compass of Omnis anima and have a Soul to save he must be subject to the Higher Powers honour the King or Kaisar obey him and reverence him and pay him due homage custome and tribute VVhat shall we say then that our Jesuits never read the precept of Jesus Reddite Caesari nor our Romanists the 13th to the Romans no◠our pretended Catholics this Catholic Epistle of St. Peter Sure if they read it they do not regard it For were they to honour the King to be subject to the Higher Powers then and are not we now Consider but what Caesars Kings and Emperours they were in those days in the time of our Saviour and of his Apostles and afterward in the time of Tertullian and the rest of the Primitive Fathers for 300 years after Christ Tiberius and Caligula Nero and Domitian cruel and bloody Tyrants the very worst of the Roman Emperours yea the worst of men the very monsters of mankind these and the like in the time of Christ and his Apostles And then in the Primitive times Trajan Marcus Antoninus and others though the best of Heathen Emperours yet Heathen Emperours utter enemies to the Gospel and Church of Christ and cruel Persecutors of Christian Religion Give Caesar his due saith Christ though that Caesar was no other than Tiberius Lutum Sanguine maceratum a lump of clay molded and temper'd with blood as his School-master call'd him in regard of his dull and yet cruel disposition Honour the King saith St. Peter though that King or Emperour was no better than Claudius for it was in his reign that he wrote his Epistle Pontus Galatia and the rest that he wrote to being then Provinces of the Roman Empire I say Claudius a Heathen and wicked Emperour who banisht the Christians out of Rome Impulsore Chresto assiduè tumultuantes as Suetonius has it mistaking the word the name Chresto for Christo but much more the thing as if Christ had been a Ring-leader of Sedition and likewise the time as if he had liv'd in the days of Claudius whereas he suffered some years before in the reign of Tiberius And yet these were the Emperours whom the Primitive Christians were to honour How much more then does this duty concern us How much more should we honour the King the King whom this day God bless'd us with by bringing him into the world and also this day by a miracle of mercy restor'd unto us by bringing him back to his Kingdom even our Gracious King Charles the Second whom God long preserv not a Heathen Emperour but a Christian King not an Enemy to Christ and the Gospel nor a Persecutor of the Church and Christian Religion but a nursing Father of the Church a zealous Mainteiner of the Christian Religion of the true Orthodox Reformed Religion a Defender of the Faith of the true ancient Catholic and Apostolic Faith not a Nero or Dioclesian but a Constantine a Theodosius not a cruel and bloody Tyrant but the very picture and mirrour of Mildness and Clemency not a VVolf or Butcher of the flock but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Shepheard and Father of his people Under whose auspicious and gracious Protection we enjoy our Lives and Liberties and which are dearer to us our Church Faith and Religion the pure and Reformed Religion the true and sincere Worship and Service of God whereas before his happy Restauration you know how it was with us and in what sad and horrid confusions we were wrapt and involv'd both in Church and State For which ever-glorious and wonderful Revolution as with joyful and thankful hearts we look up unto God this day as the principal Author so we cannot but with loyal and humble hearts reflect upon our Gracious Sovereign as the cheif Instrument under God of all our happiness Therfore as we bless God so let us honour the King honour him with our substance by paying him due homage custome and tribute honour him by our Obedience in a chearful submitting to his Laws and Constitutions honour him by a dutiful Reverence and respect to his Sacred Person honour him with our hearts by entertaining high and honourable thoughts and apprehensions of him loving and loyal affections towards him honour him with our hands by fighting if need be or writing in defence of his Royal Person Crown and Dignity honour him with our mouths by speaking highly and honourably of him and not in the least kind slandering or aspersing disparaging or defaming Him or his Government Take we heed and beware of the blasphemous rudeness of those railing Rabshakehs and filthy dreamers who despise dominions and speak evil of dignities Jud. 8. or as our Apostle St. Peter has it they despise government and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they tremble not to blaspheme Dignities Blasphemy is properly against God now is a kind of Divinity in Dignities and Higher Powers so that to speak evil of them is a kind of blasphemy Naboth did blaspheme God and the King a capital crime had it been true but you see blaspheming God and the King go together He that blasphemes or speaks evil of the King blasphemes and speaks evil of God whose Image and Vicegerent he is Wherefore to conclude Honour we the King ore and opere both by word and deed I and corde too with our hearts and souls Let us show that we fear God by our honouring the King Let us declare our-selves to be good Christians by being good Subjects and so joyn these two together in our life and practice which St. Peter does here in the words of the Text Fear God Honour the King A SERMON Preached upon the Anniversary of the Gun-Powder Treason Psalm 124. v. 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are delivered THIS Psalm as ye may perceiv by the tenour of it all along is a Gratulatory or Eucharistical Hymn or Psalm of Prais and thanksgiving to God for delivering Israel both King and People for it was in King David's time the Author of the Psalm the Church and people of God out of the hands of their merciless and cruel enemies the Philistins most like or the Ammonites However some extraordinary preservation some remarkable signal deliverance belike it was and 't was the Dominus nobiscum that did the deed for If the Lord himself had not been on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick c. but Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us over as a prey to their teeth Our soul is esaped c. In the words we may observ these three Particulars 1. The Danger that the Church was in or the Plot lay'd for her i. e. The snare of the fowlers 2. The Prevention of the Danger or the Defeating and Disappointing of the Plot The snare is broken 3. The Churche's Deliverance and safety ensuing thereupon Our soul
and taken as the bird is caught in the snare of a sudden in a trice in a moment And thus it was Malum repentinum and both these both the unexpectedness of the danger and the sudden dispatch mystically and covertly imply'd in the Letter to the L. Mountegle by which the business was discover'd the former in these words Though there be no appearance of any stir yet they shall receiv a terrible blow this Parliament yet they shall not see who hurt them The latter in these The Danger is past so soon as you have burnt the Letter That is as that sagacious Oedipus wise and learned King James rightly expounded the Riddle The blow shall be suddenly given by a blast of Powder which is as soon over as the blaze of a Letter burnt in the fire And so you see this mischievous Plot laid this day for this Church the Church and People of God here in England may very well be compar'd to a snare in regard of the suddenness and unexpectedness of it both in respect of its sudden coming and likewise of the sudden dispatch it shu'd have made when it came 3. And lastly As it was sudden and unexpected so 't was dangerous and deadly The snare of the Fowler is a fatal engine an instrument of death the bird that 's caught in a snare seldom escapes with her life such was the mischief design'd and intended this day a fatal and deadly blow it had been indeed if it had taken The snares of death encompass dus as David speaks and so our Church expresses her self in her Collect O Lord who didst this day discover the snares of death that were laid for us Indeed a deadly snare it had been if it had not been broken King and Parliament Prince and People Peers and Prelates Lords and Commons all blown up at a blast a whole Kingdom Church and State swallow'd up and destroy'd by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A dangerous dreadful and deadly design it was to cut off or rather blow up the King and the whole Representative Body of the Kingdom head and tail branch and rush in one day nay in a moment at one blast and yet thus they had done if the snare had held this they intended and had it in voto nay in parato Caligula's wish O! that the people of Rome nay O! that the people of England becaus they were not the people of Rome O! that the Church of England had but unam cervicem one neck that they might cut it off and why think ye even becaus it had not that unum caput that one Head which they would have set on Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel Instruments of cruelty were in their habitation and in their self-will they digged through a wall They heaped up wood and faggots to burn up us Heretics Indeed these Romish Beautefeu's and Incendiaries had been at their fire-works before they had been trading and tampering long with fire and faggot by retail in the Marian times and now they thought to do it by wholesale by making a Bonfire of the Parliament-house burning and blowing up the whole Body of the Realm Head and Members the King with all the three Estates of the Kingdom assembled and met together But blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth Our soul is escaped c. The snare is broken the danger prevented the design blasted the Plot defeated that is the second particular we observ'd in the words viz. the Prevention of the Danger or Disappointment of the design The mischievous machinations and devices of wicked and ungodly men against the Church and people of God though never so closely and cunningly contriv'd and carry'd are often frustrate and broken defeated and disappointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such wicked works do not always succeed and prosper they often prove abortive and come not to the birth The reason is there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an all-piercing eye that sees and discovers them a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God above that blasts and disappoints them and brings them to nought And so it was this day the snare was broken and how was it broken just as it is here in the Psalm by a Dominus nobiscum in the first verse The Lord was on our side and by an Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini in the last Our help was in the name of the Lord. How was this Treason discovered and the danger prevented just as God says to Zerubbabel Zech 4. 6 Not by might nor by power I may add not by wisdom nor by policy but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts The snare is broken and we are escaped as a bird tanquam Avicula 't is not by her own strength or cunning that the poor bird makes her escape Alas she is weak and simple only there comes some strong hand and breaks the snare Nodos vincula linea rupit in the Poet and then away flys the bird so it was here a strong hand from heaven broke this snare This was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes 't was by the spirit of the Lord and 't was the Lord's doing that the Treason was discovered and the snare broken Yet our Zerubbabel our pious and prudent Prince King James under God had a hand in it too in the breaking and disappointing of it for sure he was guided by the Spirit of the Lord and more than ordinarily inspired and directed in opening the secret and unfolding the mystery and Riddle of the Letter and according to that of the wisest of Kings There was a Divine Sentence in the lips of the King Great Brittain's Solomon so that his mouth transgressed not in judgment when upon his reading of that dark aenigmatical writing he past his sentence whereby the whole business was happily discovered and brought to light and so the snare was broken and we were delivered that 's the third and last Particular the Churches safety and deliverance following upon the snare being broken we are delivered And this indeed is a necessary consequent of the former for when the snare is once broken the bird will soon fly away and escape We are delivered so we were this day indeed delivered from death and destruction delivered from fire and faggot delivered from the mouth of the lyon and from the paw of the bear and from the horns of the bull the Pope's Bull I mean and from the tayl of the Dragon delivered from the savage cruelty of Catesby and Faux Et ab ipsis faucibus Orci from the very jaws of Hell delivered from passing through the fire to the Moloch of Rome from being made a holocaust a whole burnt-offering to that Idol by those Priests of Baal Father Garnet and the rest of those Gun-powder-Saints and Martyrs Thus we were and are delivered I and which is more our soul is
received opinion of their chief Doctors and Casuists especially the Jesuits and their Adherents who bear the great sway in the Church and Court of Rome This I could shew at large by producing the concurrent testimonies of Becanus and Bellarmine Suarez and Lessius Mariana and Santarell Bonarscius or Scribanius which ye will and Emanuel Sa and divers others I shall only quote the sayings of one or two for all Kings have no wrong done them saith Bellarmine if they are depriv'd of their Kingdoms when they prove Heretics Nec ulla eis injuria fiet si deponantur And again Hereticum est saith he 't is a point of Heresie to say that the Pope as Pope has not power Jure Divino by Divine right to depose Kings but indeed you must understand him right 't is onely in ordine ad spiritualia viz. Cùm id bonum spirituale sive ingens Ecclesiae necessitas requirit when the caus of God and the Church when the Catholic caus or if you will when the Good Caus shall require it And a little after Pontificem habere potestatem deponendi Principes est de fide the Pope's power of deposing Kings is a matter of faith and therefore to hold the contrary must needs be a point of heresie No marvel we are counted Heretics for denying this article of the Romish Creed and no marvel saith Lessius that it is De fide and we are bound to believ it as an article of faith seeing it hath been determin'd and given as an Oracle out of the Infallible Chair for Gregory the 7th alià s Hildebrand has decided it long ago in express terms in a Council held at Rome 600 years since Quòd Papae liceat Imperatores deponere and saith Santarel whose Book being Printed at Rome was burnt at Paris Ringente Papâ multùm frendentibus Jesuitis Potest Papa Reges movere mortis poenâ punire depose Kings and put 'um to death and that sine Concilâ—o Papa sine Concilio deponit Imperatorem si sit Haereticus How does he prove it Quoniam Papae Christi unum est tribunal And again Qui Religionem Catholicam Romanam deserit regnandi jus omne amittit that 's down-right so says our Countryman F. Creswell in his Philopater I shall name but one more and that is Emanuel Sa in his Aphorisms Verbo Clericus Clerici rebellio in Regem non est crimen laesae Majestatis quia Principi non est subditus Excellent Jesuitical Doctrine enough to make Kings and Princes in love with Jesuites as long as they live A Church-man cannot be guilty of treason because he is none of the Prince's Subjects and no marvel as long as he is one of the Pope's Vassals But this wu'd not serv F. Garnet's turn who was convicted and found notoriously guilty of this day's treason by his own confession and suffer'd accordingly 'T is true this Aphorism of Em. Sa's either for shame or rather for fear is left out of the Paris Edition this Doctrine being not so current in France as at Rome but 't is still extant in the first Colen Impression and in that of Antwerp Well it seems this is the new Heresy of the Jesuits as a late Author even a Papist calls it and these Doctrines they commonly vent and publish in their Books Printed Con Licenza at Rome and elswhere nor did they ever retract or recant them as far as I could hear I know what is commonly pleaded and pretended of late by our Romanists viz. that these dangerous destructive King-killing Doctrines are but the private Tenets and Opinions of some particular Doctors and were never own'd and receiv'd as the public Doctrines of the Romish Church nor ever decreed nor confirm'd by the Church of Rome in a Council And this is the last and latest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the newest shift and refuge they have found out for themselvs But let me ask 'um 1. Is not the voice of their Pope Boniface the 8th claiming a right to the Temporal Sword by vertue of Ecce duo gladii and Repone gladium in Vaginam and the like and when he told King Philip of France Scire te volumus We wu'd have you to know that you are Subject to us both in Spirituals and Temporals I say is not this Vox Ecclesiae the public voice of the Church of Rome Let me ask 'um 2. Has not that of their Pope Gregory the 7th alià s Hildebrand Nos nos Imperia Regna Principatus quicquid habere mortales possunt auferre dare posse as Platina has it in his life 'T is in our power to give and take away Empires and Kingdoms at our pleasure I say has not this fine Hildebrandine Doctrine been the public acknowledged Doctrine of their Popes and of their Church at least of the Court of Rome ever since 3. Was the 4th Lateran Council under Innocent the 3d a General Council or no If not as sure it was not nothing being fully and openly determin'd in it saith Platina Nec decerni quicquam apertè potuit how then comes their Transubstantiation to be made an Article of Faith by vertue of a Decree of that Council If it was a lawful Oecumenical Council as they will needs have it then that the Pope has power to absolv Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance and fealty to their Princes is a receiv'd authentic Doctrine of their Church for that they confess was decreed in a Canon of that Lateran Council under Pope Innocent 4. Suppose these King-killing Doctrines are not publicly own'd and declar'd to be the Doctrines of their Church nor decreed in their Councils either of Lateran Florence or Trent are they a whit the less dangerous and pernicious for that seeing they are the current Opinions of their most learned Casuists Doctors and Confessors commonly receiv'd and embrac'd I and openly publish'd and printed by their greatest Clarks among 'um and that without any check or controul yea with great Approbation Licence and liking But now 5 and lastly If in good earnest the Church of Rome disallows and renounces these dangerous Doctrines and Opinions so destructive to Kings and Kingdoms then I pray let his Holiness seat himself in his Chair and condemn these Doctrines as he did or wu'd have seem'd to do those of the Jansenists lately let him limit his Ordo ad Spiritualia and disclaim and quit his Temporal Monarchy let him disown all power so much as indirect over Princes Temporals let him confine himself within his own Precincts and Territories and renounce his Catholic Supremacy and his Universal Jurisdiction over all the Kingdoms and Churches of Christendom Let the Church of Rome publicly declare to the world in Print that she disowns and disclaims these treasonable disloyal Loiolitical Principles these pestilent pernicious Antimonarchical Tenets of the Canonists and Jesuits and then we may hope that our Romanists may be good Subjects But till this be done and while the Doctrine of
if that fail the rest of the wheels will move slowly or stand still a man will drive heavily or not at all First Fear God then Honour the King without the former no hope of the latter If a man fear not God never look he should honour the King honour his Natural Civil or Ecclesiastical Parents or keep the fifth Commandment or any else By this that hath been said already and much more that might be said it may plainly appear that wicked and ungodly men men void of the fear of God whatsoever they pretend can never truly honour the King nor be faithful and loyal Subjects to their Prince and Soveraign Honour him they may from the teeth outward and after a fashion or rather flatter him for their own by-ends and sinister respects for their secular interest and worldly advantage but they can never love and honour him serv and obey him from their heart and soul they can never give him the honour due unto him out of love or respect to his Person out of duty to God or for Conscience sake We use to say and we say truly A thorow-pac't Jesuited Papist can never be a good Subject if he would be so he must quit and forsake his Principles So we may say and say as truly A lewd and vicious and debauch't person cannot be a good Subject if he would be so he must quit and forsake his practices Take the wicked from before the King saith Solomon a King and the wisest of Kings and his throne shall be establish'd in righteousness and if so then on the contrary it follows that while the wicked stand before the King and yeild him feigned obedience and they can yeild him no better his throne will not be establish'd such wicked and unrighteous and ungodly Subjects and Servants will undermine his Throne shake his Crown and endanger his Person And therefore our gracious Soveraign when presently after his happy Return he set out that his most religious and godly Declaration against Drunkeness Debauchery and Prophaness he did not only do an act of Christian Piety but of State-Policy nor did he only consult the honour and glory of God but likewise his own honour and interest life and safety For what greater honour and safety to a King than the godly lives of his Subjects on the contrary what greater enemy to the being and well-being of the Prince than the wicked lives of his People What are the loud thundring ratling Oaths and horrid Curses and Imprecations of Subjects but as so many Cannons or Pieces of Ordnance not only with their mouths set against heaven as the Psalmist speaks but even planted and levell'd against the face of the King What are the fightings and feuds and quarrellings and duels of Subjects but as so many Swords drawn with their points set against their Soveraign What are those prodigious luxuries and excesses riotings and revellings debaucheries and drunken meetings of Subjects but as so many Conventicles Juncto's and Conspiracies though not directly and formally yet collaterally and by consequence against the Lord 's Anointed In a word what are those torrents of Belial that inundation of Atheism and Prophaness that at any time breaks in upon a Kingdom or Nation but a deluge that threatens to over whelm and drown both Prince and People The King is the Head of the People I am sure the name of our King signifies so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now it 's no strange thing neither in the Natural nor Political Body for the Head to suffer when the Members miscarry or any time disorder or distemper themselvs It is no news for we our selvs have liv'd to see it no news to see the best of Kings cut off for the Sins of the people So was Josiah King of Judah and so was Edward the Sixt our English Josiah and so was King Charles the Martyr our late Sovereign of ever blessed and glorious Memory cut off not only by the Sins and wickedness of a few cursed miscreant Rebels and Traytors but even for the Sins and wickedness of the rest of his people yea and of those too perhaps that counted themselves to stick closest to him and to be his best and most loyal Subjects But I shall not any longer hoc ulcus tangere rub or grate upon this sore I have no particular reflexion upon any only this I shall add in the general that sometimes the best caus may miscarry in bad hands becaus the goodness of the caus makes men more confident and so more secure and careless of their lives they presume so much of justitia causae that it makes them neglect justitia personae Well let none presume upon their fidelity to their Soveraign nor flatter themselvs with professions and protestations of Loyalty to the King while they go on with their Sins and Impieties to provoke and offend the King of Kings They that rant and roar swear and swagger and drink the King's health but seldom or never pray for it do such men think they honour the King or are His Majesties good friends and faithful Subjects whatsoever these prophane Atheistical people may profess or pretend yea and boast of their good affections to His Majesty I dare boldly affirm they are so far from being true honourers of him that they are no better than false Traitors to him and Enemies to his Royal Person Crown and Dignity Do such men think they can honour the King by dishonouring God or shew themselves good Subjects by being bad Christians For my part I am sorry such heathenish people make such a profession of Loyalty yea I could almost wish that they made no profession of Christianity neither for by their loos and vicious lives they are a reproach and a scandal both to the one and the other and so bring an evil report upon the good Land and make the enemies of God and the King to blaspheme saying Lo these are the men and this their conversation and thus they are all Though by the way as Christian Religion is not the wors for some wicked mens professing of it no more is Loyalty neither rather on the contrary it shows there is some extraordinary beauty and excellency in them both becaus hypocrites and ungodly men use them for a cloak and a cover sheltring and shrouding themselvs and their Sins under the colour and profession of them To draw towards a conclusion of this point The way to honour the King is to honour God first the way to fear and reverence and obey the King is first to fear the Lord. Therefore Solomon puts them both together My Son fear thou the Lord and the King In a word the way to be the King 's good Subjects and Servants is to serv the Lord. I find several godly and religious Courtiers and Kings Servants in Scripture as Joseph and Mordecai and Nehemiah and Daniel and others But I take notice of two especially above the rest some it may be
escaped I know by soul here according to the usual Idiom of the Hebrew tongue is meant nothing els but life or person as much as to say our persons are escaped or we are escaped with our lives her life that 's all the bird looks after Yet I hope I may without forcing the Text take occasion from hence by way of accommodation to put some greater stress or emphasis upon the word soul and to observe from hence that the Deliverance wrought tnis day was a Soul-Deliverance not only a Corporal but a Spiritual Deliverance not only a Deliverance of the body but of the soul too we escaped not only with our lives but with our Religion Our soul is escaped escap'd out of the snares of Popish Idolatry and Superstition laid in our way by those Romish Fowlers snares I say laid in our way for what is their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for instance or worshipping the Host but an Idolatrous snare what are their numerous superfluous superstitious rites and ceremonies but tot Laquei animarum so many snares upon the Souls and Consciences of men especially as us'd and impos'd by them of the Church of Rome who place holiness and religion in them and make them matters of necessity and parts of Divine worship things by the way which our Church in her few her very few ceremonies has ever expresly disclaim'd enough in the judgment of any moderate or sober men to clear her from any suspicious or superstitious symbolizing or syncretizing with the Church of Rome Well these were the snares but by the blasting and defeating this Powder-treason these snares were broken and our soul escaped and we were delivered Again their Auricular confession consisting in an anxious punctual enumeration of all particular sins to the Priest in private once a year Mistake me not I am not against private Confession to a Priest I would it were more practis'd amongst us but that Auricular Sacramental Confession as they call it and as it is practis'd in the Church of Rome besides that it is a kind of a pick-pocket as it is us'd and a picklock of the cabinets and counsels of Princes what a Carnificina Laqueus Conscientiae is it what an intolerable snare upon the soul and conscience I instance in this the rather becaus under this pretended cover of Confession though indeed it was no formal Confession the business being reveal'd to Garnet and others as he himself confess'd at last not in way of Confession but of discours and consultation only but under this cloak and cover of Confession the treason was hid and conceal'd sub sigillo a Seal so sacred and inviolable that 't is not to be broken in any case whatsoever saith Bellarmine no not to avoid the greatest evil that may possibly happen Catholica Doctrina non permittit ad ullum malum vitandum secretum Confessionis detegi and he speaks it in defence of this days treason Not to be broken no not to save the lives of all the Kings in Christendom so said F. Binet the French Jesuit to Casaubon upon this very occasion as that learned man tells us in his excellent Epistle to Fronto Ducaeus Praestaret Reges omnes perire quà m si vel semel sigillum Confessionis violaretur But by the disappointment of this horrid design both this pretended seal and this snare was broken and our soul escaped and we were delivered Once more Their Pope's Pardons Bulls and Breves their Papal Indulgences and Dispensations which gave Luther the first occasion of plucking his foot out of the Romish snare what are they els but pitiful snares to catch Dotrels poor silly souls that will pay so dear for a new-Nothing But by defeating this Devilish plot this snare was broken our soul is escaped and we are delivered What should I speak of their Transubstantiation and Purgatory worshipping of Images and Invocation of Saints and the Rest of Pope Pius the fourth's new Articles of the Tridentine faith equal in number and equal in authority to those of the Apostles Creed snares laid for our souls by the fowlers of Rome especially those subtil Emissaries and cunning fowlers the Jesuites who as they did then so have they done since and still no doubt do go a birding among us though some are so blind and simple they will not see it Had they caught us in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that capacious Catholic snare set this day for King and Kingdom Church and State those other snares would have followed of course for that was on purpose laid to bring these upon us But Benedictum sit Nomen Domini hitherto our soul is escaped out of these snares the snares of their dangerous and pernicious doctrines and principles and the snares of their wicked and cruel designs and practices especially out of the great snare of this day Our soul is escaped and we are delivered And now may not this justly provoke and stir us up to a detestation and hatred of that Church and Religion which brings forth such cursed and bitter fruits whose principles are productive of so sad and direful effects I will not say though it has been said the Romanists Faith is Faction and their Religion Rebellion but this I must say that they teach and broach such Doctrines as are very scandalous to Christian Religion and very dangerous and destructive to Kingdoms and States as having a direct and natural tendency to sedition rebellion and treason And herein I dare boldly impeach and implead the Church of Rome as the mother and nurs of this hideous monster though blessed be God it prov'd but an embryo this monstrous Gunpowder-treason And that herein I do her no wrong I shall make it appear For though our Romanists may wipe their mouths and disclaim the business by laying the blame upon a few rash hot-headed discontented Catholic Gentlemen yet if we examine it well and it has been examin'd pretty well already we shall find it to have been the genuine issue and product of their Popish Principles the natural result and consequence of some doctrines and opinions commonly and openly held and maintained in the Church of Rome I shall instance in one especially which is instar omnium and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ground and foundation of all the rest and that which gave the first birth and breeding to this barbarous and bloody design and that is that beldame doctrine of the Pope's Infallibility or which is all one of his Supremacy for if he be Infallible he must needs be Supreme or if you will his universal temporal Monarchy his Lordship Paramount his absolute Soveraignty and Dominion his unlimited Power and Authority over Kings and Kingdoms his power to depose Kings and to dispose of their Kingdoms That the Pope hath power to depose Kings if they be Tyrants or Heretics and so they must be if he once say the word and pleas to call them so is Communis Doctorum the common
Deposing Kings allow'd by so many Decrees I and Practices too of Popes and maintain'd by so many of their chief Authors stands yet uncondemn'd they must still give as leav becaus they will give us caus to doubt of their loyalty I do not I will not say All our Romanists are enclin'd to Rebellion I doubt not but there are many faithful and loyal Subjects among 'um but this I must say As long as they own a forrain Jurisdiction either Spiritual or Temporal which they must do if they are thorow-pac't and as long as the Pope usurps the power to depose and dispose to depose Kings and dispose of their Kingdoms and to absolv Subjects from their Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance so long the Romish Religion must needs have a natural tendency to disloyalty And therefore if Papists be good Subjects no thanks to their Popery and I fear 't will be hard for 'um to be good Catholics at Rome and good Subjects at home for if they be so it must be only durante bene-placito as long as the Pope is well-pleas'd but if once he be angry with Kings and call 'um Heretics then have at 'um Fowlers let 'um look to themselvs And indeed how our Jesuited Papists if they be true to their Principles can be true to their Princes and take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance without mental Reservation or Jesuitical Equivocation or Papal Dispensation first to take it and then to break it upon occasion which is to play fast and loos to play with Oaths as boys do with Cherry-stones I say how they can otherwise do it for my part I confess it passes my understanding And therefore the Case was well stated and determin'd long ago by our Reverend and Learned Bishop Davenant Jesuitici Pontificii non possunt esse boni subditi Ye have hitherto seen what the Jesuits Doctrine is now see what an influence it had upon this day's Treason For I shall not say any thing of the Assassines of the two Henrys of France Clement and Ravailliac one of which was a Novice in the Jesuits College at Clermont but both acted by a Jesuitical spirit and animated and spur'd on to the perpetration of those horrid Villanies by reading such Books as Mariana's and others Nor shall I recount those many attempts made upon the life of our Renowned Queen Elizabeth of blessed Memory those many snares laid for her by those fowlers of Rome especially after that famous or rather infamous Bull of Pius Quintus was published against her declaring her Excommunicate as a Heretic and so depriv'd of her Crown and Dignity and absolving her Subjects from their duty and allegiance What sad effects that Bull produc'd what treasons and conspiracies rais'd against her by her own Subjects by the advice and instigation of Holt and Walpole and other Jesuits commending it as a meritorious act to kill an Heretic Excommunicated and depriv'd by the Pope is a thing notoriously known to the Christian world In the head or title of that Bull I find these words Deinceps obedientes anathemate illaqueantur where I take notice of the word illaqueantur all that would presume to be her obedient Subjects hereafter were intangled in the same snare of the Pope's Anathema However God be thanked those snares were broken and she was delivered But we need not look so far back This days treason will speak enough for all Crimine ab uno Disce omnes we need fetch in no more Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof And first 't is as clear as the Sun at noon-day that the Jesuits Garnet Hall Greenwell Gerard and others were deeply engaged in the Plot and had a main hand in it as being the Principal Authors if not Actors in this horrid Tragedy 2. That the rest of the Conspirators were influenc'd and infected with the traiterous Doctrines and Principles of the Jesuits their Ghostly Fathers and Confessors and also animated abetted and encouraged by their Counsels and instigations this likewise is plain and evident by the Authentic Records of the Proceedings against them 3. And lastly 't is no less evident that it was the Pope's Bull that engendred this hideous Monster that gave the first rise and growth to this unparallel'd Powder-Treason the Pope's Bulls being Tauri ignivomi like those in the Poet Vulcanum naribus efflant they breath gunpowder fire and brimstone About the latter end of Queen Elizabeth Clement the 8th by the procurement no doubt of some here at home sent two Bulls or Breves into England by the aforesaid Garnet the Jesuit and Superiour of that Order here wherein he straitly charged all Roman Catholics not to receiv or admit any to be King how near soever in blood that was not well affected to the Catholic Religion thereby prejudging and precluding what in him lay King James's Right here to the Crown But these were but Bruta fulmina they could not stop nor hinder the King his way and Title were both so clear and open And now his good Catholic Subjects are at a loss and what shu'd they do they could not keep him out and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they will blow him out or rather blow him up and for that they had sufficient warrant and encouragement from the fore-named Clementines for proof whereof when Father Garnet told Catesby 'T were not amiss if the Pope were sent to and made acquainted with the business to know his mind and how well he approv'd it Catesby reply'd That needed not for he knew the Pope's mind well enough he having already declar'd himself for the King's non-admittance and who knows not saith he that Qui admitti nolit expelli velit So you see upon what Grounds he went and what it was that prompted and mov'd him and his Complices to this cursed Conspiracy yea I dare boldly affirm that those two Bulls the one of Pius the fifth against Queen Elizabeth the other of Clement the eighth against King James Pius and Clement indeed with a witness together with the Jesuitical suggestions doctrines and devices as so many Glosses and Comments upon those Texts have given ground and occasion not only to this but even to all the treasons and conspiracies practis'd ever since against this Church and State King and Kingdom not excepting the late grand rebellion and treason which we in this age have liv'd to see For do you think our Roman Catholics at least the Jesuits were idle spectators all the while and had not a hand in the 30th of January as well as in the 5th of November Is it not well known that the train to entangle us in that horrible snare and intrigue of the late confusions was laid by a great Cardinal Minister of State and perhaps the whole Conclave are we not yet convinc'd that the design was hammerd at the Romish forge and fire fetcht from thence to kindle our combustions Is it not yet apparent that the Popish Emissaries and Incendiaries were