Counsels and Practises of the said King and all other his Adherents and against the breach of Publique Faith committed by him at Bloys to the prejudice of the said Roman Religion and Edict of Holy Vnion and the natunal Liberty of the Assembly of the three Estates of that Kingdom After mature deliberation upon the said Articles it was concluded nemine refragante That the said People were discharged from the said Oath of Allegiance and that they may with asase Conscience unite and Arm themselves against the King Moreover the said Faculty thought fit to send their Decree to the Pope that it might be ratified and confirmed by the Authority of the Holy Apostolick See (P) Davila l. 10. And Fowlis History of Romish Treasons Ed. 1671. p. 530 551. In the same year the Loyal Doctors of Sorbon declared their Approbation of the damnable Doctrine of King-killing For a short Paper was drawn up containing the Reasons of taking up Arms against the King in the Conclusion of which it is said That because Childerick King of France had caused one Bodille to be publiquely whipped the said Bodille took occasion thence to kill the King for which he is commended by Historians and therefore may not the injury done to a better than Bodille viz. to a brave Prince Guise be also avenged The Doctors of Sorbon having read over the Tract approved it affirming that nothing was in it contrary to the Roman Church About the same time it was Decreed by the Sorbonists That the Name of Heary the third should be dashed out of all publique Prayers and that if any of the Faculty of Paris agree not to it they should be Excommunicated Accordingly instead of those Prayers for the King others were drawn up for the Catholique Leaguing Princes (Q) Fowlis p. 537. An. 1590. The Royalists had spread abroad such Propositions as these That Henry of Bourbon the lawful Heir of the Crown might or ought to be King that the People might with a safe Conscience adhere to him and pay him Tribute That the Pope had no Power to Excommunicate the King That an Haretique though relapst and put out of the Communion of the Church may have right to the Crown of France All which Propositions were presently condemned by the Faculty of Sorbon (R) Spondani Contin Baronii tom 2. ad An. 1590. p. 860. par 3. Sorbonici Theologi in publicis turbis ad rerum instantium statum vota sua accommodare coacti rogatu Faederatorum Cajetani impulsu nec non Cardinalis Montalti ipsiusquemet Pontificis literis ad fidem religionem tuendam unionem confirmandam incitati partes suas interponentts congregati sanxerunt propositiones quae passim a pluribus seminabantur viz. Henricum Borbonium regis titulo infigniri posse aut debere tuta conscientia es adbarere ac decimas vectigalia persolvere debere c. Has tjusmodi enuntiationes damnantes c. An. 1629. They publish a Decree That for the Future the Ancient and Laudable Practise be revived that every Batchelour of Divinity swear to observe the Decrees of the Popes of Rome (S) Spondani Contin Baronii Tom. 2. p. 982. ad Ann. 1629. par 10. An. 1647. The Sorbonists in Answer to a Question sent to them in Writing from the Jesuites in England resolved that it was Lawful for the Roman Catholiques to work the Change in the Government by making away the King (T) Du Moulin Answ to Philanax p. 59. I know P. Walsh hath printed from the Originals six Declarations of the Divines of Sorbon presented to the French King An. 1663. which seem more worthy of that Society than these which I have produced But however significative they might be of their Loyalty to the French King they do not reach the Case of his Majesties Roman Catholique Subjects For in France the King is of the same Religion His Kingdoms are under no Ecclesiastical Censures the Pope challenges no direct Temporal Right to them But I need say no more of them than F. Walsh himself doth These Declarations of Sorbon did neither protest against Equivocation nor descend to the particular Cases either of Excommunication or the pretended Exemption of Clergymen or Condemnation of the Contrary Doctrines c. (V) Hist of the Irish Remonstrance p. 662 663 and 678. And now let all men judge whether the Doctors of Sorbon were not as good at irritating the People of France as the most Seditious Preachers and Pamphleteers were at Animating those of England against their King 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 for swear 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. P. 46. MY Lords Fifth Testimony was taken from a little Treatise writ as my Lord said by a Priest of the Church of Rome and entituled Roman Catholique Principles in reference to God and the King (A) In the printed Tryal p. 53. There is lately come out a Book written by a Priest of the Church of Rome tried for his life for being in the Plot but acquitted c. The chief Contents of which Treatise because it in short explains the above-named Principles and clears the Objections usually made on this Subject I shall here insert in the Authors own Words In answer to which I shall briefly examine all the Passages of this little Treatise which may seem to vindicate the Romish Faith and Religion from the imputation of Disloyalty In the beginning he tells us We abhor we renounce we abominate such Principles Of Treason Rebellion Murder c. But of this I shall speak in its proper place That a Priest of the Church of Rome should before God and the World deny the plainest matters of Fact is an Argument either of the grosseft Ignorance of his own Religion or which I rather suspect of the most exact skill in the Arts of Prevarication V. G. I have been instructed saith he in the Articles of my Faith and I acknowledge the lawful Authority of General Councils yet I profess I never learnt or sound asserted in any of them any such Principles A Speech of so much assurance that were it not for dis-believing my own Senses I might be apt to give credit to it But I would fain know how he proves that there are any such things in the world as the Decrees and Canons of Councils Or that Transubstantiation and Communion in one kind were ever taught in any of them Or that these
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 STaffords Memoires p. 12 13 To the Instances given of Popish Malice and Bloodiness (A) This resers to the printed Tryal of the late Lord Stafford P. 9. from former Examples he answers That by the same reason and to as good purpose the traiterous Seditions and Outrages in Germany France Bohemia and Holland authorized and fomented by Calvin Zuinglius Beza and other Reformers the late bloody Wars in England the almost yesterdays Remonstrances and Practises in Scotland but above all that never to be paralell'd hellish Murder of the Lords Anointed our Glorious Soveraign Charles the First in cold blood by outward form of Justice on pretence of Reformation might be imputed to the Protestant Religion for all these horrid Villanies were committed by Protestants Protestants who gloried in being more than ordinarily refined from Popish Errors and Superstitions If it be said as most justly it may the Churth of England never taught such Practises the same say and protest the Papists in behalf of their Church Let this Author bestow as hard names as he pleases upon the Contrivers and Actors in these horrid Villanies and let that Religion if so wicked a thing must be called Religion which gave encouragement to them go as it deserves for Infidelity and Irreligion I am sure there are no greater Enemies to the Christian Religion than those which endeavour to pretend to promote it by such ways as are contrary to the very Nature and Design of all true Religion Indeed our Adversaries of the Roman Communion lay as bad things to the charge of the Protestants as we can do to their Church and Religion and as often as we put them in mind of the Fifth of November they are ready to reproach us with the Thirtieth of January And that I may not make any cause or persons look either better or worse than they are I shall make a faithful representation of the Doctrines and Practises of both sides so far as they are pertinent to the present Debate viz. Whether the traiterous Seditions and Outrages in England and other Parts of Christendom may be imputed to the Protestant Religion with as much reason as the Instances of Popish Malice and Bloodyness from former Examples may be to the Roman Church and Religion Some years ago was published a Seditious Libel under the Title of Philanax Anglicus wherein the Author taxes not only some Protestant Reformers but the very Reformation it self with Rebellion charges the English Reformers with Treason against Queen Mary and with a Roman boldness asserts That the Seditious Doctrines are allow'd by the generality of them that call themselves Protestants But this Book having had a solid and substantial Answer by Dr. Du Moulin I will not trouble my self or the Reader with any thing which he hath written in vindication of the Protestant Religion and the Reformed Churches and Divines abroad But I cannot but take notice of the ignorance or rather the Malice of the Author of the Controversial Letters out of whom the substance of the present imputation is taken who tells us He doth not know that the Church of England hath proceeded so far as the Roman Church hath done in the Council of Constance or condemned those Errors by any Authentick Censures And our Author is not afraid or ashamed to say that some Roman Catholiques are most remarkable peradventure of all others for firmness of Loyalty I shall endeavour therefore with as much brevity as the Subject will allow to vindicate the Honour of the Reformation of our own Church and Nation from this unjust and malicious Charge 1. The Confessions of the several Reformed Churches abroad are so full and clear in asserting the Obedience of Subjects to their Princes that I do not find our Adversaries of Rome have much to say against them (B) V. Corpus Syntagma Confessionum c. Aurei Allob. 1662 V.G. The Bohemian the Helvetian the French the Augustine the Saxon the â—…gick Confessions in the Articles concerning the Civil Powers We are told that the Protestants of France had towards the beginning of the War resolved upon a Declaration against the Parliament and Subjects of England taking Arms against the King and hâ—… published it if it had not been dasht by Cardinal Richlieu 〈◊〉 Englands Complaint by L. Gatford Printed 1648. pag 10. And 't is observable That upon the reprinting of all the Confessions of the Reformed Churches at Geneva An. 1654. it was moved That instead of the 39 Articles of the Church of England which do with the greatest plainness and sincerity assert the Duty of Subjects to Princes they would insert the Confession of the Assembly of Divines but the motion was utterly rejected by the University Senate and Church of Geneva and the 39 Articles put in as before (C) Durell vind Eccles-Angl c. 2. As to the Sayings of particular Doctors of the Reformation I cannot indeed I need not defend them they are no Pillars of our Faith nor do their Writings bear the stamp of publick Authority And since none of our Adversaries have proved that any of the Reformed Churches have by any Authentick Act approved of Seditions and treasonable Principles as I shall prove the Roman Church doth they cannot be imputed to the Protestant Religion with the same reason that we charge them upon the Roman Church Let the Papists say and Protest that their Church never taught any Seditious Practises yet I shall sooner trust my own Senses than such men as by the Principles of their Religion are under no Obligation of speaking Truth 2. No Church under Heaven did ever more expresly declare against all Seditious and Disloyal Practises than the Church of England Our Reformation was begun and carried on in a peaceable and legal manner and our Reformers proposed to themselves that excellent Rule of our Saviour They restored to God the things that were Gods and to the Kings the full exercise of their lawful Power We are Members of a Church whose just Glory it is not only to have constantly taught the Duty of Subjects to their Princes but suffered for her Loyalty to them Our Kings and the Church of England have always rejoyced and wept together and none ever forsook the Royal Cause in its Distress which had not first forsaken the Church or at least lost all their Zeal and Affection to her In Fine our late Royal Martyr declared That he died for maintaining the true Protestant Religion he acquitted not only the Church of England but all the true Sons of the Church from
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
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
become of the Souls of the people May not the most erroneous and pernicious Doctrines and Practises prevail in the Church whilst the greatest part of it follow their Guides and think they are bound to believe as the Church believes I know 't is commonly call'd the Jesuitical Art of Equivocation but though they have extended the Practise of it further though they have polished it with more dexterity and defended it with more subtilty than others of that Communion yet I must needs say Parsons spoke one great Truth when he told us this Doctrine hath been received in the Roman Church for 400 years The Principal Cases wherein the Divines of the Roman Church allow of it are these that follow If a man be charged with a secret Crime which cannot be proved by clear evidence If the Judges before whom he appears be Incompetent as all ours in England are If it were told him in Confession or if he hath been absolved by a Priest If it be necessary to the obtaining some great good or the avoiding some great evil And what a man may safely say he may safely swear What he may deny in a Court of Judicature he may deny at his Execution For if that which otherwise would be a Lie is saved by a mental Reservation there can be no danger in swearing to it in standing upon our own vindication and making the most serious Appeals to Heaven at the point of death Besides suppose it were unlawful to equivocate in any case whatsoever yet if it be not a Mortal Sin if a thousand Venial Sins cannot damn a man I know no reason why they should not venture upon it to save their own Lives or the Honour of their Religion In fine This Doctrine hath been expresly avowed by the Holy See those Divines which declaim against it with most seeming bitterness in other cases allow of it in that of Confessions those few Divines which have written against it are charged with singularity or haeresie But he that desires to see the Doctrine of Equivocation and Mental Reservation justified by the greatest Authorities of the Roman Church may consult any of the Authors cited in the Margent (F) Lessius de Antichristo in Opuse Ed. 1626. p. 773. De Justitia Jure c. 42. Dub. 9. n. 47 48 p. 626 c. Bonacina tom 2. Disp 4. qu. 1. punct 12. Fr. Tolet. De instruct Sac. l. 4. c. 21. l. 5. c. 57. Eudaemon Joannes Apol. pro Garnetto c. 2. Azorias Institut Mor. l. 11. De Jure jurando c. 4. J. de Dicastillo Tract de Juram Disp a. dub 12. See also Is Casaub Ep. ad Fr. Duraeum Parsons in his Treatise of Mitigation And in his quiet and sober Recknoning with M. Morton The Judgment of Pope Pius the 5th Abbot de Mendacio Pras p. 9. c. And p. 39 40. whose Books are licensed and approved by their Superiours or other Eminent Divines And now it were easie to give an Answer to the Decree made at Rome March 2. 1679. against some Propositions of the Jesuites and other Casuists that Decree being so very lame and defective that we are not at all secured by it from the pernicious effects of this Doctrine for 1. The Propositions condemned are the 27th and 22th and though I did believe those two Propositions to be false yet I might equivocate in some of the Principal Cases before mentioned 2. They are not condemned as evil or impious in themselves contrary to the Laws of God and Nature and consequently the Censure or Condemnation is not indispensable But what if a man be barr'd the use of Equivocation and Mental Reservation What if he voluntarily or by the command of his Judges do renounce them I answer If they be lawful in other cases there can be no reason why they should be sinful in this V. G. You are commanded to tell all you know of such a Matter Your Answer is I know no more than I have told you i.e. with this Reservation That I am bound to tell you And being further required to speak without a Mental Reservation why may you not still answer I do not make use of any Mental Reservation i.e. So as I am bound to tell you This second Answer is defensible upon the same Principles with the first So Garnette was required by the Lords Commissioners to answer without Equivocation yet he denied a certain Truth upon his Salvation and with the most bitter and solemn Imprecations (G) Is Casaub Ep. ad Fr. Duraeum p. 117. And this was no more than was Lawful by the Principles of Parsons Soto Ja. a Graffiis Bonacina c. On the contrary Simplicity and Godly Sincerity are constantly recommended by her the Roman Church as truly Christian Vertues necessary to the conservation of Justice Truth and Common Society But doth this Author think we never read the Acts of their Famous Council of Constance I am sure J. Husse and Jerome of Prague felt the sad effects of the Simplicity and godly Sincerity which are but other names for breach of publique Faith of the Roman Church Having thus examined the Principles of this little Treatise so far as they fall under our present Debate it will be no hard matter to discover the Fraud and Hypocrisie of his Discourse p. 47. which deserves a distinct Consideration The question between us is Whether the denial of the Principles charged on the Roman Catholicks be a sufficient Justification of their Innocence This Author seems to joyn with us in a just abhorrence of them Let those in Gods Name if any there be of what Religion soever who hold such Tenents suffer for them why should the Innocent be involved with the Guilty There is neither Reason nor Justice in it I confess the Design of dividing the Papists and making a difference between men of loyal and disloyal Principles is very charitable even great and good men are apt to believe that to be practicable which they earnestly desire and I know none which would not be glad to see a prudent and safe way found out for making a discrimination between the Innocent and the Guilty But the Dispute among those of out Church is not whether there be any Loyal and Honest men of the Roman Communion nor yet whether they deserve more Favour than other Papists but whether we can find out a safe and certain way to distinguish between men of Honest and Seditious Principles It is agreed on both sides 1. That there are some good men of that Communion 2. That the Righteous ought not to be as the Wicked 3. That we can have no security from the Principles of their Religion Those very persons who are for dividing the Papists acknowledge That none of them can be truly good and loyal but such in whom common reason or common Christianity prevail above their Religion that all the Reason we can have to believe that they will do us no hurt if they are truly