fellows in Germany For were the Government of that Country united an not so rent into factions with diversities of Religions as Sir Edwin Sandys observes breeding endless jealousies heart-burnings and hatred it needed no other help to affront the Great Turk and to repulse all his forces to the security of Christendom This therefore was one of the advantages which the Reformation brought Certainly I spoke plain enough and that without deceit viz. Where the name of Protestant is unknown that is where it has not been yet planted the Catholike Magistrates take care to keep it out But where their number or rebellion has moued their natural Prince to grant them terms in those places I say they live with more liberty then Catholikes under any Protestant Government Flanders was never compelled to let the Reformed have extraordinary priviledges Neverthelesse there are many Protestants in that Province and particularly in the Wallon Countries nor have they their Ministers hanged though these places are under the obedience of the most Catholike King What reason has the Minister to say I could name no other Country But France where Protestants have open Churches has he forgot Poland even Crakaw it self where theire Orthodox Socinian Cathechism was made Let him also think on Hungary both which are Popish Kingdoms under Popish Kings Nay in Piedmont it self they have open Churches yet a man may legally be hanged in England if he have but a private Chappel Besides this Reader there is much difference between Papists and Protestants because all Countries were possest by us and the Reformed had no pretence to Government except in England and in a small Province or two in Germany but what they got by Rebellion Therefore as a man that is turned out of his house by a stranger may expect more then the stranger being dispossest can do from the right oâ—ner so Papists may justly expect more liberty from Protestants then they can upon any pretence from Papists yet Protestants live to this day freer in Catholique Kingdoms then we do under them For Protestants may have employment in Poppish Countreys but Papists are debarred from Offices in all Countries I except none that are of the Reformed Faith I know not what the Minister would be at that the Low-Country Papists were the chief cause why the Spanish yoak was thrown off 'T is true there were many factious Catholikes there at that time stirr'd up by the insinuation of the Reformed as Saints enflame honest men now adays Yet for all this not only the first insurrections tumults were according to Strada acted by the Calvinists at Tournay Lisle and Valencien but also in the year 1581 as the Protestant Author of Europae Modernae Speculum will tell you by a publick Instrument they declared their King Philip to have rightfully fallen from the Dominion of those Provinces then united under the profession of the Reformed Religion neither would they ever afterwards suffer the Papists to have any share in the Government for fear they should bring all things back again to their true Lord an Master But now suppose Reader I had not proved the Dutch villany by the testimony of a Writer of the Protestant Religion I hope 't is no excuse to their Rebellion though some Papists did by accident facilitate their work For if so then the Murther of Charles the First by the Independents and their erecting a Government without King or Lords were not Rebellion because the whole body of the Presbyterians began the play which afterwards but 't was too late they seemed to detest and openly to exclaim against How the Edicts of France were obtained you shall hear in this next Section SECT XVIII APOLOGY Because we have named France the Massacre will perchance be urged against us But the World must know that was a Cabinet-Plot condemned as wicked by Catholick Writhers there and of other Countries also Besides it cannot be thought they were murthered for being Protestants since 't was their powerful Rebellion let their Faith have been what it would that drew them in to that ill-machinated destruction ANSWER XVIII Here he says the French Massacre was so horrid a cruelty that Thuanus tells us That considering men and having turned over the Annals of Nations he could find no example for it in Antiquity that it was cloakt with shews of Amity and a Marriage between the Houses of Valois and Burbon to which the chief Protestants being invited were after their jollity of mirth in the dead of night butchered in their Houses without distinction of Sex or Age till the channels ran with blood none escaping but the Bridegroom and the Prince of Conde who were afterwards the one poysoned the other stab'd by men of our Religion He proceeds that this which I say was condemned by Catholick Writers was also extolled as glorious by others of them and that one may guess at my meaning and that I am of their sentiment since first I call it a Cabinet-Plot a fine soft word for the Butchery of 30000. persons Secondly in answer to them that call it murther I seem to blame it as done by halves in terming it an ill-machinated destruction Lastly in saying that it was their Rebellion drew it on them let their Faith have been what it would when indeed it was their Faith let their Obedience have been what id would for the King never had better Subjects then those that were Massacred noâ— worse Rebels then the Massacrers Then he tells us that the brave Coligni was the first killed and his head was sent to Rome and his Body dragged about Paris and besides he says that the Duke of Guises factious Authority as I sweetly stile it was a black Rebellion and to decide whether they were massacred for Protestant Religion or Rebellion because both himself and I may be partial he desires to take judges between us To make it appear it was not for Rebellion they were massacred he cites K. James who says I could never learn by any good and true intelligence that in France those of the Religion took Arms against their King In the first Civil War they stood only upon their Guard c. To prove that they were massacred for their Religion since I will admit no judge but the Pope he undertakes to shew us that it was his judgment from Thuanus a Catholick Writer who tells us The Pope having an account of the Massacre read the Letter in the Consistory there decreed to go directly to St. Marks and solemnly give thanks for so great a blessing conferred on the Roman Sea and the Christian World That soon after a Jubilee should be publisht throughout the whole Christian World and these causes were exprest for at viz. To give thanks to God for destroying in France the Enemies of the Truth and of the Church That in the evening the Guns were fired at St. Angelo Bonfires made and all things performed usual in the greatest Victories of the Church
run counter to his Royal inclinations when he punishes the weak and harmless ANSWER XXXVI He says he desires only to be safe and against our dangerous Principles neither our affability nor hospitality can defend them for the Irish never treated Protestants better then the year a fore they cut their Throats The best means of security is the execution of the Laws by which those that renounce their disloyal Principles will be distinguisht and the disloyal and seditious only kept weak REPLY XXXVI I have sufficiently treated the Irish Rebellion in the first Reply neither have I bin wanting to shew you that a Protestāt Author viz. Heath lays the cause of it on the English Long-Parliament which occasioned so many mischeifes by their wicked beginings against that good Prince encouraged the designes of the rest of his seditious subjects Nor had the Scots themselves bin then wanting by their actuall levying warr against their King corresponding with his forrain Enemies to prick forward seeing they were successefull all those who studied commotions disorders Judge then whither they were the Papists of England or the Reformed in both Kingdomes of Great Brittain that farthered the Irish Rebellion But now that the Irish never treated Protestants better then the yeare before they curt theire throats is a foolish invention of this shamelesse Minister nonsense in it selfe Nor was it practicable unlesse the English had like the Israelites in Egypt bin sojournours at will had nothing to doe with the Government For would it not be a mad expression to say that the Hugonots of France better treated this yeare the Papists there then they had done before or that the Round-heads treated the Cavaliers more kindly then they had done since the Kings Restauration But this is un Coup d'esprit a peice of witt of the Worthy Minister truely so great a one that I admire it should doe it much more were it not soe common SECT XXXVII APOLOGY Why may not we Noble Country-men hope for favour from you as well as the French Protestants find from theirs A greater duty then ours none could express we are sure Or why should the United Provinces and other Magistrates that are harsh both in mind and manners refrain from violence against our Religion and your tender breasts seem not to harbour the least compassion or pity These neighboring people sequester none for their Faith but for transgression against the State Nor is the whole party involved in the crime of a few but every man suffers for his own and proper fault Do you then the like and he that offends let him die without mercy And think always we beseech you of Cromwels injustice who for the actions of some against his pretended Laws drew thousands into Decimation even ignorant of the thing after they had vastlie paid for their securitie and quiet ANSWER XXXVII He says he has answered our instances of French Protestants and Dutch Papists When we governed the civilized World he says we hanged and burnt men for no cause but Faith which proves Protestant Barbarity better then Popish civility yet these were little for their credit unless they could say that none of us suffered but by the known and necessary Laws of the Kingdom 'T is necessary to maintain the Kings Authority and Peace of the Nation and if we call Religion any thing contrary to these whether ought they to alter their Laws or we our Religion He says as Inquisitors bedress one with Pictures of Devils that is to be burnt for an Heretick so I put Cromwel on any thing I would render odious but they are weak that see not the difference betwen Cromwels Edicts that ruined men for Loyalty and Laws that restrained them from Treason and Rebellion REPLY XXXVII How childishly rediculous is this Ministers Allegation That none of us suffered but by known Laws What does he mean Did we ever when we governed England put any to death but by the known Laws established many hundred years before the Malefactors were born and which are still on foot and used to this day by Protestants against Hereticks But fully to reply to this Answer I cannot better do it then by beseeching you to read over this short Section of the Apology again and then tell me whether any request can be more reasonable and Christian or whether this way of involving the whole in the crimes of a few be not exactly the Procedure of Cromwel SECT XXXVIII APOLOGY We have no studie but the Glory of our Soveraingn and just libertie of the Subjects ANSWER XXXVIII Sir If we may judge by your works there is nothing less studied in your Colledge SECT XXXVIIII APOLOGY Nor was it a mean argument of our dutie when every Catholique Lord gave his voice for the Restauration of Bishops by which we could pretend no other advantage but that 26. Votes subsisting wholly by the Crown were added to the defence of Kingship and consequently a check to Anarchy and confusion ANSWER XXXVIIII This is no argument of your Duty for sure you are it no Lord. Nor is it likely that these Lords followed your direction in the doing of this Duty REPLY to ANS XXXIX Good Mr. Parson 't is more then you know but that I am a Lord yet whether I am or no the Catholick Lords and I are of the same Loyal Principles and what they did any other Catholick would have done had he been Member of their House SECT XL. APOLOGY 'T is morally impossible but that we who approve of Monarchy in the Church must ever be fond of it in the State also ANSWER XL. If you mean this of Papists in general that which you mean morally impossible is experimentally true For in Venice Genoa Lucca and other Popish Cantons of Switzerland they very well approve of Monarchy in the Church yet they are not fond of it in State also But if you mean this of the Jesuitical Party then it may be true in this sence that you would have the Pope to be sole Monarch both in Spirituals and Temporals REP. to ANSW XL. I think I have been as lately at Lucca Genoa and Venice and know the places as well as the Minister 'T was not therefore my meaning that there were no Popish States but that generally Popery tends to Monarchy and on the contraty Calvinism from which the Church of England differs only in Bishops leans altogether to a Democratical Government Heretofore in the Civil Wars of our Country there was never the least mention of a Commonwealth but still the Rebels would have a King and rather then fail one of another Kingdom I beseech God that the present Principles have no other tendency but to Monarchy for Reader you must know that Principles may blindly lead men to a thing which not only their judgments but their inclinations loath as for example the Reformed both in judgment and inclination desire unitie but their Principles in spite of all endeavours will
must beseech our Gracious Soveraign for us others must again undeceive the Good though deluded Multitude Therefore all are to remember who are the prime raisers of the Storm and how through our sides they would wound both the KING and You for though their hatred to our selves is great yet the enmity out of all measure encreases because we have been yours and so shall continue even in the fiery day of trial Protect us we entreat you then upon all your former Promises or if that be not sufficient for the sakes of those that lost their Estates with you many of which are now fallen a sleep But if this be still too weak we must conjure you by the sight of this Bloody Catalogue which contains the Names of your murthered Friends and Relations who in the heat of Battail perchance saved many of your Lives even with the joyful loss of their own The Catalogue of Names is at the end of the Book A material Advertisement to the Reader both concerning the Answerer of the Apology and the Method of this Reply READER ABout the middle of Novem. 1666. when the known Enemies of the Kingdom had enflamed the minds of several honest and well-meaning people I put out this sincere Apology The Reasons therein having nothing but truth and reallity in them satisfied many for every body of themselves saw there was no ground and most confest they were disordered because they saw others so 'T was after Christmas before I left London and truly I suppos'd that if any body could be so malitiously impertinent as by an Answer to cavil at so innocent a thing he would have done it in two moneths it being but a sheet of Paper against which he was to write and then being neer at hand I should have been as quick in my Reply Though the worthy Answerer took much more time for his solid Piece yet in the interval mine was egregiously confuted Nor was ever Gonvil's plain Testament so tore and repiec'd as this Pamphlet by the wise and numerous Assailants One said that the whole thing was harmless and reasonable but that Magna Charta seemed to be struck at His fellow answered that Magna Charta was Magna Farta and of it self Popish and that all was well had not Queen Elizabeth been abused To this a third answered that Q. Elizabeth was now no more to them then William Rufus and all that was said was out of Protestant History but the only thing he blamed was that the fifth of Nov. which was still a Festival was defamed and consequently they themselves jeer'd at in their Annual observation At him another presently laugh'd and askt whether any people ever reverenc'd a Solemnity against themselves for his own part he cared not whether the Papists were guilty or not let them look to that therefore he was sufficiently satisfied with the Apology had the Catalogue been omitted of those that died in the War for by it it seemed as if the whole Royal Army were Papists because so many Popish Officers and men of great Condition were killed in that Service To this a Neighbour said that he knew many more of the Party then were mentioned that thus fell for their Allegiance and that it was hard that so cheap recompence should be denied men for their lives but the sole thing which he stumbled at was the timing publication of it Against whom the whole Company concluded that if ever the time was fit 't was then when the flame appeared and that 't would have been ridiculous to Apologize when there was no stir or clamour Thus have I been vindicated by my Reprehenders and thus have I both read and seen in matters of Religion where the several Antagonists have solved the Popish difficulties themselves After Christmas Reader as I said before I not only went out of Town but have ever since been many score of miles distant from it which is the cause I saw not this Answer so soon as otherwise I should have done at last it was sent me by a Protestant Gentleman who had seen the Apology before it was printed When I had read it I began to admire not only at the malice of the thing but also at the weakness of the man that thus needlesly took up the Cudgels Who the Author is to this day I know not nor can any man desire his Acquaintance unless it be to say they have seen the Eighth Wise man I do not say that he may not be a man of Wit but nevertheless I am sure he is neither of Judgment nor Principles For had he been a Royallist he would have had more Gratitude and good Nature then to have forgotten faithful friends in a storm and added as he hoped fuel to the flame when we were underhand bespattred by Enemies to us both Nor was there any drift in the Apology but to settle a Distemper raised without either cause or reason A Presbyterian I can never think him because they being men of depth and prudence know that the effects of their crying against Papists in 1640. are too fresh in memory nor can it be an advantage for them to harass mens Consciences while their own are within reach of Law I can also as little fancy that an Independant or any real member of that many-headed and uncompacted Body could soberly by writing wish a Persecution for Religion being them selves obnoxious upon all accounts and if severity should universally fall they cannot imagine but that men of Birth men of Breeding men of Loyalty must needs at all times find more friends then they Who he is God knows a man of Principles as I said I am sure he is not nor do I doubt but his officiousness will at last find its reward and since he has called me Turk and worse as you shall see by and by I suppose he will not take it amiss if I speak my thoughts viz. that though he carps in a Ministers Dialect yet doubtless he is a Jew of the Dukes Place Reader When I received this Answer both by my Letters and Friends neer me I was perswaded not to reply because it had no force in it self nor had any applause at London I could not upon this information but assent but now lately I have been awak'd by a new occasion I had some days ago sent me a Pamphlet called A Discourse of the Religion of England a simpler thing was never yet writ I am sure and take this for a proof for he says among many hundred of his silly things that Holland Scotland and Geneva brought in the Reformed Religion without Rebellion He has been well whipt by a Protestant but deserves much more For Scroop was excepted out of the Act of Oblivion and hanged for excusing to Sir Richard Brown after mercy instead of being contrite for his crime yet this man that owns himself a Presbyterian which I believe as much as that my Minister was a Cavalier says The Non-conformists were only
even in matter of Fact Besides Councel's ordinations are to be taken according to the prudent meaning of the Legislators and oftentimes beare another sense then the bare words taken as they lie and weighed out of due circumstances seeme to signifie Nor will this seem strange to an English University man since they grant that in some matters God is not pleas'd that the Scripture it self should in it's obvious sense be taken as infallible for no body will there say that all the Philosophy in the Bible is unquestionable or that the Mathematicks of it is to a Tittle just The Molten Sea is described to be ten Cubits in diameter from brim to brim and that it was round and that a line of thirty cubits did compass it Now who is it having read less then the first six Books of Euclid but can demonstrate that this is not altogether exact The Blood is not now thought by their learn'd Physitians to be the life of a Creature but the Vehicle Nor do their Astronomers believe that the Stars are less then the Sun or Moon though in Genesis they are called the two great Lights The solution to these Objections is easie and in every Sophisters mouth viz. that the Holy Pen-men writ of such matters either briefly as that measure of a Circle is to this day ordinarily express'd or else according to the Hypothesis or Opinion then assented to by the World But where this Sacred Word speaks to us doctrinally 't is to be believed on pain of Damnation so a Councel when it determines of faith we are to reverence those determinations as coming from the Holy Ghost Neverthelesse it 's other Constitutions being but humain lawes are changeable and oftentimes admit several exceptions nor doe they alwais bring with them such an inevitable obligation that there is not possible way to avoid it's bond For Promulgation c must precede This plainely appeares by the Councel of Trent to the doctrine whereof all Catholiques whatsoever submit though the rest of it's Decrees bind not in France no in any place els where they are yet unreceived But the case now in controversie needs not all this for I suppose the Minister will not deny but that the Emperors of the East and West the Kings of England Frāce Hungary Jerusalem Cyprus Arragon c. may agree together if they please to purge their Kingdoms of Heresie and upon failure that the Church shall give their Dominions to another that will perform the compact These Princes Reader that I have named were present by their Embassadors at this Councel and what was there done was by their consent the Albigensian Heresie beginning then to be somewhat numerous Nor did those Monarchs thinke themselves in a worse condition for this Ordination Moreover we never heard that any Catholique King since ever did Protest or exclaim against the Councel which doubtless they would have done had they been in any dangerby it On the cōtrary we know that Mariana as the Minister confesses was condemned for barely inclining to the opinion of thus deposing Kings which judgmēt could not have pass'd against him had this been by any Councel adjudged an Article of Faith 'T were a mortal sin in me and I should presently incur all Ecclesiastical censure if I did deny Transubstantiation by reason it is an Article of Faith and so declared by this very Lateran Councel but as for the absolute powre of deposing Kings it is held by severall as a meere opiniō and opposed by many as fals nor wil Divines say they are the worse Catholicks for it Certāly it were not unlawful if the Princes and States that own themselves Christians should now in an Assembly agree by reason they saw Judaism or Turcism encreasing that every one of them must do what he could to hinder this growth and in case any was found favouring it his Dominions should be given to another This I say without doubt is lawful and though it were not made to bind our Posterity yet it might be hoped that the zeal of so sacred an Assembly would make Governours hereafter diligent to weed out all Infidelity What therefore was here ordered was to oblige the Kings who by compact acknowledg'd the procedure and 't was also imagined that succeeding Catholique Princes would be more careful to keep their people from error when they should call to mind that this was agreed to in a Councel where the East and West met for the Patriarch's of Constantinople and Hierusalem were present Antioch and Alexandria sent deputies and which consisted of 77. Primates 412. Bishops and above 800. Abbots and Priors besides the Embassadors of so many Monarchs all which put together makes this to be the greatest Councel that ever was Much more could I say concerning this Councel and many other considerations for brevities sake I am forced to pass by But Pray Reader before I end let me mind you of this That the Popes never give away as men call it a Kingdom from a Prince simply Heretical but from one that is an Apostate and so revolted from the Church For we see that Hen. 8. was condemned yet nothing was done to his Son Edw. 6. And again though Queen Elizabeth who went to Mass in Queen Maries time and also had actually owned the Pope by keeping her Embassadour in the beginning at Rome was deprived of Soveraignty by the Bull of Pius Quintus yet no censure past against King James K. Charles the first or this present Monarch and the reason is because they always professed themselves Protestants and never acknowledged his Holiness as their Bishop and Pastor Therefore Protestāt Magistrates have no reasō to fear either Pope or Papists The Answerer having urged this Councel to vilisie it the more tells us 't was Innocent the III. who there presided that deposed our K. John and Otho IV. and then runs extravaganly to a forraign thing in hopes to make it more disgustful viz. that this Councel which made Rebellion a duty made Transubstantiation an Article of Faith Concerning King John I have told you before that Popes as private Doctors may err nay it is not certaine that without a Councel they are infallible even in their interpretations of faith much more therfore they are liable to err in their actions Neither doe I canonize or approve whatsoever Popes have done in deposing Kings And if some Popes have transgress'd it follows not that all have no more then because some Princes have been Tyrants their Predecessors and Successors must be so too Differences between Kings and Popes I consider as between Man and Wife for in all Quarrels the right can be but on one side yet it happens through humane imbecility and revenge that the most injured often commits some absurdity or other by which the Peccant party may gain a very seeming advātage No brave English King needed to have more feared Popes then they needed to have feared their other gaping
contrite for killing a Cardinal since he kept another still in prison Nor does this famous Author say any thing of giving nine years Indulgence to his Subjects that should fight against him and yet if the Pope had done so he must answer for his own actions to God Almighty and not all the Members of the Catholique Church But why does this poor Minister continually harp upon James Clement whom the Divel had seduced for this work The Minister would have called me worse then a Turk as he has already done if I should lay at his door the actions of Hugh Peters who was as I think ordained at least as bad as he were Concerning the Popes Speech you must know Reader that it was a thing forged as Tortus says and never heard of but at Paris some Grandees having hopes thereby to animate their Party and others a design to defame the Sea of Rome and if you consider it you will find the Pope had no reason to rejoyce at but much to lament the death of this Prince For Henry the Third was always a most firm son of the Church and easily brought again to whatever could be desired But when he was gone an apparent Hugonot was to succeed whom though for the present they might think they were able to deal with yet necessarily at best there would be a perpetual distraction among them and besides wise men know that accidents are common in such cases and to be sure the least success on Henry the Fourth's side would have ruined the Popes interest To his Conclusion I have answered before sufficiently viz. That Protestants live better under Papist Governments then Papists do under theirs therefore I say again who the Persecutors are let the World judge SECT 20. APOLOGY If it were for Doctrine that the Hugonots suffered in France this haughty Monarch would soon destroy them now having neither Force nor Towns to resist his Might and Puissance They yet live free enough being even Members of Parliament and may convert the Kings Brother too if he thinks fit to be so Thus you may see how well Protestants live in a Popish Country under a Popish King Nor was Charlemaign more Catholick then this for though he contends sometimes with the Pope 't is not of Faith but about Gallicane Priviledges which perchance he may very lawfully do Iudge then Worthy Patriots who are the best used and consider our hardship here in England where 't is not only a Fine for hearing Mass but death to the Master for having a Priest in his house and so far we are from preferment that by Law we cannot come within ten miles of London all which we know your great Mercy will never permit you to exact ANSWER XX. Here he denies the consequence That if the Hugonots then suffered for Doctrine this haughty Monarch would soon destroy them now for he says he may persecute and not destroy them or destroy them but not so soon Nor is this Monarch he says as Catholick as Charlemaign for if he were he would be Patron of all Bishopricks in his Empire make the Pope know the difference between a Prelat and an Emperor and not chop Logick about Gallicane Priviledges he would also call a Councel as Charlemaign ded against Image-Worship to separate errours from the Faith This he says were a good way to destroy the Hugonots by taking away the causes of strife but any other way he cannot without violation of his Laws Then he says we complain of hardships we feel not and insult over the Hugonots who would mend their condition with changing with us Popish Peers he says sit in English Parliaments as well as Protestants in French That we have as free access to our Kings Brother as they to theirs and that he knows not what we would have unless we would Catechise his Highness as the Abbot did the Duke of Glocester He concludes That we complain of those Laws we never knew executed and which I say I know never will be But the Laws he says were made to guard the lives of our Princes against our Trayterous practices REPLY XX. I must here again Reader desire your judgment whether this consequence in the Apology be not as natural as can be viz. If the Protestants suffered for Doctrine when by reason of their strength it was dangerous to disturb them then doubtless this haughty Monarch being as much a Papist in Faith as any of his Ancestors would soon destroy them now having neither Force nor Town to resist his might and puissance Certainly this is as impertinent a cavil as his insisting upon Charlemagn who was Emperour as well as King of France and therefore had more Authority then if he had been but a single Monarch Besides I wonder he should urge him as Quarreller with the Pope being as great a friend as ever that Sea had For he grave to it the Exarchate of Ravenna the Marca Anconitana and the Dukedome of Spoleto which are the greatest part of the Church-Lands in Italy All the power the ancient Caesars had I know not if it were great I wish they had never parted with it but what they have granted I think now as truly helongs to the Pope as any Priuiledges that Towns or Royallty's can call theirs by the Gracious concessions of our famous Princes How shameless is this man that can say the Hugonots would mend their condition by changing with us and yet he cannot deny they have all the advantages before mentioned How prettily also after his usual manner doth he pervert my meaning in saying we have free access to his Highness for my Argument runs thus That the Hugonots may convert the Kings Brother without any prejudice to them by Law when as it is death to a Catholique to pervert as they call it the meanest of his Majesties Subjects But God send the King may never find more unfaithful Servants then such nor the Duke those that shall wish him worse then the worthy Abbot whom he is pleased to mention He has a fling also at me because the Catholique Peers sit in the House which is quite besides the thing I urged For I said the Hugonots must needs think they live happily enjoying not only their Religion in publike but also being capable of any manner of Employment even to be chosen Members of the three Estates nor is there any Parliament of France but has many of their Religion in it On the contrary Catholikes are born with an incapacity of Employment like the Villains as it were in Ancient times who had no propriety in the Kingdom If some few Lords sit in their House 't is not any favour the Nobility bear to Popery but because they have gravely considered that it would be wonderful injustice to turn out a Party for difference in Religion and permit other dissenters to continue Now seeing there are so many Opinions in the World to turn out all God knows upon whose Children the Lot may fall
next for the Church of England is no Manna to relish in every palate and some wise men also think that a man may do very well though he has little Disputes with this his holy Mother Why does this Gentleman say we never knew the Laws executed I am sure there have died by these Laws at least 300 Priests besides Laymen and how often we have been rackt in prison and how infinitely our Estates have suffered for our Consciences no body I think is ignorant But I hope the brave people of England will intercede for us to his Majesty that since he the Messiah only expectation of the Nation is come we may not feel in his days what we suffered under Cromwel even by virtue of those Acts which have been formerly made Nor could Osborn a Protestant in his Memoires chuse but confess That against the poor Catholiques nothing in relation to the generality remains upon due proof sufficient to justifie the severity of the Laws daily enacted put in execution against them SECT XXI APOLOGY It has been often urged that our misdemeanours in Queen Elizabeths and King James's time were the cause of our punishment ANSWER XXI Your misdemeanors we cry you mercy if they were no more but that comes next to be argued whether they were misdemeanors or Treasons REPLY XXI Reader This is the subtlest Sophister that I ever met with for before this distinction I never knew but that Treasons were misdemeanors and therefore I think the word misdemeanour is not improper SECT XXII APOLOGY We earnestly wish that the Party had had more patience under that Princess But pray consider though we excuse not their faults whether it was not a harder Question then that of Yorck and Lancaster the cause of a War of such length and death of so many Princes who had most right Queen Elizabeth or Mary Stuart For since the whole Kingdom had crowned and sworn Allegeance to Queen Mary they owned her as the legitimate daughter to Henry the Eighth and therefore it was thought necessarily to follow by many that if Mary was the true Child Elizabeth was the Natural which must needs give way to the thrice-noble Queen of Scots ANSWER XXII He says that I wish the Catholicks had had more patience under Q. Elizabeth but he thinks they needed none for in the first ten years of her Reign though what the Papists had done in Queen Maries time was fresh in memory none of them fuffered death till the Northern Rebellion raised against her meerly upon the account of her Religion 't was she then that was persecuted and had occasion for patience and therefore I should have wisht them more Loyalty But it appears I account Rebellion no fault in saying 't was a hard Question whether the right lay in Queen Elizabeth or the Queen of Scots because many thought Queen Elizabeth illegitimate Here he asks Who thought so Or when the Question arose For says he First Archbishop Heath a Papist said in his Speech no body could doubt the justness of her Title Secondly the Kings of France Spain and the Emperour offered Marriage to her and thereby hoped to get the Crown Thirdly the Queen of Scots and King James acknowledged her and claimed nothing but to be her Heirs and Successours Then he tells that Paul the Fourth was the First that questioned her Title because the Kingdom being a Fee of the Papacy she had audaciously assumed it without his leave and secondly because she was illegitimate But his Successour Pius the Fourth would have owned her if she would have owned him which because she would not the next Pope Pius V. issued out his Bulls and deposed her not for Bastardy but for being a Protestant upon which the Northern-men and others of her Subjects rebelled and were every foot plotting against her 'T is true he says the Queen of Scots Title was pretended but he demands what would we have done if that Queen had not been Catholick or Queen Elizabeth not thought illegitimate He proceeds That Gregory the Thirteenth had occasion to consider this having a Bastard of his own and another of the Emperours to provide for to the first of which he gave Ireland and sent Stukely to win it for him and to the other England with leave to win it for himself But what was this to the Q. of Scots who he says might perhaps have been preferred to marry one of them upon condition her son Iames might have nothing to do with the Succession For when she was dead and her right in King Iames Sixtus V. not only took no notice of him but curst Queen Elizabeth again and gave her Kingdom to Philip the Second of Spain Pope Clement the Eighth seeing he could do no good upon Queen Elizabeth to take care another Heretick should not succeed her sent his Breves both to Clergy and Layity forbidding them to admit any but a Catholique to the Succession though never so neer in blood which was in plain words to exclude King James so that the Popes never stuck at the hard question And now he asks What our Country men did or suffered for it And answers himself that they acted for the Papal interest making use of the House of Scotland only for a cloak while the Title was in Queen Mary but when it was in King James none of them stirred or suffered for it yet they were not idle but as busie as Bees in contriving to hasten Queen Elizabeths death and to put him by the Succession To prove this he urges the Spanish Invasion presently after his Mothers death negotiated and defended by Papists That the Jesuites procured Huntly to rebel in Scotland That they persuaded the Earl of Darby to set up a Title to the Crown of England which he revealing was poysoned soon after as Hesket had threatned him That when their single shot failed F. Parsons gave a broad-side to the Royal House of Scotland in a Book published under the name of Doleman setting up divers Competitors and to provide a sure Enemy he found a Title for the Earl of Essex to whom he dedicated the Book being the most ambitious and popular man in the Nation But the the Book he says prefers the Title of the Infanta before all others Then he concludes from this his Discourse in which he says nothing material can be denied that it appears That this hard Question was not between the Parties themselves in one of whom we confess the right was For the Pope easily resolved it who denied both sides of the Question assuming the right to himself and as concerning the English Catholiques he says they sided with the Pope against Queen Elizabeth and Queen of Scots also and lastly that their misdemeanours were inexcusable Treasons if any Treasons befriended by such an Apologist can be inexcusable REPLY 22. 'T is strange to me that I must be denied the liberty which all people else have No man is forbid to declare their pretensions
followed the method of his Predecessors and would have continued it had not the barbarous usage of the Queen of Scots provok'd him to an Excommunication and all hostile endeavours His Bull I know speaks not of Bastardy in plain terms yet with our Ministers good leave the Pope in that very Bull calls our late Queen Mary Legitimate which saying was as much against Q. Elizabeth as if he had spoken in a bolder phrase For as I urged before my Lord Bacon says That the Legitimations of Q. Mary and Queen Elizabeth were incompatible In this manner the Popes acknowledged her and for the Marriages which were offered her to very much purpose forsooth urged by the Minister from forreign Monarchs it proves no more right then that Mrs. Cleypole had been truly our Queen if France Spain or the Emperor had made love to her and I believe no body doubts but Suiters would have flockt had she been unmarried and sole Heir to her Father Though Gregory XIII sent to invade Ireland and Sixtus V. gave England to the Spaniards yet I do not see that this can touch us Catholicks in the least though the Minister thinks it a mighty Argument For if the French King may invade St. Christophers or any part of our Dominions without drawing the Name of Villain on him or his people Why may not the Pope being a Temporal Prince send forces to subdue what Country he pleases The Bishop of Munster for his smart endeavours against the Hollanders was never blamed but on the contrary commended by us and certainly the Pope is as absolute and as good a man as he Kings you see may fall upon their Neigbours themselves and without breach of Morality incite others to do the like and while Popes are free Princes they cannot be reproach'd for using that liberty without great partiality and malice This Minister foolishly handles all things and you may see his intent is only to make a noise for 't is no advantage in our present Dispute to him to shew what Kingdoms Popes over-run or give away That which he ought to prove was That it is Article of Faith amongst us to assist the Pope in every such invasion or Gift That this is not so you may plainly see for one fifth of the Turks Army are of his Christian Subjects and yet none of them are ever blamed as heritiques for defending the grād Seigniors Territories In the next place whē was it heard that any English Catholick was fain to do pennance like an accurst persō for assisting the Queen against the Spanish Invasion for there was no◠Papist then in England for the Spaniard Or who in Ireland in her Reign thought himself given to the Divel for fighting against San Joseph who came for the Kingdom upon his Holiness account For the Bishop of Armath confesses The English Papists in Ireland were faithfull in all the invasions by Spaine or Pope Now whether Pope or Spaniard intended after Conquest to restore the Kingdom to the Queen of Scots or her Heirs I know not but this I am sure of that 't was as probable as that the Hollanders who were assisted by the Arms of some Caualiers and the good wishes of us all would have given King Charles the Second possession of England had they got it from the Rump If Clement the Eighth earnestly strove that Queen Elizabeths Successours should be Catholiques I suppose no body can blame him for it but I would fain have it shewed me that King James's admission to the Crown a Protestant from his Childhood was opposed by the Catholiks of this Kingdom If they stickled not after his Mothers death for him as they did for her this answer is sufficient That he was not used like her nor did he for fear of prejudicing his future admittance ever desire any body to stir in his behalf I suppose Reader you wonder why I should challenge any man to shew me how the English Catholicks opposed King James his Succession when as this Minister tells us out of Cambden That the Papists negotiated the Spanish Invasion That afterwards they perswaded the Earl of Darby to pretend to the Crown That Doleman alias Parsons writ in the behalf of the Infanta's Title and to conclude his Accusation de declares That the Catholicks of Scotland Huntly and others raised a powerful Rebellion against this Prince First Concerning the Invasion the Minister says more then the Author himself whom he quotes for Cambden only says that some English Fugitives did promote it and who knows not that Fugitives in all ages and in all Religions machinate against those whom they call their Oppressors and on the other side who is ignorant that many Papists more considerable far then a few fugitive Priests for most of the chiefest were so assisted the Kingdom in that War and in all its other contests abroad Secondly If some of these Fugitives did perswade my Lord of Darby it was I say again done like Fugitives nor had they ever the consent of the Catholiques for it It was certainly a very rediculous Plot in them to make a Protestant Nobleman that had so poor a Title their Soveraign and if it were really designed It must I am sure have been performed by the Protestants themselves for the Papists had no power not being able so much as to set up the Qu. of Scots who had so plausible a right though they wanted not the assistance of the Pope Spaniard and all the Guisard Faction And by the way this Earle was not poison'd as the Minister would have it for Stow has a Diary and the Particulars of his sicknesse and say's The causes of all his deseases were thought by Phisitians partly a surfet and partly distempering himselfe with vehement excercise 4. days togeather in Easter weeke Thirdly For Dolemans Book who writ it God knows Parsons denied it at his death and I believe he was not the Authour because in some of his works he speaks so much to the advantage of K. James Moreover he was a man of far more wit then to write so foolish a thing for was not that man strangely simple that would dedicate his Book to my L. of Essex as the Minister would have it to prick forward an ambitious man and yet the whole matter of the Treatise is to prefer the Infanta's Title before all persons whatsoever But Reader if this kind of arguing be lawful that the errours of some unknown men must be laid to a whole Party how miserable would the Protestants themselves be when we come to try them by the same Touchstone I will not stoop to so mean and insignificant a Topick but tell you what Protestants still alive can testifie viz That in the latter end of the Queens Reing My Lord of Hertfords Title was often cried up to Tumult in the streets Nor had that a slight impression he being esteemed next to the Stuarts in blood on many a wellmeaning man