an easie-going good-natur'd man by very fair words or perchance visions or exorcisms chous'd of his Religion and at last awakened from the pleasant dream of being in the bosom of the Roman Church discovering the guilt and folly of his vile Apostacy from that Holy Mother in whose Faith he was Baptized and also the fraud of those that had seduced him from her Shall he start back and render himself abhorred unto that Party to which he was so lately reconciled and suffer the reproaches of the other he so unworthily deserted Will it not be easier for him to sit down with the contempt of Levity in one Instance than to repeat the shameful Act desert what he had chose and chuse again what he deserted Since he must be contemned and hated will it not seem better to have some to own him than none at all What effect a perverse bashfulness has in other cases we all know it being proverbial That 't is a greater shame to bring home the Bridle than steal the Horse and the Renegado Turke we find by common experience is so far from resuming the Profession of Christianity that he is sure to be its mortal and inveterate Enemy so that there needs little more security of having one continue in the Profession of Popery than by any means to beguile him to admit it a second Revolt being abundantly precluded by the first But let us go on forward and examine how honestly we are treated when we are made believe that there is a fair retreat afforded for that the Papists have no prisons in which to keep men against their wills as our Author tells us 'T is very well they have no Lollards Tower in England but we cannot but remember what has been heretofore I am sure in those Countreys where the Inquisition is on foot men may easily get into a Goal upon the least surmise of an intention to quit the Roman-Catholick Religion Nay where that Tyranny takes no place 't is plain enough that Votaries are not at large to go when or whither they have a phansie What think we of the Monasteries and Nunneries in Popish Countries whither young children are spirited away from their Friends or barbarously exposed by them Were the doors of those Houses left open would it not soon appear by their providing for their Liberty on such an opportunity that there was something of restraint that held them in But by our Authors leave is there nothing can confine a man besides a Prison He that being taken by the Enemy in War goes at large on his Parole to get himself exchanged is I humbly conceive no less a Prisoner than when under Guard and in the Marshals custody And if the word of a Souldier the bare engagement upon honour have this force what shall we say to a solemn Oath backed with direful execrations in case of failance Now that Proselytes to Popery are in this strict manner tyed not to desert it I demonstrate from the Roman Pontifical and the order of reconciling a Heretick to the Church The words are these I. N. being convinc'd of the snare of Division wherein I was held after long deliberation with ready and unconstrained will the Divine Grace being my Guide am returned to the unity of the Apostolick See But lest I may be thought not to have returned with a pure mind or with dissimulation I engage under the penalty of falling from my Estate and the obligation of an Anathema and Promise to you N. Bishop and by you to St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and our most holy Father in Christ and Lord our Lord N. the Pope and his Successors that I by no perswasions of any persons or by any other means will return to the Schism from which I am freed by the Grace of our Redeemer but will alwayes remain in the Unity of the Catholick Church and the Communion of the Pope of Rome Wherefore I Swear by the Omnipotent God and the holy Gospels that I will stedfastly continue in the Unity and Communion aforesaid And if which God forbid I should divide my self from this Unity upon any occasion or argument incurring the guilt of Perjury let me appear bound over to eternal Punishment and have my Portion in the World to come with the Author of Schism So help me God c. What effect such Imprecations naturally have 't is obvious to apprehend I my self know several persons that having been perverted to Popery were afterwards convinced of the Errors of it and returned into the bosom of the Church of England but then being hazen'd with the remembrance of those Curses they had laid on their heads if at any time they should leave the Roman Communion went after some years continuance in our Church back again to that of Rome Which I the rather mention because our Author is so very peremptory that no such thing is done and wages his reputation in the case ENQUIRY II. Whether if the State would think fit to allow the English Papists such of whose Fidelity and Affection to their Country the Governours were well assured to whom those Papists might have recourse for their spiritual Concerns they would remove our jealousies of their being over-much affected to Strangers c. It may here in the first place be well worth the enquiry whether it be possible for Papists to give the State where they live such an assurance as is talkt of For beside that their Clergy and all those in Religious Orders have separate Interests from the State and by their Caelibate have given no Pledges to it Certainly all they whose faith it is that Princes may be Excommunicated and then deprived of their Dominions by the Pope can by no imaginable way give security to the State for their Obedience to their Prince and Fidelity to his Government And it is not only altogether undeniable that this is the Faith of most Romish Confessors and Priests and Orders but also that it is the Faith of the Church of Rome it self I shall sufficiently prove in the following Section But secondly They who hold that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks who teach equivocation as laudible and innocent who believe they can be dispenced with for any outward compliance with Dissenters in Religion by the Pope do evidently by such Doctrines set themselves without the terms of humane Society and are not to be trusted upon those Obligations which other men of narrower Principles are bound by How probable the former Doctrines are esteemed in the Church of Rome we may learn from their celebrated Writers As to the later I mean his Holiness giving Commission to his Factors to dissemble their Profession I have shewed at large in the seasonable Discourse and justified my Allegation against the Exceptions of the full Answerer in my Reply to him Though indeed the Compliance of in a manner all the Papists of England and coming to our Church-Service for the first 11 years of Q. Elizabeth
a just History and shall produce only two Testimonies in evidence to my present Conclusion and both of them of so early a date as not to admit that common excuse which the Irish are alwayes ready to offer that they did not rebel against the King but fought against his Enemies and Regicides The first of these shall be the Brief of Pope Urban to Oneal bearing date Octob. 8. that is our Sept. 28. 1642. which was before the first battel between the King and his Rebels in England at Edge-Hill The Brief runs thus To his beloved Son Eugenius Oneal You are accustomed to omit no occasion to testifie your singular zeal and endeavour which you derive from your Ancestors of defending the Church and of this you have given a recent testimony by designing to go into Ireland to take care of the concerns of the Catholicks Wherefore your Letters came very welcom to me whereby you signifie your intended Voyage and taking your Auspice from the Divine Assistance have not less humbly than religiously desired of Us our Apostolical Benediction We highly commend your constancy against the Hereticks and sincere Faith expecting from you in this opportunity the proofs of your Valour which have formerly given you renown and will be exemplary to others We hope the most high will be at hand to assert your Cause and will make known his saving health among all Nations In the mean time that you may proceed with greater assurance praying incessantly to the divine Clemency that he would frustrate the endeavours of your Enemies we give to you and those others who promote the affairs of the Catholicks in the aforesaid Kingdom our Benedicton and to all and each of them if they being penitent are confest and duly refresht with the holy Communion if it may be had plenary Remission and pardon of their sins and also at the point of Death plenary Indulgence Dated at Rome under the Seal of the Fisher the 8 day of Octob. A. 1642. and of our Papacy 20. My next Proof shall be from a zealous Votary of the Church of Rome Father O-mahon in his Apology for the Right to the Kingdom of Ireland in behalf of the Catholicks against the English Hereticks and his Exhortation where after other laudable Documents he thus bespeaks them My Countrey-men of Ireland Go on and prosper fulfil the work which you have begun for your Defence and Liberty destroy the Hereticks your Enemies and all their Abettors you have already killed an hundred and fifty thousand of them in these four last years I mean from 1641. to this present 1645. wherein 〈◊〉 the which your Enemies in their Writings roar out and 〈◊〉 and you acknowledge and I believe that more of the Hereticks have been killed and would to God that all had been so It remains that you destroy those that yet survive or at least drive them out of Ireland that they may no more infect our Catholick Country with their Heresies and Errours I shall trouble the Reader no farther on this Head but desire him to take his choice whether he will believe my Author who sayes the Rebellion of Ireland was not for Religion or his Holiness whom in this case we may allow to be infallible who sayes it was Or if we will avoid so odious a comparison whether we will think our Author speaks truth or Father Mahun who was not a stranger to the action he talks of and would be thought to know what belongs to War and Religion as well as any of his neighbours though by the way he also confutes that representation which our Author makes of the small numbers of Protestants murdered by the Rebels for our Author seems to suggest That indeed this thing which we talk of as a Massacre and a War was only a Scuffle at a Wake where a few broken shins or beads determined the quarrel and after the application of a plaister of Diapalma all was presently made well again But there is nothing so manifest that some Romanists have not the confidence to deny And truly they who teach their Votaries in the immediate concerns of their immortal Souls to renounce all their sences and reason to boot need not despair of obtruding any thing upon the credulous world It may here be expected that from the before-going premisses I should now draw out Conclusions and those severely pressing on that whole sort of men who under divers hotious and pretences call themselves Roman Catholicks that I should exhort our Patriots to oppose sanguinary Laws against inhumane bloody practises and pecuniary or other strict restraints against licentious Principles To put it out of their power to hurt the publick whose very Religion makes it impossible for them to give any competent security that they will not destroy it And in a word to avert those mischiefs by precaution which if allowed to gather strength will be so fatally destructive as not to be repaired 〈◊〉 after punishments But this is not my aim who press the discoveries which I have made no farther than to arm those who are so fortunate to have been educated in a Faith of peaceful Duty and Obedience not to be tempted by false pretences to desert it and to perswade all those who have been so unhappy to be entangled in that endless maze of Error the Roman Church to quit both it and those pernicious guilts which I have shewed to be its necessary and individual adherents I contend not against Names and Notions but Vice and Mischief nor am I angry with men but with that which destroys Human Society I would not make any Faction look worse than it is But I can never hold that for Religion which teaches men to Violate their Faith to Worship Wood and Stone to Make and then Devour their God to Blow up Senates to Massacre Nations and Kill Kings FINIS * Declarat of egregious Popish Impostures c Foot out of the Snare Examination of Sowbrets c. Boy of Bilson c. Chambers Sheldon a Tho à Jesu de convers omn. gent. p. 561 c. Ibid. Ibid. b Response au livre de Monsieur l' Evâ—que de Condom en l' avertisement d P. 7 8 c. Bull Pii IV. f Animad p. 76 77 c. g Consult p. 56. h P. 13. i P. 8. Pontif. p. 94 95 Arch. Spotswood History p. 803. Pontificale Rom. Watson's Quod libets Dialogue between a Secular Priest and Lay-Gentleman A true Relation of the faction begun at Wisbich Quod. P. 37 69 88 89 265 266 c. 275 c. 303 c. * Discourse of the Powder Treason Apology for the Oath of Allegiance Premonition to all free Princes and States Answers to Cardinal Perron and Bellarmin c. ‖ Sir George Crook's Reports part 2. Term Trin. A. 2. Iac. R. in Banco Regis First Controversial Letter King Iames his Discourse of the Powder Treason Proceedings against the Gun-powder Traitors 3 Concil Lateran Tom. conc 27. 4 Concil Lateran Tom. concil 28. Tom. Conc 18 P. 11. Harangue au tiers Estat p. 61â— c Dr Vane Vindicat of the Council of Lateran Tom. 11. part 1. Concil Trid. Sess. 4. can 8. Mat. Paris in ann 1222. Binnii Concil Tom. 7. part 2. Harangue au tiers Estat First Controv Letter The life of Gerson prefixt to his works And Tom. 1. p. 375. 3. p. 69. P. 9. 25 Ed 3. cap. ult Davil l. 10. Conclus Facult Paris D Aubigne Tom. 3. Boter relat Thuan. Hist. lib. 137. Harangue au tiers Estat Recueil tres exact curieux de tout ce que l'est fait pass de singulier memorable en l'Assemblee Generale des Estates tenus à Paris en l'anne 1614. Bar Florim â— Rapine Pag. 356. Pag 410. First Controversial Letter James 3. Vita del gloriâ—sissimo Papa Pio quinto p. 195. Moâ—ray Ann. 1572. Thuan. Hist. l. 53. Stow. Speed Chron. in Hen. 2. Baron in An. 1169. Disputatio Apologetica de sure regni Hiberniae pro Catholicis Hibernis adversus haereticos Anglos Autore C. M. Hiberno Artium S. Th. magistro c. num 2 P. 19.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE Church and Court OF ROME CONSIDERED IN SOME REFLECTIONS ON A DIALOGUE ENTITULED A Conference between two Protestants and a Papist By the Author of the Late Seasonable Discourse LONDON Printed by Andrew Clark for Henry Brome at the Gun in St. Paul's Church-yard at the West-End 1674. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CHURCH and COURT OF ROME CONSIDERED HAving fouud my self concern'd to Vindicate the Seasonable Discourse which shew'd the Necessity of Maintaining the Establish'd Religion in Opposition to Popery from the Passionate Cavils of the Full Answerer I think it necessary further to advert to what is offered by a more temperate and knowing Writer in Bar to my Assertions whether in direct contradiction to them or incidentally in order to the framing an Apology for those moderate men of the Roman Communion who disown the Exorbitances of the Pope though they remain addicted to that Church Writers of this kind who not onely joyn with but seemingly out-go us in a just abhorrence of some of the odious parts of Popery thereby gain an advantage to recommend both themselves and the other less scandalous though equally pernicious Doctrines of the Roman Church and also to bring in that Whole Religion at the Postern-Door which would never be admitted at the Gate And if this be the natural Effect of the Pretences made to Moderation however specious they appear I presume 't will be esteem'd by sober men no ill Office to detect the fraud and danger of them and demonstrate the Unpracticableness and utter Impossibility of that Dream of Reconcilement with those our Adversaries who cannot dismiss an Errour but they must part with Infallibility to boot nor incline to the Demands of Truth or Charity without the forfeiture of Interest and Reputation In a word cannot acquit themselves of Treason without renouncing an Article of their Faith Now our Author having thought fit to propose what he had to say in this Affair in the form of a Dialogue which though in it self a popular and perswasive method is yet by reason of its frequent Transitions and Ornamental Appendages not very very proper for the carrying on an Argumentative Debate I shall therefore consider the Heads of Discourse which I find insisted on by him those I mean which seem material distinctly and apart and fairly give my thoughts upon them Where my first Enquiry shall be I. Whether peaceful Pretences are Baits to catch the unwary Proselyte who when he is once hung there is no getting loose again but Concessions are retracted the painted shews washed off and he has nothing left but a fruitless repentance All which the Author peremptorily denies pag. 8. II. Whether if the State would think fit to allow the English Papists such of whose Fidelity and Affection to their Country the Governours were well assured to whom those Papists might have recourse for their spiritual Concerns they would remove our jealousies of their being over-much affected to Strangers c. Which is asserted pag. 6. III. Whether the Popes power in deposing Kings be a Doctrine of the Roman Church Which is denied p. 9 10 11 12. IV. Whether Princes of the Roman Communion have sufficient Powers to defend themselves from the Tyrannies and Encroachments of the Pope Which is said p. 16 17 18. V. Whether Religion were the Cause of the Massacres in France and Ireland Which is denied pag. 29. These severals being honestly discust will I presume go very far toward the undeceiving of all those who without the mixture of Prepossession and Interest which no evidence can convince are led aside by fair Appearances and are so credulous to think every thing possible which some bold Undertaker has the Confidence to say is easie and every thing practicable which someman of speculation demonstrates to be possible ENQUIRY I. Whether Peaceful Pretences are Baits to catch the unwary Proselyte who when he is once hung there is no getting loose again but Concessions are retracted the painted shews wash'd off and he has nothing left but a fruitless Repentance In which Enquiry concerning the insidious practising of the Romanists to draw men into Popery It will be reasonable to observe the method used in this affair Where I might very justly insist upon the down-right Cheats Juglings and Impostures practised by the Factors for Popery notoriously evidenced not onely by creditable Testimony and flagrant Fact but also by publick Acts of Court and Judicial Records Of which the Reader may have large accounts from Archbishop Hars net Mr. Gee Mr. Baddiley Pots and others To which might be added the impudent Defences of pious Frauds directing of Intention and Apologies for that artificial way of lying called Equivocation as also the Fallacies and empty Paralogisms constantly used and solemnly recommended in the Affair of gaining Proselytes to the Roman Church As a Specimen whereof to avoid trouble to the Readâ—◠〈◊〉 my self I will mention those which are proposed by Thomas à Iesu in his large work concerning the Conversion of all Nations borrowed as he tells us from Coster Possevine and other eminent Writers in that Cause Where he advises not to dispute with Hereticks but rather express an intimate kindness for their Souls and first demand of them What they think of all their Ancestors Whether they imagine they were damn'd for being Papists An Argument which had it any force must perswade Jews Mahumetans and Heathens never to be Christians and as it happens here in England must oblige us never to be Papists lest we should condemn our Fathers Grandfathers and Great Grandfathers all those Ancestors for whom we have the most sensible Concern who all were Protestants The next Direction is To ask the Dissenter from the Church of Rome Why he is of this Sect rather than that why a Lutheran rather than a Calvinist c. And if he says Because he sees more reason to be of this Sect than of another to conclude he is a Heretick because he chuses one Religion before another One would wonder that they who are perswading men to prefer Popery before Protestantism should at the same instant declare it a Mark of Heresie to chuse a Profession in Religion That they should pretend to give Reasons why men should be Papists and yet hold it a pernicious thing to be of that Religion which they have Reason to be of The third Demand is as convincing as the former To ask the Protestant where his Church was before Luther As if Religion were therefore new because freed from Innovations Not to question the Age of the Popes Universal Monarchy Transubstantiation Image-Worship the Sacriledge of taking the Cup from the Laity and one Commandment from the Decalogue Encroachments which we all know when they came into the Church 't will be more than enough to ask where was the Roman New Creed before the Council of Trent which was invented many a fair year after that very Reformation which is accus'd of Novelty These
throw off his yoak but if ever the Church of Romo could eradicate the Reformed Religion which doubtless is and ever must be their great drift and aim Princes of the Romish Religion would find the want of that check and awe upon the Pope Will you see how tender and fearful Princes have been heretofore of claiming their Rights in this kind See Ed. 3. a brave and a magnanimous Prince in the vigour of his Age in the 25 year of his Reign when he comes to claim and vindicate his Rights in Ecclesiastical matters he is so fearful of offending the Pope that he seeks all possible excuses even whilst he is claiming his own First he layes the fault on his Predecessors and quotes the Statute made in his Grandfathers time In the next place the grievous complaint of the Commons must bear its share then the injury to private Patrons is called in for a pretence as if that gave rise to the complaint when all this while the King had power enough from the Rights inherent in the Crown and from former Statutes if he durst put it in practise then which is a wonderful Instance of his fear to offend the Pope for a farther excuse he sets up a claim for his people to the prejudice of his Negative voice the greatest and choicest flower of the Crown for in the Statute of Provisors of that year he makes the Commons to alledge nor is there any mark of his dislike but rather assent to it so desirous he was of an excuse toward the Pope that the Right of the Crown of England and the Law of the said Realm is such that upon mischiefs and damage which happened to his Realm he ought and is bound of the accord of his said people in his Parliament thereof to make Remedy and Law in voiding the mischiefs and damage which thereof cometh c. Then the King goes on himself to alledge his own Oath to see the Laws executed c. as the Reader may satisfie himself more fully from the Statute at large as it appears in all our Books I suppose this may sufficiently show how fearfully that Great and Generous Prince not subject to vain fears went about to remedy that Inconvenience What Fruit he reap'd from the hazard he adventur'd And how effectual that Great Medicine our Author so highly commends to us was may be conjectur'd by the need there was of another Statute of Provisors the very next Parliament viz. the 27 year of his Reign It would be too tedious to the Reader and my self to quote all the Statutes of that kind Instead of others which it were easie to produce I shall onely add that of the 16 of Rich. 2. cap. 5. Where the Commons of the Realm having complained of the intolerable Tyrannies and Oppressions of the See of Rome go on to pray the King and him require by way of Iustice that he would examine all the Lords in the Parliament as well Spiritual as Temporal severally and all the States of the Parliament how they think of the Cases aforesaid which be so openly against the Kings Crown and in derogation of his Regality and how they will stand in the same Cases with our Lord the King c. Whether this Examination was in order to the Attainder of the Persons or Suspension of the Votes of the Dissenters or some other purpose I will not take upon me to enquire Certainly considering the Greatness of the Peerage of England at that time such a way of procedure shews the greatness of the mischief which was desir'd to be redrest But the continued Complaint and fresh Endeavours for Remedy do likewise as evidently demonstrate that none of our Kings ever found an effectual Cure till the time of Henry the VIII who yet although he retain'd the Roman Profession of faith denying temporal Subjection to the Pope became liable to that Deprivation and Censure and all that Spiritual Thunder which so severely fell upon him and has since exercised his Successors But these our Princes who came after him having generally been of the Reformed Religion which they of Rome have declar'd to be Heresie the practises among us however exorbitant will not fall under our present consideration I shall therefore pass over to our Neighbours of France and examine how well the Priviledges of the Gallican Church have stood the most Christian Kings in stead which will readily be seen if we look into their Histories nor will we seek farther than the last Age. Henry the Third we know had difficulty enough with the Catholick holy League oppos'd not only by the high-flown Jesuited Romanists but the Bulwarks of Regal Authority the Loyal Doctors of the Sorbon who being Seventy in number unanimously decree nemine contradicente That the Subjects of France were freed from their Oaths of Allegiance and Obedience made to Henry the Third And also that the said Subjects may legally and with a safe Conscience arm and unite themselves collect and raise money c. Which Decree of the good Doctors was ratified by his Holiness in his Bull of Excommunication which suddenly followed and was pursued to such Extremities by the Leaguers that they were not onely content to subject that Kingdom to the Yoak of Spain but in despite of the Sallick Law endeavour that the Infanta Clara Eugenia Elizabetha should succeed unto the Crown and though the King turn'd Covenanter himself and Establish'd the Oath of Union in the Assembly of the Three Estates and personally swore to it making it a Fundamental Law of the French Nation that onely a Catholick should be capable to succeed unto the Crown yet notwithstanding this the said Henry the Third could not escape the Anger of his Holiness and what is consequent thereto the being depriv'd of his Kingdom and his Life massacred by I. Clement the Iacobin-Monk To him we know succeeded Henry the V. who after great strugling and the same opposition from the Unanimous Determination of the Loyal Sorbon-Doctors in their general Congregation who May 7. 1590. Declar'd Henry of Bourbon uncapable of the Crown though he should obtain Absolution from the Church and that the French were oblig'd to keep him from the Crown that all who favour him are in perpetual mortal sin and all that are slain in the Cause against him shall obtain an everlasting Reward and be crown'd with the Trophies of Martyrdom This Henry I say having by the blessing of God and a good Sword added possession to his Claim and in spite of opposition made himself Master of France yet this new Sallick Law stood still in his light and a Crown was not to be had but at the price of a Mass For though it be a receiv'd Maxime That the Crown removes all taint of Blood it cannot of Opinion One now would have expected in this instance that the Church Doors should have flown open to receive this Royal Convert but the case is far otherwise Five years diligent
Encroachments from the Papacy who if the Popes and Churches pretentions stand good whenever they think fit to interpose have no power at all And thus much be said upon this Head of Enquiry ENQUIRY V. Whether Religion was the Cause of the Massacre in France and Rebellion in Ireland I no way doubt that Mens Exorbitant Passions and Desires are the Cause of all the Disturbance in the World According to that of the Apostle Whence are Wars and Fightings among you Are they not from your Lusts that war in your Members But our Author knows well that besides the leading principal original Cause there is an immediate evident one which is joyn'd to the Effect which alone in a Discourse of this nature we enquire after Now if it be manifest that his Holiness the Pope the Supreme Monarch of the Church laid his Command upon and with great instance dealt with the French King to destroy the Hugonots had his Promise and Engagement that he would destroy them and after he had done it it be certain that the News of the performance was receiv'd with Joy and Exultation by the whole Roman Court and Pope himself I hope it will be sufficiently manifest to whom the Action is to be imputed I do not say that his Holiness either design'd the manner of the Massacre or was privy to all the circumstances of it before-hand But if I bargain with a Ruffian that he shall kill such a person whom I take to be mine Enemy though I do not contract whether he will do it with a Pistol or a Sword or with Poison yet if the murder at my instance be committed no sober Judge or Jury would doubt to find me guilty in the case Now that the Pope was thus far accessory to that bloody Carnage appears from Ierom Catena Secretary to Cardinal Alexandrino in his Life of Pius V. dedicated to Pope Sixtus V. who mentions his Holiness his engaging in this matter as an instance of his pious solicitude for the Advantage of the Church in particular he tells us That when his Master Cardinal Alexandrino the Popes Nephew and Legat in France with great instance moved the breaking of the intended Marriage with the King of Navar and that the Legat to divert it perswaded a Match of Margaret Daughter of France with Sebastian King of Portugal In answer to which the King taking the Legat by the hand bid him assure his Holiness Pius that he concluded this Marriage for no other purpose than to take vengeance of the Enemies of God and to chastise his Rebels as the end should manifest and that he did all this to obey the Instructions and the Counsels of Pius who perpetually incited him not to indure such injuries committed against God and the Crown and that he took this Course because he knew no better way to compass his end than thus to make those of the Religion secure having tried all other means Then pulling a Diamond of great value off his Finger he said to the Legat Take this as a Pledge and Security of my Promise and the Faith which I will alway bear to the Apostolick See and to execute all that I have said against these impious Wretches He adds farther That the Legat excused himself from receiving the Ring pretending that he had kept himself from taking any thing from the hands of any Prince to whom he had been sent and besides that he took the Word of so Great a King to be the surest Pledge and Security But that the Ring after the Death of Pope Pius was sent to Rome by the King unto Cardinal Alexandrino in a Casket on which were engraved these words Non minus haec solida est pietas Nec pietas possit mea sanguine solvi So that if we will believe either the Pope who directed or King of France who executed this Tragedy 't was Piety and Religion which was the Motive to it As to the espousal and owning of this bloody Fact after its execution I may not hope to express the Joy it brought unto his Holiness since the Historian tells us that it surpasses the comprehension of Speech and as he terms it it was indicible It created a Jubilee in its liberal importance and whereas the Tongue was unable to speak out the full Resentment Gesture and Action were call'd in to use their Rhetorick and not onely all the pompous Solemnities of a Procession and Triumph of which the Head of the Noble Coligni sent as a Token from France to his Holiness was a mean and inconsiderable circumstance but Almighty God was put into the Pageantry and a solemn Thanksgiving at the Church of St. Lewis was an instance of the grateful piety of the Pope and Cardinals on this occasion Let me make this matter plainer if it may be by an Instance taken from our own Histories which ad hominem will I assure my self be conclusive beyond controul It is the case of Thomas a Becket wherein K. Henry the second being no farther concerned then that after intolerable affronts and perpetual vexations given him by that insolent Prelate he being in passion and asking if he should never be rid of so inveterate an enemy though as Baronius relates it the irregular deed that followed was neither acted by his will or consent nor done by any contrivance of his yet because the Murder of that Prelate was consequent to his impatient words the poor King was by the judgement of the Church declared guilty of the whole Fact and by the sentence of the Popes Legates besides the sacrificing several Rights of the Crown and payment of large sums of money made to walk bare-foot several miles to the Cathedral at Canterbury where attending a whole day and night without sleep or food he received from the Monks his Subjects on his naked back above fourscore lashes And if a King was thus far criminal for occasioning though beside his intendment the death of one of his rebellious Subjects what shall we say of that Universal Pastor who directly advised and commanded the slaughter and destruction of so many thousands of all Degrees Ages and Sexes whereof a great part were certainly more innocent than that unhappy man whose blood was esteemed so sacred could be thought to be Having given this account of the Massacre in France let me see next whether my Author be in the right in his account of the Rebellion in Ireland where not to rip up that old sore and shew how the Romish Factors fomented and blowed up those unhappy flames and the Pope having absolved by his Bulls his Majesties Subjects from their Allegiance took upon himself to be their Prince and General in the person of his Nuncio exercising all Regal Powers and that not only upon the poor Protestants but even the Papists also who were guilty of that mortal sin the designing to desert Rebellion and returning to his Majesties Obedience This I pass over being the matter of