FOXES AND FIREBRANDS OR A SPECIMEN OF THE DANGER and HARMONY of POPERY and SEPARATION Wherein is proved from undeniable Matter of Fact and Reason that Separation from the Church of England is in the judgment of Papists and by sad experience found the most compendious way to introduce Popery and to ruine the Protestant Religion Tantum Religio potuit suadere Malorum The Second Edition In Two Parts Dublin Printed by Joseph Ray for a Society of Stationers and are to be sold by the Booksellers of Dublin 1682. TO THE READER Christian Reader HAving about the year 1678. set forth in Print the two Examinations of Faithful Commin and Thomas Heath not with a design to exasperate or provoke any party in Religion but partly to lay open the Plots and Contrivances of the Romish Emissaries to dash Protestants amongst themselves and cunningly undermine that Reformation by divisions which they were not able to subvert by a more open assault It pleased the Learned Dr. Henry Nalson to publish these Examinations together with few judicious Remarks and Collections of his own under the Title of Foxes and Firebrands and dedicate it to Mr. Baxter and Mr. Jenkins the two great Pillars of our present Separations And finding that the First Part was so kindly received by the World that the Impressions were so suddenly bought up and thereby an encouragement given to proceed in adding some more materials in order to a Second Part as upon the same subject I have therefore for thy information caused the First Part to be Reprinted and a Second added to it that so the History of these Jesuitical divisions might be more compleat and absolute The Collections in this Second Part are most of them either out of the Memorials of that great Minister of State the Lord Cecil or from the testimonies of persons that are still living and also able to attest the truth of what is here related I am not conscious to my self of any injury that I have done either to Religion in general or the true sincere Professors of it since neither the Reputation of the one nor the Interest of the other are concerned in the evil designs of those parties that have a form of Godliness but deny the power of it in their practices I may perhaps have disobliged the two extreme Factions in Religion the Papist and the Puritan by exposing their Combinations for the ruine of that Protestant Faith which is by Law happily established and setled among us And if I have done so it is because I tell them the truth and lay the scene of things nakedly before them and I hope the Reader will look upon it as an argument of my candor and sincerity that I do not study to gratifie any party in Religion but have rather invited their prejudices upon my self by saying these things that are disobliging to them both The truth is my chief aim and design in the whole affair is to have our dissenting Brethren disabused and to pull away the scales from their eyes which obstructs their prospect into the danger of their separations to let them know that the first feuds of their divisions were sown by the Priests and Jesuits that whilst they are carrying on the same designs of Schism and Separation they are introducing Popery though they do not think of it and making a way for the admission of that mystery of Iniquity into the Churches of Great-Britain which cost their fore-Fathers so much Blood to cast out If they did seriously consider of these things I am confident they would return to the bosom of the Church and no longer endanger the safety of the Protestant Religion by aspersing Episcopacy and libelling the Government of the Church of England and continuing the course of that Separation which was begun by the Papists cherished by the Separatists and will in the end tend to the utter ruine both of the Conformists and the Nonconformists which hath already brought one good King to the Block and was again like to shake the Crown and Scepter of a second Almighty God make us all-wise to foresee and to prevent our danger R. W. To Mr. Richard Baxter Mr. William Jenkins c. SIRS WIse and Good Men are always wont to look at and consider the consequences and ends of things where our divisions and separations will terminate is but too obvious things cannot long stand in this posture our vain jangling will come to the Umpirage either of the sharpened Sword of the Law or the terrible Law of the Sword the one is grievous the other intolerable upon which Party soever it shall fall for the ill influences of Religious Quarrels are such upon the Civil Government as will oblige that for Self-preservation to prevent the last by the use of the first and by timely severities to obviate future miseries I have yet seen nothing offered by Dissenters which will not necessarily increase rather than cure our Divisions and above all that Toleration which is so warmly pleaded for by those Nonconformists who pretend to give an old Answer to a new Sermon of Dr. Stillingfleet's is certainly the most intolerable It is a Door which will let in infinite Divisions and Subdivisions Errors and Heresies and by giving people liberty to go either to Church or Conventicle will give the lazy profane and Atheistical liberty to go to neither to the great dishonour of God and the inevitable decay of Christian Religion it will infallibly give the Papists all the advantage these following Papers discover they desire to introduce Popery upon the ruine of Protestant Religion it will oblige the Supreme Magistrate to act against his own and the publick Conscience of Christianity and to establish Iniquity by a Law For such are the Doctrines and Practices of some Dissenters in the judgment of all but themselves and of all Dissenters in what they oppose one another I know not how they come now to unite so close against the Episcopal Party for I know their Breaches are incurable and the time was when Presbytery was as much Babylon to Independents as Episcopacy was to the Presbyterians and so of the other Sects and Schisms which makes some people apply that of the Psalmist to this Confederation Psal 83. against the Church of England For my own particular I know but one Remedy for these growing Evils and that is to permit the Sovereignty to lodge where God Almighty has placed it and to submit to it for Conscience sake I think the Authors of the Political Catechism allow his Majesties Power to be of God He is the Minister of God for our good Now who is to be judge of the goodness and fitness of laws Religious Moral or Political either the Prince or the people If the people then is not the King Supreme contrary to St. Peter 1 Ep. 2. cap. 13. If the King be the Umpire in the case every private Conscience is bound to submit to the publick Conscience which is the Law
from this evident matter of Fact that they have been as industrious among the English Nonconformists to sow dividing Principles and animate them against the Government and Governors both in Church and State And that this may not pass for a bare supposition without ground I I have heard Mr. Prance affirm that both Gavan and Whitebread used to Preach frequently in Conventicles in Southwark and other places and I am able to prove Whitebread aliàs White the Provincial of the Jesuits who was executed for the Plot did not many months before the Discovery and his Apprehension Preach in a Conventicle as a Nonconformist at Spaldwick within five miles of Huntington and that he had several times done the like before as was attested by several of the Congregation before divers Gentlemen in the County of Huntington and if the shame of Dissenters did not smother the further discovery of this Truth for fear of the just reproach and infamy it would bring upon them among the miss-led people I doubt not but we should find these Friars and Jesuits in disguise of Nonconformists and by false Names as frequent in the Pulpits of Separatists as their ordinary Teachers And indeed nothing is more feasible or easie for it is no more than for a Jesuit to bring a counterfeit Letter of Recommendation from some known Nonconformist either out of the Town if he designs to travel and Preach in the Countreys as an Itinerant or out of the Countrey if he will Preach in the Town or a Certificate that he has Preached in such or such Congregations with their Approbation which he is sure to have if he inveigh against Popery Bishops Ceremonies Common Prayer and for Liberty of Conscience and the business is done and without further Examination he is admitted into their Pulpits and shall pass for a zealous Protestant and an heavenly man in the opinion of the undiscerning Auditors as Father Commin and Father Heth have done and many others before Whereas the Church of England takes care that none be admitted to the Charge of Souls without all the Caution imaginable against Popery they must take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy have Testimonials from Persons that know them of their Ability and foundness of Judgment they must shew their Letters of Ordination before they are admitted to Preach in an unknown Congregation and have a License from the Bishop of the Diocess before they can regularly Preach in a Congregation whereinto they are by Law instituted and inducted The natural Inferences which follow from this unquestionable matter of Fact here faithfully related and offered to the serious consideration of all sober People of what perswasion soever are these First That the Pope and Papists have ever since the Protestant Reformation endeavoured to raise up Sects and Differences in Opinion amongst Protestants by sending their disguised Emissaries among the zealous and well-meaning people to seduce them into Separation and Schism Secondly That they look upon these practices as most effectual means to bring the people back to the Romish Religion and to introduce Popery among us Thirdly That for this purpose they have been all along industrious in this course by depraving the Government of Episcopacy as Tyrannical the Established Prayers as Popish by extolling Extempore Prayers as Spiritual by encouraging an unlicensed Ministry by preaching up Liberty of Conscience and that it is to be obtained and maintained at any rate and it is worth observation that Coleman dates the Aera of all the misfortunes like to happen to Catholicks from the fatal rescinding of the late Toleration therein agreeing exactly with Dissenters who were no less Querulous for the stopping of that door though from him nothing can be more evident than that the Jesuits designed to bring in Popery at it which they could not do being openly excluded from the benefit of it but by pretending to be Dissenters Fourthly It is most manifest that all our late horrid Civil Wars Rapines Bloodshed and the execrable and solemn Murther of his late Majesty and the banishment of our present Sovereign were affected according to the fore-contrivance of the Papists by the assistance which Dissenters gave them and the opportunities they had to preach them into Rebellion under the pretence of a thorough Reformation that all the late Commotions and Rebellions in Scotland sprung from the same Counsel and Conduct and that the Papists will never out of the hopes of effecting our ruine nor without the same opportunities they have hitherto had so long as our Divisions are kept up and maintained which give them the advantage of dashing us one against another Fifthly That therefore obstinate Dissenters are before God and according to the judgment of the strongest Reason built upon plain matter of undeniable Fact guilty of all the real danger of Popery prevailing again in these Nations by the ruine of the Protestant Religion Sixthly That the Church of England in Doctrine and Discipline is the greatest enemy the Papists have according to their own declared sense and judgment and consequently wholly innocent of any such designs and complyances or approaches to the Church of Rome as Father Du Moulin and other Brain-sick or worse people endeavour to fix upon her and that it is impossible to give a clearer demonstration of the innocence of the Bishops and Clergy of England than Dr. Oats has in the 72 Paragraph of his Narrative before recited concerning the Pope's Bull or Breve bestowing all the considerable Promotions and Dignities in England upon Papists there mentioned which could not be done without turning out the present Bishops and Dignitaries of the Church And there cannot be a more demonstrative argument that he esteems them Hereticks and Enemies for there is no doubt but if the Pope had any hopes of their complyance with Popery he would not only have consented to their continuance in those promotions but have promised high Rewards and Encouragements to them Seventhly That therefore it is the joynt Interest both of Prince and People of these Nations to support and defend the Church of England as now by Law established those of her Communion being by a tract of Experience of equal date with the Reformation found to be both in Principles and Practice the most peaceable and Loyal Subjects and foundest Protestants of unshaken Allegiance and unblemished Loyalty the ablest Champions against Popery and the only bulwork of the Protestant Religion as is but too evident by the constant endeavours of the Papists both by their own power and the assistance of Dissenters to undermine and overthrow it To conclude as I have here impartially related matter of Fact and drawn necessary inferences from it without animosity or bitterness of language so I hope good men will without prejudice or partiality weigh it in an equal balance and make that charitable use of it for which it was intended that it may be a means by discovering the source and original of our Divisions and Distractions
Heth. Let me see the Letter once more Mr. Dean See my Lord this Letter is directed to another man named Thomas Finne but my name is Thomas Heth. B. You are not the first man that hath altered your Name How long have you been in Town H. About three weeks B. To what intent came you hither H. Upon two accounts my Lord first to visit my friends for my Brother Nicholas was Bishop of this See formerly Secondly to be preferred for the Dean promised to recommend me to your Lordship B. Mr. Dean Did you promise to prefer Mr. Heth Dean I did my Lord and upon that account I permitted him to Preach before you but this Paper hath altered my intentions After this Examination it was resolved to send to Mr. Heth's Lodgings at the Queens Arms in Rochester where upon search in one of his Boots were found his Beads and several Papers among which was a License from the Fraternity of the Jesuits and a Bull dated the first of Pius Quintus to Preach what Doctrine that Society pleased for the dividing of Protestants particularly naming the English Protestants by the name of Hereticks In his Trunk were several Books for denying (l) The Papists Authors of the Sect of Anabaptists Baptism to Infants with several other horrid Blasphemies which being brought before the whole Assembly then present the Bishop adjourned the Court appointing another day for further Examination till they had acquainted her Majesty and her Honourable Council with these passages and sent for further Instructions how to proceed in this Affair In the mean time Heth was committed a close Prisoner and manacled till Order came from the Board On the 25th of November being Thursday the Bishop called a Court and sent for Heth who coming before him a great number being assembled to hear the Matter the Bishop spake as followeth Mr. Thomas Heth It is visible how you have not only deluded several poor Souls but also abused her Majesty and the Ministry of this Kingdom by your Romish and Jesuitical Policy purposely to sow Sedition in the Church of Christ it is well known that though your Society have taken the Name of Jesus by terming themselves Jesuits yet you have denied Christanity which is Christ for several have been called by the Name of Jesus but none by Christ from which all true Believers term themselves Christians By this means you endeavour to bring the people back to your Popish Zeal again (m) Those who still continue these Separations which the Jesuits first begun are desired in the Name and Fear of God to consider whether they are not guilty of the same Abuses A Prediction that Separatists shall when they see how they have been abused by the Jesuits unite with the Church of England to extirpate Popery which they have endeavoured to re-establish by overthrowing the Protestant Religion by their own Divisions But you will be mistaken for that sort of people whom you endeavour through a blind pretended Zeal to withdraw from the Church will be at last your Bane and hate your Society so that at the end when ye shall think ye have accomplished your evil designs and fall upon the Church of Christ those very people whom ye have after these Satanical Delusions beguiled will not so much through Love joyn with Christ to overthrow your Evil Intentions as through perfect hatred to your wicked Policies To several mens knowledge as we have since enquired after thy Actions thy Hostess and her Husband have declared that thou hast spoken against thine own Order yet thou by thy outward Purity hast defiled thine own Calling under pretence of purifying the Church of England What canst thou therefore say for thy self that thou mayest not be made a publick Example to all Spectators for thy wicked Schismatical Sedition sown within these Her Majesties Dominions Wilt thou openly declare before God and the World thy wicked and evil intentions which caused thee to run into these Schisms and reform thy course of life which now thou livest in and not only my self but the whole Court here assembled will endeavour to get thy Pardon and provide for thy future maintenance H. My Lord I know not what I might have done had I not been so publickly examined * Shame the true reason why some persist in their Opinions and not Conscience or Religion but seeing my Vocation is so publickly known I shall not acknowledge my self to be guilty of any Misdemeanor for I have fought a good Fight for Christ whose Cause I have taken in hand †A true but dear Experiment to which the Church of England may write a sad Probatum This Experiment I tried among my Countreymen that the World may see that all those who term themselves Protestants are not of the Church of England though they speak against Rome The Bishop hearing him speak so obstinately said Behold my Brethren a Jesuits Confession how he hath declared he had set up a certain Form of Religion purposely to withdraw you from the Church of England These things will be among us while we are a Church (a) A thing soberly to be considered by Dissenters but woe be to those Deluders or to those who will be deluded by them We have a good Law and the Light of the Holy Gospel now flourishing among us which hath for these many years past been absconded (b) A necessary Caution to all such as value their Souls Bodies or Estates the Peace of the Publick or the Protestant Religion therefore my Brethren consider the condition of your Souls (c) Cedro digna an Aphorism of undoubted Truth If you start aside once from your Principles having the right way so plainly set before you ye will not only run into Popish Slavery again but be in peril of a total confusion of Soul and Body (d) Which without the Assistance of Separatists is humanely speaking impossible and if Rome get once her Foot upon these Dominions again not only your selves and your Children but your Princes and Nobles shall become Slaves to her Idolatry After this Heth was remanded to Prison and for three days brought to the Market-place at Rochester where he stood by the High-Cross with a Paper before his Breast in which were written his Crimes then he was Pillored and on the last day his Ears were cut off his Nose slit and his Forehead branded with the Letter R. and he was condemned to indure perpetual Imprisonment but it lasted not long for a few months after he died suddenly not without the suspition of having poysoned himself From this Narrative we may observe Observations to be deduced from this Narrative that the chief Rise and Original of our unhappy Divisions and Separations is to be fetched from the devilish Policy of the Papists counterfeiting a design to advance the Reformation of the Protestant Religion to a greater Purity that the Pope Cardinals and Jesuits have been always instrumental in
as Popishly affected the Lawn Sleeves were threatned and the Episcopal Party branded with all the names of Ignominy so that the rich and wise Citizens of the great Metropolis of London knew scarcely whether their greatest danger was from Papists or Phanaticks Wealth being always a Crime in Popular Tumults and Insurrections Sedition was as commonly talked and as hot as Coffee was drank and in a word from the Court to the Cottage none could escape the imputation of Popishly affected who durst write or speak in vindication of the Church of England or against Dissenters And that all this was but a Branch of the late horrid Popish Plot against his Majesties Life the Government by Law established and the Protestant Religion I offer the Testimony of Dr. Oats the first and principal Discoverer who all along charges the Papists the disguised Priests and Jesuits with managing the intemperate heat of Separatists against the Government and we cannot without bringing a manifest and dangerous disreputation upon the rest of his Evidence but believe him when upon his Oath he assures us that the Jesuits creep in among Dissenters under the disguise of Nonconforming Ministers to divide and exasperate to raise and blow up Animosities and Calumnies into actual Rebellion against the Civil Government under a pretence of their dislike of the Ecclesiastical Thus in his Printed Narrative Paragraph 1. He informs us that Richard Strange Provincial John Keins Basil Langworth John Fenwick and Harcourt Jesuits did write a treasonable Letter to one Father Suiman an Irish Jesuit at Madrid in Spain in which was contained the plotting and contriving a Rebellion in Scotland of the Presbyterians against the Episcopal Government In order to which they had employed Matthew Wright William Morgan and one Mr. Ireland to go and Preach under the Notions of Presbyterians and give the disaffected Scots a true understanding of their sad Estate and Condition in which they were by reason of Episcopal Tyranny exercised over them and withal to tell them they had now a fair opportunity to vindicate their Liberty and Religion and that it could be done no other way but by the Sword Paragraph 18. That the Fathers of the Society in Ireland were very vigilant to prepare the people to rise for the defence of their Liberty and Religion and to recover their Estates Paragraph 35. That the Jesuits by order of the Provincial were to send new Messengers into Scotland to promote the Commotions there and to inform the people of the great Tyranny they lay under by reason of their being denied Liberty of Conscience and that not being to be procured but by the Sword they must take that course to purchase their Liberty Paragraph 43. That two new Messengers were sent into Scotland on the 5th of August 1678. one by the name of Father Moor the other of Sanders aliàs Brown with instructions to carry themselves like Non-conformist Ministers and to Preach to the disaffected Scots the necessity of taking up the Sword for defence of Liberty of Conscience these the Deponent saw dispatched Paragraph 50. The Deponent Dr. Oats saw a Letter from Father Ireland August the 7th 1678. where among other things he intimates the joy he had that the disaffected Scots would not lay aside their endeavors for and after Liberty and Religion and that the Catholicks of Scotland had promised to use the utmost of their Interest to keep up the Commotions there Here let me be permitted to make a little break to confirm this Evidence by a remarkable Passage which fell out the last year in the tragical end of the Lord Forresler This Lord was the person that after the defeat of the Rebels at Bothwel-Bridge took occasion upon the Indulgence granted by His Majesty to erect a House within two miles of Edinburgh for a publick Conventicle of Non-conformists and for his building this Synagogue went for a zealous man among them but so it hapned that not long after he was barbarously murdered by a Woman Relation with whom he had incestuously lived many years After his death a Dispensation was found in his Closet from the Pope to marry her which it seems he delaying to do she took his Life as the price and reparation of her abused Honour Raviliac Redivivus which plainly shews that these Supporters of the Nonconformists may be and are secret Papists But to proceed Paragraph 51. Among other mysterious Phrases relating to the Plot John Keins told the Deponent that the Provincial had taken great care of keeping alive the differences between the disaffected Scots and Duke Lauderdale that Mum and Chocolate should be put down and the Order of the Magpies should be turned to their primitive Institution and Habit. By Mum and Chocolate meaning the Protestant Peers and by Magpies the Bishops And for a clear vindication of the Bishops and Episcopal Clergy of the Church of England from the unjust imputation of being Popishly affected the common brand which Nonconformists burn upon their Reputation Paragraph 72. He informs us that the Pope had issued out a Bull in which he disposes of the Bishopricks and other Dignities in England as follows Arch-Bishops Canterbury Cardinal Howard York Perrot Superior of the Secular Priests Bishops London Corker President of the Benedictine Monks Winchester White aliàs White-bread Provincial of the Jesuits Durham Strange late Provincial of the Jesuits Salisbury Dr. Godden Norwich Napper a Franciscan Friar Fly Vincent Provincial of the Dominican Monks Exeter Wolf one of the Sorbon Peterborough Gifford a Dominican Friar Lincoln Sir John Warner Baronet a Jesuit Chichester Morgan a Jesuit Bath Wells Dr. Armstrong a Franciscan Friar Carlisle Wilmot aliàs Quarterman a Secular Priest Chester Thimbleby a Secular Priest Hereford Sir Thomas Preston Baronet a Jesuit Bristol Mundson a Dominican Oxford Williams Rector of Watton a Town in Flanders a Jesuit St. Davids Belson a Secular Priest St. Asaph Jones a Secular Bangor Joseph David Keimash a Dominican Friar Abbots Westminster Dr. Sheldon a Benedictine Monk Sion House Skinner a Benedictine Monk Deans Canterbury Belton a Sorbonist St. Pauls Leybourn a Secular Secretary to Cardinal Howard Windsor Howard with twelve Benedictine Canons Chichester Morgan a Secular VVinton Dr. VVatkinson President of the English Colledge at Lisbon With many other Dignities of the Church disposed of to Foreigners in that Bull. Paragraph 74. That twelve Scotch Jesuits were sent into Scotland to keep up the Commotions in Scotland and that they had instructions given them to carry themselves like Nonconformist Ministers among the Presbyterian Scots And Pag. 67 of the Narrative numb 7. One means he says they were to use to bring in Popery was by seditious Preachers and Catechists set up sent out maintained and directed what to Preach in their own or other private or publick Conventicles and Field meetings Now as in reason we cannot believe the Papists are less sollicitous for their Affairs in England than in Scotland and Ireland so we cannot but conclude
France then coming into the City of Paris I met with several of my Countrey-folks who civily used me At that time I was employed by Ludovic Freake one of the Order of Jesus for to carry over certain papers of Instructions unto Shane ô Neale then stirring in the Province of Ulster which I safely delivered unto him from Father Freake The Contents thereof were to set up his Title which his Ancestors claimed in that Province and not to make any conditions with the English unless it were upon great advantage or in great extremity for France and Scotland should both assist him when he had raised up that Countrey After I had received these Instructions he produced the Bishop of Rome's Bull of Indulgence and liberty unto all those who undertook to succour and assist that Mother-Church of Rome The Contents be as these PIUS the Servant of the Servants of God Pius Quintus his Bull for Anathematizing Protestants that the Undertakers for the advancement of Rome might not scruple any thing when they are indulged c. Whereas we have found and daily find Heresies increasing in several Colonies Principalities Realms and Countreys subject to the sacred See of St. Peter our Predecessor and they falling from and deserting our Jurisdiction with their blasphemous and railing writings against Vs our Ceremonies and Apostolick Jurisdictions and Priviledges granted unto Vs and our Succcessors from God and formerly generally acknowledged by Emperors Kings and Princes to be Ours and our Predecessors due and right We therefore in the Name of the holy Trinity of the Blessed Mother of God the Virgin Mary of St. Peter of St. Paul in the name of the holy Host of Heaven of the Arch-Angels and Angels of the holy Apostles Saints and blessed Martyrs do Anathematize all Hereticks lying trading or travelling in or amongst the same wheresoever dispersed over the face of the whole Earth We further will and authorize the Wise and learned of our Ecclesiasticks expert in divine Science to labour endeavour and devise all manner of devices to be devised to abate asswage and confound those Heresies repugnant to our sacred Laws that thereby these Hereticks might be either recalled to confess their Errors and acknowledge our Jurisdiction of the See of Rome or that a total infamy may be brought upon them and their posterities by a perpetual discord and contention amongst themselves by which means they may either speedily perish by God's wrath or continue in eternal difference to the reproach of Jew Turk Heathen nay to the Devils themselves Given at Rome the 6th I de of May Primo Pontif. Pius Quintus The Copy of this Bull of Indulgence and Commission was translated unto me into English by a learned Pen-man named John Warham Nephew to William Warham some time Archbishop of Canterbury After that I had got a Copy of this Bull Mr. Freake and I discoursed concerning the same because I thought it impossible to overthrow the Protestants unless it were by force of Arms but he replied that it was easy-to do it otherwise Rome's several sorts of Dispensations for to ruine the Church of England by telling me that this Bull dispenced with the Devisor for devising of new Tenents Doctrines and Covenants nay that it dispenced to marry after an Heretical Law provided that the device intended was to promote the advancement of Rome and that Marriage as they performed it was no Marriage but a venial sin Then I made answer In case these men be taken with this kind of life and so totally fall from Rome what will you do then He told me after this manner How Rome gets all her Intelligence and Knowledge secrets of Kings and their Councils to the best of my remembrance that those who undertook to serve the Mother-Church entred their names in the chief Convents of their several Orders and that in their Commissions they have several names three or four in case they be discovered and that when they have intelligence they may fly to another place and still keep correspondence with the Convents I demanded of him which fort had the granting of these Licences He told me that Pope Pius had granted a Commission to the Wisest and most Learned sort of the Orders of St. Dominick St. Francis A demonstration which of these Orders generally be by the Pope Indulged to put false Doctrines amongst us Protestants and of his own Order of the Society of Jesus to keep a general correspondence every quarter at least with the Convents of these Orders which testimonies were to be shewn upon these general Assemblies as signal demonstrations of their fidelity to the Church of Rome I told him that it was worth my journey coming out of Ireland for to travel because I had learned much experience and should be cunning for the future To this he said How Popish Zeal is revenged on the Protestant you see how we be by the Hereticks put to our shifts every day more then other therefore we must try our skill to be even with them I demanded of him what could it avail the Church of Rome to set up so many Heresies seeing that the Devisers dare not openly acknowledge the Church of Rome's Supremacy but be forced to rail at the Pope and at her He replied A pretty Cheat for disguised Papists to rail at Rome and yet be of the Church of Rome when they rail at Rome and their hearts be contrary it is no sin they may mean Rome and name it as it was in the ancient Roman days and also the word Pope for that word in Latin Papa is as much as to say a Bishop so that he may mean one of their Heretick Bishops and that these mental railings advanced the See of Rome and furthered their designs in several respects (a) (a) This shews how Rome by her Phanaticism hindreth uniformity in the Church of England First as it made Heresies and Schisms amongst Hereticks so it hindred uniformity in the Church of England (b) (b) The Papists all plead they can turn Protestants by reason there are so many sorts of them Secondly that it was a great advantage for preventing Roman Catholicks to turn away from their Principles (c) (c) Let Dissenters observe this and how the Papists came to cast the late Plot begun Anno 1678. upon them And lastly when ever the Church of Rome shall have a design to destroy Heresie she will never want intelligence having one or more of these wise men amongst these several sorts of Hereticks Then I asked how shall we be able to know her Majesties secrets and the intents of the Church of England He said A warning for Protestants not to match with Papists or to keep Popish Servants We have also dispenced with that and several of that Church have either a Roman Catholick Wife or the Wife a Roman Catholick Husband or they if both Hereticks perhaps keep Roman Catholick Servants which are