superstitious trumperies yee can deuise against vs. Did yee not heare did not the fame thereof eccho vpon Romes gates what a wonderfull mercy the Lord shewed to this Land the last yeare when vpon the very day of our publike fast throughout the Land being the second of August a day worthy to be put in the Rubrick of our perpetuall thankesgiuing vpon that very day I say God began euen miraculously to stoppe that sad and vnseasonable influence of heauen wherewith our fields now waxing white to the haruest were so pittifully drenched that almost all hope of harvest was drowned in our feare of a deluge in stead thereof yet even then began the heauens to cleare and cheare vp their clowdy and angry countenance when wee began to weepe they began to smile and from that day forward continued so extraordinarily and constantly faire without one dayes intermission vntill by Gods fauour they brought vs in not onely an harvest in season but in an extraordinary aboundance hath the Lord done thus to vs for temporall things vpon such our humiliation and will not be also for spirituall much more when wee truly sett our selues to seeke his face and fauour in the pardon of our sinnes Assuredly he will And as you may remember our deliverance from your Gunpowder plott vpon the fifth of Nouember so yee may bee pleased to recognize how the same God sent a fearefull vengance in bringing the same House downe vpon your heads when there yee being solemnely assembled began to erect your Dagon cheeke by joule by Gods Arke and to aduance the Throne of your Antichrist euen in the face of Christs Tribunall and all this remember and marke it well vpon your very fifth of Nouember Remember I say and forget it not that it may teach you to tremble before that God of Ours and euer may we also remember it for thankefullnesse to our God for vindicating his owne cause and glory against such proud and insolent affronts Well consult I say lay your heads ioyne you forces together arme your selues with as much might as yee haue malice against vs we feare you not so long as we shall oppose our religious to your anxious prayers Wee praying and humbling our selues as behoues vs yee shall no more prevaile against vs then Amaleck did against Israell while Moses bands were held vp The Lord giue all his people grace to put on the true Armour of Light euen the whole Armour of God whereby wee may stand fast in the euill day Then shall wee be sure that not all your spirit of charitie which is nothing else but the spirit of malignitie and confederacie against Christ now your spirit of fortitude which is the spirit of all lawlesse daring against God and his Gospell shall any whit auaile you In the meane time yee mightily triumph in your hopes as if already yee had the victorie So yee did in 88 so at the Gunpowder plot Yee may now as well as then reckon before your Host Yet it is good for vs to take notice of this your confidence of triumph It may teach vs though not to feare your brags yet not to bee secure but to prouide betimes to preuent your triumphs and to turne the examples of your fortitude into the examples and spectacles of confusion iustly falling vpon such Giant-like fighters against God and his Word But beside your anxious prayers you haue your councels yea councels of your onely Apostolicke inerrabilitie of your Apostolicke Senate your Conclaue of Cardinals drawing all their councells from your Holinesse breast For that is the proper seate of all your Senatorian power and councells Your predecessor Pope Nicholas the third assumed to himselfe the whole Senatorian power he by decree shut out all other temporall regiment in Rome and about and subiected it all to his Apostolick Soueraintie This now is your Apostolicke Senate Thus you proue your selfe that Beast bearing the Image of the former to wit of the ancient secular Roman power Reuel 13. Thus you exercise the whole power thereof being perpetuall Dictator hauing Consular and Senatorian power which ioyn'd with Apostolicke showeth you to bee both the seauenth and the eighth Head of that great Beast and so insumme that Antichrist Your Apostolicke Senate is of no lesse power then that ancienter Roman Senate to whom it belonged to admit into or to reiect from the number of their Gods whom they pleased So that Tiberius the Emperour could not preuaile to haue Christ sainted for a God because the Senate forsooth had not first allowed of it And doth not your Apostolicke Senate the same You saint and defie whom you please And Christ himselfe is no farther God with you but as you limit him by diuiding his Prerogatiues among your other pettie Gods Saints yea his mother you set aboue him your own Apostolicke Senats aboue all in Heauen earth You told vs before you feared our Counsels What need you You haue all counsell in your Apostolike Conclaue You can say to vs as once your predecessor Innocent the fourth to Henry the third King of England when hee went about to restraine Papall vsurpation in this Kingdome Rex Anglorum in quis qui jam recalcitrat Frederiz at suum habet consilium ego vero meum habeo quod sequur The English King saith he who now kicketh with the heele and playeth the Fredericke hath his Counsell and I also haue my Counsell which I will follow Of the two we feare more your counsels then your prayers But forasmuch as you spare not here to blaspheme also the Holy Ghost our trust is he will befoole all your Counsels Dare your father your impious Counsels and confederacies vpon the Holy Ghost that his Lights should be your Oracles Dare you ascribe your Counsels of darknesse to the illuminations of the Holy Ghost Surely your Holinesse is deceiued Is it not that spirit which as some of the Cardinals with their Pope Iohn the twentie two sitting in a Counsell at Rome praying for the presence of the Holy Ghost said appeared in the likenesse of an oughly Owle out staring the Pope in his face This indeed is a liuely embleme of that Spirit by whose Oracle your Apostolicke counsels are directed But neuer for shame goe about to perswade the world that your counsels for treasons and rebellions for absoluing subiects from their fidelitie and allegiance are the illuminations of the Holy Ghost So was Mahomets Doue his Holy Ghost So his epilepsian or comitiall fit but a trance wherein he talked with his Angell Gabriell So might Eugenius the third your predecessor haue two holy Ghosts at once attending vpon him while as he was saying Masse two Doues miraculously ascended and descended vpon him So Zedechiah the false Prophet might perswade he had the Spirit intail'd to him as you to Peters chaire when he said to Michaiah When went the spirit from me to speake vnto thee So did Numa Pompilius
your Romane Law-giuer found and father his Lawes vpon his familiar conference with his fained goddesse Egeria Such is your Holy Ghost I quake to repeat the words of your blasphemies And for your Armour of light what is it but Pistols Stellettoes Poysons your vsuall weapons whereby you perpetrate those hellish workes of darknesse which who so putteth not off can neuer put on the Armour of Light Yet notwithstanding all these blasphemies which shall certainly hasten confusion to Babels pride notwithstanding their vaine confidence in many prayers which for all their number want weight yet forasmuch as at this present they set all their Counsels a worke for the bringing to passe of some damnable plot against this Church and State which by all apparant signes so farre as wee may gather from the language of Babell in this Papall Bull wherein his Holinesse is still vp with Constancy and Fortitude animating his sonnes to a sublimitie of a triumphant mind and to be ready to vndergoe imprisonment the racke death whereof for ought that wee can see there is no such occasion giuen to speake but rather the contrary in regard of the great mildnesse vsed towards them and the large libertie they enioy cannot bee any other designe but some strong and sudden Inuasion whereby to subiugate this poore Church and State to Papall thraldome and to the Iberian in plaine English Spanish crueltie this may bee a sufficient warning to awaken vs out of our sweet slumber and to buckle on out Armour to defend our Religion Countrey Liues Libertie the noble England against this proud Antichrist and all his Confederates It followeth ANd if violence proceed so farre as it compell you to that pernicious and vnlawfull Oath of Alleagiance of England remember that your prayer is heard of the whole assemblies of the Angels beholding you and let your tongues cleaue to your gummes before you cause the authoritie of blessed Peter to bee diminished with that forme of Oath For that is not all that fidelitie be kept to the King but that the sacred Scepter of the Catholique Church be wrung from the Vicars of God Almightie that which our predecessor Paul the fifth of blessed memorie in so graue a deliberation decreed that ought yee altogether to obserue as the decree of truth Beloved sonnes this tribute due to the Prince of the Apostles no threats of men or flatteries ought at any time to extort from you they that perswade you otherwise those prophecie to you a lying vision and a fraudulent divination For sooner ought the sword of the mightie to take away from a Christian man his life then his faith Yea if an Angell from Heaven teach you otherwise then the Apostolique truth let him bee accursed Answer Aâ—ter the skirmish all this while at length his Holinesse comes to the maine battell wherein the sinewes of Pontifician strength consists and wherein Antichrist shewes himselfe in his Colours displayed Here he valiantly cuts in sunder the Gordian knot of all ciuill societie not as Peter cutting off onely the eare but the whole head from the body For the summe of this clause is to charge his sonnes by no meanes to suffer the Oath of Allegiance to bee imposed vpon them eyther by flatterie or by force But why should his Holinesse bee so streight laced for the taking of the Oath seeing hee can with a wet finger absolue or dissolue it at his pleasure Henry the third King of England knew this too well when trusting still to the purchase of Papall absolutions hee would not sticke to sweare and seale to solemne couenants made with his Nobles in Parliament which to breake at his pleasure it was but sending to Rome But the case it seemeth standeth now vpon more tickle termes Something is to bee done out of hand which eyther will not admit of the Oath as being a clogge to resolution or admitted cannot tarie for an absolution from Rome as being an impediment to speedy execution But come wee to the words as they lye If violence proceeded so farre as to compell you to that pernitious and vnlawfull Oath of Allegiance of England c. Surely such oathes of fidelitie as must bee extorted from subiects to their lawfull Prince are scarce worthy to bee trusted Slaues and not subiects require such violence Yet indeed if an Oath be pernitious and vnlawfull not violence it selfe should extor it But the Oath of Allegiance of England saith his Holinesse of Rome is pernitious and vnlawfull Pernitious to whom To his Holines vnlawfull By what law by none But his Holinesse owne law When till the Pope broached it was an Oath of fidelitie betweene Subiects and Prince vnlawfull let the Pope show this I say not in the sacred but in any prophane storie yea or in the Turkes Alcoran But it is enough if the Pope saith it But if violence c. Remember that your prayer is heard of the whole assembly of the Angels beholding you Remember Since when Or whence know they this The Pope tels them so But why the Angels Were it not more comfort to bee heard of God then of the whole assembly of the Angels But what if the Angels bee otherwise other where imployed as in remotest parts of heauen or earth farre from the sight of England What if the Popes sonnes doe not pray lowd enough as to be heard of the whole assembly of Angels They had need cry a loud as Elias told the Priests of Baal But least as Elias wee prouoke their Zeale too much to launch their flesh we will passe ouer this only noting againe being occasioned a fresh that this Angell seruice so much esteemed and commended by the Pope to his sonnes is a most infallible marke of that Antichrist and great Apostate from Christ the Head as Col. 2. 18. 19. And let your tongue cleaue to your gummes before c. It was a part of Israels song in Babilon If I remember not thee O Ierusalem let my tongue cleaue to my gummes c. And loe here the King of the spirituall Babilon vsurpes this Scripture and would haue his sonnes conversing in Iury rather to suffer their tongues to cleaue to their gummes then suffer the honour of Babylon of Rome to be impeached Yea but the Pope saith not so but Rather then you cause the authoritie of blessed Peter to bee diminished with that forme of Oath What is this to Babylon Yes For Peter from Babylon writ his Epistles What is this to Rome Yes saith the Pope Peter was now at Rome which he calleth Babylon A sound proofe that Peter was at Rome Rather shall Rome be Babylon then the Pope will want Proofe that Peter was at Rome For else how shall the Pope be Peters successour But admit Peter was at Rome must therefore the Pope bee Peters Successour But Peter was Byshop of Rome To omitt invinsible arguments against it suppose that too Yet the Pope can neuer prooue that Peter was Pope of Rome Great difference
purgatorie and those subterrestiall or infernall kingdomes according to that Phil. 2. v. 10. Psal 8. 7. v. 8. which places they familiarly apply to the Popes vnlimited power in these places vnderstanding by the Beasts men on earth by the Fishes soules in hell and purgatorie and by the Fowles the winged Angels ouer all which the Pope saith he hath dominion Thus all power is giuen him in heauen and earth Thus hee runnes away with Christs power but leaues the charge of Christ to his Disciples to preach the word and administer the Sacraments But in the meane time all this arrogant and blasphemous vsurpation of the Pope what doth it but most clearely conclude him to be that Great Antichrist described in the Scripture This is hee that exalis himselfe aboue all that is called God or that is worshipped This is hee that sits in or vpon the temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God to wit inuested in all the power of God and of Christ in heauen and earth as the Vicar of God almightie Herein hee is not Christs Vicar who would not meddle in matters of the world but indeede his Vicar that said to Christ All this power will I giue thee and the glory of them for that is deliuered vnto me and to whomsoeuer I will I giue it The Dragon spake this and of Antichrist it is said that he hath two hornes like a Lambe but speakes like the Dragon The Pope speakes iust like the Dragon here See this verified in the Pope to an haire to a very letter Pope Hadrian saith Vnde habet Imperator Imperium nisi à nobis c. From whence hath the Emperour his Empire but from vs that which the Emperour hath he hath it all of vs c. Loe it is in our power to giue it to whomsoeuer we will Therefore wee are appointed of God ouer Nations and Kingdomes that wee should destroy and plucke vp See how like the Sonnes voice is to the Syres Hee speakes iust like the Dragon onely in a more loftie stile wee for I. Also Pius 5. in his Bull against Queene Elizabeth of happy memorie vsed the like speech in Ier. 1. v. 10. So that the Pope and his clients conclude that all Emperours and Kings hold their Empires and Kingdomes but in fee of the Pope Thus Henry 1. King of England was glad with much paying and praying to obtaine of Pope Alexander the 3. that he and his successours should haue the title of the King of England This held till King Iohns time when the Pâ—pe againe resumed the kingdome of England into his own power but was content at length to let King Iohn haue it to farme So Pope Celestine 3. crowned Henry 6. Emperour and his Empresse with his holinesse feet and when he had done so strucke it off againe with his foot to signifie it was in the power of the fame foot to take away his crowne that had put it on Thus we see Antichrist exalting himselfe aboue all that is called God and that in the highest degree So that it may be admired that any man hauing but his eyes open to compare the Pope with his owne picture can doubt that he is that Antichrist vnlesse such men be giuen vp to a strong delusion because they receiued not the loue of the truth But it is lamentable to see learned men so blind-folded as not to see this Mysterie of iniquitie But more pernicious that not seeing it themselues they would perswade the world also that the Pope is not Antichrist Is it time now to make Apologies for the Pope not to be Antichrist when he so egregiously plaies the Antichrist euen vnder our noses when hee goes about to seduce and withdraw the hearts of subiects from the King from our gracious Soueraigne It was Tortus his speech noted by the learned Bishop in his Tortura to be Romes Doctrine that at the hissing of a slye which is in Babylon namely at Rome the subiects would reuolt from the obedience of their Prince and so by the window treason immediately entreth The Pope is the flye of Babylon who can make of the Prince no Prince of the subiect no subiect and the no subiect against the no Prince what may he not attempt But this is in case the Prince bee an Hereticke or Schismaticke And what is it for the Prince to be an Herticke forsooth if hee doe not yeeld himselfe the Popes Vassall which saith the Bishop is else to deny one of the prime Articles of the Christian faith It was the case of Philip le Bell. Thus the Bishop To proceede the Pope mentioneth a graue Decree of his Predecessor Paul 5. no doubt he meaneth that Bull sent hither into England inhibiting his sonnes the oath of allegiance The Pope calleth it a Decree of truth which must be diligently obserued For a taste I will insert one sentence of it cited by the learned Bishop Vobis ex verbis ipsis Iuramenti perspicuum esse debet quod huiusmodi iuramentum saluâ fide Catholica salute animarum vestrarum prestari non potest From the very words of the oath it ought to bee cleare vnto you that saith an oath cannot be vndertaken with the safetie of the Catholike faith and the saluation of your soules If so good reason their tongues should rather cleaue to their gums then they take it great reason that neither threats nor flatteries extort it from them rather part with life then faith yea this they must bee so vndoubtedly resolued of that If an Angell from heauen teach otherwise then this Apostolike truth let him be accursed Here at last breakes forth the thunderbolt it selfe which were enough to blast the very Angels of heauen if for subiects to denie due obedience to their lawfull Princes were an Apostolike truth But can a Christian eare heare such blasphemie without horror with any patience This an Apostolike doctrine an Apostolike truth Papall it is Diabolicall it is raked out of the pit of hell Apostolike it is not neither from Paul nor Peter from Paul 5. but not from Paul the Apostle Paul teacheth the contrary Rom. 13. Peter the contrary 1. Pet. 2. 13. how durst you you blessed Apostles preach such a doctrine as is contrary to the Apostolike truth of Rome either you must recant your doctrine or loe a smoaking Anathema is breathed out against you But lest those holy Apostles lest God himselfe lest Iesus Christ lest the holy Ghost lest the whole sacred word of God should come within the danger of the Popes curse and all for the mistaking of one word Apostolike for Apostaticke We are rather to thinke that as Manicheus writing himselfe Apostle hence hee would conclude his damnable doctrines to be Apostolike so the Pope calling himselfe that Apostolike one therefore all his lying Oracles must be taken for Apostolike truths And see here also how impiously the Pope goes on to peruert and prophane
or kingdomes so miserable as those vnder the Spaniards insolent intollerable tiranny To say nothing of the West-Indies whose wretched slauery hath been the subiect of large volumes setting out the matchlesse examples of spanish cruelties enough to cause euen those barbarous heathen to abhorre heauen it selfe if it were as the iugling Friers Iesuits falsly informed them the reward of Spaniards with whom they would be loath to goe thither vpon any tearmes to speake as little of our neighbour Netherlands once vnder the Spaniard but whose saluage and treacherous crueltie grew so intollerable that theu shooke him quite besides the saddle enough to proue him vnexpert in the Art of good Horse-manship which consists rather 〈…〉 and moderating of the 〈◊〉 then in the rough and ouer imperious vsage of the Rod and Spurre to passe by also those goodly Countries in Italy as of Naples Millain and the rest how groane they vnder that Iberian yoake how the people once conquerours of the world now made slaues their Nobility debased their ancient Gentrie defaced and all trampled vnder the Spaniards proud foote Go no farther then Spaine it selfe Aske that company that came lately out of Spaine and tooke a full view of the Spanish Regiment they can tell you how vnworthy it is to become so much as a Paterne for the Noble State of England to follow How base and wretched is the whole Commonaltie of that Nation though Natiues What slaues vnder a Tyrant rather then Subiects vnder a King There no lawes are in force but such as establish an absolute tyranny There euery monyed man may not bee permitted to purchase lands no nor to buy himselfe good 〈◊〉 but according to his stinted pittance a pound of Beefe or so There the common 〈◊〉 for all their great Masters 〈…〉 of so many mynes are glad of copper coyne instead of siluer for who goes worse shod then the shoomakers wife and if he chance to get any siluer purchased with his double commodities he must be sure to pay the King and the Priest in the purest coyne for if he offer them the base the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priest can finde no hands to recieue it turning away his face as though he cared not for money and such an offence is not absolued nor expiated without â—â—ere siluer As for his base coyne that he may lay out to haue as base commodities for it not halfe so good penny-woorths as our poore haue at the Chandeler for their farthings For as neere as they can the seller shapes his price according to the stuffe or mettall which the buyer bringeth Their taxes are intollerable Take but one instance the common meritorious Curtisans that trade for three pence a turne must pay one penny of it to the King and another to the Pope and haue but the third penny to herselfe though it be too much vnlesse she deserued it better To say nothing of the miserable captiuity of the Spaniards who sitting at dinner or so if the Priests bell doe but tinkle at the doore his Dame be she neuer so buxome or debonaire louely or dainty away she must to priuate shrifte while the good-man must be glad to bite vpon the sower hearbes of cholericke jealousie leauing his dainty Kates perforce alas to the Priest to feede upon O poore Spaniards yea some of them informed by our English then their Guests how free we were in England from such bondage deepely sighed as far as they durst saying England was happy and enjoyed Heauen while themselues were tormented in Hell and Purgatory And tell me now O yee English Romain Catholickes do yee enuy the happinesse of the Spanish yoake Is it so sweete trow you to exchange for it your English liberty Yet though you affect it neuer so much though Iesuiticall eloquence neuer so fairely guilt ouer with a brainsick ambition of becomming great Magnificoes yet soft a while you must not looke 〈◊〉 to goe cheeke by iowle with senior Spaniole to bee vsed â—â—â—â—gether so favourably as your Don is For he is a Natiue of Spaine you Aliens he is for all his Masters yoake poore and true to his King so poore that he cannot chuse but bee true for yee seldome or neuer heare of rebellion or treason in Spaine by a Spaniard Why because the poore shakes are kept so cold that they want courage strength to sting but in England it is otherwise As king Henry 4 of England a wise Prince who full well knew the humour of the English they are a graue authors words in his admonition to his Sonne at his death said of English men so long as the haue wealth and riches so long shalt thou hâ—ue obeysance but when they be poore then are they ready to make insurrections at euery motion For as Alfred of Beuerly sang of England in his Poem Libera gens cui libera mens libera lingua Sed lingua melior libera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Nation free whose minde whose tongue if free But hand then tongue will better freer be And what liberty doe not euen you yourselues here inioy wherein are you restrained vnlesse a little in that wherein it were happy for you that ye had not the least communion at all I meane your Romish Religion But of that Anon. But say any should renounce the best natiue properties of English men which is fidelitie and loyaltie to their Prince and Country and retaine the worst to wit an itching affection after noueltie and change Say that the Iesuits with their Circean Cup should so transforme our English as Vlisses his men into Hoggs as when the hungry Wolfe or Fox should see me to present to their smell some gratefull coÌ„modity they should inconsiderately with the snowt of sensuality cast open the doore of their owne sty and so let in the rauenous Beasts to prey both vpon themselues the whole litter turning their habitations into Dennes of such wild Beastes In plaine tearmes say that if the subtile and cruell Spaniard were now with a great Nauy vpon our narrow Seas seeking to arriue on our Coast but could not 〈◊〉 we kept our Sinque-Ports and Forts well guarded yea specially so long as we were all fast knit in vnity among our selues like true English-men but that the Popes Catholick sons should be perswaded for the obtaining 〈◊〉 least of the liberty of their consciences if not to plunge themselues into a further thraldome to rise vp for the Catholick King by which meanes he might haply 〈◊〉 footing in England what thinke you then should become of you Grandees all of you would be Yea Grand deuills and such as your new master of Spaine would neuer account worthy to be trusted so much as to digge in his siluer Mynes in the West-Indies who so vnnaturally would not stick to betray your deare natiue Country Nay would he not spare that labour and cost to carry you so farre to bee his slaues though as Mendoza answered Henry 3 of France that
clowd breake forth into a tempest vpon our heades Wee as silly birds like the Done without heart sit and looke on till the fowler spread his net ouer vs or like the foolish fish which beaking her selfe neere the banke suffereth the fisher to tickle and handle her lightly till at length hee gripes her fast and flings her on the Land shall wee thus suffer Romes Fishers to play and dally with vs till by their smooth flatteries they haue with a suddaine vnexpected jerke cast vs out of our fresh pleasant riuers that they may presently vnbowell vs and put vs into their hotte boyling panne and so deuour vs shall thus the theife bee so vigilant rising by night to kill men and shall not honest men awake to preserue themselues Hell no doubt enlargeth her mouth as waiting for the euent of her Sonnes deepe designes and machinations that shee may deuoure such a precious morsell as England is This Hell is Rome or rather the Popes Pallace there from whence through the Gate-Portusa a faire way leadeth downe to a place called the valley of Hell It is a pregnant embleme of the Papall state But the Pope here by his very mentioning of Hells mouth enlarging it selfe doth from hence fetch fire to enflame his sonnes with a more violent ardour of hostilitye telling them that they ought therefore to bee armed with the inuincible Buckler of a good resolution But that he should withall impute vnto vs mortall crueltie thirsting after the blood of Martyrs we cannot choose but take it for a fine frumpe or rather for the Sardenian laughter a most bitter taunt Wee cruell vnlesse by shewing mercy to the Popes white sonnes wee are therein most cruell to our owne selues and so may prooue our selues to bee the Martyrs whose blood that purple whore so thirsteth after Or doe we thirst after the blood of Martyrs doth the Pope imagine so because England neuer since Queene Maries dayes so much as tasted any such like drinke that now after so long abstinence it should bee so thirsty but what Martyrs if he meane Romish rebels traitors murtherers factious seducers and the like cannot our just lawes which at first by such villanies were forced to bee made and now by the like your Romish attempts are a fresh justly enough prouoked to bee executed punish such miscreants but you must charge vs with mortall cruelty as thirsting after the blood of Martyrs such Martyrs of yours as justly suffered death for their many treacheries and treasons in that good Queene ELIZABETHS raigne against her Royall person Crowne and Realme farre vnlike those Martyrs of Christ which suffered fire and faggot in Queene MARIES dayes for the Gospells sake Or your late Martyrs Garnet Catesby Piercy Digby Tressam the two Winters the two Wrighâ—â—â— Rookwoad Grant Koyes and Faux those hellish Conspiratours in the Gunpowder-treason These be your Martyrs yet call yee vs cruell for executing but justice vpon such malefactors Wee know you pretend you exclaime you suffer for religion and therefore Martyrs So did the Donatists in Saint augustines time who beeing justly punished by Imperiall Lawes for maintaining their schismaticall factions and se ducements complayned they suffered Martyrdome whom Saint Augustine reproueth Hoc putant esse signum c. The Donatists account this to be the marke of a true Christian if hee doe not practise but suffer persecution But let them saith hee aske of the Apostle what Church Sara figured when she persecuted her bondmaid Surely in Sara the Apostle saith that the heauenly Ierusalem to witt the true Church of God was figured which afflicted the handmaid Si autem melius discutiamus c. And if wee better discusse the matter the handmaid did more persecute Sara by her insulting then Sarab her by hampering for Hagar did iniurie her Mistresse Sara disciplined her for her pride A pregnant parallell to this purpose Hee that is a Seruant that ought to bee a dutifull and peaceable subject playeth the insolent rebell denyeth obedience and subjection to his rightfull Soueraigne the Soueraigne by just Lawes chastiseth such a rebell whether of these is the Persecutor whether of these is the Martyr for nor paena sed causa facit Martyrem not the punishment but the cause maketh the Martyr But Pontificians suffer for Religion for what Religion not that of Christ but for that which is flat rebellion against Christ and his Word which streightly commandeth loyalty and subjection to Princes and Magistrates In that sense Popish Traytors may be said to suffer for Religion such a Religion which is so combined with rebellion that they can neither bee diuided nor yet distinguished so that not vnfitly in this place so much doth the Pope recommend and mention his Martyrs in this Breeus may wee rancke them with those Heretiques called Martyriam whom Saint Augustine joyneth with the Satamani in his 57. cap. de Haeres These Martyriani were so called for honouring one of their sect put to death by Luppieianus a Generall as a Martyr of God and Christian faith with these consented the Satanici or Satiniant who worshipped Satan as the Moderator of all their actions whose manners Saint Iude describeth These also were consociated with the Euchitae who despising labour were all for praying from whom the whole rabble of Monkes deriue their Order But how farre the Pontificians symbolize with these let their owne doctrines and practises witnesse But howsoeuer the great Vulcan of Rome heere plyeth his Forge hee beates while the Iron is hotte to frame a compleate Armour for his Sonnes and an inuincible buckler of a good resolution concluding this clause with a rhetoricall gradation that neither the prison the racke nor death it selfe should daunt them But when you Pontificians beginne to call to arme against vs your pretended enemies is it not high time for vs to leaue our dallying and in good earnest to buckle on our armour against your intended mischeifes It followeth Among the brittish rockes of their shipwracke religion Christs crosse hath beene a planke which hath brought you into the Hauen of your desire This Crosse you must embrace by the vertue whereof the bitternesse of punnishments is sweetned Answer IF the Pope heere did rightly apply Christs Crosse in that sense whereof the Scriptures spake namely as it is taken for the conformable sufferings of Christs members then might wee of the Church of England take vp this speach and say that by the Crosse of persecution in Queene MARIES dayes wee did swimme from the shipwrake to the shoare in Queene ELIZABETHS time the blood of Martyrs in that time being the seede whereof this our Church by the gracious dew of heauen and plentifull showers of preaching is sprung vp and increased to a most fruitfull harvest and other shipwrake religion wee knowe none but your Pontifician Religion which is a totall apostacie from the faith of Christ wherein you haue too many confederates euery where Your owne Apostate Marcus
with their Prince and common brethren enioy those blessings and comforts which are the inseperable rewards of vnity and peace It followeth Consider Beloued sonnes in what station yee stand and to whose eyes you are made a spectacle the Angelicall Legiens doe flutter about you which receiue in their golden viols the desires of the faithfull and present them at the sanctuary of the mercy of the Omnipotent heaven gates being set open Christ not onely a beholder but a rewarder sheweth you the sacred tryumphs of your Citizens whom purpled in their owne blood England hath brought into the heavenly assemblies Answer THe Pope goes on in his martiall style and his Antichristian blasphemies that so throughout this whole Bull hee might shew himselfe that blasphemous Beast in the Reuelation from horne to hoofe Loe here his sent are in their seuerall stations marshelled by their Generalls and Captaines ready for the fight to which they are provoked by the consideration of those eyes that behold them Who are they the Angelicall Legions what are those good or bad Angells if any they should be rather the good Angells for he attributeth vnto them the office of presenting the prayers of the faithfull in their golden violls at the mercy seat As if that were the office of the heauenly Angells which the Pope here seemeth absurdly to gather from that scripture Reu. 8. which is plainely spoken of the Angells Gods Ministers being the mouth of Gods people to offer the incense of prayer and praise and thankesgiuing vnto Christ in that place for opening the Booke of the Gospell to his Church which had bin closed vp by the Church of Rome Though here his Holines would insinuate vnto his sons his Roman-Catholique practise and doctrine of praying to Angells that which the Holy Ghost sets downe expressely as a brand of Apostacy from Christ Col. 2. 18. 19. So that this Angel worship is an other marke of the Beast onely hee is a little shy of speaking broadly in a matter so grosse especially to his sonnes in England where the light of the Gospell doth easily detect and vnmaske such Popish trumperie and as the Father here dealeth tenderly in such tickle points so his Priestly sons obserue the same rule here in England among their disciples with whom they must deale very cautelously smoothing over their rougher doctrines and qualifying them with sugar lest they should proue too tart to those palates which might happily haue had some tast of sundry doctrines in this Church But after that their Roman-Catholique disciples are once hardened and their stomackes strong enough to digest then they dare loade them with stronger meates and reueale vnto them the more hydden mysteries of their Romish religion This is obserued vnto vs by one who once had beene too well acquainted with such proceedings when he was a Popish Priest till it pleased God by the light of his truth to bring him home vnto vs and make him a worthy member of our Church and a pregnant instrument to detect Antichrist with his delusions But whereas your father-hood tells your sonnes of the Legions of Angells fluttering about them if you speake of the good Angells herein we poore of the Church of England comfort our selues against these your vaine boastings and lying confidence For wee are sure those legions are ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them which shall be heires of saluation those Angells haue a charge over Gods seruants to keepe them in all their wayes they pitch their tents round about them that feare God and deliuer them They are as an army of fierie chariots ready to defend one of Gods Prophets against a whole band of enemies Therefore in these heauenly Legions your Sonnes can haue no confidence at all for protection For how can your sonnes be the heires of saluation to whom you vtterly deny the meanes of saluation as is sauing faith in Christ what charge can they haue to protect your sonnes whom you cause to goe out of their waies by rebelling against God and their King yea rather you and your sonnes may justly feare that those Angells shall stand with their swords drawne to stoppe your course and to cut you off as that Angell did to Balaam because your waies are peruerse before God And know that if you persist in seeking the ruine of our Ierusalem one of those Angells is sufficient to smite and slay a million of you in one night when you dreame of no such thing But if by those Legions fluttering about your Sonnes you meane the Legions of Diuells these indeed no lesse delight in rebellions treasons and massacres then your Holinesse doth and when you haue done your worke will be as ready to pay your wages But for Christ in heauen although you most impiously blaspheme in making him an approuer of your damnable practises and plots yet rightly vnderstood true it is hee sits in heauen hee beholds all your machinations and will most certainly bee a seuere rewarder of all Popish impieties against God and his Lieutenants here on earth hee sits and sees he will laugh and deride you he will speake vnto you in his wrath and vexe you in his sore displeasure For the purpled Martyrs whom England hath sent into the heauenly assemblies true it is being vnderstood of the true Martyrs of Christ whom in the dayes of Queene MARY the Antichristian crueltie of Rome rather then England sent be purpled in their owne innocent blood into those heauenly assemblies of their fellow Martyrs and Saints But those you here call Martyrs who in England haue suffered just punishments for their fowle crimes and abominable treasons those without repentance dying embrued in their owne blood were no doubt sent thither where not all your purgatory flames though neuer so hotte can purge away the least slaine of such hellish guilt So that betweene these Romish Martyrs and those our English there is so great a gulph set that there is an impossibilitie of the least communion of societie But wee deny not wee enuy not but pitie rather that all such your Romish Martyrs goe all to one place who as they are confederates in the same crimes so it is just that they should bee associates in the same place and state of condemnation It followeth The anxious prayers of the mournefull Church desire of God for you the spirit of Charity and Fortitude The counsels of the Apostolique senate and the prayers of Christendome take care of your safety in so large a theater of heaven and earth what rigour of year constancy what sublimitie of a tryumphant mind becomes it you to haue in you The counsels of your predecessors haue beene in the like ieopardy the lights of the holy Ghost and the armour of light bee your wise oracles and your actions the examples of fortitude Answer IN the former clause the Pope animates his sonnes as being a spectacle of Christ and Angels here he sets them in the large theater
if his Master had conquered England in 88. the English should haue had the fauour to be transported to digge in his Indian Mines and by the way sâ—w you vp close in the old Romaine Culleus a leather sack the ancient reward of 〈◊〉 casting you into the Sea as vnworthy to touch any Element that would vnnaturally betray that sweet Country wherein you first receiued your Being and breath The Spaniard 〈◊〉 his lesson ad vnguem Amo proditionem odi Proditorem I loue the Treason but hate the Traytor Or say that necessity may inforce him for the present to allow you to breath still in England to be his Drudges and Vassals as it was with 〈◊〉 at the Captiuity in Babilon to till the ground for him to carry him in prouision for the warres in his conquest of the rest of Christendome and to feed his hungry pround Spaniards sucking the sweet of your swâ—â—t continually yet 〈◊〉 whither you will account this a condign recompense for such a foule treason yea consider also what yee haue now purchased in comparison of that which yee were before when yee liued like free English men euery man vnder his owne Vine and vnder his owne Figtree But why do I so much as suppose or imagine the least probabilitie of the comming to passe of any such prodigious 〈◊〉 God forbid I assure my selfe none of you will euer 〈◊〉 such vnnatural Miscreants to betray your natiue Country to the Spaniard neither if any would be so mad will our good God ever forsake this his inheritance wherein he hath so many thousands of his faithfull and vowed seruants who haue not bowed the knee to Bâ—â—l or kissed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And you cannot but know so much as little acquaintance as is allowed 〈◊〉 to haue with the Scriptures that so long as but one 〈◊〉 was in wicked Sodome euen the power of the Omnipotent himselfe was suspended from taking reuenge vpon it till Lot was safely provided fir and if but one righteous had beene found in the Citie God had spared it for their sakes Therefore neuer let any Romish or Spanish hopes feed themselues with such a vaine conceit of Englands Conquest vnlesse the conniuence at your innumerable 〈◊〉 Idols may indanger 〈…〉 place your chiefe confidence 〈…〉 more zealous then wise and 〈…〉 alleadge the Catholicke cause and the libertie of conscience as preponderating all other mischiefes the freedome of Religion and of the soule being to be preferred before the thraldome of the body yea and the betraying of your earthly Country not to be forborne for the meriting of an heauenly this indeed may seeme a waighty point and therefore not vnworthy altogether in this place of our deepest considerations for the discussing of such a difficulty To begin then at the head-spring of this our discourse it is no newes vnto you that the Pope of late hath sent his Bull or Brieue into England recommended to all his Catholicke sonnes of England wherein he chargeth you by no meanes to take the Oath of Allegeance or fidelity to your King but rather that you should account him for your Enemy the summe is that you should bee armed with the spirit of rebellion against your King and Country when occasion of the Catholicks cause should serue to show your valour in the open field as ye may all more plainely see in this briefâ— vnfolding of the Brieue How to charge subiects to disauow their fidelity to their Prince by what authority who hath such power ouer men to dispense to dissolue to absolue from the bonds of duty and obedience which naturall subiects owe to their King By what lawe or example God in his word hath taught the contrary But Christ Vicar hath this power but Christ practised the contrary But the Apostolicke successour of Peter may doe it but Peter Paul both preached practised the contrary so all the Patriarckes and Prophets Yet Christs Vicar Peters successor are titles not lightly to be regarded to which is added also Head of the Church Oracle of the world to whom is committed all power in heauen and earth who cannot erre to whom all must be subiect vnder paine of damnation and much more then I can tell Huge titles enough to intoxicate and infatuate silly and simple soules yea and to dazzle the eyes euen of the acutest wits with their glorious luster where they are attended or entertained but with credulity But if there be any truth at all in these things concerning the Pope whence in the name of God hath he these titles From what ground of truth He dare plead from Scripture From Scripture Hold you there we desire no better euidence or vmpire in this cause you will graunt then that the Scripture is of authority in it selfe to challenge our faith to rest vpon it as a most sure rule Yes but with condition as you are taught if it haue authority from the Church From what Church What Church Of Rome From whose mouth who must pronounce the verdict The Pope forsooth if so then the Popes power is not built primarily vpon the Scriptures but vpon himselfe and so he is Iudge in his owne cause The Pope belike lendeth authority to the Scriptures and they againe repay him with his owne minted coyne by confirming his supremacy This is pretty Iust as Boniface confirmed Phocas in his vsurped Empire and Phocas reciprocally settled him in his Papall supremacy Or as the Pope makes Saints who by that meanes receiuing a power and merit are by their Canonization qualified to become intercessors for their Canonizer his Holinesse What a coniuration-circle is here but pitch we vpon the center If the Pope giue the authority to the Scriptures prescribing and limiting them their sence whence then hath the Pope this authority From Christ as his Vicar How proues he that From Scripture But what authority hath the Scripture for this till first it receiue it from the Popes brest Come come let such popish jugglings impose vpon fooles and such turn-sicke windings cause the braines of young children to runne round and to conceit that the whole earth runnes round when it standeth still vnmoued But let men be guided by reason vnderstanding iudgement He that denyeth principles is to be detested not disputed with It is a Principle in Divinity that the Scripture is and euer hath beene the rule of Faith Yes say your Pontificians a Partiall rule but not Totall the vnwritten word is to be added What is that Apostolicke traditions Apostolicke That sounds well Well let not Apostolicke Traditions crosse Apostolicke writings and haue with you But otherwise looke not that your penny of Traditions should passe for current siluer with vs for waight and purenesse as the Scriptures in point of rule of Faith for all the Pope stampeth them with the Image and Superscription of Apostolicke Abrahams wells are now digged so deepe so large as not all your Philistian rubbidge can stop them vp not Apostolicke not all Romes holy