the Instruction and training up of yong Scholars viz. of the Catholike Nobility Gentry and others of our Nation in the studies of Learning Vertue and all kinde of honest and christian Education which as the case stood they could not possibly have in their own Country without Ship-wracking of their consciences and great peril of their souls This I say was the first and onely design of the Seminaries viz. to be a Nursery of young and tender plants as should be committed to them to be fitted for the Service of God and the leading of a true Christian Vertuous life afterward and not to be Seedplots or Forges of Treason and seditious practises against their Country as their Adversaries cease not to accuse them That 's a calumny black and palpable as shall appear more hereafter At present I shall onely take notice of what that great Protonotary of England brings in charge against them in his Book called Justitia Britannica which are three things First That they are a company of base fugitive persons Secondly that they corrupt the Land with false Doctrine and Thirdly That they practise with forreign States to disturb the Kingdom raise rebellion and withdraw Subjects from their obedience As touching the First I am very well assured that there be Gentlemen of our Nation at Doway both in the Colledge and Monasteries of as good Families as well Bred and as Eminent Scholars as any I have known of all these sorts in the Universities of England wherein I am not altogether a stranger I will not make Comparisons for that were but to make them more odious neither am I willing to detract any thing from the honor of our English Academies which I am bound to maintain It must be confessed there be many excellent wits and men of great learning bred in them yet this I may truly say That those beyond Sea are of no base quality neither is their education in those places such as should render them liable to that Character in time to come Yea rather they are so orderly governed and their times of study devotion exercise both Scholastical and Spiritual recreation yea even of their most necessary repast and rest are all so exactly measured out to them all occasions of idleness excess and ill company so prudently and carefully prevented that it is indeed no wonder they appear so civil so devout so religious temperate sober and well governed in all outward deportment as through the grace of God they do They are as I said by their Superiors strictly kept to their tasks yet rather won then forced unto good They are bridled with a hard bit but it is carried with such a gentle hand as it doth not pinch but guide them So that as their studies blessed be God are not altogether unhappy so neither is their life unpleasant but sweet agreable to vertuous mindes and full of the Noblest contents And that they should be counted Fugitives is most injurious For do they live there as Outlaws in a forreign Province have they fled for any crime doth Justice enquire after them or wait for them in their own Country what Felonies what Treasons have driven them thence but such as a very few years before were not onely in the same place where they are now so hardly censured but in all places of Christendom and by all people of sound judgement counted the greatest vertues Again they live not there out of any factiousness of spirit or ill affection towards his Majestie or the State of England but for conscience sake onely and to avoid the severity of Laws enacted here against Catholikes and the profession of Catholike Religion It is necessity that compels them to take this course In England Catholikes have no Churches wherein to serve God publickly nor liberty to serve him privately any where else The Sacraments are never or but very seldom Administred to them in comparison of what they should be They can have no priviledge or benefit of the Universities for education and study without Oaths going to Church and hearing and doing many other things contrary to a good conscience Beside all this did not Barty Knolls and Hales did not Jewel Horn Cox Pilkington Poynet and many others in Queen Maries time take the same course for conscience as they pretended They would not willingly have been called Fugitives when they were abroad Why then should those Gentlemen at Doway Saint Omars and elsewhere Exil'd as it were at present from their native Country upon the same common pretence and reason viz. reason of conscience be called Fugitives or stigmatized with any such Characters of ignominy Let those Laws be repealed first which threaten present death to them upon their return and which were all procured against them unduly and by misprizion viz. of their supposed practisings against the State which as they complain were never proved nor are true Let it be permitted to them to enjoy Liberty of Conscience and to serve God as all good Catholikes and Christians ought to do without molestation and danger to their persons prejudice to their estates further then they shall give just offence to the State and the world would quickly see where their truest affections lay Neither Doway nor St. Omars nor Rhemes nor Rome it self would hold them from returning with all thankfulness and speed to express their humblest obedience to his Majestie and fidelity to their native Country And as for their Parents Kinsfolks and Friends from whom they are now unhappily separated and from many of them perhaps against their wills they should plainly finde that natural affection was not extinguished in them neither would kindness creep where it might safely go The Second objection is They corrupt the Land with false Doctrine This objection supposeth that Calvinism and the present Religion by Law established in England is the true which England it self denied but a few years since and the whole Christian world doth at this day I do not except the Protesttants themselves For there is not any one of their pretended Churches abroad that agreeth with this present Church of England in all points of Doctrine and Discipline established But to wave that quâ—stion at present as no part of my undertaking it must be considered there are learned and vertuous men on both sides one whereof will not it seems vaile Bonnet to the other in point of understanding the Scriptures How then should the diffâ—râ—nce be decided even in reason but by some Authority distinct from them both yet indifferent and superior to both which can be no other but the judgement and tradition of the Catholike Church precedent unto both Besides this the Bishops in the first Parliament offered to defend their Religion by disputation which the Protestants would not accept but upon an unequal condition that is as Master Camden himself reporteth Nisi Baconus in studiis Theologicis parùm Versatus c. Vnless Sir Nicholas Bacon might be President and Moderator of the business
Honor and Strength of the Nation Titulus Secundus HItherto Schisme and Sacriledge annexed to it chiefly reigned but the second plague was the utter ruin and extinction of Religion For by abuse of the name and authority of King Edward the very Church it self was entirely subverted Religion absolutely changed Heresie introduced and established in the full open and publike profession thereof And we might say the craft and malice of the Devil whose work it is to corrupt true Religion confound States herein most perfectly appeared For though indeed the way to Heresie and all publike disorder were sufficiently levelled and made plain by King Henry the Eighth who onely by reason of his greatness and imperious cruelty was fit to begin such a work yet Religion it self was suffered to stand a while longer at least in the general and more visible parts of it he knowing well that all could not be effected at once and that it was necessary for him to seduce States as he doth souls gradatìm by degrees opportunity and succession of time And being also confident that if those forts of Piety and true Christian-Catholike Devoâ—â—on that is the Religious Houses were once-razed the Church in England brought under a Lay head and by consequence the sheep made Governors of their Shepherds he should easily upon a second attempt there and by some other hand overthrow Religion it self King Henry at his death had appointed by will sixteen Executors who during the minority of his Son King Edward should be as it were his Guardians and Counsellors for the better governing of the Realm Among these one who made himself afterward Principal was the Lord Edward Seymour Earl of Hartford who being the Kings Uncle by the Mother-side procured himself in a short time to be made Protector and by that means gat as he thought a dispensation from his Joynt Executorship with the others and demeaned himself now in all things concerning the Affaires of the Realm as their Superior A thing which King Henry least of all intended rather he had provided with as much caution as was possible against the encroaching of any one upon the rest under any title or pretence soever But this was the way to bring about some furthâ—â— designes intended by that Party which advanced the Protector to that dignity and which the other and more honest part of the Councel did not either so providently foresee or so faithfully resist as they ought to have done One of the first things which the Protector set on foot after the Protectorship was secured to him was Innovation of Religion abolishing the Old Catholike and introducing a New under the title of Reformation Not so much out of any great preciseness that was ever observed in him or devotion that he was thought to have more one way then another but because he was thirsty and desired to drink to the bottom of the Cup which in King Harries time it seems he had but onely tasted There was yet some Game in his eye which he intend-to bring into Toyls viz. some few remains of Church-Lands Collegiate-Lands and Hospitals which he could not compass or draw into possession by any Engine better then that pretence of reforming Religion Cranmer that unworthy Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was his Right Hand and chief Assistant in the work although but a few months before he was of King Harries Religion yea a Patron and Prosecutor of the Six Articles To this end viz. the more to amuze the people and as they thought to give some strength and countenance to what they meant to set up a couple of strangers Religious men indeed by profession but such as were long since run from their Orders that is Peter Martyr and Bucer must be sent for as far as Germany and placed in the Divinity Chairs at Cambridge and Oxford That the world might see how contrary not onely the Pastors of the Church and Clergy but even all the learned men in both the Universities and of the whole Kingdom generally were to his proceedings By these two Apostate Friers together with Cranmer Ridley Latimer and some others was a new Liturgie framed and the old abolished together with that Religion which had been so many hundreds of years observed in this Nation with great happiness and honour The Protector though powerful of himself by abuse and pretence of the Kings name in all things which he did although the King were but a Child of nine years old was yet well seconded by the Duke of Northumberland and by the Admiral his onely Brother by the Marquis of Northampton c. all of them persons seemingly at least much inclined to Reformation and by them he overbore all the rest that opposed him or were any thing contrary to his designs As there were many both eminent and wise men and equally intrusted in the publike affairs with himself could things have been carried rightly In particular the Lord Privy Seal the Lord St. John of Basing Bishop Tonstall Sir Anthony Brown and that wise Secretary Sir William Paget but most especially the Noble Chancellor the Lord Wriothsley a man of singular experience knowledge prudence and who deserveth to be a Pattern to his Posterity far to be preferred before any new Guides But being made Earl of Southampton though it neither won him to the Faction nor contented nor secured him yet he stood thâ— more quiet and made no great opposition to their doings All things now grew to confusion there remained no face nor scarce the name of Catholike Church in England and though there were great multitudes of men well affected to the old Religion and discontented that the Church should be thus driven into the Wilderness and forced to lurk in Corners Yet did they shew loyalty obedience and love to the publike Peace notwithstanding They took up no Arms they raised no Rebellion not so much as against the shadow of a King or the usurper of his Royal name The Protector in the mean time goeth on with his work which is principally to enrich himself with the Remains of the Church having long before as 't is said tasted the sweetness of such Morsels in the Priory of Aumesbury He now seizeth two Bishops houses in the Strand and of them buildeth Sommerset house which as the world saw quickly reverted and slipt out of his hands After this he procureth an Act to be made whereby all Colledges remaining all Chantries Free Chappels and Fraternities were suppressed and given to the King And how greedily he entered into the Bishop of Bath and Wells his Houses and Manors that Church will never be able to forget Notwithstanding that Bishop Bourn afterward by his industry recovered something but nothing to the spoiles and wast which was made Nor was he satisfied with this For shortly after contrary to all Law to King Henries will and against his own Covenants those I mean which he entred to his Advancers when they made him Protector He committed the Lord Chancellor
The ones Ambition The others Avarice destroying him Yet of the two the calamity of the Protector must in all humane judgement seem most disastrous For 't is certain through his own weakness and the importune instigations of his Wife he was compelled to serve the designs of his greatest Adversary in the world by putting his own brother to death And after that living to see Bologne lost and the Crown through his Misgovernment engaged in many debts wants and trouble he last of all ended his days fatally and without any shew of repentance for those sins which brought him to that end Whereas in this respect Northumberland was far more happy For having in all humble and penitent maner acknowledged his offences to the Bishop of Worcester Doctor Heath his Ghostly Father and thereby reconciled himself to God and to the Communion of his Church at the place of Execution not out of design or hopes of life as some would malitiously asperse the action but willingly freely of his own accord and out of conscience as himself protesteth at his death he made another most Christian and publike acknowledgment of his Faults especially those which concerned Heresie Sacriledge and Treason in all which he confessed himself to be most guilty And thereupon used much and vehement exhortation to the people to beware of those Preachers of New Doctrine who had fâ— ed the Kingdom with so many false Opinions and much trouble Assuring them plainly and openly concerning himself that whatsoever he had professed or done in that kinde proceeded wholly from Covetousness Ambition and other evil Motives not worthy to be named and not from any perswasion of Judgment or Conscience which he ever had that way And therefore adminished them that they should willingly return to the Communion of Gods Church and keep themselves constant in the Catholike Faith and true Religion Which for Conscience sake saith he I onely tell you and that I may thereby in some sort acquit me of my duty and save my soul and not for any humane or temporal motive expectation or hope whatsoever And so died The Oration it self out of which this is extracted may be seen at large in Schardus Sim. Schard Memor Histor in Maximil 2. a Protestant chronicler of note in his historical collections and elsewhere I suppose without much difficulty Thus lived and thus died as we have said the two grand adversaries of Gods Church and subverters of Catholike Religion in England after so many disorders committed as God was pleased to suffer by their power and procurement and that they had sufficiently scourged and afflicted those whose sins well deserved such punishment they were both of them taken away by the hand of Justice and met with their deserts Temporally and things were restored to some better pass But what did the Catholikes all this while How did they behave themselves What Rebellions did they raise what commotions or tumults of the people did they procure I mean the more civil religious and ingenuous amongst them 'T is true some Risings there were in Devonshire and the Western parts of the rude multitude exasperated especially upon some temporal grievances oppressions and wants which followed the misgovernment of those times Religion was either not at all or least of all pretended by them They were vexed indeed to see the encroachments which the Protector and others made dayly upon the Kings and Peoples Interest They were sensible of the Scarcity and Dearth of all kinde of necessary commodities for life which came suddenly upon them and was far greater then it used to be They could not endure well to be abridged by Inclosures of some other Liberties which they pretended to In brief They were sensible of all such inconveniences in the Government of the State as concerned the Outward Man but for Religion further then it served to ease their Spleen that is to clamor to asperse and rail upon those whom they conceived the Authors of their other and more resented grievances I conceive they minded it not and that there is scarce any good ground why a man should think them in that respect more Catholikes then Protestants And if a Priest or some Ecclesiastical person were found amongst them as it were strange if there should be none considering how many there were then in the kingdom absolutely destitute and discontented yet certainly they were not many nor in any other quality considerable Whereas 't is certain that Kets camp in Norfolk a business of far greater consequence and difficulty were all of them such as were fallen with the State from the profession of Catholike Religion and become Protestants And this I would generally premise desiring the Reader to observe it that where I affirm of Catholikes that they did not conspire against their Princes nor raise any tumults in the kingdom for matter of Religion I mean such only as were Catholikes indeed and stood firm in their Holy Recusancy not complying in any sortwith those alterations which Henry the 8th Edward the 6th or Queen Elizabeth in their several times procured to be made contrary to the integrity of Christian Religion For such as complied were not to be counted Catholikes any longer but Heretikes Schismaticks Hypocrites c. And for such people having corrupted their faith to God I would not be taken to apologize in any other point of duty For 't is very possible they might still retain some notions of Catholike Religion in their minds which afterward and upon other occasions running into terms of disloyalty they might pretend as matter of complaint against their Prince though themselves were neither Catholike nor That nor any other matter purely Spiritual the true original cause of their Disorder but onely those Temporal Grievances by which they smarted as is abovesaid and which they saw well enough to procceed either wholly or in part from the several alterations made There were the like in Lincolnshire which our English Chronicles pass not over in silence But it sufficeth that for the generality of Catholikes I mean still those of more ingenuous civil and better quality notwithstanding so great and violent provocations as were used towards them their patience and submissive demeanor towards the State and civil Government was most exemplary to the World Neither Prelates nor Priests nor Lay-people making any resistance against those unworthy men who so much oppressed them under the Kings usurped Authority and Name making such havock in the Church and spoil of all things consecrate to the Service of God and exercise of their True Ancient Christian-Catholike Religion as this Nation never saw the like since it had â—he happiness to be called Christian It seemed they had been bred in a better School of Vertue then that which Calvin opened at Genevah and had learnt to bear the cross of their Saviour that is to say these temporal afflictions calamities and injuries with more Patience and that the glory of Martyrdom in sufferance was accounted far
Daneus or any other of those Niblers at Bellarmine as Master Normington of Cambridge once called them in a Sermon at Saint Maries much less with the impudencies of the Minister Crashaw nor with the mistakes of Chark Fenner Beard Burton or any other Triobolary Controvertists at home either of former or present times but as you see onely with faults of their Prime Leaders Classicall men Prelates and Dignitaries of their Church so if it should happen that any private man of our own writing onely by private Authority and judgement should either through oversight or indiligence be found chargeable with some kinde of mistake we would not have it stood upon as if it were the common practise of all to write so negligently or that the defence of Catholike Religion did any wit depend upon such mistakes As we say the defence of Protestancy doth very much upon those mistakes which we are ready to bring in charge against them and without which there were not half the colour for defence of it Concerning the third point viz. That the Priests and Students in the English Seminaries beyond Sea are Practicers against the State and do stir or endeavor to stir the People to Rebellion it is indeed an odious and heavy charge which the Book called The execution of Justice c. layeth roundly upon them and is seconded therein by a Proclamation in the year 1580. which doth directly charge those Priests and others as Accessories and privy to the Counsels of Philip King of Spain the Pope and some other Catholike Princes which as 't is said had combined together about that time to invade England to depose the Queen and subdue the Nation to the Spaniard But for answer I say that jealousie is a kinde of Argus full of eyes and so she is painted but they are all purblinde which is the cause that she mistakes so oft starts at her own shadow and is always trembling and doubting the worst of every body We cannot deny but there were great States-men that governed England in those days under the Queen yet howsoever it happened with all their Opticks they seemed not to have any particular foresight of the dangers which threatned them till they were at their doors yea having by error of Government provoked and drawn them upon themselves yet they took a course more proper to kindle the flame then to quench the fire But this is not a business to be discussed now That which we are to do is to justifie the Priests and other Good men of the Seminaries that they are not Traitors are not Enemies of the State do not practise consult cooperate where they live to any thing prejudicial to their Prince and Country First if any such Confederation had been betwixt his Holiness the King of Spain and other Princes against England as is pretended but was never yet proved and 't is well known that what the Catholike King did afterward as it was upon great provocations given so was it also upon his own score onely and with no other assistance but what was his own and ordinary in such cases Yet I say suppose there had been such Confederation or League betwixt them is it probable that so great and wise Princes as they were would acquaint a few poor Contemplative men Students at Rhemes and Doway with their designs Men so inconsiderable every way in relation to such service so useless and unable in respect of their maner condition and place of living to contribute any thing to the work Is it credible they would manage such high matters and of so great importance so weakly Let no man say That Priests might serve them by preparing a party here and by their reconciling of men to the Pope For it is not the Priests work to reconcile men to the Pope but unto God and to the Communion of the true Catholike Church whereof although the Pope as successor to Saint Peter be Supream and chief Pastor yet Catholikes by returning to the Church and consequently acknowledging that Supremacy of Spiritual Authority in his Holiness are not obliged so much as to take notice of any Temporal designs that he hath no though they were perhaps for advancement of Religion much less to consent concur or cooperate with them contrary to the Law of nature their Duty of Allegience and the interest of their native Country Secondly among so many Priests as by that time there were both in England and beyond the Seas and in so long a time that this pretended Confederacy was in framing when Spies and Intelligencers were many and well paid by the State was there so much as one Priest nominated or accused to have been so corrupted or induced any way by those Princes or their Ministers to practise ought to the prejudice of their Country was there ever any one apprehended or convicted of such a treaâ—on was there ever any Subject of England called in question for entertaining Priests that were sought after upon that account In a word when the Spanish Armado was under Sail for England was there so much as one Priest or Seminary-man found or known to be in it or at any time since discovered to have been used or imployed in that service 'T is confessed the Proclamation spoken of before being framed on purpose to put people into a fright and to make honest men odious doth traduce them sufficiently as persons suborned to prepare the way and procure safe landing for the Navy But Si accusasse sufficit quis erit innocens Such general charges prove nothing but passion or some undue byassed and distempered judgement They that know such men well know it to be a business far out of their way to spie Countries to observe how Ports are garded and what Havens lie upon the Goast However it is evidence of fact and the conviction at least questioning of some one person for such crime that would be given in the case Which seeing there never was Indifferent men cannot but think such Accusations to have been very injurious and that the great fears and jealousies shewen had more of the Chimaera and fiction in them then of real danger It was otherwise with the poor English themselves in Spain not long after both Religious and others For when the English Armado in the year 1589. made an attempt upon Lisbon and invaded some parts of Portugal the King of Spain took them to be so little either his Friends or Enemies to their Prince and Country as they are traduced that he laid them all fast by the Heeles and kept them close prisoners during the whole time that the Action lasted as many of them as were found at Valâ—adolid Burgos and some other places in Spain Nor was there in those many Actual attempts of Treason supposed to be made against Queen Elizabeth so much as one Priest Monk or Friar ever attainted or impeached about them Nor in the whole Five and forty years of her Reign any more then two
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
Progress Heresium yea by Sleydan himself and others And for my self I can but protest to have used all sincerity in citing the evidence which I had from so many worthy Witnesses And that I do as the Romans were wont to say in such cases Ita me Jupiter si sciens fallo Let me not live if I forge any thing which I know to be otherwise But it will be replied perhaps by some that I do Luther wrong to charge him with these Tumults and the Insurrections of the Anabaptists seeing that he vehemently reproved their proceedings gave them no encouragement at all ever disliked those wilde phantasies of Muncer and his followers ever Preached in defence of Magistrates and Civil Government Thus pleadeth Doctor Bilson and some others in his behalf but their labor is like the washing of a Blackamoor all they can do will not make him white For let the World judge by what hath been said already whether such Positions and Exhortations as we have instanced in out of his own writings vehemently delivered by him and as greedily swallowed by the people could be any thing else but fire to this fewel Let his Bull against the Clergy his Invectives against all Ecclesiastical Persons and Orders be well considered and they will plainly appear to tend to nothing else For what man is so senseless that would not be moved to contemn Authority and endeavor by all means to enfranchise himself when he shall hear Preached by an Elias a man whom he supposeth to be sent extraordinarily from God to teach and reform the World That Princes were Tyrants Bishops blinde and false guides Religious men Idolaters and all the Powers of the World generally such as by their corruptions and wickedness had forfeited their Authority and that Christians had and ought to enjoy such a Charter of Liberty as did exempt them in Conscience from all Humane Laws and Constitutions I say what man of sense can imagine but the people fully perswaded of such maxims as these from the mouth of such a Preacher should not be always ready and in a posture to rebel upon any occasion offered And that Luther had taught them this and much more in substance is manifest as I said by what hath been alledged before yet as to that last particular Of exemption in point of Conscience from Humane Laws it may require a word or two more Not to insist therefore any further upon that which Cochlaeus alledgeth out of his First Book Cochlae in Miscel Exhort ad Pacem in these words In saeculari regimine nihil amplius facitis You Princes of the World saith he what do you else but fleece and pillage your poor Subjects to their very skin to maintain your pride till they can bear no longer Nor upon that which follows Non sunt Rustici They are not the Boors but God Almighty hâ—mself which is coming against â—hem for theâ— Tyranny These sâ—all pass as peices of his accustomâ—d Malapertness with them or if it be possible with some tolerable interpretation But certainly that which follows admits none Cap. de Bâ—ptism In his Book De captiv B bylon Ab omnibus hominum lâ—gibus 〈◊〉 We are saith he freed from all Laws of men whatsoever by vertue of thâ—t Christian Liberty which is given us in Baptism And in the same Book Cap. de Matrim Scio nullam rempublicam c. I know saith he very well there is never a Commonwealth in the World well governed by these Laws of men And therefore concludes it to be Cap. de Sac. Ord. Turpe iniquiter sâ—rvile A shameful thing and a slavery unworthy of a Christian man who is free to be subject to any Laws but the Laws of God and of Heaven I know some men endeavor to put Interpretations even upon these Passages to make them seem less scandalous Respons ad rat 8. Campian Doctor Whitacre in particular telleth us That Luther meant not that men are so exempt from Humane Laws as that every one â—ight do what he list but that the Conscience of a Believer was free from all Humane Laws in respect of Religion As if to obey Magistrates in obedience to the Will and Ordinance of God as Magistracy is plainly Rom. 13. and as we ought to do in all the obedience we give to them 1 Pet. 2.13 were not matter and duty of Religion As to do it for Publike peace sake and in regard of that Authority which they have by consent of men and for our good is an act of Morality or Civil Justice due unto them upon the account of Natural Right and Humâ—ne Reason abstracting from the Law of God or as if out of the case of scandal peril or some other such extrinsecal considerations a man might neglect or not observe the just Laws of men at his pleasure without offence against God or lastly as if to resist lawful Magistracy out of a mans private Authority Passion or Spleen were not a thing contrary to Religion But let Luther interpret himself Dico itaque neque Papa neque Episcopus c. I say therefore saith he as Sir Thomas Moor cites him in his Latin work abovementioned Lovan 1566. That neither the Pope nor Bishops nor any mortal man whatsoever hath authority to lay the least syllable of command upon a Christian unless it be by his own consent Nor do we insist so much here what studied or strange sense may possibly perhaps be put upon his words but how they sound outwardly and how they are apt to be understood by common people who do not usually stand much pondering about words but take them as they sound especially when they sound Liberty or any thing agreeable to their corrupt Passions and Humors as these do And that we may see his design did drive directly against the Laws themselves and not onely against such impertinent and imaginary niceties which men might raise about the observing of them in his Book Ad Nobilitat German he absolutely vilifies the Law it self so far as to prefer the Turks Alcoran before it Men say saith he there is no better Government in the World then with the Turk and yet he hath neither Canon nor Civil Law onely his Alâ—oran But with us it is plain there can be no worse Government found then that which we have by the Canon and Civil Law What did he mean think we What rule did he leave the people to be guided by but their own Humors and Passions who before had traduced the Princes themselves for Tyrants for Oppressors and now debaseth the Law that is the onely rule by which the Princes pretended to govern even beneath the Alcoran it self Hospin Hist Sacram Adde hereunto that his own friends and such as follow him in most things do for this very reason charge him directly To have been no small cause of the Wars in Germany yea Centur. 16. p. 16. his own Osiander testifieth That
thousand Duckats and the Imperial Towns partly with Money and partly upon their humble Petitions and Submission made their peace at last with the Emperor And thus by the good Providence of God and happy conduct of Caesar was the Empire preserved in Statu quo prius the Electors Ecclesiastical and other Prelates continued and their Dignities maintained whereas in all probability had the Princes prevailed as they had already by the instigation of Luther and such Preachers swallowed the Revenues extinguished yea wholly buried the Title State and Authority of Bishops in their own Provinces so would they have done all the Empire over Now as Greatness and Innovation seldom want Patrons nor wit to colour their faults so it must be confessed there are some who endeavor to excuse Luther and Lutheranism of the odiousness of this Action yea and the Action it self from the imputation of Rebellion First of all Doctor Bilson affirmeth Differences of Christian Subjects c. That the Lawyers of Germany do in some cases permit resistance to be made against Caesar but he names not one Then he saith The States of Germany are not absolutely subject to the Emperor but onely upon some conditions Secondly Centur. 16. the Divines of Magdeburgh plead That if the Magistrate pass the bounds of his Authority and command things wicked and unlawful he may well be resisted and must not be obeyed Thirdly Sleydan saith Lib. 19. fol. 263. We may resist Caesar with good Conscience when he intends the destruction of Religion and Liberty Lastly Consil Evangel Part. 1. p. 314 Philip Melancthon with great confidence gives Authority to the Inferior Magistrate to alter Religion and overthrow Idolatry So they all conclude the War lawful both by Gods Law and Mans And this indeed is the substance of the Reasons alledged by the Duke and the Landsgrave both when the League was first made at Smalcald and when they first proclaimed War against the Emperor But as it is easie to perceive these Doctors Assertions do all of them suppose certain things which ought first to be proved as for example 1. That Caesar passed the bounds of his Authority for if he did not it is clear they passed theirs 2. That he commanded things wicked and unlawful 3. That he went about to destroy true Religion and their Liberty All these must be proved before it be lawful to take Arms and resist him by their own confession I demand therefore of them this Question When Caesar or the Supream Magistrate commandeth any thing to be done which is not apparently contrary to the Laws of the Empire then in force who shall be Censor who shall Judge whether Caesar passeth the bounds of his Authority and whether the things which he commandeth be impious or no They answer he absolutely sought to destroy their Religion and Liberties But I reply it hath been an old and usual stratagem of Satan to oppose Religion against Religion thereby to bring in Atheism and leave us no Religion Beside making Lutheranism to be the onely true Religion and their Liberties to consist in the free profession of that they take that for granted which Caesar both at Worms and Auspurgh made the greatest Question So they argue not well because they do not proceed ex concessis yea it is manifest that when they did presume to set up a new Religion they passed themselves the bounds of their Authority and the World might judge Caesar a very simple Prince if he should either change his own Religion or tolerate theirs upon the bare credit of Luthers private opinion and spirit or upon the bare Protestation of the Confederates For were they competent Judges against the whole World or can Religion be lawfully and orderly changed by Civil Magistrates onely and when neither a General Councel nor National Councel hath decreed it nor any Imperial Dyet established it may every Elector or Prince frame a new Religion for his own Province by Law without consent of the Emperor and States Give me an Instance shew me a President when any such Innovation was ever made in the Empire without an Imperial Dyet Shew me a Law or some colour of Law by which it might be done or else confess That the Princes taking up Arms against the Emperor was without Justice and their quarrel without lawful ground Beside was it lawful for the Confederates to coyn a new Religion and maintain it by Arms and was it not more lawful for the Emperor to defend the old which was already received and to reform them The Boors took Arms upon the self-same pretences viz. For Religion and Liberty yet the Princes with their own forces and with no less Justice and Honor subdued them Why might not therefore Caesar compel the Confederates unto the same terms as they did the Boors viz. To exercise that Religion which was established at least with à quousque until a legal Reformation could be had and to obey the Laws in force and to keep the Peace of the Commonwealth Doth the degree or dignity of the persons make the cause so different I trow not And for any designs of Caesar upon them under colour of Religion it cannot be made good They were first in the Field the Emperor had not any forces ready a long time after yea they pursued him with their Army and compelled him to fortifie himself P. Avila de bello Germanico So that if mens Councels may be guessed at by their actings it is clear they had rather designs upon him And his favorable dealings with all of them after the Victory do more then refute such a calumny But saith Dr. Bilson The Emperor is not absolutely to be obeyed by the States It is no matter He is to be obeyed in seeing the Laws and Constitutions of the Empire observed and that is enough to justifie his proceedings in the case How far he is absolute and how far the Princes do ow fealty and homage to him and obedience to the Publike Constitutions of the Empire their several Oaths taken at the Coronation of the one and Investitures or Instalments of the other do best shew But I will leave skirmishing and come to the main point It is most certain That Caesar did observe the Law and that the Confederate Princes did violate both the Laws and Liberties of Germany For what Prince soever stands Rectus in Curiâ having the ancient and known Laws of the Kingdom on his side must always be judged to hold a better plea then Subjects who arm themselves against him illegally disorderly and by authority of their own private opinions onely At that time Caesar was bound by Law to extirpate Lutheranism and to maintain the Popes authority in Germany as it was acknowledged in the other parts of Christendom he was bound to maintain Catholike Religion and the Immunities or Rights of the Church so manifestly that even their own Goldastus doth acknowledge it to be the Emperors Oath so to do
should prevail more then where men of wisdom and discerning judgements sit at the Helm And as Zuinglius before him had found That he could not induce Francis the First to favor him so Calvin well perceived that Kings and Dei gratâ—á would be always blocks in his way Therefore he is willing to remove them so far as he can out of the way that they may not impeach the current of his Prâ—achings and to that end tells them in plain terms Dan. 6.22 Abdicant se potestate Princes deprive themselves of aâ—â— power when they oppose God and it is better in such case to spit â—n theâ—r faces then to obey them Which irreverence yet he never learned from the example of any Apostle or Prophet There is a respect due to the persons of Princes even when they forget their office if we be not much mistaken Doctor Bilson labors much to save Calvins credit in this business with Princes and to expound the words in some tolerable sense Christians subject to Antichrists Rebellion He says Calvin speaketh not a word of depriving Princes or resisting him with Arms. That by Abdicant se he means not they loose their Crowns but their power to command unlawful things a fine gloss they loose a power which they never had but in lawful things they retain their power still The phrase Conspuere he confesseth to be harsh and that the comparison was urged by him in vehemâ—nt words yet is willing to excuse them But as to the first plea it is wholly impertinent For what though he use not the words of deprivation and resâ—stance are therefore the words he useth excusable to speak too plainly had been to erre too palpably which stood not with Calvins craftiness Beside what was Daniels defence which he urgeth it was onely in Humility Patience and Prayer It was not after the violent fashion of Genevah he did not spit in Nebuchadonozors face nor tell him he was unworthy to live And for the second Abdicant se what means he that Kings do loose not their Crowns but onely their Power to Command Speak plain English and be clear You confess the King looseth his Power to Command but you adde obscurely in these things meaning in matters of Religion for so it must be understood though you cast a cloak over the words and cover the matter But I dâ—sire to know what is a Kings Crown without power to command He that teacheth they loose their Royal Power doth he not say as much as that they forfeit it and if they forfeit it who may challenge and take the forfeiture of such a Crown But by such Lectures and Doctrines as these doth not Calvin plainly enough arm the Subjects against the Prince when they revolt for Religion And is not this the very ground of all the Combustion and Civil Wars in France Yea but in other things lawful Princes retain their power First these are not Calvins words but Doctor Bilsons who writes and lives under a Monarchy Calvins words are indifinite Abdicant se potestate They deprive themselves of the power they have without exception or limitation absolutely not after a sort in all things not in some particular for altogether not for some time onely and then to be restored For Princes once dispossessed seldom recover their hold again Secondly what Court or Magistrates shall take cognizance and determine wherein Kings loose their power and wherein not who shall judge and decide the difference between the matters lawful and unlawful that you speak of Though as I say Calvins own words import no such restriction at all which doth plainly appear by his harsh phrase as you call it of spitting in his face that is to defie them openly and to contemn them and their acts according to your own interpretation But this you say is far from Rebellion true but not from Treason And therefore though he teach not the one yet he may teach the other Extenuate the words as much as you can yet they will be really heinous and seditious For he that holdeth a King is not worthy to be or to live among men doth he not sufficiently excommunicate him from his Government As for your Insurgunt contra Deum it is a stale and Arbitrary pretext and serves onely to make them odious under a feigned charge of impiety it convinceth nothing but much impudence and malice in the objectors who should first learn to be vertuous themselves before they charge vice so freely upon others especially Princes A thing which they never yet were in any kinde that the World knoweth To conclude this you grant in effect That if the King of Babylon threatens Daniel with punishment in case he will not worship his Idol or the King of France commands his Subjects to obey the Laws and communicate at the Altar of the Church in both cases alike abdicant se potestate the Kings loose their power and Subjects ought not to obey them but rather to spit in their faces And this was the reason why Doctor Alâ—â— objeâ—ted it to Calvin as seditious Doctrine and Doctor Bilson well knoweth that seditious Doctrines are not so dainty at Genevah For there it was that in hatred of thâ—ee Queen Maries of England and Scotland that Calvin first set a broach that more then seditious Paradox against Gynocraty or the Government of Women and by instruction and example from him Knox and Goodman afterward published their several Books of that subject Look but upon the History of Scotland Printed by Wautroller Page 213. and you will finde that Knox Apologized for all his practises from the authority and judgement of Calvin viz. That it was lawful for Subjects to reform Religion when Princes will not And that Calvins opinion in the point may be yet more manifested the practises of his darling and Scholar Master Theodore Beza must be considered who perfectly understood his Doctrine and did no less bravely put it in execution In the Preface to his Translation of the New Testament which he maketh to Queen Elizabeth he writeth thus Quo die Scil. 19. Decemb. Vpon which day Anno 1564. saith he two years sâ—nce the Nobility and Gentlemen of France under the command of his Excellency the Prince of Conde being assisted with Your Majesties Auxiliaries and some others from the Princes of Germany laid the first foundation of the true Reformed Religiâ—n in France with their own blood This I hope Master Bilson himself will confess to be Rebellion yet Beza justifieth it openly yea glorieth that himself was not an accessory but a principal in the business For after he had commended some other good services of this nature which the Reforming Parties had done at Meaulx Orleans c. He concludes Id quod eò libentiùs testor Which I speak saith he the more freely because I my self as it pleased God was present at most of those Counsels and Actions It is true there be some that would excuse even this Action
to breed some dislike of Monarchs in the mindes of people and to shew how inconvenient it is for such an infinite multitude and variety of people to depend upon the Edicts of one man This being done they know it is then easie and they may much better advance the authority of inferior Magistrates and by them emboldned by such degrees to contest at last and jar with their Superiors under a pretence of Reforming abuses and pulling down Idolatry they become able to pull down Kings themselves and to level the Creators that is to say the cheif Authors and origin of all lawful Power exercised in their respective Kingdoms with the most inferior Creatures themselves upon whom it should be exercised And after this they are sure their Consistories and Elders must rule all be Judges both of Clergy and Law Councel and King They must be henceforward the onely Rabbies and from their onely Sanbedrim or Genevian Consistory must the Oracles of all Government be fetcht both for Church and Kingdom Neither can I forget how irreverently Eusebius Philadelphus viz. Master Theodore Beza disguised used his Sovereign King Charls in his other Book of Reveille Matin where usually he calls the King Tyrant and of his name Charls Valois makes this Anagram Chasseur Desloyal that is neither more nor less Perfidious Hunter or Persecutor chuse you whether Read his rimes and scandalous reproaches of the Queen-Mother himself being a fugitive for more crimes then one deservedly most infamous Peruse the Forty Articles recorded in that Book for the better advancing of seditious Government For example Art 25. All Generals and Commanders in cheif must observe the Ecclesiastical Discipline ordained by their Synods Art 40. They are bound never to disarm so long as their Religion is persecuted as they call it by the King This is the patience of those Saints But what is become of their Preces lachrymae in the mean time That pretending to reform the World are so little masters of their own Passions But in Article fourteen and fifteen their spirits and designs appear in their bravery aiming at no less then the utter overthrow of the King and extirpation of the whole family of Valois as any man may perceive that reads them These were those Holy Articles of Bearn Anno 1574. so much talked of over all France coyned with Beza's own stamp and at Melion dispersed and communicated to their inferior Moschees all the Kingdom over to the intent as they expresly avowed That they might make war more strongly against their Enemies who were no other but the King and whole State of France and â—ill it should please God say they to turn the heart of the Tyrant that is of the French King their Natural and Lawful Sovereign About the same time also was framed and published by their Emissaries that libellous life of Catharine de Medices Queen-Mother Franco-Gallia the Tocsan of Massacreurs together with that fine-piece mentioned bâ—fore called the Legend of Lorrain For this is very observable and it is an honor which the House of Guise hath had a long time that no man ever professed himself an Enemy to the Church of God in France but he was likewise at deadly feud with them All which proceedings were so notorious and unexcusable in those times that even their fellow Protestants here in England those I mean of better note and more moderated judgement do acknowledge them with dislike The Protestants of the French Church saith Doctor Sutcliff Answ to a Lib. suppl for thirty years together taught violent Reformation by the Nobility people and private persons And again Beza saith he in his Book De jure Magistratus doth arm the Subject against the Prince and in effect overthroweth the Authority of Christian Kings and Magistrates And the Book Vindiciae contra Tyrannos gives power saith he not onely to resist but to kill the King if he impugn Gods true Religion The same also is affirmed by the late Archbishop of Canterbury Doctor Bancroft in the Survey of Discipline but most copiously and at large in the Book of Dangerous Positions especially about Pag. 192. seq To these I may adde Francis Baldwin a famous Lawyer of France who lived a long time with Calvin at Genevah and knew all their proceedings very well Mirabar saith he Respons ultim ad Jo. Calvin I wondred a long while whether your fiery Apostle viz. Theodore Beza would tend who in his Sermons here so much extolled that fact of the Levites running up and down the Tents of Israel Exod. 32. and slaying every man his Brother that had committed Idolatry But I hear now that your self are not much satisfied with such Ministers And again Pag. 128. Leviora sunt isia All this is nothing saith he in comparison of that which follows For now men make war even upon the dead The Statues the Sepulchres the very bones and bodies of Martyrs Princes c. scape not their barbarous hands Cities are sacked Churches robbed and spoiled c. Which Beza is so far from excusing that he justifieth them rather and professeth to his Friend Christopher Thretâ—â—s Epist 40. That for his part he hath no thoughts of peace that is that if such outrages and villanies should cease Nisi de ellatis hostâ—bus until the â—nemies so he calls the Kings Army and all the Catholikes of France with them be totally subdued But we ought not to wonder at it It is Morbus innatus to all Sacramentaries a disease bred in their bones that is in the very vitals and entrails of their cause to be seditious and dangerous to their Princes Zuinglius their Patriarch first taught them the Lesson who Tom. 1. of his works Art 2. delivers this for an Oracle viz. That Reges quandò perfidè extra regulam Christi egerint c. When Kings break Faith with their people and do otherwise then the rule of Christ directs them which rule themselves will onely interpret Possunt cum Deo deponi They may be deposed with right good Conscience Doctor Bilson is here again entangled and troubles himself and his Reader not a little to finde som Apology for this Paradox I undertake not saith he first To defend each mans several opinion Wisely spoken Secondly They may be deposed saith he when they advance ungodliness as Saul was May they so where is the Samuel the Prophet extraordinarily and on purpose sent from God that shall do it may the people do it No saith he blushing or afraid to affirm that and therefore seems to leave it as a priviledge or a matter reserved to the judgement of the Elders But Zuinglius himself deals more plainly and tells you Art 42. and 43. who shall do it Cum suffragiis consensu totius aut majoris c. When saith he such a Tyrant is deposed by consent of all or the major part of the people it is well done and as God would have it Therefore in his
in such sort that never any Common-wealth in Christendome groaned under the like burthens T is certain The Gentle Father of the people as they once called that Fox the Prince of Orange did propound and endeavor to wrest from them not the Tenth but the Sixth Penny towards his charge and maintenance in the year 1584 Mich. ab Isselt de bell Belgic after he had made them a Free State This you will say was a Note above Ela. And though the people denied it and murmured grievously at the motion yet is he still in Holland Pater Patriae so well and cunningly doth he both shuffle his Cards and play his Game Barnevelt in his Apologie confesseth that in the year 1586. he found the order of Government out of all good frame many Protestant Preachers would not acknowledge the States because they had not that command and discipline after the French fashion which they desired The Common people all contrary-minded one to another and the Towns wishing for Peace The Expences of the State exceeded all incomes by Twenty six Millions and that which I cannot but wish the Reader to observe West-Frizeland which in the beginning of the troubles did contribute onely Eighteen hundred thousand Florens was now charged to pay Quadragies centena millia librarum duos Milliones I have put it down in the Authors own words because I would not have the Reader poâ—â— bly mistaken Who is now the Tyrant and Exactor It seems though the people have changed their Lord they have not laid down their burthen D'Alva may be said to have beat them with Whips but the States with Scorpions Do but consider their Excises and Impositions upon all sorts of Commodities even the most necessary for humane life and subsistance viz. Meat Drink Fewel yea men-servants Wages and what not Besides Loans and Benevolences which are both commonly required and heavy Cnickius directly chargeth them that they exact one way or other the Fourth part of the peoples Revenues that are Hollanders and live out of the Country But saith he Si in Provinciis nostris c. if they live in any of our Provinces by leave Semissem jubent solvere c. they require them to pay the one half and in case they refuse or neglect They take all As for the cruelty of D' Alva which was objected so much to little purpose in the Treaty at Colen and hath been since Rhetorically aggravated by their Doctor Baudius let us call to minde See Baudii orat what provocations were at first given him by the oppositions and malice of the Nassovians by the War at Montz by the practises used to impead his entrance into Brabant and by so often contriving his death yet were these venial sins But when he found the Nobility so far engaged with the Geuses as they were that the Kings Authority was slighted Catholike Religion generally deserted and profaned the chief solemnities thereof in some places most impiously and contumeliously abused in the face of Heaven and of the Catholike Army when he saw the Towns in Holland and Zealand revolt Harlem Alcmar and others refusing the Kings Authority what indifferent man can wonder if severity were used at first to such of them as fell under his power Who would not think that Cauterizing was necessary when there appeared so much proud flesh in the wound and that purgations must be somewhat violent when the body is so much and so generally distempered Nor could the peaceable nature of the Commendador Ludovicus Requesens who succeeded D'Alva do any good upon such rough and irreconcileable spirits How often was he heard to cry out Dios nos libera de estos estados God deliver me from these States once Insomuch that Sir Roger Williams a Gentleman of our own Country and Soldier of good note who had served on both sides and knew the nature of the people very well condemns the revocation of D'Alva as an error of State Because saith he See his History nothing but rigor could reduce such violent Spirits unto order and nothing but a Sword in hand keep them in obedience As for the Kings Oath which they say he hath broken in the matter of priviledges if they would decide the matter by justice they must make it plain and evident by what Fact in what case instance example he hath broke it and ought not to presume so much as they do viz. to be Themselves both Plaintiffs Accusers and Judges Again supposing that the King had broken his Oath may not many things happen after his Oath-taking to excuse him from perjury By Law every Oath or promise how absolute soever yet hath always this necessary condition tacitly implyed in it viz rebus sic stantibus that things remain so as they were when the Oath was taken But if such difficulties or alterations happen as render the promise either impossible or unlawful to be performed a man doth not then commit perjury nor any other kinde of injustice by not performing his promise What if that which the King at his Inauguration promised for the good of the Province cannot be observed now but with the great dammage of the Province and of all Europe and this occasioned by the distemper and change of the people themselves of the Province of necessity if the case that is to say the condition and state of affairs be so far changed resolutions and proceedings upon them must also change Again supposing he had broken his Oath suâ culpâ and blameably yet were not the States thereby inabled or authorized to depose him and chuse a new Prince For in the Articles of the Joyful Entry this is a Clause Vt si in omnibus aut in vno quopiam Articulo pacta ista Dux Brabantiae violasset c. That if it shall happen that the said Dake of Brabant doth violate or break either all or any one of these Articles it shall be lawful for his Subjects to deny him the accustomed services until the thing in Controversie be either revoked or amended So long they might but after the grievances complained of should be redressed they were to return again to their duty and to rest in statu quo prius of obedient Subjects And the world knows how oft the King offered unto the Emperor to other Forreign Princes and to the States themselves to revoke and amend whatsoever could be proved amiss Beside the States and Courts of Brabant are more proper to decide this question then the States of Holland who have no such priviledges Originally but onely by Participation and Vnion And they that is Brabant Flanders Artois Henault and the rest have conformed themselves and are returned to their due Allegiance being obedient to the King his Laws and Government And if Holland would but follow their example the business were at an end To draw therefore to some conclusion in this matter of Priviledges and of the Kings Oath it would be demanded who granted these Priviledges
at first was it not the Prince ex mero motu gratiâ speciali out of his meer grace and favor and to gratifie and endear the affections of good Subjects to him Do not all their Charters run in this still Speak they not all this language What ungrateful presumption is it then for people to be so ready and industrious to molest their Sovereign Princes upon the advantage of their own favors What if they be forced to break an Article or some clause of an Article upon urgent cause must it be judged a crime unpardonable what would they have said to Philip Duke of Burgundy and of the Netherlands who upon occasion resumed into his own hand Henric. Berland Histor and by his own Authority all the Priviledges and Immunities of Gaunt yea detained them all his life-time teaching them thereby to acknowledge from whose grace they held them And though the people compelled his Son Charls to restore them upon his coming to Gaunt yet it proved to their cost for they were forced to seek pardon and to cast themselves and their Charters once again at his feet and to stand to mercy The like he did at Machlin but not without great suit made to him and upon such conditions as himself thought good And it is not a little strange to be considered why this Prince of Orange who urgeth so much the Kings Oath and that it ought to be kept yet makes so little conscience to perform his own For he may remember when he was made Governor of Brabant Mich. Baius de Vnion Stat. he took his Oath to maintain Catholike Religion in that Province Hath he performed it When he retired into Holland he professed and protested publikely he would alter nothing nor dispossess the Catholike Clergie of their livings The like he did at Amsterdam and further bound himself there with a Solemn Oath yet he performed none of these but the clean contrary most perfidiously and wickedly as soon as ever he had power in his hands and could attend to do it so that to serve his own turn and for his treacherous end we see how much he could urge another man though his own sovereign to his duty but for his own Religion and bonum publicum gives him a dispensation And it is just according to Calvins Institutions Lib. 4. c. 13. Sect. 21. A man saith he once perfectly illuminated by the light of the Gospel simul omnibus vinculis obediendi legibus Ecclesâ—ae solutus est is ipso facto and at an instant discharged from all bands of obedience either to the Church or the State A blessed Lesson doubtless and wherein he could not but have many Scholars But all this while no particular charge comes in against the King no instance no example is given wherein he did break his Oath when it was poâ—â— ble for him to keep it which through their distempers and undutifulness was become not a little difficult Was it in his exactions that is answered already Was it for bringing in Spaniards upon them Time and necessity forced him to be at that great charge and trouble much against his will to defend the Church to defend the Religion of his Ancestors and of the Country against the insolencies of rude ignorant impious people connived at and countenanced by them lastly to defend the Laws and laudable Customs of the Country and to make them know he was their Prince Was it in the matter of Religion Indeed it is true there is a clause in the Vnion contra omnem vim c. That it should be against all violence whatsoever that should be offered them under pretence of the Kings Authority for matter of Religion It is to be observed at the beginning Orange Horn and Montigny joyned with the people upon pretense onely of opposing the Inquisition upon this ground onely they would seem to countenance Brederode and his complices and for this end only they seem to urge the Religions Vried yea they publish books and make liberal promises to be content if they may but enjoy their own Religion and that they will not prejudice or oppose the Catholikes and with such dissembling as this they drew a great part even of the Catholikes themselves to joyn with them yea Prelates and persons no way suspected for the matter of Religion yet deceived not a little with their pretenses of liberty and of the publike good for which reason the Arch-Duke Matthias was called in and they engaged to assist and defend him with their lives and estates Well! the Religions Vried was granted and thereby as it were a Supersedeas to the Inquisition all violence and severity for matter of Religion ceased What could they desire more All the Provinces and Holland and Zealand among the rest enjoyed what they would have Liberty Religion Et quid non But it is an observation of infallible verity Faction and Heresie are always humble till they get the Sword in their hands when they have it they change their tune as it manifestly appeared by their proceedings For in a short time they of Holland were so far from keeping the Peace of Religion which they had promised that they expel the Catholike Clergy out of all places under their power They seize upon their Lands Sequester their Benefices Imprison their Persons yea molest and prosecute all without exception whose consciences suffer them not to conform to their pretended Synods at Dort in the year 1574. at Middleborough in the year 1581. yea they drown and use many other kindes of cruelty towards men meerly for Religion not enduring so much as to heare of Toleration but onely for their own and some few Anabaptists and Semi-Arrians among them The Religions Vried so impetuously desired or rather demanded when time was for themselves is now quite forgotten and Merchants of Amsterdam Bâ—ewers of Delfâ— Staplers of Dort Seamen of Horn with some few illiterate Ministers joyned with them do now Direct Rule Govern and Judge in all things Comme bon leur semble as it is in one of the Articles touching the Vnion according as to themselves seemeth good No man must gainsay them Truly if the King had proceeded thus with them if he had taken Arms and levyed forces to introduce a new Religion upon them as they did upon the Country I should confess he had much incroached upon their liberties had broken his Oath and incurred their hatred justly The States of Holland Zealand c. have done all this and much more mischief and injurie to the people of those Provinces where they command what therefore do they desire doth not their own example and practises justifie beyond all exception the Kings proceedings Shall they presume to introduce and set up by force of Arms a Religion which before themselves no man ever owned Shall the Consistory at Genevah be so precise as not to permit any kinde of Toleration Shall the pretended Churches of France and Bearn more especially insult
Posse Tyrannum a quoquam c. That a Prince though Tyrant can be put to death by any private Authority And at a Councel held at Oxford under Steven Langton Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about the year 1228. Excommunication is decreed against all such as violate the Kings Peace or disturb the State of the Kingdom Yea the Councel of Constance Sess 15. declares it to be an error in Faith to hold otherwise Nuper accepit sancta synodus c. This Holy Synod saie the Fathers of it hath been lately informed that certain erronious opinions are holden contrary to Peace and good Estate of the Common-wealth viz. That a Tyrant may be lawfully and meritoriously taken away and killed by any Subject or Vassal of his c. Non obsâ—ante quocunque juramento c. Notwithstanding whatsoever Oath of Fidelity or Allegiance that he hath made to him Such Doctrine saith the Councel is contrary both to Faith and Manners and whosoever shall hold it pertinaciously are Hereticks and as such to be proceeded against according to the Canons What can be said or desired more upon the Parricide of Henry the Fourth King of France the Parliament of Paris a Court ever most studious of their Princes safety and extreamly vigilant against the encroaching of any forreign power contrary to his just Authority in Temporal causes yet thought it sufficient to publish this decree of the Church against the Assassinates of Princes both to shew the heinousness of the crime as also how much the Catholike Doctrine doth condemn such practises So that hereby as in a Glass the world might see the integrity of Catholike Loyalty if men would judge of them not by the private and perhaps misinterpretâ—table assertions of some particular Doctors but by these publike and avowed principles of their beleef This is the Basis on which they build the rule by which they walk and govern themselves in point of obedience towards their Sovereign Princes Or if they would judge of them by their proceedings and addresses to their Superiors their frequent petitions professions protestations of all just obedience will sufficiently cleer them If by their practice and manner of life their quiet deportment their peaceable manner of living and conversing with all men yea their prayers which they daily make unto Allmighty God in the behalf of their Prince and for the happiness of their Country do shew how innocent they are and how little they deserve those black aspersions and calumnies of Treason Rebellion Disloyalty Et quid non which some men are so diligent to cast upon them Yea to speak with no greater confidence then we justly may they shew how much more secure Princes may be and how much better Tye and assurance they have of Catholikes Loyalty then either of Lutherans or Calvinists For although Protestants do seem sometimes to teach obedience to the Civil Magistrate very freely and that it is sin for private Subjects to resist them as for Example Melancthon in his Epitome of Moral Philosophy makes it Peccatum Mortale No less matter then Mortal Sin I use his own words To violate the Tempâ—ral Laws of the Magistrates Yet is their Doctrine so clogged with exceptions so many limitations and Proviso's as it were are commonly added to it that Princes especially such as differ from them in Religion cannot finde I say not full and plenary but not so much as probable or competent security from them Melancthon in the place before mentioned limiteth himself thus Debet autem haec sententia c. But this which I have delivered saith he concerning obedience to the Civil Magistrates must be rightly understood viz. of such Magistrates as command nothing contrary to the Law of God as all Catholike Princes do in his opinion What security therefore have they from his Doctrine Lib. de Consens Evang. Beside we have shewen before according to his doctrine the people or inferior Magistrates may reform Religion and overthrow Idolatry as they call it without any publike Authority or Commission So that if the Justices of the Peace in some County or but the Petty Constables in Towns do beleeve the Religion professed by the Prince or State to be Idolatrous and not according to Gods word they are discharged of obedience by Melancthon and may fall to reforming solely of themselves And what his Master Luthers opinions were concerning this matter hath been sufficiently shewen already there need be no repetition of them here Danaeus teacheth the same or worse Lib. 6. Polit. c. 3. So doth Peter Martyr on Judges Cap. 11. and in his Common places And Althusius Politic. Cap. 35. P. 37. where among other causes of a Just War maintained by Subjects against their Sovereigns Purae Religionis defensio defence of True Religion hath the Second place Yea it is wel known that Sureau a Protestant Minister in France otherwise called Rosâ—eres wrote a Book expresly on this subject That it was lawful to kill Charls the Ninth Belfor lib. 6. cap. 103. his natural Sovereign and the Queen-Mother if they would not obey the Gospel But to conclude with one instance for all The Hugonots of France having in the Nine and thirtieth Article of their Confession professed That men ought to be obedient to the Laws to pay Tributes and to bear the Yoke of subjection quietly even under unbeleeving Magistrates They adde a limitation which corrupts and nullifies all that they had said viz. Dummodo Dei summum imperium integrum maneat So long onely as Gods Supream Authority is entirely acknowledged which under the Government of an Infidel Magistrate cannot be easily conceived Therefore upon the matter they profess nothing but abuse their Prince and the world with bare words as it is usuall with them to do Which is yet more evident by the Declaration which their Synod at Bearn in the year 1572. purposely made of this Article and of the Limitation of it Dei imperium dicitur manere illibatum Poplon nier lib. 34. cum Rex exterminatâ Catholicâ Religione c. Gods Sovereign Authority say they is then understood to be entirely acknowledged when the King abolishing or rooting out Catholike Religion shall set himself to advance onely the true and pure worship of God that is to say that which is so in their sense and opinion But to do this is it a thing to be supposed of an Infidel Prince to whom they pretend to profess subjection or is it to be expected of a Catholike Therefore I say they contradict themselves apparenly in their profession and do indeed profess nothing really but that they are Impostors and deserve to be branded with Characters of jealousie and distrust by all the Princes States of Christendom The book called Comment de Statu Relig. â—c a Protestant piece is ful of such stuff but especially Pâ— 2. Lib. 12. Cap. 1. where he affirmeth expressly That in all Oaths of Allegiance and Duty there is this condition always implyed at