neque jure humano nec Divino Idem ibid. p. 327. Edit Celon Agripp n. all Ecclesiastics from Subjection to the Secular Princes it follows that in respect of those Church-men they are not the higher Powers and consequently the Church-men are not obliged to obey them by any Law either Divine or Humane except only in some trivial matters which he there calls Leges Directivae such as a man 's not stirring out of doors after a particular hour without his Sword by his side and a Light in his hand c. In these petty Trifles they will out of good nature obey the King but for any things of greater concern therein they beg excuse to be out of his reach So that in plain terms at this rate all the Clergy in every Kingdom are left at Liberty whether they will be Loyal or no and the Prince shall wholly lose his Coercive Power over a considerable part of his Subjects So that sometimes it may happen there shall not only be a Refusal of Obedience to but a downright Resistance of his Commands Instances hereof are numerous How saucily did Anselm carry to King Rufus and Thomas Becket to Henry the Second till the one died abroad and the other was killed at home And upon every occasion it would happen so still The Clergy believing themselves freed from any Punishment their Prince could inflict and knowing full well that upon an Appeal to Rome the Sentence would surely pass in favour of the Church Or let it but once come to a Contest that the Pope enjoyns one thing the King another the Pope passeth such a Decree the King gainsays it who shall prevail Shall not the Pope because the Church-men are under his Lash but exempted from the Kings nor will they in reason be easily drawn to provoke him who both can and will for another mans sake who neither must nor dare correct them So that in effect they are but titularly Subjects and will so far be dutiful to the King as their own good Inclinations shall prompt them Now how can he expect to be secured in his Throne by those persons who are not under his Jurisdiction In case their Holy Father for some particular pique at him or to gratifie a beloved Nephew declare him an Heretic that he may dispose of his Kingdom these good Children must needs tread in his Steps and do as he bids them they being according to their own Principles as much obliged to take part against as our Religion would teach us to take part with our Prince notwithstanding all opposition in the world Besides these Ecclesiastical Immunities drain a great deal of wealth out of each Kingdom which might better be laid up in the Kings Exchequer All the Profit of Collations to Benefices First-Fruits Tenths and several other Duties of that kind these the Pope hoords up in his own Coffers a Grievance whereof this particular Nation was so sensible that open Complaint was made against it Temp. Hen. III in Parliament for such vast Sums were sent away out of this little Kingdom from one time to another that the People were much impoverished to make it what he called it Puteus inexhaustus a Well not to be drawn dry So that it is strangely wonderful how the Princes abroad to this very day bear so great an Imposition upon them and submit to such a Diminution of their Authority so contrary to the Rule of Scripture so without all Precedent from Antiquity unless one spurious Passage palpably foisted into Ignatius his Epistles so Dangerous to the peaceable state of their several Countreys and so Inconsistent with the Obedience owing to their own persons But it were something tolerable if this might prove II. By teaching the lawfulness to excommunicate 〈◊〉 murther Kings for Religion the worst so far is the Romish Religion from enjoyning Obedience to Princes that it teacheth those pernicious Doctrins of the Lawfulness to excommunicate depose and murther Kings if their Religion may thereby be promoted So that not only the Clergy but the Princes too lie at the Popes mercy His Fingers indeed have long itched to be medling with Crowns and therefore he employs his Agents abroad to whisper these Devilish Maxims into peoples Ears Now when the grave Fathers of the Church teach and their seduced Children admit them for Truths no marvel if the King sits uneasie in his Throne and his Scepter be ready to fall out of his Hand For satisfaction herein I refer you to Bellarmine again for no mans Credit is better in that Church Three Chapters he spends very eagerly in one Book upon this Subject fending and proving according to our Proverb with might and main The Dâ—â—â—t â—ontifex Râ—gâ—bus juberâ—â—â— hâ—c faciâ—â—◠〈◊〉 nisi fâ—cerâ—nt etiam cogere per excommunicatiâ—nem alâ—asque commodas rationes Bellarm. de Râ—m Pont. l. 5. c. 7. p 505. Pope saith he must command Kings to do these things things relating to the Service of God and if they do them not to compel them by Excommunication and other commodious ways This is pretty smart but all the while sure there is no fear of altering his Property or taking that Dominion from him which God had given Yes there may be Reason for that too if the Cause of Religion require the doing it The Pope may Papa potest mutare Regnâ— uni aâ—ferre at que alters conferre tanquam summus princâ—ps spirituâ—lis si id necessarium sit ad animarum salutem Idem c. 6. p 901. make an Alteration in Kingdoms dethroning one man and exalting another as being the greatest spiritual Prince if it be necessary for the good of souls And this unlimited Power he endeavours to defend by a great many Authorities Nor may he only exercise this strange kind of Prerogative but the good Subjects also must be so much concerned for the Catholic Cause as to set themselves against their Heretical Ruler Christians are Non tenentur Christiant in â— non debeat cum evidente periculo Religionis tolerare regem infidelem Idem p 94. not bound indeed they ought not to tolerate unbelieving King and all of our Principles are with them no better than Infidels if Religion be in any apparent danger They must not tolerate him but how shall it be helped There is scarce any Remedy left but the deposing him and then to make sure work they must either put him into a safe Prison or send him into a cold Grave Now lest this Position of his should be decried as strange and novel being so contrary to the practice of the Primitive Christians who without question were the best Subjects in the world he presently answers that they were not either to be thanked for or imitated in their Obedience since it was matter of Constraint rather than Choice And if they deposed not Nero the Cruel Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem Dioclesianum Julianum Apostatam
upon them is that the People committed to their charge may be instructed therein for the conviction of their Judgments and the regulation of their Practice Nay lest such Teaching should not produce an effect answerable to the desires of these good men but people should still take a liberty of Believing and Asserting what they list there is a severe Censure to be inflicted upon such irregular Can. 2 persons for their punishment Whosoever shall affirm that the Kings Majesty hath not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical for in Temporal our Adversaries will grant it more than what they can hook in by In ordine ad spiritualia that the godly Kings had among the Jews and Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church which is the same we plead for or impeach in any part his Regal Supremacy let him be Excommunicated So little do any of our Church Constitutions derogate from the Kings Power that they establish it both by their positive Command to have it preached and received as true Christian Doctrine and the Opposers of it thrown out of the Churches Bosom as not fit for the Society of Christian men And now Sir I cannot imagine there wants any From the Pâ—actice of her Children thing for your further satisfaction unless it be to consider how the Practice of the Children of this Church hath agreed with the excellent Rules delivered unto them For although their Miscarriages could not justly be charged upon her yet we shall find that these Rules have had so great an Influence upon them as they have never dared to engage in any concern against their Prince nor ever been wanting in the manifestation of a due Obedience unto him Be not therefore I beseech you deceived with the vain Pretences of the Romish Party who tell you openly in some of their Books There have been more seditious Insurrections since the Reformation of Religion than were in some hundreds of years before For as there is no reason to take their bare word for it so no more are we engaged to vindicate any but those of our own Church I dare not undertake to justifie all the Proceedings of the Hugonots in France much less of the Kirk-party in Scotland but for the Sons of our Holy Mother of England let them if they can produce any Accusation against us and we are ready to submit to a fair Trial. The ordinary things pleaded are the late Rebellion and the Death of our Royal Martyr neither of which touch us any further than as our sins added to the rest filled up the Number and provoked God to make use of such Instruments for the executing his wrath as startled not at the most excerable Villanies in the world It is notoriously known how many Persons of Honour and Quality out of mere conscience attended that poor injured Prince from place to place during the unnatural War and paid their Service to his Son our now Gracious Sovereign throughout the many years of his calamitous Exile What Numbers spent their Estates and sacrific'd their Lives with all the generous Alacrity in the world to maintein the Distressed Kings Cause had Heaven given success to their loyal Endeavours How many Thousands might we reckon up who fought valiantly fell gallantly and spent their dearest bloud in the asserting his Majesties just Rights against all the Abettors of Rebellion Whereas those who either fomented the War or were afterwards active in the carrying it on had receded from true Protestant Principles and sucked in those pernicious Doctrins from Scotland which she had infectiously drawn either from Rome or Geneva It is not barely upon my own credit that this Truth begs your Belief take it from King Charles his incomparable Pen who being the Sufferer might best distinguish between his Friends and Foes The Scandal of the late Troubles which some may object and urge to you writing to the then Prince of Wales against the Protestant Religion established in England is easily answered to them or your own thoughts in this that scarce any one who hath been a Beginner or an active Prosecutor of this late War against the Church the Laws and Me either was or is a true Lover Embracer or Practiser of the Protestant Religion which neither gives such Rules nor ever before set such Examples And for the Death of that Royal Martyr the remembrance whereof we so much detest as to keep an Anniversary Humiliation upon that day Malice itself dares not lay it at our Door But if you would indeed be satisfied what mischievous Wretches carried on this bloudy Design brought Majesty to bleed on the Scaffold and openly acted such a piece of Villany as the Sun never beheld since Christs Crucifixion They were in plain terms the Papists and the Sectaries who like Sampson's Foxes have their Tails tied together though their Heads seem far asunder For the Papists I shall satisfie you in their Activity afterward For the Sectaries the Proof against them is but too evident and for those of the more refined sort who have confidence enough with Pilate to call for water and wash their hands and say they are innocent from his bloud yet their own Actions testifie against them both before and after that dreadful Blow was given And what horrid Encouragements to and Justifications of that abominable Act fell from the Mouths of those who were then the Godly Preachers of the Gospel remain upon Record Not to surfeit you with such coarse Diet take but a Tast in two or three passages of some eminently esteemed Persons though their Names shall be spared When Meroz had been cursed from one Fast-Day to another and thereby men seduced to take Arms against their Prince called in their sacred Dialect Agoing to the help of the Lord against the Mighty Then were the people of this Kingdom possessed with strange Apprehensions of the King and his Party some telling us it was their Design to root out all Religion I know saith one among them how unsatisfied many are concerning the unlawfulness of the War which hath been managed As I cannot yet perceive by any thing they object but that we undertook our Defence upon warrantable Grounds so am I most certain that God hath wonderfully appeared through the whole And as I am certain by sight and sense That the Extirpation of Piety was the then great Design So am I most certain that this was the Work which we took up Arms to resist The fault was that we would not die quietly nor lay down our Necks more gently upon the Block nor more willingly change the Gospel for Ignorance nor our Religion for a Fardle of Ceremonies with several things to the same purpose Others declared their Fears of a Tyrannical and Arbitrary Government but the greatest Number like the unruly Assembly at Ephesus knew not wherefore they were gathered Acts 19. 32. together When the Sword had for some years been glutted with Bloud mens minds at least appeared a little more composed
than Christians What King would be a Christian where his People shall obey or not obey according to the Popes Beck and Command And now according to our former Method let us IV. From the practices of the Romanists pass from their Principles to their Practices which have in all both Places and Ages been exceedingly troublesome tending to the disturbance of each Kingdoms Tranquility and the injury of so many Kings as either they could or had occasion to deal with Not to stir out of our own Nation nor run so far back as King John who was miserably vexed with an Imperious Legate proudly keeping the Crown in his possession four dayes after it was tendred him by laying it at his feet and as many Authors report afterwards poisoned by Simon a Monk of Swinsted Abbey I would only desire you to reflect upon what hath happened since the Reformation When that incomparable Queen Elizabeth began to reign Pius the Fourth sent a gentle admonitory Letter to perswade her into an Agreement with the Romish Church and an invitation to send her Clerks to the Council of Trent an Assembly so packed and the Affairs of it so managed that no good issue could ever be expected from it but these not working the effects he desired that holy Father proceeds to his severities Out comes a Bull of Excommunication long threatned wherein by the Papal Authority she is deprived of all her Dominion and Dignity Her Nobles Subjects and People throughout the Kingdom are absolved from whatsoever Oath of fidelity they had taken so as it should not lay any Obligation upon them But to make all sure The Subjects of her Kingdom are severely interdicted from paying Any Obedience to Her Her Lawes or Commands and whosoever should fail in the due observance of these Injunctions must look to be fettered in the same Dreadful Anathema with her self This was no sooner come out and no sooner did it come then Felton an audacious fellow fastned it upon the Bishop of London's Palace Gates but one after another fell busily to work creating the Queen a great deal of vexatious trouble Abroad the Pope and King of Spain were very busie the former desirous to make England a Portion for his Nephew the Marquis Vincolo the latter to make it an Addittament to his own large Dominions At home Parsons and Campian talked loudly and wrote seditiously Somervile threatens to kill the Queen with his own hand Parry undertakes as much being encouraged with the Promise of a Plenary Indulgence from the Pope Savage with whom Babington joyned was drawn into a Treason by Giffords Doctrin who taught it was a meritorious work to destroy Her being a Prince already excommunicated By these means used to some and the promise of Gratuities to others were Lopez and York and Williams all of them cajoled and Squire afterwards who practised more cunningly to kill the Queen by poisoning the pommel of her Saddle How active the men of this perswasion were in the Spanish Invasion every Chronicle will tell you But lest they should pretend That Business was only managed by Foreigners or Renegadoes it is certain they cannot so easily acquit themselves of that horrible Gun-powder Plot for the utter destroying King Lords and Commons in Parliament the Alteration of Religion and Subversion of the Government a piece of wickedness so detestable as nothing before that time could ever match it and which when once effected as no doubt was made but the design would take the whole blame should be laid upon the Puritans The particulars are to be found almost every where Now when upon such disloyal practices the Parliament did more strictly urge the Oath of Allegeance Pope Paul the Fifth sent his Admonitory into England advising all his dutiful Children that they should diligently beware of that and all such kind of Oaths that they were not at all to be regarded concluding with this phrase Haec est mera pura integraque voluntas nostra This is our plain and direct will and pleasure Herein also he was followed by his Successor Vrban VIII at the beginning of King Charles his Reign Adhaereat faucibus vestris lingua vestra priusquam Authoritatem Beati Petri ea jurisjurandi formula imminutam detis Let your tongues cleave to the roof of your mouths before you diminish the Authority of the Apostolick Sea by submitting to such an Oath Hence you may follow these good Subjects to the Irish Rebellion and there behold their so much boasted loyalty in the slaughter of many thousands and turning that Kingdom into an Aceldama Men Women and Children murdered with an unparallell'd cruelty in a months time to a prodigious number the same fate awaiting all the Protestants and English who should refuse to joyn with them A sad beginner of our unhappy Troubles at home Well but notwithstanding all that hath been said The Papists Plea of loyalty in the late times the Papists have one Plea for themselves and all objections against them are presently answered with their Loyalty to King Charles the First in his distresses and the hazards they run both of life and fortune to defend his Interest This I confess Sir seems very plausible at first sight Answered and I really believe hath had a greater influence upon you than all the Arguments they have mustered up to gain you their Proselyte It is possible you will think me strangely disposed whilest with one breath I both Acquit and Accuse Commend and Condemn them in this particular That there were a great many noble brave loyal spirits of the Romish Perswasion who did with the greatest integrity and without any other designs than the satisfying conscience adventure their lives in the War and leave their bodies in the field for the Kings service is a Truth beyond all question and that several if not All of these were men of such generous souls that the greatest temptations in the world could not have perverted or made them desert their King in the height of his miseries but we know there is no arguing from Particulars nor did their Religion as Romish oblige them to this duty since it hath in part and will every day more appear to the world that the Grandees of that Church had the greatest hand in our intestine broils were the main Contrivers of the Kings death and after his Head was cut off did caress that Piece of a Parliament which then had usurped the supreme power with all the flatteries which a Jesuitical Cunning could possibly invent Heavy charges indeed but soon prov'd the Truth of them is but too evident and then Sir be your own Judge whether these Persons were the Kings Friends or no. That they had the greatest hand in our intestine Broils and were mainly instrumental to cherish the Vnnatural Rebellion which broke forth among us appears by their constant endeavours to create Jealousies in the Peoples minds against the King and his Ministers of State Scores of active persons