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
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
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
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
once pronounced it will be lawful for the Commonwealth to deny Obedience to him And because a War must necessarily follow the Counsels how to maintain it must be sit down Arms must be quickly provided and Taxes laid upon the People to defray the Expences of the War And if it be requisite and the Commonwealth cannot otherwise maintain it self it will be lawful both by the right of Defence and more by the Authority proper to the People to declare publiquely the King to be the common Enemy and then to kill him with the Sword The Commonwealth from which the Royal Power hath its Original may when the case requires it bring the King to Judgment and deprive him of his Soveraignty for the Commonwealth hath not so transferr'd the Right of Power to the Prince but it hath reserved a greater Power to it self 2. But if there be no opportunity for the States of the Kingdom to assemble in this case of necessity they may dispense with the Formalities of Law any man may do that which the Commonwealth is supposed to desire should be done the common voice of the People shall be his Warrant that cuts of the Kings Head 3. But what if this be like to endanger the Traytors Neck Then he may take away the King by conveying a strong and subtile Poyson into 〈◊〉 Garment or Saddle as the Moors have kill'd their Enemies with poysoned Presents But 't is time to draw to a conclusion of this Head J. Goodwin in one of his Pamphlets hath this remarkable expression As for offering violence to the person of a King or attempting to take away his Life we leave the proof of the lawfulness of it to those profound Disputers the Jesuites c. And one of his Adversaries in a Letter to him declares that J. Goodwin is for ought he knows the first and only Minister of any Reformed Church that ever was of that Jesuitical Opinion as himself stiles it (L) Nethersole in a Letter to J. Goodwin Printed Jan. 8 1648. And though I will not undertake to make good that Assertion yet to the Positions of any of our Sectaries I can oppose the Authorities of a whole Herd of Jesuites and other Divines of the Roman Church But to all these Observations I will only add one more That as a Preparative to the Murder of King Charles the First a Book was printed An. 1648. licensed by G. Mabbot bearing this Title Several Speeches delivered at a Conference concerning the Power of Parliaments to proceed against their King for Misgovernment The Heads upon which these Speeches are pretended to be made and the very Matter and Expressions excepting only some few not material Passages are wholly taken out of the Book of Parsons an English Jesuit the great Design of which was to baffle the Title of King James to the Crown of England animate the People to Rebellion and introduce the Roman Catholique Religion All the difference is Parsons published his Book by way of Dialogue these turned it into Speeches This Parsons was Rector of the English College at Rome missed very narrowly of a Cardinals Cap of how great esteem he was at Rome may be gather'd from that famous Inscription on his Monument (M) Aligambe p. 413 414. And he hath furnished the Seditious Spirits amongst us with Arguments and Precedents for their Practises against the King This false new Title they are the words of Mr. Prinne ' published at this Season intimated to the World that this Discourse of a Jesuit for which he was condemned of High Treason was nothing else but Speeches made by some Members of the Commons House at a Conference with the Lords of which Book though himself and divers others complained there was nothing done to vindicate the Houses from this gross Imputation (N) Prinne's Speech in the House of Commons Decemb. 4. 1648. p. â—00 By all which we see that the Popes and Jesuites though at a distance contributed very much to the late Bloody Wars in England and the dismal consequences of them All the difference I can find between the Heads of both Factions is only this Whether the Power of Deposing and Chastising Kings belongs to the People or to the Pope The Fanatique Sectaries allow the People by their Representatives to resume the Power into their own hands whereas some of the Popish Fanatiques reserve this Power to the Pope as the Common Father of Christendom Some I say for the greater part of them invest the Commonwealth with this Authority And so much of the first Proposition 2. In the Reign of King Charles the First the Pope stirr'd up his Subjects of the Roman Communion to Rebel forbad them to take the Oath of Allegiance and absolved them from their Obedience In the beginning of his Majesties Reign the Pope by his Bull strictly forbids the taking the Oath of Allegiance (O) Urban 8. Dilectis filiis Catholicis Angliae Romae Maii 30. 1126. An. 1642. The Pope persuades Eugenius Oneal to give proofs of his Valour in joyning with the Irish Catholiques against the Haeretiques grants to him and all his Adherents the Apostolical Benediction and Plenary Indulgence (P) In a Bull dated Octob. 8. 1642 to Eugegenius Oneal An. 1643. he grants a Bull of Plenary Indulgence to all the Roman Catholiques of Ireland who had joyned in the Rebellion began in the year 1641. (Q) This Bull is dated May 25 1643. all which Bulls are extant in the Histories of those times and therefore need not be transcribed When the Irish Papists submitted to the King subscribed and swore to the observation of the Articles agreed upon the Pope absolved them from their Oath took upon himself to be their General in the person of his Nuntio assumed the exercise of the Regal Power imprisoned those Roman Catholiques and threatned to take away their Lives who had promoted the Peace and desired to return to their Allegiance to his Majesty And 't is observable That soon after the most Infamous Rump had crowned all their Wickedness with the Murder of his Sacred Majesty they nulled the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and so made themselves as Innocent as the Child unborn (R) Feb. 9. The House voted that the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy should be Null and Void Memorie 's of the English Affairs ad an 1648. Thus I have proved with as much brevity as a Discourse of this consequence would admit That neither the Reformed Churches abroad nor the Church of England gave any encouragement to the late Bloody Wars in England or the Murder of the Lords Anointed and I have shewed what Influence the Principles and Practises of the prevailing Faction of the Roman Church had upon them I have omitted nothing that deserves our Consideration except the Gunpowder Treason which having been the Subject of many Sermons and Books I shall pass it over only with these two Observations 1. The late Lord Stafford at his Tryal
by the Word of God he may the Supream Government in all causes Ecclesiastical and Civil In those Causes you are not Subject to him for doth not the Pope claim the Supremacy in all Ecclesiastical and even in Temporal Causes at least in ordine ad Spiritualia Let the Rhemists complain that the Protestants extol only the Secular Power We acknowledge the King to be Supream Governour in all Causes and over all Persons within his Majesties Dominions for this is all that we attribute to the Secular Power and 't is the Glory of our Church to have taught and suffered for this Doctrine But for the Loyalty of the Rhemish Divines I refer the Reader to some of their Annotations as they are cited in the Margent (M) The Rhemish Testament was see forth by that Traiterous Seminary of English Papists and printed at Rhemes An. 1582. See the former part of their Annotations on ver 4. of this 13th Chapter to the Romans where they complain That now all is given to the Secular Power and nothing to the Spiritual which expresly is ordained by Christ and the Holy Ghost The exemption of the Clergy is asserted Annot. on S. Matth. 17.26 The Popes Infallibility Annot. on S. Luke 22.31 And in the Margent they say Popes may err personally not judicially or definitively The Popes Supremacy Annot. on S. John 21.17 And on 1 Pet. 2.12 They say Although all Power be of God and Kings Rule by him yet this is no otherwise than by his ordinary Concurrence and Providence He that desires to see a true Character of the English Seminaries may consult a Treatise penn'd by the direction of one of the greatest Statesmen and wisest men of his Age under this Title The Execution of Justice in England c. Reprinted An. 1675. My Lords 4th Testimony was taken from the Censure of the Doctors of the Famous Faculty of Sorbon against a Book of Sanctarellus particularly against the 30th and 31th Chapters In those two Chapters these Propositions are contained That the Pope can punish Kings and Princes with Temporal Penalties and depose and deprive them of their Kingdoms for the Crime of Haeresis and free their Subjects from their Obedience and that is hath been always the Custom in the Church and for other Causes also as for Faults if it be Expedient if the Princes be Negligent for the insufficiency and unprofitableness of their Persons Likewise That the Pope hath Right and Power over Spirituals and all Temporals also and that both the Powers Temporal and Spiritual are in him by Divine Right That it was to be believed that Power was granted to the Church and its Chief Pastors to punish with Temporal Penalties Princes the Transgressours of Divine and Humane Laws especially if the Crime be Haeresie Likewise that the Apostles were subject to Secular Princes de facto non de jure by Fact not by Right Moreover that as soon as the Pope is installed all Princes begin to be subject to him Lastly That he expounded the Words of Christ Whatsoever ye shall bind upon Earth c. to be understood not only of the Spiritual but of the Temporal Power c. The Faculty after mature deliberation disapproved and condemned the Doctrine contained in these Propositions and other like Expressions in the same Chapters as new false erroneous and contrary to the Word of God Given in the Sorbon Apr. 4. 1626. In Answer to all which I have many things to say but that I may not exceed my intended brevity I shall reduce them to the following Heads 1. That this Book of Sanctarellus was revised and approved by persons of greater Authority in the Roman Church than the Divines of Sorbon (N) Alegambe Bibl. script soc Jes in the life of Sanctarellus gives us this Character of him Vir moribus apprimé religiosis modestissima mansuetudine The Title of the Book is A. Sanctarelli soc Jes Tract de Haeres c. Ed. Romae 1625. In the License of the Master of the Sacred-Palace are these words In eo omnia religioni consona atque utilia adinvenerim In another of the Licenses In quo nihil reperi quod Sanctae Fidei aut bonis moribus adversetur It was printed at Rome permissu Superiorum approved by three Divines of the Society licensed by the General of the Order by the Master of the Sacred Palace and several other Divines By which we see what kind of Divinity was then in request at Rome But it may be the Divines of the Roman Church have one Conscience at Rome and another at Paris as was once said of the Jesuites 2. Since the breaking out of the Popish Plot in England when so many of that Religion were in danger of their Lives the Pope thought fit to condemn 65 Propositions as I shewed before but did not speak one word against the Power of deposing Princes though it was asserted in the same Divines and Casuists with the 65 Propositions And whether the Judgment of his Holiness or of the Divines of Sorbon be of greater value with Roman Catholiques let all men judge 3. Why do the Church and Court of Rome suffer an hundred as bad Books as this of Sanctarellus in which the same or worse Propositions are maintained to pass not only without Censure but with publique Anthority and Approbation 4. There are no Propositions in the places censured by the Sorbonists which he might not justifie by the Principles of the Bishops of Rome the most correct Editions of the Canon Law and in the Sentence of Excommunication and Deprivation of Frederick the Emperor with the Approbation of a General Council the Pope expounds the words of Christ as Sancturellus since did not only of the Spiritual but of the Temporal Power also (O) In the General Council of Lyons Concil tom 28. ut supra Innocent the 4th with the consent of the Council denounces Sentence of Deprivation against Frederick the Emperor Nobisque in B. Petri Apostoli persona sit dictum quodcunque ligaveris c. S. Marth 16. Also M. Paris ad An. 1245. p. 672. 5. What hath Sanctarellus said more than the Doctors of the Famous Faculty of Sorbon did both before and since the Publishing of his Book I know that Ancient College of Sorbon did for many years keep up a great reputation and was esteemed the Bulwark of Regal Authority but ever since the rise of the Jesuites many of their Determinations have been carried by Interest and Faction An. 1589 a little before the Murder of Henry the third of France the People of that Kingdom proposed these two queries to the Divines of Sorbon 1. Whether the People of France may not be discharged and set free from their Oaths of Allegiance made to Henry the Third 2. Whether they may not with a safe Conscience Arm and Vnite themselves collect and raise Money for the Defence and Preservation of the Roman Catholiques in that Realm against the wicked
him who is Obliged before God is to teach men to prefer their own Conscience before the Authority of the Church (Z) History of the Council of Trent l. 8. And Laynez was so far from being call'd to an Account for that bold Assertion that he was Honoured and highly complimented by the Fathers of that Council In short The Bishops of Rome have presumed to alter the Nature of Things to absolve in some Cases from the Obedience of God himself to grant Pardons for the greatest Sins against the Divine Majesty and to License Incestuous Marriages against the Law of God and Nature But the High-Priest did not use to let out Goliahs Sword but upon Extraordi-Occasions It may be these Dispensations are not very commonly and frequently sent over hither for many Papists do not need them some are not fit to be trusted with them and 't is not always for the Interest of the Roman Church and Religion to grant them 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 P. 52 53. MY Lords Declaration before the House of Lords after his Condemnation That there had been at divers times endeavours used and Overtures made to obtain an Abrogation or at least a Mitigation of Severities against Catholicks but this to be procured no otherwise than by Legal and Parliamentary means That he himself went to Breda whilst the King was there and propounded 100000 l. in behalf of the Catholicks to take off the Penal Laws That after the King came in there was a Bill brought into the House in Favour of Catholicks but it was opposed by my Lord Chancellor Hide With some later Proposals and Expedients c. These he avouched were the chief and only Designs he ever had or knew of amongst Catholicks for promoting their Religion In his former Address to the Court p. 41. he declared That it was ever indeed his Opinion that an Act of Comprehension for Dissenting Protestants and a Toleration for Roman Catholicks yet so as not to admit them into any Offices of Profit or Dignity would much conduce to the Happiness of the Nation but this not otherwise to be procured or desired than by a free Consent of the King Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That he never read or knew of Coleman 's Letters or Consultations for Tolerations till he saw the Letters themselves in the Printed Tryal In the Printed Tryal p. 201. My Lords I believe that after that all of all Religions had Meetings amongst themselves to endeavour to get that Toleration which they proposed humbly to your Lordships there I will never deny that my Opinion was and is That this Kingdom can never be happy till an Act of Parliament pass to this effect It was my Opinion then and I did endeavour it all I could that the Dissenting Protestants might have a Comprehension and the other those of the Church of Rome a Toleration But how comes a zealous Papist to have so much kindness for Dissenting Protestants Were I a Dissenting Protestant I should very hardly be persuaded That those men which ever since the Reformation have endeavour'd to undermine the Foundations of our Religion are now become Friends to the Protestant Interest I should call to mind Coleman's Declaration after Sentence given against him That possibly he might be of an Opinion that Popery might come in if Liberty of Conscience had been granted I should be afraid of helping to break in pieces the established Religion and Government lest when they have gotten the Power into their Hands they should betake themselves to their old Arguments of Fire and Fagot But to return I shall take occasion from his Lordships Declaration to give a brief Account of the Comprehension for Dissenting Protestants and the Toleration for the Roman Catholicks so far as they of the Romish Party are concerned in them 1. I begin with the Comprehension for Dissenting Protestants If by Comprehension be meant such a Settlement as tendeth to a firm and lasting Union of Protestants and is consistent with the Security of the Reformed Religion the Honour of our first Reformers and the establishment of the Church of England in short such a Settlement as may shew that the present Terms of Communion with our Church are not unlawful I say if this be the meaning of Comprehension let it be considered 1. That Private Persons of how great Eminency soever can only make Proposals to their Lawful Superiors for the Laws are still in force and cannot be altered by any Authority less than that by which they were Enacted 2. That divers very Eminent Persons of the Church of England have made the most fair and equal Proposals for the Satisfaction of all wise and peaceable men which are consistent with the Honour and Safety of the best established Church in Christendom 3. Since the Alteration of the Established Laws concerning the Preservation of our Church and Religion is one of the weightiest Considerations in the World since it is impossible to gain all Parties without receding too far from the first Principles of the Reformation there is something to be done by the Dissenters before they can reasonably hope for an Alteration of the present Constitutions I mean it should be known what kind of Alteration is desired and for whom what sort of men will be gained by it and what number of them When they which make such loud outcries and passionate Expostulations for Vnion have gone thus far then may our Governours understand what Measures are fittest to be taken i. e. Whether it be expedient to make any Alterations and if it be how far to Alter for the sake of Peace and a firm Vnion of Protestants Private Persons may judge of the Lawfulness of things imposed by Authority but it is an Argument of Pride and Immodesty for private persons to think themselves Competent Judges of the necessity or expediency of Laws But this is not the Design of the leading Faction of the Roman Church I grant they may be for promoting a seeming Union among
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