assaulted by the Lutherans in the heat of the Paroxysm it was exasperated and the suddain restraint did much hurt But now the Arminians have of their own accord let go the hardest part of their rigour and judge the Calvinists to be impious and persecute them in the very Universities and in other Towns they force them to banishment and would venture to do more and crueller things if they were not afraid of the strength of the avderse Party That he here saith of Contentions is sufficiently practised First To Create them And Secondly To Foment them That which Contzen principally taketh notice of is That Order in the Puritans or Prosessors of Religion in England is easie to be effected But he adviseth that the Magistrate or Agent for the Church of Rome do make use of the Protestants differences and not permit them to Unite but rather pursue all Ways and Means of contriving Disunion fomenting of Breaches amongst the Professors of Religion of all sorts and more especially the Church and State of England than any other for that it is the greatest State or Kingdom that is in Europe that is freed from the Barbarous and Intolerable Yoke of the Papal Soveraignty or Supremacy it is a Place whence the Church of Rome hath been plentifully supplyed with vast sums imposed upon this Kingdom and obtained from it It is evident that what is here asserted is no less than Truth and it behoveth all Interests and Perswasions to reconcil to conform and unite and decline being Authors of Discord in the Church Certain it is That that which must be able to stand like a Rock against the violent and open Force of the Church of Rome and its private undermining Policies must be something else than general Indulgence He who hath any reason and hath observed any thing of the Practice and Policy of the Church of Rome must conclude that it must be Union under a well-governed Church that must be managed by Councel that must be careful of making good their Ground and be able to detect their Policies and new Contrivances I shall add one thing more of Campanella Chap. 18. Advice to the King of Spain Neither would I have this one thing to be omitted namely that He erect certain Colledges through all the Provinces of his Dominions in which should be placed all the most ingenious Boys of the said Provinces and who are such may easily be known by their first Masters that taught them their Grammers and other the first Rudiments and these being thus culled out of all Grammer-Schools I would have to be brought up and maintained at the Kings Charge and there should be a New Order set up of them like that of St. Dominick which Order I would have called The Austrian Order And when any of these were come to be 18 years old they should then be commanded to Preach and these I would have to be called The Kings Preachers and they should then be sent abroad some into Germany and others into England where if they have managed their business rightly and well at their return they should have Bishopricks conferred upon them by the King of those that are in the Kings own Gift for by so doing he shall render himself secure both from the Pope and also against all perfidious Preachers and Hereticks and by this means such persons onely shall be maintained at His Charge as do him service for it and advance His affairs This is an evident Demonstration of the Practices of the Church of Rome and it would not be amiss if that something of the like nature were undertaken for the Church and State of England Chelsey-Colledge erected might be of use and become a good Expedient against the underminings of the Church of Rome the Hinderers of that Work were no Friends to the Church of England How far any can be deemed a Friend to Church or State that is a Roman Catholick is a great Question for that all Pretences Oaths Abjurations what not in their Opinion may be absolved by the Pope If so what can a Protestant Prince or State expect from them they may be Friends to Him in a degree less or more as their Interest shall lead them and not otherwise FINIS
in the truth and all others in Errors so those of another do the like of the former And thus the Jesuit hath divided us by his observing the several Humors of the English Nation those that are more Austere as the Presbyterian those that are more pure as the Independent or separate Churches the Anabaptists as holy and select and as persons set apart from the World by their Submission to that Ordinance of Baptism at years of Discretion The Difference is not much material yet the Jesuite maketh use of these Distinctions to carry on his design by promoting of every one of them and by keeping them at an even poyse and sometimes again subdivide that thereby whilst he divideth them that are most near to the Truth he may work the better upon those that are of a baser Minde and Humor and that will receive more gross Principles more remote from the Truth And those he practiseth upon such who have not a spirit of discerning but have some Affection to devotion as on the Seeker and the Quaker more looser Principles on the Familists and Ranters merrier and pretty conceited Devotions amongst the Rosicrucians and Psalterists or Hallilujaists or Singers so of many others But he sometimes must make use of Truth and the ways of Truth to gain advantages in his Design as the Devils in the possessed said What have we to do with thee Jesus of Nazareth thou Son of the most high God The Devil acknowledged Christ to be Son of God in design for the People seeing him to be acknowledged by the Devils they drew this Conclusion That he did cast out Devils by the Power of Beelzebub the Prince of Devils the Devils would never have confessed that he was the Son of God but to produce that contrary Effect so the Jesuite doth not promote or cast himself under those Forms that are true or near the Truth to any other end than to produce those contrary Effects before premised viz. to divide and subdivide to render the Churches less formidable or powerful in opposing the Church of Rome if not subvert them and bring them back to the Obedience of the Church of Rome That this is certain and not taken up upon conjecture is evident by the practice of Thomas Ramsy of the Order of Jesus who joyned with a gathered Church at Hexam in the North of England under this pretence that he was a Jew and gave himself his name Joseph Ben Israel his particular Instructions was to insinuate the Doctrine of Free-Will the which he did accomplish and carried on with a High hand until he was discovered detected and cast into Prison One that got more than ordinary advantages of Familiarity obtained of him the Discovery of many secrets in the Policy of the Jesuits practice some of which are these the ways that they practise in their Seminaries to bring up youth and render them fit for the intended Employments they put them upon are They First observe the Genius of the Party and observing the peculiar Gifts he is naturally indowed with they fit him onely for that service he learneth some Trade to hide and blind his Order which he practiseth by this means he becometh Eminent amongst those of that perswasion he casteth himself into and to put him into such a condition that he may be freed from the stings of Conscience they first teach him to swear curse damn and forswear and immediately to implore the Throne of Grace with all pious Devotion imaginable By this means they become flexible and fit for any design that lyeth before them to promote and if Conscience still should pursue them their Pardons help at a dead lift And this they warrant from that Maxim That no way is to be refused whereby the Felicity and Peace of the Church of Rome is to be promoted and secured let it be by any means whatsoever lawful or unlawful These things considered How much doth it behoove all that truly fear God or have any true sincere Religion in their breast to detest and decline the thought of condemning this Form or that in regard Religion doth not lye in Forms but in the powerful practise of all Holiness and godly Conversation and therefore consent to some Natural Harmony or Form necessary to the Truth that the union thereof may be such as it may be able to make head against the Church of Rome's designs and the Projects of the Devil else we shall continually be divided and subdivided till at last we shall neither have form or substance left and be hurried into all manner of Confusion The Truth of which is to be seen at this day amongst us How do the giddy and unstable run out of one thing into another The Devil and Jesuit can scarcely invent that which hath either seeming Form or Order in it fast enough or so fast as giddy People that were never well principel'd in Religion are ready to be led away captive by poysonous Notions that are daily distilled amongst them to the ruine of their own Souls and to the dishonour of God Who so soon as they are tainted by those delusions immediately think themselves illuminated by Divine Light as we see by sad Experience at this day amongst us by people that yield Obedience and submit to all manner of Delusions and conform to them as Impulses from on High which is nothing else but the Effects of depraved minds agitated illuminated and acted by the Evil One. The Art of the Jesuits is manifest Another way which serveth them to great purpose is the loosening of people from Principles and when effected distil Notions to pursue after the discovery of new Lights and instead of meeting with that which is Light they close with what suiteth to their corrupt minds or ends The Inferior sort of every Perswasion when the Jesuit hath distilled his poysons amongst them receive the Notions and Principles as Truth and many of them worship under those Forms and Notions as in Spirit and Truth The chief of most of them do joyn with them out of corrupt ends to be Head of the Factions to exercise a kinde of Domination which is delightful to Mankind so that the Jesuit doth no more than first distil a poysonous Notion and nurse it and defend it till it be indifferent considerable when accomplished it will subsist of it self and put it self into form and order Then when he hath done that by Errour if that should grow too fast he allayeth it by subdividing of it by some true Notion or some other erronious Notion which are equally alike to the Jesuit for that the end of his designe is Dividing When he hath divided and cast a Nation into many and various Forms he hath accomplished and arrived to his End then if he can procure foment or stir up Dissatisfaction and Jealousies betwixt the Interests there he keepeth them in continual ebbing and flowing and naturally every Perswasion will incline some to one Interest of State some to
another As for Example the Episcopal doth naturally incline to a Monarchy Campanella did give the King of Spain the best advice to practise this kind of Policy yea he commendeth it before the opposing of England by Arms. The reason why he chose the Doctrine of Free will to be first set on foot in England was because that Opinion concludeth Man to be a free Agent which looseneth and freeth the Disciples thereof from more firm and sounder Principles and prepareth them to seek after new Lights and when once arrived to this degree immediately they turn Enthusiasts who pretend or think that all they do is done by the Spirit and that they are attended by the Spirit of Revelation Our Quaker is much pestered with the Malignant Influence of this Opinion The Jesuit by this means doth not onely divide people as to Religion and thereby render them less formidable against the Church of Rome but also bringing an evil Report upon the Protestant Religion disuniteth the affections of the Professors thereof and causeth Jealousies Heart-burnings and Animosities one against the other and taketh them off from the power of Religion to defend Forms and distinctions and that which is worst of all thereby increaseth so many dictinct and different Interests of State as there are considerable Perswasions in a Common-wealth When a Perswasion is grown up to be considerable it gives occasion for Factions in State Thereby some ambitious men will become the Heads of this or that Faction and by the Power of the Faction they Head become Mighty Now if a State be led by such Principles What wickedness shall not it be led into What Villanies shall not they attempt What so Sacred that they shall not Violate Or what Interest or Right will not they invade What shall limit them if they finde opportunity to attempt the accomplishing or the attaining to their desire Miserable is that Nation that is subject to such Inconveniences that are poysoned with Opinions The World is mistaken when they apprehend that the Jesuit worketh immediately in Councels to produce Turns and Charges of State No but he worketh by remote Causes such as are here before premised that is to say by infusing Notions destructive to publick safety at first into the common people then it is drunk in by great Ones then it Cleaveth and Divideth a Nation into so many Interests as there are Perswasions then he applieth matter sutable to the Humor and most apt to be received by the several Perswasions which shall work naturally such Effects and as it is the Policy of the Church of Rome to preserve it self by providing sutable entertainment for each Humor within it self so it is to destroy other Churches by several Poysons for each Humor Therefore it behooveth all Christian States to endeavour to fortifie themselves with Union When a State hath arrived to consistency its Form and Order is a barr to the Jesuites Operations Those States that are divided have no means to stay themselves from falling down the precipice of inevitable Ruine The Jesuite doth not onely operate by distilling Notions in Religion but also in affairs of State as for Example in the Case of our Controversies between the late King and the Parliament the Parliament made War with Him because that the discontents of the People did bear them up and enabled them so to do the which discontents were heightned by the Jesuit When the War Ended and the King overcome in the Field it is evident that the Jesuit stirred up those Sons of Belial to stain their Hands with his Sacred Blood the Jesuit also did practise and endeavour to incline the People to a Commonwealth but in its Infancy also he endeavoured to stifle it and prevent its arriving to a consistencie lest it should be too firm heavy for him to move Also it is his design to endeavour the altering of a Common wealth again into a Monarchy and a Monarchy that is erected out of a Commonwealth into an Oligarchy not that any one of the forms of Government will be more Subservient to his design than any other but that he may always practise Changes by which means a Protestant State is exercised with struggling Interests with it self so that it shall be less formidable and dangerous to the Catholick States That these things are not Conjectures or taken up by supposition onely or that these and such other Rules and Practices they follow is plainly demonstrable by Adam Contzen the Jesuit in his Politick Chap. 16 17 18. Chap. 16. Is to shew that Princes must determine of nothing in Religion as having power to defend that which the Pope determineth of but no power to appoint or change any thing themselves or judge of Controversies The Church must judge and the Priest must Execute Take notice that one of their Maxims is that the Magistrate hath nothing to do with matters of Religion As that Maxim serveth their purpose to strengthen the Power of the Church and weaken that of the Magistrate in Catholick-States So it serveth their purpose in Protestant States to weaken the Magistrate and lay all in confusion in the Church Chap. 17. Is to shew That to preserve Religion that is Popery no other Religion should be permitted * But it is the Principle of the Church of Rome to Cry up all Toleration until they have by their Policy obtained the Power and that Riches tend much to strengthen the Clergy and preserve Religion and the poverty of the Protestant Ministers which must be by all means endeavoured As he here prescribeth means to inrich the Popish Ministery he adviseth the impoverishing the Protestant that they may become disabled and discouraged to study and labour in the Work of the Ministery as also that by poverty they may become contemptible Indeed the Protestant-Minister is an Eye-sore to the Catholick and those that Cry out against Ministers maintainance do nothing else than the work of the Jesuit Chap. 18. To bring in Popery and abolish the Protestants Religion is to make use of the Protestants contentions How easie is it saith he in England to bring the Puritans into Order if they be forced to approve Bishops or to reduce the Puritans in the Low Countries if the Prince adhere to the Arminians For the Variety of Opinions makes that doubtful that before seemed certain so that when the Magistrate joyneth with one side he easily overturns the other and leaves the whole obnoxious As Paul did by the dissention between the Pharisees and Saduces joyning to one side he escaped This saith he I would principally perswade an Orthodox Magistrate to that is a Papist For he may have as much advantage to make use of the Protestants disagreements as of the Papists Concord to extirpate Protestants As in Wars it is not onely the skill and strength of the General but often also the Carelesness of the Enemy or his Mistake that gives very great advantges for success When rigid Calvinism was
and if it chance that any Bath or Spring break forth of the Earth that passeth thorow any mineral and is of Physical use as all such are it is Dedicated to one Saint or other and sometimes waters of no vertue at all naturally are cryed up to be for such and such uses as the Well or Water of St. Winifrid or the like People repair to it to use it the which together with the opinion that they have of it doth effect some kind of cures It is a true saying that the Patients good opinion of the Physician or means is more then half the cure The Politicians of the Church of Rome know the truth of that saying therefore they use all means possible to increase the faith of their Patients or Clyents which makes their cure more certain and easie It is known to Physicians that several Distempers are cured by the strength of Imagination as well as several Natures are subjected to several Distempers by Imagination As in time of Pestilence many that would die of other diseases than what was prepared by the Humors or Disorders in nature The Fear and Imagination of the party distempered is as a mould to cast the form of the thing feared in though others do die of it being prepared as tinder is apt matter for fire so they more aptly are subject to the Influences operating at that time God maketh use of second means although that of the Plague be an immediate dispensation from Him and is as it were a thing distinct from and other than the ordinary workings of Nature The Church of Rome are very well acquainted and do much study Natural Magick and are very good Proficients therein as in many hundred cases they may be traced in their Legends as most of all which may be performed by the natural Magical Art though they ascribe unto them the honour of Miracles As for Example that of St. Francis his great wonder of kindling a fire with Ice We must here let you to know that it is easie for Artists to make such a composition that so soon as one drop of water toucheth it it shall become a violent flame the which is effected by Antiperistasis that is to say the strengthning and opposing any quality against its contrary as of cold against heat It may be represented in a more familiar Example as that of the firing of Corn or Hay-stacks when stackt too moist or wet it doth not fire because of heat and dryth but it fireth because too moist or cold which is able to oppose though not overcome the other qualities being stirred devour the matter that retained them both Also the Church of Rome is acquainted with Sorcery or Diabolical Magick the which was practised by Pope Alexander the 6th Who the Papists themselves cannot deny but that he gave him self to the Devil who was not onely the wickedest of Men but also the wickedest of Popes He bestowed the Riches of the Church upon his Bastards he made away the Brother of Bajazet for a sum of money though he fled to him for protection he used his own Daughter Lucretia the Wife to three Princes Innumerable examples might be given of this nature too large here to be insisted upon So much as to their Miracles and the means by which they effect them Secondly As to their other part or branch of their Policy viz. Their practice to divide the Reformed Churches they do it by Instruments and Emissaries of their own who are sent to divide and infect them with Errors and Contradictions They out of the Seminaries of the Order of Jesu do send usually great numbers to all Parts to do this work This Order was wholly Religious before Luther's time they vowed the preaching of the Gospel to Pagans and the Instructing Christians in good Letters gratis When Luther began to oppose the power of the Church of Rome they cast off their Religious Vows and betook themselves to defend the Supremacy of the Church of Rome to be above general Councils and Princes by Principles and Practices of policy or rather Devilish circumventing Cunning for they value not the way or means by which they attain to the accomplishing of what they undertake When seeming Piety shall make way for what they design they have it at their fingers ends when the most impious and wicked act that ever was on earth done must accomplish what they design they there also are most ready But they make choice rather of seeming sanctity than of wicked Violations because the Church hath a better salve to cure the wounds made by the former than it hath for the wounds made by the latter The manner of this Political Orders Practice you shall find in Campanella's Discourse one of that Order touching the Spanish Monarchy Chap. 25. He adviseth the King of Spain in the latter End of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth in these words Now as concerning the weakning of the English there can no better way possibly be found out than by causing division and dissention amongst them and by continual keeping up the same which will quickly furnish the Spanish Crown or the Church with more opportunities and advantages than the power of great Armies can procure or produce As for the Religion of that people it is that of Calvin though very much moderated and not so Rigid and austere as it is at Geneva which yet cannot be so easily extinguished or rooted out there unless there were some certain Schools set up in Flanders with which people the English have great dealing and commerce by means of which there should be scattered abroad the Seeds of Schism and Division in the natural Sciences as namely betwixt the Stoicks Peripateticks and Telesians by which the Errour of the Calvinists might be made manifest For the truth is That Sect is diametrically contrary to the Rules of Policy for they teach that Whether a man do well or ill he doth all by divine Impulsion which Plato demonstrates against Homer to be opposite to all sounder Policy which says That every man hath free Liberty of Will either to do well or ill So that it is in our power to do and observe whatever is commanded and from hence we are to expect our Reward or Punishment according as I have taught in my Dialogue touching Policy where I have discoursed of this Point though but briefly which they since they have become Hereticks are grown somewhat subtil in and yet being of a Nature that is still desirous of Novelties and Change they are easily wrought over to any thing Here may be discerned what advantage they have over us in respect of Religion and the Reader may perceive the Order and Working of these Polititians who lay their Designs deep they study Men their Minds Objects Causes and their Effects and the Effects of Effects ad infiniâ—â—mâ— They and they onely have lulled this Nation into so many severaâ—â—â—thargies and Sleeps wherein those of this Perswasion dream they 〈◊〉 are