THE LOYALTY OF Popish Principles EXAMIN'D In Answer to a late Book Entituled STAFFORD'S Memoirs With some Considerations in this present Juncture offer'd to Protestant Dissenters By ROB. HANCOCK Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridge and Rector of Northall in Bedfordshire LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft for Thomas Flesher at the Angel and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1682. The PREFACE to the Christian READER IT may be expected that I should according to Custom say something towards the Recommendation of the following Discourse to the perusal of the Reader and tell him what Motives I had to undertake this work But the truth is I have neither studied nor ever seen any great Effects of this kind of Courtship I know the Weight and Importance of the Subject the Honesty and Charitableness of the Design the Truth and Evidence of the Matter the Importunity of Friends and the Authority of others whose Judgment we value above our own are the common heads of Excuse in such Cases If any or all of these will serve for an Apology I hope I have some right to them if they will not it must undergo the Readers Censure However I shall acquaint him with the Scope of the whole Treatise viz. To make a Faithful Representation of such Principles and Designs as under a colour of Religion do naturally tend to disturb the Publick Peace Settlement of this Church and Kingdom subvert the true Reformed Religion Destroy Christian Charity by fomenting Intestine Commotions or Foreign Vsurpations And if there be such a thing in the World I am loath to call it Religion as teaches men to advance it self by Treason and Bloodshed by Falshood and Treachery it is our Duty and Interest to detect the Fraud and Hypocrisy of it In the treating of this Subject 1. I have not only justified the Charge of Disloyalty and Cruelty against the Court and church of Rome but also examined and confuted the most plausible Arguments of Romish Loyalty and Charity 2. Because the Doctrines and Practises of some reputed Protestants have given a deep Wound to the Reputation of our Religion and some most horrid things have been taught and acted in this Nation out of a real or pretended zeal for the Protestant Cause I have vindicated the Honour Peaceableness of the Reformation and shewed from whence the most Fanatick Sectaries derived their Principles by whom they were Influenced and whom they gratified in that management of them 3. I have given a brief account of Comprehension and Toleration so far as they fell within the compass of the late Lord Staffords Design and I am sensible it would have been an Argument of weakness or arrogance in me to have entred upon a larger Discourse upon those Heads so soon after the late Proposals of a great and learned Man for the satisfaction of Dissenters (A) Preface to the unreasonableness of Separation printed 1681. Lastly I have concluded with such Important Considerations to all sober Dissenting Protestants whom I distinguish from wild Fanaticks as I believe are necessary for the keeping out of Popery In the Prosecution of the whole Argument I have neither made any uncharitable Reflections nor charged any persons with the remote Consequences of their Doctrines And though I will not answer for all little Mistakes or Inadvertencies in the Writing or Printing I have neither taken any Quotations upon trust nor misrepresented the words or sense of the Authors which I make use of But I must here informe the Reader that in my Animadversions upon Staffords Memoirs I have not meddled with the Life and Actions the Charge or Arraignment of the late Lord Stafford the Depositions of the Witnesses or the Observations upon them For I am not angry with the person of any Roman Catholick nor do I love to trample upon the Grave of a dead man besides it doth not become me to go out of my own Profession or discuss such matters as do not concern Religion And yet I think I may safely say that I have not omitted any thing which looks like an Imputation in the Reformed or a Vindication of the Roman Church and Religion If this Book should fall into the Hands of any of that Communion I confess I have not much hope of convincing them who by the very Principles of their Religion are bound to disbelieve their own Senses If any of the Dissenting Protestants shall please to look into it I have only this kindness shall I say or justice to beg of them that they would read the two last Chapters with the same sincerity and freedom from Passion with which they were written and then let them judge whether those Considerations and Advices are not as necessary to their own as to our Safety Farewel The Contents CHAP. I. THe Principles of the R. Church and Religion destructive of piety and vertue Three Cases wherein it is possible for R. Catholiques to be better than their Religion inclines or allows them to be Of the Principles and Practises of his Majesties R. Catholique Subjects in the time of the late Rebellion Of their Rebellion in Ireland and the Advantage which the Kings Enemies in England made of it Since his Majesties Restauration they refused to give him any reasonable security of their Allegiance for the future Many Papists actually in Arms against King Charles the First in England many others did him no Service Vpon what Motives the rest adhered to him A Consult of the English Jesuits about taking away his Life Of the Principles and Behaviour of the R. Catholiques under the Usurped Powers Of Mr. White 's Book CHAP. II. The Treasons and Seditions in other Countries especially the Bloody Wars in England and the Murder of King Charles the First charged upon the Protestants The Reformed Churches abroad and the Church of England vindicated from this Imputation The King brought to the Block by a prevailing Faction against the Consent of the Nobility and People of England The Romish Faction had a great Influence on the beginning and progress of the Rebellion The Troubles in Scotland fomented by Cardinal Richlieu's Agents The Letter of the Scotch Covenanters to the French King The Design of the Papists against the King discover'd Ann. 1640. What Influence they had on the War which followed in England and upon the Kings death Two Propositions added to the foregoing Discourse 1. That the Grounds on which the War against the King was justified were first laid by the prevailing Faction of the Roman Church This Proposition proved from Gregory 1. Zachary Gregory the 7th c. From Parsons Creswel Suarez Bellarmine Bouchier Mariana Fr. de Verone Reynolds They which have written in defence of the War or of the Kings death go upon the same Principles 2. That in the Reign of King Charles the First the Pope animated his Subjects to rebel and sent over divers Bulls to that purpose CHAP. III. Doctrines and Principles of the Roman Church 1. The Doctrine of Deposing Princes
This is the Doctrine of all the approved Writers of that Church Of their General Councils of their Publique Offices and Breviaries An Account of those persons who have appear'd against the Deposing Doctrine 2. The King-killing Doctrine It is a necessary consequent of the Deposing Doctrine The Roman Divines equivocate in this Question The Jesuites generally assert it divers of the Popes and the Canon Law approve of it 3. Of destroying mens Lives for Religion The true State of the Question The Church of Rome damns all Haeretiques All Protestants are Haeretiques in her account She enjoyns all Christians to endeavour the Extirpation of them All Bishops of her Communion sworn to destroy them The Laws of the Church deliver them up to the Secular Power to be put to death 4. Of absolving his Majesties Subjects from their Allegiance CHAP. IV. Testimonies of the Loyalty of the Roman Church and Religion considered The first from St. Math. 22.21 The second from the Decree of the General Council of Constance The third from the Annotations of the Divines of Rhemes on Rom. 13. The fourth from the Censure of the Doctors of the Faculty of Sorbon against a Book of Sanctarellus CHAP. V. The Fifth Testimony of the Loyalty of the Roman Church from a late Treatise of a Romish Priest The Principles of that Treatise examined Of the Principles and Authority of the General Councils of that Church Of licensing men to lie and forswear themselves Of the Doctrine of Aequivocation and mental Reservation with a brief Account of the Propositions lately censured at Rome Of the Simplicity and Godly Sincerity of the Roman Church Of the Design of dividing the Papists Of the Distinction between the Church and the Court of Rome the grounds of that Distinction examined and confuted Of Dispensations c. CHAP. VI. Of the late Lord Staffords Declaration and Address to the House of Peers concerning a Comprehension for the Dissenting Protestants and a Toleration for the Papists 1. Of the Comprehension for the Dissenting Protestants Three Propositions concerning Comprehension 'T is neither the Duty nor Interest of any Roman Catholicks continuing true to their Principles to promote a firm and lasting Vnion of Protestants What Influence the Romish Agents had on the first Separation from our Church Of the late Declaration of Indulgence 2. Of the Toleration for the Papists Of their endeavours to procure a Toleration under Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles the First the late Vsurped Powers and his present Majesty What the Design of that Faction is in endeavouring to procure a Toleration They have been the worse for Favour and Indulgence as is evident from their Behaviour towards Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles the First and his present Majesty This Chapter concluded with the Protestation of King Charles the First CHAP. VII A short Reflection on the foregoing Discourse Some things offered to all such as desire to prevent the Designs of the Papists 1. Beware of Seditious Doctrines and Practises A brief Account of them This Consideration recommended to all Protestants especially to the Dissenters from the Established Church of England Of the Secluded Members and of the Solemn League and Covenant 2. Beware of being Instrumental to the weakning or subverting of the Church of England Popery can never enter into our Church so long as the Established Articles Liturgy and Government are maintained The Difference between the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and those of the Church of England Three Considerations to them that charge our Church and Episcopal Clergy with Inclining to Popery Some other things propounded to the Dissenters by way of Consideration and Advice The Conclusion of the whole CHAP. I. The Principles of the Roman Church and Religion destructive of Piety and Vertue Three Cases wherein it is possible for R. Catholiques to be better than their Religion inclines or allows them to be Of the Principles and Practises of his Majesties R. Catholique Subjects in the time of the late Rebellion Of their Rebellion in Ireland and the Advantage which the Kings Enemies in England made of it Since his Majesties Restauration they refused to give him any reasonable security of their Allegiance for the future Many Papists actually in Arms against King Charles the First in England many others did him no Service Vpon what Motives the rest adhered to him A Consult of the English Jesuits about taking away his Life Of the Principles and Behaviour of the R. Catholiques under the Usurped Powers Of Mr. White 's Book THe ensuing Treatise is not intended for those weak and credulous persons that suffer themselves to be charmed with specious Titles and flattering Prefaces and therefore without any reflection on our Author's Arts of Insinuation I shall come to the Matter of the Book called by an odd kind of Antiphrasis A Brief and Impartial Account c. So far as it falls within the Compass of my Design The former Part of the Book is for the most part made up of Allegations in proof of the Plot in general and Reflections on the Depositions The Process against the late Lord Stafford in particular with the Evidence against him and his Lordships Exceptions the Observations of the Managers of the Tryal and the Papists Answers to them the Consideration of all which I leave to others But that I may not seem to pass over any thing which looks like a Proof of the Loyalty and Peaceableness of the Roman Church or of his Majesties Roman Catholique Subjects I shall fairly set down all such Passages as are material to that purpose Staffords Memoires p. 2. His Lordship was ever held to be of a generous disposition very Charitable Devout addicted to Sobriety inoffensive in his Words and a Lover of Justice During the time of the last bloody Rebellion he suffered much for his Loyalty to the King Of the Popish Plot he saith p. 8. This Plot must be managed by persons of Quality most remarkable peradventure of all others for firmness of Loyalty Again The whole Body of Roman Catholiques men before this hour of known worth vertue integrity and unblemished Reputation must all be involved by Vows and Sacraments in a Design so black and execrable that God and Nature abhor to think on p. 52. Certain I am Catholiques Roman Catholiques he means both taught and practised Principles of Loyalty at a time when the King and Kingdom felt the dire Effects of contrary Persuasions That I may proceed with all possible clearness in my Answer to these bold Assertions I shall reduce what I have to say to two Debates I. Concerning the Piety and Vertue of Roman Catholiques II. Concerning their Principles and Practices in the time of the late Rebellion I. I begin with the Piety and Vertue of Roman Catholiques That the Principles of the Roman Church and Religion do naturally tend to make men wicked and disloyal I shall prove in the following Discourse And yet I freely grant That some men of that
Communion may have a great and just Sense of their own Honour and that Duty which they owe to their King and Country They may be better Men and better Subjects than the Principles of their Church and Religion do either incline or allow them to be This may come to pass any of these three ways 1. When they do not understand the Sense of the Roman Church or the natural tendency of the Principles of their Religion for the Confessors and Guides of Souls which have the Faith and Consciences of the Laity in their keeping do not think fit at all times and in all places to instruct their Disciples in such Doctrines 2. When their natural Tempers and Dispositions are stronger than the Principles of their Church and Religion For I do not think the worst Religion in the World can root out all common Reason and natural Conscience all good Nature and Humanity and make all men Bloody and Disloyal whom Nature hath made Kind and Peaceable Some men have more of the Generosity of the English Man than of the Treachery of the Papist the very names of Murder and Treason strike a kind of Horror into the minds of men and natural Conscience if it be not bribed or biassed by a bad Religion or a vicious Life will startle at the thoughts of Assassinations and Rebellions the violation of Oaths and Contracts 3. When they have not much Zeal for Religion For if men be cool and indifferent in that Religion which they profess they may be over-ballanced with the Love of their King and Country And yet after all no man knows just how much ignorance good-nature or indifferency in Religion will serve to ballance the Fury of a misguided Zeal II. I come to consider the Principles and Practices of the Roman Catholiques in the time of the late Rebellion And though I would not lessen the Services which some persons of that Religion have done to his Majesty or Royal Father of Blessed Memory yet I must say there are many things which overthrow all the Pretences of Loyalty to the Crown that are made by the main Body of Roman Catholiques That this is no uncharitable Surmise will appear if we look back as far as the Irish Rebellion wherein the Roman Catholiques of that Kingdom were almost universally engaged I know the Seditious Practices of such as called themselves Protestants were by so much the more inexcusable by how much Protestant Principles are more inconsistent with Religion than these of the Papists But the Tumults in Scotland were now in a great measure suppressed and the King had by some Acts of Grace and Additions of Honour to the Malecontents of that Kingdom quieted if not obliged his Enemies when he was surprized with the news of a desperate Rebellion and barbarous Massacre of many thousand Protestants in Ireland And as his Majesties Affairs were hereby put into a much worse condition than before so the Parliament in England became more unreasonable in their Demands more resolute in their Answers than otherwise they either would or durst have been For the King conjures them by all that is or can be dear to them or him to take into consideration the case of his distressed Protestant Subjects but to use his Majesties own Words The Distractions and Jealousies here in England made most men rather intent to their own Safety or Designs they were driving than to the Relief of those who were every day inhumanely butcher'd in Ireland (A) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 printed 1649. p. 92. The Parliament in England pass a Vote That the Kingdom be forthwith put into a posture of Defence and soon after another That the Ordinance for the Defence of the Kingdom is not prejudicial to the Oath of Allegiance They Vote That what was done at York for a Guard to the King was a Preparation for War against the Parliament a breach of the Trust reposed in him by his People c. (B) Memorials of the English Affairs printed 1682. ad an 1641 1642 But to return to Ireland Here was a Plot and Design against the Crown and Government of which his Majesty expressed the greatest Abhorrence and Detestation and offer'd to go in Person to reduce the Rebels to Obedience A Plot in which the main Body of the Papists and no others were actually concerned (C) In the Preamble to the Bill of Settlement in Ireland an 1662. it is called An Unnatural Insurrection against his Majesties Royal Father his Crown and Dignity which first broke out Octob. 23.1641 and afterwards spreading it self over the whole Kingdom it became a formed and almost National Rebellion of the Irish Papists And in an Act of Parliament for keeping the 23d of October as an Anniversary Thanksgiving It is said That many malignant and rebellious Papists and Jesuits Seminary Priests and other Superstitious Orders of the Popish pretended Clergy most disloyally treacherously and wickedly conspired to surprize the Castle and City of Dublin and all other Cities and Fortifications of that Realm and that all Protestants and English throughout the whole Kingdom which would not joyn with them should be cut off c. See the late History of the Irish Rebellion in Folio And F. Walsh in the Dedication of his History of the Irish Remonstrance tells us of an Universal Rebellion or Insurrection of all the Catholiques in Ireland a very few excepted against his Majesties Laws Authority and Deputies of that Kingdom An. 1641. Of their Confederacy formed and a War continued by them for many years after of two several Peaces the first 1646. the second 1648. with his Majesties Lord Lieutenant in that Interim scandalously violated by the prevailing party among them Yea to that prodigious height did the Insolence of the rebellious Faction arise that at length they banished his Majesties Lieutenant and took the Royal Authority upon themselves But it may be since his Majesties happy Restauration they have repented of their former Wickedness Repented of a Rebellion that was Blessed and Sanctified by the Pope A Catholique Army for so they stiled themselves repent of fighting for the Catholique Cause They were so far from repenting that the Popish Clergy of that Kingdom assembled in a National Synod Ann. 1666. refused to petition the King for Pardon though there were at least thirty then present and above five hundred more of them alive which were obnoxious to the Laws for their carriage during the late Wars of the Roman Catholique Confederates (D) History of the Irish Remonstrance p. 667 671 672. Indeed since his Majesties Return some of the Irish Clergy and Laity agreed to present such a Remonstrance to his Majesty as might seem to give him some tolerable security of their Loyalty for the future But the whole number of Ecclesiastical Subscribers was only Sixty nine the Opposers being two thousand or thereabouts besides all others in the Irish Colleges and Seminaries abroad And of these few Subscribers some fell off immediately
upon the first intimation of displeasure from the Internuntio De Vecchiis and their General Superiors beyond the Seas (E) History of the Irish Remonstrance p. 577 578. In England many Roman Catholiques were actually in Arms against King Charles the First His Majesty himself that had most reason to know informs us That great numbers of that Religion were entertain'd in the Army of the Rebels that others were seduced to whom he had formerly denied employment that twenty or thirty at a time of one Troop or Company had been taken Prisoners (F) See His Majesties Declaration to all his loving Subjects in his Kingdom of Scotland But were not many of the Roman Catholiques in the Kings Army They were indeed but not so many as his Enemies would make the World believe His Majesty tells us in His Declaration That sometimes in a Month together there had not been one Papist near his Court I am sure he was not much beholden to them for their Company at any time His Majesty knew it was the Policy of his Enemies to hunt them into his Camp that they might bring an Odium upon the Royal Cause and confirm the People in that groundless Jealousie of the Kings adherence to Popery which made him by His Proclamation to inhibit all men of that Religion to repair to Him Besides we are told by one of the Roman Church That 't is a Maxim of the Jesuits who have long bore the greatest sway in England in the Quarrels of Princes and great Men to have some of their Fathers on one part and some for the contrary that they may work for their own Interests on both sides (G) The Author of the Jesuits Reasons unreasonable Printed 1662. And whatever boasts they now make of their Loyalty to the late King we have not yet forgotten how they pleaded to the late Usurpers That for the Preservation of their Lives they were forced to flee into the Kings Garrisons without ever acting against the State (H) The Christian Moderator printed 1652. p. 60. That a great part of them were never in actual Arms against the Parliament but only fled to the Enemies Garrisons for Shelter c. (I) Christian Moderator p. 18 But I have so much charity as to believe that some Roman Catholiques offer'd their Lives and Fortunes to the King upon more generous Motives that they served him faithfully and suffer'd for him because as a great Man of that Religion said of himself They valued the Favour and Esteem of their Country above all Earthly things or were true English men as to this World (K) The Earl of Bristol in his Speech made July 1. 1673. We have known some tempers that have conquer'd the malignity of Poyson and some men have a greater love for their King and Country than for their Priests and Confessors some have too much honesty and some too little zeal for Religion to be intrusted with the State-Mysteries of Jesuits and Bigotted Papists A reverend and learned Person of our Church hath divers times told the World in print (L) Dr. Du. Moulin Aus to Philanax Anglicus p. 56. Ed. 1679. This certain Intelligence shall be justified whensoever Authority will require it that the year before the Kings death a select number of English Jesuits were sent from their whole party in England first to Paris then to Rome with this Question in writing That seeing the state of England was in a likely posture to change Government whether it was lawful for the Catholiques to work that change for the advancing and securing the Catholique Cause in England by making away the King whom there was no hope to turn from his Heresie and p. 61. As for my being defied by the Papists I have defied them now seventeen years to call me in question before our Judges and so I do still That there was a Consult in England of the whole Faction of Jesuites about bringing his Sacred Majesty to the Block But what number of the Laity were privy to that execrable Design we are not able to learn But if ever the English Papists had any reason to boast of their Obedience to the Government it was under the late Usurped Powers For they basely flatter'd the most Infamous Rump (M) See the Petition of the Roman Catholiques to the Supream Authority of this Nation the Parliament of the Common wealth of England Christian Moderation p 59 60. p. 51. Divers Papists had taken the Oath of Abjuration and Engagement c. Part 2. p. 41. The Roman Catholiques have generally taken and punctually kept the Engagement c. Dr. Baily in the Life of B. Fisher as I find him quoted by Mr. Fowlis is very zealous in asserting the Loyalty of the Papists and yet at the same time bravely tells us what good Subjects they were to O. Cromwel Whereas saith he all other Sorts and Sects excepting those who are for all Sorts and Sects appear against the present Government like Aries Scorpio c. the Roman Catholiques like Pisces the Emblem of the Fisherman are contented to remain quiet under Foot They publiquely own'd them for the Supream Authority of the Nation and pleaded the Merit of their Fidelity to them And if generally to take and punctually to keep the Engagement if to flatter the great Tyrant if to offer that for a Toleration they would renounce the Interest of the Stuarts be Arguments of firmness of Loyalty to the Crown then I will grant That the Roman Catholiques are the Kings Most Loyal and Dutiful Subjects But I will conclude this Head with this Observation That Mr. White in the height of Olivers Tyranny set out a Book under the Title of The Grounds of Obedience and Government This moderate Roman Catholique as he is esteemed labours not only to disengage the People of England from all Obligation to his present Majesty then in Exile but his Majesty too from laying any further claim to his Crown but blessed be God the King was restored to his Government to which his Roman Catholique Subjects according to this Gentleman ought not to endeavour his Restitution CHAP. II. The Treasons and Seditions in other Countries especially the Bloody Wars in England and the Murder of King Charles the First charged upon the Protestants The Reformed Churches abroad and the Church of England vindicated from this Imputation The King brought to the Block by a prevailing Faction against the Consent of the Nobility and People of England The Romish Faction had a great Influence on the beginning and progress of the Rebellion The Troubles in Scotland fomented by Cardinal Richlieu's Agents The Letter of the Scotch Covenanters to the French King The Design of the Papists against the King discover'd Ann. 1640. What Influence they had on the War which followed in England and upon the Kings death Two Propositions added to the foregoing Discourse 1. That the Grounds on which the War against the King was justified were first laid by
the Guilt of his Blood scarce any one of which he said had been a Beginner or an active Prosecutor of the War If then by the Protestant Religion our Author mean the Christian Religion as it is professed in the Church of England or in the best reformed Churches abroad his Charge is most unjust and malicious if he mean any thing else by it he might better have called it the Popish or Fanatick than the Protestant Religion What a potent Faction of men which they may call Protestants as they call themselves Catholiques did in these Kingdoms all men know But of all men living the Romanists have the least reason to call them Traitors and Rebels as I shall shew afterwards But though the King was arraigned in the name of the Commons of England yet it was well observed by his Majesty at his Tryal That they never asked the Question of the tenth man of the Kingdom much less of the major part of the Nation They had no consent of the House of Peers the Ordinance for trying the King being rejected by the Lords They were no free or full House of Commons for that House being freed from the Insolence of the Army resolved upon a Treaty with his Majesty recalled their Votes of Non-Addresses and voted that he should be in Honour freedom and safety And after the major part of the House had voted the Kings Concessions to be a sufficient ground for Peace the Army Officers seized and committed some of the Members as they were coming to the House accused others of inviting the Scots the last Summer and required that they might be excluded Thus many of the Commons being forced out and others absenting themselves they restored the Votes of Non-Addresses and voted the drawing up a Charge of Treason against his Majesty This is that Venerable Assembly a mere unparliamentary Juncto which in obedience to these Masters damn'd all former Votes in Favour of the King and brought him to the Block against the Laws of the Kingdom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy the Sense of the Church of England of the House of Peers and of the greater part of the House of Commons But if we trace the Footsteps of this Rebellion as far as we can it will appear that the Romish Faction had a great Influence both on the first Beginnings and Progress of it What is it that they have more maligned than the Government and Constitution of this Church and Kingdom Or how could the Roman Conclave find out a safer if not a quicker way to ruin the Protestant Religion than by breaking in pieces that Church which is the Strength and Beauty that Kingdom whose Soveraign was under God the Defender of the Reformation It was the Judgment of Bishop Bramhall That the Popes Privy Purse and Subtle Councils helped to kindle our Civil Wars which ended in the Tragical Murder of the Lords Anointed The intemperate Heat of the Seditious Spirits in Scotland had fermented a great part of the Kingdom but before they broke out into open Hostilities they made secret Applications to Cardinal Richlieu the great Minister of France and Favourite of Rome which made use of all his Interest and Policy to embroyl his Majesties Affairs in that Kingdom This great Statesman knowing that it was the Interest of England to hold the Ballance even between France and Spain and that his Majesty had in the year 35 hindred the French from making themselves Masters of the Spanish Netherlands resolved to blow the Coals in Scotland and practise upon the Male-contents whom he found so well prepared for an Insurrection To this purpose he sends Chamberlain a Scot to exasperate the Confederates against the King appoints one of his Secretaries to reside among them to be present in their Councils of War and to direct their Proceedings and some of the Covenanters had free access to Con the same Countryman whilst Chamberlain was Negotiating for the Cardinal This is certain the Court of Rome and the Jesuites those inveterate Enemies of our Religion and Government could not have thought of a more effectual and easie Method to bring us to ruin than by making us do their Work for them and the Cardinal who had formed those vast Designs of enlarging the French Monarchy observing if not raising the Tumults in that Kingdom laid hold of the Advantage which men of ambitious and restless Spirits had put into his Hands Ann. 1639. came to light a Letter of the Scotch Covenanters written to the French King wherein they desired his Protection and Assistance The Lord Lowdon being by the Kings Command examined about it confessed it was his hand-writing and that it was framed before the Pacification which being agreed to the Letter he said was never sent (D) The Memoires of D. Hamilton And The Memorials of the English Affairs ad an 1639. The late Author of the Impartial Collection hath furnished us with a more exact Discovery of the secret Influence which those Foreign Councils and Assistances gave both to the Scottish Commotions and English Rebellion The Letter to the French King is set down by him in English (E) An Impartial Collection of the great Affairs of State c. vol. 1. Published 1682. p. 276 277. which I will here transcribe SIR YOur Majesty being the Refuge and Sanctuary of afflicted Princes and States we have found it necessary to send this Gentleman Mr. Colvil to represent to your Majesty the Candour and Ingenuity as well of our Actions and Proceedings as of our Intentions which we desire to be engraved and written to the whole World with a beam of the Sun as well as to your Majesty We therefore most humbly beseech you Sir to give Faith and Credit to him and to all that he shall say on our part touching us and our Affairs being most assured Sir of an Assistance equal to your wonted Clemency heretofore and so often shewed to this Nation which will not yield the Glory to any other whatsoever to be eternally Sir your Majesties most Humble most Obedient and most Affectionate Servants Subscribed by divers of the Principal Covenanters At the Meeting of the Parliament in England Apr. 13. 1640. the Lord Keeper in his Speech to both Houses acquaints them Since his Majesty came from Berwick it came to his certain knowledge That they the Scots have addressed themselves to Foreign States and treated with them to deliver themselves up to their Protection and Power as by Gods great Providence and Goodness his gracious Majesty is able to shew under the Hands of the prime Ringleaders of that Faction than which nothing could be of more dangerous consequence to this and his Majesties other Kingdoms Whosoever they be that do or shall wish England ill they may know it to be of too tough a complexion and courage to be assailed in the Face or to be set upon at the Fore-door and therefore it is not unlikely but they may as in former times find
out a Postern-Gate After his Speech was ended the King produced the Original Letter which he intercepted as it was going to the French King and ordered it to be read (F) Impartial Collections p. 309 c. As to the later Insurrections in Scotland I will only observel That besides the Information of some Romish Priests being sent thither to prepare them for a Rebellion their very Declaration shews they were acted by a Popish Spirit for the Act of Supremacy was condemned and the Kings Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs call'd an Vsurping Power But to return So true were the Romish Emissaries to their good Old Cause that having set the factious Party to work in Scotland they took advantage from that conjuncture to stir up a National Rebellion and barbarous Massacre in Ireland of which I have spoken already I cannot pass over the Conspiracy against the King in the Year 1640 because it gives some further light into the Designs of Cardinal Richilieu and the Jesuites Whilst his Majesty resided at York he was acquainted by the Archbishop of Canterbury with the Information he had received from Sir W. Boswel his Majesty's Ambassadour at the Hague By the discovery of this Plot it is evident that the Jesuitical Party exasperated the King and his Subjects one against another labouring to incense his Majesty against them as conspiring against his Crown and Government and them against their Soveraign as aiming at the subversion of their Laws Liberties and Religion That they stirred up the Scots to rebel hindred all accommodation between the King and them and endeavoured to bring his Majesty under a necessity of craving the Assistance of the Papists which he should neither obtain without yielding to their own terms nor refuse without the hazard of his life That for the compassing of their Ends Cardinal Barbarino was engaged fifty Scotch Jesuites were maintain'd in London Cuneus in quality of the Popes Legate Chamberlain Chaplain and Almoner to Cardinal Richlieu Sir T. Matthew a Jesuited Priest Captain Read a Secular Jesuite and that all the Papists in England did contribute to the carrying on the design Here was a Plot against the King and Kingdom and Protestant Religion of which he that desires a full account may consult Mr. H. Lestrange and Mr. Sanderson in their Histories Prinn's Romes Master-piece and others of later time What great numbers of Priests Jesuites and other Romish Agents afterwards flocked into England what various shapes they assumed how they insinuated into the Councils and Armies of the Kings Enemies Mr. Gatford Prinn Dr. du Moulin and others informs us to whom I refer the Reader And even some of the Members in the Long Parliament were sensible how active our Enemies of Rome had been in raising and fomenting the War as we learn from a late Writer who sate in that Assembly I will barely relate what he saith without making any Collections or Inferences from his words The Parliament Vote That which was done at York for a Guard to the King to be a preparation for War against the Parliament a breach of the Trust reposed in him by his People contrary to his Oath and tending to the dissolution of his Government and all such as serve him there to be Traytors to the Laws of the Kingdom Upon the debate for raising an Army one of the Members declared his sense Our Enemies of the Popish Church have left no Evil Arts unessayed to bring us to our present posture and will yet leave none unattempted to make our breaches wider well knowing that nothing will more advance their Empire than our Divisions Our Misery whom they account Hereticks is their Joy and our Distractions will be their Glory and all Evil arts and ways to bring Calamities upon us they will esteem Meritorious (A) Memorials of the English Affairs ad An. 1642. Sanderus de Schism Angl. 1585 p. 188. Quo Haereticorum ut fit bello Catholici indies plures constantioresque in fide fiunt Campanella de Mon. Misp Amst 1641. p. 204. Jam verò ad enervandos Anglos nihil tam conducit quam dissensio discordia inter illos excitata perpetuóque nutrita quod citò occasiones meliores suppeditabit P. 207. Verum ab alia parte instiget primores Comitiorum aut Parliamenti ut Angliam in formam reipublicae reducant Nor did the design of Cardinal Richlieu die with him it was vigorously pursued by Mazarine to whom he left his Instructions at his death and what an intimate Correspondence was maintain'd between him and the Grandees of Derby House we are told by the Author of the History of Independency (B) Hist of Indep p. 114 115. His words are these To negotiate which the detaining of the Prince in France the Grandees of Derby House and the Army have an Agent lying Lieger with Cardinal Mazarine the great French Instrument of State who is so well supplied with Money and so open handed that it hath been heard from Mazarines own Mouth That all the Money the Queen and Prince have cost the Crown of France hath come out of the Parliaments Purse with a good advantage It is likewise said Mazarine hath an Agent here to drive on the Interests of France in England To all which we may add That the King having assented in the Isle of Wight to pass five strict Bills against Popery the Jesuites in France at a General Meeting there resolved to bring him to Justice by the power of their Friends in the Army And this resolution of the Fathers was agreeable to the sense of the Roman Conclave For the Question being sent to Rome from the whole Party of Jesuites in England the year before the Kings death whether considering the present posture of Affairs it was lawful for the Catholicks to work a change in the Government by making away the King whom there was no hope to turn from his Heresie It was answered affirmatively (C) Answer to Philanax Anglicus p. 59 65. To what I have said upon this Argument I will add these two Propositions 1. That the grounds on which the War against the King was maintain'd so far as it was maintained under a colour of Religion were laid by the prevailing Faction of the Roman Church and the most dreadful effects of Fanaticism which were the consequents of it may be justified by their Principles And here I could make it evident That the same Maxims of Political Divinity the same Arguments and many times the same Phrases and Expressions are to be found in the heads of both Factions I know it is disputed whether the Ring-leaders of Sedition amongst us poysoned the Jesuites or the Jesuites them but I do not envy the Bishops of Rome the honour of having first poysoned them both with Antimonarchical Doctrines If Milton the great Oracle of one of the Factions had owned himself to be a Papist there had been no reason to wonder at the Impiety of his Doctrines which he
might add Paul the 4th and Sixtus the 5th Bellarmine de R. Pont. l. 5. c. 1. quotes some others of this Opinion For the latter see the Authors quoted by Bellarmine de R. Pont. l. 5. c. 1. and ad versus Barclaeium in his Opuscula Salmeron Tom. 4. p. 413. Fr. Romulus Resp ad Apol. Ed. 1591. p. 41 42 43. Cardinal Perron in his Oration to the third Estate at Paris tells us That unless this Doctrine were approved it follows that the Church of Rome for many ages hath been the Kingdom of Antichrist and Synagogue of Satan And to let you see that his Majesties Roman Catholique Subjects are no Honester than the rest of the World I appeal to two very late Writers of our own Country Some years since three Treatises were published under the Title of The Jesuites Loyalty The Author of the first roundly asserts what the other two slily insinuate this Deposing Doctrine and proves it by as great Authority as they can bring for any Article of the present Roman Faith The other is an English Jesuite too and he without any mincing of the matter tells us this Doctrine was long ago taught by almost all Orders and Professions Seculars Regulars (B) See D. Stilling fleets Answer serveral late Treatises in the Preface And whether they teach the Popes Power to be direct or indirect 't is all one for if Princes may be deposed in some cases if there be no standing Court Independent on that at Rome which is to Judge when it is necessary to depose them they had as good tell us in plain terms that no Prince is to wear his Crown any longer than the Pope and other Princes or his own Subjects will give him leave that the Pope never wants Authority to depose a King but when he wants strength or courage a fair excuse or a fit opportunity (C) Bellar. recognit lib. 5. de Pont. c. 8. Ecclesia non semper privat Principes dominio vel qui a vires non habet vel qui a non judicat expedire And therefore there is no reason why they should have the reputation of moderate men that seem to restrain and qualifie the abuse of the Popes direct temporal power or to write against it with some pomp and vanity when indeed they do but abuse the world with a distinction which serves only to veil the impiety of the former assertion and make Princes secure and inapprehensive of their danger Again the assertors of the Pope's indirect Power are not agreed whether a Prince may forfeit his Crown for misgovernment or unfitness to govern or whether only for Apostacy or Heresie The Doctrine of deposing Kings for misgovernment is approved by the Authentick Canon Law of the Roman Church (D) Decret par 2. Can. Alius Caus 15. qu. 6. Zacharias Regem Francorum non tam pro suis iniquitatibus quam pro eo quod tantae potestati crat inutilis à regno deposuit If a Prince become a manifest Apostate he falls from all power and dignity in the Judgment of all their approved Divines and Canonists (E) Parsons or Creswel or both under the name of Philopater Sect. 2. n. 157. That a Prince may be deposed for Heresie is so generally received that those very persons of the Roman Church which have written against it in other cases do except the case of Heresie And 't is observable that in their General Council of Lyons wherein Frederick the Emperor was deposed for Heresie his Advocate endeavoured to vindicate him from the guilt of that crime but neither the Emperor nor he excepted against the power of the Church to depose him in the case of Heresie 3. This is the Doctrine of the General Councils and lawful Representatives of the Roman Church as the Reader may find in the Margent (F) Conc. Lat. 4 c. 3 an 1215. de haereticis tom 28. p. 161 162. Conc. Lugdun an 1245. tom 28. p. 424 c. Conc. Constant tom 29. an 1414 p. 458. I know the Council of Trent made no express Decree about the deposing of Princes but he that considers the State of Christendom at that time how many Princes had been already driven out of the Roman Church and how many more were ready to follow them will rather wonder they said so much than that they durst say no more For though it was no time for them to speak their minds yet so true were the Fathers of that Council to their Master at Rome as to keep up his claim to a temporal power over Princes For did they not make bold to Excommunicate and deprive Emperors Kings and Princes of all their Dominions held in Fee of the Church (G) Concil Trident tom 35. Sess 25. c. 19. in the Decree against Duels By this Canon saith a Royal Author the Kingdom of Naples had need look well to it self (H) K. James his works p. 449. For one Duel it may fall into the Exchequer of the Roman Church because that Kingdom payeth a relief to the Church as a Royalty or Seignorie that holdeth in Fee of the said Church And had not the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland need look well to themselves too For if we believe the Popes and their dependents they are the Dominions of the Church the Pope is our Soveraign Lord the King is but his Vassal and did not King John grant to Pope Innocent and his Successors the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and receive them back again upon paying yearly a relief to the Church Did not Innocent the Third and Innocent the Fourth call the Kings of England their Vassals (I) Mat. Paris Ed. Lon. 1640. ad an 1216. p. 280. ad an 125. p. 272. Did not the Pope declare to Queen Elizabeths Resident that England was held in Fee of the Papacy (S) History of the Reformation part 2. P. 374. Since his Majesties restauration the Lovaine Divines insisted on this title of the Pope to the Kings Dominions and it seems his Holiness was well enough pleased with it (M) History of the Irish Remonstrance p. 117. and p. 101. placuit Pontifici reservat in sua tempora Baronius endeavours to make out the Popes title Tom. 12. ad an 1159. ad an 1172. And Spondanii Continuat Baronii Paris 1658. tom 1. p. 327. ad an 1299. Bellarmine Apol. pro resp c. ed. 1610. p. 33 34 35. That the Kingdoms of England and Ireland are Tributary to the Pope Again did not the Fathers of Trent confirm all the Canons of Popes and Councils in favour of Ecclesiastical persons and liberties and against the insringers of them (N) Concil Bid. Sess 25 de Ref. c. 20. Did they not take care to preserve the Authority of the Roman See in all things (O) Conc. Trid. Sess 25. de Ref. c. 21. And confirm the Capitula of the Council of Lateran in which the deposing Power is asserted But that I may
Protestants call it by what name you please but it must be such a one as will only serve a present turn and is inconsistent with a lasting Settlement such a one as tendeth not to the lessening but the encreasing our Differences and will in the conclusion ruin the beauty if not the very being of the Church of England (A) See the Letter of Advice given to F. Young concerning the best way of managing the Popish Interest in England upon his Majesties Restauration The first Advice is To make the Obstruction of Settlement the great Design especially upon the Fundamental Constitution of the Kingdom The Letter is cited by the Dean of S. Pauls in his Preface to the Unreasonableness of Separation A Church against which as their Attempts have been more frequent so they have been carried on with more Art and Industry than against any Church in the Christian World A Church that is free from Impostures and Innovations from Superstition and Enthusiasm which are the principal Ingredients of Popery A Church that endeavours to reduce all things to their Antient Limits and so long there can be no room for Papal Usurpations And I appeal to all wise men Whether it be either the Interest or Duty of the Romish Faction continuing true to their Principles to strengthen or repair such a Church as this which they are bound to pull down or break in pieces All the Service that I could ever find they did the Church of England was to raise and support Sects and Factions amongst us to creep in among them under various disguises to weaken the Government to lay us open to the Assaults of Foreign and Domestick Enemies and to bring us into such a disorder and confusion as was more likely to end in Atheism or Popery than in the Vnion of Protestants If we look back as far as the first beginning of the Separation from our Church we shall see many strong probabilities that the busie Factors for Popery the Jesuites and Jesuited Papists had a great Influence on it and what advantages they have ever since made of our unnatural Heats and growing Schisms we are not wholly ignorant They knew the safest though not the quickest way to reduce their Religion was by fomenting domestick Factions And when some of the Exiles in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign returned home with a dislike of some things in our Church they laid hold of this Opportunity of dividing the Protestants and enflamed the differences in hope of making them destroy one another and fall a Prey to the common Adversary Whilest Harding Sanders and others of the Roman Communion attacked our Church on one side saith a learned and faithful Historian Coleman Butten Hallingham and others were as busie on the other And it hath been lately published to the world from the Lord Burleighs Papers that Faithful Commin a Dominican Friar and Thomas Heath a Jesuite were employed by the Pope and Jesuites under the disguise of zealous Protestants to draw men off from the Communion of the Church of England Such wonderful Friends are the Emissaries of Rome to order and unite amongst English Protestants But I will conclude this Head with the Declaration of Indulgence An. 1671 2 concerning which the Author of the Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend in the Country tells us That when the War was to be made with Holland the Lord C. advised to quiet all Dissenters in Religion at home with granting the Declaration of Indulgence and the E. of S. though a man of Principles and Interest opposite to the other presently closed with his Advice And Coleman own'd that the Fatal Revocation of this Declaration for Liberty of Conscience was that to which the Papists owed all their late Miseries and Hazards We all know that from this time Licenses were accepted and Meeting-houses built People were withdrawn from the Parochial Assemblies and Books written to justifie their Practises upon such Principles as naturally lead to endless Separations and the destroying the very being of our Church Whole Herds of Priests and Jesuites have lurked in these Kingdoms and the Roman Church hath had a most plentiful Harvest amongst us If this be called the Vniting of Protestants it must be by the same Figure by which the destroying mens Rights is call'd the defending their Liberties 2. I come to consider the Endeavours which have been used by the Roman Catholicks to procure a Toleration for themselves At Queen Elizabeth's first coming to the Crown the Pope threatned to Excommunicate her the Emperor and other Foreign Princes moved by their Ambassadors for a free and open Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion (B) Cambden Eliz. ad an 1558. In King James his time Cardinal Bellarmine roundly tells his Majesty That if he desired to consult his own and his Peoples Safety he must give Liberty to their Religion (C) Bel. Resp. ad Apol. Ed. Câ—… Agripp 1610. p. 21. Si â—ex secure regnare vitae suae ac suorum consulere cupit sinat caâ—…os frui antiqua possessione religionis suae And the Lord Herbert in a Letter to the King An. 1623. tells him The Pope will never grant his Consent to the Marriage of the Prince with the Infanta of Spain unless his Majesty grant some not able Privileges and Advantages to the Roman Catholicks in his Dominions He adds The King of Spain would never insist on obtaining these Privileges but that he desires to form a Party in your Majesties Kingdoms which he may always keep obsequious to his will c. (D) Cabala printed 1654. In the beginning of King Charles the First his Reign the Irish Papists taking advantage of the Emptiness of the Kings Treasury proffered to maintain Five Thousand men at their own Charge if they might enjoy a Toleration but that Motion was crushed by the Bishops The Project failing in Ireland the English Papists offer'd but with no better Success to buy the free Exercise of their Religion at the expence of maintaining a certain proportion of Ships (E) Fullers Church History l. 11. p. 128 129. It is well known how that restless Faction fed their Disciples with continual expectations of a Change and though these two Excellent and Pious Princes did inviolably maintain the established Protestant Religion yet they gained this mighty Advantage that notwithstanding all the Writings and Speeches Declarations and Protestations of King James against Popery the Fears and Jealousies of his Subjects occasioned only by some short Relaxations were never cured in his days And in the Reign of King Charles the First whatever Indulgence either the Gentleness of his own Disposition prompted him to or the necessity of his Affairs extorted from him was looked upon as the Effect of his Majesties Inclination to Popery For though the War was raised by discontented covetous and ambitious men and carried on by a leading Faction yet it was necessary to make Religion a Stalking Horse to their
Interest and the Imputation of Popery was the great Engine by which they rendred the King and his Adherents odious and robb'd him of the Hearts of his People for by this Suggestion they abused the credulity of many well-meaning but intemperate Zealots persuaded them to engage in the Defence of the Protestant Religion and kept others so long from his Majesties Assistance till they too late saw and lamented their own weakness and the Treachery of a lesser but more active party whom they had followed in the Simplicity of their hearts Not long before the Muder of the King many Jesuites and other Priests daily flocked into this Kingdom and so far insinuated themselves into some prime Commanders of the Army and others of the House of Commons then at the Devotion of the Army that they were in a fair way to obtain their share in that Toleration or Liberty of Conscience which was so agreeable to the Judgment of the Times as Mr. Gatford saith upon his own immediate knowledge (F) Englands Complaint p. 17 18. And Mr. Prinne in the Appendix to his forecited Speech tells us that after the Army had imprisoned and removed his Majesty to bring him to Tryal They voted at their General Council of War carried by two Voices That the Papists should have Free Liberty and Toleration of Conscience and all Sequestrations and Forfeitures as Papists only taken off Under the Usurped Powers they offer'd to renounce their Loyalty and Allegiance to the Royal Family for ever upon condition of a free Toleration of their Religion And certainly those times of disorder and confusion gave them a mighty advantage for the re-establishing their Religion in England when Episcopacy was voted down and 't is well known what rejoycing that Vote brought to the Romish party the Defender of the Faith put to death and we are not ignorant with what Joy and Triumph the news of his death was received in the English Convents and Seminaries The Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy repealed and it was put to the Vote in the Little Parliament Whether all the Parochial Ministers should not be put down at once What endeavours have been used since his Majesties Happy Restauration to procure or purchase a Toleration Mr. Coleman and the late Lord Stafford have informed us And yet some men ask Why may not Roman Catholicks enjoy the Freedom of their Consciences and Religion But they have never read or never considered Colemans Tryal and the Collection of Letters lately published What made him lament the Fatal Revocation of the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience What is the meaning of such Expressions as these That if they could carry the Design of getting an Act for Liberty of Conscience they should in effect do what they list afterwards That the prevailing in these things would give the greatest blow to the Protestant Religion here that ever it received since its Birth That they had a mighty Work upon their hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the subduing of a Pestilent Heresie which had domineer'd over a great part of the Northern World a long time (G) And yet the Author of Staffords Memoirs p. 10. would persuade us That the Letters of Mr. Coleman and others do only shew that they desired perhaps in some measure a Liberty of Conscience yet without confronting much less destroying the King or Government And the Lord Stafford himself acknowledged before the House of Peers That if he had known any such Design as Colemans Letters do hint he would not have continued in England (H) See the Printed Tryal p. 292. How miserably then are those poor men imposed upon that think the Design at least of the Active Men of this Faction was meerly to enjoy the Freedom of their Consciences or the private Exercise of their Religion It is not the Ease of their own Consciences but a Power to lay insupportable Burthens on other mens Consciences which they aim at What they call Indulgence and Toleration is indeed Rule and Dominion they first strengthen their own party and weaken the Established Religion and Government by all the Arts of Fraud and Treachery and when they have once gotten the Power into their Hands they deprive all others of the Enjoyment of their Religion and Consciences and this is notorious in all places where they have had Strength and Opportunity to compass their Designs Indeed some good-natur'd People are willing to believe that they are a very harmless and peaceable sort of Creatures and others that pretend to some kind of Insight into Mysteries of State look upon an Indulgence as the best way to oblige and make them sure to the Government But it were no hard matter to prove that the former are very much mistaken in their Charity and the latter in their Politicks All the Connivence and Favours of our Princes since the Reformation have been so far from making them true to the Crown that they have always been the worse for Indulgence In the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign she treated them with the greatest Mercy and Clemency which had dealt most Insolently and Cruelly with her before she came to the Crown For the first ten years of her Majesty by the Confession of the Secular Priests (I) Important Considerations c. the State of Catholicks in England was tolerable and after a Sort in some good quietness Parsons and Creswel the Jesuites tell her Majesty That in the beginning of her Kingdom she dealt something more gently with Catholicks that none were then urged by her or pressed either to her Sect or to the denial of their Faith all things seemed to proceed in a far milder course no great Complaints were heard of Yea her Majesty suffered Bonner that Man of Blood after all his Butcheries quietly to live and dye amongst us Heath to live securely at his own House in Surrey Tonstall Thirlby and Fecknam to live in ease and freedom she reserved Pensions to such of the Popish Clergy as quitted their Benefices by Resignation (L) Hist of the Reformation part 2. p. 396. c. In Fine some Roman Catholicks were highly obliged none provoked by any greater Severity than the requiring of 12 d. a Sunday for not coming to Church and yet they were continually giving fresh Proofs of their Loyalty and Gratitude to the Queen by dispersing of Libels against her Person Crown and Dignity procuring of Bulls from Rome fomenting of Treasons and Conspiracies at home or tampering with the King of Spain to invade her Majesties Dominions as besides our Writers their own Secular Priests do acknowledge (M) Important Considerations c. King James at his first coming to the Crown of England was so far from putting the Laws in Execution against the Papists that he remitted the Arrears of their Penalties in Queen Elizabeths time and pardoned divers of the Conspirators he suffer'd them to enjoy their Estates and Consciences and admitted