious a disloyalty he was declared Traitor at home by Act of Parliament and had a price set upon his Head not to mention other instances of the King 's extreme displeasure against him When this had so far endeared him to the Pope that being not content to have made him one of his Cardinals he must also have this man to preside in his Council the English had so much the more cause to be jealous and to stand upon their guard as well against his Council as himself A General Council they could not hold it to be for their Church was not allowed to
Roman Pontificale to which I refer the Reader that would see it at large There he may see how all Church-Governours of that Communion bind themselves to the Pope to be his Liege-men and Subjects his Counsel-keepers his Spies and Intelligencers his constant Correspondents his Factors his sworn Servants in express terms To the utmost of their power to persecute and impugn all Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels against the Pope their own natural Prince Parents Kindred and Friends not excepted I wish every Protestant who is in their sense an Heretick c. would be pleas'd to read that Oath and then judge what he is to expect from any of these men unless he knows they are such as will be perjur'd for his sake It was surely not without cause that Cardinal Bellarmine call'd the Doctrine of the Pope's Authority over all Christians Caput Fidei the Head of the Catholick Faith I have shewn that it is so in their sense of the word Catholick A Doctrine that is the only Fundamental of Popery the Foundation whereof was first laid in the Papal Authority and the whole Building of Popery in other points has been raised in favour to it A Doctrine that has since been secured and confirmed by Canons of Councils and by the Oaths of all their Clergy A Doctrine to which the Leaders and Guides of their Church are sworn to sacrifice all that 's dear to them And which way the Guides go there 's no fear but the Laity will follow them with that blind Obedience which is peculiar to them in the Roman Church And therefore whatsoever Notion we have of Popery in other things the Pope himself is not so fond of them but that to gain the point of Authority he can either connive or abate or part with them wholly if he pleases Though no doubt he never does it but insidiously as well knowing that whatsoever Concession he makes for the establishing of his Authority he may afterwards annul and will do it when soever he pleaseth But that the owning his Authority is the thing which makes a Catholick in his sense and that only it appears by sundry Instances abroad but none more memorable then those which we have had here in England Where King Henry VIII having cast off his Obedience to the Pope was therefore judged a Heretick and underwent the worst that Rome could have done to him if he had rejected all their Errours together and yet he asserted all the rest and imposed them with the utmost severity He was a through-Papist in all points but only that of Obedience in comparison whereof all the rest are but talk That is the business as we are taught by this example And we are not a little confirm'd by the proceeding on the other hand with his daughter Elizabeth who being as much a Protestant as any is or can be at this day and having so settled Religion in her Kingdom that it had scarce been in her power to have altered it how and when she pleased yet if she could but have been brought to acknowledge the Popes Authority to which she was courted by all possible ways how gladly would his Holiness have received her and abated for lesser things that is for all things else if it be true that the Pope would have allowed her the English Liturgy that then was and the Communion-Service as it was generally reported he would And we have the more cause to believe it because we hear of the like offers prepared for us in order to perswade the restoring of Popery in our days I conceive it is sufficiently proved that the chief thing in Popery is the Doctrine which asserts the Popes Authority over all Christians I shall adde that it is the worst of all the evils which Popery contains the most hurtful and mischievous both to Church and State which being proved to my hand in sundry Learned Discourses within these few years I shall not need to say much on this head Yet I cannot but mind the Reader of that which is most notorious and which every one knoweth that hath read over almost any History of these last Eight hundred years For about so long since it was that the Church received the greatest Wound that ever was given it a Breach not to be repaired a Schism that reacheth throughout the whole Universe So long a time the Western Church that is the Western part of Europe hath been a Church by it self having broke off all Communion with all other Churches in the World that is with all the Asian and African Churches and all those in the East and North parts of Europe Instead of that Love and Peace which Christ left as his Legacy among Christians there hath been for so many Ages nothing else but Banning and Cursing between them As the Pope yearly curses all those Christians that are not of his Communion so he and his are yearly curst by the four ancient Patriarchs of Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Ierusalem and by all the Christian Churches depending on them except those few whom he hath conquer'd or bought or otherwise gain'd by his Missionaries The original cause of this Breach was nothing else but the Popes Usurpation which those Churches were not able to bear It was the same cause that many Ages after divided this Western part of Europe within it self For our Church was thrown out of the Roman Communion many years before any thing else was reformed in it when there was no other difference between us but only this that we had cast off the Popes Usurpation This breach of Christian-Unity were of it self a great mischief to the Church though nothing else came of it but Hatred and Unchristian Censures in which perhaps both sides might be to blame but yet they might live and grow wiser and come at last to understand one another And this would possibly ensue upon any other difference of Opinion But this grand point of Popery is such as sets men in no ordinary heat it makes them breath not only Censures but Death against their Adversaries it arms out all the Wealth Power and Policy of them that hold it to reduce or destroy all them that oppose it Not to rip up ancient stories we have a sad instance this in the Greek Church which refusing to submit to the Pope was betray'd by him to the Turk under whom it hath groaned these two hundred years In all which time of bondage and misery which that poor Church hath endured what relief hath she had from the Interest or Wealth of the Papacy I cannot say but there have been and are daily great returns thither of money from Rome but all the use of them is to hire her Children against her for bread or to bribe the Turks Bassa's to do her all the hurt that is possible We have the less cause to take it ill if we find the Popes Agents busie among us and if we feel the woful effects of their
appears that such a discrimination is also for the Interest of the Church and State of England For that Interest is preserv'd by Justice and Equity which will entitle it to that blessing from God which he hath promis'd in his Word and which are naturally apt to be instrumental to the Divine Providence in producing that good which he has promised For a just distribution of Rewards and Punishments makes the Government venerable in the eyes of the people and secures it at home by their chearful obedience It also acquires that Reputation abroad which will make it either loved or feared by all the neighbour Nations Our Neighbours of the Roman Communion who are now possest by the clamours of those among us that say they are persecuted for Religion and who can judge no otherwise when they see men severely handled that are criminal no other way will be soon disabused by such a discrimination And it will right us to those Protestants abroad to whom the State has been ill represented by fome on the other hand for not executing all the Penal Laws against Popery It will save England the trouble of making Apologies either way to vindicate the Justice of its proceedings to other Nations For it is manifest that no Government can tolerate such as hold Tenets inconsistent with its own safety nor on the contrary deny the protection of the Laws to men whose Principle it is to obey the Government and to do all that in them lies to support it To venture their lives in defence of the Authority not only of the Legislators but of those very Laws which they make against them till those Laws are repeal'd by the same power by which they were made It were easie to bring hither all those reasons with which I shewed before that undistinguishing Laws and execution of Laws are against the Interest of the Church and State of England and to prove by the same reasons that nothing of this kind can be more for it than such a Discrimination as is here propounded For if it be for the Interest of England to support and strengthen the Government then it is not to weaken the Friends of the Government nor to strengthen or preserve the Enemies of it I shew'd that such would be the effect of an undistinguishing way which is therefore desired by them of the Popish Faction as being next to a Toleration the most likely means to unite and to encrease their party among us Now taking those things for granted which are already proved it follows that upon the account of Interest this way of Discrimination should be as desirable to us as 't is hateful and detestable to them Sure enough they apprehend it and not without visible cause to be the likeliest way both to stop the further growth of Popery and to lessen the number of Papists among us I may add which is visible in the nature of the thing that a Discrimination between them that are of the same Communion will be a sure way to divide them among themselves Which may be a means to do some of them the greatest spiritual good or at least to keep us from taking that hurt which we have reason to fear from so numerous and powerful a Combination against us For the way of Distinction between Papists and other Roman Catholicks must be by some test or mark of Distinction And that either by the passing of some new Law for it especially when there is a new mark of Distinction or by the strict execution of those Laws that are in force for the taking of any Test that is already made In either of these Cases the Papalins who are men of intelligence will take an early alarm and try their Friends here in England if they can to prevent the passing of any such Law or the execution of any that is past If their Friends fail them here their next resort is to Rome where they have an old Friend that never fails them The Pope if he has not forgotten the old trick sends out his Censures against all that shall submit to those Laws and take the Test which is prescribed in them If it be no more than the Oath of Allegiance that is forbidden already by divers Popes and condemned by them as having many things in it which are contrary to the Catholic Faith And the reason of this severity is as well to guard their own Temporal Power as to keep their Creatures and Friends from discovery If any here and especially if any Priests of that Communion are so bold notwithstanding all this to take the Test then upon the next information or soon after the Pope sends to tell nofes And if he finds they are but few that transgress which will scarce be in our case he delays not to cite them to Rome and if they come thither woe be to them if not he curses them afresh and particularly But if they are many he considers their strength and being Curse-proof he forbears them for the present only leaving them under his general Censures Otherwise if they are a weak and obnoxious multitude he proceeds to further Censures against them And if some few have been more forward than the rest in doing that which the Law requires and specially if any dares justifie what they have done he denounces them Excommunicate by name and therein both sacrifices them to his own angry Deity and gives his discovered Creatures some kind of revenge on those poor men to ease their hearts till he and they can find how to be reveng'd on the State for which they are to wait their opportunity When any of these things happens as it has done in like cases and as it will do in these above-mentioned if Popes are constant to themselves For there is nothing here said but what I could prove both by Rule and Example we have reason to hope that some of those censur'd men who are able to right themselves or rather their Religion will do it by declaring against the horrible injury that is done both to it and them And specially their Priests who have hitherto alledg'd that the reason they have not done it all this while has been their continual fear of a Proclamation to send them beyond Sea where they are sure to be call'd to a severe account for whatsoever they have said or done against the Interest of Rome When that fear is over as it will be upon their giving security to the State it may justly be expected that they will both speak and write their minds freely as occasion shall be offered for the instruction of their people and for the Vindication of themselves and their Religion If the general Censures be objected as it is certain they will by those that procur'd them they will be oblig'd to shew the injustice and the invalidity of those Censures If they are Excommunicated by name for so doing they will be further engag'd to consider the Authority of him that lays
Souls Some even of themselves have written of late that no punishment should be inflicted on men for opinions that are not dangerous to the State They who are of this mind have no reason to take offence at this Book because the favour desired in it is for Persons as Innocent in that Respect as themselves And for them that think Errors are punishable by the State on Account of the hurt that they do to mens Souls they will not find so great occasion of Offence as they may possibly expect For the Author does not plead for any other Exemption of Roman-Catholick than such as will leave them still liable to as much severity as themselves if they are obnoxious to the Laws can think fit to be inflicted on men barely for Differences in Opinion Here is nothing proposed for their Exemption from any Incapacitating Laws or from the Penalties against saying Mass publickly or against their endeavouring to make Proselytes which last thing is Death to Roman-Catholicks and not at all penal to any other These things being considered together their Condition will not be to be envied by any other Dissenters if they should have all the favour that is propounded for them in this Book But the Common Protestant Religion will be better secured by it which ought to satisfie any one that pretends to that Name For that Part which concerns the Controversies it is suggested by another which otherwise the Author could scarce have expected that some may think him too favourable to the Romish Opinions or too much unconcerned for the Defence of other Protestant Churches He does not see how any one that minds what he reads can suspect him of favour to the Principles of the Roman Communion having given sufficient reason why he cannot embrace them without losing his hopes of Salvation In the managing of the Controversie if he seem not to write in the Defence of any other Reformed Church his Answer is that he does not write to the Adversaries of the Reformed Religion in any other than in his Majesties Dominions And if his Defence of our Church be sufficient it will overthrow that Infallibility of the Roman Church by which she pretends a Iurisdiction over all others and by which alone all her particular Impositions are Iustifiable Which will afford an easie Apology to other Churches who do not think themselves oblig'd to submit to those Impositions THE CONTENTS THat there are many false Notions of Popery Page 1. Wherein the true Notion of it consists 2. Viz. Chiefly in owning the Popes pretended Authority and consequently in submitting to his Terms of Communion 3. This proved I. In that all the other points of Popery were establisht by this pretended Authority 5. II. The owning of it is that on which the Papists chiefly insist 7. III. It is the most hurtful to Church and State 13. And therefore worst in Construction of our Laws 18. That there is therefore a real difference between Papists 24. For that they are not properly called so that deny the Popes Supremacy 25. And they that own it in spirituals only are less perfectly Papists than they that own it both in Spirituals and Temporals 26. That accordingly to distinguish between them by Laws is the only true way for the suppressing of Popery 27. That undistinguishing Severity is not the way For I. It is a way that being taken would not be effectual 28. II. It would not seem Iust and Equal 33. III. It would be against the Interest of England 42. And would promote the Roman Interest Pgae 49. A Toleration of all Sects among us would be most pleasing to them at Rome 52. But next to it an undistinguishing Severity against all Roman Catholics 57. That to distinguish between such of them as will give Security to the State and such as will not I. Would be an effectual way to suppress Popery 61. II. That it would be Iust and Equal 71. III. That it would be for the Interest of England 76. It would cause many to fall under the Pope's Censures 78. And thereby give them occasion to consider How groundless the Pope's pretence is to an Authority over us 81. How justly it was thrown out of England by K. Henry VIII 90. And afterward by Q. Elizabeth 108. The Iustifiableness of the Reformation 111. If it should fail of this Effect yet it would make them sure to our Civil Interests 133. Objections against this way of Discrimination as not being Practicable 135. I. The Roman Church and Court are all one in their Principles being obliged to own the Popes Authority 137. 1. in Spiritual things 138. 2. and also in Temporals 144. Answer to this Objection 150. II. They have ways to elude all the Assurance they can give us 152. Answer to this Objection 154. III. We can have no Assurance of their Constancy 158 Answer to this 158 Conclusion 160. The Reader is desired to take notice that the Quotations out of L. Herbert's History of K. Henry VIII were taken at distant times out of two Books of different Editionâ— and not Paged alike and that this was not observed till those sheets in which the Quotations are had past the Press The ERRATA of any Moment are to be Corrected as follows PAg. 2. lin 13. anciently famous p. 14 l. 25. of this p. 17. l. 31. And yet that p. 29. l. 14 15. no Parenthesis p. 46. l. 33. in the margin Ib. ann 1602. p. 276. p. 47. l. 1. in the margin put out the same words ibid. l. 24. dependance on the. p. 53. l. 33. undistinguishing execution of Laws p. 58. l. 33. convince such a one that all his p. 64. l. 9. in their streets p. 67. l. 27. pretence to the. p. 81. l. 6. Christ he p. 84. l. 14. Churches Epistle to p. 85. margin last line Anno 445. p. 91. l. 8. in margin Schism p. 103. b. Edit 1585. p. 92. l. 19. he would never l. 15. in marg L. Herb. Anno 1529. p. 271. l. 26. in marg the First l. 29. Pallavic Hist. Conc. Trent II. 15.5 p. 94. marg l. 4. Camd. Ib. p. 1. 2. p. 94. l. 20. delays and either p. 100. l. 2. Three p. 101. l. 28. 29. to use his own words p. 102. l. 12. large an account p. 104. l. 29. Particularly should begin a Paragraph p. 107. l. 30. had his Traitorous p. 113. l. 26. in marg Camd. Eliz. p. 13. l. 29. in marg she put out p. 115. l. 30. pass without any Considerations About the true way of Suppressing POPERY IN THIS KINGDOM AMong the ignorant Vulgar there are many false and wild Notions of Popery some of which being admitted to be true would render the Church of England and all other Reformed Churches Popish Other Notions of it would in like manner stigmatize all those Famous Churches in the more remote parts of the World which have not been in Communion with the Pope these eight hundred years And others in the last place
part of the Catholick Doctrine That it has more obtained since and that the number of Papists has increas'd among the English of that Communion I partly ascribe to the great offence which was taken at first here in England against the Reformation The Horse is said to have first taken up Man upon his back to hunt down his Enemy And for the same end I conceive the Roman Catholicks suffer'd the Pope to saddle them in Queen Mary's days They could not have gratified him more than by letting him ride and hunt together both which he loves dearly Soon after the Pope having by his Council of Trent made Articles of Faith of their controverted Opinions it could not but oblige them to look kindly on all that he did for himself in that Council After which 't is no wonder that Queen Elizabeth found the World so much alter'd since her Father's time I think 't is observable that when He was curs'd and bann'd by the Pope as She afterwards was yet he had not one attempt made against his life Some Rebellions he had against him but those not so much in the Pope's quarrel as in the Common People's who were enrag'd at him for dissolving the Monasteries But Queen Elizabeth who had little to do of that kind and who generally pleas'd the People otherwise and was therefore not so liable to be shockt with Rebellions yet for all that when the Pope mark'd her out for destruction some or other of her Subjects were continually driving practices to take away her life I mention this as a great Instance of the growth of Popery among the People of that Communion And yet no doubt she knew those among them that were no Papists or else she would not have made visits to them as she did in the most dangerous times nor have protected their Priests without sufficient assurance of their Loyalty Yet she had not that way of assurance which K. Iames found out afterwards and which the Pope himself help'd to make the more satisfactory For when as I have said upon occasion of the Gunpowder Treason K. Iames requir'd the Oath of Allegiance to be taken by all his Subjects and Pope Paul V. requir'd all his Subjects to refuse it It was easie from thenceforward among the Roman Catholicks to know which were the Pope's and which were the King's Subjects for each of them would do the will of their Lord and what they did they maintain'd on both sides I think there needs no better defence for the Rights of the Crown against the Pope and his Faction than has been made by one of their Priests namely Preston in his Books for the Oath of Allegiance Now this being the only Test appointed by Law and this being already taken by many Roman Catholicks who profess themselves ready to take any other that the State shall prescribe for the securing it self against Popery I conceive that such persons being taken off by this means from all dependance of the Pope ought in reason to be accounted good Subjects For if their Principles be such as they swear they are as well their Principles as their Oath will make them firm to the Monarchy And nothing can be imagin'd to make them against it or to loosen them from it but the Pope's Dispensation against which they secure us as the Law directs them to do For they both swear expresly that they will not take any such Dispensation and that they believe the Pope has no power to give it I do not say but while they continue in that Communion they are continually liable to be tempted and drawn from these Principles And I know no way the State has to help it but by making them often renew their Security as I shall humbly propose in due place But while they keep to their Principles which in relation to Monarchy are the same that the Church of England holds though she ought to desire their Conversion and to seek it by all lawful means yet I see not why she should desire to have them driven away or disabled from assisting her in defence of the Monarchy Now there is nothing more plain than that this party of Roman Catholicks must be utterly disabled and destroy'd by an undistinguishing execution of the Laws For if they have no favour at home they are sure to find worse abroad There they must learn to hate their own Country by suffering for having loved it too well When they have spent what they can carry over with them they must want and may perish ere they find relief While their zealous Antagonists the true Sons of the Pope are received with all kindness wheresoever they come and when they have weathered out the storm they are sure to be sent back with full pockets and fresh supplies and such Instructions as may fit the change of times Then we shall if it should happen which God forbid see the fruit of an undistinguishing Severity We shall see the destruction of a considerable number of men that were friends to the Government and that would have been useful at such a time Or we shall see them return with other Principles and become Enemies to the Government which used them as Enemies and wholly joyn'd in affection to them that fed them in their exile In few words we shall see the Popish Faction truly so called return with more hope to do mischief and with more power to do it than ever they had before They could never yet make all of their Communion to joyn with them in any design against the Government But then undoubtedly they will if there be not a sufficient number left of the other side to oppose them They at Rome are thought to understand their own Interest well And there is reason they should for it is the Study of that place And I suppose 't is not in favour to the Church or State of England but for the interest of Rome that they are very well pleas'd with an undistinguishing execution of the Penal Laws in England against the Roman Catholicks and are so far from desiring to have it otherwise that they hate and detest all distinction and declare him their Enemy that desires it This might be proved by more instances than are proper for this place But I shall give one or two that are sufficient And first of former days Widdrington a Priest of the Roman Communion gives this following Relation That Q. Elizabeth having discovered that she was minded to shew favour to as many Roman Catholick Priests as should give her assurance of their Loyalty and to exempt them from suffering the penalties of her Laws some well-meaning men went to Rome to carry the good news as they thought it But when they were come thither they found themselves much mistaken Instead of thanks they were reproach'd by the governing party and branded with the name of Schismaticks Spies and Rebels to the See Apostolic And moreover saith our Author
to convince him that all their suffering is for Religion and not for treasonable Principles if he instance in that Loyal Person himself and bids him judge by his own experience he cannot but feel himself suffer he knows himself free from disloyalty therefore his suffering can be for nothing else but his Religion He must be a man of more than ordinary Abstraction that can discern the fallacy of this reasoning And he that cannot find that had need stop his ears with a resolution to hear nothing against the Government or else the Jesuite will be too hard for him He had need be as resolute in his Loyalty as in his Religion For the proof being made as well to his Sense as to his Reason it looks like an Argument against Transubstantiation If the person so attack'd be a very Iob in holding his integrity if no Argument will move him nor no other temptation draw him from it Yet he must yield to Want which can neither be hid nor resisted There are many good men that live from hand to mouth and that hardly enough while they enjoy their Estates If any of these be deprived of so much as the Law would take from him he cannot live with that which he has left And then if a Pension be offer'd him out of the Jesuites Bank or out of the Pope's Coffers he will scarce know how to refuse it Necessity will make a generous man do that which he would hate to think of in better circumstances And having eaten their bread he will find it a hard matter to keep himself disengag'd from their Interests Much more if he suffer himself once to be engag'd he will find it impossible to untwist himself afterwards And 't is next to impossible for him that has been oblig'd by their benefits and as it were listed in Service and taken pay on the Enemies side to have any kindness left for his Country that drove him to all this I know but one instance that of David in Gath of a man that was put to all these streights and yet not corrupted in his Principles I shew but one way of many how men that are very good Subjects and desire nothing more than to continue so may be spoil'd with hard usage and made Enemies against their Inclinations Which being added to those things said before on this head may be more than enough to make good my third Reason against an undistinguishing execution of the Laws on Roman Catholicks as being against the interest of the Church and State of England And this seems so evident to me that I have no manner of doubt that as the best news we could send to Rome would be of a general Toleration of all Religions and Sects whatsoever so next to that which I know would please them best the most welcome news would be to assure them that all the Laws here in England against Roman Catholicks were severely and indifferently put in execution And I am as sure that nothing would trouble them more than to hear of such a Discrimination or Distinction of Roman Catholicks as I come now to propound For now to speak on the Affirmative side of the Debate this seems to be the only way for suppressing of Popery if the State will be pleas'd to distinguish btween Papists and other Roman Catholicks and so to shew favour to the one upon security given of their Loyalty as that the other who will not give that security may have no part of that favour but be left to the severity of all those Laws that have been or shall be made against their Principles and Practices My Reasons are 1. Because this course being taken would be effectual to the end above-mentioned 2. It would be equitable in it self 3. And it would be for the interest of the Church and State of England I shew'd before that the undistinguishing way had not any of those three properties or qualities Now the way which I propound being contrary to it must have all the three by the Rule of Contraries and I conceive I need no other proof But to make the matter more plain I shall resume these three Reasons and prove them severally in the order propos'd 1. This course would be Effectual For it would take away the causes of Popery The only immediate causes which have either propagated or preserved Popery so long in this Kingdom notwithstanding all Laws that have been made against it as well anciently as of late times are chiefly these two On one side the great boldness and business of the truly Popish Clergy in asserting and crying up all Papal pretences whatsoever On the other side the tameness of the other Clergy of that Communion or whatsoever else their fault is and has been in not opposing those Papal pretences For the former of these I think 't is very visible in all the Iesuites that come among us and in most of the other Regular Orders and not a few of the Seculars that their chief business amongst us is to advance the Pope's Authority in all things and to reduce all men under the obedience of it 'T is true they have not yet seen their time to attempt this by open War They have not set up the holy Banner in England and plac'd the Pope's Nuncio in the head of an Army against the King as their Brethren did in Ireland and do not repent of it But neither will our Popish Clergy say that those in Ireland did ill in it They have neither declared their dislike of that Rebellion by any publick act Nor among all the Books they have writ since the King's Restauration has any one of their Writers writ so much as one line against it that ever I could see or hear of But their Books abound with those principles out of which that Rebellion was hatch'd They are slily insinuated in those which are to be had at every Stall And there are those that pass from hand to hand in which this Treason is the main scope of their writing By which we may guess what wholesome Doctrine it is that they infuse upon occasion in private when they are among their own people What kind of preaching and catechising they use What information of their Penitents What ghostly counsel they give and what loyal directions of Conscience And if we had nothing else to discover them to us we may soon find what kind of spiritual Offices they perform by the Fruit of them in the perversness and obstinacy of so many of their Laity who choose to do or endure any thing rather than take the Oath of Allegiance I deny not that there are other Priests of that Communion who as far as we can judge by their private discourse seem to be rightly principled and well inclined towards the Civil Government There are those that seem to be heartily for the Independency of the Crown of England and that hold that the external Government of the Church ought to be in
truly Criminal or are justly suspected of being so even for their refusing of such a Test. And then that due severity which may be thought necessary to preserve the State from their practising against it may be executed on them with less colour of exception to the Penalties They who have extolled the Loyalty of their forefathers in making those Laws already mentioned cannot except against the Penalties mentioned in those Laws They cannot pretend that there was any other Cause of severity in them but their care for the security of the Public for they were otherwise of their own Communion and therefore could not be liable to any suspition of that rigour against them of which they may suspect us in regard of our differences of Communion For other penalties I say no more but leave them to the wisdom of the State who best know that due measure of severity that is requisite in our present Circumstances For as their case may in some Reasons vary from the condition of them against whom those Laws were made so it is fit that their punishments should do so too whether their case be more excusable now or then that also I do not take upon me to determine For them who will take the Test so contrived and that as oft as the State shall require it were fit that such favour be shewn to them as may consist with the safety of the State And all the favour which themselves have desired is their exemption from Sanguinary Laws and protection against their Popish Adversaries and permission to live in their Country upon the same terms as other dissenters do who are as Innocent as themselves will be upon this supposal As for Places of trust they do not pretend to them Which may be a security against all reasonable jealousies For other Laws which have been made against the forein Education of their Children they will not then have the pretence of any necessity for it when they may have them taught at home by persons well affected to the State and yet otherwise of their own Religion And they will have no excuse if they do it without any necessity So that they cannot object against any Determination that the State shall think fit to make in that particular whether the Laws now in force shall be continued or changed and if continued under whatsoever Conditions and Penalties it should be done And if it be thought fit to impose on them such small pecuniary Penalties as may only oblige them in Interest to endeavour the farther satisfaction of their Conscience it might be convenient that those sums were applied to maintain converts to the Church and to reward them that shall inform the State how these things are observed among them This will be likely to keep up the practice of these Laws when they cannot be secured from discoverers among themselves And may also be a means by degrees to reduce them to the Communion of the Church in order to the capacitating of them for farther favours Thus much was in Prudence necessary to be said to shew as well the Practicableness as the Convenience of this Proposal The Convenience has appeared in the Discourse it self and the Practicableness in the Answer to the Objections For other more particular Expedients I leave them to the Prudence of the State whose most proper Office it is and who are best acquainted with all particular Circumstances to determine FINIS a P. 44. these ten years P. 50. March was twelve month P. 66 M. Luzance 's case b Chiefly from p. 80. till the Conclusion All Churches and Sects are Popish according to some mens Notions of Popery No Rites nor Doctrines common to other Churches which are not in Communion with the Pope can be Popish but in a false Notion of the word The true Notion of Popery describ'd Of the Pope's Authority over all Christians This Authority was the first thing in Popery All other Popish Errours were brought in by it This Authority is the chief thing in Popery a Poli. Reformatio Angliae decr 1. b Ib. decr 2. c Conc. Lateran V. Sess. 2. d Sess. 3. e Sess. 4. f Sess. 11. g Conc. Trident. Sess. 25. decr de Reform c. 21. h Ib. c. 2. i Ib. in Contin decr 5. Obedience to this Authority the only sure property of Roman Catholicks Camd. Eliz. anno 1560. It is also the worst thing in Popery * Martyrolog Roman Maii 25. * Rev. 13.5 * Luke 4.6 It is worst in the Construction of the Law Camd. Eliz. Anno 1571. Ib. Anno 1577. Ib. Anno 1581. * Rishton says it of himself in his virulent Cont. of Sand. de Schism Angl. Papist an equivocal word Improperly Papists * R. C. i. e. Ricardus Chalcedonensis alias Dr. Smith the last Roman Catholick Bishop that pretended Jurisdiction here in England was of this mind as appears by his Book against the Bishop of Derry entituled A Brief Survey c. Vid. cap. 5. p. 55. where he says 't is no point of Faith whether the Pope be St. Peter's Succeffor Iurâ— Divino or Humano Half-Papists Throrough-Papists Their Description Zenzelini Glossa Dominus Deus noster Papa Vid. Glos. Extravag Cum inter de verb. signif Edit Paris An. 1585. The main Argument Undistinguishing Severity is not the way to suppress Popery It would be ineffectual 2. It would not seem just and equitable It is so expresly provided in 27 Eliz. for fthe Oath of Supremacy and 3 Iac. for the Oath of Allegiance Justitia Britannica 8 o. Lond. 1584. and K. Iames works p. 252. 336. and K. Charles I. vol. 1. p. 384. * 1666 Iun. 11. V. Hist. of Irish Remonstrance part 2. page 671. * Dated 1533. Aug. 30. Camden Eliz. an 1592. Ibid. an 1602. pag. 276. * He writ his Books in the name of Widdrington The Pope and his party are against the distinguishing of Roman Catholicks * Pref. of his Book against Fitz Herbert the Jesuite * Father Fitz Herbert Hist. of the Irish Remons Part 1. p. 515. Two ways useful to the Pope's design against England I. An undistinguishing execution of the Laws agaiâ—st Popery II. Toleration Toleration is a way to destroy the establish'd Religion Toleration would weaken the Civil Government V. Dr. Baily's Life of B. Fisher about the end of it A Toleration would increase the number of Papists The true way to suppress Popery is by Severity to Papists and Clemency to other Roman Catholicks John 16.2 1 Pet. 2.14 Prov. 14.34 Isa. 28.19 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. V. 24. Vales. in locum Firmilians Epistle among Cyprian's Epist. 75. pag. 166. edit Rigaltii Cypr. Epist. 74. 75. Vide Rigalt in Cyprian Epist. 75. Iuly 28. and August 2. * Cyprian Ep. 74. 75. †Rigalt Obs. in Ep. 75. * Almost 22 years after the Reign of Alexander Severus Cyprian Epist. 75. p. 160. * In their Synodical Epist. * See in the Codex Canonum Universalis Ecclesiae or in the Councils Concil