seditious and scandalous as it can never be sufficiently detested Then to give out to the world and publish in Print as it were in open scorn and contempt of all authority That a wise and good Prince was as rarely found as a black Swan that commonly Kings and Princes be the most doting Fools or wickedst Knaves in the World and that they are such a Reprobate crew as there is scarce a place in Heaven for them what is it but by such epithets and execrable boldness to bring Majesty it self and all Governments into contempt to take the Crown from Princes Heads and to expose Magistracy and the just preheminencies thereof without which no Government could long subsist to the malice contempt yea fury too of the meanest of the people But you will say perhaps he used his own Princes with more respect Something to be added here from Page 87. of the Book and all this was said to Catholike that is Popish Princes and his Enemies Well admit it were so that they were Popish Princes yet were they Magistrates notwithstanding and at least in as good capacity as Nero and those others Rom. 13. to whom St. Paul commands every soul to pay obedience and honor yet were they the Lieutenants of God upon earth they had the Image that is the Authority of God upon them and for that Image sake were to be used with due reverence They had the Laws the Customs the Constitutions of the Empire on their side they were not his Enemies further then his irregularities and offences together with their own duty obliged them to be so Neither is it true that he used his own Princes of the House of Saxony much better Surely as for Duke George of Leipsig his bitterness and incivility towards him was notorious calling him The Apostle of Satan Surius Anno 1533. Enemy of the Gospel Murtherer Tyrant and what not Last of all styling him with a most scurrilous kinde of contempt Illustrissima inclementia vestra Your most Illustrious Surliness And as for the Prince Elector himself his Grand Patron and Protector old John Frederick Duke of Saxony it was not possible he should scape without some dirt in his face as well as the rest For whereas the Duke had granted Commission to certain persons viz. unto John Psaumitz a Nobleman Jerome Schurffius a Lawyer Philip Melancthon Hawbitz and others to make a visitation of Saxony which themselves had filled with disorders Luther was much offended at this and therefore when they returned their Commission and made report of things he took occasion to shew his scorn and contempt of their proceedings arrogantly enough Trotz quoth he A fig for these visitors they have done nothing and all this because himself was left out of the Commission That was it which vext his ambitious soul so as he could not hold but must discover himself in his very Sermons Nescio quâ de causâ I cannot tell Serm. in Dominicâ Intravit saith he why the Prince should neglect me in this business But because he was neglected see how he takes it and what respect he professeth to the Orders agreed upon in that Visitation Lib. cont Ambros Catharin Si licet mihi decretales Papae Is it lawful for me saith he for Christian liberties sake not onely to neglect but to contemn and trample under my feet the Popes Decrees the Canons of Councels the Laws and Mandates of the Emperor himself and of all Princes Vestrasne res gestas c. And think you saith he I shall value your Orders so much as to take them for Laws No I warrant you himself must and will be judge always what is fit to be Law Neither the Duke nor his Commissioners must prescribe rules to him further then his own humor pleaseth And therefore whereas the Duke had once presumed to forbid him writing any thing against the Archbishop of Mentz because he being so great a Prelate and a Prince Elector of the Empire it might occasion some publike disturbance speaking of this to Spalatinus a famous Lutheran Loc. Com. Class 4. cap. 30. and great friend of his What saith he Non feram quod ais non passurum principem c. I cannot endure saith Luther that you should say The Prince will not suffer me to write against him of Mentz nor that the publike Peace should be broken rather then this shall be I will loose both thee and the Prince too Potius te principem ipsum perdam if I translate him well Si enim Creatori ejus Papae c. For saith he seeing I have resisted his Maker the Pope I will not surely submit now to his Creature No Spalatinus no that shall never be And thus much of Luthers personal doctrine and spirit by which you may sufficiently judge of the man and perceive how contrary they were both of them person and doctrine unto the Peace and Established Government of the Empire We are next to see what Tragedy followed this Prologue and what effect such principles of Sedition as these had upon the people which indeed was very answerable to them For when as this Wilde Boar in the Church of God as he may be justly termed had broken down the Pale of Order and Discipline and the common people by his means had received such a pleasant new Gospel as taught them That they were exempted now from all Canons and Injunctions of the Church made to restrain licentiousness and disorder That true Christians were freed from the Captivity of Babylon that is from all such Constitutions and Ceremonies as they found burthensom or less pleasing to themselves That there was a more compendious way to Heaven lately found out then had been formerly thought upon that is to say By Faith onely with freedom from merits and all the burthen of good works That Rome was Babylon That Bishops had seduced them for a long time together That Religious men were Idolaters and all Princes that favored or protected them Tyrants That the Will of God was not to suffer the poor Commonalty any longer to bear so heavy a yoke and subjection under such oppressors when I say the common people had well drunk in and were become mad with these intoxicating doctrines of Sedition and Liberty no long time passeth but they rise in Arms make Insurrections and commit Outrages and Ryots all the Countries over Each man was a drum and firebrand to his Neighbor every one gave alarm to other to rise and root out so corrupt a Clergy and depose such unworthy Princes First of all the Boors and Peasants in Germany run together and make havock of all things in Swevia Franconia Alsatia and in many of the Imperial Towns also They in Franconia profess they take Arms to expel the Nobility out of Germany and to cut down those Oaks of the Church which stood in their way viz. The Bishops Archbishops and other Prelates to abolish the old Laws and to
the Lyoness was secur'd sends another Messenger to the Mongrel advising him to make sure of the Lyoness Whelp and then he might securly rule and govern all For saith he Possession is the chief point in Law and when you have him you have all Perhaps out of sullenness and restraint he may die however if he lives he shall be sure to live at your pleasure and disposing if you take him in time so he did accordingly This is the Fable The Moralizing of it I leave to those that expound Riddles though this be such as needeth not an Oedipus to declare it I might here end my discourse of this pretended Church of Scotland and of its irregular and tumultuous Reformation but that I desire to satisfie the Reader a little further in the true cause of this particular distemper or more special abuse and contempt of Civil Magistracy which the Reformers of this Church seem to have shewen all along their work It proceeded without all doubt from the Spirit and humor of Calvin who first devised it and was himself a bitter enemy against all Magistrates in whose Counsels he could not rule In so much as at Genevah it self he was at first expelled for a seditious person by the Magistrates of that City and compelled to go live with Bucer at Strasburgh Yet afterward the party which favored him prevailing at Genevah he was recalled back again but refused to return unless upon condition and promise that his discipline should be received So it was promised by a general consent of the City and at his coming performed His consistory that is to say an Oligarchy of certain pickd Elders was erected as it were the Inquisition of Genevah This by the way was a strain of policy much beyond Luthers dull reach and which madded him all his life long For by this Calvin did not onely set up a Church Independent of him and without consulting at all with him viz. with Luther but became a Dictator general as it were to all the Protestant or reformed Churches abroad and so very much Eclipsed Luthers glory But the seat of his Dominion was at Genevah as we said having setled his discipline in such maner there that by colour and pretence of it he was able not onely to censure offenders at his pleasure but to carry on designs against any opposition whatsoever For indeed through the concurrence of his Eldership who were commonly all at his book he was upon the matter invâ—sted with a kinde of Sovereignety both of their Town and Chuâ—ch He and his Eâ—ders ruled all there And to the end it should be received abroad with due reverence though it were indeed the Idol of his own fancy yet they set it down viz. Calvins Presbyterian Discipline for a mark of the True Church and joyn it in equal rank with the Preaching of the word and Administration of Sacraments So that by means of this Discipline he not onely in a short time became himself the great Soldan of the Lake but sent his Mammalukes also out into all the Provinces of France and planted Reformed Churches there after his Model of Genevah The Sinods or more general Assemblies whereof seating themselves in the principal and chief Towns of the Kingdom are thereby inabled to hold such correspondence with the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation inclined to novelty as that they are sure of a constant and strong support from them upon all occasions yea to engage them perfectly in their way they take them many times very politickly into their Consistories in the quality of Lay-Elders and do questionless nourish in themselves no faint hopes to be able one day by their means to subvert those Pillers of the Catholike Church which so much obstruct their proceedings viz. the Bishops Archbishops and other Prelates of France and to set up Calvinism and their Consistories all the Kingdom over This I say is the Train of their Policy and the reason why they are so implacable in their hatred and incessantly violent and active against all such Princes and States as do oppose the introduction of their Discipline which is the Medium whereby in France Scotland the Palatinate and elsewhere they have made or endeavored to make themselves Supream heads and Masters of misrule over all others as hath been in part declared already and shall be further manifested in the sequel of this narration Hence it is that all commanders Generals and all other Officers whatsoever in their service are so strictly injoyned by the Articles of Bearn Art 25. as hath been said to observe the discipline Ecclesiastical as it shall be from time to time ordained by their Synods And hence that is to say from this Arrogant confidence of theirs it was and indiscreet zeal that they refused when time was at Rochel so much as to speak with Monsieur Byron the Kings Embassador and used Monsieur la Nove with so much and so long incivilities that at last he was constrained to forsake them And out of this fiery zeal for their Diana of the Discipline it proceeds that they oppose prosecute and vilifie with so much bitterness of spirit and ill language where they can or dare all other Ecclesiastical government whatsoever all Order of Divine Service Rites and Ceremonies which are not exactly after their Mode or framed according to their Pattern And in this particular the Protestants church of England hath from the beginning so much tasted of their spleen or madness rather that Mr. Butler of Cambridge may seem to have shewen no less judgement then wit in the definition which he once gave of a Puritan viz. That he was a Protestant frayed out of his Wits which King James in the Conference at Hampton Court disliked not The reason whereof may be this We finde by experience that Ceremonies and Solemnity have ever in the Church of God stirred up and bred a reverence and devotion in the hearts of good people towards the service of God that they help to elevate and awaken their souls in time of prayer and other Divine worship also that the order and gravity of Bishops and other Prelates of the Church were not onely wont to finde but apt to procure estimation and respect with the people Now ask a Puritan his opinion of a Rochet a Surplis cornerd Cap or any other Habit which distinguisheth Ecclesiastical persons from the Laity he tells you presently They are the raggs of Antichrist badges of Superstition The Communion Book he calls the Portess and Breviary of Satan set prayers extinguish zeal with him yea are tantum non flat Idolatry The Ecclesiastical Courts are the Synagogues or Shops of the Devil and but the excrements of a corrupted discipline which they would fain reform As for the Authority and Government of Bishops he subscribs to Doctor Ames Hunc Episcoporum ordinem medio tollendum c. That either this Hierarchy of Bishops must down or Popery will come upon us do what we can
ready to second him yea perceiving that some of the greatest Princes in Germany were content though for other ends not onely to give him hearing but incouragement also in his proceedings the mans ambitions and vain conceipts of himself were infinitely raised above his first projects Whereupon as a man sick in his spirits and of a fiery disease he begins now to rage against and to defame all Church Government he abandons his Cloyster throws of his habit breaks yea tramples upon his vows renounceth all obedience to his Superior Preacheth against the whole State of the Clergy and especially against the Superiority of the Bishop of Rome which was ever unto this time held Sacred in matters Ecclesiastical as against a Tyranny in the Church perswading the people not to render any kinde of obedience to them The Pope himself whom yet not long before and since the beginning of the difference he had honored with the title of Christs Vicar and protested unto him very much humble Reverence and obedience he now calls Sathanissimum Papam Messire Asino The Prelates he calls Blinde guides the Religious men Swine Candles put under a Bushel and what not And why think you Preacht he all this Because forsooth otherwise the people should live in darkness still in the shadow of death still be fed and misled by ignorant and blinde guides still remain in ignorance and in the Captivity of Babylon This Prologue having gained him attentive Auditors he begins the Tragedy which was afterwards acted as you shall hear with such incredible Sedition and Tumults His whole study was now bent to undermine the Church and to abolish all Ecclesiastical order which by consequence was of necessity to shake the Foundations and hazzard the State it self Yea this humor fed him with such vain and extravagant hopes That he imagined to conquer the whole World and to subdue the Pope himself whom he was the first that ever absolutely affirmed to be that Antichrist Man of sin and deceiver of the World whom the Apostle mentioneth 2 Thes 2. He was the more encouraged in these proceedings for that now 1519. Maximilian the Emperor was dead whose power and wisdom he had great cause to dread and that Charls the Fifth was chosen to succeed him Surius in Chron. a yong Prince not fully Twenty years of age whom therefore he vainly hoped he should be able to perswade to subdue the Popes power to keep his own Court at Rome and make the Castle of Saint Angelo subject to his commands and that by the assistance of such an Emperor Martin should be able to reform the Church and cast it into what mould he pleased especially seeing John Frederick the Elector and old Duke of Saxony was already his sure Friend and Patron who for his strength riches alliance and other abilities was far Superior to any other Prince of the Empire Hereupon therefore fiâ—st of all he proclaims as it were open war and defiance to all the Bishops and Ecclesiastical State of Germany endeavoring what he can to weaken their authority to abrogate their power yea to make them odious and contemptible to the whole World Therefore in his Book intituled Câ—ntra Statum Ecclesiae Tom 2. oper Latin Jenae falsò nominatum ordinem Episcoporum He sends out a Bull against the said Bishops in these words Attendite vobis Episcoporum umbrae Hearken saith he or rather Look to your selves ye Mock-Prelates ye Bishops in shew or shape onely Doctor Luther intends to read you a lesson which he thinks will not be much pleasing to your tender ears as indeed it was not likely it should be For after a short Exhortation he gives advise what his godly Auditory should do well to see performed viz. To this horrible intent or purpose Quicunque opem ferunt bona famam sanguinem impendunt Whosoever saith he will venture their Lives their Estates their Honor and their Blood in so Christian a work as to root out and destroy all Bishops and Bishopricks which are the Ministers of Satan and to pluck up by the Roots all their Authority and Jurisdiction in the World Hi sunt dilecti filii Del c. These yea these are the true children of God and obey his Commandments And again in his Book against Sylvester Prieras Tom. 1. oper Latin Wittemberg Si fures furcâ latrones gladio haereticos igne tollimus If saith he we dispatch common Felons with a halter Malefactors at the block and Hereticks by fire Cur non magis hos magistros perditionis As for these sons yea masters of perdiâ—ion these Bishops Cardinals Popes c. Why should we not fall upon them with open force and not cease till we have bathed our hands in their blood Was there ever such an Incendiary heard Preach But Objicient saith he going on periculum esse Perhaps some body will be telling us it may cause Tumults and Sedition in the common people Tush saith he I answer must the Word of God be prohibited and the people perish for fear of Tumults The two Mar-Prelates of England and Scotland were not possessed with such a spirit as this and though they were mad enough yet they came not up to such a height of fury Let the Lawyers therefore judge Brunus Minsinger Gail whether this Sermon and Proclamation of Luthers would not bear an Action of Sedition and Conspiracy and whether it were consistent with the Laws and Peace of the Empire any more then it was with the duty of a good man For hereby was the people taught and encouraged when they should be able to pull down and destroy those principal Pillars in the State of Germany viz. The Archbishops of Mentz Colen and Triers the Primate of Magdeburgh the Archbishop and Prince of Saltzburgh the great Master of Prussia the Bishop of Wurtzburgh Bambergh and many others who beside their Spiritual Relations which were so eminent in the Church had also a voice and place in the Imperial Dyet and thereby a great influence and hand in the Government of Germany Can this be avowed to be the act of a dutiful or loyal Subject of the Eâ—pire Doâ—h any Law Reason or Example warrant it in Civil Government That a private man himself a Subject of himself alone should attempt thus insolently against the chief Magistrates and Princes of the Country where he lives That a Sheep should presume to depose the Shepherds And by such wicked suggestions stir up Insurrections and Rebellion against persons of so eminent quality both for Place and Calling Nor did he ever cease or give over these Preachings till out of Saxâ—ny Hess and Wittemberg yea generally out of all places where his Seditious Doctrine prevailed he had expulsed or procured to be expulsed the very name as well as the Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops Neither staid he here but as fury and success lead him proceeded further Cochlaeus in act Luther At Wittemberg he took upon him to burn not
Epistle to Conradus Sonnius Lib. 4. p. 868. he professeth That obedience or respect is due unto Caesar onely upon condition viz. That he permits them entire Liberty of Religion which yet is more then the Lutherans themselves their pretended Brethren will do Otherwise saith he it should be sin in them and make them guilty before God to obey him Thus boldly doth a Minister of Sedition take upon him to determine whether and upon what terms a Sovereign Prince yea the supream and cheif of all Christian Princes shall either hold his Dignity or be dethroned If Caesar will be wise and advised by them they will obey otherwise they not onely may with Justice but are obliged to take a course with him To which end and that they might be ready when time and opportunity should serve their turn to put such Doctrine in execution in his Epistle to them of Vlm Lib. 4. p. 196. one of the Imperial or free Cities of Germany as they are called he adviseth the fraternity of Ministers there very properly viz. That they remember by little and little warily and by degrees Detrahere personam Imperio Romano c. To pull of this vizor of the Roman Empire from their Auditory and make them see what a folly it is for them to acknowledge a Roman Empire in the midst of Germany which is not regarded at Rome it self Could there be a project devised more wretchedly dangerous and disloyal then this against the Emperor O the depths of Heretical malice and treachery They must do it not suddenly not openly not all at once for that were to spoil all but sensim paulatim prudentèr now a little and then a little as the people shall appear capable of such Counsels and the poyson of Rebellious suggestions shall be most likely to be received and to work upon them Certainly a most plain and full discovery of the Reforming Design and by it the Princes and all States of Europe may see what they are to expect from that sort of people when they have once given them power enough to pull their Superiors down Having thus declared the Principles and Apliorisms of this great Triumvirate of the French Church viz. Zuinglius Calvin and Beza those Ecclesiastical Tribunes of the people and Ring-leaders of Rebellion I am now to make it appear also ex effectis or by the evident practise of such principles That Genevah is and hath been a School of Rebellion to all these parts of Christendom and a Seminary in particular of all the Civil Wars in France Neither shall I blot their names with any false aspersions For as their practise is the best Commentary of their Positions and Writings so it is the best tryal of their Loyalty and can give in best evidence whether they be as they will yet pretend and seem to be good Patriots and faithful Subjects I shall shew both their first beginnings progress and continuance at this present time and this so much as may be in a method ordering their disorderly crimes under these general heads viz. First Their Conspiracies against the King Secondly Their Battles fought against the Kings Armies and Officers And thirdly Their horrible Outrages and Villanies committed incomparable for cruelty and incredible for disloyalty The first of their Conspiracies taken notice of was that of Ambois there they began the Scene of their Tragedy on this maner At an Assembly they had at Nantes in the year 1560. certain of the Calvinists conspired among themselves to seize the Kings person and surprize the Court to apprehend the two principal of the Guises upon an accusation That they sought to invade and possess themselves of the Crown and thereby to ruine the Princes of the Blood and to suppress Religion This being secretly yet upon great deliberation concluded by them in the Moneth of January was to be executed the Tenth of March following at Blois The cheif of the Conspiracy was Godfrey de Barry sirnamed de Renaudy By this man it was imparted to the Prince of Conde who disliked it not but onely wished it could be executed in some form of Law While they stood thus at Demurrer the business hapned to be strangely and beside all their expectation discovered first by a Secretary of the Cardinal of Lorrains afterward by more perfect Intelligence and Information from Cardinal Granvellan out of the Low Countries Whereupon the King suddenly removing to Ambois the Conspirators were disappointed both of time and place so as the forces which they had levied and appointed for that exploit wandered up and down for some while without any Commander in Cheif appearing and were in a short space after most of them apprehended and gathered up by the Duke of Nemours his Troops among others there were taken the Baron of Castelnau and Monsieur Pardillan Mons Castelnau Comment Renaudy the General was slain and some others executed The Duke of Guise in the mean time providently took order for the safety of the King and the Court and so assured himself of the person of the Prince of Conde that he had not power to attempt any thing to their prejudice He was afterwards committed upon this business yea condemned to loose his head Yet nevertheless Charls the Ninth upon some politick Reasons of State and because he was so neer a Kinsman and a Prince of the Blood not onely gave him enlargement but for his honor and to assure his fidelity the more if that had been possible he acquitted him also and declared him innocent of the Conspiracy This was the first attempt of the Calvinists for Religion and Bonum Publicum Their second should have been executed at Meaulx upon the person of Charls the Ninth in the year 1567. But by the noble service of the Duke of Nemours and of the Switzers the King though with some difficulty escaped Their purpose was here as before to have possessed themselves of the Kings person and of the Duke of Anjou his Brother to have put the Queen-Mother with some others marked out to death but as I said by the valor and fidelity of the Duke of Nemours with the aid of the Switzers they recovered Paris by a sudden flight in the night and so were all saved Onely the Cardinal of Lorrain a person whom they principally desired to entrap was forced to take another way yet he made shift to get privately to Rhemes and there died A third was at St. Germans in lay against both King and Queen-Mother for which although onely Mole and Coconas lost their heads through the ill management of the business yet were there so many heads and hands both engaged in it That it was matter of great trouble disquiet and danger unto France for a long time after And this onely of their Conspiracies or of such Treacherous designs as never went further then Intention To inform you of their open and actual Rebellions in the Field where they sought by force of Arms and with
of their Religion the Cankerworm of it To discover and disprove the vanity of which pretences I shal search ab origine and deliver you the true causes of the Kings proceedings against these Male-contents and how great reason or necessity rather he had by Arms to maintain his Royal Authority which they by Arms sought either to contemn or usurp that is wherefore he was constrained at Myort to proclaim Rochel and all their Adherents Rebels against him and guilty of treason First it appears by the Edict of Nantes Art 77. That King Henry the Fourth had discharged the Protestants from holding any Assemblies General or Provincial likewise from all Unions and Leagues and from holding of any Counsel or Decreeing and Establishing any Acts by them Likewise Art 82. from holding any Correspondencies or Intelligences without the Realm Yea Art 32. They might not hold any Synods Provincial without the Kings License All which Articles they also promised to observe but as all France and the world knoweth have broken them every one And not onely so but they have intruded upon the State it self taking and fortifying places of assurance without any Warrant from the King and contrary to an express order set down in August in the year 1612. whereby it evidently appeareth to be of the Kings Royal favor and goodness to assign them places of surety and not for them to chuse or usurp where they please Adde to this their notable presumption and disobedience shewen in laboring so much to introduce the reformed Churches of Bearne and to annex them to those of France by an Act of Vnion as they call'd it both Spiritual and Temporal passed at Rochel in the year 1617. In which business they were so confident That they did not onely justifie their pretended act by Apology but promised all possible assistance to Bearn yea and bound themselves by Oath First To observe and execute whatsoevâ—r was determined in that Assembly Secondly To venture their Lives and Estates in maintenance thereof and thirdly Not to reveal or make known any Propositions Advices or Resolutions taken or made in that Assembly unto any person whatsoever no not to the King himself All which was done by them not onely irregularly and without Law but most contemptuously also in as much as they well know that the King of France had sent to all the Provinces and expresly forbad that Vnion yea and had made a Decree of his Councel to the contrary Besides how they used Regnard whom the King had sent into Bearn as his Commissioner about the Church Goods and what disorders they committed at Paw against him is scarce credible Not to speak any thing of their Assembly holden at Loudun with most obstinate disobedience to the Kings command At Grenoble the King was content and gave them leave to hold an Assembly but that all the World might see what a factious and froward spirit governed them they refuse the place and by their own authority assemble at Nâ—smes At Chastelrault and Saumur the King suffered them to Assemble onely to chuse two Deputies who were to remain at Court and receive the Kings Orders concerning them and to exhibite from time to time their own Plaints and Grievances as occasion should be Contrary to this they make an Act of Vnion there also and take the same Oath which the Confederate Catholikes then in Arms had not long before taken yet with this difference That whereas the Catholikes protest their service to His Majesty so long as he continued Catholike which was to oblige him to no more then his Oath and the Interest of His Royal Office required of him so long as he lived These Hugonots protest theirs onely on this condition viz. Le Sovereign Empire de Dieu demeurant tousiours en son entier that is to say in effâ—ct So far as may stand with their duty to God Which whosoever knows what a Hugonot thinks is his duty to God will confess to be a restriction of an equivocal and perillous signification to a King of France And so they did plainly shew sending presently after to the Camp at Sansay and offering to joyn with those Frenchmen who had taken arms to oppose the Kings marriage And not onely this but they established in each Province of France a Councel of their own to hear Affairs and to take notice what the Order and Government of the Country was yea and importunately urged to have Counsellors in the Parliament at Paris Lastly to shew in one Act as in a Mirror the height of their Presumption and Treason in the year 1621. at Rochel out of their own onely authority and arrogance they divide the Provinces of France into Seven Synods which they call Circles adding Bearn for the Eighth And having formerly resolved to have War with the King and to make good their actings by force of Arms in this Assembly now they make Orders for the Government of their Army they chuse a General and Officers for every Circle which what other thing was it but to Cantonize France Art 35. They Decree That no Treaty nor Truce should be made without this Assembly They Order That this pretended General Assembly of theirs in respect of the great charge which they must necessarily undergo should arrest all the Kings Rents and Money due for Tails Ayds Gabels c. They appoint Officers for collecting the same Art 36. They order the seizing and letting to Farm of all Goods Ecclesiastical and profits of Churches Revenues of Parsonages c. Art 41. They take the same order for all the profits of the Admiralty And when all was done the Articles are every one of them signed by their President Combart very solemnly yea as foul as their fault was and beyond all colour of excuse yet there is nothing pretended in the business but Justice and Loyalty and His Majesties service All is covered with that false mantle of Religion and Publike good But wisely and truly was it long since observed by the Orator Tully Totius injustitiae nulla capitalior c. Of all injustice saith he none is more odious and abominable then where men act their villanies under a vizard and pretence of good I for my part shall not insist much here upon the opinion of the Civilians what a Sect is what meetings of people are justly called Conventicles and declared to be against the Prince and the ancient Laws nor how Faction and Conspiracy are defined by the Lawyers and when they fall within the compass of Treason as conceiving it matter though not altogether impertinent to my subject yet something more then I have undertaken For this therefore I refer you to Farinaâ—ius Part. 4. to Decius Lib. 7. c. 7 20. to Bossius to Gigas and others who can with greater authority resolve you I shall onely alledge the Municipal and Common Laws of France in such cases which heretofore have used to be a rule and bridle of Justice and to be able to
the Moveables and Ornaments belonging to them the Augmentation Court was erected For the King seeing this extraordinary passiveness and submission of the Clergy could never think he had power sufficient till he had more then enough and therefore having already discharged his conscience from all Bonds but such onely as himself should think good to tie he took liberty to commit such outrages and violence upon Sacred things as no age before him nor since can parallel For first viz. Anno 27. of His Reign he appoints the Secretary Cromwel and Doctor Leigh as his Commissioners to visit the Abbyes and they by vertue of their said Commission first take out all the Plate cheifest Jewels and Reliques belonging to those houses and seize them to the Kings use Then they dismiss all such persons Religious as were under the age of Four and twenty years and had a desire to be at liberty in the world Anno 28. All the smaller Religious houses of the value of Two hundred pounds per annum and under were given to the King by Parliament with all their Lands and Hereditaments and of these the number was not less then Three hundred seventy and six who were able to dispend per annum to the benefit of the poor and service of the Publike not less then Three thousand two hundred pounds of old Rents of Assize bâ—side their Moveables Which bâ—ing undervalued and sold at mean rates yet amounted to above One hundred thousand pounds The Religious themselves and all people depending on them which were not a few were on a sudden outed and left unprovided even of Habitation above Ten thousand persons for no particular crimes charged or proved against them turned out of their own doors and driven to seek their fortune where they could A thing which compassionated the very common people themselves though not a little alienated in their affections at that time towards Monasticks more then they were wont to be to see so many persons compelled to Beg and live by Almes who by their bountiful and constant Hospitality had formerly releived many Anno 30. of His Reign some of the greater Abbies viz. Battle-Abby and the Abby of Lewis in Sussex Martin Abby in Surry Stratford in Essex were suppressed and all things belonging to them converted to the Kings use For indeed they were forced in some sort to proceed thus politickly in their work of desolation and to carry it on by degrees by reason of the Commonalty who though they stirred not yet they stood amazed as it were murmuring as lowd as they durst and were not a little unsatisfied at such doings But in the years 32. and 33. generally all the Monasteries of England of what value soever went to wrack and were destroyed The Lands belonging to Saint John's of Jerusalem were likewise given to the King and the Corporation of those Knights quite dissolved Though to turn out these with some kinde of contentment there was as some say certain Pensions during life distributed among them to the value of Two thousand eight hundred and seventy pounds In Anno 37. was the last sweep which King Harry made For then all the Chauntries in any part of the Kingdom which were many and numerous All Churches and places Collegiate yea the very Hospitals which were built and endowed by their several Founders onely and expresly for the relief of the poor were yet given to the King and permitted wholly to his order and disposing The value of Church Lands in England at this time amounted to above Three hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and eighty pounds per annum and of it the King took into his own possession and apropriated to the Crown to the value of One hundred sixty one thousand one hundred pounds yearly rent The rest it seems was sold or exchanged or distributed among Favourites Lastly to abuse the poor Commons perfectly and more easily to wipe them of those great and constant advantages as well Temporal as Spiritual which they received from these Religious places while they stood a proposition is made in Parliament by the Projectors and Sharers in this worke and 't is given out also to the people abroad That out of the Revenues of these Lands thus given to the King a standing Army for defence of the Kingdom and all other Military occasions of State should be maintained of no less then Forty thousand men besides Forty Earls Sixty Barons and Three thousand Knights for the Command and Conduct of this Army where need should be So that the Commons of England by this means should never heare of Tax or Subsidy any more This indeed was as pleasing a bait for the people as could be devised and it took accordingly They bit willingly at it But the Hook sticks in their jaws to this day Such a motion as this to note in a word by the way was made in that Parliament of Henry the fourth which they called the Lay-mens Parliament by those which countenanced Wicleff and loved the Lands far better then they did the Religion of the Church But their designs at that time were defeated by the Stout and Religious opposition of Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and other Prelates joyning with him Though now there were an unfortunate and unworthy Thomas found yet siting in that Seat of Canterbury ready to side with them for his own carnal ends and to countenance the Wicleffists of these times that is those Lutheran and malicious Spirits who by their Libels The supplication of Beggars well answered by Sir Thomas Moores Supplication of Souls and other wicked practises went about to destroy the Church and extripate true Religion Adde here unto the Kings natural Inclination to vain glory which was very great and begat those prodigal expences which he used towards his Favorites and Flatterers And these could not be long maintained but by extraordinary support which being not to be had in any way of Legality and Justice Avarice at last and many other vices which he was fallen to prompted him to fall upon the Church The Lords and Courtiers could not dislike the motion knowing what a rich Prey would fall to be divided among them Especially this pleased the principal Secretary of State afterward Lord Privy Seal Lord High Chamberlain of England and Earl of Essex who being a man of great experience and of a deep reach in worldly policies knew full well that such a confused Innovation as this and so full of Spoyle would be infinitely advantagious to him and a Ladder to clime at ease unto what Wealth or Honor he could wish He therefore instigates the King with all might and main to go through with the Action and to stand stoutly to his Prerogative and profit knowing his conscience was already buried in Anne Bolens Tombe To this end and the better to pave the way to his evil designs Sacriledge and Blood not seldom going along together Three of the principal Abbots of the Kingdom and Barons
secular Priests attainted or convinced of Actual Treason against her Majestie viz. Ballard for knowing and yet concealing the attempts of Babington in the business of the Queen of Scots and old Parson Plomtree of the North who said Mass once at a rising in those parts And yet how greevously are they charged with such crimes all along the Queens Reign And how much was the people incensed against them upon that perswasion What Sermons Proclamations Lawes were made in Thunder and Lightening and Blood against these poor men Souldiers of our Saviour Christ and fighting onely with Spiritual Arms under his Banner The Cross in that part of the Catholike Church which is Militant in England What calamities afflictions miseries have they not endured by persecution hereupon The onely Colledges of Rhemes and Doway beside other Religious Orders from other places have sent out into our Lords Harvest no less then One hundred persons who have all suffered for Things purely Spiritual that is either for being Priests or for doing the Office of Priesthood viz. Saying Mass Reconciling of Sinners unto God c. In the year 25. of Queen Elizabeth it was made Felony to harbor a Priest and to be a Priest Treason And the Act looked so cruelly back to primo Elizab. that whosoever was made Priest since that time might very easily be drawn within compass of the charge The Law was made upon occasion of those Treasons of Parry Francis Throgmorton Anthony Babington and his complices as also upon occasion of F. Campian and those Priests arraigned with him For a general apprehension was taken that these had combined with some forreign Princes and other persons of power within England to restore Religion and deliver the Queen of Scots out of prison which was a business then fresh in memory Hereupon the Priests in England frame a supplication by common consent and finde means to present the same to the Queen at Greenwich by the hands of Master Shelley Wherein after they have first condemned and renounced the practises of Parry c. They profess and declare their own judgement in these words First we utterly deny that the Pope hath power to command or give License to any man to consent unto Mortal sin or to commit or intend to commit any thing contrary to the Law of God Secondly whatsoever person he be that maintaineth such opinion we renounce him and his opinion as devilish and abominable Thirdly we protest before God That all Priests who ever conversed with us have acknowledged your Majestie their lawful Queen tam de jure quam de facto as well of right as for your actual possession of the Crown that they pray for you and exhort your Subjects to obey you Fourthly and lastly they profess that it is heresie and contrary to Cotholike faith to think that any man may lift up his hand against Gods Anointed T is true the Petition had no other success with her Majestie then this viz. that Master Shelley who presumed to commit such a Treason as to present it was suffered to be sent to the Marshalsea by order of Secretary Walsingham and there to be kept prisoner to his dying day onely upon this pretence Scilicet because the Councel had not been first acquainted with the business Howbeit by this supplication the world may cleerly see They answer the Six Articles which in those times used to be so commonly and captiously propounded to such men framed by Doctor Hammon viz. Whither the Queen were lawful Queen notwithstanding the sentence Decleratory of Pope Pius Quintus against her whither that sentence were to be obeyed in althings Whither the Pope by such sentence could give her Subjects any lawful Authority to rebel or depose her c. For if she be their lawful Sovereign notwithstanding that sentence and that obedience and loyalty be due unto all lawful Princes by the Law of God and of nature it is easie to see what must be said to such questions According also as Bishop Watson Abbot Fecknam Doctor John Harpsfeild Doctor Nicholas Harpsfeild with others who were very often and rigidly examined upon them yet professed perpetually obedience to her Majestie tanquam verae Reginae as unto their true and lawful Sovereign Yea saith Doctor Nicholas Harpsfeild reported by Goldastus a Protestant Ego regalem ejus Authoritatem Goldast de Monar Sac. Imp. Rom. c. I do acknowledge saith he her Royal Authority in all Temporal and Civil affair without exception They presented the like humble supplication to his Majestie that now reigneth some while after the discovery of that wicked and desperate Plot of the Gun-powder-treason another to the Parliament then sitting and another to the Earl of Salisbury in all of them professing the same things And though it hindred not the passing of some severe Acts against Catholikes in that Parliament occasioned as I suppose by that foul and horrid attempt yet the King himself in his Proclamation published upon that subject gratiously professeth his opinion of the generality of his Catholike Subjects viz. That they did abhor such a detestable Conspiracy no less then himself True it is F. Garnet suffered for concealing that Treason and Sir Everard Digby for contributing in some sort to the security or rather flight of some of the Conspirators But as the one viz. Sir Everard Digby much lamented his ill fortune that he should leave behinde him the memory of so great a stain protesting always that he was never made privy to their design and drift So the other viz. F. Garnet knowing it onely as he did in the way of confession and the Seal of that Sacrament which is Secrecy being by the Doctrine of Catholike Religion and that not without most just and necessary cause esteemed so inviolable it may abate something even in the judgement of man of that Heynousness of guilt and blame whereof all good Christians otherwise must necessarily condemn him In a word how much Catholikes in general and especially Priests do detest rebellion and Treason even in times of greatest affliction and pressure and what Religious observers they are of all just loyalty and obedience to their lawful Princes appears cleerly not onely by a book written in those times by the learned Bishop of Chichester Doctor Christopherson against rebellion but also by the Annotations of the Divines at Rhemes upon the New Testament where Pag. 301. we read thus Subjects saie they are bound in Temporal things to obey even the Heathen being their lawful Kings and to be subject to them for Conscience to observe their Temporal Laws to pay them Tribute to pray for them and to perform all other duties of Natural Allegiance Doctor Kellison in his Survey goeth further giving the reason of this Because saith he Faith is not necessarily required to jurisdiction neither is any Authority lost by the loss of Faith Which is also the Doctrine of Saint Thomas who in his Book Cap. 6. de Regim Princip denieth utterly
we see well enough it had been in other cases of this Nature Neither in King Edward the Sixths time nor against the Kings of Scotland Denmark Sweden Duke of Saxony Marquis of Brandenburgh or any other Protestant Prince was there ever any such sentence issued to this day Whereupon Father Pâ—rsons and Father Campian procured some kinde of mitigation concerning it presently after the publishing and Pope Gregory following declared That the Subjects of England ought to perform all duties to Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding the censures So little reason is there in truth that Protestants should clamour so loud as they do and cry out nothing but Treason Treason against religious and good men who as they have no other business so come they hither for no other end but to do them good and so far as lieth in their power and office to save their souls They tell the world that no less then two hundred Priests have been executed in England for Treason since the times of Reformation which is certainly a very heavy report and sufficient to make them odious to all the world if it were true or that there were any thing in it but fallacie and aequivocation of words whiles they call that Treason in England which in all parts of Christendome besides is both called and counted Religion and the highest Vertue For we beseech them to tell us of what Treason do they convict us at any time but the Treason of being a Priest the Treason to say Mass the Treason to refuse the Oath the Treason to absolve Penitents confessing their sins the Treason to restore men to the Communion of the Church the Treason to Preach and Administer Christs Sacraments the Treason to be bred up in the Seminaries that is in such places where onely as things now stand in England thâ—y can be Catholikely bred and fitted for such Christian imployment What actual and real Treason is in England according to the true sâ—nse and notion of that crime â—dious both to God and man the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. will inform us better then any other being enacted when the whole Kingdom was of one mind and of one judgement as all Christian Kingdoms and Societies ought to be not rent nor overborn by factions and parties undermining and supplanting one another by indirect and undue meanes as it was when these new Statutes of Treason were made By that Statute and by the opinions of the most learned Judges in England Ploydon Stamford c. Treason must alwayes be some Action or Intention actually discovered not an opinion onely or a profession of Religion And this is the reason why Sir John Oldcastle Stow. one of Mr. Fox his Martyrs in the Reign of Henry the Fifth mentioned before though he were both Traytor and Heretike yet for his Treason he was condemned in one Court and for his Heresie in another as also were Cranmer and Ridley in Queen Maries time Secondly it must be some Act or Intention discovered of a subject prejudicial to his Sovereign or to the State where he lives But what hurt had ever I say not Queen Mary Henry the Eighth while he stood right Henry the Seventh or any other Catholike Prince but even Queen Elizabeth her self King James or any other Protestant Prince by a Priests saying Mass absolving of Penitents preaching of sound Doctrine to them and particularly of all due and just obedience to Civil Magistrates as they have ever constantly done Therefore by the common Laws of England and in it self it is not it cannot be Treason or criminous to be a Priest to say Mass Absolve c. But onely by Statute Laws it is made so upon temporary and present occasions and for certain politick ends which men have projected of themselves and which they are resolved to follow And therefore also it is by the very Statutes themselves provided 22. and 27. Elizab. That if a Priest conforms be content to go to Church to renounce the Pope or his Orders c. he becomes ipso facto without more ado Rectus in Curia and is actually discharged of all imputation of Treason no further proceedings lie against him Yea even at the very place of Execution and when the instruments of death are upon him yet still 't is in his own power if he please in three words to pardon himself and frustrate the expectation of so many eyes as are commonly waiting to see his last Exit Let him but say I will conform or I will swear c. Ther 's no man living dares meddle with him further Which is far otherwise where the offence is judged to be Treâ—son indeed and really prejudicial to the Prince or State But the fatal resolution being taken to change Religâ—on upon a principle or pretended reason of State as false as the Counsel it self was evil viâ— That otherwise the Queen could not be secure either of her Kingdom or Life it was necessary to take a severe course with those men whose Function obliged them to maintain True Religion and to endeavour to reduce things again into the old State From this root also sprang their extream jealousie and hatred of the Queen of Scots For she being Heir Apparent to the Crown after Queen Elizabeth and a Princess zealously affected unto Catholike Religion and so strongly Allied in France Those Statesmen who had contrived and wrought all the alterations here could never think themselves secure so long as her head stood upon her shoulders Therefore was she first invited into England upon pretence of Friendship and for Safety But when she was here used with so much unkindness and kept under restraint for little less then twenty years together that at last in order to procure her Liberty she was indeed provoked to doe something which it was easie for them who loved her not to interpret to be Treason and so they cut off her head From hence also sprung those continual injuries and practises of much ingratitude against the King of Spain The intercepting of his Treasure The holding of his Towns The ayding of Orange and the States as hath been said Lastly from this onely Source and Fountain of unjust Policie sprung all those laws of severity and bloud against Recusants as we are commonly called viz. of Twenty pound a moneth of Two third parts of Estate against Hearing Mass against Harbouring a Priest against Being reconciled c. It is well known the Recusants of England against whom those Laws were made were generally persons in all degrees of the Noblest quality in this Nation Vertuous Grave Wise Charitable Just and Good men of fair and friendly Conversation towards all I shall not say Loyal to their Prince because the contrary is so commonly beleeved Stow. yet our own Chronicles will not altogether deny them right in that regard while they testifiâ— how diligent and forward they were to offer their service to the Queen and State even in that great Action of Eighty eight Neither were