should be abolished and that whosoever defended the Popes Authority in Scotland should be banished and that all former Acts to the contrary should be repealed This was pretended to be done by the three Estates but the Queens Commission could not be shewn nor any consent of hers to confirm such Acts beside the opposition which the Clergy or State Ecclesiastical generally made against such proceedings See Jo. Leslaeus hist of Scotland not onely in the Parliament or Convention of States where they happened to be overborn but all the Kingdom over Therefore to make that seem good by a colour of Law which was at first begun by meer Faction and Violence some years after viz. Anno 1567. and after the deposition or rather unjust and forced Resignation of their lawful Sovereign the Queen they procure an other Parliament to be called the Earl Murray being then Regent and the King scarce out of his Cradle which confirms the Acts of the Parliament 1560. Cap. 9. and prescribes an oath to be taken by all succeeding Kings to maintain the Religion then received to which as yet no King had ever consented and establisheth the Confession of that Church The Queen provoked with their many and insufferable indignities had before this time sent for some French Forces into Scotland to oppose them But this they take so ill and the Preachers of new Doctrine in all parts of the Kingdom improve the occasion so much to her disadvantage and to the further incensing of the people that at last they not onely make shift to exclude her from all Government putting her in condition of a private person but dishonor her beside with most capital and criminous Accusations yea and cast her into prison not without great danger of her life Beza that Tibullus of Genevah instigating and encouraging them much thereunto who is pleased in his Reformed Zeal and Eloquence to call her Medea Athaliah and what not Nullum ejus sceleribus nomen c. The Good Man it seems could not finde words bad enough to express her guiltiness and yet how well is it known he had store of them always at command and how maliciously he pleaded against her while she was prisoner in England onely out of hatred to the House of Lorrain appears abundantly in his Book called Reveille-Matin I confess generally t is better to bury old quarrels then to renew their memory yet to justifie the Innocent and to detect perfectly the evil practises of these men I cannot forbear to insist a while on this Subject and to declare more particularly what inducements they pretended for such exorbitant courses They accused the Queen of procuring the death of her Husband the Lord Henry Darley out of a desire and intention to marry Bothwel who was principal in the murther Therefore say they for zeal to Justice for the Honor of the Realm and satisfaction to Forreign Nations it is necessary that she be under restraint til she cleer her self from the imputation of such heinous crimes These were their Accusations and pretenses But touching the Murther it was very unlike to be true and certainly required manifest proofs if ever any cause did Her Sex was not fit for such a Butchery and her nature known to be too Royal to harbor such dishonorable Treachery though she had some just cause of offence against him If she had desired to put him to death he was her Subject and she might have done it openly legally and by course of Justice He had been of the Confederacy for the killing of David Riza her Secretary his own Dagger was found in his Body The Earl Morton beeing fled into England upon that offence he presumed to revoke him and call him home without thâ— Queens knowledge or allowance Neither was he Loyal to the Queen in respect of Conjugal affection and duty his offâ—nsiveness in that kinde was very notorious and scandalous to all the Court and occasion of much disquiet and difference betwixt the Queen and him and from whence their common Adversaries took advantage in a short time to ruin them both What then is the proof of such a crime what evidence bring they to convince her guilty of the Fact First they object that Douglas Earl Bothwels man was executed for it True And that it was he that brought a Box of Letters of the Queens to Bothwel which he had received of Sir James Balfoor at Edenburgh to carry to his Master by which Letters intercepted their juglings and practises viz. of the Queen and Bothwel were discovered It is answered Lyes have commonly one Leg short and so 't is here For is it probable that either the Queen or the Earl should repose such confidence and so great secrets in a man that was known to be at the devotion of a contrary Faction as Sir James Balfoor was Is it likely she would at all send such a Packet which she knew contained matter of great Peril but of no consequence at all to her self For she directs them to be burnt and might have done that her self well enough without the labor of sending them to him Beside the Queen ever denied those Letters to be hers though her hand had been counterfeited to them neither was there Superscription Indorsement Seal Date or any thing else that might possibly discover more cleerly whose they were or from whom coming Her hand was onely Subscribed the Letters themselves of another Character and truly it is not probable that in a business of so great privacy she should require the State of a Secretary and that of some Stranger too for had it been the hand of any of her ordinary Amanuenses the case had been cleer and a discovery would have been easily made Neither could he who delivered them ever be found out to discover the Pack and Douglass who was the man accused to carry them protested at his death that he never knew of any such Letters Lastly supposing that she had indeed sent them yet was there no express proof of any unlawful act attempt or practise to charge her with Suppose she had desired to have her husband murthered doubtless it had been a great offence against God and odious to all men but was it a sufficient cause for her own Subjects to take Arms against her and to depose her Was not David in a like case in the business of Vriah and Bathshebah Yet he forfeited not his Crown Saint John Baptist reproved Herod for his Adultery yet did neither exhort nor counsel the people to deprive him of his Dignity though he were both a stranger of Idumaea and an usurper Edward the fourth of England was not deposed for keeping another mans Wife though he committed a great sin Nor Henry eighth for cutting off the Heads of so many of his own Wives and committing as great sins Spectante populo in the view of his Kingdom and of all the world Surely these Bouâ—efeux while they presume to punish their Kings for sin without
were men which of all others were thought to care least for Religion Sir Philip Sidney indeed like a Noble and worthy Courtier as he was endeavored by a short Treatise to present unto Her Majesty the unfitness disproportion and inconveniencies of that Match both in relation to Her Person and the whole Realm but he did it privately and with discreet circumspection Stubs like an indiscreet and fiery Zelot taking the question in hand and prosecuting it in a way more likely to incense and corrupt the people then to advise or inform the Queen Cund in Elizab. his hand paid for his presumption And though some of the greatest and wisest of the Councel appeared very earnestly for it as a thing which was likely to unite the whole Kingdom of France unto England and would surely bring along with it the offer of the Netherlands by the Prince of Orange and the States whereby England was like to become a petent Monarchy yet was the whole Body of the Kingdom cast into much distemper and jealousies thereby Some upon partiality and faction others upon distrust of the practises of France some for their own some for their friends sinister ends and ambitions as in this very case I am perswaded men are not a little possessed with the same diseases and humors And if I did not well know the nature of the multitude which is a Beast with many heads and as mad brains I should wonder how they durst oppose the designs of their Sovereign a Prince of so great Experience and Judgement and who hath managed this business from the beginning with such wariness caution and prudence as this great Conjunction cannot portend any other effects then honor comfort and prosperity to the whole Nation Is he not the fittest to judge in his own case And his case being the case of the Commonwealth in general if any private man shall arrogate to himself either more wisdom to amend what is already done or pretend more affection to the State or more providence to foresee and prevent inconveniences certainly he must needs fall into the custody of the Court of Wards till he recover himself But having said this I shall leave the whole matter as a deliberative still and tell you in few words what the occasion was of this Discourse which followeth The occasion of the following Discourse THere met at a Merchants House in London where Merchants for their Table and Hospitality do worthily bear the Bell from all the Merchants in Europe divers persons of quality where being together in a Garden before Dinner T. Aldreds Letter the Pamphlet aforesaid and some strange reports of seditious practises from Amsterdam were read and discoursed upon In the midst of all comes in a fine Chaplain belonging to a great person in England and one that was of the Merchants acquaintance who hearing but a little of the discourse which at that time was the common Table-talk of City and Country with much vehemency he affirmed the Match was likely to breed great troubles and mischief to the Kingdom and that forsooth in regard as well of the increase of Catholikes within the Realm which it would occasion as also in regard of Spain which he ignorantly called an ancient Enemy Hereupon also he took occasion to rail bitterly against the Church of Rome as the Seminary of all the commotions in Europe and the contriver and plotter of all Treasons in England And being resolved to shew his Rhetorick in the Ruff and to omit nothing which might exasperate the company against Catholikes he alledged for examples in thundering language Heywards Reign of Edw. 6. the death of King Edward the Sixth sillily enough that you will say the many conspiracies against Queen Elizabeth buâ— especially that horrible project of the Gun-powder Treason which being undertaken onely by a few desperate Male-contents in justice might rather be buried with the offendors then objected perpetually to innocent men who do generally with great sorrow abhor the very memory of the fact and were publikely acquitted thereof by the King himself in the next Parliament following See the Kings Speech in Parliament Besides this he urged That Princes be disquieted yea endangered many times by Excommunications Bulls and other censures from the Pope by the Catechisms and Doctrines of Jesuites and that the Subjects of England are withdrawn by them from their obedience to their lawful Princes Lastly That they are a people so full of treacheries and disloyalty as no Nation can shew the like He forgat nor you must think to arm himself with the authority of Doctor Morton whose Maxim it was That we may now as well expect a white Aethiopian as a good Subject of that Religion He produced a Book entituled A discovery of Romish Doctrine in the case of Conspiracy and Treason wherein the Author playeth his master-prize against poor Catholikes with equal malice and indiscretion charging them with an infinity of scandalous accusations able to drive men into despair of the Kings Grace towards them and to breed in His Majesties Royal Heart an everlasting distrust of them He urged Parson Whites rash and uncharitable judgement against them That all their Religion was full of such Doctrines as afforded Monsters of conspiracy against the State that they teach men to murther Kings to blow up Parliaments and that since Bells time never was there such a ravenous Idol found as are the Priests of the Seminaries Ormerode also that famous Picture-maker was alledged in this heat who by a great mistake took upon him to condemn the singular and renowned Doctor Allen as affirming That Princes may be slain by their Subjects from the Text Numb 25. At length he concluded all with that Rhetorical flourish of Monsicur Lewis Baily in his Book of The Practice of Piety pag. 783. which he produced with much oftentation as if it alone had been enough to cast the whole Society of the Fathers into a fit of a Quartane Jesuites and Priests saith he are sent to withdraw Subjects from their Allegiance to move Invasion and to kill Kings If they be Saints who be Scythians Who are Cannibals if they Catholikes This conclusion for the art and wit of it could not but deserve a plaudite so the company went to Dinner and after Dinner this fine Chaplain was gone in haste Thereupon some of the company not so much taken with his Rhetorick as were the rest desired a Gentleman then present who well understood the World and was a freeman not obliged to any particular order furthen then as a Son of the Church to deliver his opinion of the Ministers invective which at last upon their much importunity he was perswaded to do in such maner as is here with his leave and particular information represented to you After some pause Claudius accusat Maechos quoth he Catilina Cethegum This is most ridiculous who can endure to hear a Gracchus inveigh against Sedition A man may perceive by the Prologue That
and Cantons This Union was made by the States in the year 1578. For seeing on the one hand the fortunate Proceedings of the Duke of Parma and on the other the course of thâ— Male-Contents they enter a perpetual League which was comprized in Twenty Articles In the first whereof Holland Zealand Frize and Gelders joyn contra omnem vim quae sub praetextu c. to maintain one another against all force whatsoever that shall be made upon them in the Kings name or for matter of Religion After this viz. in the year 1579. the Prince of Orange who was the contriver and ringleader of all with those of Antwerp and Gaunt enter the League and subscribe on the Fourteenth of February and it was again confirmed at the Hague the Twentieth of July 1581. The design in all being to expel their Leige Lord the King of Spain and to deprive him of those Dominions as presently after they did publishing an Edict in the name of the States unitâ—d with this title or prescription Que le Roy a' Espague est descheu c. That the King of Spain is fallen from the Dominion of the Low-Countries and injoyning an Oath or form of Abjuration to be taken by all the people of those Countries in these words I W. N. Comme un bon vassal du ' pais Sware anew and binde my self to the Provinces united to be Loyal and Faithful to them and to Aid them against the King of Spain as a true Man of the Country Upon this they break all the Kings Seals pull down his Arms seize and enter upon his Lands Rents Customes and all Hereditaments whatsoever taking them into their own possession and as absolute Lords they Coyn Money in their own names they place and displace Officers of State Banish the Kings Counsellors seize upon Church livings suppress Catholike Religion beseidge Amsterdam and do all other acts that might import Supream and absolute Dominion And all this with so much terror and violence that as 't is reported Raald a Counsellor for Frizeland upon onely hearing of their maner of proceeding and of the new Oath against the King died suddenly therewith as of an Apoplexy The reasons they give why the King had forfeited his title and right to these Countries were these First because he labored to suppress Religion They mean their own which they had newly taken up contrary to the old and which had it not been for the opposition made against it by the Kings Governors in the Provinces had long before this time destroyed the Kings Religion which was legally established and received by the geâ—eral consent approbation and profession of the whole Country Secondly for oppressing that is governing them not according to the Law but by Tyranny Thirdly for abrogating their priviledges and holding them in a condition of bondage and servitude Such a Prince say they we are not bound to obey as a Lawful Magistrate but to â—ject as a Tyrant But this is a Presidâ—nt of vâ—ry dangerous consequâ—nâ—e doubtless For if private Subjects as 〈◊〉 that time they were without difpute may depose their Prince meerly upon general Charges and without having done any one overt Act contrary unto the Laws or the duty of his Office and may make themselves sole Judges in the cause of what is right betwixt the Prince and the People of which they were in no capacity either formal or virtual that is representative more then a Minor part Qui stat videat ne cadat there is no Prince nor State in the world can be secure The Rochellers may plead this as much as the Hollanders and so may any discontented party under a government which they like not as well as they But it shall not be amiss to enquire a little further into this business and lay open to plain view the grounds occasions and consequences thereof so compendiously as we shall be able The original primary and true cause of these troubles was the spring and growth â— heresie which by this time was like a Gangreen spread over the greatest part of Germany and not the least in these Low-Countries where under the shadow of religion especially of abetting and promoting liberty of Conscience as they called it All factions of State and discontentments of Ambitious persons shrowded themselves The peoples natural inclination to Novelty was great and set it much forward yet there wanted not the Concurrence of some Forreigners to blow the Coals of dissention both out of England and France Charls the Fifth Emperor a wise and provident Prince remembringing what a piece of work Luther had lately cut him out in Germany and with what danger difficulty and charge he overcame it intended as well for the quietness of these Provinces as for his own Interest and Honor to prevent as much as he could the Propagation of Martinests and all other Sects whatsoever And to that end finding no other means more proper and fit to be applied unto such a Malady had established the Inquisition among them about the yeer 1550. for the Execution whereof Mary Queen of Hungary then Regent of the Low-Countries procured such Explication and Mitigation of some Circumstances as was judged necessary But after this the Emperor resigning the whole government of these Provinces to his Son King Philip retired himself by a most memorable example voluntarily from the world and consâ—crated the last act of his life entirely to God and devotion King Philip at the first entrance into his government finding how much the Sects increased daily in Flanders notwithstanding the means opposed against them and considering what danger would ensue upon it to the State followed strictly his Fathers advise and in the year 1555. renewed the Commission Instructions and Articles for the said Inquisition But this as it happened through the general contagion and distemper of mindes which Heresie had bred in the people provd onely matter of further discontent to the Inhabitants of the Nether-Lands and did no good They alledge that all Strangers would thereupon be forced to depart the Country and by consequence their Trading would decay which was the Golden Mine and maintenance of those Provinces Thus they complained but indeed their inward grief was the humor of Innovation to which they were much inclined and therefore feared themselves There was another Politick Act of the Kings yet withall of very religious concernment and design which added Fewel to this Fire namely the Erecting of those new Bishopricks at Gaunt Ipres Floren. vand Haer de tumult Belgic Antwerp c. which he intended all the Provinces over And a third viz. the authority and power of the Bishop of Arras whose Cardinals Hat lately procured him by the Kings favor made him the more odious so as the greater his Obligation was to his Holiness or the King their Sovereign so much more it seemed was the malice both of the Nobility and common people incensed against him Lastly they urge their Ancient priviledges
best assistance to the support of the Estate Royal and of the Kingdom wherein they lived It is true through the malice of the Devil and Instigation of some Enemies of the Church some of them for the asserting of their legal Immunities and to preserve the Liberty of their spiritual Jurisdiction entirely Free as it ought they were dirven now and then yet very seldom in comparison of such a long tract of time as we instance in unto some vehement and earnest contestation with their Princes and though much further then was pleasing to them yet I suppose not beyond terms of due respect and the Authority of their Function much less did they endeavor to stir up rebellion or instigate the people to sedition and commotions against their Princes nor did they ever upon their own account solely concur in any thing of that nature The first King that ever gave cause in this Kingdom effectually and in the face of the world to trie the admirable patience obedience and loyalty of Catholikcs was King Henry the Eighth Flagellum Dei that scourge of God to the Church of England and all good Catholikes therein yet outwardly professing the same Religion in most things with Catholikes This he did first by a pretended Accusation of the Clergy to be fallen in a Praemunire because Scil they did that which all their predecessors the Bishops and Clergy of England for many Hundreds of years confessedly had done without any exception taken viz. for acknowledging the power Legantine of Cardinal Wâ—lsey which yet the King himself for his own ends and in his own case had first of all procured 2. upon the Statute of supremacy And 3. by suppression of the Abbies These were his Three first breaches by which the Foundation strength and glory of the Catholike Church in England became afterwards utterly ruinated By the first his way was levelled to the Second and the Second obtained gave him power and authority to compass the Third By the First indeed onely the Clergy smarted in a fine of an Hundred thousand pound The second lay heavy upon the Clergy and Temporalty both But by the Third viz. the suppression of the Abbies and Religious houses if we consider the infinite prejudice which the poor Commonalty suffered thereby both in point of spiritual and temporal interest the whole Kingdom might be said to be worse then conquered by him that is Robbed Spoiled Enslaved to the exorbitancy of his sole Will Prodigality Lust and Tyranny And all this done to be revenged on the Pope who condescended not to humor him in the business of his marriage Therefore and to advance his own power and greatness That Authority and Jurisdiction which had alway been acknowledged as sacred by the English ever since the English were Christians must in a moment be abandoned disclaimed abjured himself by an unheard of and fatal Ambition instead thereof made Head of the Church and all persons who out of scruple of Conscience refused to conform to such grand sudden and sacrilegious Innovations and to swear they knew not what were cut shorter by the head executed at Tyborn imprisoned banished and put into such condition as he was sure they should not oppose him The ground of the Praemunire was at first onely a quarrel which he pick't against the Cardinal Wolsey but afterwards stretched it upon the Tenters and made it reach the whole Clergy who being thereupon Summoned into the Kings Bench the business was so aggravated there by the Lawyers The Kings Learned Counsel that in the Convocation house they presently concluded to submit themselves to the King and offer him no less sum then One hundred thousand pound for their pardon This was look't upon by the Christian world as a Prodigy That so many Shepherds should be afraid of one Wolfe And though it becomes us not hear to censure whether they did as they ought yet certainly this weakness of the Pastors boded no good to the Flock and it is observed that neither themselves nor the Church nor Religion ever prospered in England afterwards However the King accepts of thâ—ir offâ—r and signs their Pardon but with a fetch far worse then the first For undâ—r a prâ—â—eâ—ce of procuring this Pardon to be confirmed to them in Parliament he draws thâ—m in there how willingly or unwillingly let the world judge to acknowledge him Supream Head of the Church It was a course even at that time not thought agreeable to Justice or Honor. For as we said the Cardinal Wolsey had the Kings License for the exercise of his Legantine power both under the Kings hand and the Great Seal of England and was employed by the Kings particular Mandate and pleasure in the quality of Legat to sit with the other Legat Cardinal Campegius and examine the business of his marriage And could the Divorce have been granted according to the Kings minde it is easily conjectured the Cardinal had never been questioned for his Legat-ship Touching the Second of Supremacy All the Subjects of England ever acknowledged that the Crown and State of England quoad Temporalia in Temporal affairs and matters is independent of any other power but of that Transcendent Majestie which saith Per me reges regnant and this to the intent that Kings and all Governors considering who will one day take their Audit may be more careful to rule with Justice and common equity without partiality passion prejudice against any mans person further then his crimes against Publike Order Common Right and the Peace of the State shall make him obnoxious and by so doing may keep their accounts streight against the day of Account And on the other side that Subjects remembring their duty and who it is that layeth this jugum suave the sweet Yoke of good Government upon their Shoulders might be induced to obey with more fidelity and prompt affection But the Question which King Henry the first of all Kings Princes or States of Christendom propounded to his Clergy and People in Parliament concerned matters purely Spiritual and wherein not himself onely and his Subjects at home but all Christian Kings Princes States and people in the world were concerned And therefore required far greater deliberation I say not then was used for in truth that was little or none at all the Kings pleasure and resolution was known and that as the world went then was sufficient but I say then could possâ—bly be used in England which was then but one single Kingdom and a small Province of Christendom And for the suppression of the Abbeys and Religious houses by that Act and this other of Supremacy together the Clergy of England were brought absolutely into Captivity and stood meerly as they have done ever since at the pleasure of the King and of the State Their Possessions the greatest part of them were seized their Goods forfeited their Churches profaned and sacked and upon the spoils thereof together with the sale of the Vestments Chalices Bells and other
the Kings of Spain France Poland the Princes of Italy Germany c. And yet this is but the first peale which he rang as a Toxsan or Alarum-bell to Bohemia For he addeth another Article which if they look not well to it may touch Reformers Freehold as well as other Princes It is Quando sub praeâ—extu Religionis c When under colour of Religion they look after their own advantages or profit This had not been a Lecture to be read to Henry the Eighth and the Courtiers of his time And surely if a man should ask Murray and Morton those two pillars of Reformation in Scotland Orange and Horn in the Netherlands Conde and the Admiral in France the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland in England Saxony Sweden Denmark and the rest of the Lutheran Princes in Germany whether they had not some by-ends of Avarice Ambition and other sinister and worldly nature when they seemed to be most hot and zealously transported it might trouble them all perhaps what to answer Last of all he assigneth another cause of deposition viz. When they oppress their Subjects in matter of Conscience Which indeed is the strangest of all for who ever knew a Calvinist permit Liberty of Conscience to another man whom he could compel to his own and yet in this point he is so earnest that unless the people do this viz. Resist the Superior Magistrate in the defence of themselves and true Religion he tells them in conscientiis incolumes esse nequeunt They cannot have true peace of Conscience They should offend God by not doing it And in his Commentary upon Judges he speaketh yet more absurdly and dangerously Magistratus Minor potest occidere majorem The Inferior Magistrate in this case may kill the Superior Baylâ—ffs Sheriffs Constables their King and Sovereign or if they think fit one another upon the quarrel of Religion because saith he Domestick Tyrants are more to be suppressed or opposed then Forreigners or such as are without us Neither was Paraeus the onely Master of Paradoxes in that Country although it must be confessed his Doctrine so corrupted the Palatinate that in England to prevent the like evill his Books were purged by fire Gracerus his Pew-fellow teacheth that the Malice of Antichrist that is in his sense the actings or zeal of any Catholike Prince for the true Religion established coercenda est gladio must be resisted saith he or restrained by the Sword And Aretius himself sufficiently shews his affections to the Emperor Christian Empire when he teacheth that the Dragon in the Apocalyps that is the Devil Dedisse Imperio potestatem suam c. gave to the Empire its power and greatness and that plenitudinem Diabolismi the Fulness of Diabolical malice and hatred against Christ dwelleth in the Empire Nor are we to think that this Doctrine was onely Speculative among them it was the practise also of that pretended Church ab origine Yea their own Neighbors and Elder Brethren have felt the effects of it in much inhumane and uncivil usage from them Ask Gieskenius who was a man of Learning and no small account among the Lutherans and he will tell you one pretty exploit of theirs Emdenses Illustrem Dominum suum motâ seditione c. They of Emden saith he had by this time almost driven their Leige Lord out of all his dominions by their seditious proceedings And that they rested not till they had obtained these Articles of him who was himself a Lutheran Ne Illustrissimus Comes c. That his Excellency should not have power to grant unto his Subjects of Emden the exercise of any Religon but Calvinism 2. That himself onely at Court may have a Preacher of the Auspurgh-Confession So it was matter of favor to him that Subjects should tolerate their Princes Religion but for themselves it must be framed entirely according to their own Mode They must direct and their Prince obey If you object that this was but a private tumult and that the Church of the Palatinate did not approve of such proceedings against their Brethren it is cleerly answered by this That in the year 1602. there were twenty points established in that Church The first whereof was this Schulting Hierarch Anaâ—res Totus Lutheranismus omnes libri eorum c. That the whole Doctrine of Luther opposite to Calvinism and all the Lutherans Books be for ever taken away and prohibited Neither are they permitted in any part of the Palatinate the Marquisate of Brandenburgh or the Territory of Emden 'T is true The Lutherans where they command do as wisely provide against them They have as little footing in all the Duke of Saxonies Countries Hamborough or the Hans Towns That great Synod of Torgaw convented by the means and procurement of those Protestant Princes do testifie that the Calvinists had troubled and brought to ruin omnes Christianas Ecclesias All Christian Churches Vniversities Kingdoms and States where ever they were admitted And hence it is that they are not included under the peace and protection of the Empire the Religions Vried is no way permitted unto them as appeareth by the Edict of Charls the Fifth De composit pacis c. Anno 1532. Nor are they comprehended in his Sentence De confess Suevicâ 1530. Nor in the Interim 1548. Nor in the Constitution De pace publicâ And for the Acts made at Passau 1552. by the Emperor Ferdinand the very words exclude them from all benefit So also in his Declaration at Auspurgh 1555. And in the conclusion or agreement of the Princes of the Augustan Confession with the three Electors and other Princes and Cities in the year 1557. it was declared that the Sacramentaries Anabaptists Osiandrians c. were all excluded from the Articles of peace and that there should be Edicts published against them by common consent and for their utter extirpation This was enacted in the year 1557. and in the year 1566. Caesar and the Princes of the Dyet decreto publico scripserunt c. published a general decree concerning Frederick the Elector Palatine of the Rhine that he should desert the opinions of Calvin and not suffer them to be taught in any of the Churches or Schools of his Country And this Decree of the Dyet was intimated to him in the presence of the Bishops of Mentz Triers and Colen of the Elector of Saxony and of the Embassadors also of the Marquis of Brandenburgh and after his death by his Son Lewis it was obeyed In the same year the Princes declare in their reply to the Emperor permittere se nolle that they will not permit that any Sects whatsoever shall be harbored in their Dominions and that they count the Zuinglians and Calvinists for such which was also long before declared viz. in the Recess of the Empire in the year 1555. Calvinism then being so long before not counted tolerable in Germany the Bohemians of late have made it much more odious and intolerable by
which tasted of the severity of those Laws were not a little insolent and prone to attempt Yet that she was withal a Princess very merciful is manifest by her compassion shewn to such as deserved not well of her that is To the Dutchess of Somerset to Sir John Cheek who had been the principal corrupter of King Edward her Brothers Infancy to Sir Edward Montague Lord Cheif Justice who had both counselled and subscribed to her disinheriting to Sir Roger Ch lmley to the Marquis of Northampton to the Lord Robert Dudly to Sir Henry Dudly to Sir Henry Gates c. who stood all of them attainted and the Duke of Suffolk All which persons were very obnoxious to Her Justice she knew very well they neither affected Her Religion nor Title They were already her prisoners in the Tower yet she released them all But for all this the Zealots of her time would not be quieted nor suffer her to enjoy any quiet They Libel against the Government of Women they pick quarrels and murmur at her marriage they publish invectives and scurrilous Pamphlets against Religion yea they forbear not to conspire and plot Her Deprivation out of a desire to advance Her Successor to the Crown under whom every Calvinist expected a Golden Age. The austerities and abstinences which Catholike Religion prescribed and which the Queen by Authority of Parliament had but lately reduced and was her self very exemplary in the observation of them were not much pleasing to some Gallants about the Court nor to many others both in City and Country whose affections were better satisfied with the Liberties of the former Age and therefore desired some change of this But among other Instruments of mischeif that Book written by Goodman intituled Of Obedience was a most pernicious Incentive among the commons teaching expresly Ad Nobil Scot. P. 94. That Queen Mary deserved to be put to death as a Tyrant and a Monster And that other of Knox with whom the Zealots of England did correspond too much where he hath among many other of like nature this passage Illud aud actèr affirmaverim c. This I dare boldly say saith he the Nobility Magistrates Judges and whole people of England were bound in Conscience not onely to oppose and withstand the proceedings of that Jesabel Mary whom they call their Queen but even to have put her to death and all her Priests with her After this Sir Thomas Wyat takes up Arms for which Master Fox worthily Chronicles him marches his Army like another Cyrus as some called him over Shâ—oters-Hill threatning both the Court and the City Prince and People And for this Goodman in his Book Of Obedience commends him saith He did but his duty and that it was the duty of all who professed the Gospel to have risen with him This was their doctrin then And though it be said That Goodman recanted his opinion in Queen Elizabeths days it was perhaps onely that part of it which opposed the Government of Women And if he did it absolutely what doth it prove but the inconstancy of such men and how easily they can conform themselves to times that favor them and of what spirit they are under the cross and affliction Wyats pretence was particoloured looking as he would seem both at Religion and bonum Publicum in his opposing the Queens marriage with Spain as both Holinshead and Stow agree They that suppose it to have been meerly upon a civil account are confuted by the Queen her self in her Speech at Guildhal where she tells the City That she had sent divers of her Counsel to Wyat to demand the Reasons of his Insurrections and that they found The business of the marriage was onely a cloak to cover Religion which was the thing principally aimed at For he urged also to have the Tower delivered to him to have power to nominate and chuse new Counsellors declaring plainly That he would not trust but be trusted But Master Fox is plain in the case for he confesseth of all that Rabble which followed Wyat That they conspired among themselves for Religion and made Wyat their cheif The marriage was looked upon by them onely as an accessory thing and a means to strengthen that which they meant to overthrow and eo nomine for that respect onely it was to be hindred Upon this account William Thomas a Gospeller of those times conspireth to kill the Queen and at his death is so far from repenting of such a foul intention That he glorieth to die for the good of his Countrey Yea the Faction grew so tumultuous and bold That Doctor Pendleton was shot at in the very Pulpit Preaching at Pauls and Master Bourn had a Dagger thrown at him in the same place the multitude being so disorderly That the Lord Major himself had much ado to quiet them and the Lords of the Counsel were forced to come thither the next Sunday with a guard to keep things in order and to prevent further combustions which were feared At Westminster upon Easter-day a desperate fellow wounded the Priest as he was at Mass in Saint Margarets Church there After this they found out a Perkin Warbeck and brought him upon the Stage one Wilâ—iam Fetherston counterfeiting King Edward whom the world and some of themselves especially knew well enough to be dead on purpose to amuze the Queen and disturb the State There was one Cleber sometimes a Pedant living at Yakesly in Norfolke put to death for a conspiracy against the Queen Vdal Staunton Peckham and Daniel were committed for the same crime for which and for attempting to rob the Exchequer and her Treasury and also for Heresie they had their desert Not to speak of the Treasons of Dudley and Ashton set on by the French In Devonshire Sir Peter and Sir Gawin Cary great Protestants together with Sir Thomas Denny took arms to impede King Philips arrival in England possessed themselves for some time of Excester Castle but afterward seeing things go contrary to their expectation they made an escape by getting over into France Thomas Stafford coming well instructed from Genevah made Proclamations publickly in several places of the Kingdom that Queen Mary was not lawful Qeen was unworthy to reign and to abuse the people further gave out no less boldly then falsly that already Twelve of the best fortified places in England were committed to the Spaniards Upon which pretense Bradford Proctor Streachly and he surprize the Castle of Scarborough in Yorkshire a Fort of singular strength which they would hold against the Spaniards they should have said against their Queen and Sovereign but they lost it and their heads beside Henry Duke of Suffolk one to whom the Queen had given life before being Father to the Lady Jane and a privy Counsellor in those Treasons of Northumberland fled into Leicestershire with the Lord Gray making Proclamation against the Queens marriage but not being able to raise a Commanding Army as he hoped was compelled
to flie and lurk in corners Till the Earl of Huntingdon apprehending him brought him up again to his old lodging in the Tower where he made an unfortunate end I shall not urge the practises of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton a man of great wit and policy notwithstanding he was Indicted of high Treason and arraigned at Westminster with Arnold Warner and others because though the case were plain yet the Jury acquitted him but to their own cost and trouble And it was well for him the Advocates of those times desired not so much to triumph in the calamities of poor men nor that the prisoner should loose his head rather then they their oration and the glory of the day But say some there were no Ministers had any hand in those tumults none of them were Trumpeters to Sedition at that time What was Goodman and Gilby Were not they Ministers Was not Jewel a Ministâ—â— â—ho preacht at Gl ceâ—â—er against the Queens proceedâ—ngs Was not Doctor Sands a Ministâ—r though Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge when he walkt abâ—ut with the Ragged Staff and assisted the proclaimers of Lady Jane Were not Hooper Rogers Crowly Ministers all enrolled as friends and favorers of these actions And were there not divers other Ministers both of Kent and other Counties who upon Wyats fall forsook the Realm or was there any thing more likely to drive them out then a guilty Conscience what shall we say of those two Apostles falsly so called of the time Cranmer and Ridley W re not they Ministers yet great instruments of the Queens troubles And that not in King Edwards time onely upon which account some would excuse them but after his death and under the Reign of Queen Mary For Ridleys Sermon of Pauls Cross wherein like another infamous Shaw he so highly magnified and defended the Title of Lady â—anâ— and perswaded the people to accept and obey her as Queen iâ—pugning against all honesty and conscience the right of King Henries two Daughters was the Sunday after King Edward was dead And 't is well known the Reign of a Prince commenceth not from the time of his Coronation but instantly upon the death of his predecessor And therefore was he justly attainted and convicted of Treason Cranmer was both Counsellor and Oracle in the business and was therefore arraigned and condemned with the Lady Jane and Guildford Dudly as contriver and principal assistant in that Treason as appeareth by the Records in the Kings Bench. This man was a very Proteus in all his actions and of a disposition most servil and vitiously plyable to any humor of the King and ready always to follow the prevailing party He was first a principal instrument of the Kings divorce from â—â—â—en Kâ—â—bâ—â— ne whereby the 〈◊〉 Gatâ—â— were let opon to the Lady Anne Bolen yet afterward to serve the Kings Appetite he was used again as a chief instrument in her condemnation as appears by the Statute where Cranmâ—rs Sentence is recorded judicially 28. Hen. 8. c. 7. as of his own knowledge convincing her of some fowl act Nor can any wise or indifferent man but condemn him of inexcusable iniquity that being a Counsellor of State Primate and M tropolitan of the Realm pretending also to be a Reformer of Religion would so much betray his Master whose creature he was as to frustrate and make void his will whereof himself was made chief Executor subscribe to extinguish his issue as much as possibly he could by disinheriting his two Daughters and transferring the Crown to another Line and Family and all this most basely and contrary to his conscience onely to please a Subject and to avoid â—omâ—â—inde of affliction which he feared upon the Succession of Qâ—een Mary and against which 't is manifest by the frequent changings lapses relapses and perjuries which he made he was never well armed It is manifest therefore that in all places at home as well as abroad this Spirit of Reformation hath ever been and is seditiously pragmatical and dangerous unto Princes and States wheresoever it getteth footing and is not countenanced and advanced so far as to bear all the sway it self It is in this onely respect not in any other like the Motto of her who meerly for temporal and worldly ends made her self the great Patroness of it that is it is Semper Eadem always the same and never changeth This was it which induced them of Genevah to expel their Bishop and Leige-Lord This was it which induceth them of Sâ—ethland to renounce their lawful King Them of Holland to depose their Sovereign Prince This was it which Sollicited the Bohemians to depose the Emperor their Elected Crowned and Acknowledged King That imprisoned the most Vertuous and Religious Queen and Martyr Mary Queen of Scotland and cast her undeservedly into those calamities which pursued her to death This was it which held out Rochel and Montauban in defiance against their King and lastly that which begat so many conspiracies commotions and causes of jealousie unto Queen Mary of England So as within the space of Sixty years it hath been observed More Princes have been deposed and persecuted by Protestants their Subjects upon the quarrel and difference of Religion then had bin by the Popes excommunications or by the attempts and practises of any Subjects Catholikes in Six hundred before Of the troubles which have arisen to other Princes upon this occasion we have spoken somewhat already The business of Sweden is defended by one Master T. M. upon these grounds First That it was done by the demand of the whole State But this is a manifest falshood For if you take the whole State formally that is for all the people of the Nation it is certain that Sigismund their lawful King had not onely a great but the far greater and better part of the people well affected to him If you take it Virtually that is for some general Assembly representing the people legally met and resolving upon that business there never was any such called The meetings that were were onely of Duke Charls his faction who in comparison of the Kings party both of Nobility and Commons were but few yet as it often happens the better case was more negligently managed and those for the Duke who were also inclined to Innovation in Religion being more active industrious and unanimous in their design made shift to secure the Military provisions and to invest themselves of the chief Strengths of the Kingdom before the others and so prevailed as Chytraeus himself a Protestant Author is sufficient witness Chytra Continuat Crantzii Secondly he saith it was for the defence of their Priviledges and Liberties None of which were violated as by the same Chytraeus appeareth Thirdly that it was for the fruitoin of Religion That 's true indeed and confessed That they might introduce and establish a new Religion they renounced their old King which is the thing we charge them with and wherein whatsoever they did
more honorable with them and more becomming good Christians then the Sword and Fortune of a Conqueror in comanding In which most Christian posture I leave them to proceed Titulus Tertius THe last and greatest tempest against poor English Catholikes was raised by Queen Elizabeth This not onely shook the foundations of the Church which had been so lately repaired by the most Catholike Princess Queen Mary but proceeded so far as humane policy and power could to extirpate the very name and memory of Catholike Religion in England Camd. in Elizab. And this as it were in an instant and without noise For as her own Historian Camdeu reporteth it was done Sine sanguine sudore No man unless perhaps it were Master Secretary Cecil did so much as sweat in the bringing in of New Religion nor was any mans blood I mean at the first beginning drawn about it The Christian world stood amazed at the first news of such a sudden alteration Both because Religion had been so lately and so solemnly restored by Parliament as also because the Queen her self that now was always professed her self so much Catholike during the Reign of her Sister She constantly every day heared Mass saith the same Camden and beside that ad Romanae Religionis normam soepius confiteretur went often to Confession as other Roman Catholikes did Yea saith Sir Francis Ingleseild when she was upon other matters sometimes examined by Commissioners from the Queen she would her self take occasion to complain that the Queen her Sister should see me to have any doubt of her Religion and would thereupon make Protestation and Swear that she was a Catholike The Duke of Feria's Letter to King Philip is yet extant to be seen wherein is certified that the Queen had given him such assurance of her beleefe and in particular concerning the point of Real Presence that for his part he could not beleeve she intended any great Alteration in Religion The same profession also she made to Monsieur Lansack as many Honorable Persons have testified and at her Coronation she was Consecrated in all points according to the Catholike maner and anointed at Mass by the Bishop of Carlile taking the same Oath to maintain Catholike Religion the Church and Liberties thereof as all other her Catholike Predecessors Kings and Queens of England had ever done Concerning the grounds which moved her to make this Alteration so much contrary to the expectation and judgement of Christendom we shall speak in due place This was manifest that the long sickness of Queen Mary gave her great advantage time both to deliberate and draw all platforms into debate to prepare instruments in readiness for all designs and to make choise of the fittest and surest Counsellors such as were most likely to advance her ends Neither did she seem to value her Honor overmuch in order to the bringing about of her chief design For in open Parliament after her intentions for a change began to be discovered she protested that no trouble should arise to the Roman Catholikes Horas Preface of Queen Elizab. for any difference in Religion Which did much abate the opposition which otherwise might probably have been made by the Catholike party and put the Clergy themselves in some hopes of Fair quarter under her Government She knew full well that a Prince alone how Sovereign soever could not establish a new Religions in his Kingdom but that it must be the work of a Parliament to give Authority and Countenance to a business of that nature Therefore to win the Bishops and the rest of the Catholikes in Parliament to silence at least she was content to use policy with them and promise them fair as Monsieur Mauvissieir hath well observed Les memoir de Mons. Mich. Castelnau who was a long time Embassador heer from the French King and curiously noted the passages of those times Add hereunto That when the Act for Supremacy was revived which was always the great Wheel of these Motions whereas by King Henry's Law both Bishops and Barons stood in danger thereof as the examples of Sir Thomas Moor Lord Chancellor of England and Doctor Fisher Bishop of Rochester had shewen in this Parliament the Queen was content to exempt the Lords and Barons absolutely from the Oath as they in King Edward the Sixths time had exempted themselves and to leave the Rigor of it onely upon the Clergy and Commons She also thought good to qualifie the Stile somewhat viz. from Supream Head changing it into Supream Governor which though it altered not the sence yet it abused some into a beleef that the Queen pretended not unto so much in matters Ecclesiastical as the King her Father had done Beside we are to remember that King Henry by pulling he Abbyes had much weakned the power of the Clergy in Parliament having deprived them of the Votes of no less then Five and twenty Abbots who constantly sat in Parliament in the quality of Barons And lastly it is well known The Lower House of Parliament it self as they call it was so calmly spirited in those times that they used not much to oppose what their good Lords of the upper House liked All which things considered and that too many of the Catholikes both Lords and others thinking it better wisdom to purchase their future security by present silence then to expose themselves to trouble and vexation afterward by opposing that which they feared they should not be able to hinder therefore either but faintly resist or quietly absent themselves who can wonder if the whole business were carried with ease upon such promises of the Queen and by the industry and craft of Sinon alias Secretary Cecil who had the chief Management of it in his hands By his advise it was thought fitting that the Noble Earl of Arundel should for a time be abused with some hopes of marrying the Queen who thereupon by the interest which he had in the house of Peers ingrosed into his own hands the Proxies or voices of so many of them who thought good to be absent as when time came served the Queens turn exceedingly well The duke of Norfolk Son in law to Arundel but now a Widower was already exasperated against the Pope because he might not have dispensation to marry his Kins-woman and therefore it was no hard matter to joyn him with Arundel The Queen had also against this time either made or advanced in dignity and consequently in interest certain new Lords whom she knew to be favorers of her design viz. William Lord Parr was made Marquis of Northampton a good Speaker and a Politick man Edward Seymour Son to the late Duke of Sommerset was made Viscount Beauchamp and Earl of Hartford Sir Thomas Howard was made Viscount Bindon Sir Oliver Saint John Lord St. John of Bletso Sir Henry Cary Lord Hunsdon She had also as much weakened the Catholikes party by discharging from the Counsel-Table many of the old Counsellors
such as she thought would oppose themselves viz. the Lord Chancellor Heath Arch-Bishop of York the Lord Paget Lord Privy Seal the Secretary Boxhal Sir Francis Inglefeild and others in whose rooms were placed Sir Nicholas Baecon The new Marquis of Northampton The Earl of Bedford Sir Anthony Cave Sir Francis Knolls Rogers Parry and Secretary Cecil She depoâ—ed many of the old Judges made new Justices of the Peace and lastly concerning the Election of Knights and Burgesses for the Parliament ensuing she took such order by the great diligence and cunning of her Instruments in all the Counties that she wanted not a competent party ready to close with her design in that House Besides this to remove all scruples as much as might be out of the peoples heads and to make them think that the same Religion and Service continued still which was so lately before reestablished by Parliament and that all the alteration made was but onely the turning of the Leiturgy out of Latine into English for their better understanding she provided that in the Common-prayer-book there should be some part of the old frame still upheld some Collects Prayers and Anthemes of the old Missal some of the ancient Ecclesiastical Habits for Divine Service as Copes Surplices c. some Ceremonies as the Sign of the Cross Adoration and Bowing at the name of Jesus The Organs also and ancient manner of Singing their Matins and Even song was retained especially in her own Chappels and in most of the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches of the Kingdom The Title Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops was also preserved with some considerable Grace and Dignity in the State together with most part of the Revenues of which at that present the Cathedral Churches were seized By which dexterous management of affairs the Common people were instantly luld asleep and complyed to every thing and it became not so hard a matter for the Queen to excuse her self even to those forreign Princes who expected otherwise at her hands As she did particularly to the Secretary D' Assonville who was sent by King Philip out of Flanders to Congratulate her advancement to the Crown By this time the Common-Prayer-Book was framed according to the Queens appointment by certain Commiâ—â—â—oners authorised for that purpose The principal whereof were Doctor Matthew Parker after advanced to the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury having been formerly as some say Chaplain to Her Highness Edmund Grindal afterwards Bishop of London Horn of Winchester Whitehead May Bill and Sir Thomas Smith Dr. of the Civil Law The Liturgy was framed according to the Model of that which the English strangers had used at Franckford in the year 1554. and varied not much from that which Northumberland had caused to be published towards the latter end of King Edward the Sixth By the Nobility that were meerly English Protestants as the Marquis of Northampton Earl of Bedford Lord Gray of Pytgo Secretary Cecil and others it was well approved and the estabishing thereof by Parliament very much urged But those who had tasted of Genevah and were more affected with Calvins Model both disliked and opposed it either not knowing or not regarding the Queens reasons of State in the business Sir William Cecil as we said was now Secretary of State a Politick man and one that knew well enough how much this alteration would advance him his industry carried all before him Howbeit his fortunes were yet but low having onely the Parsonage of Wimbledon and some few Lands about Stamford to subsist upon Therefore in his Letter to the Lord Marquis of Northampton who was his Mecaenâ—s in the year 1560. upon the birht of his son Sir Robert Cecil he desires the Marquis being the Lord Treasurer to move the Queen in his behalf for some means and maintenance for his G. C. as he calld them who were so likely to be famous in England afterward Sir Nicholas Bacon was his Brother in Law and another chief Engin of State a man of somewhat a deeper judgement in the knowledge of the Laws and a more plausible Orator I must not forget in this Catalogue of State-Engins the Lord Robori afterwards famously known by the name of Leicester who to possess the Queens favor solely had already discarded Sir William Pickening though formerly viz. in meaner fortune a favorite and no uncourtly Gentleman Nor yet Sir Nicholas Throgmorton nor Sir Francis Walsingham nor Sir Thomas Smith who were all with the rest prime instruments of this Action intimate Counsellors in the business and posseâ— ng wholly the ears and grace of the Queen sate as chief Pilots at the Storâ— guiding the the course both of Church and Common-wealth at their pleasure All of them at this instant big with hopes of Prefermâ—nt Honor and great Offices which they were sure to loose who held them under Queen Mary Though many men wondered how Master Sâ—cretary Cecil could so easily forget his Beads and his Breviary wherewith with he so exquisitely counterfeited a Catholik in Queen Maries time that Cardinal Poole himself was deceived by him so far as to do him many friendly Offices towards her Majestie which as by the event appeared he did not much deserve Their great and indeed onely pretence or reason for the Change was Reason of State The Queens safety Scilicet This they had all of them but especially Secretary Cecil wrought strongly into her Majesties apprehension Camd. in Elizab. Actum esse de eâ si Pontificiam Authoritatem in quâcunque re agnosceret she was but a lost Princess say they if she acknowledged the Popes authority in any thing For Duo Pontifices Two several Popes already had pronounced her Mothers marriage with the King to be unlawfull and Null It may be thought her Mothers Conscience did likewise pronounce the same sentence in her own Brest otherwise why did she being ready to go to the place of Execution so solemnly entreat and charge the Lady Kingst n Speed Chron. to go to the Princess Mary and upon her knees in her name to ask pardon of her for all the wrongs she had done her protesting that until this were done she could not dye in peace But upon this ground the Statesmen of those times conclude it necessary that the Queen should alter Religion Invest her self with the Sovereignty of all Power and banish that Authority out of the Realm which had presumed to declare her Majestie Illegitimate This Counsel how prosperous soever it proved in the event through Gods permission and how speciously politick soever it might be made to seem by the Arguments and Rhetorick of those men who for their own ends and interests desired a change yet Really it could not but be full oâ— dâ—nger both to thâ— Queen and thâ— Realm but espâ—cially to the Queen who if she had pleasâ—d might have secured her self of her own particular fears by some better way For hereby the Sentence of Excomunication in some sort necessarily issuing upon her
he did by pretence of the Popes Letters and to deceive the Queen Therefore having found so little encouragement at Lyons as we have said he travels to Paris and endeavors to insinuate himself with Father Parsons who was there at that time with the Lord Paget but with no better success to his designs then he had found before with F. Creighton and Master Wats Howbeit by some means he procured himself access to the Popes Nuncio then resident in the City to whom he presents a Letter written in Italian by himself which he desires might be recommended by the said Nuncio to his Holiness which was done In this Letter he confesseth first what great wrongs he had done to the English Catholikes in former time but was now returning into England intending to make them some satisfaction by his service there And to that end desired the Approbation and Benediction of his Holiness not specifying any thing in particular what he intended as may be seen by his Letter which is upon Record To this Letter of Parry Cardinal Como answereth in the Popes name in such manner as every man knows For the Cardinals Letter is common to be seen Let any man read and examine it if there be any particular service intimated or any Treasonable or seditious directions given but onely a general encouragement to a good work as least that might be presumed so by those who wrote knowing nothing to the contrary which was onely in general offered And what reasonable man can think that his Holiness could do less in such a case then he did viz. then to command a Complement to be returned unto a kindness which for ought appeared was offered onely in Complement To have denied that His Holiness must have seem'd to slight too much the opinion of his Nuncio by whose recommendation the Letter of Parry was presented at Rome And who indeed if any was the man surprized in the business by giving so much credit to a person not sufficiently known to him The truth is Parry's designs were malicious every way both in respect of the Catholikes with whom he intended by means of the said Letters to insinuate himself so far if he could and to gain such confidence with them as to be able at least when time should be to do some of them mischief and in respect of the Queen whom he abused along time pretending by colour of the self same Letters that he was really suborned and sent by the Pope to attempt some violence upon her Majestie Being therefore furnished some thing to his minde as abovesaid he departeth privately from Paris without so much as taking leave of F. Parsons as by whom he found neither himself nor his business to be much regarded and procures a Pass to be sent him from the Lord Burleigh to come into England upon pretence that he had some great matters to impart to the Queen So he came the Queen heard him and he informed That the Jesuites had moved him to kill her But not being able to name any in England he was dismissed on purpose to be a Spy here at home and to discover such Catholikes to the Counsel as perhaps might be found less affectionate towards her person And to gain him the better credit with them viz. the Catholikes it was ordered so that he was once very formally convented in Parliament where he so boldly defended Catholike Religion and the Catholikes of England that the Parliament it self not knowing that all was but out of design by the Queen and her Counsel committed him to the Tower Which did indeed very much encrease his reputation with the Priests and Fathers here But his liberty was soon procured and himself had such continual access to the Queen such favor with the Treasurer and others that once he had no small hopes to have been made Master of Saint Katharines Howbeit the Counsel perceiving him but to faulter and fail in the main business viz. of betraying Catholikes and especially in the business of the Lord Latimor whom the Treasurer would fain have caught in Parries net himself at last became suspected and entangled by degrees in such Snares as he could never winde himself out but perished in that manner which he had justly deserved and for which no man lamented him A Fourth objection is against F. â—ichard Walpoole of the Society who was accused by one Squire upon the Rack to have encouraged him to poyson the Queen The Story is thus The said Squire and one Rolls being in a Pinnace of Sir Francis Drakes in the year 1596. were taken by Don Peâ—o Tellio and brought prisoners to Sivil where F. Parsons happening to be there at that time procured for them liberty and also necessary apparel and so sent them home At Saint Lucars through their own indiscretion they fall into the Inquisition and are thereupon remanded back again to Sivil where this said Father Walpoole then being was as ready to do them charitable offices in their necessity as Father Parsons had been before So he procured them liberty the Second time not indeed to depart without leave but to be forthcoming when they should be called to appear and to this he engaged his credit having first made provision of necessary subsistance for Rolls in the Jesuites Colledge and for Squire in a Monastery But they both fled away secretly and left Father Walpoole in the Lurch to answer for them yet afterwards sending him Letters to excuse their suddain departure which he also produced for his discharge So they came into England And as it happens sometimes with Travellers especially of such quality as they were to talk of much more then is true and to pretend acquaintance abroad with those which perhaps they scarce ever saw so it seems this Squire in his discourses of the intimacy and familiarity which he had with Jesuites and such men abroad did overshoot himself so far as to let fall something capable of misconstruction and which an Adversary of his one Stallenge catching up at the second hand made shift to improve â—nto an accusation of Treason against the said Squire viz. That he had been Counselled by a Jesuite to poyson the Queen and concealed it But let the Reader consider circumstances well and then weigh the Endictment Squire is accused that Father Walpoole moved and instructed him to poyson the Queen and preached to him at his departure to that purpose Is this probable For first they fled both of them away secretly from Sivil Squire and Rolls together without Father Walpooles knowledge and as 't is generally known to be true Secondly Squire was a man that always professed himself a Protestant in Spain as well as in England and so died Who can dream that Father Walpoole knowing this as well as himself should make such a proposition to him Thirdly both at his arraignment and death he constantly denied any such matter to have been propounded to him by any person on earth And though having bin
they altogether refused by her Majesty They were also generally men of plentiful Fortunes and good Estates and are so still except such as the Lawes and hard times have impoverished Yet because for Conscience sake they refuse to hear Common-prayer and Sermons to receive the Communion according to the new order of the Church of England they stand by Law as it were marked out for destruction and branded with all the Characters of ignominy suspition and prejudice which the people of any State even for the greatest crimes actually commited Sir Edw. Cook can justly suffer It is reported by a great Lawyer of this Nation that from primo Elizab. till the Bull of Pius Quintus was published which was about half a score or a dozen years after No person in England refused to come to Church as if perchance that Bull had beâ—â— the sole occasion which Catholikes took to disobey the Queens Injunctions But it is a great error For not to speak any thing of Puritans many of whom before that time refused the Church-Service how many Bishops and Priests were there in England known and professed Recusants from the first beginning How many Noblemen and Gentlemen of account did openly and absolutely refuse to joyn with their New Church It is true and to be lamented The revolt of the English under Queen Elizabeth from the true Catholike Religion so lately restored was too general and too many there were who suffered themselves to be carried away with the stream of Authority and with the evill example of their Neighbors and especially of Great Ones But what is this but a general infirmity and weakness commonly observed in the people What Form soever of Religious Profession a State sets up it proves an Idol to them and they are apt to fall down before it yea though the Figure which they worship as it happens sometimes hath much more of the Calf then of the Man in it And for this respect it cannot but be matter of much consideration to all wise States-men and States to be well advised how far they proceed in this kinde viz. of establishing or setting up any outward form or profession of Religion whatsoever especially by any compulsory Acts or Penalties lest the bloud of Souls lye upon their account another day As most certainly it shall whensoever people are misled into any corrupt way of Religion meerly upon the Authority and Resolution of the State And yet notwithstanding there were in many places of the Kingdom not a few of worthy and constant Catholikes who never bowed theer knees unto Baal that is never consented nor made profession of Heresie one way or other as Lanhearne Ashby de la Zouch Grafton Dingley Cowdrey and many other places can witness by whose integrity the Catholike Church in England viz. that Remnant according to the election of Grace which God was pleased to preserve here from the general contagion to glorifie his name by suffering and to give Testimony unto Truth have subsisted and stood by the great mercy of God unto this day though indeed suffering grievously for their Conscience as God was pleased from time to time to exercise them by confiscation of their Estates vexations by Pursivants and Promoters restraint and imprisonment of their persons at Wisbich Ely Banbury York Ludlow Bury the Fleet Gatehouse c. Not to speak any thing of the spoil of their Woods leasing their Lands exaction of Fines nor yet of their disarming by Law because this last though it were as unjust and undeserved as the rest yet it had more of disgrace and ignominy in it then of real damage arguing onely suspition or jealousie which the State would seem to have of them and nothing more But the Twenty pounds a moneth was a burden insupportable especially to the meaner sort Although it must be confessed the rigour and extremity thereof was many times moderated by the Lord Treasurer Burleigh Now to compare these men with the Recusant Puritans in England for such we must know there are more then a good many in all Countries All Recusants are not Popish if it were not too odious it might be very necessary and the world could not but see much better and acknowledge the patience humility and obsequious deportment of Catholikes compared with the others insolency and stoutness For t is very well seen already that this growing Sect of Protestant Recusants are not men likely to bear such burdens should the State finde it necessary to impose them They discover a far different Spirit even now while they are but in their shell as we may say and without any visible power or interest within the Nation save that of their number Compare them with the Recusant Fâ—ugonots of France who are Brethren and of the same principles with â—urs in England you would think our Catholike Gentlemen here to be all Priests in respect of their sober humble and Christian carriage of themselves whensoever they fall under question for Religion Their very Ministers there you would take to be all Sword-men Captains Sons of Mars so much fury rage breaths out in every word or action of theirs which relates to the publike Catholikes here are persons of all other most unwilling to offend Recusants there most unwilling to obey These defend their Religion with their Swords and by resistance of the Civil Magistrate ours onely with their Pen and with their prayers Ours endure and à Scio cui credidi with St. Paul is all their comfort These endure nothing wil trust no body with their cause but themselves and their Cautionary towns They have their Bezas Their Marlorates Chamiers and other Boutefeux swarming thick in all parts of the Kingdom ready to incense and set on fire the distempered multitude against their lawful governors they have their Montaubans their Rochels Saumurs Montpelliers places of refuge and retreat strong and well fortified to shelter themselves when they cannot make good their designs in the field Catholikes here have none of all these They have no Preachers but Preachers of Pennance and Mortification They hear no Sermons at any time but such as teach them Obedience Patience Resignation to the will of God and to be willing to suffer whatsoever the will of God is They have no places of security but their own unarmed houses which if they change it is always for the Fleet Gatehouse Newgate or som other prison and place of restraint Much talk there is among Protestants of the Inquisition its severity cruelty partiality and what not to make it odious and terrible to the people but verily if a man do well consider it in comparison of the troubles vexation and manifold danger both for life liberty and estate whereto the Catholikes of England Priests and Religious persons especially are subject it may seem rather a Scare-crow then any thing else Charls the Fifth Emperor in the year 1521. at Worms decreed onely Exile against Luther notwithstanding his obstinacy and all the
mischief which he had brought upon Germany and that his Books should be burned In the year 1526. at Machlin he enacted a Penalty against Hereticks and all such as disputed the Controversies of Religion Heretically or that kept prohibited Books viz. for the first offence Forty shillings for the Second Four pound for the Third Eight pound and Banishment as the best remedy he could think of to preserve others from infection In the year 1529. if they repented not of their error he adjudged Viris ignem Mulieribus fossam That men should be burned and women buried alive which was no more then anciently the Laws prescribed nor then what Calvin himself exercised upon Servetus at Genevah In the year 1531. he confirmed these former Acts with something additional against such as pulled down Images or defaced them with any malitious intention viz. that such persons should loose their goods This is the sum of all those Laws of the Emperor Charlâ— the Fifth concerning Religion so much complained of in the Low-Countries and concerning the Execution whereof there were also many exceptions qualifications and limitations procured by the Regent in the year 1555. upon advise of Viglius President of the Counsel at Brussels and to take away all occasions that might poâ—â—â—bly hinder Traffick or be a means of oppression to innocent and quiet people And for King Philip he always professed particularly in his answer to Montigny in Spain that he intended no addition of severity to his Fathers Laws nor to create any new offences but onely to punish those which were of old censured for offences both by the Church and State Let us look then upon England and consider if the penalties upon Catholikes here be not far more in number and much more severe To acknowledge the Popes Supremacy in Spiritualibus is Treason To be reconcilâ—d is Treason To refuse the Oath upon the first offence is a Praemunire the second Treason For Priests to come over into England is Treason if any that were made Priests since Primo Elizab. shall stay Forty days in England after the Parliament 1585. 't is Treason To Harbor a Priest is Felony and Death If yong Students beyond Sea return not and abjure their Religion it is Treason To bring in an Agnus Dei Beads or Crosses is a Praemunire To bring a Bull or any Sentence of Excommunication from Rome that may concern the Queen is Treason To absolve or reconcile a man is Treason Not coming to Church was at first Twelve pence every Sunday and to be liable to further censure afterwards viz. Twenty seven Elizab. it was made Twenty pound a moneth where it could be had otherwise their bodies were to fine for it in prison To depart out of the Realm without License and not to return within Six moneths after the Proclamation is a forfeiture of all Goods and Lands during life To hear Mass is an offence fined at One hundred Marks If a mans Son or Servant not Merchant goeth beyond Sea with his consent he forfeits One hundred pounds I speak nothing of their loss of goods imprisonments reproaches chains fetters which upon many other pretended and feigned occasions they are frequently made subject unto nor of banishment which would be counted many times matter of great favor Nor yet of the rigorous and vexatious Execution of all these Laws which makes the Tower full of such Patients and new prisons to be erected for the entertainment of them nor of the hard usage which they frequently find in those prisons The sad examples of Master Tregion at Launston of Master Rigby of Master Christopher Watson who perished at Yoâ—k with Eighteen persons more in the year 1581. with the very infection of the prison do shew sufficiently what they suffer Adde hereunto the strict examination of the Justices the proceedings of the High-Commission against them that inquisition of England not altogether untruly so called the multitude of Promoters in all the Temporal Courts of the Kingdom informing against them of Pursuivants searching and rifling their houses upon every light suspicion and not seldom without any at all but onely to make them Fine and to purchase their quiet with money Lastly the Racks and Torturings which Father Campian Father Southwel with many others tasted in their times how can they be forgotten concerning whose case I mean of Father Campian and his Associates especially beside that the whole matter of their Accusation seemed upon Tryal rather to be grounded upon words and some verbal discourse then upon any Actual design or attempt really projected against the Queen or the State and beside that at the time of their Tryal as I have been credibly informed there were persons of very Honest Quality who offered to depose that sundry of the Parties accuâ—ed were at the times specified in their several charges many hundreds of miles distant from the places where their supposed Treasons and Conspiracies were said to be I say bâ—side all this the Queens unwillingness to have them dye testifiâ—d by her own Historian is argument sufficient with indifferent mâ—n what great Traytors she conceived them to be For their Arraignment and Tryal having been in November 1581. * Stow. they suffered not till the first of September 1582. and then it was aegrè consentiente Reginâ as Camden himself confâ—sseth They who sought their lives had much ado to procure the Queens consent that the Sentence of death should be executed upon them Surely there is no man so extreamly partial or purblinde but will easily observe how much greater affliction and pressures the Catholikes of England have endured by the Laws of this Realm then the Geuses of Holland ever did or could do by the inquisition among them And how much more their state and condition might be justly commiserated especially when not onely Anabaptists and those other more innocent and harmless Sects but Puritans great and stubborn enemies of the State Arians Socinians yea even Professed Atheists and men of far more violent passions and destructive principles then Catholikes can with any reason be supposed to hold are scarce searched after or punished And yet notwithstanding all this to preserve the Queens reputation for Humanity and fair dealing with her Subjects the Book called the Execution of English Justice will make the world beleeve That no man in England is punished for Religion no mans Conscience is medled withall no man is examined upon matters of Faith But is it possible that such a pretence should be sustâ—ined by man so notoriously contrary to truth so easily so manifestly disprovable even by sight and the evidence of their own dayly proceedings In the year 1581. there was a general Pardon granted by the Queen but with a strict Caution and Proviso That no person in Prison nor Recusant for Religion should have benefit thereby which Malefactors of all sorts had Was this no punishment The Recusants pay Twenty pound a moneth for their Recusancy is this no punishment The Turk himself