Respondents part and not the Opponents It 's not so easie to prove as to wrangle against proofs 2. Follow them with certain Questions which the vulgar are not verst in As 1. Where was your Church before Luther or where hath it been visible in all Ages 2. How prove you that you have a true Scripture that is the Word of God among you 3. What express Word of God do the Catholicks contradict 4. How prove you that you have a truely called Ministry that is to be heard and believed by the people 5. By what Warrant did you separate from the Catholick Church and condemn all your Forefathers and all the Christian World 6. If you will separate from the Catholick Church what reason have you to follow this Sect rather than any one of all the rest 7. What one man can you name from the beginning that was in all things of Luthers or Calvins opinions 8. Do you not see that God doth not bless the labours of your Ministers but the people are as bad as they were before what the better are you for hearing them Our hearty Prayers are for your Success And Sir I am yours to command F. B. These were part of the subtle and more innocent Platforms laid by the Jesuites to undermine the Protestant Religion and introduce Popery which were discovered and set forth in Print now almost twenty years ago yet have they still ever since vigorously traced the same methods with mischievous success and without any great opposition till finding all these not enough to accomplish their main work they applied themselves to more bloody and violent Counsels and the hatching of that Master-piece of villany the horrid Plot whereof we have in the precedent sheets given you a summary account which being so far detected nothing but Gods Judgments on these sinful Nations in suffering the spirit of infatuation to possess us can hinder its being prevented The following Transactions happening after the Printing this History be pleased to take a summary account thereof as follows THe 10th of December 1679. was published a Proclamation signifying the Kings pleasure that the Parliament formerly Prorogued to the 26th of January should at that time be Prorogued again to the 11th of November 1680. About this time several persons Endeavouring to promote Petitions and Nine Lords in the names of several other Peers of the Realm actually presenting a Petition to his Majesty for the Parliament to continue to sit on the said 26th of January his Majesty thought fit to publish his Proclamation for the preventing of tumultuous Petitions yet many conceiving such humble Petitioning not to be forbidden by any Law of this Kingdome did proceed therein and on the 20th of December three persons of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields sending for some others that were promoting such a Petition and having it produced did tear the same for which being carried before a Justice of the Peace since discharged of the Commission they were bound over and the next Sessions a Bill being preferred against them reciting That whereas the subjects and liege people of England by the Laws and Customes thereof have used to represent their grievances by Petition or by any other way And whereas such a Petition reciting the words was prepared and subscribed by many of the Kings Subjects and liege People the Persons indicted being ill-affected and contriving devising and intending as much as in them lay to hinder the sitting of the said Parliament as was prayed in the Petition and also to hinder the Tryal of the Offenders and redress the Grievances therein mentioned did as Rioters and disturbers of the Peace c. with Force and Arms c. unlawfully riotously and injuriously the said Petition being delivered to them at their request and for the subscribing of their Names thereto if they should think fit did tear in pieces in Contempt of our Soveraign Lord the King and of his Laws to the evil Example c. and against the Peace c. Which Bill was found by the Grand Jury And on the 13th of January a Petition was presented to his Majesty by Sir Gilbert Gerrard Baronet Son in the Law to the late Bishop of Durham Thomas Smith Bencher of the Inner-Tempel and eight other Gentleman and Citizens of considerable Estates and Qualities the words whereof were as follows To the King 's most Excellent Majesty the humble Petition of your Majesties most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects Inhabitants in and about the City of London whose Names are hereunder subscribed Sheweth THat whereas there has been and still is a most Damnable and Hellish Plot branched forth into the most horrid Villanies against Your Majesties most Sacred Person the Protestant Religion and the well-established Government of this your Realm for which several of the principal Conspirators stand now Impeach'd by Parliament Therefore in such a time when Your Majesties Royal Person as also the Protestant Religion and the Government of this Nation are thus in most eminent danger Your Majesties most Dutiful and Obedient Subjects in the deepest sense of our Duty and Allegiance to your Majesty do most humbly and earnestly pray That the Parliament which is Prorogued until the 26th day of January may then Sit to try the Offenders and to Redress all our Grievances no otherwise to be redressed And your Petitioners shall ever pray for Your Majesties long and prosperous Reign To this Petition was annexed a Roll of above 100 Yards long containing many thousand Names of many of the most eminent Citizens and Inhabitants in and about London that had subscribed the same His Majesties Answer was to this effect I know the substance of it already and as I am Head of the Government I shall take care of it The Papists though so often bastled resolve still to play a new Game and therefore on the 7th of January John Gadbury Prisoner for the Popish High-Treason as we have before related sent to acquaint the Lords appointed a Committee for Examination that he had something to communicate to them whereupon he was immediately sent for but being perhaps not sufficiently tutor'd he then excused himself that he did not expect to be so suddenly called and therefore desired further time whereupon he was ordered to put what he had to say into writing And on the 9th of January being again examined before His Majesty did declare That about September last Sir Robert Peyton desiring to be reconciled to the Interests of his Majesty and the Duke of York Gadbury acquainted Mrs. Celier the Midwife therewith between whom and Sir Robert there grew an intimate Correspondence and that Sir R. Peyton did then say he should hereby lose a considerable Interest which could put him in the Head of 20000 men in two days time and that could raise 60000 men in little more than a Week And that these people in case the King had died the last Summer at Windsor would have seized the Tower Dover-Castle c. secured the
the University as some report or whether drawn in upon his Marriage as others alleage or to gratifie a Rich Vncle of that Persuasion as a third sort relate it on which or whether on some other occasion different from all these he revolted is not much material but revolt he did to the Roman Church and became a mighty Bigot to advance the same and gain Proselytes He was a Person of rare natural and acquired parts and so well conceited of himself that he once undertook to be one that should manage a Conference concerning Religion against the Learned Doctor Stillingfleet and another Divine of the Church of England which discourse is extant in Print But his Talent lay more in News and Policy than Divinity being for some time Secretary to her Royal Highness the Dutchess of York he was a Leading-man in this Horrid Conspiracy and a prime Promoter thereof by his great Correspondency abroad both at Rome and in the French Court. Concerning the manner of his Commitment an Account is given before Chapt. the 8th On Saturday the 23 of November he was Arraigned at the Kings-Bench Bar the Indictment being very Expressive and Significant we shall for Example sake See Colemans Tryal p. 2. recite part of it viz. That as a false Traitor against our most Illustrious Serene and most excellent Prince Charles by the Grace of God c. his natural Lord having not the fear of God in his heart nor duely weighing his Allegiance but being moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil his cordial Love and true Duty and natural Obedience which true and lawful Subjects of our said Lord the King ought to bear towards him and by Law ought to have altogether with-drawing and devising and with all his strength intending the Peace and common Tranquillity of this Kingdom of England to disturb and the true Worship of God within the Kingdom of England practised and by Law Established to overthrow and Sedition and Rebellion within this Realm of England to move stir up and procure and the cordial Love and true Duty and Allegiance which true and lawful Subjects of our Soveraign Lord the King towards their Soveraign bear and by Law ought to have altogether to withdraw forsake and extinguish and our said Soveraign Lord the King to Death and final Destruction to bring and put The 29th of Septemb. in the 27th year of the Reign of our said Soveraign Lord Charles the Second c. at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster Falsly Maliciously and Traiterously proposed compassed imagined and intended to stir up and raise Sedition and Rebellion within the Kingdom of England and to procure and cause a miserable Destruction amongst the Subjects of our said Lord the King and wholly to Deprive Depose Deject and Disinherit our said Soveraign of his Royal State Title Power and Rule of his Kingdom of England and to bring and put our said Soveraign Lord the King to final Death and Destruction and to overthrow and change the Government and alter the sincere and true Religion of God in this Kingdom by Law establish'd and wholly to subvert and destroy the State of the Kingdom and to Levy War against our said Soveraign Lord the King within his Realm of England And that to accomplish these his Traiterous designs and imaginations on the 29th of Septemb. in the 27th year of the King he Traiterously composed two Letters to one Monsieur Le Chese then Servant and Confessor of Lewis the French King to desire procure and obtain for the said Edw. Coleman and other false Traitors the Aid Assistance and Adherence of the said French King to alter the true Religion in this Kingdom Establish'd to the Superstition of the Church of Rome and Subvert the Government of this Kingdom of England c. Reciting his receiving an Answer from Le Chese his Correspondence with Monsieur Rovigni Envoy Extraordinary from the French King and Letters to Sir William Throckmorton in France Concluding in usual form That all this was done against his true Allegiance and against the Peace of the King his Crown and Dignity To this Indictment he pleaded Not Guilty and on Wednesday the 27th of Novemb. 1678. was brought to his Tryal To the Jury Empannel'd he made no Challenges Their Names were Sir Reginald Foster Baronet Sir Charles Lee. Edward Wilford Esq John Bathurst Esq Joshua Galliard Esq John Bifield Esq Simon Middleton Esq Henry Johnson Esq Charles Vmfrevile Esq Thomas Johnson Esq Thomas Eaglesfield Esq William Bohee Esq His Tryal as it held very long so it was managed with all Integrity and Moderation by the Court The Charge against him was made out two ways partly by Witnesses Vivâ voce and partly by Letters and Papers found at his House which he could not deny to be his own hand writing Dr. Oates was the first Witness produced to whom the Lord Chief Justice gave this grave Caution That he See Colemans Tryal p. 17. should speak nothing but the truth not to add the least tittle that was false for any advantage whatsoever mind him of the Sacredness of the Oath he had taken declaring that since the Prisoners Blood and Life was at stake he should stand or fall be justified or Condemned by truth The substance of Mr. Oates's Evidence was 1. That in Novemb. 1677. being brought acquainted with Mr. Coleman by one John Keins then Dr. Oates's Confessor who Lodged at Colemans House he carried some Letters for him to St. Omers in which were Treasonable Expressions of the King calling him Tyrant and a Letter in Latine enclosed to Monsieur Le Chese to whom Dr. Oates carried it from St. Omers to Paris in which there were thanks returned for the Ten thousand pounds by him remitted into England for the Propagation of the Catholick Religion and promising that it should be Imployed for no other purpose but that for which it was sent which was to cut off the King of England as appear'd by the Letter of Le Chese to which this was an Answer and which Dr. Oates saw and read 2. That Coleman was concern'd in the design of taking away the Sacred Life of the King for that when at the Jesuits Consult at the pag. 2. Whitehorse-Tavern in the Strand in April Old Stile and May New Stile and afterwards adjourned into several Companies It was resolv'd that Pickering and Grove should Assassinate his Majesty by Shooting or other means for which the latter should have 1500 l. and the former Thirty thousand Masses which at 12 d. a Mass amounted much what to the same sum This resolve was in his hearing Communicated to Mr. Coleman at Wild-House who did approve thereof and said it was well contriv'd 3. That in August 78. Mr. Coleman was present at a Consult with the Jesuits and Benedictine Monks in the Savoy for raising a pag. 23. Rebellion in Ireland and was very forward to have Dr. Fogarthy sent thither to dispatch the Duke of Ormond by
of Winchester Henry Lord Marquess of Worcester Henry Earl of Arlington Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgewater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of his Majesties principal Secretaries of State lately made in the room of Sir Joseph Williamson Arthur Earl of Essex first Lord Commissioner of the Treasury John Earl of Bath Groom of the Stole Thomas Lord Viscount Faulconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax Henry Lord Bishop of London John Lord Roberts Denzil Lord Holles William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of his Majesties principle Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Kt. Lord Cheif Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Henry Capel Kt. of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Earnley Kt. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Kt. Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esq Henry Powle Esq The 30th of April His Majesty made a Speech to both Houses of Parliament wherein he recommended three things to them The prosecution of the Plot The disbanding of the Army and the providing a Fleet which was followed by a larger signification of his Majesties mind by the Lord Chancellor That His Majesty had considered with himself That 't is not enough that his Peoples Religion and Liberty be secure during his own Reign but thinks he ows it to his People to do all that in him lies that these Blessings may be transmitted to Posterity And to the end that it may never be in the power of any Papist if the Crown descend upon him to make any change in Church or State his Majesty would consent to limit such Successor in these points 1. That no such Popish Successor shall present to Ecclesiastical Benefices 2. That during the Reign of such Popish Successor no Privy Councellors or Judges Lord Leiutenant or Deputy Leiutenant or Officer of the Navy shall be put in or removed but by Authority of Parliament 3. That as it is already provided That no Papist can sit in either House of Parliament so there shall never want a Parliament when the King shall happen to die but that the Parliament then in Being may continue Indissoluble for a competent time or the last Parliament Re-assemble c. But it seems all these Provisions were not thought a sufficient Fence for such dear and precious things as Religion and Liberty and that in the progress of their Debates upon this most important Subject they could not resolve upon any certain Expedient of safety less than the Exclusion of his Royal Higness For on Sunday April the 27th 1679. It was Resolved by the House of Commons Nemine Contradicente That the Duke of York being a Papist and the hopes of his coming such to the Crown hath given the greatest Encouragement and Countenance to the present Conspiracies and Designs of the Papists against the King and Protestant Religion And on Sunday May the 11th the better Day the better Deed we use to say but whether it will hold here will be the Question they Ordered That a Bill should be brought in to disable the Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of this Realm which was brought in accordingly and twice read in the House the preamble thereof being to this effect That forasmuch as these Kingdoms of England and Ireland by the wonderful Providence of God many Years since have been delivered from the Slavery and Superstition of Popery which had despoiled the King of his Sovereign Power for that it did and doth advance the Pope of Rome to a Power over Sovereign Princes and makes him Monarch of the Universe and doth with-draw the Subjects from their Allegiance by pretended Absolutions from all former Daths and Obligations to their lawful Sovereign and by many Superstitions and Immoralities hath quite subverted the Ends of the Christian Religion But notwithstanding That Popery hath been long since Condemned by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm for the detestable Doctrine and Traiterous Attempts of its Adherents against the Lives of their lawful Sovereigns Kings and Queens of these Realms Yet the Emissaries Priests and Agents for the Pope of Rome resorting into this Kingdom of England in great numbers contrary to the known Laws thereof have for several Years last past as well by their own Devilish Acts and Policies as by Counsel and Assistance of Foreign Princes and Prelates known Enemies to these Nations contrived and carried on a most Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy To destroy and Murther the Person of his Sacred Majesty and to Subvert the ancient Government of these Realms and to Extirpate the Protestant Religion and Massacre the true Professors thereof And for the better effecting their wicked Designs and encouraging their Uilainous Accomplices they have Traterously Seduced James Duke of York Presumptive Heir of these Crowns to the Communion of the Church of Rome and have induced him to Enter into several Negotiations with the Pope his Cardinals and Nuntio's for promoting the Romish Church and Interest and by his means and procurement have advanced the Power and Greatness of the French King to the manifest hazard of these Kingdoms That by the descent of these Crowns upon a Papist and by Foreign Alliances and Assistance they may be able to succeed in their Wicked and Uillainons Designs And forasmuch as the Parliaments of England according to the Laws and Statutes thereof have heretofore for great and weighty Reasons of State and for the publick Good and common Interest at this Kingdom directed and limited the Succession of the Crown in other manner than of Course it would otherwise have gone but never had such important and urgent Reasons as at this Time press and require their using of their said Extraordinary Power in that behalf Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same And it is hereby Enacted accordingly That James Duke of York Albany and Ulster having departed openly from the Church of England and having publickly professed and owned the Popish Religion which hath notoriously given Birth and Life to the most Damnable and Hellish Plot by the most gracious Providence of God lately brought to light shall be Excluded and is hereby Excluded and Disabled c. On the 19th of May the House of Commons attended his Majesty with this following Address Most Dread Sovereign WEE your Majesties most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled do with all humble gratitude acknowledge the most gratious assurances your Majesty hath been pleased to give us of your constant Care to do every thing that may preserve the Protestant Religion of your firm resolution to defend the same to the utmost and your Royal endeavours that the security of that blessing may be transmitted to posterity And we do humbly represent to your Majesty That being deeply sensible that the
forbid the Protestants privately or publickly to Assemble together To proceed to severity of Laws and punishments Here he endeavours to prove this violence lawful Fire and Faggot is reserved to the last But this violence though it must be for the change of all need not be exercised on all Cut off the Leaders and the Multitude will follow the authority of the Rulers Shame will retain some and fear others but a vain security will prevail with most when they know not how to help it Within these few years if he say true above an hundred thousand have been turned to Popery in France and more in Germany nor did ever any of the Princes of Germany that did endeavour to draw over his people to the Catholicks find any Force or Resistance contrary to his Laws Note this all you slanderous Papists that accuse Protestants so much of Rebellion to bide your own Here 's a Jesuites testimony on Record for our vindication He commendeth many smaller helps As 1. Musick to entice people by delight 2. To cause all at their Mariage to profess the Popish Religion and so rather than go without a Wife or Husband they will do it 3. So also to deny Protestants Church-priviledges as Baptism Burial c. Lastly he concludes that where the work must be securely done by degrees the Magistrate may keep the Institution Presentation Confirmation and Examination of Ministers in his own hand and so if he cannot cast them out at once he must cast out the most dangerous that is ablest Protestant Pastours and put over the Churches the disagreeing and those that do not minde matters of Controversie much and those that are addicted to their own domestick businesses worldly men and such as are addicted to the Rulers let him cool the heat of Heresie he means still true Religion and let him not put out the unlearned and so their Religion will grow into contempt And therefore let the Magistrates cherish the Dissentions of the erring he means the Protestant Teachers And let him procure them often to debate together and reprove one another For so when all men see that there is nothing certain among them they will easily yield to the truth he means Popery And this Discord is profitable to shew the manners of those wicked men For from these things the Ruler may take occasion for a Change Let him enquire into the Original of these Accusations and if he finde them true he may punish the Guilty if false he may punish that is cast out the Accusers By either way he weakens the Party and makes room for his Popish Priests to succeed them SECT 3. The same Priviledged Author of the said Fair Warning in page 62. and those following sets forth a Copy of a Letter from Seignior Ballariny to one Father Young found as he testifies in his Study upon his Decease Dated April 16. 1662. Translated out of Italian in English as follows Holy Father WE do here congratulate your endeavours for the Propagation of the Catholick Faith and cease not our Prayers for you Yet we know that in vain we expect a Blessing from above if we do not prudently apply all means here below And now upon that wonderful Revolution in England there must be great alterations in your Councils and Methods although you must aim at one great Designe The obstruction of Settlement especially upon the Fundamental Constitutions of the Kingdome whereunto if things should fall they would be more firm than ever as some things when shaken take deepest root To this purpose you would do well 1. To remove this jealousie raised by Pryn Baxter and other discontented persons of our own having had any design upon the late Factions and set up that prosperous way of fears and jealousies of the King and Bishops You know an enemy is then with success established in his main hold when he is with prudence alarmed elsewhere We may easily break in upon the English Nation through Liberty and Anarchy while they think we are coming in through Government and Order 2. You would do well to make it appear under-hand how near the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of the Church of England comes to us how willingly their Articles would be interpreted in a Catholick sence at how little distance their Common-prayer is from our Mass whereby you may perswade the world that the Protestant Religion is weary of it self and that the wisest and ablest men of that way are so moderate that they would willingly come over to us or at least meet us halfway 3. Let there be that odium by writing and secret Practices raised upon the Factious that the Law may be so intent upon them that you may escape and troublesome persons may be disabled from speaking against you as they used to do being odious in the eye of the Law and the people 4. Let the Power of the King in matter of Religion be decryed or at least let there be an Indulgence promoted by the Factious and seconded by you 5. You may have such insight into the Trade and Treasure of the Nation that you may have the one engrossed between your selves and other discontented Parties and the other stopped so that the inhabitants will for want either endeavour an alteration at home or transplant themselves among us abroad so that we may either joyn with them or they with us in order to the main design 6. It were well if you took all just occasion to make it plain to the people that there is no true Ordination or Succession of Bishops Pastors and Ministers in England and that they who are pretended Bishops and Ministers are either worldly and careless on the one hand or so factious on the other hand that it were well they were removed however it were well the people should be taken off from them by a clear discovery of their unworthyness 7. Father R. would usually say that the best way to work upon the English was to make use of their natural Affections and urge them with this What is become of your Fore-fathers who died in our Religion where was your Religion before Luther 8. We suppose that in England after twenty years Confusion they are at a loss for the Revenue and therefore it were seasonable such a way were proposed that on the one hand might seem very plausible to the King the Nobility and Commons but is indeed very grievous to the People as any alterations in the antient Customes have their advantages for us so especially an alteration in the Revenue which will have that influence upon the people which your suggestions and insinuations cannot have You know what counsel Father P. gave Father E. of Brussels to put the King upon the new way of Imposition by Excise which must be settled by a mercenary Army of Horse and Foot which shall harass the Country Lastly Your method for winning particular persons you know given by our Forefathers is this 1. Be sure to keep the
before-mentioned Seminarists in disguised Habits into England to dispose Popish Subjects to Rebellion and prepare a Party to joyn the Spaniard at his designed Invasion and these Emissaries were to deal with people in their secret Confessions and Absolve them particularly in private from their Allegiance and Obedience to the Queen so clandestinely that one should not know of the others Engagements which that Bull had done too openly and in general The Doctrines spread and every where inculcated by these Agents in those days are specified by that judicious pair of Historians the Learned Camden in Anno 1581. and the noble Thuanus l. 74. to be as follow viz. That all Princes not professing the Roman-Catholick Faith have lost their Title and Royal Authority and when once Excommunicated are not to be obeyed but ejected out of their Kingdoms which to do was a work of Duty and Merit That the Clergy were exempt from the Jurisdiction of Secular Princes not bound by their Laws That the Pope had the chief and full Power and Authority over all throughout the World even in Civil matters in order unto Spirituals and as far as might be conducive to the good of the Church That the Magistracy of England was unlawful and consequently Null And that whatever since the Bull of Pius the Fifth published had by the Queens Authority been transacted was by the Law of God to be reputed altogether void c. When these pernicious Principles industriously sown and cultivated had taken Root in prejudiced minds there soon followed rank fruits of Treason and Rebellion in desperate Attempts and Resolutions to Kill the Queen As first by Somervil in the year 1583. who being Condemned with Hall a Priest and others his Accomplices by him detected was three days after found strangled in the Prison for fear as was rationally conjectured leâ—t he should have discovered more of the gang Then William Parry a Doctor of Law undertook it the next year encouraged by Palmius a Jesuit Ragazonius the Popes Nuncio in France Cardinal Como and the Pope himself who sent him his Blessing and Pardon of all his Sins as appears in Thuanus lib. 79. All which the said Parry confessed producing the Letter from the Pope written by Cardinal Como and was for such his Traiterous Attempt Executed in March 158â— Soon after John Savage being perswaded by several Priests that it was meritorious to cut off Excommunicated Princes and Martyrdom to die in such an Adventure made a Vow to Assassinate the Queen And anno 1586 as if every year must be guilty of a new bloudy Treason Mr. Anthony Babington a very personable young Gentleman and well-descended espouses the like Resolve on the same Principles re-enforc'd with other Collateral hopes if he escaped the danger suggested by Father Ballard a Jesuit who not onely urg'd the lawfulness and merit of the Action and a Crown of Glory and everlasting Fame thereby to be acquired but also not obscurely insinuated that he might thereby render himself not unworthy a Royal Match with the Queen of Scots by so advantagious a piece of service A most tempting Charm to a youthful ambitious minde Which business the same Thuanus a Catholick Author of unquestionable Veracity tells us was transacted with Mendoza the Spanish Embassador promising to second it with a Forreign Army for obtaining which Paget a Gentleman of an Honourable Family was sent on a Negotiation into Spain whereby all things being provided both at home and abroad St. Bartholomews day as luckily ominous for the succesful Massacre at Paris was agreed upon for giving the fatal blow and a Project framed of making an Association under pretence of fear of the Puritans who were to bear the odiuâ— of the Murther but before that Festival the Conspiracy had taken Air and both Ballard Babington and others being apprehended on their own Confessions were Convicted and Executed on the Twentieth of September yet so eagerly were they set upon designs of Blood that but in January following L'Aubaspinaeus the French Lieger Embassadour here a person entirely devoted to the Guistan Faction did by his Secretary tempt William Stafford a Gentleman likewise of a Noble Family with mighty promises to undertake the same Murder but he declining so horrid a villany himself recommended one Moody as a fit instrument who in Consultation about the manner of doing it proposed the laying a Bag of Gun-powder under the Queens Bed-chamber and secretly to give fire to it whence we may observe that the famous Fifth of November was not the first Popish Treason of that kind but this being divulged by Stafford the said Ambassadors Secretary endeavouring to fly home to France was taken and upon strict examination confest the whole Intrigue the indulgent Protection of Heaven still miraculously bringing to light all their dark and cruel Machinations against the Life of this Pious and unparallel'd Princess SECT 5. The common excuse which Papists make for all the before-mentioned Treasons against Queen Elizabeth is to pretend her Illegitimate and that what they did was to advance the juster Title of Mary Queen of Scots great Grandmother to our present Soveraign Thus in their Apology publisht soon after their Burning of London speaking of these pranks they say It was a question harder than that of York and Lancaster who had most right Queen Elizabeth or Mary Stuart for since the whole Kingdom had Crowned and sworn Allegiance to Queen Mary they had owned her Lagitimate 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 then give way to the thrice-Noble Queen of Scots And a little after 'T was for the Royal House of Scotland that we suffered in those days and 't is for the same Illustrious Family we are ready to hazard all c. But this is a most false though subtle insinuating pretence and were not impudence a necessary virtue in any that undertake to be Advocates for Treason we should wonder with what face they can make this Allegation For first The Archbishop of York though a Papist in his Speech at the publishing Queen Maries Death declared That no man could doubt of the justness of the Lady Elizabeths Title to succeed Secondly The whole Kingdom received and owned her more freely and generally than ever they did Queen Mary Thirdly Forreign Princes and States owned her the greatest Monarchs in Europe offering Marriage to her in certain expectation of gaining the Crown by her as Philip the Second of Spain and Henry the Second of France respectively for themselves and the Emperour Maximilian for his Brother Charles Fourthly the Queen of Scots herself did acknowledge her and claimed nothing more than to be Heir to her and so did King James that was her Successour The first that ever questioned her Title was Pope Paul the Fourth who would not acknowledge her nor hear Sir Edward Kerne her Ambassadour for several causes of which the
designed Party perceiving their Treason was openly known and fearing their just reward from some enraged hand desired a Pass to return since the work of killing the King was done beyond the Seas which that they might with less suspicion and more security pass they pretended to Banish them A Noble person of this Kingdom of Sir K. acquaintance told me That he observed him in publick to exclaim against the Hereditary Rights of Kings as a most pernicious thing to a Kingdom saying That oft-times thereby the Kingdom was Governed by Children Fools and Women And hereupon took occasion to traduce the then Prince of Wales now King saying c. The Expressions are so base and foul-mouthed that we dare not out of Reverence to Majesty go on to repeat them from our Author At the same time highly commending Cromwel as one of the ablest men in Europe and Bradshaw that sate as the Kings Judge for a gallant man Thus far that Treatise concerning the credit of which we shall onely say that the Author appears by the Work to have been a man of no vulgar Intelligence or Conversation in those times and all along expresses much Loyalty and Affection to his present Majesty 2. The Reverend and Learned Doctor Peter du Moulin hath long since declared in Print That the Roman Priest is known who when he saw the â—atal stroke given to our Holy King and Martyr flourished with his Sword and said Now the greatest Enemy that we have in the World is gone And that the year before the Kings Murder a select number of Jesuits out of England had a Consult with their Confederates at Paris where this question in writing was by them put to the Faculty of Sorbon then altogether Jesuited That seeing the State of England was in a likelyhood to change Government whether it were lawful for the Catholicks to work that change for the advancing and securing of the Catholick Cause in England by making away the King whom there was no hope to turn from this Heresie Which was answered affirmatively And afterward the same question being transmitted to Rome the said Resolution was likewise approved and confirmed by the Pope and his Council That it was both lawful and expedient for Catholicks by such means to promote that alteration of State But afterwards when the Regicide was so universally cryed down and detested his Holiness consulting his credit commanded all Papers about that question to be burnt in obedience to which order a Roman Catholick in Parts was demanded a Copy which he had of those papers but having had time to consider and abhor the wickedness of that Project refused to deliver it up but shewed it to a Protestant friend of his relating the whole carriage of this Negotiation This passage theâ— Reverend du Moulin aforesaid now Canon 〈◊〉 Christ-Church Canterbury and one of His Majestieâ— Chaplains did seventeen years ago set forth 〈◊〉 print in his answer to a scurrilous Popish pamphleâ— Intituled Philanax Anglicus and there publickly offered to justifie the truth of it if any should 〈◊〉 him to an account for it before Authority but That in all this time they have been afraid or ashamed to do onely soon after the coming forth of his Book the Gentlemen of Somerset-house who were netled one eminent person of them it seems not a little concerned actually in the story instead of having the truth thereof examined privately by interest obtained a Command from the King to the said Doctor that he should write no more Books which Prohibition the Doctor goâ— taken off Anno 1668. See the last Edition of the Doctors Answer p. 60. where likewise p. 64 we have the Testimony of that worthy judicious Gentleman Sir William Morris late Secretary of State who in a Letter to the said Doctor du Moulin concerning this matter hath these words This I may say safely and will do it confidently That many arguments did create a violent suspicion very near convincing Evidences That the Irreligion of the Papists was chiefly guilty of the Murder of that excellent Prince the odium whereof they would now file to the account of the Protestant Religion 5. 'T is notorious that no sort of men truckled more servilely to the late Rebellious Powers they adressed their Petitions to them with the Stile of the Supreme Authority of this Nation the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England First Moderator fol. 59. They affirmed That they had generally taken and punctually kept the Engagement Second Moderator fol. 41. They promised that 〈◊〉 they might enjoy their Religion They would 〈◊〉 the most quiet and useful Subjects of England First Moderator fol. 31. which they proved in these words viz. That the Roman-Catholicks of England would be bound by their own interest the strongâ—â—â— obligation amongst wise men to live peaceably and â—hankfully in private Exercise of their Consciences and becoming gainers by such compassions they could not 〈◊〉 reasonably be distrusted as the Prelatick Parâ—y that were loosers First Moderator fol. 36. 6. 'T is observable That Tho. White a Popish â—riest in the height of Olivers Tyranny set out 〈◊〉 Book Intituled The grounds of Obedience and Government purposely to confirm his usurpation another His Majesties just Tale and perswade people that they were not obliged to assist or reâ—â—ore him Who was it as Doctor Oates says in his Epistle to the King before his Narrative of the Plot printed by Order of the House of Lords â—hat broke off the Uxbridge Treaty but the Romish Interest and Policy with what zeal and Interest did they perswade the Scots in 1650. to impose that upon your Majesty which your Royal Law had forbidden others for the effecting whereof some Thousands of pounds were spent and given by them Where he likewise sets forth how they endeavoured to Betray and Sacrifice His Majesty after his miraculous escape as Worcester And that those who were to pay the 1000 l. promised for his Discovery were no other but Father Joseph Simmonds and Father Carleton Compton both Jesuits and 〈◊〉 whereas Mr. John Huddleston a Priest having 〈◊〉 instrumental in His Majesties Escape for whicâ— good Service he has been always excepted out 〈◊〉 His Majesties Proclamations against Priests and Jesuits several of the Jesuited Crew have often call'd him FOOL for his labour and said that the same was the worst days work that ever he did in his life That there is a Popish Lord not forgotten or unknown who brought a Petition to the late Regicide and Vsurpers signed by above 500 of the principal Popists in England wherein was promised upon condition of a Toleration here by a Law they would jointly resolve to Abjure and Exclude the Family of the Stuarts for ever from the Crown That a whole Convent of Benedictine Monks were Olivers Pensioners to betray His Majesties Secrets and Counsels That the Traitor Manning taken 〈◊〉 discovering such His Majesties Affairs was a Roman Catholick and had Masses sung for him after his 〈◊〉
the revolution of humane Affairs grew more formidable these subtle Steers-men who know how to catch every wind presently shifted their Sails varied their Course though still bound for the same Port viz. The advancing of the Roman Churches power and abandoning those old useless Patrons embark their hopes in the Designs of France thinking though we trust in vain that King may ere long give Laws to all these parts of the World Thus are we threatned with a double Intertwisted Tyranny by the one in Temporals by the other in Spirituals and at the same time a Cursed Design by their Confederate Councils is carried on to enslave both the Bodies and Souls of all the Christians in Europe SECT 3. England and Holland having with fierce and tedious Wars on what grounds and by what Counsels occasioned is not unknown profusely wasted each others Blood and Treasures and the latter being reduced to so low an Ebb that had not providence strangely put an hook into the nostrils of Leviathan at Vtrecht that Republick had been quite subjugated and over-run The same French and Jesuitical Incendiaries in the next place engage the three grand Protestant Princes of the North Sweden Denmark and Brandenburgh likewise in bloody Wars with each other that the Protestant Religion may every where be pluckt down with their own hands and owe its ruine as much to the indiscretion of its Professors as the malice of its Enemies whilst in the mean time the disturbances in Hungary are secretly fomented on one hand and the Emperour exasperated against them on the other so that the poor Souls of the Reformed Religion in those parts lamentably suffer under a two-fold Injustice the ignominy of Rebellion and Cruelty of Persecution Thus was there not a Protestant Kingdom State or Interest in the World besides Geneva and a few Cantons of Switzer-land who likewise have felt not a few drops of the storm but had since the year 70. been most considerably weakned whilst France the present Hector of the Papacy hath so mightily encreased in strength and reputation So that in this respect if ever Rome would re-gain its lost grandeur and entirely Extirpate Heresie as they call it now was the time SECT 4. But then besides these Forreign advantages if we consider the several points they had gain'd at home in England we shall find them much facilitating the work The countenance of two Roman Catholick Queens for divers years and an opinion of the Papists Loyalty Services and Sufferings for King Charles the First which they were never wanting to commemorate and represent through false Opticks to render them more great and obliging though in themselves little or nothing or worse than nothing as before we have proved gave them free Access and welcome at Court as their plausible behaviour and fair pretences large Estates and insinuating Arts gave them reputation in the Countrey and drew over great numbers of their Dependants Tenants and Relations sway'd by Interest to their Communion and many more to a kind of Neutrality and indifference by a too general debauching of the younger Gentry with Principles of Atheism no small part of their Policy for those that were really of no Religion were very fit to comply with theirs To carry on the Intrigue multitudes of Jesuits Secular Priests and Monks of several Orders daily came over without any let or punishment and appeared almost publickly as if in Contempt of Law they car'd not who knew them to be such they said Mass up and down and had their Sermous in English frequently at their pleasure and the Popish Court-Merry-Andrew that Buffoon-Priest Father Patrick who seemed to affect Father Junipers Title of Joculator Christi Christ's Jester as their Book of Conformities p. 106. most prosanely calls him did not a little contribute to the mischief by the great interest he had obtained amongst persons of very high quality by whose influence they afterwards screw'd many of their Party into considerable Offices and places of Trust Civil and Military at Land and Sea being allowed Dispensations to go to Church receive the Sacrament or take any Test the better to colour the matter and on the contrary who ever they thought was of a spirit to oppose their Designs they procured to be turned out and disgraced with the Title of a Fanatick a Rumper or disaffected to the Government This formidable increase of Popery and Insolence of that Party was not unregarded by judicious men but lookt upon as a thing very ominous and of dangerous consequence insomuch that the then Parliament though oft-times thought remiss enough on such occasions could not but take notice of it for on Munday the 29th of April 1678. these following Reasons were agreed to be used at a Conference with the Lords concerning the dangers the Nation is in by the growth of Popery THe House of Commons taking into serious consideration the dangers arising to this Kingdom from the restless endeavours of Priests and Jesuits and other Popish Recusants to subvert the true Religion planted amongst us and to reduce us again under the Bondage of Roman Superstition and Idolatry and finding how great boldness they have assumed to themselves from the great remisness and connivance of His Majesties Officers and Ministers of Justice both Civil and Ecclesiastical whereby so many good and necessary Laws heretofore made against them have not of late times been put in any effectual execution They do therefore think it requisite to apply same remedy to this growing Evil especially at this time wherein the unity of Affections and the mutual confidence between His Majesty and his People dath so much conduce to the preservation of the whole Kingdom And because they have found by experience that all those applications they have sormerly made upon this Subject have not produced any effects answerable to their expectations they have endeavoured to discover the Causes and Grounds thereof which they conceive are principally these 1. The difficulty of convicting a Romish Priest by proving their Ordinations by Authority derived from the See of Rome which makes them more confidently to appear in publick and perform their Offices and Functions without fear of punishment II. That Justices of the Peace are discouraged because those that have been forward in executing the Laws against Papists in such Countries where they do most abound have been turned out of Commission without any apparent cause whilst others who have been Popishly inclined have been continued in Commission or put in de novo III. That in several Countries many Protestant Dissenters have been Indicted under the notion of Popish Recusants and the penalties of the Act levyed upon such Protestant Dissenters when the Papists there have been either totally or for the most part discharged IV. That the Papists do evade the penalties of the Laws by making over their Estates by secret Trusts and fraudulent Conveyances yet receiving the profits of them to their own use and benefit whereas in former times considerable Sums of
greatest hopes of Success against our Religion in the Enemies thereof the Papists are founded in the execrable Designs which they have laid against the Sacred Person and Life of your Majesty which it is not onely our Duty but our Interest with the greatest hazards to preserve and defend We have applyed our selves to the making such provision by Law as may defeat these Popish Adversaries their Abettors and Adherents of their hopes of gaining an advantage by any violent attempts against your Majesty and may utterly frustrate their expectation of Subverting the Protestant Religion thereby in time to come And further to obviate by the best means we can all wicked practices against your Majesty whilest any such Lawes are in preparation and bringing to perfection It is our resolution and we do Declare That in defence of your Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion we will stand by your Majesty with our Lives and Fortunes and shall be ready to Revenge upon the Papists any violence offered by them to your Sacred Majesty in which we have your Majesty will gratiously please to be the more assured as We our Selves are the more encouraged in that the Hearts of all your Majesties Protestant Subjects with the most sincere affection and zeal joyn with us herein But this Zeal of the House of Commons running to so high a pitch touching the Succession together with some unhappy misunderstandings arising between them and the House of Lords concerning the Tryal of the Popish Lords and Earl of Danby as shall be related in the next Chapter His Majesty to allay the same was pleased first to Prorogue and then to put a period to them by a Dissolution of that Parliament by a Proclamation dated at Windsor the 12th of July 1679. But therein graciously declaring that a New one should be called to begin and be holden on Tuesday the 7th which was afwards altered to Friday the 17th of October CHAP. XVII The Proceedings against the Popish Lords in the Tower WE have before related the Commitment of these Lords to the Tower for High Treason after which followed this Vote in the House of Commons in the old Parliament Decemb. 5th 1678. Resolved That the House do proceed by way of Impeachment of High Treason and other High Crimes and Misdemeanours against the Lord Arundel of Warder Lord Powis Lord Petre Lord Bellasis and Viscount Stafford and a Committee appointed to draw up Articles of Impeachment against them Which Vote was Communicated to the House of Lords and the several Lords Charged by several Members in these words The Commons in Parliament having received Information of divers Traiterous Practices and Designs of a great Peer of this House Henry Lord Arundel of Warder have Commanded me to Impeach the said Henry Lord Arundel of Warder of High Treason and other high Crimes and Misdemeanours They have further Commanded me to acquaint your Lordships that they will within a convenient time exhibit to your Lordships particular Articles of the Charge against him Thus standing Impeached they continued in the Tower all the Interval of Parliament and as soon as the next Parliament was settled to Business they forgot not their Lordships For March 20th 1678. it was Ordered That a Committee of Secrecy be appointed to take further Evidence and prepare Articles against the Lords in the Tower who stand Impeached of High Treason and take such further Informations as they shall receive touching the Plot in general and the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that this Committee have power to send for Persons Papers and Records and that they sit de die in diem and the Quorum to be Three The Articles at last Exhibited were as follows Articles of Impeachment of High Treason and other high Crimes and Offences against William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis now Prisoners in the Tower THat for many Years now last past there hath been contrived and carried on a Traiterous and Execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter change or subvert the Antient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein established and to Extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof which said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carried on in divers places and by several ways and means and by a great number of Persons of several Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended to execute and accomplish the aforesaid Wicked and Traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis together with Philip Howard commonly called Cardinal of Norfolk Thomas White aliàs Whitebread commonly called Provincial of the Jesuits in England Richard Strange late Provincial of the Jesuits in England Vincent commonly called Provincial of the Dominicans in England James Corker commonly called President of the Benedictines Sir John Warner aliàs Clare Baronet William Harcourt John Keines Nicholas Blundel Pole Edward Mico Thomas Beddingfield Bazil Langworth Charles Peters Richard Peters John Conyers Sir George Wakeman John Fenwick Dominick Kelly Fitz Gerald Evers Sir Thomas Preston William Lovel Jesuits Lord Beltamore John Carrel John Townely Richard Langhorn William Foggarty Thomas Penny Matthew Medbourn Edward Coleman William Ireland John Grove Thomas Pickering John Smith and divers others Jesuits Priests and Fryars and other persons as false Traitors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid have Traiterously consulted contrived and acted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernicious and Traiterous Designs and for that end did most wickedly and Traiterously agree conspire and resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther his Sacred Majesty and to deprive him of his Royal State Crown and Dignity and by malicious and advised speaking writing and otherwise declared such their Purposes and Intentions and also to subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government And to seize and share amongst themselves the Estates and Inheritances of his Majesties Protestant Subjects and to Erect and Restore Abbies Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom supprest for their Superstition and Idolatry and to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and Possessions now Invested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And also to Found and Erect new Monasteries and Convents and to remove and deprive all Protestant Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons from their Offices Benefices Preferments and by this means to destroy his Majesties Person extirpate the Protestant Religion overthrow the Rights Liberties and Properties of his Majesties good Subjects Subvert the Lawful Government of this Kingdom and subject the same to the Tyranny of the See of Rome That the said Conspirators and their Complices and Confederates Traiterously had and held several Meetings
said Plea contained which may any way give this Honourable House any occasion of Offence which he hopes will be granted The said Lord as to that part of the Impeachment that contains the matter following Namely That for divers Years last past there hath been contrived and carried on by the Papists a most Traiterous and Execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter change and subvert the Ancient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein Established and to extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof and that the said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carried on in divers places and by several ways and means by a great number of Persons of several Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended thereby to execute and accomplish their aforesaid Wicked and Traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Lord Petre and other Lords therein named together with several other Persons threin likewise named and mentioned as false Traitors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid have Traiterously acted and consulted to and for the accomplishing the said Wicked Pernicious and Traiterous Designs and for that end did most wickedly and Traiterously Agree Consult Conspire and Resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther his Sacred Majesty and to deprive him of his Royal Estate Crown and Dignity and by malicious and advised speaking and otherwise declaring such their purposes and intentions as also to Subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government and to seize and share among themselves the Estates and Inheritances of his Majestie 's Protestant Subjects and to erect and restore Abbies Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom suppressed for their Superstition and Idolatry and to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and Possessions now Vested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and also to Found and Erect new Monasteries and Convents and remove and deprive all Protestant Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons from their Livings Benefices and Preferments and by this means to destroy his Majesties Person extirpate the Protestant Religion overthrow the Rights Liberties and Properties of all his Majesties good Subjects Subvert the lawful Government of this Kingdom and Subject the same to the Tyranny of the See of Rome And the said Conspirators and their Complices and Confederates Traiterously had and held several Meetings Assemblies and Consultations wherein 't was contrived and designed amongst them what means should be used and the Persons and Instruments which should be imployed to Murther his Majesty and did then and there resolve to effect it by Poisoning Shooting Stabbing or some such like ways or means And to that part of the Impeachment named The better to compass their Traiterous Designs have consulted to raise Money Men Horses Arms and Ammunition The said Lord saving to himself and which he humbly prays may be reserved to him the liberty of Answering over and denying all and singular the said Crimes and Offences charged on him Saith And humbly offereth to this Honourable House that the charge of those Crimes and Offences so imposed on him by the said Impeachment are so general and uncertain that he cannot possibly give any direct Answer thereto or make any just or lawful defence upon his Tryal for that the said Charge had no manner of certainty in point of time it being laid only for many Years now last past which may be for 5 10 20 30 or more Years whereby though the said Lord knoweth himself to be altogether innocent of any such horrid and detestable Crimes as by the said Impeachment are objected against him Yet 't is impossible for him on any Tryal thereof to be prepared with his just and lawful defence by Witnesses to prove himself absent or in any other place at the time of such Meetings or Consultations to or for any of the wicked Designs and Purposes in the said Impeachment mentioned as on his Tryal may be suddenly objected against him when he cannot by any care or foresight whatever have such Witnesses ready as would speak thereunto if they were certainly charged for any Traiterous Design Act or Crime at any time certainly alleadged in the said Impeachment Nor is the said Charge in the said Impeachment more certain as to the place of any such Traiterous Meeting or Consultation laid down in the said Impeachment it being only alledged to be at divers places in this Realm of England and elsewhere which for the Cause aforesaid is so utterly uncertain that it deprives the said Lord of his defence on his Tryal Likewise the uncertainties of the number of Meetings or Consultations to the wicked purposes in the Impeachment and the not shewing how many times the Lords met and consulted and with whom in particular doth likewise deprive him of all possibility of making his defence in producing Witnesses for the said Lord being wholy innocent cannot suppose or imagin what Meeting or Consultation either to raise Money or Men for carrying on of a Traiterous Design or to any other wicked intent or purpose in the said Impeachment mentioned shall or may be objected against him on his Tryal and 't is as impossible for him to bring Witnesses to prove all the Meetings he hath had with others in his life time as 't is for him to foresee on this general Charge what Meetings or Consultations may on his Tryal be objected against him as Traiterous Consultations And whereas 't is in the said Impeachment charged on the said Lord That he hath uttered Treason by malicious and advised speaking and otherwise declaring the same The said Lord saith That never any Traiterous Thoughts entered into his Heart and therefore cannot possibly know what words or writings he ever spoke uttered reveal'd or declared which are now charged on him as Treason their being no words or writings at all specified in the Impeachment whereby the said Lord might know how to prepare his defence against them So as this Honourable Court may or might judg whether the same words or writings are in truth Treasonable or not ALL WHICH incertainties and eminent and apparent Dangers of the said Lord being there-upon surprized in a Cause of this Consequence wherein his Life and Honour more dear to him than his Life and all else that is dear to him in this World are immediately concerned being seriously weighed and considered by your Lordships he humbly prayeth as by his Councel he is advised that your Lordships will not put him to Answer the said Impeachment herein above recited till the same be reduced to such compleat certainty that the said Lord may know how to Answer thereunto and may thereby be enabled to make his just defence accordingly ALL WHICH notwithstanding he humbly submitteth to whatsoever your Lordships in Justice shall order and think fit and as
says The King the House of Lords and the House of Commons have each particular Privileges And among those which belong to the King he reckons Power of Pardoning After the enumerateing of which and other his Prerogatives His said Majesty adds thus Again That the Prince may not make use of this high and perpetual Power to the hurt of those for whose good he hath it and make use of the name of publick necessity for the gain of his private Favourites and Followers to the detriment of his People The House of Commons an excellent Conserver of Liberty c. is solely intrusted with the first Propositions concerning the Levies of Money and the Impeaching of those who for their own ends though countenanced by any surreptitiously-gotten Command of the King have violated that Law which he is bound when he knows it to protect and to the protection of which they were bound to advise him at least not to serve him in the contrary And the Lords being Trusted with a Judicatory Power are an excellent Screen and Bank between the Prince and People to assist each against any encroachments of the other and by just Judgments to preserve that Law which ought to be the Rule of every one of the three c. Therefore the Power legally placed in both Houses is more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny c. IV. Until the Commons of England have Right done them against this Plea of Pardon they may justly apprehend that the whole Justice of the Kingdom in the Case of the Five Lords may be obstructed and defeated by Pardons of like nature V. An Impeachment is virtually the Voice of every particular Subject of this Kingdom crying out against an Oppression by which every Member of that Body is equally wounded And it will prove a Matter of ill Consequence that the universality of the People should have occasion ministred and continued to them to be apprehensive of utmost danger from the Crown from whence they of right expect Protection VI. The Commons Exhibited Articles of Impeachment against the said Earl before any against the Five other Lords and demanded Judgment upon those Articles Whereupon your Lordships having appointed the Tryal of the said Earl before that of the other Five Lords now your Lordships having since inverted that Order gives a great cause of doubt to the House of Commons and raises a Jealousie in the Hearts of all the Commons of England that if they should proceed to the Tryal of the said Five Lords in the first place not only Justice will be obstructed in the Case of those Lords but that they shall never have right done them in the matter of this Plea of Pardon which is of so fatal Consequence to the whole Kingdom and a new device to frustrate publick Justice in Parliament Which Reasons and Matters being duly weighed by your Lordships the Commons doubt not but your Lordships will receive satisfaction concerning their Propositions and Proceedings And will agree That the Commons ought not nor can without deserting their Trust depart from their former Vote communicated to your Lordships That the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any Proceedings against the Lords in the Tower and when that Matter shall be settled and the Methods of Proceedings adjusted the Commons shall then be ready to proceed upon the Tryal of the Earl of Danby against whom they have already demanded Judgment and afterwards to the Tryal of the other Five Lords in the Tower May 27th 1679. The Narrative and Reasons delivered at the Conference Yesterday with the House of Commons were again read and after a long Debate the Vote of this House dated the 13th of May instant and the explanation thereupon dated the 14th instant were read and the Question was put Whether to insist upon these Votes concerning the Lords Spiritual and it was resolved in the Affirmative But there were present These Dissenters Buckingham Huntington Kent Shaftsbury PR Bedford Winchester Rochester North and Grey Suffolke J. Lovelace Townsend Herbert Gray Stamford Newport Say and Seal L. Wharton Leicester Scarsdale Stafford Derby Delamer Howard Paget Clare Salisbury Falconberg Windsor CHAP. XVIII The Proceedings against Whitebread and the other Four Jesuits ON Friday the 13th of June 1679 was the grand Tryal of Five notorious Jesuits viz. Thomas White aliàs Whitebread Provincial or cheif of the Jesuits in England a comely antient man of a very grave deportment both at his Tryal and Execution William Harcourt pretended Rector of London who 't is thought after the first discovery of the Plot had been beyond the Seas and had the confidence to return hither again where being apprehended in his Lodging near long Acre he was by the Lords and Commons Committed to Newgate on the 8th of May last John Fenwick Procurator of the Jesuits in England John Gavan aliàs Gawen and Anthony Turner Committed first to the Gate-house and thence brought to Newgate There was at the same time Arraigned one James Corker a Benedictine Monk but he pretending he had not his Witnesses ready was put off and happy it was for him who since was acquitted with Wakeman whereas if he had then been tryed 't is most probable it would have prov'd as Fatal to him as the rest Whitebread and Fenwick pleaded that they were tryed before for the same Fact but the Court answer'd That though they were indeed once Arraign'd yet the Jury was discharg'd of them and they not then in any Jeopardy of their Lives and therefore must plead to this Indictment Then the Prisoner made a general Challenge That none should be of their Jury that were of any of the former Juries concerning the Plot Those now sworn were Thomas Harriot William Gulston Allen Garraway Richard Cheney John Roberts Thomas Cash Rainsford Waterhouse Matthew Bateman John Kaine Richard White Richard Bull. Thomas Cox The Proofs were long and consisting in divers particulars As 1. Dr. Oats Swears That the Consult of the 24th of April was by the Order of Whitebread the Prisoner at the See the Tryal of Whitebread c. P. 12. Bar as Provincial and that then the said Whitebread and Fenwick and Harcourt and Turner did all in his presence Sign the Resolve for the King's death 2. That Whitebread after his return back again to St. Omers did say That he hoped to see the King's Head laid fast enough only he had not the manners to give him the Title of King but shew'd his spight by calling his Majesty opprobriously These are those that speak evil of Dignities 3. That in July Ashby alias Timbleby brought over Instructions from Whitebread P. 13. to offer Sir George Wakeman 10000 l. to poyson the King and also a Commission to Sir John Gage to be an Officer in the Army which they design'd to raise which the Witness himself delivered to him the said Sir John 4. That Turner was at the Consult and at Fenwick's Chamber he saw him
years is too well known to need here a Repetition that Oppression may make wise men mad is attested by the wisest of Princes yet far be it from us to patronize or palliate Rebellion on any pretext The first Overt act was the Murther of Doctor Sharp Archbishop of St. Andrews in his Coach on the Road May 3. 1679. by about a dozen Assassinates attended with such extraordinary horrid and barbarous Circumstances that seem'd to intimate something of a further Improvement as well as present Malice or as if there had been a Design to eclipse the Villany of the Popish Assassination on Sir Edmondb Godfrey by this more inhumane one committed by supposed Protestants 'T is certain the blame was laid upon the Whiggs or Nonconformists there for which there wanted not specious Reasons But Relations no less credible have given an Account that the principal Murderer acted merely on private Revenge for personal Injuries and 't is not impossible that a person of such bad Principles might be egg'd on to so villanous a Barbarity by insinuating Jesuits who like their Father the Devil take the advantage of mens Passions and by Temptations improve their Animosities to the perpetration of the blackest Crimes The next News was of an Insurrection in the West of Scotland May 29 1679. attended with a Declaration and other Insolencies of those Rebels equally extravagant and detestable To quell which his Grace the Gallant Duke of Monmouth June the 15th sets forward towards Scotland and with great Expedition Joyning and Heading the Royal Plost soon discomfited the Rebels at Bothwel-bridge and returned Victorious victorious That the Papists or some of their well-willers at least by their Counsel and contrivances had an hand in fomenting these disturbances is more than probable as well for the preparations they had made for it as aforesaid as for that nothing at this juncture could make more for their Interest to which they do not use to be wanting for hereby they startled the Government diverted the general odium from themselves and notably colour'd their clamours against the Presbyterians Besides 't is not unlikely that some who were justly apprehensive of being called in question about that time for their male-Administration of Affairs in that Kingdom might hope to bury the memory of their past severities or justifie them as necessary Policies by ostentation of this Rebellion the more liable to be suspected for a Contrivance for that it was not only not joyned in but generally dis-own'd and detested by the Dissenters both in Scotland and England and for that their Horse when the Duke came to engage them so soon betook them to flight as if they had onely designed to cajole in these miserable desperado's of the Infantry into destruction However since his Grace the Duke of Monmouth behaved himself with so much Zeal Conduct and Courage in that Action 't is hard to measure the Confidence of the Popish Conspirators that they should hope so soon after to set him up for a General of Rebellion in England over a like pretended Faction as he had but now routed and dissipated in Scotland and whereof several inferiour promoters and active instruments therein have since suffered Death Banishment and other punishments according to the Laws of that Kingdom And now Affairs sleeping as it were for a while the old Enemy takes advantage of that opportunity industriously to sow his Tares by spreading swarms of virulent Libels of which we shall give you a more particular account in the next Chapter against the Protestant Interest and the Reputation of the Kings Evidence who had they not been wonderfully supported by the hand of God the prayers of good men and their own natural courage must certainly have sunk and been over-whelmed with the various discouragements and mountains of Lies and slanders daily cast upon them But at last the Conspirators finding that all the Interest they had made for carrying Elections for their Tooth of Members to serve in the new Parliament summoned to sit the seventeenth of October could not prevail but that generally throughout the Nation men of approved Loyalty and Integrity to the Protestant Religion and weal of the Publick had notwithanding all their stickling and the vain efforts of a multitude of Laodicean Chemarims been chosen for that weighty Trust and particularly reflecting how shamefully they had been baffled in the Choice for the City of London Octob. the 7th they were now for stifling that Child which before they would have mis-begot and improved all their endeavours by a certain White-Powder that makes no noise probably some new French Invention to blow up the approaching Parliament which yet 't is hoped by the blessing of God and His Majesties Favour will continue sitting so long as may enable it to Countermine all their Plots and bring the Traytors as well Cedars as Shrubs to condign punishment so as to secure His Majesties Life from their villanous attempts for the future and settle the Protestant Religion and Property on a firm and durable Basis In the mean time viz. on the second of September the Anniversary Fast for the never-to-be-forgotten Burning of London by Popish Treachery and as 't is said about Two of the clock in the morning his Royal Highness the Duke of York arrived here from Flanders and forthwith went to the King who then to the great grief and affliction of all his good Subjects was very Ill at Windsor The Dukes coming as was then published by Authority in the Gazet was contrary to expectation and therefore he acquainted His Majesty That hearing of His Majesties Indisposition he thought he could do no less than to come to wait on him and see how he did adding That he was ready as soon as His Majesty pleased to depart for Flanders or any other part of the world that His Majesty should appoint And now the Popish Conspirators those Rooks in policy resolving to put the great Game upon us began notably to shuffle the Cards a Proclamation was published signifying That the Parliament which was to Convene on the seventeenth of October should thence be Prorogued till the thirtieth of the same Month. Out-cries and Alarums from Pulpit and Press and Coffee-houses were every where heard against the Presbyterians c the dangers the Government was in from a Fanatical Faction the grounds and broachers whereof we shall soon acquaint you with though 't is possible some innocent zealous Protestants might be inveigled in so far as to believe the thing real and might far from any ill design join in and promote the common clamour And now to the great surprize and grief of the people his Grace the Duke of Monmouth fell under the Kings disfavour and was commanded to withdraw himself out of His Majesties Dominions the occasion whereof was variously reported nor dare we presume to pry into the Cabinet of State so far as to conjecture the reasons though some subsequent Discoveries of Transactions at that instant on the wheel
the Earl of Radnor late Lord Roberts the Lord Hallifax c. all persons of untainted Loyalty and far from Presbyterian or Fanatical Principles and yet these they had designed for destruction as the Chiefs of this new pretended Conspiracy Nor indeed can there be assigned above two or three in all their long forged List that can with any colour of reason or usual acceptation of the word be called Presbyterians SECT 2. But Abyssus Abyssum invocat one Popish villany treads on the heels of another There happened now likewise a yet farther detection of their desperate wickedness that would violate all rules of Morality and Laws both Humane or Divine to wreck their implacable malice on Dr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe and render them odious if it were possible to the people and thereby depreciate their Evidence Of this kinde was their horrid Conspiracy to charge them both with a malicious Contrivance against the Earl of Danby the late Treasurer and particularly Mr. Oates with an attempt of Sodomy To which purpose Will. Osborne and John Lane formerly Servants to Dr. Oates were suborn'd and manag'd by Tho. Knox late Servant to the Lord Dumblain Son to the said Earl of Danby but the Design laid and directed from time to time by wiser heads concerning which there hath already a perfect Account been emitted into the world by the appointment of Dr. Oates And also the Tryals of the said Knox and Lane at the Kings-Bench Bar Novemb. 25. 1679. where they were Convicted are published by Authority where the Curious may receive further satisfaction and therefore we shall only very briefly Epitomize some material matters of Fact which to perform intelligibly we must look back for some time For this hopeful Project had been long a brewing and had been once mortified before ' though now crawling towards a Resurrection it was Doom'd to the second Death which in the language of Divines is to say That it was damn'd as the malicious Contrivers are like to be without sincere Repentance 1. About April 1679. Osborne and Lane being for several Misdemeanours turn'd out of Dr. Oates's Service Knox so qualified as you have heard insinuates into their acquaintance and working upon their necessities engages them in the Design which to render more plausible he dictates four several Letters from them to himself as if they first mov'd him to it wherein pretending great trouble of minde for being privy to certain ill Designes the Dr. and Mr. Bedloe had against the Earl of Danby c. they desire him to put them into a way to discharge forsooth their Consciences by a Discovery These Letters were by one of them wrote from Knox's mouth and then very formally sent to him See the Narrative p. 5 and 6. 2. Knox hereupon after several meetings with them prepares an Information setting forth how he came by this Intelligence and what they had declared to him Another Information is likewise drawn in the names of Osborne and Lane setting forth several horrid expressions that Dr. Oates should use against his Sacred Majesty and other Persons of Quality thereby to render him odious to the Court so offensive to Christian ears and abominably scandalous as not fit here to be unnecessarily recited A third Information they had ready under Osborne's hand attesting a supposed Discourse that he heard between Dr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe contriving how to destroy the Earl of Danby that Mr. Bedloe should say he had invented a way viz. To swear that the Earl offer'd him Money to go beyond the Seas and thereby quash his Evidence which Dr. Oates should approve of saying It was the only or most dexterous course c. Other several Informations from Lane and Osborne That Dr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe should persuade them to carry on an Intrigue with some of the Lord Treasurers Servants and get Money of them by telling them Lies wherein the said Dr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe would instruct them and make such use thereof as should destroy the said Lord. And yet another Information of Lane's deposing That about the 24th or 25th of March last Dr. Oates having sent all the rest of his Servants to the Chappel did make an attempt to commit Sodomy with him And this Information was some time after Sworn before Sir James Butler But though somewhat subtlely contrived to cast an Odium on the Doctor and yet save the Informant from the Gallows he alledging that it was only an attempt and the perpetration thereof prevented by the noise of a Woman sweeping the next Chamber yet there are in it so many incredible Circumstances that had the Witness been of some Credit and the Doctor of none yet no man of sense could have entertain'd such a villanous nonsensical Story But not only the Law hath since vindicated that worthy person from this odious Scandal but the Informer himself hath voluntarily confessed both the utter falsity thereof and the Instigations that tempted him to alledge it The true Copies of all these Informations which they had cut out in readiness when ever they should think fit to make use of them see in the before-recited Narrative p. 7 8 9 c. 3. Their Tackling being thus prepared the Earl of Danby depended so much on the success that if we may believe the Oaths of the Conspirators it was chiefly on that Confidence that he surrendred himself to the Usher of the bla-Rod after he had for a considerable time absconded And the very same day Knox made Osborne and Lane swear again to stand to what he had taught them But Dr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe having some notice of the contrivance against them all three of the said Instruments were soon after taken into Custody And being Examin'd before a Committee of Lords they at first would acknowledge very little but after some time Lane voluntarily set forth upon his Oath how Knox had tamper'd both with him and Osborne instructed them what they should Swear against Oates and Bedloe and for the Lord Treasurer promised them Rewards dropt a Guinney which Osborne took up because they should not be able to say if questioned he had given them any Money How he paid Reckonings and provided Lodgings for them where he paid all charges for Diet c. And swore them to secrecy assuring them if either of them made a Discovery they should be killed And that since he was in Prison a Gentlewoman who by Mr. Dangerfield's Depositions seems to be Mrs. â—elier came to the Prison and sent him word that he should stick to Mr. Knox and whatever Money he required he should have it though it were a Thousand Pounds About the same time viz. 29 April 1679. Osborne by Order of the said Committee being Examined did upon his Oath deny he ever heard any such discourse between Mr. Oates and Bedloe about destroying the Treasurer nor any undecent words from Mr. Oates touching his Majesty the Queen or Mr. Chessinch c. but Deposeth that Knox promised him If he
eyes of all the world that we hope no well-meaning men will hereafter be inveigled with such pretences 5. To take off all credit or respect for these odious Pamphlets 't is enough to consider the apparent notorious Lies they are stuft with as for example their Address to the Parliament blushes not most scandalously to affirm that his Majesty does not believe there is any such Plot and does but laugh at it Now what good subject can with any patience read such an horrid affront and calumny cast upon his Soveraign who by so many reiterated Royal Proclamations Declarations c. has declared the contrary and express'd his zeal and diligence to prevent and punish the same So the Compendium as if the Author had been infatuated to shew us in the Porch what we must expect in the rest of the edifice begins in the very first line with a most notorious Lie asserting that Coleman was tryed at the Old-Bailey whereas all the world knows he received his Tryal at the Kings-bench-bar in Westminster-hall What shall we say of his impudence p. 69. where he avers that the worthy Sir Edm. Godfrey whom they so barbarously butcher'd was an extraordinary and particular friend to the Papists Or of that other p. 85. That there are not fifty thousand men women and children of the Roman Catholick Religion in England Is not that a most pleasant Certificate from St. Omers at the tail of his Libel that vouches for those pests of all society the Jesuites That they have given a rare example of obedience in general to all civil Magistrates and Governours a thing which makes their whole Society highly respected and esteemed by most of the Christian Princes of the world What will not they certifie after such an extravagant falshood Or what may not those believe who can suffer themselves to be gull'd with such gross Lies and Impostures But what need we rake further into this common shore of Popish filth and venom The whole Nation we trust is by this time throughly awake and have their eyes so well open'd as not to suffer themselves to be cheated of their Religion their Lives and Liberties by the wheadles of a little Popish Rhetorick The Serpents now may hiss but have lost their stings so that they cannot endanger any but such as are willing to be deceived and court their own ruine and therefore we shall put a period to this Chapter onely remarqing that many or most of these Traiterous and Seditious Pamphlets were either Printed for or sold and dispers'd by one Turner a Popish Bookseller in Holborn as appears as well by Mr. Dangerfields Narrative as by matters of fact great numbers of such trash having been seized there for which he hath more than once been in Jail but still findes friends to get him out and we know not how it happens whether by any bodies connivance or his own peculiar good luck but so it is that we cannot understand that there is that effectual prosecution as might be expected for such insolent offences CHAP. XXV The Conclusion in an Address resulting from the premises to both Protestants and Papists respectively THus have we with what convenient Brevity we could given you a true and we hope satisfactory Account of the Original and Progress of this Hellish Plot its horrid Nature miraculous Discovery and what Proceedings have hitherto been made for the Punishment of some of the Conspirators to preserve our Government and Religion from their mischievous Fury As for whatever false Reports and calumniating Stories this ungodly Brood may either whisper at home or proclaim abroad beyond the Seas of their being cruelly or unjustly persecuted all sober unbyuss'd men must on the contrary admire the Clemency of our King and the Moderation of English Protestants in general that have so generously bridled their Passions that notwithstanding so many barbarous Provocations there yet hath not been heard of one Roman Catholick that hath received prejudice in his Person or Estate in a tumultuous manner but the whole Prosecution carried on with the most equal Hearing and full Proofs according to Law and Justice or if any partiality hath been shewn it hath been in favour of the Criminals We shall now draw to Conclusion with a short Address to several sorts of people in some useful Considerations naturally resulting from the Premises 1. And first we Appeal to all Christians in General whether they be not obliged for the Honour and reputation of our holy Profession to declare against this Romish faction and their unchristian or rather Antichristian and abominable scandalous Principles and Practices When this Blood-thirsty Tribe goes about with force and fraud with false and blasphemous Doctrines and Traiterous attempts to subvert all true Christianity and sacrifice the peace of humane Society to their own pride and covetousness can it be less than the duty of all National Churches and Universities publickly by solemn Decrees and Protestations if not by Excommunication to condemn renounce and detest them and of all private Christians by abstaining from their Communion and coming out of that Babylon to take care that they be not partakers of her sins and consequently receive of her deserved Plagues Quid facit saith St. Cyprian in pectore Christiano Luporum feritas Canum rabies venenum Serpentum cruenta saevitia Bestiarum Gratulandum est tum tales deEcclesia separantur ne Columbas ne oves Christi saeva sua venenata contagione praedentur What hath the fierceness of Wolves the rage of Dogs the venom of Dragons and the bloody cruelty of wild beasts to do in a Christian Breast There 's joy and gladness amongst all good men when such are separated from the Church lest the gentle and innocent Doves and Sheep of Christ be made a prey to their cruel jaws and infected with their poysonous contagion 2. To those who are not of that Communion but have hitherto escaped those delusions How highly will it concern them that they suffer not themselves to be therewith intangled for better had it been for them never to have known the way of Righteousness than afterwards to apostatize therefrom and defile themselves with such gross idolatries and impieties And therefore it behoves them that they be careful not to hold the truth in unrighteousness but walk worthy of their vocation even worthy of God who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous Light for Atrocius sub sancti nominis professione peccatur 'T is a sad agravation of sin when 't is committed against plentiful measures of Grace and under the profession of so Holy a Name let us therefore beware above all things that whilst we separate from the scandals of others we do not our selves administer occasion of scandal to others 3. To all who are in Authority whether in Church or State that they be vigilant both by their example and authority to discourage and suppress all manner of vice and debauchery and to encourage and
triumphed at the Murder of King Charles the first telling us that it was one Sarabrass the then Queens Confessor who being present at the Kings death tossed up his Cap in the air and brandished his sword and being with admiration askt what he did there answered that there were twenty more Priests there besides himself and that the greatest Enemy to their Religion fell that day SECT 2. In page the 30. he recites the methods to be used for restoring Popery in England from Father Contzen's printed directions for that purpose in his Politicks l. 2. p. 16 17 and 18. in these words 1. That things be carried on by slow but sure Proceedings as a Musician tunes his Instrument by degrees lose no opportunity but yet do not precipitate the work 2. Let no Prince that is willing despair for it is an easie thing to change Religion For when the common people are a while taken with Novelties and diversities of Religion they will sit down and be aweary and give up to their Rulers wills 3. The Doctors and leading Pastors must be put out if it may be all at once sure he means some Bartholomew-business but if this cannot be let it be by some and some When the Leaders are down all will submit 4. The purpose of changing Religion and extirpating Lutheranism must be concealed not but that some of the wiser sort Coleman and a few more may know but the people must not lest it should move them 5. Some must be suborn'd to beg importunately of the Prince for liberty to exercise their Religion and that with many and gentle words that so the people may think the Prince is not enclined to novelty but onely to lenity and to a tenderness for tender consciences and that he doth it not as from himself For the vulgar use to commend a Prince that cannot deny the Subjects their desires though they are such as were fit to be denied 6. One or two Churches onely must be desired at first for the exercise of Popery he means as being so small a matter that the people will not much regard 7. When the zeal of Professors begins to rise against the Change they are to be pacified by admitting both Parties to a Conference before the Governours 8. Let there be a Decree for Pacification that one Party do not rail at the other nor calumniate them And so the Doctrines that are to be brought in will have great advantage when they are covered and may not be contradicted or so much as named And so the Rulers will be thought to be onely lovers of Peace and not to intend a change of Religion 9. Next that let there be some publick Disputation between the Parties but with some disadvantage to them that are to be outed 10. Let all this be done but on pretence that the several Parties may be joyned lovingly together in Peace And when the Ministers refuse this let them be accused of Unpeaceableness and Pride and Obstinacy and Disobedience against the Magistrate and not for their Religion When it comes to the putting out of some Ministers and the People begin to Petition for them let the matter be carried silently and in the mean time let the People be told that it is because those Ministers are heady obstinate men that the people may be perswaded that the Ministers are faulty and have deserved it and may be put only to desire Liberty for the more peaceable men 11. When thus the People are deluded and there is no danger of a Resistance then turn the Ministers out of the Churches and put in those that you would set up in their stead 12. Then change the Vniversities and tell all the Fellows and Scholars that they shall hold their Places if they will turn else not many will change Religion with the Rulers Next he instanceth in Asia where a Prince pretended that all the Professors and Ministers places were void at the Death of his Predecessor and he had the disposal of them by Law And the Change was there made as he saith by slow degrees one or two Opinions of Religion quarrel'd at first and so the people will think it but a small matter to yeild in one or two Opinions and be easily brought to obey At last let them fall to writing against each other but be sure let those that have the Court-favour be cryed up as Victors and that the others are ignorant and shamefully baffled 13. To put out of Honours Dignities and publick Offices all those that are most adverse to Popery it is just that those that hinder the safety of the Common-wealth should be deprived of the Honours and Riches of the Common-wealth If men are deposed for heynous Crimes why not for Blasphemy and contempt of Truth you must believe the Jesuite that this is the Protestant case If those of a contrary Religion be left in Honour and Power they will be able to cross the Prince in many things and encourage the people of their own Religion 14. That when a Heresie that is the Protestant Religion is wholly to be rooted out and that this must be done by degrees and in a way of reason and cannot be done by meer Command and Power by a Massacre he means or so forth then you must first fall on those Opinions that the common people are most against and which you can quickly make them think absurd So he instanceth in some that would work out Lutheranism that speak honorably of Luther but fall on his followers only under the name of Flaccians So the Arminians at Vtrecht when they would extirpate Calvinism made a Decree that no man should Preach any thing that seemed to make God the Author of sin Thus a Magistrate that would bring in Popeny must impute to the opposers fall upon such heinous Opinions which the impudent themselves are half ashamed of bring these into he light that they may be odious and so the Teachers will lose all their Authority when the people imagine that they are taken in a manifest fault 15. To make use of the Protestants Contentions How easie is it saith he in England to bring the Puritans into order if they be forced to approve of Bishops or to reduce the Puritans in the Low-countries if the Prince adhere to the Arminians For the variety of Opinions makes them doubtful that before seemed certain so that when the Magistrate joyneth with one side he easily overturns the other and leaves the whole obnoxious As Paul did by the dissention between the Pharisees and Sadduces joyning to one side he escaped This saith he I would principally perswade an Orthodox Magistrate to that is a Papist for he may to as much advantage make use of the Protestants Disagreements as of the Papists Concord to extirpate Protestants As in Wars it is not onely the skill and strength of the General but often also the carelesness of the Enemy or his mistake that gives very great advantages for success To