was 630. Bishops Of Constantinople 6. Canon 36. anno 681. where there was 289. Bishops Of Nicene 2. Canon 1. anno 781. where was present 350. Bishops Of Constantinople 8. Canon 27. anno where was present 383. Bishops anno 870. Of the Council of Constance Sess 4.5 where was a thousand Fathers almost anno 1418. And of Basel Sess 2.18 anno 1431. all General Councils condemning your Popes Supremacy as your Church now affirms of him some more some less And also it is condemned by Provincial Councils as of Antioch Canon 6.12.13.14.15.19.20 and of Carthage 2. Canon 12. anno 404. and 3. confirmed in the General Council of Trullan Canon 26. and 6. and by the Council of Milevis Canon 22. condemned also by the Universities of Paris Appellat Univers Paris olione 10. ad futur Concil infastic rerum expe ca. fugi and Lovane Aeneas Sylvius de gestis Basil Concil lib. 1. and Colen and Vienna Histor de Europa cap. 22. and Cracovia Comer de rebus Polonorum lib. 21. So then by the authority of Councils General and Provincial and of Universities the Monarchie and Superioritie of the Pope over all General Councils is disallowed And suppose the Churches of France and Germany did honor them and gave them some preeminence both of honor and power being blinded at that time with the smoke that came out of the bottomless pit yet it may appear by their supplication ad Ludovicum 11. pro libertate Ecclesiae Gallicanae adversus Rom. aulam defensio Parisiensis curiae Gravamina nationis Germaniae exhibita Maxim 1. that they did not allow that full Monarchie of his but misliked it and hated the same yea France made laws against it in Conventu Bituricensi Now these are such whom your selves do hold for Catholicks and yet they acknowledged not the Monarchie of your Pope The Churches of Graecia and of Asia in the East Chalcon conc de reb Turc lib. 1. 6. and of Muscovia Jovius in Muscovia in the North and of Ethiopia in the South Alvarez in descriptione Aethiopiae cap. 77. 83. and of Boheme Aeneas Sylvius hist Bohem. cap. 32. Provence Sleydan comment lib. 16. Piemont M. Fox in the acts and monuments lib. 7. And the Reformed Churches that are this day in France Flanders England Scotland and so forth throughout Europe all have condemned your Popes Supremacie So that if his Supremacie were to be put to tryal by the judgement and will of men so many thousands of Pastors Doctors Synods Councils Universities and Churches through all ages in all Countreys of all sorts and estats may suffice to put the Pope from his Supremacie So that I think you may blush M. Gilbert that hath so boldly written that he hath been alwayes acknowledged by the visible Church to be the visible Head of the Church seeing his Monarchie was never fully acknowledged until the Lateran Council under Leo the 10. 1516. years after Christ But seeing the Word of God is the only just tryal of it and seeing it is not written in the book of life therefore I conclud that his Supremacie is not a citizen of that new Jerusalem but a child of Babel and therefore they are blessed that shal dash it against the stones M. Gilbert Brown That the Church at any time may be invisible it is repugnant to the Word of God in many places and to M. John also For he gives examples afterward of sundry as he saith that was of his Religion and opponed themselves to the Pope and his Clergy and that saith he when he was come to the hight If the true Church opponed its self to the Antichristian Church then it was visible and known and if it was known when the Popes Kingdom was at the highest much more when it was low and so it was always known by M. Johns self Master John Welsch his Reply Whether oppugn ye your own imagination M. Gilbert here or that which I write If the first then you are foolish who fight against your self as ye do indeed If the second then I say that which I said was this That no man should think that the Church of God was ever open and visible in that flowrishing estat as it is now For this is our doctrine concerning the invisibility of the Church the which because you know not therefore you stumble at it and oppugns only your own invention and not our doctrine and therefore your reasons and Scriptures which ye bring here serve to no purpose for they make nothing against us We say that the Catholick Church which comprehends all the elect is always invisible both because the principal part thereof is in heaven and also because the senses of men cannot discern who are true members of the Catholick Church here their effectual calling their faith love hope and inward graces their union with Christ their Head their spiritual armor weapons and warfare and their Head Christ Jesus and their whole glorie is inward and invisible and they shal never be seen all gathered together until that great day Ephes 5.25.26.27.32 Psal 45.13 John 10.27 2. Tim. 2.19 Luke 11.28 Matth. 7. Ephes 6.12 2. Cor. 12.3.4 So that suppose they may be seen outwardlie as they are men and sometimes in respect of their outward ministerie yet in so far as they are a part of the Catholick Church that is in so far as they are chosen and sanctified c. as hath been said they cannot be discerned by the senses of men and so are invisible Next we say that the particular visible Churches are not always in one outward estat sometimes outwardlie glorious sometimes more obscure sometimes openly known and seen by all sometimes known and seen but by a few sometimes frequent and consisting in many sometimes rare and consisting in few sometimes adorned with outward ornaments of peace largeness outward glory and multitude sometimes again wanting this outward glory under persecution but yet having that inward glory of these inward graces So that when we say these particular Churches are sometimes invisible we do not mean as though they were known to none for that is not our doctrine M. Gilbert as ye imagine but that they are not so openly known that they are patent to all to be the true Church but known unto them with whom they have to do and who profess the truth with them Yea sometimes some of them are known unto the very persecuters and enemies by their constancy and perseverance in their sufferings suppose they allow not their profession And in this state was the Church of Israel in the time of Elias when he complained that he knew none left but himself of the true worshippers of God 1. Kings 19.10 And the Church of Juda in the days of Achaz and Manasseh Kings of Judah 2. Chron. 28.24 2. Kings 16.10 And such like in the time of Christ both in the time of his living among them as also in the time of his death and resurrection the Church
that spake against the Pope I will but note their persons Robert Grosshed John Gryllis a pâ—eaching Frier anno 1253. Gregory Ariminensis Franciscus de Rupe Scissa Taulerus in Germany Gerardus Rhidit Michael de Cesena Petrus de Carbona and Joannes de Poliaco Joannes Rithetalanda anno 1360. Armachanus the Archbish p in Ireland 1360. Nicolas Orem Matthias Parisiensis Nilus Aâ—chbishop of Thessalonica John Wicleff and the Lord Cobham and sundry others Master Gilbert Brown M. John hath set down here a number of (a) It is false obscure and infamous persons for the most part justly (b) And this also condemned for heresies without their works or books whereby they affirm this that he alledges and all (c) This is also false for Gerard and Dulcimus Navarrensis which I first cited was almost 400. years before M. Luther and Calvin and the Waldenses was more then 300. years before them two hundred years before Calvin began their Religion or thereabout Of the which I contend not whether they spake against the Pope or not For all hereticks from the beginning have barked against the Pope But our contention is whether such heads of Religion as they denyed were heresies or not which as yet M. John hath not (d) But these heads is proven that the Pope is the Antichrist and Rome Babel they are not hereticks therefore our Religion was before Martin Luther proved nor is not able to defend these whom he calls his worthy men for appearantly by this all hereticks are worthy men by him albeit they be not of his Religion in all things Master John Welsch his Reply You calumniat our Religion of novelty and say Martin Luther begin it anno 1517. Unto the which I answered That our Religion hath Christ Jesus in the Old and New Testament to be the Author thereof and hath the primitive Church many hundred years thereafter to be the teachers and professors thereof the which I have proved already by some examples and that even till the smoak of that Antichristian darkness of yours did overspread all as it was fore-told by the holy Ghost At the which time also the Lord did reserve his own elect to himself even these hundred and forty and four thousand which did not bow their knees to your Baal as it was fore-prophesied whereof also a great many is recorded in Histories and of whom I set down some examples here Upon the which I reason That Religion which is warranted by the Scripture and professed in the primitive Church c. and hath sundry that taught and professed it and that even in the midst of Popery when it was at the hight thereof is not a new Religion nor invented by Martin Luther But ours is such as hath been proved Therefore unrighteous and blasphemous must ye be who slanders the Lords truth and Religion of novelty and fathers it upon flesh and blood whereof he is the Author Your answer to the first two we have examined Now let us see your answer to this First you say they are obscure men I answer If you call them obscure because they wanted the outward glory wealth and renown of this world Then suppose it were so yet have they Jesus Christ the Prince of life who was called a carpenters son Matth. 13.54 55 56. and his Prophets of whom some were herd-men Amos 1.2 and his Apostles who were fisher-men Mat. 4.18.21 his Church which consists not of many wise mighty or noble but of the foolish weak and vile of the world for them God hath chosen to confound the wise and noble 1. Cor. 1.26.27.28 to be companions with them and so they are the liker both the Head and the members It is true indeed your Popes and Clergy are not obscure for they have the wealth and glory of the world But as Bernard said to the Pope In this they succeed not to Christ or Peter but to Constantine But they receive their good things in this life with the rich gluttâ—n and therefore they must receive their pain with hâ—m in the life to come But why do you call these obscure whom I named here Are not some of them Friers some of them Provincials of Gray-Friers some of them Masters and Rulers of Universities some of them excellently learned which your own Church cannot deny some of them Bishops and Archbishops some of them Noble-men and some of them as namely the Greek and Eastern Churches in number learning purity of doctrine and godliness far exceeding your Papistical Church Who is worthy or famous if these be obscure Are all men obscure and infamous to you but your Popes and those who submit their necks to him And if you think these too obscure men to be called worthy men then behold yet M. Gilbert more noble personages who have resisted your Popes Monarchy As King Philip le Bell of France the Prelats of France joyning with him in his Dominions about the year of God 1300. And Edward the third King of England despised the Popes curse and appealed from him to God about the year of God 1346. And also sundry Emperors as Constantine the fifth Leo his son and Constantine the sixth in the East and Henry the 4. and Henry the 5. and Frederick the 2. in the West Will you call these Kings and Princes of the whole world obscure men So all sorts of men M. Gilbert both rich and poor Princes and subjects and these also within your own bowels being overcome with the strength of the truth of God have spoken against your Religion Why you call them infamous and hereticks justly condemned I know not except it be because they taught and professed the truth of God and condemned your Antichristian idolatry and abominations But all are not infamous and hereticks whom ye call so and surely if murderers hereticks adulterers Sodomites open bargainers with the Devil and the vile monsters of the earth is to be called obscure infamous and hereticks then your Popes are to be called so who of all men that ever the earth hath born have been the vilest monsters and hereticks as I have proved in my other Treatise concerning the Mass and the Antichrist You say next that you contend not whether they have spoken against the Pope or not for all hereticks have ever barked against him that sore against your heart M. Gilbert because you cannot deny but ye have taught this doctrine with us and if it be so M. Gilbert that these men and Churches and many thousands more of all sorts have taught this doctrine with us many hundred years before Martin Luther for the first two which I named was almost 400. years before him then why were you so shameless both to write it and also speak it to blind your poor Countrey-men to their and your damnation that our Religion was begun by Martin Luther and never professed before him So leave off M. Gilbert to beguile the simple and ignorant people with this sottish and
promise to them because no faith is to be kept to hereticks and therefore notwithstanding of the Emperors letters of safe-conduct they condemned them to the fire and accordingly burnt them Now H. T. himself saith in that same place What is defined by the Council of Constance is of faith with Papists therefore it must be a point of faith That no faith is to be kept with hereticks 2. Not only did the General Council of Constance decree this but the Pope hath confirmed it Now all Papists hold that what is determined by a General Council and confirmed by a Pope is of faith and obligeth all Catholicks Now that the Pope hath confirmed and allowed this is most sure for Pope Gregory the 9 whose Decree is extant in the Decretals lib. 5 tit 7. de haereticis cap. uâ—t out of his Pontifical seat decreeth Absolutos se noverint debito fidelitatis dominij totius obsequij quicunque lapsis manifestè in haeresin aliquo pacto quacunque firmitate vallato tenebantur ad stricti Let all know that they are loosed from their fidelity and obedience and any duty whatsoever that they are bound to any that are manifestly fallen in heresie 3. If to the Decree of the Council and confirmation of the Pope the common suffrage of their Doctors can add any weight then we have that too For when Plancius cited by D. Hornbeck p. 172. had said Dic sodes nonne in confesso est apud vos Principi haeretico aut excommunicato fidem nullam deberi uâ—i Pontifex jusserit Gratian. caus 15. quaest 9. decret lib. 7 cap. 5. ibi glossae Say if ye dare is it not confessed by you that no faith is to be kept by you to a heretick or excommunicat when the Pope commandeth Suertius answereth In confesso est nec inventus est hactenus magnâ— nominis Theologus qui non in hanc iêrit sententiam It is confessed neither is there any Divine of note who hath not held this opinion And Clarus lib. 5 sent saith that Sententiam illam frequentiori Doctorum calculo receptam This opinion is received by the common suffrage of the Doctors And Tiberius Decianus saith Omnium consensu illam obtinere de fide haereticis non servandâ That that tenet that faith is not to be kept to hereticks is received by the consent of all Hornbeck citeth many mo Popish Writers out of Plancius Elenchi pag. 7. Gerard. confess Cathol lib. 1 part 2. cap. 19. and he addeth himself that Thuanus declareth lib 63. ad ann 1577. that the Popish Doctors did cry out in their Sermons That the Magistrats were not obliged to keep faith to hereticks according to the Decree of the Council of Constance And he showeth moreover that upon this pretext the contract of marriage betwixt Charles the 5. his daughter and the Elector of Saxonies son was declared void and nul and Haumart the Emperors Legat openly said that faith was not to be kept to hereticks as testifieth Sieidan and Scultetus ad an 1527. Finally their dayly practises confirm this For Cardinal Ossatuâ— as Hornbeck citeth him tells us in his 87. Epistle ad D. de Villeroy that Pope Clement the 8. did press the King of France to joyn with Spain in the invasion of England and the Cardinal answered that the King was tyed by an oath to the Queen of England to which the Pope replyed that That the oath was made to an heretick but he was bound in another oath to God and the Pope and in end he alledged the saying of Franciscus Maria Duke of Urbin that indeed every one doth blame a Noble-man or great man that is no Soveraign if he keep not his covenants or fidelity and they aucount him infamous but supreme Princes may without any danger of their reputation make covenants and break them lie betray and commit other such like things Also Pope Innocent the 10. in his Bull against the Peace of Germany anno 1651. doth annul and abrogat the oathes for confirming of Peace 3. As the Popes practises is a good example to Papists so they follow their example to purpose as I shal show in some few instances In Queen Maries time in England the Suffolk-men did aid assist and advance her to the crown she swearing to them that they should enjoy the liberty of the Protestant Religion but this principle that faith should not be kept to hereticks induced her not only to break her promise but also to imprison some of them for minding her of it How many fair promises did Katherin de Medicis Queen of France and her son Charles the ninth make to the Protestants and yet this hellish principle induced them not only to break their promises but also under the greatest pretext of friendship to massacre them all at Paris anno 1572. It was this devilish principle that made Don Frederick son to the Duke d' Alva after he had taken Harlem upon composition that the citizens should give 24000. florins to redeem themselves and town from spoil to plunder the whole town contrary to promise and to hang some drown others and starve others It was this wicked principle that caused the Segnior Noucarmes when the inhabitants of Valenciennes in Hainault surrendred the city upon good conditions to keep the gates of the city shut for diverse days and most perfidiously and barbarously to hang up all the French souldiers with all the Ministers and Protestant merchants and confiscat their goods Many mo instances might be given but this may suffice Notwithstanding of all this H. T. is so shamelesly impudent as to say that the Council of Trent hath declared That to violate any least point of publick faith given to hereticks is a thing punishable by the law of God and man Sess 15.18 Ans I have consulted Petrus Suavis on Sess 15. and 18. and I can find no such declaration only there is a safe-conduct granted by the Council to Protestants to come to the Council But they fearing lest it was like the safe-conduct given to John Hus did not accept thereof The fourth evidence to prove that no oath nor obligation can bind Papists is Because let Papists swear never so solemnly whither for performance of fidelity to their Prince or of keeping covenant and bargain with their neighbor yet the Pope according to their principles may dissolve that oath and free them from the obligation thereof I might bring several proofs of this but I shal only bring one very observable After the Gun-powder treason King James appointed that all Papists should swear the oath of allegiance But hear how Paschenius in his answer to King James his monitory Epistle scoffs at it as D. Usher citeth him in his Sermon before the House of Commons Feb. 18. 1620. Vide in tantâ astutiâ quanta sit simplicitas See saith he in so great craft how great simplicity doth bewray its self When he had placed all his security in that oath he thought
WE come now to the fourth thing proposed to wit that the Pope hath been the grand Author of warrs combustions and confusions in the Christian world always both before and since the Reformation This is so evident that he is very unseen in Histories that will deny it therefore I shal give only a passing taste of what is recorded at large by Historians I. I shal begin with Gregory the first who approved Phocas in murdering his Soveraign Mauritius who killed his children before his eyes and usurped the Empire for he writes a gratulatory Epistle to him in which he thus speaketh Benignitatem pietatis vestrae c. We are glad that the benignity of your piety hath attained to the Imperial dignity Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad and let the people of the whole Republick be joyful for your gracious deeds II. Gregory the 2. rebelled against his Soveraign Leo Isaurus and made Rome and the Roman Dutchy do the same because he prohibited the adoration of Images and pulled them down every where and being sore afflicted with the warrs of the Saracens in the East the Pope seased on Rome and made himself Lord of that part of the Emperors dominions in Italy which was the beginning of his temporal Principality and is the title whereby he holds Rome and the Territory of it to this day even rebellion and tyrannical invasion of the Emperor his Soveraigns Estat and Dominion III. Gregory the 3. his successor came yet a further length for Platina writeth of him Hic statim c. That so soon as he attained to the Papal dignity by the consent of the Roman Clergy he deprived Leo the 3. Emperor of Constantinople hoth of his Empire and the communion of the faithful because he had razed Images out of the Churches IV. The next instance I shal mention is of Pope Stephen the 2. who stirred up Pepin King of France to expell the Exarchs out of Italy and when he had done he obtained the Exarchat for himself though belonging to the Emperor of Constantinople his lawful Soveraign in which action there was both rebellion and robbery V. But Gregory the 7. alià s Hildebrand surpassed all the rest for he was wholly compounded of blood shed treason and rebellion for he excommunicated the Emperor Henry the 4. and deposed him and gave his Empire to Rodolph Duke of Suevia But the Emperor vanquished Rodolph in battel who dying acknowledged that his right hand was deservedly cut off in battel because he had sworn with it lifted up allegiance to the Emperor Rome was taken by the Emperor and Pope Gregory died for grief VI. But Urban the 2. his successor was nothing afraid of what had hapned to Gregory his predecessor but did also excommunicat and persecute him This is that Urban that made that famous Decree That an oath made to an excommunicat person must not be kept VII But the Emperor was most of all afflicted by Pope Paschal the 2. who succeeded Urban for he made his own son to take up arms against him where he was overcome in battel and deposed in a Synod held at Mentz by the Popes command and the Crown and other Imperial ornaments were violently taken from him by the Bishops of Mentz Colen and Worms and given to his son and for grief he died soon after But although we say Livor post fata quiescit yet the Popes wrath did not cease against him after he was dead for he would not suffer his son to bury him so that he lay five years unburied Cardinal Baronius commends this fact saying Quis negare potest summum fuisse hoc pietatis genus c. Who can deny that it was the highest kind of piety to have shewed himself cruel in this case And again Nihil habes in quo damnes filium magis quam si insanienti furientique pius filius vincula injiciat patri You can no more condemn the son then if a pious son should bind his father who is fallen mad VIII But the son felt the Popes no better friends to him then they were to his father for although Pope Paschal granted to him the collation of Benefices and confirmed it with an oath yet he brake the oath although when he sware he divided the consecrated host betwixt him and the Emperor saying Sicut pars c. As this part of the vivifying body is divided so let him be divided from the Kingdom of Christ who will go about to break this compact And Calixtus the 2. his successor excommunicated him and forced him to compound Pope Adrian the 4. caused Frederick the 1. to hold his stirrop and quarrelled him for taking the left in stead of the right But the next Pope Alexander the 3. trod upon his neck when he stooped to kiss his Holiness foot using these words of the Psalm 91. Thou shalt tread upon the Lyon and Addâ—r the young Lyon and Dragon shalt thou trample under foot And when the Emperor said Not to thee but to Peter do I this submission The Pope treading on him again said Both to me and Peter IX I spare to speak at large of Pope Câ—lestin the 3. who crowned the Emperor Henry the 6. with his foot and after he had crowned him cast down the Crown to the ground thereby signifying that he had power to cast him down from the Empire if he deserved it which Baronius highly commendeth But his successor Innocent the 3. is not to be forgotten for he excommunicated John King of England deposed him absolved his subjects from their allegiance to him and did cast an interdict upon the Kingdom which lasted six years and gave it to Philip August the French King if he could take it which made the subjects to despise him the Clergy to revile him the Barons to rise in warr against him and the French King to fall upon him so that he was brought to such extremity that to purchase his peace he gave the Kingdom to the Pope and in end a Monk poisoned him It would fill a volume to speak at large how Henry the 3 King of England was abused and tyrannized over by the Pope and how Pope Innocent the 3. excommunicated the Emperor Otho and deprived him of the title of the Empire and how Honorius and Pope Gregory the 9. and Pope Innocent the 4. excommunicated and deposed the Emperor Frederick the 2. and sent an army into Appulia and seized upon his lands and of the contest betwixt Philip the Fair King of France and Pope Boniface the 8. who excommunicated Philip and deposeth him of his Kingdom and giveth it to the Emperor Albert and laboreth to arm Germany and the Netherlands against France But the King took him prisoner brought him to Rome where he died shortly through grief X. It would also be tedious if I should relate how John the 23. and Benedict the 12. and Clement the 6 excommunicated deprived Ludovicus Bavarus and elected Charles son of the King
of Bohemia in his slead Hence ensued a great and bloody war and the Emperor Ludovicus Bavarus was poysoned by Pope Clement as some Authors write And how Benedict the 13. excommunicat Charles the 6. of France and how Pope Julius the 2. excommunicat Lewis the 12. King of France and puts the Kingdom to interdict excommunicats the Venetians giveth their Dominions to any that will take them driveth the Bentivogli out of Bononia excommunicats the Duke of Ferrara and invades his Countrey by arms going to war in his own person makes the English Spaniards and Switzers to fall upon the French takes many Imperial Cities excommunicats the King of Navarre and giveth his Kingdom to the King of Arragon who upon that invades and takes it and possesseth it to this day It is thought that this Pope was the death of 200000. Christians in seven years XI But passing these I shal come to the time of the Reformation happily begun by Luther at which time we find Clement the 7. the great fomenter of the war between the Emperor and the French King joyning sometimes with the one and sometimes with the other and playing false with both He thundered out his excoÌ„munications against King Henry the 8. the which his successor Paul the 3. confirmed but it did him no harm XII I shal show more particularly afterward how Pope Pius the 5. excommunicated Queen Elizabeth and stirred up not only her own subjects but also the King of Spain against her who prepared a great Navy to invade England anno 1588. yea this Pope was so active in raising war against Queen Elizabeth that when he published the Bull he laid down an hundred thousand crowns to raise war and promised fifty thousand more yea and to bear the whole charge of the war He also used all means to stir Spain France and the Netherlands against England XIII Gregory the 13. who succeeded to Pius the 5. was no less active in plotting and stirring up war against Queen Elizabeth for he gave to Thomas Stukly a commission to help the Irish rebells and get the Kingdom of Ireland for James Boncompagnon his own bastard son and gave him the command of eight hundred Italians to joyn with Sebastian King of Portugal who had engaged to the Pope to serve him with his whole forces against Queen Elizabeth and had raised a great army for that expedition But when Stukly came to the King of Portugal he was upon a new design to wit to help a Moor King of Fez against another Moor King who kept him out of possession and to get the Kingdom from them both to which war he invited Stukly promising immediatly after that work was done which he held forth as most easie they should accomplish the Popes desire So they sailed over to Africa where the King of Portugal and his whole army were destroyed and with him Stukly and the Popes Italian souldiers XIV The Pope had a great hand in the unparalelled massacre of Paris anno 1572. for neither his predecessor Pius the 5. nor himself would consent to the marriage by reason of their difference in Religion while the Cardinal of Lorain told him that it was intended as a trap to destroy the Protestants then presently he granted a dispensation for celebrating of it and gave all encouragement to the design and when the news of the massacre came to Rome there was nothing but triumphing and joy and Cardinal Ursin was sent to France to coÌ„mend extol the Kings piety and wisdom in that great action and to bestow blessings and spiritual graces upon the King the Duke of Guise and the rest of the Actors of this horrid Tragedy Not long after this Pope sent to Henry the 3. the French King and to his people Indulgences for millions of yeaâ—s if they would be diligent and zealous in extirpation of Protestants XV. This Pope laid a claim to the Kingdom of Portugal all the males being extinct as depending from the See of Rome and would have the Kingdom rising in arms for him against the heir from the females but his claim was rejected XVI In the year 1580. he made a new assay upon Ireland for he sent an Italian called San Josepho with some Italian troups there to joyn with the Irisâ— Rebels for gaining the Kingdom to his Bastard or else to the King of Spain XVII About the year 1588. Pope Sixtus the 5. to favor the enterprise of Philip the 2. King of Spain renewed the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth pronounced by Pope Pius the 5. deprived her of her Kingdom absolved her subjects from all allegiance to her and gave plenary Indulgence to all that would make war against her whereupon followed that great Armado of Spain which the Lord in mercy did wonderfully discomfit XVIII This Pope did also excommunicat King Henry the 3. of France and absolved his subjects from their allegiance although he was a Papist and was a plotter of the Massacre of Paris yet because he did not zealously enough prosecute the Popes design in rooting out Protestants and was no friend to the holy League he was excommunicat whereupon many of his subjects rebelled against him especially the City of Paris and he was slain upon that account by a Dominican Frier which action was highly commended by the Pope as we told you before in a full Consistory at Rome and forbade that any should pray for his soul for the Pope was not content that he had slain the King by his Bull but would also damn his soul XIX His successor Gregory the 14. excommunicated King Henry the 4 of France forbidding all Peers Noblemen Cities and Commons to yeeld him obedience and declaring him incapable of the Crown as an heretick and a relaps Pope Clement the 8. did the same over again and although many of the French did adhere to him yet the City of Paris and the Guisian faction did violently oppose him and would not acknowledge him for King and several attempts were made to take away his life first by a woman next by Peter Barriere and thirdly by John Chastel all denying him to be King because excommunicat by the Pope And although he turned Papist and procured absolution from the Pope yet it was his death for Ravillac who killed him alledged at his examination that the King was an heretick in his heart and deserved to be slain as an enemy of the Church XX. Pope Paul the 5. was as turbulent as his predecessors as witnesseth his quarrels with the State of Venice which he excommunicated and put their State in interdict because they had stopt by Edict the giving of lands to the Church About the beginning of this Popes reign was that hellish Gun-powder plot hatched at Rome and should have been effectuat in England by blowing up the King Prince Nobles and Commons all at one blow This horrid treason was the fruit and effect of the Popes Bulls for not only was Queen Elizabeth excommunicat once and again
as we said before and the Kingdom interdicted but also King James was by a Bull sent unto England a little before Queen Elizabeths death excluded from the Crown and all that were not Roman Catholicks were declared incapable of and excluded from the succession whereof his Majesty complaineth in his Apologie For Bâ—llarmin tells King James Tort pag. 19 That the Pope claims a dâ—uble right to England one by reason oâ— his Apostolick power which he extends over all men according to that Charter Psal 44. Thou shalt establish them Princes over all the earth The other proper by a right of Dominion for saith he England and Ireland are the Churches Dominions the Pope is direct Lord and the King his vassal XXI Neither were they less active in stirring up wars and combustions in other Kingdoms for a Priest of their own named John Brown aged seventy two in his voluntary confession to a Committee of Parliament set down by M. Prin in his introductioÌ„ to Canterburies doom p 202. saith That the Jesuits who are the Popes agents were the only cause of the troubles which fell out in Muscovia when under pretence to reduce the Latin Church and plant themselves and destroy the Greek Church the poor King Demetrius and his Queen and these that followed him from Polonia were all in one night murdered by the usurper of the Crown and the true progeny rooted out That they were the only cause that moved the Sweds to take arms against their lawful King Sigismund and chased him to Poland and neither he nor his successors were ever able to take possession of Sweden for the Jâ—suits intention was to bring in the Romish Religion and root out the Protestants They were the only cause that moved the Polonians to take arms against the said Sigismund because they had perswaded him to marry two sisters c. They were the sole cause of the war in Germany and Bohemia which began anno 1619. which caused the death of many thousands They have been the cause of the civil wars in France moving the King to take arms against his own subjects the Protestants where innumerable people have lost their lives for the Jesuits intentions were to set their Society in all Cities and Towns conquered by the King and quite to abolish the Protestants They were the cause of the murder of the last King of France They were the only projectors of the Gun-powder treason and their penitents the actors thereâ—f XXII M. Baxter in his key for Catholicks chap. 45. 46 47 48 49 proveth at large by good evidence that the Jesuits had a special hand in the late Civil War that burnt in the bowels of these three Nations till it had near consumed them Whose evidence I intreat that the Reader would read and seriously ponder From all which I hope it is evident enough that the Pope and Church of Rome have been the continual Authors and instigators to wars and combustions in Christian Churches and Kingdoms SECTION IV. That the continual practise of Papists ever since the Reformation hath been to plot and practise bloody and treasonable Conspiracies Assassinations and Murders both of Princes and People who profess the Reformed Religion IN the former Section we have proven that the Pope and Synagogue of Rome have been the grand Authors of warrs confusions and combustions in Christian Churches and Kingdoms In this Section we are to prove that not only have they been the Authors and instigators to bloody wars and confusions in Christian Churches and Kingdoms but that in all Protestant or Reformed Churches Kingdoms or States they have been secretly and under-hand always plotting and practising bloody and treasonable conspiracies assassinations and murders both of Princes and people who profess the Reformed Religion It would be too tedious to declare at large what plots and conspiracies the Pope and his dependers and vassals have had in all the Reformed Churches ever since Luthers Reformation we only shal instance some few not our near hand in France Ireland and in Britain I. I told in the former Section how the Pope and his sworn vassals were the Authors of the massacre of Paris anno 1572. which was surely hatched in hell and carried on with all the subtilty of that old Serpent for when the Pope and Court of Rome and Queen Catharin de Medicis and Charles the 9. her son saw that fire and fagot and force of war could not undo the Protestants they said come and let us deal subtily with them and ensnare them by pretences of friendship and flatteries therefore they not only concluded a peace with them but gave the sister of the King of France to the King of Navarre in marriage that so they might massacre the Protestants at the marriage and they suspecting no treachery came to the City of Paris where the Queen of Navarre was poysoned by a pair of perfumed gloves and the Admiral and the greatest part of the Protestant Nobility were all massacred in a morning the massacre was so cruel that it made the river run with blood and there were thirty thousand Protestants killed in one moneths time of which more afterward II. We also hinted before how King Henry the 3. of France although he lived and died a Papist and while he was Duke of Anjou had foughten several battels against the Protestants and was one of the plotters in the massacre of Paris yet because he did not joyn with the holy League and obey the Popes will in all things the Pope excommunicated him and stirred up James Clement a Jacobin Monk to commit that horrible parricide upon his Royal person III. We did also a little touch how his successor King Henry the 4. was opposed and molested by the Pope and the holy League his sworn servants and excommunicat and the Spaniards brought in the Kingdom to joyn with the holy League to his ruine But God so blessed his enterprises that he foyled them often but he being weary of war and consulting with flesh and blood for peace and ease to himself and quyet to his Kingdom turned Papist and sought absolution from the Pope and at length obtained it But because they thought him not a heart Papist and cordial for them in all things they plot his death by secret assassination and after several attempts one whereof wounded him in the mouth Râ—villac stroke him through the very heart although to please the Pope he caused recall the Jesuits which for their bloody principles and practises were banished the Kingdom So this is the Pope and his Jesuits method when they cannot overcome any Prince that they think no cordial favorer of theirs by open hostility they excite and stimulat some scholer or other of theirs secretly to assassinat him For John Chastel a scholer of the Jesuits who stroke King Henry the fourth of France in the mouth and broke out one of his teeth intending to have cut his throat when he was examined confessed that he being guilty of
thereof lest the people should be discouraged and faint went himself with the Canonier up the walls and desired he should charge such a piece of Canon and shoot for GOD should direct that shot and cause it to prosper which accordingly did to the astonishment of on-lookers dismount that battery and the Lord so ordered things after that the King did parley on favorable terms with the City and did only himself with his Court come in without doing any violence Upon the LORDS day thereafter some of the godly in that place fearing M. Welsch his hazard did seriously deal with him that he would forbear to go forth and preach the Court being there But he would by no means be hindered showing them he would adventure to preach the Word to his people and trust the Lord with what concerned himself Therefore he went forth and preached having a very great Auditory both of friends and others who came upon the fame of such a man But in time of Sermon a great man of the Court with some of the Kings own guard was sent to bring him forthwith before the King and whilst he was entering the Church which had some difficulty by reason of the multitude M. Welsch did turn himself toward that entry and desired the people to give way to one of the great Peers of France that was coming in But after whilst he was coming near the Pulpit to execute his Commission he did with great authority speak to him before all the people and in the Name of his Master JESUS CHRIST charged him that he would not disturb the worship of GOD. Wherewith he was so affrighted that he fell a shaking yea was forced to crutch down and make no further trouble Sermon being ended M. Welsch with much submission went to the King who was then greatly incensed and with a threatning countenance asked What he was And how he durst preach Heresie so near his person and with such contumacy carry himself To which with due reverence bowing himself he did answer I am Sir the servant and Minister of JESUS CHRIST whose truth I preached this day which if your Majesty rightly knew ye would have judged it your duty to have come your self and heard And for my doctrine I did this day preach these three truths to your people First that man is fallen and by nature in a lost condition yea by his own power and abilities is not able to help himself from that estat Secondly that there is no salvation or deliverance from wrath by our own merits but by JESUS CHRIST and his merit alone Thirdly I did also preach this day the just liberties of the Kingdom of France that your Majesty oweth obedience to Christ only who is the Head of the Church and that the Pope as he is an enemy to Christ and his truth so also to the Kings of the earth whom he keepeth under slavery to his usurped power Whereat the King for a time keeping silence with great astonishment turned to some about him and said Surely this is a man of GOD. Yea after did commune with him and with great respect dismissed him The next year the differences betwixt the King and Protestants growing greater the City was again besieged M. Welsch intreated the Citizens to make peace with the King for God had a controversie with them for their unthankfulness and not walking answerably to the Gospel therefore he was not with them as formerly but had given them up to their enemies and if they stood out their City should be taken But the City not hearkening to him was taken and in part sacked At which time the King passed a solemn order that none should in the least wrong M. Welsch nor any thing that belonged to him under highest pains and said to him as Nebuzaradan to Jeremiah All the land is before thee whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go thither go But M. Welsch being grown exceedingly infirm in his body and the Physicians advising that only his native air could help him choised to go over to England whereupon the King granted him a safe-conduct So he came over to London where he remained a certain space but not being permitted to return to Scotland his sickness encreased and he died During the time of his sickness he was so filled and overcome with the sensible enjoyment of GOD that he was sometimes over-heard in prayer to have these words LORD hold thy hand it is enough thy servant it a clay vessel and can hold no more He was a man for piety converse and communion with GOD most singular and rare M. Rutherfurd in his Epistle prefixed to his Survey of Antinomianism showeth that from the witnesses of his life he had this account that of every twenty-four hours he gave usually eight to prayer if other necessary and urgent duties did not hinder Yea he spent many dayes and nights which he set apart in fasting and prayer for the condition of the Church and the sufferings of the Reformed Churches abroad He used even in the coldest winter nights to rise for prayer as the Author of the fulfilling of the Scripture testifieth and oft times his wife hath risen to seek after him where he hath been found lying on the ground weeping and wrestling with the LORD yea some times would have been much of the night alone in the Church of Air on that account One time especially his wife finding him overcharged with grief he told her he had that to press him which she had not the souls of three thousand people to answer for whilst he knew not how it was with many of them And at another time whilst she found him alone his spirit almost overcharged with anguish and grief upon her serious enquiry said That the times which were to come on Scotland were heavy and sad though she should not see them and this for the contempt of the Gospel While he was in France a Frier travelling through the Countrey came to his house and M. Welsch being very hospital permitted him to stay all night The Friers bed being not far from M. Welsch his chamber heard a noyse with many deep sighs and groans all night which he supposed to have been an evil spirit and therefore arose early in the morning and would needs be gone a Scots Gentle-man being in the house and seeing the Frier troubled enquired what the matter meant that he would be gone so soon He answered he would not stay in a Huguenots house any longer for they had converse with evil spirits The Gentle-man understanding the matter told him that it was M. Welsch whose ordinary it was to pray all night and desired him to stay the next night and he should see the truth thereof which accordingly he did and was so much astonished at M. Welsch his piety that he forsook Popery and embraced the Reformed Religion As he conversed with GOD and dwelt in the Mount by prayer and wrestling with GOD night and
our Ministers in Scotland except they be put to death by the Pope they bear not the testimony of Christ For these are M. Johns own words And S. John saith That the beast shal slay the two Witnesses Rev. 11.7.8 Now by M. John the beast is the Pope and the Witnesses is the Ministers therefore the Pope must slay the Ministers and after that their bodies must ly three dayes and an half not in Scotland but in Jerusalem for there was the Lord of these two Witnesses slain Rev 11.19.11.12 And after they must revive and ascend up to heaven in a cloud in the sight of their enemies and so forth Which things I trust shal come to pass to none of them in our dayes nor long after the Laird of Merchistons doomsday in his 14. Prop. Master John Welsch his Reply As for the first thing which you infer here concerning the invisibility of the Church because you have the same argument afterward I refer the answer of it to that place As for the second thing which ye infer that except the Ministers of Scotland be put to death by the Pope they bear not the testimony of Christ I answer As it is true that it is prophesied of the Antichrist that he shal slay the two Witnesses of God Rev. 11.7 and that he shal make war with the Saints and overcome them Rev. 11.12.13.15.17 so is it likewise prophesied that his cruelty shal not always continue but at the last The Lord shal take his Kingdom in his own hand and the Gospel shal be preached to them that dwel upon the earth and Babel that great city shal fall Rev. 13.6.8.9 and 18.21 So that the blood which your Church hath spilt of the Saints of God already in all the parts of Europe these three hundred years by past and that in such abundance that suppose the Lord may number them yet no man is able to number them And the patience and suffering of our brethren is a sufficient evidence that both your Popes are the Antichrist and they are the Ministers of Christ suppose they slay no mo of them And although the Lord hath shortened your power yet ye want no good will to spill the blood of the rest That ransacking of Germany that cruel persecution of Queen Mary and bloody Inquisition of Spain in the Low Countreys and that most savage and cruel massacre of Paris and that Spanish Navy which the Lord discomfited with his own mighty and outstretched arm in the 1588. year of God doth sufficiently testifie what heart ye bear to the Ministers of Scotland if your power were according to your malice But fulfill ye the measure of your fathers that the blood of all the righteous may come upon you As for the Prophesie of the ignominious handling of the bodies of these Witnesses after their slaughter it is also fulfilled by your Popes and their authority upon the carcasses of the Saints of God which in all parts almost where ever their blood was shed was most ignominiously handled as though they had been not the bodies of men but the dead carions of dogs and swine Let both Histories and some who yet live bear witness of this As for the time and place and their reviving and ascending up to heaven it is to be understood after the manner of prophesies mystically and figuratively as I have proved before The time of three days and an half signifying all the time of your tyrannous cruelty The place of their ignominy is the streets of that great City which is here called Sodom and Egypt and the place where our Lord was crucified not literally but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritually as the text saith Rev. 17.9 18. And also called Babylon in the 14. and 17. and 18. of the Revelation which is literally that seven hilled City which hath dominion over the Kings of the earth Rev. 11.8 and 17 5. which as Bellarmin lib. de Rom Pont. cap. 2. confesses is Rome properly So as this great City is neither Sodom nor Egypt nor Babylon suppose it be called so literally but only mystically and spiritually as the Scripture saith and your self will not deny for the likeness between them Sodom for her filthiness and uncleanness Egypt and Babylon for her tyranny and cruelty over the Saints of God wherein she resembles them So is she not literally the place where Christ was crucified but only mystically and spiritually for the likeness between them that as by the authority of the Emperor of Rome his Deputy Pilat our Lord was crucified for the false challenge of treason against the Emperor which was falsly and wickedly laid to his charge and therefore is said here by the holy Ghost to be crucified at Rome that is by the authority of the Rulers at Rome So by the authority of the Popes who now reign and have reigned these many years at Rome Christ is crucified again in his members because they will not receive his mark and worship him And as Jerusalem boasted her self to be a holy City and the spouse of Christ and yet was an harlot a murderer and a persecuter of the Saints so Rome doth boast her self to be an holy City and the spouse of Christ and the Head of all and yet is now and is long since become an harlot and a murderer and a persecuter of the Saints And if ye will ask When did the bodies of the Saints ly in the streets of Rome I answer As by the gates in the city in the fourth command Exod 20. is not meant the gates of the City properly but the authority and jurisdiction of the City so by the streets of Rome is not only meant the gates within the walls of Rome but all the places and parts whither his power dominion hath spread its self So that all the places where the Popes of Rome have exercised their tyranny over the Saints are called here the streets of that great City All these therefore who have been cruelly murdered by the Popes authority in England Scotland France the Low Countreys c. and whose bodies have been cast out and whose bodies have been ignominiously handled they have lyen in the streets of that great City And as all the rest of this Prophesie is to be understood spiritually so is this reviving and ascending of these Witnesses to heaven in the sight of their enemies to be understood not literally but spiritually So this is not the meaning of the holy Ghost that these Witnesses whom the Antichrist shal slay shal be raised up again in their own persons which yet shal be at the last day in the general resurrection but that the Lord shal raise up other Witnesses indued with that same Spirit which they were indued with preaching the same truth and maintaining the same cause against Antichrist as that Prophesie in the 3. of Malachie of the sending of Elias before the coming of Christ was fulfilled as our Savior testifies Matth. 11.10.14 not in the
As to the second who is he that hath caused all to worship the first Beast that is hath brought again that tyrānous cruelty dominion over the poor Church of God in setting up idolatry and abolishing the true worship of God which the Heathen Emperors did but the Popes of Rome For was not the Emperor of the East excommunicat because he would not suffer Images in the Temples Have not they filled the world with their Idolatry as hath been proved Who have made war with the Saints oppressed them in all the parts where their dominion might reach but they France Germany England Scotland the Low Countreys and all Europe bear witness unto this As to the third who by lying wonders have deceived the world but they And as to the fourth who hath healed the deadly wound of the first Beast in setting up an Empire here in the West in the person of Charles the Great which was more then three hundred years so deadly wounded through the incursion of other Nations that there was no Empire in the West Who I say did all this but the Popes of Rome Giving unto them the style or bare name but taking by little and little the substance of the whole Empire to themselves so that Theodorick à Niem saith lib. 3. cap. 43. The Roman Empire is so little now in Almany that there is some Bishops or Archbishops that will spend twise as much as they will do of all the lands that is under their subjection And some Princes have more land then the Emperor hath And if ye will look to Rome saith he and Italy it was once the seat of the Empire but now the Emperor hath nothing of it but the style As to the fifth Who is he who hath caused make the Image of the Beast and given a spirit unto it that it should speak That is who have set up a very Image of the Roman Monarchy and Hierarchy in the whole frame of their government in the Church of God but the Popes of Rome So that the whole frame of their government and Hierarchy is a lively pattern and image of the Roman Empire For as in the Roman Empire there was an Emperor whom all did worship as God unto whom there was joyned a Senat who was next in authority to him so is the frame of the government of the Papistical Kingdom There is a Monarch the Pope whom all are compelled when they come in his sight to worship as an earthly God to whose sentence all must stand to who judgeth all but can be judged of none who hath joyned with him a Senat of Cardinals who are next him in authority Secondly as in the Roman Monarchy the Emperor took upon him not only the highest Kingly authority in all matters civil but also the Priestly authority and power over Religion and not that only but also to be Tribuns over the people who had the power of forbidding and annulling of all decrees made by other Magistrats Even so the Popes of Rome have usurped all these three First the highest Royal authority over all Kings and Princes next to be Lords over Religion so that as Antoninus one of his Archbishops saith Summa part 3. tit 22. c. 5. He may creat new Religions thirdly to be Tribuns that is to disanul whatsoever decree or judgement of any Bishop or inferior Judges yea of Synodal and General Councils if they be not ratified by him Thirdly as in Rome was the head of the Empire the Emperor and his Senat with him and as the Emperors had their Magistrats under them in all their Provinces and places of their dominions from whom all their authority was and who was at their beck and commandment So in the Popes Kingdom the Pope who is the head and the Senat of Cardinals which is next him in authority have their seat in Rome and they according to the old pattern of the Roman Empire have their Bishops Archbishops Abbots Priors Monks Friers c. in all the places of their dominion under them who have their whole authority from him and who all are his sworn men So here is then the lively image of the former beast And as to the sixth Who did kill all them that would not worship the image and this frame of government of Popes Cardinals Bishops Archbishops c. and their Religion but the Popes of Rome The blood of infinit thousands do testifie this And what hath brought all under their bondage both one and other that none might buy or sell that is neither brook Civil nor Ecclesiastical offices but those who were marked with his mark that is took on them his profession and was Catholicks as he termes them Is not this sufficiently known that none might have offices nor benefices in the Church but they that received his mark orders from him And none might brook their Kingdoms and civil dignities in so far as lay in his power but these that were of his profession Rex venit ante fores surans prius urbis honores Post homo fit Papae recipit quo dante coronam Clement lib. 2. tit 9. And Erasmus saith in his Adagles That neither Baptism nor marriage nor sacrifice nor psalms nor prayer nor Sacrament nor grave in the Papistical Kingdom are given without money Now last of all to what Kingdom or Church under heaven since this Revelation was written doth the number of the name of the Beast here set down agree but to the Latin Kingdom of the Popes and their Latin Church for here is set down the name of the Kingdom of Antichrist The number of the name of the Beast here set down is 666. and the λ α τ ε ι 30 1 300 5 10  ν ο σ.   50 70 200.  all which being joyned together maketh 666. letters of the name of this Antichristian Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amounts to the same number of 666. For what is the name of the Popish Kingdom and Hierarchie Is not the Church called the Latin Church Is not all the exercises of their Religion almost in Latin And suppose the Old Testament be written in Hebrew and the New in Greek yet have they not condemned the Originals as corrupted And have they not authorized the Latin interpretation as only authentical So that Papacie is the very Kingdom of Latins Now the letters of this Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Latin for the Revelation was written in Greek doth amount to the same number 666. And what other Kingdom or Monarchy under heaven can show whose name is such that the letters thereof amounteth to this number Ireneus an ancient Writer yea so ancient that he saw and heard Polycarpus who was one of Johns Disciples who received this Revelation mentioneth that the name of this Beast in this prophesie is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iren. lib. 5. cap. 25. Sed Latinis nomen 666. numerum habet valde verisimile est quia
a great crime was kept prisoner by the Jesuits in the chamber of meditations where after they had long terrified his soul they propounded to him a way to lessen his torments in hell to wit to kill the King which the miserable wretch promised and attempted Whereupon the Colledge of the Jesuits was searched and many persons seized on among which was found a book in the praise of James Clement the murderer of King Henry the 3 written by the Jesuit Guignard containing many arguments and reasons to prove it was lawful and just to kill King Henry the 3. together with many incitements and motives to make away his successor King Henry the 4. then reigning The themes given to young scholars were found to be about King killing with praises of the attempt and exhortations to it Likewise Bariere another wretch who had attempted to kill King Henry the 4. being examined confessed that the Jesuit Varadius Rector of the Colledge of the Jesuits had incited and adjured him upon the Sacrament of confession and the communion of the Lords body to kill the King assuring him that if he suffered for it he should obtain martyrdom Moreover Ravillac in his examination shewed sufficiently by whose instructions he was perswaded to murther King Henry the 4. for he gave this reason why he did it because the King would make war with God in as much as he prepared war against the Pope who is God which is the plain doctrine of the Church of Rome So the Jesuits at the Popes instigation never ceased till they had assassinated both these Kings of France Henry the 3. and Henry the 4. So Peter du Moulin chap. 5. IV. William Prince of Orange being one of the blessed instruments the Lord imployed for the delivery of the Netherlands from the Spanish tyranny and Popish idolatry therefore the Popish faction carrying an implacable hatred to him they stirred up one Joanville to kill him and for encouraging him in this devilish attempt a Frier perswaded him that he should go invisible and for that effect he gave him some characters in paper and little frogs bones and other conjurations whereby he being animated to that wicked deed went lay in wait and shot the Prince with a pistol through the throat But he through Gods goodness recovering they stirred up Baltazar Gerard to make a second attempt upon him who shot him through the stomack and vital parts so that he presently died V. But leaving these forraign instances let us come home to Britain where we will see a wonderful Tragedy of secret bloody treasons plotted and carried on for the ruine of Queen Elizabeth King James c. and the whole Reformed Religion professed in these lands For so soon as the Pope perceived that Queen Elizabeth intended in earnest to shake off that Romish yoke and that all his flattery and fair dealing could not reduce her to his obedience she refusing to permit his Nuncio to enter her Kingdom he falls to his old course and anno 1569. Pope Pius the 5. excommunicats her as we said before absolving all her subjects from her obedience and â—ursing all that should longer obey her giving her Kingdom to the King of Spain But fearing that a war might be dangerous and of doubtful event he thought the most compendious way to ruine her was to send over his Agents to England to cause proclaim his Bull there and to excite the Papists in England to rebellion against her and to endeavor by all means to assassinat her For he thought this would either win her or at least it would strengthen the King of Spains hands when he knew that there were secret plottings in England for to accomplish his design Therefore he sent over his Bull declaratory by one Morton an English fugitive who bringing it to Rodolf a Florentin divers copies of it were first secretly scattered among the Papists and then the Brieve it self fixed on the gate of London-house by which time the Priests and other Agents for Rome had wrought so far with sundry Nobles and Gentle-men of eminency whom they either found or could make discontented with the Reformed Religion or Government or whom they discerned to be ambitiously affected that they never rested plotting one treason and rebellion after another For in that same year wherein the Popes Bulls was here scattered among the Papists the Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland and sundry other their complices fell out in actual rebellion But that not taking effect they used more secret and hidden wayes for carrying on their mischief For L. Aubespine a French Ambassador of the Guisian faction solicited one Mocdy to kill the Queen by laying gun powder under her chamber and secretly firing it But although that was discovered yet they did not cease but all that Queens time they were still plotting treasons such as the treasons of Stuckly in Ireland of the Stanlies in Darbishyre of John Trogmorton and Brook of Sanders and Bristow of the Nortons Barn and Mather of Doctor Story and Shirwin Parsons Campian and Kirly and many other Priests and Jesuits to the number of 120. of Somervail and his adherents of Mayn Nilson Thomson and the rest of that crue of Payn and his fifty resolutes hyred by the Pope to murder the Queen Of Francis Throgmorton Paget and Englfield Of bloody Pary of Babington Tichburn and the rest of that pack Of the same Babington Charnock and Savace on a second devilish design Of Lopoz of Stanly of Cullen of York and Williams c. with infinit mo that never came to light yea Garnet Winter Catesby Treshame and others in the last year of Queen Elizabeth travelled with the King of Spain to joyn with the Papists in England to depose the Queen and to extirpat Religion Thus they never rested all the time of that Queen to plot treasons and rebellions against her And is it not well known how the Duke of Guise and his faction in France did enter in the holy League to root out all the Protestants In prosecution whereof they warred and rebelled against their natural Soveraigns King Henry the 3. and King Henry the 4. while several hundreds of thousands of the subjects were killed and destroyed and the whole Kingdom almost wasted and depopulated and way made for the Spaniard to conquer the Kingdom with whom the Leaguers joyned and brought his forces unto the Kingdom And if his wars in the Netherlands and the loss of his Armado anno 1588. had not weakned him he might have conquequested all France But did King James feel them any quieter in Scotland Surely no. For beside the hazard he was in from them in his infancy and minority he felt also their treasons and rebellions when come to age For the Earls of Angus Huntly and Arrol the Lords Maxwel Hares and others made a conspiracy for bringing in the Spaniard with whom they were to joyn forces for the ruine of King and Kingdom and afterward brake out in open rebellion
at the bridge of Dee as is proved at large in a Treatise intituled A Discovery of the unnatural and trayterous conspiracy oâ— Scottish Papists c. printed by King James special command 1592. And as soon as he entered England Watson and Clerk instilled treasons unto sundry Nobles and Gentle-men against the King and Prince before the Coronation But that not succeeding they fall next to the Gun-powder treason designing to blow up King Parliament all at one blow they hiring the cellers of the Parliament-house in which they laid 36. barrels of gunpowder and 1000. billets and 500. fagots and if God had not discovered their wickedness by a singular providence both King Queen Prince Nobles Knights Citizens Burgesses yea the whole Parliament had all gone with at one blow I spare to speak of the continual treasons and rebellions in Ireland both in Queen Elizabeth and King James reign Or of that memorable design of the Spanish Armado anno 1588. Which however it was attempted by Spain yet all men may know that the English and Scottish Papists kept continual correspondence and were combined with the Spaniard And of the thundering Bull of Pope Sixtus the 5. then sent abroad for confirmation of the several Bulls made by his predecessors Pius the 5. and Gregory the 13. against Queen Elizabeth to the end our Papists might more cheerfully assist in that bloody enterprise Nor were the Papists less active in King Charles the first his reign as M Prin and M. Baxter have evidenced at large Prin in several treatises especially in a treatise intituled Romes Master-piece shows what great plots they had either to ruine King and Kingdom or to procure liberty for the profession of Popery M. Baxter in his Key of Catholicks chap. 45. seqq proveth at large that they plotted contryved and carried on that late change of Government in the State and that cruel and abominable parricide committed on the Royal person of King Charles the first Peter du Moulin junior Chaplain to the Kings Majesty in his vindication of the sincerity of the Protestant Religion in the point of obedience to Soveraigns chap. 2. pag. 58.59 testifieth That the year before the Kings death a select number of English Jesuits were sent from their whole party in England first to Paris to consult with the Faculty of Sorbon then altogether Jesuited to whom they put this question in writing That seeing the State of England was in a likely posture to change Government whither it was lawful for the Catholicks to work that change for the advancing and securing of the Catholicks cause in England by making away the King whom there was no hope to turn from his heresie Which was answered affirmatively After which the same persons went to Rome where the same question being propounded and debated it was concluded by the Pope and his Council that it was both lawful and expedient for the Catholicks to promote that alteration of State What followed that consultation and sentence all the world knoweth The same Author relateth That when the news of that horrible execution came to Roan a Protestant Gentle-man of good credit was present in a great number of Jesuited persons where after great expressions of joy the greatest of the company to whom all gave ear spake much after this sort The King of England at his marriage had promised us the reestablishing of the Catholick Religion in England and when he delayed to fulfil his promise we summoned him from time to time to perform it We came so far as to tell him that if he would not do it we should be forced to take these courses which would bring him to his destruction We have given him lawful warning and when no warning would serve we have kept our vow to him since he would not keep his word to us The said Author likewise relateth That in pursuance of the fore-mentioned conclusion at Rome many Jesuits came over who take several shapes to go about their work but most of them took party in the army About thirty of them were met by a Protestant Gentle-man between Roan and Deep to whom they said taking him for one of their party that they were going to England and would take arms in the Independant army and endeavor to be Agitators Much more hath he to this purpose M. Baxter likewise proveth that many Jesuits did enter in the army and swarmed through the Countrey under the name of Independants Seekers Quakers Levellers c. endeavoring to ruine the Reformed Religion by railing against the Church Ministery Ordinances c. From all which it is evident that the grand work of the Pope and Jesuits his Janisaries is to plot and carry on treasons and bloodshed in Protestant Kingdoms and Commonwealths which they have been still about since the Reformation And no wonder the Priests and Jesuits lay life and all at the stake to accomplish bloody and traiterous designs seeing they are sworn and ingaged by oath to make this their work For the Pope binds all the Jesuits and Priests by oath to inculcat their principles of treason into their proselyts and to stir them up upon all occasions to act it as will be evident to any who will but read the rules of Ignatius Loyola the father of the Jesuits Or the testimony of Pope Urban the 8. in his Bull of Canonization of Ignatius Loyola Touching that Society that beyond all other fraternity they are the chief and most strenuous propugners of the Popes authority And how far do the Jesuits extend their vow of blind obedience Even to the killing of Kings raising of treasons and rebellions whereever they can have access So that Watson in his Quodlibets and other secular Priests have proven and concluded the Jesuits traitors both for tenets and practise But not only are the Jesuits bound by oath to assassinations and rebellions but also the secular Priests themselves who are not Jesuits are bound unto the Pope himself in his Constitutions for ordering of the English Colledge at Rome by oath to propagat rebellion For thus speaks Martin Aspilcueta Doctor Novarrus lib. 3. consil resp concil 1. de regular cited by Doctor Burges At Rome in the Colledge of the English it is a Statut and Papal Constitution that whoever will be admitted into that Colledge he be tyed to swear that after so many years he will travel unto England for defence of the Catholick faith and there preach it both in publick and privat Now what Faith it is that they are bound to preach the treasons and rebellions raised by them can best evidence Now their great work is to corrupt the judgements of their followers and instruments of assassination and treason with poysonous positions touching the nature of such facts and bribe their consciences with strong baits of reward and glory to all that will undertake the acting of treasons and rebellions at their instigation which is a strong incentive to them For men that
desperat propounders and ring-leaders of that treason against King James and Prince Henry at his coming to England for which the said Watson and Clerk suffered the reward of traitors So that H. T. and other Papists are not to be believed for they will say any thing maintain any assertion that they may make for the advancement of their cause 3. What is the matter although they pretend to grant to the King all that the Sorbon Doctors and Parliament of Paris grant yea what although they profess to swear their allegiance are we the safer seeing they change their principles according as they see occasion and seeing they hold that the Pope can dispense with any oath even after they have taken it as I have proven before And did not Parsons and Campian anno 1580. notwithstanding of their strict oath to obey the Pope in all things procure a dispensation to free all Catholicks from obeying the Popes own declaratory Bull of excommunication against Queen Elizabeth till a better opportunity So you see they can get a dispensation from the Popes own Bull if they find it not seasonable What oath then will bind them especially to these they account heretical For that is one of their principles No faith is to be kept to hereticks as we shewed you They can change themselves Proteus-like in any form When there is no remedy they will yeeld to any thing But when they see their time they will do any thing I shal close all with the testimony of two great Doctors and Bishops in King James time the first whereof is Doctor Andreus Bishop of Winchester who in a sermon on Nov. 5. 1616. speaking of the reason that Bellarmin gives why the primitive Christians did not rise up against persecuting Emperors id fuit quia deerant vires He makes this collection that is as much as to say if they now in these days be so as they were then and carry themselves quietly it is quia non sunt vires and to hold no longer then donec erunt And then you are like to hear of them to have them go again with such another birth Ye shal have them as myld as Gregory the first when they have no strength But as fierce as Gregory the 7. when they have and afterwards thus See ye not next under God whereto to ascribe your safety even to non erant vires there is a point hangs on that for while that lasts while ye keep them there ye shal have the primitive Church of them have them to ly as quiet as still as ever did the barrels in the vault till vires like fire come to them and then off go they then nothing but depose Kings dispose of Kingdoms assoil subjects arm them against their Soveraigns then do they care not what But if the powder take not fire then shal you straight have books tending to mitigation then all quiet again certainly thus standing it were best to hold them in defectu virium to provide ut ne sint to keep them at non sunt vires till time they be better minded in this point and we have good assurance of it for minded as they are they want no will no virus they tell us what the matter is strength they want they write it they print it and si adessent vires they would act it in earnest Thus he The second is Doctor Prideaux in a Sermon on Nov. the 5. who having reckoned up a Catalogue of the damnable doctrines of Popery professeth to have done it To make it appear to these that would willingly be better perswaded of their doctrine that the doctrine it self directly warranteth treason Let the traitors be what they will and that none can be an absolut Papist but if he throughl◠understand himself and live under a Christian Prince that hath renounced the Popes authority must needs being put unto it be an absolut traitor Thus I hope ye have it proved both from their principles and practise that if Popery or Papists get any strength or footing in a Kingdom it will tend undoubtedly to the ruine of both King and Kingdom Yet the Papists are grown so impudent of late as to charge the Protestants integrity of rebellion and rebellious principles and excuse their own rebellious principles As in a Treatise intituled Philanax Anglicus dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury But Peter du Moulin hath learnedly answered it And truly herein they deal with us as Verres did with Tully Verres himself was a very notorius thief and knew that Cicero had much against him in that kind and therefore he knavishly and impudently calls Cicero the thief first though a very true man and noble Orator It is just so in this case Now I pray what case may both King and Kingdom expect to be in if Papists get any strength or power Have they not given infinit proofs both of old and late of their rebellious disposition and treasonable practises SECTION V. Containing some instances in particular of the barbarous and inhumane cruelty of Papists to Protestants where they had the power over them I Have hitherto shown that both the principles and practises of Papists tend to treasons rebellions war and blood-shed I shal in this Section to detect their cruelty give some instances in particular of their barbarous inhumane cruelty to Protestants where ever they get power authority or the upper-hand over them This is so well known that none that knows any thing of History are ignorant of it Ought ever the sad and deplorable case of England in Queen Maries time to be forgotten when either the soul behoved to be ruined by Idolatry or else the body to be burnt in a fire This was an unanswerable Dilemma either soul or body must perish How many hūdreds of Martyrs were burnt in one year all the Countrey over Their inhumane cruelties executed on Protestants are so many and terrible that they would make up many Volumes and make the hair to stand and the ears to tingle What greater torments are imaginable then is used in the Inquisition of Spain and Italy as it is described by M. Clerk in his Martyrologie But that the Reader may know ex ungue leonem their cruel and inhumane carriage to Protestants I shal set down a few instances I shal begin with the Waldenses in Provence against whom Meinerus President of Oppede anno 1545. raised war coming to Cabriers in which there were only 60. poor sick pesants who offered to open the gates and quite the Countrey leaving all their goods behind them but he entering the town caused all the men to be brought in a field and to be cut in pieces The souldiers striving who should show the best manhood in cutting of heads arms and leggs The women he caused to be locked in a barn with much straw and so put fire to it where many women great with child were burnt One souldier moved with pitie opening a hole in the wall that