Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	faith_n	pope_n	3,103	5	6.3417	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04286	An apologie for the oath of allegiance first set foorth without a name, and now acknowledged by the authour, the Right High and Mightie Prince, Iames, by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. ; together with a premonition of His Maiesties, to all most mightie monarches, kings, free princes and states of Christendome.	James I, King of England, 1566-1625.; Paul V, Pope, 1552-1621.; Bellarmino, Roberto Francesco Romolo, Saint, 1542-1621.	1609 (1609)	STC 14401.5; ESTC S1249	109,056	264

after such things but for them that were throughly instructed in Gods word they could neuer suffer any syllable thereof to be corrupted Nay if need required they would for the maintenance thereof refuse no kinde of death Indeed the loue of the Emperour ought to be greatly esteemed with pietie but pietie taken away it was pernicious This is the truth of the history Now compare the case of Basill with the Arch-priests Basill was solicited to become an Arrian the Arch-priest not once touched for any article of faith Basill would haue obeyed the Emperour but that the word of GOD for bade him this man is willed to obey because the word of GOD commandeth him Basill highly esteemed the Emperours fauour if it might haue stood with pietie the Archpriest is exhorted to reiect it though it stand with true godlinesse in deed to embrace it But that hee may lay load vpon the Arch-priest it is not sufficient to exhort him to courage and constancie by Eleazars and Basils examples but hee must be vtterty cast downe with the comparing his fall to S. Peters and Marcellinus which two mens cases were the most feareful considering their persons and places that are to be found or read of either in all the books of diuine Scripture or the volumes of Ecclesiasticall histories the one denying the onely true God the other our Lord Sauiour IESVS CHRIST the one sacrificing to idols with the profane heathen the other forswearing his Lord and Master with the hard-hearted Iewes Vnlesse the Cardinall would driue the Archpriest to some horrour of conscience and pit of despaire I know not what hee can meane by this comparison For sure I am all that are not intoxicated with their cup cannot but woonder to heare of an Oath of Allegiance to a naturall Soueraigne to bee likened to an Apostats denying of God and forswearing of his Sauiour But to let passe the Disdiapason of the cases as his ill-fauoured coupling S. Peter the head of their Church with an apostate Pope I maruaile he would remember this example of Marcellinus since his brother Cardinall Baronius and the late edition of the Councels by Binnius seeme to call the credite of the whole history into question saying That it might plainely be refuted and that it is probably to be shewed that the story is but obreptitious but that he would not swarue from the common receiued opinion And if a man might haue leaue to coniecture so would his Cardinalship too if it were not for one or two sentences in that Councell of Sinuessa which serued for his purpose namely that Prima sedes à nemine iudicatur And Iudica causam tuam nostrâ sententià non condemnaberis But to what purpose a great Councel as he termes it of three hundred Bishops and others should meete together who before they met knew they could doe nothing when they were there did nothing but like Cuckowes sing ouer and ouer the same song that Prima sedes à nemine iudicatur and so after three dayes sitting a long time indeed for a great and graue Councell brake so bluntly vp and yet that there should be seuenty two witnesses brought against him and that they should subscribe his excommunication and that at his owne mouth he tooke the Anathema maranatha how these vntoward contradictions shal be made to agree I must send the Cardinall to Venice to Padre Paulo who in his Apologie against the Cardinals oppositions hath handled them very learnedly But from one Pope let vs passe to another for what a principall article of faith and religion this Oath is I haue alreadie sufficiently proued Why he called S. Gregory our Apostle I know not vnlesse perhaps it be for that he sent Augustine the Monke and others with him into England to cōuert vs to the faith of Christ wherein I wish the Popes his successours would follow his patterne For albeit he sent them by diuine reuelation as he said into England vnto King Ethelbert yet when they came they exercised no part of their function but by the Kings leaue and permission So did King Lucius send to Eleutherius his predecessor and hee sent him diuers Bishops who were all placed by the Kings authoritie These conuerted men to the faith and taught them to obey the King And if the Popes in these dayes would but insist in these steps of their forefathers then would they not intertaine Princes fugitiues abroad nor send them home not onely without my leaue but directly against the lawes with plots of treason and doctrine of rebellion to drawe Subiects from their obedience to mee their naturall King nor be so cruell to their owne Mancipia as returning them with these wares put either a State in iealousie of them or them in hazard of their owne liues Now to our Apostle since the Cardinall will haue him so called I perswade my selfe I should doe a good seruice to the Church in this my labour if I could but reape this one fruit of it to moue the Cardinal to deale faithfully with the Fathers and neuer to alledge their opinions against their owne purpose For this letter of Gregorius was written to Iohn Bishop of Palermo in Sicily to whom he granted vsum pallij to be worne in such times in such order as the Priests in the I le of Sicily and his predecessours were wont to vse and withall giueth him a caueat that the reuerence to the Apostolike Sea be not disturbed by the presumption of any for then the state of the members doth remaine sound when the head of the Faith is not bruised by any iniury and the authoritie of the Canons alwayes remaine safe and sound Now let vs examine the words The epistle was written to a Bishop especially to grant him the vse of the Pall a ceremony and matter indifferent As it appeareth the Bishop of Rome tooke it well at his hands that hee would not presume to take it vpon him without leaue from the Apostolique Sea giuing him that admonition which foloweth in the words alledged out of him which doctrine we are so far frō impugning that we altogether approue allow of the same that whatsoeuer ceremonie for order is thought meet by the Christian Magistrat and the Church the same ought inuiolably to bee kept and where the head gouernour in matters of that nature are not obeyed the members of that Church must needs run to hellish confusion But that Gregory by that terme caput fidei held himselfe the head of our faith and the head of all Religion cannot stand with the course of his doctrine and writings For first whē an other would haue had this stile to be called Vniuersalis Episcopus hee sayd I doe confidently auouch that whosoeuer calleth himselfe or desireth to be called Vniuersall Bishop in this aduancing of himselfe is the forerunner of the Antichrist Which notwithstanding was a stile far inferiour to

before hee lost his head to fil it with I haue great reason to doubt if he would haue constantly perseuered in induring his martyrdome for that one most waightie head of doctrine And surely these two captaines and ringleaders to martyrdome were but ill folowed by the rest of their countrymen for I can neuer reade of any after them being of any great account and that not many that euer sealed that weighty head of doctrine with their blood in England So as the true causes of their first falling in trouble wherof I haue already made mention being rightly considered vpon the one part and vpon the other the scant number of witnesses that with their blood sealed it a point so greatly accounted of by our Cardinal there can but smal glory redound therby to our English nation these onely two Enoch and Elias seruing for witnesses against our Antichristian doctrine And I am sure the Supremacie of Kings may and will euer be better maintained by the word of God which must euer bee the true rule to discerne al weighty heads of doctrine by to be the true and proper office of Christian Kings in their owne dominions then he wil be euer able to maintaine his annihilating Kings their authorities together with his base vnreuerend speeches of them wherewith both his former great Volumes and his late Bookes against Venice are filled In the old Testament Kings were directly Gouernours ouer the Church within their Dominions purged their corruptions reformed their abuses brought the Arke to her resting place the King dancing before it built the Temple dedicated the same assisting in their owne persons to the sanctification thereof made the booke of the Law new-sound to be read to the people renewed the couenant betweene God and his people brused the brasen Serpent in pieces which was set vp by the expresse cōmandement of God and was a figure of Christ destroyed all Idols and false gods made a publike reformation by a Commission of Secular men and Priests mixed for that purpose deposed the hie Priest and set vp another in his place and generally ordered euery thing belonging to the Church-gouerment their Titles and Prerogatiues giuen them by God agreeing to these their actions They are called the Sonnes of the most High nay Gods themselues The Lords anoynted Sitting in Gods throne His seruants The Angels of God According to his hearts desire The light of Israel The nursing fathers of the Church with innumerable such stiles of honor wherwith the old Testament is filled wherof our aduersary can pretend no ignorance And as to the new Testament Euery soule is commaunded to be subiect vnto them euen for conscience sake All men must bee prayed for but especially Kings and those that are in Authority that vnder them we may lead a godly peaceable and an honest life The Magistrate is the minister of God to doe vengeance on him that doth euill reward him that doeth well Ye must obey all higher powers but especially Princes and those that are supereminent Giue euery man his due feare to whom feare belongeth and honour to whome honour Giue vnto Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is Gods Regnum meum non est huius mundi Quis me constituit Iudicem super vos Reges gentium dominantur eorum vos autem non sic If these examples sentences titles and prerogatiues and innumerable other in the old and new Testament do not warrant Christian Kings within their owne dominions to gouerne the Church as well as the rest of their people in being Custod es vtriusque Tabulae not by making new articles of faith which is the Popes office as I saide before but by cōmanding obedience to be giuen to the word of God by reforming the religion according to his prescribed will by assisting the spiritual power with the temporal sword by reforming of corruptions by procuring due obedience to the Church by iudging and cutting off all friuolous questions and Schismes as Constantine did and finally by making decorum to bee obserued in euery thing establishing orders to be obserued in al indifferent things for that purpose which is the only intent of our Oath of Supremacy If this Office of a King I say doe not agree with the power giuen him by Gods word let any indifferent man voyd of passion iudge But how these honourable offices styles and prerogatiues giuen by God to Kings in the old new Testament as I haue now cited can agree with the braue stiles and titles that Bellarmine giueth thē I can hardly conceiue 1. That Kings are rather slaues then Lords 2. That they are not only subiects to Popes to Bishops to Priests but euen to Deacons 3. That an Emperour must content himselfe to drinke not onely after a Bishop but after a Bishops Chaplen 4. That Kings haue not their authority nor office immediatly from God nor his Lawe but onely from the Law of Nations 5. That Popes haue degraded many Emperours but neuer Emperour degraded the Pope nay euen Bishops that are but the Popes vassals may depose Kings and abrogate their lawes 6. That Church-men are so farre aboue Kings as the soule is aboue the body 7. That Kings may be deposed by their people for diuers respects 8. But Popes can by no meanes bee deposed for no flesh hath power to iudge of them 9. That obedience due to the Pope is for conscience sake 10. But the obedience due to Kings is onely for certaine respects of order and policie 11. That these very Church-men that are borne and inhabite in Soueraigne Princes countreys are notwithstanding not their Subiects and cannot be iudged by them although they may iudge them 12. And that the obedience that Churchmen giue to Princes euen in the meanest and meere temporall things is not by way of any necessary subiection but onely out of discretion and for obseruation of good order and custome These contrarieties betweene the booke of God and Bellarmines books haue I heere set in opposition ech to other Vt ex contrarijs iuxta se positis veritas magis elucescere possit And thus farre I dare boldly affirme that whosoeuer will indifferently weigh these irreconciliable contradictions here set downe wil easily confesse that CHRIST is no more contrary to Beliall light to darkenesse and heauen to hell then Bellarmines estimation of Kings is to Gods Now as to the conclusion of his letter which is onely filled with strong and pithy exhortations to perswade and confirme Blackwell to the patient and constant induring of Martyrdome I haue nothing to answere saue by way of regrate that so many good sentences drawen out of the Scripture so well and so handsomely packed vp together should bee so ill and vntruely

deposing of Kings And for the second point he bringeth no proofe to the contrary but Pasce oues meas and Tibi dabo claues regni coelorum and That no Catholike euer doubted of it So as I may truely say of him that he either vnderstandeth not or at least will not seeme to vnderstand my Booke in neuer directly answering the maine question as I haue already sayd and so may I iustly turne ouer vpon himselfe that doome of ignorance which in the beginning of his Booke he rashly pronounceth vpon me saying that I neither vnderstand the Popes Breues his Letter nor the Oath it selfe And as hee delighteth to repeat ouer and ouer I know not how oft and triumpheth in this wrong inference of his That to deny the Popes power to depose Kings 〈◊〉 ●o deny the Popes Primacie and his spirituall power of Excommunication So doeth he vpon that ground of Pasce oues meas giue the Pope so ample a power ouer Kings to throne or dethrone them at his pleasure and yet onely subiecting Christian Kings to that slauerie as I doubt not but in your owne Honours yee will resent you of such indignities the rather since it concernes so many of you as professe the Romish religion farre more then me For since hee accounteth me an heretike like Iulian the Apostate I am consequently extra caulam and none of the Popes flocke and so am in the case of Ethnicke Princes ouer whom he confesseth the Pope hath no power But yee are in the Popes folde and you that great Pastour may leade as sheepe to the slaughter when it shall please him And as the asses eares must be hornes if the Lion list so to interpret it so must ye be remoued as scabbed sheepe from the flocke if so be the Pope thinke you to be though your skinne be indeed neuer so sound Thus hath hee set such a new goodly interpretation vpon the words of CHRIST Pasce oues meas as if it were as much to say as depose Christian Kings and that Quodcunque solueris gaue the Pope power to dispense with all sorts of Othes Vowes Penalties Censurers Lawes euen with the naturall obedience of Subiects to their Souereigne Lords much like to that new coined glosse that his brother Baronius made vpon the words in S. Peters vision Surge Petre occide manduca That is said hee to the Pope Goe kill and confound the Venetians And because I haue in my Booke by citing a place in his controuersies discouered him to be a small friend to Kings hee is much commoued For whereas in his said Controuersies speaking de Clericis hee is so bold as to affirme that Church-men are exempted from the power of earthly Kings and that they ought them no subiection euen in temporall matters but onely virationis and in their owne discretion for the preseruation of peace and good order because I say citing this place of his in my Booke I tell with admiration that he freeth all Church-men from any subiection to Kings euen those that are their borne-Subiects hee is angry with this phrase and sayth it is an addition for breeding enuie vnto him and raising of hatred against him For saith hee although Bellarmine affirmed generally that Church-men were not subiect to earthly Kings yet did he not insert that particular clause though they were borne and dwelling in their dominions as if the words of Church-men and earthly Kings in generall imported not as much for Layicks as well as Church-men are subiect to none but to their naturall Soueraigne And yet doeth he not sticke to confesse that he meant it though it was not fit he saith to be expressed And thus quarrels hee me for reuealing his Printed secret But whose hatred did he feare in this was it not yours Who haue interest but KINGS in the withdrawing of true Subiection from Kings And when the greatest Monarchs amongst you will remember that almost the third part of your Subiects and of your Territories is Church-men and Church-liuings I hope yee will then consider and weigh what a feather hee puls out of your wings when he denudeth you of so many Subiects and their possessions in the Popes fauour nay what bryers and thornes are left within the heart of your Dominions when so populous and potent a partie shall haue their birth education and liuelyhood in your Countries and yet owe you no Subiection nor acknowledge you for their SOVERAIGNES So as where the Church-men of old were content with their tythe of euery mans goods the Pope now will haue little lesse then the third part of euery Kings Subiects and Dominions And as in this place so throughout all the rest of his booke hee doeth nothing but amplifie the Popes power ouer Kings and exaggerate my vnreasonable rigour for pressing this Oath which he will needes haue to bee nothing but a renewed Oath of Supremacie in more subtill and craftie termes onely to robbe the Pope of his Primacie and spirituall power making his temporall power and authoritie ouer Princes to bee one of the chiefe ARTICLES of the Catholike faith But that it may the better appeare vnto you that all my labour and intention in this errand was onely to meddle with that due temporall Obedience which my Subiects owe vnto mee and not to entrap nor inthrall their Consciences as he most falsly affirmes Ye shall first see how farre other Godly and Christian Emperours and Kings were from acknowledging the Popes temporall Supremacie ouer them nay haue created controlled and deposed Popes and next what a number of my Predecessors in this Kingdome haue at al occasions euen in the times of the greatest Greatnesse of Popes resisted and plainely withstood them in this part And first all Christian Emperours were for a long time so farre from acknowledging the Popes Superioritie ouer them as by the contrary the Popes acknowledged themselves for their Vassals reuerencing and obeying the Emperours as their Lords for proofe whereof I remit you to my Apologie And for the creating of Popes the Emperours were in so long and continuall possession thereof as I will vse for my first witnesse a Pope himselfe who in a Synod of an hundreth fifty and three Bishops and Abbots did ordaine That the Emperour CHARLES the Great should haue the Right of choosing the Pope and ordaining the Apostolicall Seate and the dignitie of the Romane Principalitie nay farther hee ordained That all Archbishops and Bishops should receiue their Inuestiture from the Emperour or els be of no auaile And that a Bishop wanting it should not bee consecrate pronouncing an Anathema against all that should disobey this Sentence And that the Emperours assent to the Popes Election was a thing ordinary for a long time Platina and a number of the Popes owne writers beare witnesse And Bellarmine himselfe in his booke of Controuersies cannot get it handsomely denied Nay the Popes were euen forced then to pay a certaine summe of money

against a Iudgment that was giuen by the Kings Iudges And likewise Because one entred vpon the Priory of Barnewell by the Popes Bull the said Intrant was committed to the Tower of London there to remaine during the Kings pleasure So as my Predecessours ye see of this Kingdome euen when the Popes triumphed in their greatnes spared not to punish any of their Subiects that would preferre the Popes obedience to theirs euen in Church matters So farre were they then from either acknowledging the Pope for their temporal Superior or yet from doubting that their owne Church-men were not their Subiects And now I will close vp all these examples with an Act of Parliament in King Richard 2. his time whereby it was prohibited That none should procure a Benefice from Rome vnder paine to be put out of the Kings protection And thus may yee see that what those Kings successiuely one to another by foure generations haue acted in priuate the same was also maintained by a publike Law By these few examples now I hope I haue sufficiently cleared my selfe from the imputation that any ambition or desire of Noueltie in mee should haue stirred me either to robbe the Pope of any thing due vnto him or to assume vnto my selfe any further authoritie then that which other Christian Emperours and Kings through the world and my owne Predecessours of England in especiall haue long agone maintained Neither is it enough to say as Parsons doeth in his answere to the Lord Cooke That farre more Kings of this Countrey haue giuen many more examples of acknowledging or not resisting the Popes vsurped Authoritie some perchance lacking the occasion and some the abilitie of resisting them for euen by the ciuill Law in the case of violent intrusion and long and wrongfull possession against mee it is enough if I proue that I haue made lawfull interruption vpon conuenient occasions But the Cardinall thinkes the Oath not onely vnlawfull for the substance thereof but also in regard of the Person whom vnto it is to bee sworne For saith he The King is not a Catholike And in two or three other places of his booke he sticketh not to call me by my name very broadly an Heretike as I haue already tolde But yet before I be publikly declared an Heretike by the Popes owne Law my people ought not to refuse their Obedience vnto me And I trust if I were but a Subiect and accused by the Pope in his Conclaue before his Cardinals he would haue hard prouing me an Heretike if he iudged mee by their owne ancient Orders For first I am no Apostate as the Cardinall would make mee not onely hauing euer been brought vp in that Religion which I presently professe but euen my Father and Grandfather on that side professing the same and so cannot be properly an Heretike by their owne doctrine since I neuer was of their Church And as for the Queene my Mother of worthie memorie although she continued in that Religion wherin she was nourished yet was shee so farre from being superstitious or Iesuited therein that at my Baptisme although I was baptized by a Popish Archbishop shee sent him word to forbeare to vse the spettle in my Baptisme which was obeyed being indeed a filthy and an apish trick rather in scorne then imitation of CHRIST And her owne very words were That shee would not haue a pockie Priest to spet in her childs mouth As also the Font wherin I was Christened was sent from the late Queene heere of famous memorie who was my Godmother and what her Religion was Pius V. was not ignorant And for further proofe that that renowmed Queene my Mother was not superstitious as in all her Letters whereof I receiued many she neuer made mention of Religion nor laboured to perswade me in it so at her last words she cōmanded her Master-houshold a Scottish Gentleman my seruant and yet aliue shee commanded him I say to tell me That although she was of another Religion then that wherein I was brought vp yet she woud not presse me to change except my owne conscience forced mee to it For so that I led a good life and were carefull to doe iustice and gouerne well she doubted not but I would be in a good case with the profession of my owne Religion Thus am I no Apostate nor yet a deborder from that Religion which one part of my Parents professed and an other part gaue me good allowance of Neither can my Baptisme in the rites of their Religion make me an Apostate or Heretike in respect of my present profession since wee all agree in the substance thereof being all baptized In the Name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost vpon which head there is no variance amongst vs. And now for the point of Heretike I will neuer bee ashamed to render an account of my profession and of that hope that is in me as the Apostle prescribeth I am such a CATHOLIKE CHRISTIAN as beleeueth the three Creeds That of the Apostles that of the Councell of Nice and that of Athanasius the two latter being Paraphrases to the former And I beleeue them in that sense as the ancient Fathers and Councels that made them did vnderstand them To which three Creedes all the Ministers of England doe subscribe at their Ordination And I also acknowledge for Orthodoxe all those other formes of Creeds that either were deuised by Councels or paticular Fathers against such particular Heresies as most reigned in their times I reuerence and admit the foure first generall Councels as Catholike and Orthodoxe And the said foure generall Councels are acknowledged by our Acts of Parliament and receiued for Orthodoxe by our Church As for the Fathers I reuerence them as much and more then the Iesuites doe and as much as themselues euer craued For what euer the Fathers for the first fiue hundreth yeeres did with an vnanime consent agree vpon to be beleeued as a necessary point of saluation I either will beleeue it also or at least will be humbly silent not taking vpon me to condemne the same But for euery priuate Fathers opinion it bindes not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery one of the Fathers vsually contradicting others I wil therefore in that case follow S. Augustines rule in iudging of their opinions as I finde them agree with the Scriptures what I find agreeable thereunto I will gladly imbrace what is otherwise I will with their reuerence reiect As for the Scriptures no man doubteth I will beleeue them But euen for the Apocrypha I hold them in the same account that the Ancients did They are still printed and bound with our Bibles and publikely read in our Churches I reuerence them as the writings of holy and good men but since they are not found in the Canon we account them to be secundae lectionis or ordinis which is Bellarmines owne distinction and therefore not sufficient whereupon alone to ground any article

this forme was this Treason reuealed to Garnet as himselfe confessed And next though he stood long vpon it that it was reuealed vnto him vnder the vaile of Confession in respect it was done in that time while as the partie was making his Confession vnto him Yet at the last he did freely confesse that the party reuealed it vnto him as they were walking and not in the time of Confession But hee said hee deliuered it vnto him vnder the greatest Seale that might be and so he tooke that he meant by the Seale of Confession And it had as he thought a relation to Confession in regard that he was that parties Confessor had taken his Confession sometimes before and was to take it againe within few dayes thereafter He also said that he pretended to the partie that he would not conceale it from his Superior And further it is to be noted that hee confessed that two diuers persons conferred with him anent this Treason and that when the one of them which was Catesby conferred with him thereupon it was in the other parties presence and hearing and what a Confession can this be in the hearing of a third person And how far his last wordes whereof our Answerer so much vaunts him did disproue it to haue been vnder Confession the Earle of Northamptons Booke doth beare witnesse Now as to the other parties name that reuealed the Powder-Treason vnto him it was Greenwell the Iesuite and so a Iesuite reuealed to a Iesuite this treasonable plot the Iesuite reuealer not shewing any remorse and the Iesuit whome to it was reuealed not so much as inioyning him any penance for the same And that ye may knowe that more Iesuites were also vpon the partie Owldcorne the other Powder-Martyr after the misgiuing and discouerie of that Treason preached consolatorie doctrine to his Catholike auditory exhorting them not to faint for the misgiuing of this enterprise nor to thinke the worse thereof that it succeeded not alleadging diuers Presidents of such godly enterprises that misgaue in like manner especially one of Saint Lewis King of France who in his second iourney to the Holy land died by the way the greatest part of his army being destroyed by the plague his first iourney hauing likewise misgiuen him by the Soldans taking of him exhorting them thereupon not to giue ouer but still to hope that God would blesse their enterprise at some other time though this did faile Thus see ye now with what boldnes and impudencie he hath belied the publikely knowen veritie in this errand both in auowing generally that no Iesuite was any waies guilty of that treason for so he affirmeth in his Booke and also that Garnet knewe nothing thereof but vnder the Seale of Confession But if this were the first lie of the affaires of this State which my fugitiue Priestes and Iesuites haue coined and spread abroad I could charme them of it as the prouerbe is But as well the walles of diuers Monasteries and Iesuites Colleges abroad are filled with the painting of such lying Histories as also the bookes of our said fugitiues are farced with such sort of shamelesse stuffe such are the innumerable sorts of torments and cruell deathes that they record their Martyrs to haue suffered here some torne at foure Horses some sowed in Beares skinnes and then killed with Dogges nay women haue not beene spared they say and a thousand other strange fictions the vanities of all which I will in two words discouer vnto you First as for the cause of their punishment I doe constantly maintaine that which I haue said in my Apology That no man either in my time or in the late Queenes euer died here for his conscience For let him be neuer so deuout a Papist nay though hee professe the same neuer so constantly his life is in no danger by the Law if hee breake not out into some outward acte expresly against the words of the Law or plot not some vnlawfull or dangerous practise or attempt Priests and Popish Church-men onely excepted that receiue orders beyond the seas who for the manifold treasonable practises that they haue kindled plotted in this countrey are discharged to come home againe vnder paine of treason after their receiuing of the saide Orders abroad and yet without some other guilt in them then their bare home-comming haue none of thē bin euer put to death And next for the cruell torments strange sorts of death that they say so many of them haue bin put vnto if there were no more but the Lawe and continually obserued custome of England these many hundred yeeres in all criminall matters it will sufficiently serue to refute all these monstrous lies for no tortures are euer vsed here but the Manicles or the Racke and these neuer but in cases of high Treason and all sorts of Traitours die but one maner of death here whether they bee Papist or Protestant traitours Queene Maries time only excepted For then indeede no sorts of cruell deathes were spared vnexecuted vpon men women and children professing our Religion yea euen against the lawes of God and Nature women with childe were put to cruell death for their profession and a liuing childe falling out of the mothers belly was throwen in the same fire againe that consumed the mother But these tyrannous persecutions were done by the Bishops of that time vnder the warrant of the Popes authoritie and therefore were not subiect to that constant order and formes of execution which as they are heere established by our Lawes and customes so are they accordingly obserued in the punishment of all criminals For all Priests and Popish Traitours heere receiue their Iudgement in the temporall Courts and so doe neuer exceed those formes of execution which are prescribed by the Law or approued by continuall custome One thing is also to be marked in this case that strangers are neuer called in question here for their Religion which is far otherwise I hope in any place where the Inquisition domines But hauing now too much wearied you with this long discourse whereby I haue made you plainely see that the wrong done vnto me in particular first by the Popes Breues and then by these Libellers doth as deepely interest you all in generall that are Kings free Princes or States as it doth mee in particular I will now conclude with my humble prayers to God that he will waken vs vp all out of that Lethargike slumber of Securitie wherein our Predecessors and we haue lien so long and that wee may first grauely consider what wee are bound in conscience to doe for the planting and spreading of the true worship of God according to his reuealed will in all our Dominions therein hearing the voice of our onely Pastor for his Sheepe will know his voyce as himselfe saith and not following the vaine corrupt changeable traditions of men And next that wee may prouidently looke to the securitie of our owne States and

cunning Merchants to cease to vent such stuffe for ancient and Catholike wares in the Christian world till they haue disproued their owne Venetians who charge them with Noueltie and forgery in this poynt Triplici nodo triplex cuneus OR AN APOLOGIE FOR THE OATH of Allegiance Against the two Breues of Pope PAVLVS QVINTVS and the late Letter of Cardinall BELLARMINE to G. BLACKVVEL the Arch-priest Tunc omnes populi clamauerunt dixerunt Magna est Veritas praeualet ESDR 3. ¶ Authoritate Regiâ ¶ Imprinted at London by Robert Barker Printer to the Kings most Excellent Maiestie ANNO 1609. AN APOLOGIE FOR THE OATH of Allegiance WHat a monstrous rare nay neuer heard of Treacherous Attempt was plotted within these few yeeres heere in England for the destruction of Me my Bed-fellow and our Posterity the whole house of Parliament and a great number of good Subiects of all sorts and degrees is so famous already through the whole world by the infamy thereof as it is needlesse to be repeated or published any more the horrour of the sinne it selfe doth so lowdly proclaime it For if those crying Sinnes whereof mention is made in the Scripture haue that epithete giuen them for their publique infamie and for procuring as it were with a loud crie from heauen a iust vengeance and recompense and yet those sinnes are both old and too common neither the world nor any one Countrey being euer at any time cleane voyd of them If those sinnes I say are said in the Scripture to cry so loud What then must this sinne doe plotted without cause infinite in crueltie and singular from all examples What proceeded hereupon is likewise notorious to the whole worlde our Iustice onely taking hold vpon the Offenders and that in as honourable and publique a forme of Trial as euer was vsed in this Kingdome 2. For although the onely reason they gaue for plotting so heinous an Attempt was the zeale they carried to the Romish Religion yet were neuer any other of that profession the worse vsed for that cause as by our gracious Proclamation immediatly after the discouery of the said fact doeth plainely appeare onely at the next sitting downe againe of the Parliament there were Lawes made setting downe some such orders as were thought fit for preuenting the like mischiefe intime to come Amongst which a forme of OATH was framed to be taken by my Subiects whereby they should make a cleare profession of their resolution faithfully to persist in their obedience vnto me according to their naturall allegiance To the end that I might hereby make a separation not onely betweene all my good Subiects in generall and vnfaithfull Traitors that intended to withdraw themselues from my obedience But specially to make a separation betweene so many of my Subiects who although they were otherwise popishly affected yet retained in their hearts the print of their naturall duetie to their Soueraigne and those who being caried away with the like fanaticall zeale that the Powder-Traitors were could not conteine themselues within the bounds of their naturall Allegiance but thought diuersitie of religion a safe pretext for all kinde of treasons and rebellions against their Soueraigne Which godly and wise intent God did blesse with successe accordingly For very many of my Subiects that were popishly affected aswel priests as layicks did freely take the same Oath whereby they both gaue me occasion to thinke the better of their fidelitie and likewise freed themselues of that heauy slander that although they were fellow professors of one Religion with the powder Traitors yet were they not ioyned with them in treasonable courses against their Souereigne whereby all quietly minded Papists were put out of despaire and I gaue a good proofe that I intended no persecution against them for conscience cause but onely desired to bee secured of them for ciuill obedience which for conscience cause they were bound to performe 3. But the deuil could not haue deuised a more malicious tricke for interrupting this so calme and clement a course then fell out by the sending hither and publishing a Breue of the Popes countermaunding all them of his profession to take this Oath Thereby sowing new seedes of ielousie betweene me and my Popish Subiects by stirring them vp to disobey that lawfull commandement of their Soueraigne which was ordeined to be taken of them as a pledge of their fidelity And so by their re●usall of so iust a charge to giue me so great and iust a ground for punishment of them without touching any matter of cons● throwing themselues needlesl● 〈…〉 of these desperate straites 〈…〉 losse of their liues and 〈…〉 their Allegiance to the●● 〈…〉 or else to procure the condemnation of their Soules by renouncing the Catholike faith as he alleadgeth 4. And on the other part although disparity of Religion the Pope being head of the contrary part can permit no intelligence nor intercourse of messengers betwerne me and the Pope yet there being no denounced warre betweene vs he hath by this action broken the rules of common ciuility and iustice betweene Christian Princes in thus condemning me vnheard both by accounting me a persecutor which can not be but implyed by exhorting the Papists to endure Martyrdome as likewise by so straitly commanding all those of his Profession in England to refuse the taking of this Oath thereby refusing to professe their naturall obedience to me their Soueraigne For if he thinke himselfe my lawfull Iudge wherefore hath he condemned me vnheard And if he haue nothing to doe with me and my gouernement as indeed he hath not why doeth hee mittere falcem in alienam messem to meddle betweene mee and my Subiects especially in matters that meerely and onely concerne ciuill obedience And yet could Pius Quintus in his greatest furie and auowed quarrell against the late Queene do no more iniury vnto her then he hath in this cause offered vnto me without so much as a pretended or an alleadged cause For what difference there is betweene the commaunding Subiects to rebell and loosing them from their Oath of Allegiance as Pius Quintus did the commanding of Subiects not to obey in making profession of their Oath of their dutiful Allegiance as this Pope hath now done no man can easily discerne 5. But to draw neere vnto his Breue wherin certainly he hath taken more paines then he needed by setting downe in the said Breue the whole body of the Oath at length whereas the only naming of the Title thereof might as wel haue serued for any answere he hath made thereunto making Vna litura that is the flat and generall condemnation of the whole Oath to serue for all his refutation Therein hauing as well in this respect as in the former dealt both vndiscreetly with me and iniuriously with his owne Catholikes With me in not refuting particularly what speciall wordes hee quarrelled in that Oath which if he had done it might haue bene that for

owne Catholikes as to commaund them to disobey their Soueraignes lawfull commandement If it be vnlawful why hath he neither expressed any one cause or reason thereof nor yet wil giue thē leaue nay rather he should commaund and perswade them in plaine termes not to liue vnder a King whom vnto they ought no obedience And as for the vehement exhortation vnto them to perseuere in constancie and to suffer martyrdome and all tribulation for this cause it requireth no other answere then onely this That if the ground be good whereupon he hath commaunded them to stand then exhortation to constancie is necessary but if the ground bee vniust and naught as indeed it is and I haue in part already proued then this Exhortation of his can work no other effect then to make him guilty of the blood of so many of his sheep whom he doeth thus wilfully cast away not onely to the needlesse losse of their liues and ruine of their families but euen to the laying on of a perpetuall flaunder vpon all Papists as if no zealous Papist could be a true subiect to his Prince and that the profession of that Religion and the temporall obedience to the Ciuill Magistrate were two things repugnant incompatible in themselues But euill information and vntrue reports which beeing carried so farre as betweene this and Rome cannot but increase by the way might haue abused the Pope and made him dispatch this Breue so rashly For that great City Queene of the World and as themselues confesse mystically Babylon cannot but be so full of all sorts of intelligencies Besides all complainers as the Catholikes heere are be naturally giuen to exaggerate their owne griefes and multiply thereupon So that it is no wonder that euen a Iudge sitting there should vpon wrong information giue an vnrighteous sentence as some of their owne partie doe not sticke to confesse that Pius Quintus was too rashly caried vpon wrong information to pronounce his thunder of Excōmunication vpon the late Queene And it may be the like excuse shal hereafter be made for the two Breues which Clemens octauus sent to England immediatly before her death for debarring mee of the Crowne or any other that either would professe or any wayes tollerate the professors of our Religion contrary to his manifold vowes and protestations simul eodem tempore as it were deliuered vno eodem spiritu to diuers of my ministers abroad professing such kindnesse and shewing such forwardnesse to aduance mee to this Crowne Nay the most part of Catholikes heere finding this Breue when it came to their handes to bee so farre against diuinity policy or naturall sense were firmely perswaded that it was but a counterfeit Libel deuised in hatred of the Pope or at the farthest a thing hastily done vpon wrong information as was before saide Of which opinion were not onely the simpler sort of Papists but euen some amongst them of best account both for learning and experience whereof the Arch-priest himselfe was one But for soluing of this obiection the Pope himselfe hath taken new paines by sending foorth a second Breue onely for giuing faith and confirmation to the former That whereas before his sinne might haue beene thought to haue proceeded from rashnesse and mis-information he will now wilfully and willingly double the same whereof the Copie followeth TO OVR BELOued sonnes the English Catholikes Paulus P.P. V ius BEloued Sonnes Salutation and Apostolicall benediction It is reported vnto vs that there are found certaine amongst you who when as wee haue sufficiently declared by our Letters dated the last yeere on the tenth of the Calends of October in the forme of a Breue that ye cannot with safe Conscience take the Oath which was then required of you and when as we haue further straightly commanded you that by no meanes ye should take it yet there are some I say among you which dare now affirme that such Letters concerning the forbidding of the Oath were not written of our owne accord or of our owne proper will but rather for the respect and at the instigation of other men And for that cause the same men do goe about to perswade you that our commands in the said letters are not to be regarded Surely this newes did trouble vs and that so much the more because hauing had experience of your obedience most dearely beloued sonnes who to the end ye might obey this holy Sea haue godlily and valiantly contemned your riches wealth honour libertie yea and life it selfe we should neuer haue suspected that the trueth of our Apostolike letters could once be called into question among you that by this pretence yee might exempt your selues from our commandements But we doe herein perceiue the subtiltie and craft of the enemie of mans saluation and wee doe attribute this your backwardnesse rather to him then to your owne will And for this cause we haue thought good to write the second time vnto you and to signifie vnto you againe that our Apostolike letters dated the last yeere on the tenth of the Calends of October concerning the prohibition of the Oath were written not onely vpon our proper motion and of our certaine knowledge but also after long and weightie deliberation vsed concerning all those things which are conteined in them and for that cause that yee are bound fully to obserue them reiecting all interpretation perswading to the contrary And this is our meere pure and perfect will being alwayes carefull of your saluation and alwayes minding those things which are most profitable vnto you And we doe pray without ceasing that he that hath appointed our lowlines to the keeping of the flocke of Christ would inlighten our thoughts and our counsels whom wee doe also continually desire that hee would increase in you our beloued Sonnes faith constancy and mutuall charity and peace one to another All whom wee doe most louingly blesse with all charitable affection Dated at Rome at Saint Markes vnder the Signet of the Fisherman the x. of the Calends of September 1607. the third yeere of our Popedome THE ANSWERE to the second Breue NOw for this Breue I may iustly reflect his owne phrase vpon him in tearming it to bee The craft of the Deuil For if the Deuil had studied a thousand yeres for to finde out a mischiefe for our Catholikes here hee hath found it in this that now when many Catholiks haue taken their Oath and some Priests also yea the Arch-priest himselfe without compunction or sticking they shall not now onely bee bound to refuse the profession of their naturall Allegiance to their Soueraigne which might yet haue beene some way coloured vpō diuers scruples conceiued vpon the wordes of the Oath but they must now renounce fors●eare their profession of obedience already sworne and so must as it were at the third instance forsweare their former two Oaths first closely sworne by their birth in