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A67674 A letter to an honourable member of Parliament concerning the great growth of popery, and the treasonable practices of the Romish bishops and priests at this time in England R. W. 1700 (1700) Wing W95; ESTC R33756 5,770 5

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A LETTER To an Honourable Member of Parliament concerning the great Growth of Popery and the Treasonable Practices of the Romish Bishops and Priests at this time in England SIR IN the last Conversation I had with You You were pleas'd to tell me You had read the late Appeal to all Protestant Kings Princes and States that You were satisfy'd of the very great Danger of the Protestant Religion abroad and of the Cruelties and Barbarities that have been and are us'd against It in several Parts of Christendom but that You hop'd the Protestant Religion is safe in England and we have nothing to fear from Popery here As to this last I was altogether of another Mind and think I can shew I had very great Reason so to be It was no Dispute betwixt us Whether Popery be as pernicious to the Civil Rights as the Religious Concerns of this Nation or a Regard was had to Both These in all the Laws which the Wisdom of Parliaments hath from time to time made against Popery We both allow'd the Necessity and the Sufficiency of those Laws but whether all those Laws are not now asleep will not long be a Dispute betwixt us To secure this Nation from the Idolatries of Popery and the Usurpations of the Bishops of Rome upon the Rights of this Kingdom it was found necessary by the Wisdom of our Parliaments to make very strict Laws against Both especially when the Bishops of Rome had the Impudence to issue out their Bulls to deprive Q. Elizabeth of glorious Memory of her Crown and to Absolve all Her Subjects from their Allegiance to Her By some of these Laws it is Treason (a) 27 Eliz. c. 2. sect 2 3 4.1 Jac. 1. c. 4 c. for any Popish Bishop Priest or Jesuit c. either to come into England or remain here and Felony for any knowingly to receive or relieve them here But to what purpose are these Laws now The three Popish Bishops made in the late Popish Reign do still continue here and exercise their pretended Jurisdictions as if they were in Italy it self They have canton'd our Kingdom into Provinces and as their pretended Bp. Leyborn has London and the Counties about it for his share so their Bp. Gifford has the West and Wales and their Bp. Smith the Northern Parts where they exercise all the Parts of their Functions without controul It 's too well known that this last Summer Bp. Gifford went confirming thro' Wales and that they boast of the many Hundreds He confirm'd then And for Priests and Jesuits do they not now swarm all over the Nation especially in and about London And so much that it cannot be deny'd that there are more Popish Priests in England at this time than were in the late Popish Reign it self and at the time of the Assassination Plot 50 Priests are known to have come over in one Week Give me leave to ask now Whether You think there can be one Popish Lord or Gentleman in England without a Popish Priest in his House when it cannot be deny'd that there are at least 100 Jesuits 150 Franciscans and proportionably of the Benedictines Dominicans Capuchins Carmelites and of the Seculiar Priests at this time in England They have their Provincials and other Superiors they keep in one Popish Great Man's House or other their yearly Synods and Visitations and hold their Triennial Chapters for the chusing those Provincials c. and are in as much method here as even in Rome or France And one would think from these their Numbers and Practices that there are no more Laws against them in England than in France or Rome Has not to trouble You with no more Names at present that infamous Jesuit Peters Brother to the famous Privy councellor who tore our English Bible in his Pulpit in Lime-street in the late Popish Reign continu'd in England ever since liv'd at Marrybone under the Name of Spencer and is at the Head of all the Jesuits Affairs at this Day here By the Wisdom of our Parliaments Laws were also made to forbid absolutely any Popish Worship in England to say Mass is the Forfeiture (b) 23 Eliz. c. 1. sect 4. of 200 Marks with one Year's Imprisonment and to hear Mass is the Forfeiture of 100 Marks with a Year's Imprisonment and yet in despight of all your Laws what Numbers of Mass house are up and down this Kingdom at this time And what publick Resort is there every where to 'em in London in Tork in Winchester in Durham not to mention more Places now And what Crouds may be seen any Sunday-morning in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields I am assur'd there are but few Parishes in London wherein Mass is not said every Sunday and I may affirm that to You which will startle You very much There are more Masses said in a Sunday-forenoon in London and Westminster than the Church of England-Services in all the Parish-Churches within the Bills of Mortality put together And the Levying the Fines of this one Act upon the Papists for the Term of the last Year only would have rais'd so much Money as would not only pay off that great Debt which the ingenious Dr. Davenant has very judiciously computed the Nation to be in but prevent your laying one Farthing of Tax upon the Nation for Seven Years to come Is it not Sir a Proemunire by our Laws (c) 13 Eliz. c. 2. sect 7. either to bring into England or to receive any Agnus Dei's Beads or such Popish Trinkets Is it not the Forfeiture of 40 Shillings either to sell or buy here any one Popish Psalter Manual Rosarie or Office whatever (d) 3 Jac. 1. c. 5. sect 25. and yet these things are brought in and bought and sold as publickly as Toys or Books are in Westminster-hall in Term-time Sometimes in the Hall sometimes in the Court and sometimes before the very Gates of a certain House which was not long since a Franciscan Convent Alas Sir Popery is so far from being bashful here that it 's not content barely to make nothing of your Laws but can with scorn trample upon them What less is the Papists resorting publickly in Crowds as it were in Processions as almost all King's-street know they did but last October 13th into the Cathedral of Westminster it self and there in the Face of the Sun paid their Superstitious Devotions at the Shrine of Edward the Confessor That Just Detestation against Popery which the whole Nation had entertain'd made it the Care of Parliaments to prevent any of the Subjects being perverted to that Religion They wisely consider'd that there could not be a Convert made to Popery without losing a Subject to the Government and in our Days this must hold truer than ever there being not one Native Papist or Popish Convert I dare say that does not perfectly hate the present Government Such Considerations made our Parliaments more than once to Enact That it should be Treason (e) 23