to the Lords Justices by the same Lord Dillon as also by their frame of their new Common-Wealth found in Sir John Dungans house not far from Dublin and sent up thither out of Connaught to be communicated to those of Leinster the sum of which and other such like is summ'd up and may be seen to have that purport in the Irish Rebellion written by Sir John Temple f. 80 81 82. § Indeed if the Irish Papists had been so Loyal and Faithful as they now boast themselves to have been Nay had they had the least spark of gratitude for that King who had disobliged so many by obliging them so much they would never in his distresses have capitulated so severely and on the Swords point with him nor have held him to such hard tearms as they did in all their Treatises which they used only as Stratagems to Trapan not to serve His Majesty For in the Year 1643. when a Cessation was concluded with them by the Kings Authority and both English and Irish Engaged by Articles to Transport their Armies to England for His Majesties Service the English did it the Irish only pretended they would do it when the English were gone and then according to one of their old Maxims Nulla fides servanda cum Haereticis they plotted and attempted the ruine of the small Remnant of English left behind in Munster where the Lord Inchiquin commanding by the Kings Commission and the English with him were necessitated to stand on their own defence against the Popish Army Orery 25. Though in the Year 1645. the Earl of Glamorgan gave as Adventageous tearms as they could ask and condescended to such hard and dishonourable propositions on the Kings part as the then Marquess now Duke of Ormond in Justice and Honour neither could nor would condescend unto and though the Commissions of the confederate Catholicks solemnly engaged the publick Faith for the performance of them one Article whereof was 23. b. That they should send 10000. to serve His Majesty c. yet did they not in due time perform their plighted Troath herein which was a great disservice to His Majesty In which slender performance of theirs they could have no other end than thereby to render the Rebells in England more irreconcilable to His Majesty that so that War might be kept up that they might the better gain by Fishing in those troubled Waters so that they well hoped to give Law to both It was the constant observation of the Protestant Army there that the lower and more unfortunate the King was in his successes in England the higher were the demands of the Irish for the Truth is how Loyal and dutiful soever their pretences were towards the King yet their design was to set up for the Pope and the establishing the Romish Religion and erecting its Spiritual Monarchy at least if not a Temporal with it The Arch-Bishop of Iuum was a principal Agent in the Irish Wars and of the Supreme Council of Kilkenny He attended the Army about this time to visit his Diocess and to put in Execution an Order for the Arrears of his Bishoprick granted to him from the Council at Kilkenny which Order together with the Popes Bull and several other Letters of Correspondence between him and his Agents from Rome Paris and several parts of Ireland were found about him whereby it did appear that the Pope would not at the first engage himself in sending of a Nuntio for Ireland till the Irish Agents had fully satisfied him that the Establishment of the Catholick Religion was a thing feaseable and attainable in that Kingdom in which being satisfied he was content to sollicite their cause with Florence and Venice c. and also to delegate Farmano his Nuntio to attend the Kingdom who after some delays in France was at last posted from thence by express Order from the Pope and he arrived at the River of Kilmore in a Friggot of 21 Guns in October with 26 Italians of his Retinue Secretary Belinges and divers Regular and Secular Priests and also with great Supplies for the service of the King no doubt as 2000 Muskets 4000 Bandaliers 2000 Swords 500 Petronells and 20000 l. of Powder all which arrived at Brooke-Haven the same Month together with 5 or 6 Deskes or Small Truncks of Spanish Gold how far all those Popish Auxiliaries conduced to the Kings service and the Protestant Interest I leave to all Contemporaries to judg As in the year 1645. so in that Year 1646. after a peace concluded with them they treacherously attempted to cut off the Lord Lievtenant and his Army with him who marched out of Dublin on security and confidence of that peace 24. b. The same year the Council and Congregation of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland obliged their General Preston by a solemn Oath to exercise all Arts of Hostility against the Lord Marquess of Ormond the Kings Vice-gerent and his Party and to help and advise with Council and assist in that service the Lord General and Vlster employed in the same Expedition In the Year 1647. from Kilkenny 18. January the General Assembly of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland employed Commissioners to Rome France and Spain to invite a Forrein power into Ireland To Rome they sent their Titular Bishop of Ferns and Nicholas Plunket Esq Knighted there by the Pope for his good service therein to declare that they raised Arms for the freedom of the Catholick Religion which are their own words in the Third Article of those their Instructions Orerey This is consonant to the Oath framed the same Year with some Addition to what had formerly been taken by the said General Assembly and pressed on all sorts of people under pain of high Treason which Oath enjoyns the maintenance of these ensuing Propositions 1. That the Roman Catholicks both Clergy and Laiety in their several Capacities have the free and publick exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion and Function throughout the Kingdom in as full lustre and splendour as it was in the Reign of Hen. VII or any other Catholick King his Predecessors Kings of England and Lords of Ireland either in Ireland or in England 2. That the Secular Clergy of Ireland viz. Primates Arch-Bishops Bishops Ordinaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Prebendaries and other Dignitaries all other Pastours of the Secular Clergy their respective Successors shall have and enjoy all and all manner of Jurisdictions Priviledges and Immunities in full and ample manner as the Roman Catholick Secular Clergy had or enjoyed the same within this Realm at any time during the Reign of the late King Hen. VII sometimes King of England and Lord of Ireland any Law Declaration of Law Statute Power or Authority whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding 3. That all Laws and Statutes made since the 20th Year of Hen. VIII whereby any restraint penalty or other restriction whatsoever is or may be laid upon any of the Roman Catholicks either of the
of Scots Certainly not which is demonstrable by their Actings and Endeavours to hinder King James from the English Crown And it is plain that it was not Bastardy but Heresie i. e. for being Protestant that made their malice so implacable and this is apparent by the Bull of Pope Pius V. Dated 25. Febr. 1570. in which there is not the least mention of Bastardy No No Illegitimacy is not so monstrous a Gudgeon but that it will easily be swallowed at Rome Gregory XIII had a Bastard James Buon Compagna and to him he gave Ireland and impowred Stewkely with Men Arms and Money to Conquer it for him And England he gave to Don John the Emperors Bastard both admirable Catholicks without all peradventure and gave him leave to Conquer it for himself Christs brave Vicard give that which was none of his own or had any thing to do withall But that perverse Queen had no occasion to part with either on such ridiculous Nods And his Successor Sixtus Quintus took no Notice at all of King James proceeded against her with all his Italian Scarcrows curst her afresh and publisht a Croysade against her and gave all her Dominions to Philip II. King of Spain but forgot to give his Benedictions of Craft and Cunning to get them and so they still remain vested in the hands of the right owners and long may they so do even till time shall be no more Now if Romish zeal for Qu. M. of Scots had had its Rise and Original from her more rightful Title to the Crown of England then it would have continued unto King James also but their Actings being Diametrically opposite and contrary it was visible to all the World that it was Popery not the Title that they contended so furiously for And it was the common voice amongst the Jesuits of those days That if King James would turn Catholick they would follow him but if not they would all die against him Watson Quodlib p. 150. The mtual love and amity that was between Queen Elizabeth and King James his immovable constancy in Religion the strict Laws made against Jesuits and such kind of Men the Execution of Graham of Feutre the forwardest of all those that affected the Spanish party the granting of Supreme Authority in matters Ecclesiastical to the King by the States and the assotiations against the Papists did so quash all hope of restoring Popery in England and Scotland that some of them in England which most of all favoured his Mothers Title began to project how to substitute some English Papists in the Kingdom of England when they could not agree upon a fit man of their own Number they cast their Eyes upon the Earl of Essex who never approved the putting of Men to death in the cause of Religion seigniug a Title from Thomas of Woodstock King Edward the Third's Son from whom be derived his Pedigree Indeed rather for any Body then for King James who they foresaw would be Malleus Hereticorum such was their faithfulness to him as also witness the designs of Gordon Creighton Abercromy Jesuits and others plotting the ruine of King James of Scotland And also the Two Breues sent by Clement the 8th to exclude King James from the Inheritance of the Crown of England unless he would take an Oath to promote the Roman Catholick Interest But the Fugitives favoured the Infanta of Spain although they feared lest the Queen and the States would by Act of Parliament prevent it by offering an Oath to every one and they held it sufficient if they could set the King of Scots and the Earl of Essex at Enmity To which purpose a Book was Dedicated to Essex under the Counterfeit name of Doleman but wrote by Par2ons Cardinal Allen and Sir Francis Inglefeild as was believed In this Book despising the right of Birth they project that the Antient Laws of the Land concerning Hereditary Succession to the Crown of England are to be altered that new Laws are to be brought in concerning Election That no man but a Roman Catholick 14. b. of Blood soever they be is to be admitted King And was not this another piece of meritorious service to King James like the rest no doubt of those that went before and of those that will follow They traduced most of the Kings of England as wrong possessors and all in England of she Blond Royal as either Illegitimate or uncapable of the Crown The most certain right of King James to the Crown of England they most unjustly sought to overthrow and did by forged Devices most falsely Entitle thereunto the Infanta Isabella of Spain because she was a Roman Catholick Yea they proceeded with that violence herein that they compelled the English in the Spanish Seminaries it they themselves are to be credited to subscribe to the forged title of the Infanta therein set down and exacted an Oath of the Students in the Seminaries to maintain the same brave Blade They rested not in their Pens and Tongues but prosecuted the same by Actions For Thomas Winter as he himself confessed and Jesmund a Jesuit being come into Spain from Garnet and others of them privily plotted to cast off Queen Eliz. and exclude James King of Scots from his most just Title to the Crown of England Yet not long after when King James was proclaimed this Impudent Parsons excused by Letters to a Friend of his as proceeding not from a mind to do King James wrong but out of an earnest desire to draw him to the Romish Religion and he hoped he should be excused for that these Injuries did not prejudice the King because forsooth they failed of success As in the Year 1592. Patrick Cullens Treason who was incited by Sir William Stanley Hugh Owen Jaques Frances a base Laundress Son who said That unless Mrs. Elizabeth be suddenly taken away the State of England is and will be so settled that all the Devils in Hell will not be able to prevail with it or shake it Hitherto a true Prophet I hope will be so still And Holt the Jesuit vvho resolved to kill the Queen vvas accompanied vvith a Book called Philo-pater written for the abetting and warranting of such a Devilish Act in general by Creswel the legicr Jesuit in spain so was Tesmunds Treason accompanied with Two bulls or Breues from Pope Clement the 8th when the Queen was full of days and infirm one to the Clergy the other to the Laiety unto H. Garnet superior to the Jesuits in England which as they were sent privily so were they kept very closely and Communicated unto very few The tenor and purport of them was that they should admit no Man how near soever in Blood for King after the Queens death unless he would not only tollerate the Roman Catholick Religion but also promote the same with his whole might and undertake by Oath according to the manner of his Ancestors to perform the same which in true understanding was directly to exclude King
James and his Family from the Crown These Bulls came forth upon the aforesaid negotiation of Tho. Winter in Spain at what time an Army should shortly after have been sent to Invade the Land and this was to be put in execution Quandocumque contingeret miseram illam feminam exhac vita excedere 16. b. when ever it should happen that that wretched Woman so pleased the High-Priest of rome to call the Queen the greatest of Women cujus memoria semper erit in benedictione should depart this life Of these Bulls also within Two Years after was begot that dreadful roaring Monster the Powder Treason Their Force and Vertue was not confined with Tweed but extended it self also into Scotland For the Sword was prepared there also at the same time by the Rethuens Brethren to take away King James's life who boiling with revenge for their fathers death the Earl Gowry by Law in the Kings nonage by a Wile inticed the King to whom they were much engaged into their House most wickedly appointed him to the slaughter had not God the Protector of Kings prevented it by the help of John Ramsey and Thomas Areskin and turned it upon the heads of the Authors Having thus summarily declared the good intentions and faithful Service the Papists performed towards James 6th King of Scotland whilst he stood the next and undoubted Heir apparent to the Crown of England before he came to be king thereof I will now shew you one other great Plat-form and design of theirs for the ruine of this Nation and then proceed to shew you how faithful they were to King James after he came to be King of England and have been since unto his Son and Grandson The Seminaries being thus founded and established in divers places and at Vallodolid by the procurement of Parsons that Arch-Traytor who for his uncessant Romish Contrivances had by this time got great Interest in Rome and Spain that in them they might consult and act how to bring to pass their grand design of erecting their universal spiritual Monarchy for Rome Spain and Jesuitism and a seeming Title being made out by his Book of Titles or Succession of the Crown of England to the Infanta He then in another Book called A Memorial for Reformation or High-Courtor Council of Reformation of England written at Sevil 1596. of which he was so fond that he kept it like a precius Jewel An Answer to a Jesuited Gent. as close in his bosom as the Dukes of Florence are said to keep Tully de rebublica vvhich not all the World have but themselves and laboured all he could to have it read in the Refectaries at Rome he there lays a secret Snare for our ruine by a Plat-form to vvork insensibly the Alteration of our government by bringing it to a popularity and hovv near it vvas brought to effect in these late times by Papists as some Write under the Title of Levellers Agitators Independents Fifth Monarchy Men Quakers c. vvho are but Badgers Working Holes for the Foxes the Jesuits vvill be obvious to every intelligent Reader In this Book it is designed that no Religious Order should resort into England or be permitted to live vvithin its Dominions but Jesuits and Capuchins That all Abbey and Church Lands and those of Colledges Parsonages Bishops Vicarages 16 b. Monasteries Nunneries Frieries c. must be no longer in their Hands but must be brought into a publick Exchequer under the Government of four Jesuits and Two Secular Priests to be chosen by the General and Provincial Jesuits vvho vvere to allovv the Bishops Parsons Vicars c. Stipends and Pensions as Bishops Suffragans and Mont Seigniors had in other Catholick Countries all the rest must be imployed in Pious Uses pro ut c. vvithout rendring an Account They prescribed Rules of Living for the Lords Temporal and other the Nobility and Gentry vvhat Retinue they vvould keep hovv much should be allovved them to spend yearly and what diet they should keep at their Tables That Magna Charta should be burnt the manner of holding Lands in Fee 2imple Fee-tail Frank-Almanige c. by Kings Service Soccage or Villenage should all be brought into Villany Scoggery and Popularity the Common Laws to be wholly annihilated and destroyed and Caesars civil Imperials brought into this Vtopian Spiritual Monarchy Quodlibets 92 95. And the Reasons are given in these Quodlibats viz. For that the state of the Crown and Kingdom by the Common Laws is so strongly settled as whilst they continue the Jesuits see not how they can work their Wills he hath also set down a Course how all men may shake off Authority at their pleasures And this Stratagem is how the Common people may be inveigled and seduced to conceipt to themselves such a liberty and prerogative as that it may be lawful for them when they think meet to place and displace Kings and Princes as Men may do their Tenants at Will Hirelings or ordinary Servants 286. Princes had need be fond of such Subjects and account them their best Friends Having thus acquainted you with the Plat-form laid long since deep in Council for our Ruine I leave to all Contemporaries of these late Rebellious Anarchical times to judg how much of this Train hath taken Fire and how much of the substance of this Plot hath been put in Execution and how near the whole design was like to have taken Effect when the Assembly Elected only by the Army Officers on the 20th of August 1653. as the Diurnals printed they ordered there should be a Committee felected to confider a now Body of the Law for the Government of this Common Wealth who were to new mould the whole Body of the Law and is not this according to T. F. Parsons Plat-form He that would know more of it must read the Book it self which is still in great esteem amongst them or because that is rare he may read a Book of the same Parsons Entituled A manifestation of the folly and bad spirit of the secular Priests wherein this Memorial is owned by him and Analyfed and Excused from f. 55. to 64. or W. Clark a Roman Priest his Answer to the Manifestation Entituled A Reply unto a certain Libel lately set forth by Fa. Parsons p. 74 c. or Watsons Quodlibets p. 92 95 together with a Reply to a brief Apology and several other Books which above 60 Years ago the Priests wrote against the Jesuits and the Jesuits against the Priests whereby the Reader may in transitu besides all this perceive that there be as many and as great differences between them as among Protestants Smiths Preface to the Apology f. 12. See also Contzen the Mogentine Jesuit f. 2 c. 18. of his Politicks and Campanella in his Monarchia Hispan The Jesuits now seem to drive another design all the World over viz. as they have one Ecclesiastical or Universal Monarch so to set up a temporal universal Monarch which
day with as much Indulgence and Favour as he could without Offence or Scandal to the tender Consciences of his own Church which as he ought so he did chiefly regard § Neither were King James his Favours confined to the Papists of Great Britain only but were extended also to those never to be obliged Catholicks in Ireland For he resolved not to take any advantage of great Forfeitures and Confiscations which he was most justly Entitled unto by Tyrones Rebellion but out of his Royal Bounty restored all the Natives to the Intite possession of their own Lands in hope this would for ever have engaged their Obedience to him and his at least if not unto the Crown of England And yet he had not Reigned 6 Years e're the Earl of Tyrone not long before obliged by the Queen with Titles of Honour great store of Lands Commands of Horse and Foot in her pay was designing afresh the raising of another Rebellion into which he easily drew the whole Province of Vlster then entirely at his Devotion But his Design being prevented he with his chief Adherents fled into Spain from whence he never returned which impious and ungrateful Act of his and his Adherents rendred them justly suspected to be Irreconcilable to a Protestant Prince which forced the King to cause their persons to be attainted their Lands to be seized those Six Conntries within the Province of Vlster to be Surveyed c. And the same course to be taken likewise in Lemster where the Irish had made Incursions and violently repelled the Old English And though the King was by due course of Lavv justly Entituled to all their vvhole Estates there yet vvas he gratiously pleased to take but part of their Lands vvhich coming to Brittish undertakers made them to flourish vvith costly Buildings 21. b. and vvith all manner of Improvements so that the very Irish seemed to be very much satisfied with the flourishing and peaceable Condition of the whole Kingdom and yet could not Acquiesce therein but Rebel they must against King Charles the Son who besides many other Favours and Connivances had so far gratified the Natives Anno 1640. that he grants unto the Commissioners then sent unto him out of Ireland the Act of Limitations so vehemently desired by the Natives and the Act for the rilinquishment of His Majesties Right and Title to the Four Counties in Connaught Besides at this time the Papists privately enjoyed the exercise of their Religion throughout the whole Kingdom by the Indulgence and Connivance of the late Governours they having their Titular Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Abbots c. who all lived freely though obscurely yet without controll and exercised a voluntary Jurisdiction Multitudes of Priests Jesuits and Friars returning out of Spain and Italy where the Irish Natives that way devoted were thither sent for Education and now returned lived in the chief Towns and Villages and in the Houses of the Nobility and Gentry exercising their Religious Rites and Ceremonies none of the severer Laws being put in Execution whereby great penalties were to be inflicted on Transgressors in that kind Were they ever the more faithful for these great Indulgencies nothing less For in August 1641. after about forty years peace the Popish party in both House of Parliament then sitting in Dublin grew so insolent as being scarce compatible with the present peaceable Government they were forc'd to adjourn for 3 Months before which time viz 23. Octob. 1641. they brake out into that detestable and desperate Rebellion as is not to be matcht in any Story wherein in less than Two Years they murdered in cold Blood above 200000. English Protestants destroyed some other ways and expelled out of their Habitations nay moreover they threatned to burn Dublin destroy all Records and Monuments of the English Government to make Laws against speaking English and that all names given by English to places should be abolished and the antient names restored And was not this also a great demonstration of their Faithfulness to the King and Crown of England Let every man judg as he sees cause how faithfully they requited King Charles the first for his favours towards them which were many and great which I will not here enumerate it being super-abundantly done already in print in divers Pamphlets though I fear with no good intention towards that glorious Martyr but rather to raise an Odium towards him from some of his weaker Subjects willing happily for other ends to be so seduced many whereof I hope have lived to see and consider that his pious life and death gave a just contradiction to those false Imputations and Jelousies And yet I must not forget one remarkable kindness of his who loved not to punish scrupulous peaceable Consciences sanguinarily towards Papists who being sent unto by both Houses of Parliament Anno 1640. for the Execution of John Goodman a Condemned Priest did in answer to them 3. Febr. 1640. own that he had reprieved him not without giving them great reasons for his so doing viz. For that neither his Father nor yet Queen Eliz. did ever avow that any Priest in their times was Executed meerly for Religion and therefore did remit this particular cause to both the Heresies cautionating them withall That happily his Execution might seem a severity in other States 22. b. and might draw inconveniences on his Subjects in other Countries and therefore held himself discharged from all inconveniences that might ensue upon his Execution And this did he notwithstanding the Popes Directions unto the then Superior of the Catholicks in England Anno 1638. were expresly to command them suddenly to desist from making such offers of Men towards the Northern Expedition then under consideration as we hear they have done little to the Advantage of their Discretion and that they be not more forward with Money than what Law and Duty enjoyns them to pay § Such was the kindness and faithfulness of those Irish Papists to the King and Crown of England that indeed they did rise I must needs say most Catholickly in Rebellion against both from all parts of the Kingdom designing thereby to monopolize the whole Government of that Kingdom into their own hands exclusive of the King if several Oaths are to be credited published by the Kings Warrant to enjoy the publick profession of their Idolatrous Religion and to Expell all the English by whose protection countenance favours and purses that Kingdom was so beautified and inriched as it then was and is at this day though now by them miserably pejorated by that Intestine War raissed by themselves in the midst of their happy enjoyments and that without any provocation ground or colour against the King as himself expressed under his Great Seal To this give Testimony those early instructions privately sent over into England by the Lord Dillon of Costeloe presently after the breaking out of the Rebellion by the Remonstrance of the county of Longford pretended about the same time
the Kings Sacred person was so universally cryed down as the greatest Villany that had been committed in many Ages the Pope commanded all the papers about the Question to be gathered and burnt In obedience to which order a Roman Catholick in Paris was demanded a Copy which he had of those papers but the Gentleman who had refused to consider and detest the wickedness of that project refused to give it and shewed it to a Protesant Friend of his and related to him the whole carriage of this Negotiation with great abhorrency of the practises of the Jesuits In pursuance of that Order from Rome for the pulling down both of the Monarch and Monarchy of England many Jesuits came over who took several shapes to go about their work but most of them took party in the Army About Thirty of them were met by a Protestant Gentlemen between Roan and Deipe to whom they said taking him for one of them That they were going into England and would take Arms in the Independent Army and endeavour to be Agitators A Protestant Lady living in Paris in the time of our late Calamities was perswaded by a Jesuit going in Scarlet to turn Roman Catholick When the dismal News of the Kings Murder came to Paris this Lady as all other good English Subjects was most deeply afflicted with it and when this Scarlet Divine came to see her and found her melting in Tears about that heavy and common disaster he told her with a smiling Countenance That she had no reason to lament but rather to rejoice seeing that the Ca-Cholicks were rid of their greatest Enemy and that the Catholick Cause was much furthered by his death Upon which the Lady in great anger put the Man down the Stairs saying If that be your Religion I have done with you for ever Many Intelligent Travellers can tell of the great Joy among the English Convents and Seminaries about the Kings death as having overcome their Enemy and done their main Work for their settlement in England of which they made themselves so sure that the Benedictins were in great care that the Jesuits should not get their Land And the English Nunns were contending who should be Abbesses in England An understanding Gentleman visiting the Friars of Dunkirk put them on the discourse of the Kings death and to pump out their sence about it said That the Jesuits had laboured very much to compass that great Work To which they Answered That the Jesuits would engross to themselves the Glory of all great and good Works and of this amongst other Works whereas they had laboured as diligently and as effectually as they So there was striving for the glory of the Atchievment and the Friars shewed themselves as much Jesuited as the Jesuits In the height of Olivers Tyranny Tho. White a Priest and a right Jesuit in all his Principles about Obedience set out a Book Entitled The Grounds of Obedience and Government wherein he maintains That if the people by any Circumstance be devolved to the state of Anarchy their promise made to their expelled Governor binds no more That the people are remitted by the evil mannaging or insufficiency of their Governour to the force of Nature to provide for themselves and not bound by any promise made to their Governour that the Magistrate by his miscarriages abdicateth himself from being a Magistrate and proveth a Brigand or Robber instead of a Defender that word Defender he writes with a great D. that the Reader may take notice whom he means His Book is full fraught with Argumentations of this Nature All in barr and prejudice to His Majesties Restauration Of the same opinion was F. F. Bret when at St. Malo he was earnest with those Gentlemen that had so gallantly defended the Castle of Jarsey to take the Engagement from which they ought to be freed by the Articles of their Rendition maintaining that they were not to acknowledg any Supreme but the prevailing power Du Moulin Ibid. § Having dwelt thus long on this unpleasant Theme it is now time to wind up this Botton and therefore Admit the Papists had merited in these late troubles as much as they pretend they have from the King and his Father yet doth it not follow that they ought therefore to be rewarded with a Tolleration of their Religion or with any Mitigation of our Laws prohibiting the exercise thereof no more than it was fit Joseph for the good service done to his Master should be be gratified with the company of his Masters Wife Neither did his Master think this reasonable though he acknowledged the extraordinary good Service of his Servant much less did Joseph expect it In like manner the Papists must first satisfie us That the Tolleration of their Religion is not Tolleration of Idolatry which the Scripture calls Spiritual Adultery nor yet the exercise of a World of Impieties under the Mask of Religion before they can convince us whatever their Loyalty may otherways be that it is either lawful or reasonable for Magistrates whom the Scripture stileth Gods and who standing in Gods stead ought to be as jealous of his Honour in that case as a Husband would be of his Wife Nay as much as in them lies even as God himself who professeth himself to be a Jealous God to Authorize or connive at the Exercise of such a Religion or as to account very strict Laws too severe in that Case for which there is both Precept and Example in the Word of God It is a very great Truth That Kings neither can nor ought to give permission or allowance of any things which in their own Natures are evil and opposit to the Salvation of Mens Souls and which though they should permit them would nevertheless continue and remain sins and exclude them that do and practice them from obtaining Salvation And of such a Nature are many Popish Doctrins c. And certainly those Princes are most worthy of the praise of God and Men that endeavour to remove such Abuses and all things forbidden by God which remaining make it impossible for men to be saved or if saved yet so as by Fire very difficultly But in things not repugnant to the will of God all Princes have liberty to do that which the good and weal of their State requires I appeal to all the Caesars in the World nay to all mankind if it be reasonable that the requital of the good Services of particular persons should be gratified with the vacating or but suspending those Laws which are our strongest security or should be debarred from making yet stronger Laws against But chering and Idolatrous men and Principles This State seeks not your Blood it only desires to be secured and safe from those destructive dangers unto which Popish Doctrins practises and principles do most manifestly expose it against which no perfect security can possibly be given but by as publick condemnation and detestation of them as they are ratified by 1 by Popes
their Dominions § Concerning which I shall say thus in general That though no mortal man hath rightful power to forbid Christs Spiritual Duties the Worshipping of God Preaching his Word and Truth yet I say first that no Indulgence ought to be given by the Magistrate to any Sect whatsoever whose Doctrins and Principles are not known and therefore none to Quakers or Enthusiasts whose Rule is not the Scripture but the Light within them which is darkness to others if not to themselves and it may be Hosanna to day and yet Crucifige to morrow Then the Principles by which other Sects do worship being known the legislative Magistrares whether Monarchs or Free States are the Judges of them how consistent or inconsistent with Gods true Religion and Worship and with the peace and wellfare of their own Dominions and Subjects and accordingly may or may not Indulge or Tollerate their Religion and Worship And therefore Princes ought to use great Caution and to be very wary and circumspect herein for that sins committed by others through our Example Instigation Connivnace or Tolleration become ours by just Imputation In Naboths death the Judges and false Witnesses were the next Agents Jesabel the Plotter only and Instigator 1 King 21.7 13 23. Yet she is punished for shedding Naboths Blood though her hand was not upon him Even in Courts of ordinary Justice it seems just and is so in our Law that not only the Executioner but the Plotter Abettor Instigator and Concealer of Treason be punished with death Yea see how far a less degree of participation brings guilt upon our Souls The Rulers amongst the Jews that but tollerated the breach of the Sabbath are charged to have prophaned the Sabbath Nehem. 13.17.18 Yea the least Countenance given to Idolatry makes culpable of Idolatry 1 Cor. 10.18 21. To this agrees the Prohibition of St. Paul Communicate not with other Mens sins 1 Tim. 5.22 And that command Lev. 16.17 Thou shalt rebuke thy Neighbour plainly and not suffer him to sin It is a Gospel-Principle that Gods Children ought to be careful not only to eschewe evil in their own persons but also to prevent it in othrss A notable Example we have in the people of Israel who well knowing that God was a Jealous God Deut. 4.24 Isa 42.8 and would not have his Glory communicated to others nor his praise unto Graven Images out of their abundant caution minding the concerns of their Brethren as their own when they heard Tidings how the Rubenites Gadites and half Tribe of Manasseh had Erected an Altar not for Worshipping as they truly protested but for Memorial so fearful they grew of Gods Wrath that they presently dispatched an Embassy to their Brethren to prevent their sin And see how pithily they deal with them Is the Iniquity of Peor too little for us from which ye are not cleansed to this day that ye also must depart from following the Lord Josh 22.17 Thus they in a shew only and appearance of evil which we are commanded to abstain from 1 Thes 5.22 and to resist unto Blood striving against sin Qui non vetat peccare quum possit Jubet Heb. 12.4 The Conclusion is strong What sins of others we labour not within our Province Power and Compass to prevent are ours in the guilt as well as those of our own personal Commission The Reasons are many 1. We hazard our selves to infection 1 Cor. 5.6 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump 2. Vnto wrath Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues Apoc. 4.3 We hazard the Delinquents to obstinate impenitency We blemish our own fame and sincerity 5. Quantum in nobis we encourage others to like exorbitancy in sinful Worship even in our common Laws it is held maintenance when a great person only by his presence countenanceth a Cause Saints of old were regularly scrupulous and abstemious in this kind I have not sate with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers I have hated the Congregation of evil doers and will no sit with the wicked Psal 26.4 5. Jer. 15.17 I sat not in the assembly of mockers nor rejoyc'd Did not Elias sharply reprove King Ahab and the Commons of Israel for that error He did not say Why permit you not those that will to serve the Lord and those that list to serve Baal But How halt you between Two Opinions If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him 1 Kings 18.21 Since it is confessed both by Protestants and Papists That there can be no God save the Lord Psal 18.31 and he never meant to surrender any piece of his Glory Isa 48.11 but is so jealous of it that he will be served and only served with all our Heart and with all our Soul Deut. 10.12 I reckon it cannot stand with a Magistrates Duty to reverse this Heavenly Decree Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4.10 Dent. 6.13 with establishing Two Religions in the Realm And the first precept forbiding more Gods than one barreth all other services of the same God save that which himself hath appointed for himself His commands relating to his own Worship are very severe very strict He that is born in the House and bought with thy Money must needs be Circumcised i.e. Observe the whole Law Gen. 17.12 So the charge of keeping the Sabbath is laid upon the Father of the Family for all that are within his Gate Exod. 20.10 The Lord Commandeth That if any person Brother Son Daughter the Wife of thy Bosom or thy Friend which is as thy own Soul shall intice to Idolatry or any City shall set up a new Worship the one shall be killed the other destroyed Deut. 13.6 9 12 15. To this belongeth that precept To seperate the pretious from the vile Jer. 15.19 and this viz. Not to sow the Field with divers Seeds nor to wear a Garment of divers things Lev. 19.10 So Moses Deut. 22.10 Thou shalt plough with an Oxe and an Asse together which St. Paul thus expoundeth 2 Co. 6.14 Be not unequally yoaked with unbelievers All which places are generally and promiscuously applied as well unto Superstitious and Idolatrous Wedlock as to tolleration of Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship which the Apostle demonstrates to be as absurd and monstrous as that righteousness should have fellowship with unrighteousness or light to have communion with darkness or that Christ can have Concord with Belial or that the Temples of God can have agreement with Idols and such Temples are all good Christians whom Legions of Lusts and Devils do not pre-possess Vers 14 15 16 17. Besides it cannot be denied but that they may and will be Snares and Traps if not Scourges in our sides and Thorns in our Eyes John 23.13 God fore-saw it and fore-told it and therefore made such strict commands against such Medly-mungril-mixtures as
to Swear by the Lord and Melchom to hear as Protestants but believe as Papists to cry the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord boasting of the high Priviledges the Gospel hath and doth afford us and yet not to walk by the Rules and Precepts thereof which in plain English is to talk indeed like Saints but in truth to do like Devils Why then should we hazard the Eternal wellfare of our precious immortal Souls upon nice points of Logick upon peradventures and come at last and when it is too late unto an Had I wish'd Remember Nehem. 13.23 26. Did not Solomon King of Israel sin by these things yet amongst many Nations was there no King like him who was beloved of his God and God made him King over all Israel nevertheless even him did strange Women cause to sin § Moreover it hath been the practise of the Church in all Ages to cast out the Leaven of contrary Doctrins and Profession In the time of Enos before the Flood the Servants of God began to worship God by themselves apart from the prophane Generation of Cain Ishmael was cast out of Abrahams House because he was a scorner of Isaack Jacob reformeth his House and putteth away the strange Gods Gen. 35.2 Joshua maketh the Gibionites hewers of Wood and drawers of Water for the House of God Josh 9 13 David expelleth the Idolatrous Jebusites out of Jerusalem 2 Sam. 5 8. Asa put Maacha his Mother from her regiment because she was an Idolatress and brake down her Idols 2 Chron. 15.16 Josias put down the Chemarins a Sect of Idolatrous Priests 2 Kings 23.5 Zerubbabel would not suffer the adversaries of Judah to build the Temple with them but refused their service which they offered Ezech. 4.3 This was the Law Thou shalt make no Covenant with them nor with their Gods they shall not dwell in the Land lest they make thee sin against me Exod. 23.32 33. Deut. 7.2 3 4. The Graven Images of their Gods shall ye burn with fire Thou shalt not desire the Silver and Gold that is on them nor take it unto thee lest thou be snared therein for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house least thou be an accursed thing like it but thou shalt utterly detest it and thou shalt utterly abhor it for it is a cursed thing Deut. 7.25 26. Neither shalt thou set up any Graven Image which the Lord thy God hateth Deut. 16.22 Where Gods Ark is there Dagon shall be thrust out of his place and fall down before it 1 Sam. 5. § One kind of vile and base Idolatry when Men Worship their own Fancies as Papists Quakers and Enthusiasts amongst others now adays do observing that for a Religion which their deceived minds imagine then may not Princes wink at corrupt and vitious Religion which is an inward and ghostly worship of Idols seeing no man and therefore no Prince can serve Two Masters Mat. 6.24 Luke 16.13 And the Service that Princes yield Christ in respect of their Royal vocation consisteth in making Laws for Christ which if they do likewise for Antichrist it cannot be salved but that they serve God and Mammon or rather cease to be Servants of Christ in that they renounce their Master by serving his Adversary And they cannot but know that silence provoketh and sufferance imboldeneth their Subjects to forsake God and his Church Even as in civil Affairs the slacking of Justice doth maintain disorder the life of the Law is penalty when duly executed wherefore the great Law-giver to his own Israel useth such enforcements Every state and Kingdom hath Refractories whom nothing restrains but penalty indeed penalties executed do scarce reform yet is Treacle made up of such Vipers for preserving others All Israel shall hear and fear Deut. 17.13 and do no more presumptuously Servility is much in men of best inclination they are not always led by the Spirit of Ingenuity Psal 51.12 Draco his Laws are yet extant their severity is deemed over rigorous providing death for least offences lenities in some enormities is no less blamable whilst Adultery laughs at the white sheet or secures it self of redeeming that shame with purse or power As offences grow though but in circumstances so ought Penalties Num. 30.32.35 Maxima peccandi Illecibra est impunitatis spes There is no greater encouragement or enticement to sin than hope of Impunity Some wise Men begin to think as that Sage Politician spake by occasion of Nerva's remissness in Government Praestat vivere ubi nulla quam ubi omnia sint licita It 's better to live in that state where nothing than where all things are lawful David was so far from suffering the worship of any strange God within his Realm that he protesteth Their offerings I will not offer neither make mention of their names within my lips Psal 16.4 When would he think you confirm their Honour and Service with his Royal Authority that thus disdained them common civility he had a more Ennobled Spirit more Divine Principle and would shew it by the sublimity of his Actions Quo major suum eo plus laborabo as the Sun Josh 23.7 Deut. 12.3 Num. 32.38 scorned to know wicked persons or to let them tarry in his sight he was engaged to do something more than ordinary being called to be Gods own Anointed and that the observation of Gods Laws was the noblest Ornament of His Majesty and that the Law was express against it Make no mention of the names of other Gods neither let it be heard out of thy mouth Exod. 23.13 The good Kings of Juda were favoured and blessed of God for walking in the Ways of David their Father and purging the Land from all Sacrifices and Ceremonies not prescribed by Moses's Law Contrariwise Solomon was rejected for admitting other Gods to be served within his Dominions besides the God of Israel though this tolleration was granted in respect of his own Wives that were strangers Nehem. 13.36 Jerohoams politick devise to Worship the same God in Dan and Bethel after a new manner turned to the destruction of himself and his Posterity Therefore Jehosaphat reproved by Jehu visited his Kingdom from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and brought his people back unto the Lord God of their Fathers 2 Chron. 19 2 3. That the false Priests and Prophets did so over-bear the true Prophets of God Jeremiah Ezechiel c. to the ruine of the City and Kingdom was the fault of Jehoiakim and Zedebiah And at this day it is the fault and folly of Christian Kings that suffer the grand Seignior of Rome to impose upon them and that the Church of Rome is not either reduced to her primitive truth and purity from which she is degenerated and brought to better conformity vvith the truly Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church or else demolished as the Jewish Synagogue vvas § Gratian at his first entring finding all places
consent to the worship of Idols or other superstitious or prophane Ceremonies for God will not be deceived nor mocked who scarcheth all things even the secrets of our Hearts Ambrose lib. 5. Ep. 30. Now what account will God exact for his Name blasphemed his Word exiled and wrested his Decalogue dockt his Sacraments curtal'd and prophaned And what answer must be made for the ruine of Faith harvest of sin murder of Souls consequent always to the publick freedom of Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship and Heresies which ought to be fully considered and wisely prevented by Christian Magistrates who must as well as the meanest of their Vassals give an account of their Stewardships when called thereunto at the day of their Account § When Mary afterwards Queen of England earnestly besought her Brother King Ed. 6. both by her own Letters and by the mediation of the Emperour That she might have the free use of Mass in her Family alledging her Conscience for it that her House was her Flock c. The King by his Council made answer that it was well liked that her Grace should have her House or Flock but not exempt from the Kings Laws and Orders neither may there be a Flock of the Kings Subjects but such as will hear and follow the voice of the King their Shepherd God disalloweth Law and Reason forbiddeth it Policy abborreth it and her Honour may not require it However at her earnest intreaty and desire made in the Emperors Name thus much was granted and no more that for his sake and hers also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Mass used in her own Closet for a season until she might be better informed whereof was some hope having only with her a few of her own Chamber so that for all the rest of her Houshold the Service of the Realm should be used and no other After this was granted in Words the Emperors Ambassador desired some Testimony of the Promise under the Great Seal which being denied he desired to have it by a Letter which was also denyed but not without shewing sound reason that he perceiving it to be denyed with Reason might be the better contented with the answer But when there was ill use made of this Indulgence and Connivance her Chaplian taking too great a liberty by publick Celebration of the Mass out of her Presence was sent for by the Council imprison'd c. for whom though her Grace mediated by many earnest Letters both to the King and his Council yet did his Majesty signifie to her by a Letter dated 24. January 1550. That though he had for a while connived that she might be brought as far towards the Truth by Brotherly love as others were by Duty and in hope of her amendment yet now if there be no hope why should there be sufferance Alledging also That his charge was to have the same care over every mans Estate that every man ought to have over his own And that in her own House as she would be loath openly to suffer one of her Servants being next her most manifestly to break her Orders so must she think in his state it would prejudice him to permit her so great a Subject not to keep his Laws that her nearness to him in Blood her greatness in Estate and the condition of the Time made her fault the greater The Example is unnatural that our Sister should do less for us than our other Subjects the Case slanderous for so great a person to forsake our Majesty And therefore 24. Aug. 1551. He sent Commissioners to signifie to her That His Majesty did resolutely determine it just necessary and expedient That her Grace should not in any ways use or maintain the private Mass or any other manner of service than such as by the Law of the Realm was authorized and allowed So resolute was this young Josiah this Noble pious Prince though his dear Sister and the next Heir of the Crown had divers times offered her Body at the Kings Will rather than to change her Conscience § Queen Eliz. as in other things so in Religion was according to her assumed Motto semper eadem never suffering the least Innovation thereof and therefore as in the first Year of her Reign she took great care that those Protestants which then began to frame a new Ecclesiastical Policy being transported with a humour of Innovation should be repressed betimes and that but one only Religion was to be tollerated lest diversity of Religions amongst the English a stout and Warlike Nation might minister continual Fuel to Seditions Angli Bello in trepidi nec mortis sensu deterentur So in the Second Year of her Reign when the Emperor and Catholick Princes by many Letters made earnest intercession that the Bishops and other Ecclesiasticks displaced for refusing the Oath of Supremacy which notwithstnading most of them had Sworn unto and taught in their Sermons and writ in defence thereof in the Reign of King H. 8. might be mercifully dealt withall there being as themselves had written and calculated above 9400. Ecclesiastical preferments and not above 189. displaced whereof 14 were Bishops that Churches might be allowed to the Papists by themselves in Cities she answered That although those Popish Bishops had insolently and openly repugned against the Laws and Quiet of the Realm and did still obstinately reject that Doctrin which most of them under H. 8. and E. 6. had of their own accord with heart and hand publickly in their Sermons and Writings taught unto others when they themselves were not private Men but publick Magistrates yet would she for so great Princes sakes deal favourably with them though not without some offence to her own Subjects But to grant them Churches wherein to celebrate their divine Offices apart by themselves she could not with the safety of the Common-Wealth and without wrong to her ovvn Honour and Conscience neither vvas there any cause vvhy she should grant them seeing England embraced no nevv or strange Doctrin but the same vvhich Christ commanded the Primitive and Catholick Church received and the ancient Fathers vvith one Mind and Voice approved and to allovv Churches with contrary Rites and Ceremonies Besides that it openly repugned the Lawsestablished by Authority of Parliament were nothing else but to sow Religion out of Religion to distract good Mens minds to cherish factious Mens humours disturb Religion and the Common-Wealth and mingle Divine and Humane things a Thing Evil in Deed but in Example worst of all to her own good Subjects hurtful and unto themselves to whom it is granted neither greatly commodious nor yet at all safe She was therefore determined out of her natural Clemency and especially at their request to be willing to heale the private insolency of a few by much Connivance yet so as she might not encourage their obstinate minds by her Indulgence § When Sussex treated with the Emperor Maximilian on the
and clamorous they will be Such is their Nature that it must devour or trample down all before it or else it will never rest satisfied Such is the unsatiableness of this Scarlet Lady so often drunk with the Blood of the Saints that no Blood could yet satisfie but that she still cries Give Give In all Histories from Generation to Generation they that run may read prodigious Examples of Exorbitant Papal Claims and pride over Kings Emperours Princes and Free States even against right reason and to the Indignation of all Mankind and these justified by their Popes Councils Decretals Canons and Divines of the first Magnitude ascribing to the Pope power of deposing Kings if Hereticks and they are all so when his Holiness pleaseth so to tearm them by as good Logick as the Foxes Ears are Horns if the Lyon please to call them so And if yet there be any Papists that in Word or Writings do disown such Doctrins as the Seculars did in Queen Eliz. days of whom notwithstanding it is observed That they never discovered any traiterous design until it was first discovered by others and that in several Treasons though many of the Seminary Priests were active and forward yet they are as little to be confided in as those that own and justifie them for that by so doing they contradict and disclaim the very Faith they own and profess and unto which they are sworn thereby forsaking their Popes Councils Canons Divines and Decretals nay their Doctrins of Supremacy of believing as the Church i. e. as the Pope believes of Infallibility and Probability of Equivocation of no Faith to be kept with Hereticks c. all Doctrins of the Church of Rome which alone are in their esteem of power sufficient to warrant and justifie their blind obedience and to null all the security that can possibly be given between Prince People whether Oaths or Laws Civil or Ecclesiastical nay Divine And if we may prognosticate of practises to come by practises past let the said Experience of former Ages and of all Countries and of ours in particular rise up in Judgment against them that they never have been never will be Loyal Subjects to our Protestant Princes the Reasons are strong for that they are ever incited to such evil Machinations and practises by the strong impulse and impetuous zeal of their own Doctrins and Superstitions and all proceeding from causes pecular unto Romish Religion and Principles which they have not in the least as yet changed nor disclaimed nor yet their Interest § Besides if the Papists of England have merited any thing from the King and his Father in these late troubles it is no thanks to their Religion and therefore no reason they should be gratified in their Religion for had it proceeded from the undoubted principles of their Religion it would have held as well in Ireland as in England nay it would have held as well in Queen Elizabeths and King James his time as in the time of King Charles Father and Son a Postscript to an Answer to a Jesuited Gent. and also in a sparing Discourse It being confessed by themselves that none of them have in all the times of persecution dyed expresly for Religion but all for Treason b Answer to a Letter to a Jesuited Gent. f. 45. And that Irish Papists would have been as little Loyal to Queen Mary as unto Queen Eliz. But the continual Plots against the Life and Crown of that Queen and that horrid Gun-powder Plot against King James and all his Race and Nobles and the late Rebellion in Ireland against King Charles do demonstrate the contrary and their Religion where that and the Pope are concerned teaching the contrary but they thought not their Religion in that case concerned if they had then it would have appeared whether their Loyalty would have born up against it or no more than it hath done in former times Therefore if any such Merits have been they have been only personal and so may be and no doubt so have been and will be requited with personal favours but in no case with such as may tend to the advantage of the Popish and consequently to the disadvantage of the Protestant Religion Power and Interest of our Princes But let us a little examin what in truth have been the Merits of the Papists in the late Wars To say the Papists were the Formal Causes of the late War upon what hath been before written were happily not quite besides the Cushion However the former matter and grounds administers good Reasons to believe and affirm that they were great occasions both of the rise growth and continuance of our late Wars Some and those not a few of the wisest and most sober Cavaliers thought that the Papists did look upon the War as their great Interest and Hahvest either by opening unto them occasions to pretend something in favour of their party in case the King prevailed or otherwise by fomenting of the War between Protestant and Protestant they should have gained an Interest through their divisioos when they had weakened one another and that by fishing in troubled Waters they should gain some advantage by the confusions which as the Law stood in a setled State of Affairs they could not expect § However if the Papists did not design those divisions and the breaking in pieces of the Antient Government of this Kingdom and that wherein they hoped to find their Interest it is certain they were great occasions thereof for what on the one hand with their Negotiations before the War by Seignior Con and other the Popes Agents and the State tampering with the Pope and King of Spain about the INfanta not yet out of the Minds and Memories of his Subjects and their boldness upon the favour they might happily expect from the Kings Mother and the Clemency which they found from his Father no way desirous to have the Sanguinary Laws Executed upon them and what by the Rebellion of those of that Religion in Ireland they created so great Jealousies in the minds of the Protestant party in England that it rather weakened the Royal party than fortified it and made the Adverse party so numerous and so successful as a long time it was And it may be truly said there was never a Papist in the Kings Army but it lost him the Hearts of many Protestants and as it cannot be supposed that they brought a Blessing on the Kings Armies so it is certain they brought a very ill reputation upon them and where one fought against the Kings party upon a serious Examination of the State of the Quarrel Hundreds took the other party because they saw so many Papists on his side and possibly things had never grown to that height as to have broken out into a War had it not been for the Jealousies which were partly given and partly taken from the Insolent Carriage of that party both in England and Ireland And yet for
all this and that they were so much concerned to quench the fire that had so far contributed to the kindling of it we shall find as little ground for their Wroks of Super-errogation in this matter as in point of Religion if the number of them that were slain or suffered for the King or his Father be compared with the Protestant profession Neither were they so Instrumental to the restitution of the King as those of the Protestant profession no not as very many of those that had formerly been of the contrary side and even where Interest might seem more to sway them another way and that in all probability might have promised themselves more favour under the powers that then prevaled for that is also considerable in that matter which was pleaded by many of the Papists to obtain favour from the powers that were from time to time uppermost when they were so that could they have lived quietly in their own Houses they had never repaired to the Kings Garrisons But the War being held forth to gain more credit to the party to be against Papists and their Adherents chiefly though all sorts of gther opinions found some Indulgence yet the Papists professing themselves Papists could not be admitted upon any tearms though happily they were admitted nay favoured under disguises of Quakers and the like and therefore no marvel if they were on the Kings side that they might play their Game the better on both sides when they could not be on the other side professedly § The Truth is prudence and necessity together with their Loyalty made them serve the King in his Wars they well knowing that the Parliament was professedly and desperately bent against them and therefore could have little hopes of comfort from them which Induced them to adhere to the Kiug who was Pater Patriae and from whom they might justly challenge protection as Subjects though not as Papists in which capacity His Majesty received them neither did he ever own their assistance but as Subjects and as justified by necessity And now that the differing parties being weary of endless Broyls were willing to come to a Closure those that had done so much to occasion the War and so little to make it successful and less to bring about His Majesties happy return and union between him and his people would make such a vertue of necessity as to deserve such Indulgences and Rewards which neither can be expected with modesty nor granted with a good Conscience towards God no nor yet with safety to the Crown if the Intrinsick Interest thereof be justly weighed and considered and without all Colour or Ground of Reason Conscience or prudence For indeed all things principles and practises considered I cannot Imagine what good and indefeasable security they can possibly give to any Protestant Prince or State that they will be and continue Loyal and Faithful Subjects Therefore until they reverse and nullifie their Oaths and Principles of Obedience to the See of Rome their claims and pretensions of Jurisdiction over Temporal Princes their Doctrins of Infallibility and of blind Obedience nay their Doctrins of probability also they must excuse me if I differ in opinion with them and make it an Article of my Creed and believe that no protestant Prince or State can ever be undoubtedly secure of the Loyalty and Fidelity of their Popish Subjects if the Pope command the contrary It being according to their Doctrin of probability a Maxim amongst them that that which 1 2. or some few Roman Catholick Doctors say is lawful may in the Judgment of Papists be done without mortal sin This is Mr. Knots Charity maintained c. 4. Sect. 25. as also Valentias Vasques Lessius Euriques Sa Cellot de Hier. l. 8. c. 16. p. 714. But not only one but many Popish Doctors nay Popes Cardinals and Councils say That it is lawful to murder or depose a Supreme Magistrate that is guilty of Heresie or suspected of it and such according to their Tenets are Protestant Princes Nay J. E. in his Book Entitled The Right and Jurisdiction of the Prelate and the Prince printed with the Licence of Superiors 1617. maintains the same not only by the opinions of very many doctors but also by the Popes and the Authority of General Councils as that of Lateran under Innocent the Third Anno 1215. c. 3. and that of Lyons c. 5. de homicidio in 6. and another General Council of Lyons Anno 1245. and affirms That many other Councils he could alledge for the same as Bellarmine and Schulkenius have done Ergo Cavete Principes Conclusionem Princes beware your Crowns beware your Heads and of giving any Indulgence Countenance and power to that Generation of Men who are Sworn Vassals to the Bishop of Rome and make it a part of your Letany viz from such ill kind of Men Libera nos Domine Having thus Summarily manifested to all the World that will read and understand the Doctrins and practises of Papists to be so desperately pernicious and destructive to our Protestant Kings and Kingdoms and withall will consider what most precious Golden Aples England Scotland and Ireland with all their Forrein plantations and Dominions are to gratifie Cardinalisme Nepotisme or any incestuous Brood of any Donna Olympia It is very reasonable to believe That what they have done that they will re-iterate again and again if not wisely and timely prevented were it not then admiral discretion in us to give this Generation of Men yet more power and liberty the only things they want to put the same practises in Execution again when they have given us from Age to Age successively such Demonstrations and Assurances that they will do as they have done when ever they have power a neat opportunity and are so commanded by their universal Monarch But I Conclude That if we have any love or regard for that Religion which is pure peaceable undefiled and which is truly Antient Catholick and Apostolick or any abhorrency to that Inchanting City full of all pollutions uncleaness Idolatry Superstition Blasphemy what not or any concern for the safety of His Majesties person for liberty of our Consciences property and freedom of our Estates and lastly any care to preserve King and Kingdom from Parisian Vespers Inquisitions Fire and Faggot and from a Six-knotted-whip of Articles it will wonderfully concern us by all wholsom Laws and means to prevent the growth of this Crudele Genus by paring their Nayls only that otherwise would crack our Crowns and seek our lives unless we will quantum in nobis sacrifice once more all that is near and dear unto us unto Romish Tyranny § I shall yet further Conclude That if Protestant Princes will but rightly consider that they like Gods own Sabbath were ordained for Kingdoms and not Kingdoms for them and that if they will follow but the very Dictates of right Reason and the very light of Nature they cannot without being felones de se
solemn Oath to do nothing to the detriment of this Crown or State so Jealous were our Kings even in those days A shrewd sign and a plain demonstration what their judgment is concerning the right of the Prince in respect of Regal power and place there being nothing in our Liturgy that a Conscientious Papist might justly except against out of the Word of God but because the Pope had Excommunicated and Accursed therefore forsooth be it lawful or unlawful they must obey the Pope and disobey the Queen their incomparable Liege Lady Now by reason of this Bull the very bringing in whereof by a subject was adjudged Treason in the time of Edward the I. the very foundation of all the ensuring Treasons Rebellions c. And in Edward the Third's time the Abbot of Tavestock was fined at 500 Marks for receiving a Bull from Rome wherein were but aliqua verba regi Coronae suae prejudicialia One main Article in Parliament inforced for the the deprivation of Richard II. was that he had by admitting Bulls from Rome inthralled in Crown of England which was free from the Pope and all other Forrein popwer In Edward the Third's time there was a seisure of all the Temporalties of the Bishops of Ely and Norwich for the publication of a Bull against Hugb Earl of Chester And the Bishop of Ely was Condemned of Felony by a Jury at the Kings-Bench notwithstanding his bold challenge to be unctus Dominit Frater Papae The state of Romish Recusants became very miserable being thereby ensnared in a lamentable Dilemma for either they must be executed for Treason against the Queen if they did resist or be accursed by their Holy Father if they did obey Her But rather than the Pope and his Crew would loose the Design and Effect of his Bull which for ought I know is in force to this very day for if the Pope will say that it was not directed and intended against the Queen only but that its force and efficacy extends still to her Successors I am sure it must go for good Doctrin with them if they will be true to their Oaths Doctrins and Principles he quickly found out a means to extricate them out of that miscrable Condition wherein they were thereby involved viz. A Dispensation from himself which was afterwards reinforced by Gregory the 13th that all Catholicks here might shew their outward Obedience to the Queen Ad redimendant vexationem ad ostendendam externam obedientiam but with these cautions and limitations Rebus sic stantibus things so standing as they did 2. Donec publica Bullae Executio fieri possis until they might grow into strength until they were able to give the Queen and unavoidable Check-mate that the publick execution of the said Bull might take place And so much was consessed openly at the Barr by Garner as before he had done under his own hand for the better execution whereof the Pope granted Faculties to Rob. Persons and Edmond Campion then ready to go for England 14. April 1580. which Hart also confessed Perfida Gens A strange Generation of perfidious Men whom no favours can oblige to be quiet and loyal It was observed by Sir Edw. Coke Attorney General at the Tryal of the Powder Traytors that since the Jesuits set foot in this Land there never passed 4 Years without a most pestilent and pernicious Treason 11. b. tending to the subversion of the whole State And was there ever any Prince that would endure or not execute such persons within their Dominions as should deny him to be lawful King or go about to withdravv his Subjects from his Allegiance or incite them to assassinate or to resist or rebel against him and vvithall endeavouring to justifie it by their pens Nay by their deaths vvith strong presumption of meriting thereby What possible hopes can there be of such Men enslaved to such Principles nay vvhat Prince under Heaven can think his State secure so long as every pettish Pope may vvithout rhime or reason pick a quarrel vvith him vvhence a Citation thence a Sentence vvhich either neglected or not satisfied infers Contumacy vvhich deprives the supposed Delinquent of that right vvhich God gave Conscience avovvs and consent of Ages and successive Generations hath fortified and being declared an Heretick the Croysade is published The Words of the Canon strongly bent against the Crovvn Impereal of Hen. 4. are not many but very heavy and very fatal and extensive to all Princes and in English thus We observing the Statutes of our Holy Predecessors do absolve those that are bound by Fidelity and Oath to persons Excommunicated from their Oath and do forbid them to observe or keep their Fealty towards them quousque ipsi ad satisfactionem veniunt till they come to yield satisfaction In this case I appeal to the judgment even of the Priests themselves who confess That in all the Plots against Queen Eliz none were more forward than many of the Priests were but how many of them were so inclined and addicted the State knew not In which Case say they there is no King or Prince in the World disgusting the See of Rome and having either force or mettal in hin that would have indured us but rather have utterly rooted us out of his Territories as Traitors and Rebels to him and his Countrey and therefore we may bless God that we live under so merciful a Prince which had she been a Catholick might be accounted the mirror of the World Import Consid so 16. There were sparks of Ingenuity in these their Acknowledgments but much more saucily writ those Emperor-like Quaker-like say I Jesuits Parsons and Creswel who in one of their Books spake thus to Her Majesty In the beginning of Thy Kingdom Thou didst deal something more gently with Catholicks none were then urged by Thee or pressed either to Thy Sect or to the denial of their Faith All things indeed did seem to proceed in a far milder course No great Complaints were heard of There were no extraordinary Contentions or Repugnancies Some there were that to please and gratifie you went to your Churches c. Ibid. f. 6. And yet did Queen Eliz. not only not call into question Thousands that were capitally guilty of the pains of her Laws but favoured many known Papists professing Loyalty and Obedience to Her Majesty None of which sort were for their contrary opinions in Religion prosecuted or charged with any Crimes or pains of Treason nor yet willingly searched in their Consciences for their contrary opinions that savoured not of Treason and many even of those that were Executed would she have pardoned if they would but have owned Her Regality and defended Her Majesty against any Forrein Force though coming or procured from the Pope himself An Example of Royal Clemency never to be matched in Queen Maries time And John Lecey in defence of the Petition Apologet. presented to King James in July 1604. confesseth That Queen
Eliz. both in person and by Her Embassies abroad did aver That Her Will and Intention was not to punish Her Subjects for their Religion and Conscience fo 13. It is also observable That after the Sanguinary Laws were Enacted that no Priest or Jesuit remaining here that had before these Acts taken Orders beyond Seas and lived quietly was ever called in question for his Religion In all the Laws though extorted from the Queen by so many Rebellions and Treasons there was nothing that did reflect upon an old quict Queen Maries Priest or any that were Ordained within the Land by the Romish Bishops then surviving so they were not over active and busie in Treasons and Conspiracies This also was such another Example of Royal favour as was not to be parallel'd in Queen Maries time And yet it s very remarkable That the chiefest of all these and the most of them had in the time of Hen. 8. Ed. 6. either by preaching writing or arguing taught all people to Condemn yea to Abhor the Authority of the Pope for which they had also yielded to both the said Kings the Title of Supreme Head c. and many of their Books and Sermons against the Popes Authority were printed both in English and in Latin to their great shame and reproach to change so often but especially in prosecuting such as themselves had taught and established to hold the contrary A sin near to the sin against the Holy Ghost Just Brit. f. 4 5. The Priests themselves confessed that such of them as upon examination were found moderate were not so hardly proceeded with in so much as 55. by the Laws liable to death were in 1585. when great mischiefs were in hand only banished A Regal Favour not to be parallel'd in Queen Maries days Import Considerations f. 29 30. Having seen how Faithful and Loyal Papists have been to Princes of their own Religion and also to Edw. 6. and Queen Eliz. Princes of a different profession let us now see how faithful they have been to King James and his posterity Such were the deep malicious and early Councels and designs of Papists against our protestant Princes and Reformation it self in the bud as they would have it that they were not content by all open and secret Councels Powers and Artifices imaginable that Rome France Spain Catholick Princes Priests and Jesuits could contrive or possibly suggest to Assassine and destroy that incomparable Princess Queen Eliz but in her days laid such a found ation and ground-work for future disturbances ruine and destruction even to all her Successors and to this Nation and to the Protestant Religion that hitherto it hath wrought and is still working by undermining powers and policies the effect whereof we feel even to this day and so like to continue to all successive Generations as long as the Seminaries and Jesuitism continue whose Trade and Business it is to encourage themselves and others in mischiefs and to Commune among themselves how they may privily lay snares In the Year 1568. The English fugitive Priests assembling themselves at Doway by the design of William Allen of Oxon the most learned amongst them did Collegiate together in a common Colledge-like Discipline Vide the Hope of Peace 20. to whom the Pope assigned a yearly pension Afterwards being banished the Netherlands by Don Lewis Requesens the King of Spains Deputy A like Seminary was erected at Rheims by the Guises the Queen of Scots Kinsmen Camb. 216.206 and another at Rome by Gregory XIII And afterwards another founded at Valledolid that there might never want a successive Generation of Men of corrupt Minds Heady High-minded despisers of Dominion Idolatrous and Traiterous Priests to poison England with their false Doctrines and traiterous principles In these Seminaries it was quickly defined That the Pope hath by the Law of God fullness of power over the whole World as well in Ecclesiastical as Temporal matters and that he out of his fulness of power may Excommunicate Kings and being Excommunicate depose them and absolve their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance Then were divers Priests well instructed in such Principles and Doctrins sent into England This done divers traiterous Combinations and Conspiracies both Forrein and Domestick were plotted as here so elsewhere is related Then the Jesuits on one side Camb. 297. and the Fugitive Noble-men and others on the other side with different affections suggested unto Mary Queen of Scots such dangerous Councels that the Seculars afterwards charged the Jesuits as procurers and Instruments of her death And the Jesuits when they saw there was no hope of restoring the Romish Religion either by her or King James her Son began to forge a new and feigned Title in the succession of the Kingdom of England for the Spaniard so wonderful faithful were they to King James and they sent into England as Pasquire saith one Saimer a Man of their Society to draw a party to the Spaniards and to thrust the Queen of Scots forwards to divers dangerous practises by telling her that if she were refractory neither she nor her Son should Reign mjost faithful Men still and by exciting the Guises her Kismen to new stirs against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condey that they might not be able to aid her This their faith fulness such as it was lasted not only before King James came to the Crown but afterwards as will e're long appear Did not Fa. Parsons in Spain contest bitterly with Fa. Creighton Parsons to settle the Crown on the Infanta and Creighton on the King of Scots Did not Fa. Parsons with Sir William Stanley thrust on Hesket to perswade Ferdinando Earl of Darby to Claim the Crown Did not he perswade York and Young to fire Her Majesties Store-houses Did not he perswade Fr. Dickenson and others to tempt Water-men to fly with Ships to the Spaniards as hath been intimated before Dialogue 93. Thus you see how many several Titles did they seign and set up to set by Q. Eliz. from the Crown and to set up M. Q. of Scots whom they prompted and annimated unto so many Concrivances of dangerous Consequences that brought that Princess unto that sad Catastrophe and consequently were the occasion thereof and so confess'd in print by themselves they left no stone unturned Paul and 4th would not acknowledg her and why Because forsooth this Kingdom was held in Fee of the Apostolick See that she could not succeed being Illegitimate and that it was a great boldness to assume the Name and Government without him and therefore refused to hear Sir Edward Kerne her Ambassador All this and more was pretended to have been done in favour of that Admirable person M. Qucen of Scots But what think you would they have done if the Tables had been turned And Q. Eliz. had been an Illegitimate Papist and M. Q. of Scots a Legitimate protestant would you then have been so zealous and industrious for the Q.