overturning of Churches the zealous Queen of Navar encouraging them so far that at Pamiers on a Corpus Christi Day upon a solemn Procession they put themselves in Arms fell upon the unarm'd Catholicks made a great Slaughter among the Church-men these escaping with impunity encourag'd the like Bloodshed in several other places this may be call'd a little tho' not such a famous Massacre and this day of Corpus Christi almost as dreadful as St. Bartholomew which from the abhorrence I have of both I can hardly think that Providence could permit such severe Retaliation and to match the Dr's Observations on the deposing Power about that time a Book came out and was publish'd by them maintaining it lawful to kill the King if he turn'd an Idolater and was follow'd by the most Antimonarchical Pieces such as I am sure the Society never penn'd or ever saw and some Catholick Writers assert from the Confession of Prisoners that were rack'd that they once had a Design to kill the King and Queen and place the Crown on the Head of Conde which from the partiality of the Authors and the extortion of the Evidence and our Charity to the Hugonots wee 'll hope to be False and rather disbelieve After all these Revolutions of Revolt and Pacification they join at last with the Rochellers to maintain the War when other Towns had submitted to Peace after all this Obstinacy can their Kings be condemn'd for not keeping their Edicts which themselves would never observe and obey All forreign Forces were invited in to the hazard of the whole Kingdom and even our Queen Elizabeth a second time prevail'd upon to succour them after they had betray'd her in the First yet such was her Zeal or Interest of State that She could never deny assistance to any of her Neighbours when in Arms against their Prince but this to France prov'd very unlucky for besides her Charges and being beaten out of Normandy by those She had befriended they sent her back the Plague for the Service She did them in the Civil War I will not say a just Reward since it fell upon a People for whose Prosperity I had rather pray but it must be remarkable though we may not call it a Iudgment for She had a League with the King of France at the same time and which She had sworn too not long before when She lent Money Men and Arms to his Subjects to fight against him but it was not to be call'd a Breach of it because it must be suppos'd that the Forces of the Reform'd were only rais'd to Fight for his Service and the true Religion though against his Person Crown and Dignity this Distinction I think must have in it some favour too of the Mental Reserve and be an Instance of another Promise that was not very well kept In short with this Assistance they held out a long War which ended at last in the Death of the Prince of Conde at the Battle of Iarnar and let the World judge whither the Condemning the Admiral and Confiscating his Estate for Rebellion was just after this there continu'd a dissembled Reconciliation on both sides such an one as the most open Hostility had been less dangerous which afterward that dismal Day of Death and Marriage did discover some zealous on the Catholick side will tell us this Tragedy was Acted only to preserve them selves that a Plot of the Hugonots was found out for which purpose Edicts and Proclamations were publish'd and Meddals stampt for the Deliverance which whether only to palliate so many Murders or that those who had all along been so restless had further Machinations must be left as a secret to the Searcher of Hearts Most certain it is it was more Cruel and Universal than that by the Protestants at Pamiers the greatest Dangers could never justify so black a Deed and Fate seem'd to Revenge the Effusion of so much Blood in that of the KINGS who poured out his own and his Soul together in some Two Years after From this abstracted Narrative will appear to all impartial People what was the Original what occasion'd the Continuance and what promoted the end of all this bloody War it is hard that Catholicks should be condemned alone for it and their Princes upbraided for those Transactions which some Protestants have look'd upon as the very Scandal of the Reformation And from hence will appear too his Sincerity as I observ'd before how disingenuously the Dr. would fasten upon my meaning his own Malice and Mistake as if I had taken the Holy League of the Papists for that which these Protestants enter'd into so long before If he 'll Quarrel with me for the Word we will not call it a League but an Vnion of the Protestants under the Prince of Conde begun about Twenty Year before the League of the Papist under the Duke of Guise 'T is plain that I referr'd to this and the Dr. in his Chronology as is much out now as Mr. Varillas Prepossession and Prejudice whether the result of Education Interest or Religion are all the same Inconsistencies with the Faithfulness of an Historian and which in these Relations I have wholly abstracted and taken these short Extracts from the comparing the different Complexions of Catholick and Protestant Writers for the Light of Truth is so much a Spark too that it is best Strook from the most solid and disagreeing Bodies and is the sooner discovered from such a Collision and such is my Charity too that whatever were the Faults of the First Reformers in France which themselves must own were too many it can by no means justify the furious Proceedings against them at present either with prudence or safety from the Maxims of the State or any great Credit to the Doctrines of this Gallican Church for as it cannot be suppos'd but that any Government Establish'd will endeavour to suppress all growing Opinions in their Original Productions especially should the Novelty or but suppos'd Innovation threaten not only the Religion of the State but even the Subversion of the Constitution of the Government it self as we see it did in this Kingdom and in the Low-Countries as hereafter will appear was actually compleated so a general Indulgence is as naturally requisite where such different Sentiments have prevail'd and for a series of Time been settl'd and confirm'd especially where the Professors of such a different Faith have comported themselves so long with all deference to the civil Magistrate and even to the support of the Crown and it is far from Reason and Justice a Vengeance peculiar and assum'd only by the Almighty Judge to visit to the Third and Fourth Generation Imputation of Guilt was never transferr'd but in Original Sin and those unfortunate Calamities that by the Reformation were occasion'd can no more warrant that King's Persecutions than they could excuse our Charity to those that he persecutes SECT VIII WE will examin
some and I think now is so to all My self knew and still do many of those Members most falsly to suffer under that malitious Imputation whom the Dr. has no reason to reproach for the Selling of their Country and betraying their Trust when they truly serv'd both that and the King but sure it is but a bad Return he makes them when I am sure it was all the same Peers if not the same Parliament that Complemented Him for His Mighty Performances which perhaps they might have omitted had they known what Amends He would have made them or thought him so good at Commending of Himself but this is a Kindness He kept in Reserve and a Sublime acquir'd since his Travels and Accomplishments I can't call this a Controversy with the Dr. when he gives up the Cause when he seems to take pains to appear on my side He shews us how the Late King was continually inclin'd to a Liberty of Conscience he declares the Act of Vniformity a severe Thing the Terms of Conforming Rigidity and those that required it Angry Men Was the Dr. alway of this mind Why then it seems he only Conform'd fell in with the Church for the sake of her Benefices for officiating at the Rolls just as he fell out with the State because he lost it but this cannot credit much the Reputation and Integrity of such a Celebrated Writer and the Church of Englands Chief Men are just as much oblig'd to him for his Characters as the Loyal Members of the long Parliament he has sufficiently attainted their honesty and so most modestly taxes the Indiscretion of all his Clergy that so the State both Civil and Ecclesiastical may more handsomely make up that excellent Composition of Knave and Fool 'T is strange that no party can escape the Fury of his enraged Pen this doughty Wight may make a good Champion for the Truth but will a much better in the Rehearsal The Character of that Hero as high as it is may be more naturally applyed to Dr. B than it is by him to the Late Bishop of Oxford If you consider him elevated to such an Hogen or naturaliz'd for hectoring of KINGS invading of Kingdoms fighting of France combating England defying of Papists Presbyterians Dissenters Church-men and almost all Mankind but if the Loyal Parliament as he calls it in derision were such arrant Knaves for if he is in earnest then their Compliance with their KING is the best Test of their Loyalty and it would be well His Present Majesty had more proof of it and the Chief Men of the Church were such infatuated Fools as he makes them to be wrought upon by the Roman Catholicks for introducing their Religion why here then was a perfect Conspiracy for four and twenty Year of the whole Kingdome some poor supprest Dissenters excepted for bringing us back into Popery and what is more strange could never bring it to pass All our Power Civil and Ecclesiastical was concern'd all our Forces by Sea and Land King and Successor on their side and in his own dreadful Description A Parliament of chosen Creatures all depending upon Himself and this for near Twenty Years together and yet not one step toward Popery unless what appear'd in Andrew Marvels Growth of it but on the contrary in this very Interval of Time the Two severe Tests set up to prevent it and that by this Parliament of Creatures and this Treacherous designing King of his that he makes alwaies to the very last contriving to betray the Protestant Religion from his own meer Motion Marrying that he may see I can use the Word his two Neeces to two Renowned Princes of the Reformed Religion the greatest Security they could desire of his Sincerity to preserve and protect it and if I might add one thing more which I wish as well as the Dr. might be forgotten prevail'd upon from the tumultuous Proceedings of a Parliamentary Power to part with a Brother that had done nothing but to be more dear a palliated Exile that even the necessity of State could not so well excuse and if neither Councells Force Interest Time nor Religion it self could hitherto bring about all this Formidable Revolution I must confess notwithstanding the Discoveries of Dr. B to sober Men and honest this Late King cannot be suspected so false or any Catholicks so designing The Reformations in Henry 8 th Time King Edward Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth were certainly Four as great Changes and Revolutions as any we now fear and as I think somewhat like the same and yet we find they were not working for it under-ground for above Four and Twenty Year together to confine it only to his Reflections on the Late King and if we must credit all such Historians Plot we must add above an Hundred more marching their Invisible Army and Ammunition in the Air on the Sea under Earth PLOTS That Our Selves have blusht at and even judicially baffl'd their Belief But we still saw then that assoon as there was any new Succession to the Throne or any Prince of a different Sentiment that design'd to make any Alterations in the Church or State they were sooner compast with Ease and Expedition certainly these plotting Papists have been a long time very unlucky or very innocent when our happier Protestants had ever better Fortune and could Reform here more easily and openly in some few Years in the face and in the sight of the Sun and this I think is as clear too as some Peoples Designs which even at a season when they need not fly the Light the Dr. says we must still suppose in the dark His secret of the Dissenters having been encourag'd to stand out against Nonconformity even by the Court that pursu'd them with such Rigidity for not Conforming I am perswaded is another peculiar among the many Mysterious Intelligences of the Dr and not much inferiour to his wonderful Discoveries of the Conference at Dover his forreign Negotiations and His Majesty's being so nearly ally'd to the Society when he might so well prove him from the same Evidence A Priest in Orders for the Authority of his Liege Letter lies only at that Authors door who fram'd the other from Father Petre to Pere le Chaise both which will appear to those that have not abandon'd themselves to folly as entire Fictions he ought to discover him for once a Prophet too that having been essential of old to the Kingly Office and then he 'l have the better security for his Religion and may take his Word for an Oracle but the Dissenters will not thank him for thus making out their secret Correspondence with the Court and Iesuites but rather believe that he searcht no other Records for it than the Original Manuscripts of Dr. Oates his Evidence If this Advice to their standing out was only in order to introduce a Toleration how came it to pass that when they had one actually granted that those who
successe among the Protestants the Reformation went on the Ausburg Confession confirm'd a Convocation was call'd at Lubeck in which it was resolv'd they should submit themselves with all Obedience to the Emperor and that their Religion should be permitted to them without any molestation or opposition Pope Gregory the Thirteenth sent to him a new Calendar as they call'd it which the Protestant Princes opposed entred their Protestation against it and were Countenanc'd in it by the Imperial Power About the Year 1600 at Regenspurg there was a Conference again about Religion Divines deputed on both sides but the Differences about the Rule of Faith dissolv'd the Assembly the Emperor no way interrupting the Dispute the Proceedings were printed by the Protestants at Wittenburg and by the Papists at Ingolstadt and I hope this will shew that Rudolphus himself had no other design but that all things should be determin'd according to the strength of Reason and Authority About this time the Landtgrave of Hassia renew'd again the Reformation and went farther than the Germans are wont to carry it by throwing down Pictures Images which even among the Lutherans my self have seen allow'd of and applauded and in all of their Eminent Churches I could almost have said ador'd so far was this Rudolp from Severities and Oppressions in matters of Religion that if he had been inclin'd to it from his Zeal to a Perswasion common Policy and Interest of State would have oblig'd him to the contrary he being then in War with his Brother Matthias and indeed both sides striving which should most secure to them the Protestant Party as by the Sequel will appear for upon his Brothers being in Arms the States of Bohemia took a solemn Oath to assist the Emperor with their Lives and Fortunes upon this he granted to them a further Confirmation of the Confession of Ausburg and though Matthias was prevail'd upon afterward by the Bishop of Passaw and the Pope's Legate Cardinal Melini to make an Edict to forbid it yet he soon found his Error and took occasion afterward to revoke it for finding the Protestants more favour'd by his Brother and the Troubles they had created him by their entering into an Union occasion'd by his Prosecution which wee 'l say with the Dr. was set on by the House of Grats why he presently thought it the wiser way to take a more moderate Course and so permitted that the Pacification of Passaw should be indulg'd not only to the Nobility and Gentry but the meanest Plebeians The Emperor Rudolphus when he saw some of the Protestant Party fall off to his Brother Matthias and himself somewhat in a Condition not to value them was animated so far as for a time to forbid the publick Profession of their Religion and the Meeting of the States at Prague thinking himself not oblig'd to maintain the Priviledges that was granted then by Maximilian but when he saw what a Disturbance it created he soon Confirm'd to them their Antient Priviledges and new Exercise of Religion and that in a more extraordinary manner viz. that none of the Popish Bishops should oppose the Protestants in Prague that both Religions should live peacibly together and that those that disobey'd shou'd be prosecuted as Disturbers of the Peace how near this comes to His Majesty's Proportions even his Enemies must acknowledge upon this Protestant Churches were built both in Germany and Bohemia and little of Disturbance created to the Church all the dayes of Rudolphus And now after these Alterations for Empire and Opinion the Emperor himself dies after six and Thirty Years Reign a time long enough to have rooted out all the new sown Seed of the Reform'd Religion had Rudolphus ever resolv'd it or could have been prevail'd upon for its Extirpation it being long before the Swede that Famous Defender of the Faith or rather Invader of the Country had entered Germany I cannot but observe how injuriously the Dr. deals here with those very Princes whom he cannot but confess to have been fam'd for their Justice and Gentleness for the Fury and Violencys which Ferdinand of Gratz and his Family shew'd to the Reform'd how comes it to affect these gentle Dispositions and who we see confirm'd to them so often their former Priviledges and Pacifications which if they had wholly violated and evacuated it still shews that Catholick Princes can be suppos'd inclin'd from the Principles of Nature to Toleration and Indulgence and it must be somewhat extraordinary and preternatural that prevails with them to Tyrannise to make use of Maximilians Words over Consciences and invade the very Prerogative of the Court of Heaven what ever other Kings or Emperors have done and acted against the Rules of Religion or Iustice must certainly be most injuriously imputed to those that have been guilty of no such doings or not known whither they will ever do so much less to such who do declare against it and shew that most evidently they disapprove it the Dr. would fasten Persecution I fancy upon Catholick Princes not only as a Principle of Merit but a Species of Original Sin and so make all Contract the Guilt of it by Imputation for otherwise Arguments drawn from particulars can never conclude universally much less from the single instance of the severities of France to infer an absolute necessity for its being so here in England when even among the Primitive Persecutions there were those Emperors that favour'd the Christians and it can never be admitted to conclude from the rage of a Nero a Dioclesian that never a Titus a Vespasian did ever reign at Rome both CHARLES and Ferdinand of Gratz may be condemned in History for their severe Proceedings when a Maximilian as much fam'd for his mildness and gentle Disposition But to follow our celebrated Author in his next Historical Instance Matthias mounted the Imperial Throne assoon almost as Rudolphus left it he had a Disposition to mildness as the Dr. himself observes and in the First Year of his Reign receiv'd the Protestants Petition about the Confirmation of their Religion at Regenspurg and when afterward by Matthias his means Ferdinand the Second of that Name that succeeded him was made King of Bohemia he was forc'd to confirm to them all their Priviledges and to promise the continuance of them after the death of Matthias and that which truly influenced this Emperor or rather incens'd him to the Proceedings that follow'd Was not the Iesuites whom the Dr. cannot spare even where they are unconcern'd or the Violences of the House of Gratz for Chronicles of theirs can tell us that even a Cardinal and one of the Emperor Matthias his Privy-Counsellors was on the very Coronation day when this Ferdinand of Gratz was Crown'd King of Hungary sent Prisoner to Tyrol for endeavouring to stir up those Divisions that after followed The first Begininngs of which as a German and a Lutheran observes and which from such an
impartial Author for the sake of the reform'd Religion I am so sorry to relate were occasion'd by this Disorder The Protestants held a Consultation at Prague where among some of their Grievances was propos'd That the Edicts of Rudolphus which we recited before not being by the Catholicks stricktly kept for their being bound to a better Observance the Reform'd did agree to represent it at a Meeting of the Imperial Ministers to be redres'd but finding there two Men of Note to withstand them and to make much of Opposition they were so incens'd that they took occasion to throw both these Persons out at Window as they stood next to the Secretary Fabritius himself Firing at them as they fell upon this great Outrage which could not but with more force be defended they united immediately into a League of Lives and Fortunes against GOD's the King's Enemies as they call'd them and their own went streight to the Listing of Souldiers order'd 30 Directors or Administrators for the management of the Affairs of the Kingdom and as if incens'd with Dr. B. against the whole Society banisht all the Iesuites out of Bohemia and publish'd a Manifesto to justify these Outragious Proceedings the Emperor Matthias as mild as he was as gentle even as our prejudiced Dr. can allow him could not but resent these great Indignities be alarm'd at the Disturbances that were made and provide against a total Revolt and Rebellion that did more than threaten him by being already commenc'd those of Silesia siding with them sent under the Marquiss of Brandenburg a considerable Force to their Assistance Count Mansfield set up for their General and it was time then for the Emperor to seek out for his his mildness had try'd to make them before to lay down their Arms and so for their persisting in Hostility had the more right to declare them Rebels they had besieged the Budeweis before the Emperor had order'd to proceed against them as such and taken another Town by Storm and even of his Intentions to attack them gave them timely notice when nothing could prevail with the Bohemians and the Emperour bear nothing more the Count de Bucquoy march'd against them and in Battle beat them and in this in thus manner began that cursed Disturbance as our Author calls it that cost all Germany so dear This Account I have faithfully translated from our Dutch Authors Chronology their own Country-man their own Protestant who laments the very Disturbance themselves created and all the Miseries and Misfortunes that so justly follow'd Dr. Heylin an Historian as fam'd too for Reformation as our Reflecter we Revy on as much a Member of the CHURCH of ENGLAND and whatever are the Censures he must suffer an Author as honest and sincere and only more impartial he gives us his sence of these Transactions to this effect Discoursing of that more Memorable Battle of Prague that follow'd afterward in Ferdinand the Seconds Time to which he even himself was forc'd for he before had admonished them to lay down their Arms says he cannot decide who had the juster Cause neither ought success of War to decide it but of this he 's sure that ever since the erecting of that Kingdom by the Sclaves or Croatians it depended upon the disposal of the Emperor and observes that on the day that the Battle was decided the Gospel appointed for it had in it that Memorable Text of rendering unto Coesar the Things that are Coesars but such is that inconsiderate Zeal praepossession or downright Sedition of some that set themselves only to contest it with a Crown that the specious names of Reformation and Religion must sanctify any sort of Rebellion and Revolt 't is too much one would think that it should excuse it much less make it lose its Nature and forget its Name The good Emperor Matthias soon after the first Defeat was given them to which he was by their own Confession forc'd departed this Life and left Ferdinand a more furious Prince in Military Matters and more zealous in Ecclesiasticals to follow and pursue it This producing of such a Popish Prince for a president of Perfidiousness and Persecution whom himself confesses so mild and relenting as to become a Protector to the Distressed States even to revolting Protestants against a revengeful Prince will make men distrust the weight of such an Argument that carries Contradiction and Boldness in triumph before it The Dr. does not deserve the Protection of the Dutch for defaming thus their best of Protectors but he deals with him as kindly here for the sake of his Religion as the Dutch his new Masters themselves did when he assisted them in the defence of their Liberties for they fell upon him and his Followers in a solemn Procession at Antwerp on Ascension day kill'd some upon the place forc'd their Defender to fly to the Church and take sanctuary for his Life 't is hard I confess to decide whither it was the result of Zeal in the Reformation I will not say of the spirit of Rebellion but this is certain this Protector was very scurvily treated and but ill us'd insomuch that he protested if they serv'd him so he 'd leave them to themselves and return into Germany which afterward for other Indignities Offer'd he was forc'd to do But this Author I cite being one of the Society will supersede all Credit with the Dr. for Prejudice with some people will spoil the best of Authority but then the most impartial Thuanus whose sincerity even himself has applauded I hope will be better believ'd and truly he says but the same that this Catholick Defender of the Protestant Cause had but little thanks for that Assistance which of his own accord he brought the States if Protestants will not be oblig'd to Roman-Catholick Princes for Redress or Preservation pray don't let the Fact be libell'd and their Principles traduc'd against positive Proof as if they were alway ready to root them out and study'd to destroy them Here are Presidents from History and such too as that to some of them himself does give a sort of Approbation that in former Reigns in forreign Countries where the Catholick Religion has been generally receiv'd that by Princes of that Perswasion the Protestants too have been countenanced and protected and the Peace we here do now enjoy at this present in this Kingdom in the same Circumstances and the thankful Acknowledgments that are so universal for its Enjoyment is an Additional Evidence That the Dr. may be mistaken in his Arguments from Fact as well as malitious in his Inferences when they truly will appear both spiteful and false so that his seditious Insinuations against His Majesty's Indulgence and his ungrateful Dealing with the KING that as he says advis'd him once of his approaching Danger help'd him to prevent it and perhaps protected him too are no more an Argument against the Mildness and Clemency that may be
of Queen Mary of England whatever they were were only made to the Suffolk Men if any made for besides what are related in History no publick Act under Her hand appears and the Dr. knows His Present Majesty in the very First Act of His Reign and in several repeated Proclamations since has solemnly sign'd it and so signify'd it to the whole Kingdome and the World though his sacred Word was sufficient without such an Overt Act to secure us But besides I know Dr. B. values himself so much upon his understanding of History especially about Reformation that the Times to which he would apply his Comparative Reflections as they are very distant so too of a quite different Face and Complexion to what they were in Her Dayes will the Dr. make no difference in the settling of the Protestant Religion between the settlement of the Six Years of King Edward's Reign and about an Hundred and Thirty that have followed since sure he is satisfy'd of the vast Disparity he seems almost assur'd that his elaborate Writings will secure us against the repealing the Tests or else they are pen'd to no Purpose and then can he expect that an Act for Re-establishing Popery should pass as in her Reign in the First Parliament The Reformation in the former Reign was really a force and what all impartial Protestants can apprehend carryed on even sacrilegiously by the Court to serve some secular designs tho' the consequences of their ill means might be truly good and perhaps in my opinion will ever be so 't was easie then for her without any breach upon Laws Statutes and Constitutions to retrieve and establish a Religion that had been from all Ages receiv'd and only for six years discontinu'd yet still we saw as appears from her Proclamation she so far adher'd to any promise she might have made that she declar'd she would never compel any of her Subjects in Matters of Religion till by their common consent they had oblig'd themselves that they did so is too well known both Houses putting up a Petition in the Name of the Kingdom to the Cardinal to be receiv'd again into the Church of Rome and this a Parliament that none have yet offer'd to prove was procur'd by any indirect means so that it plainly appears that Laws will alway depend upon the general opinion of the People and as they could not find then an House of Commons to restore the Church-Land so it will as hardly be got now for restoring the Religion The Reflection he makes on the Queen-Regent of Scotland for breach of Promise comes after examination of her History and the Transactions of her Reign in which she was then but a Princess subordinate to the Criminating of those her very accusers and the substance of it sincerely this After the death of Cardinal Beaton who by the way was as barbarously murder'd the sufferings of some persons for Religion which himself from his function in the Church had too Zealously set a foot many of the Commonalty began to Conspire against the Government and at last Seven or Eight of the Nobility took upon them to make an Act of Reformation I confess had it been done in a more Parliamentary way it might have been more Authentick this Queen-Regent was so far from proceeding against them as Criminals which doubtless she might have done it being a manifest Usurpation if not plain Rebellion that she gave a favourable ear to their proposals tho' the Clergy that were then Establisht you may be sure perswaded her to the contrary she offer'd all things to be redress'd in a Parliamentary way but Zeal being seldome attended with the greatest Prudence and Deliberation they fell into open Ryots before she could find a way to please them disturb'd a Procession to which her self was present demolisht Monasterys pull'd down Images and overturn'd Altars till at Perth they appear'd in open Rebellion and up in Arms what promises the Queen there made are as well known as the manner how she was forc't to make them They threatned her if she would not accept of their Accord or did ever violate and break it they would joyn unanimously to depose her Knox the Great Incendiary setting them on and made them confederate into a perfect League and I believe this too was as absolute a Power as was ever seen in Scotland or into the Low Countries sent from Spain After this pacification at Perth the Lords of the Congregation who were always the first in the field convene their forces again at Coupers-Moore Besiege the Town of Perth force it to surrender sack Abbys subvert Monasterys and sacrilegiously spoil all that was sacred and all this without any regard of any Duty to their Sovereign or Reverence to their GOD. The strictest of our Casuists even in a common person ever resolv'd all obligations void that are occasion'd by terror and Constraint and the Dr. need not have recourse again to the society I know the lewdness of some Politicians have extended the Obligations of Kings Princes to a greater latitude from their publick Concerns than in Conscience can be allow'd to Common Subjects I am so far from that Sacrilegious thought that I think the Sacred and exalted Characters they bear obliges them only more highly and that to a stricter Observance tho' still where Subjects can't be said to sin 't is hard to make our Princes Peccant why does not the Dr. prove that this Regent or her Daughter the real Queen did break their promises too when they assum'd their just Authority after they had both been so injuriously brought to renounce it but in this very case the Reflector had better spar'd his Animadversion since it was one of the Articles too at Edenburgh that there should be no injury done to the Catholick Churches which the Queen complain'd of was as soon violated but since nothing will please some People but arguments such as the Schools call ad hominem nor even those neither when the man's mind is alter'd does the Dr. think that if King Charles the First had been forced to the Nineteen Propositions to the utter Subverting of the Church of England it would by their Casuists have been adjudg'd an Indispensable Obligation they could not think it so in the case of the Covenant which the King to whose memory the Dr. has such a Kindness even in those Countries is said to have taken But to see how these faithful Reformers dealt with their Queen that must be upbraided for the violating of her Faith. After they had been the occasion of breaking some of those Accords for which none but their Sovereign it seems must suffer they left this Queen so little power to break her promise to them in matters of their Religion that she had none left to maintain her own for at a Conference at Preston she desired only the celebration of the Mass in the place where she resided and even that
Presidents to prove the Perfidiousness of Catholick Princes and the lewd Principles of their Religion since it must so unluckily lay open the Scandalous Progress of the Reformation abroad which our Protestant Authors and Dignify'd Church-men have been themselves blush'd at and asham'd and he may seem to deserve as severe an Execration for forcing me to revive so much of the Faults of the Reformers the Protestant Church and his Mothers Shame as that undutiful Son that discovered too much of his Fathers Nakedness 't is to be lamented to see what dissolute debauch'd and Atheistical Opinions the Licentiousness of Reforming produc'd in those Low-Countries we last treated of that of George of Delph and Nicholas of Leyden Grotius bewails as produc'd by this Liberty of the First Reformers and this Family of Love that set up there first were of Opinion that it was lawful to deny upon Oath any thing before a Person that was not of the same Family and Society this is such a Mental Reserve as the Dr. among the Iesuites can't easily discover 'T is to be deplor'd as well as admir'd and animadverted on the Miseries the Confusions and the Rebellions that the Reformation brought with it in all places abroad where ever it was carried on and as great an Enemy as they make the Pope and Society to all Monarchs and Soveraigns the most Antimonarchical Works you see that ever were publish'd did in that very juncture of time appear neither could it in common policy be avoided for the Changes in Church-Government and Religious Worship being for the most part made in opposition to the Supream Authority of the State the villifying of that was unavoidable and the deposing POWER the most politick Position that could be maintain'd Those Innovations that could not be made with their KING's Consent were best carried on by that pretty Expedient of tranferring Allegiance and when this Philip the second would not allow his Subjects all the Liberties they ask'd they had no other Recourse but to tell him he had forfeited his Right SECT IX THe Dr. tells us he could carry this view of History much farther but I think it is carried already a little too far for his Credit for the Faith of Roman Catholicks I am afraid in those times will abide a better Test than the Protestants Loyalty which is easier to be deplor'd and lamented than disprov'd and deny'd This Author found himself press'd in the former Treatise with matter of Fact where the Protestants in Germany find at present both Faith and Protection under Catholick Princes but that his malice must impute to their want of Power to do Mischief and the Circumstances of Affairs this Circumstances of Affairs I do not see but may serve our turns here too and hinder their power of doing Mischief since we have the Kings Word there shall be none done and the PROTESTANT Party so strong a Circumstance to prevent it His Propositions and Expedients of Pension and Indemnity for the Papists are pretty projects and worthy of such an Vndertaker but they would thank him more would he undertake too that when such Laws shall continue in force they may not hereafter be put in execution with a Non Obstante even to a Statute of Impunity and they be told beside with an Insulting Sarcasm you are rightly serv'd their Pensions will do them or their posterity but little good when once they get them again within the praemunire of the Tests and if the Legislators chance to have no more Charity for them than such Reflecters they may be hang'd by those that are so afraid of burning ruin'd with interpretation and most constructively destroy'd by those that will be too willing to void any Law that shall be made for their preservation and the Dr. himself does Menace as much in the very next page an Act of Oblivion will be made truly so by being it self forgot so that the sum of this hardiness of proposals comes to this handsome and easie definition they are always to continue the condemn'd Prisoners to the State to live upon the Basket and the favour of a Reprieve The Contest for Religion I confess is too great but I can see none that contend so much to prevail but such who are so contentious as to depress all different perswasions for fear of Vsurpation if the Test is the sole security against the Catholick Religion The Doctrine of the Church will much suffer in having only such a secular support from the State when even that can hardly defend it self for establishing such an unreasonable Law enacted meerly by the contrivance of such that then sate at the Helm whose Conduct was condemn'd by All whose Proceedings by themselves represented as seditious and that Zeal that animated such unjust undertakings found to have no other foundation but upon Falshood and Perjuries so that if the Question were impartially put it would come to this whither these Tests ought sooner be repeal'd than the rest of the Penal Laws they being more eminently fram'd from meer malice and mistake this prevailing Religion which he would now bring to this very period of time has been too long a prevailing to have so short an Epoche for its commencement and date and for almost this hundred and fifty year was never prevalent and whatever is the Prospect and Face of the State while the Church still continues in that station she would be as she has the best of Securities from so Gracious a King and a Toleration Establisht as well as the Church this Protestant Religion will not be so soon prevail'd upon but must needs be maintain'd in the mighty numbers of the free Professors of it The disservice he would insinuate we have done in putting the Iustices in mind of their Oaths one would think I had superseded the thoughts of in the same Treatise where I had appeal'd to himself to make an Essay in the point of the Dispensing Power where his malice might be manifested in the prosecution and his revenge frustrated by the Royal Authority's suspending of all the penalty and this a Resolution of those twelve men in Scarlet the deepness of whose Crimes he would so maliciously represent by the badge of their Office if he will perswade the Iustices of the Peace to prosecute Dissenters notwithstanding His Majesties Gracious Indulgence I am afraid he 'll do them no acceptable piece of Service and give them more perplexity than the trouble of repealing can create which doubtless must take off all Scruple about their execution the Members of the Coll. he 's pleas'd to Caress with their adhering to their Oaths were perhaps more true to their Zeal and an Obstinate Disobedience a Protestant Prince might have never met with that refractoriness and a Catholick Founder I fancy did never more directly design his Statutes against the Prerogative of a Catholick King but to shew that a stubborn obstinacy was a great ingredient in this Conscience Plea Nothing is more
witts alwayes the Greatest Enemies to our English Interest as well as their own and so eager by their Pensionaryes pursu'd that they had almost introduc'd an utter Anarchy entire Desolation in this fam'd Republick and never ceas'd till by the perpetual Edict they did so basely abolish that Office of the House of Orange which as it was Establish'd by the Vnion so their First Prince predicted they could never stand without The Prince's Highness whose Office and Authority amongst them we wish may be ever continu'd and augmented for his own Honour and the States and the necessity that it shews for some Resemblance of Monarchy even in a Republick and a Common-wealth and that too from the remarkable Prediction of one of his famous Predecessors and their First Founder as well as in the Constitution of some other Common-wealths but this Prince and that State is but little oblig'd to such a Defender who forces in such Arguments for their Defence as their intestine Enemyes had almost made use of for their utter subversion they that sacrificed these popular Pretences to their popular Outrages in the sad Obsequies of those tumultuous Men even to a Resentment that might be call'd cruel and inhumane can never have any great Obligation of kindness to such an Apologist that for want of Foresight and Consideration would only befriend them upon the Principles of their most dangerous Enemyes In the next place supposing that Resistance had been as lawful from the Constitution of their State as it was ever from the Doctrine of this Casuist and Divine does it therefore justifie a Revolt to be so too is there no difference between an endeavour to preserve their Priviledges in the Goverment and an actual Subversion of the whole frame of it Alva's great Severities were almost forgotten under the Reign of three milder Governours that had almost compos'd all this distraction when their particular defection was design'd The General insurrections as from the History has appear'd were before the arrival of this severe Minister and if Rebellion will forfeit Priviledges as our Laws and those of all Nations do declare I am sure 't is no Tyranny to seise them How some of the States of Europe did esteem this a Iustifiable Action our selves can best testifie to our shame but that all did is only the want of it or excess of Confidence in our shameless Author Arch Duke Matthias left them as appears when he saw it was coming to that the mild Emperor Maximilian tho' he mediated for a Peace yet could never justify the War those Princes of Germany that sent them aid from abroad were only such as were in the same circumstance of disobedience at home the Rebellions in Scotland and the deposition of the Q. were no more Iustified by the States of Europe than was her murder we committed here yet we saw from our Acts of Subsidy too that the Scots were assisted to Fight against their Soveraign 'T is still the constant misfortune of our Author and now it must fall at last upon his own Church to be Libelld in a friendly argument and sure such Actions of that Queen had better be forgotten which we 'll believe her forc'd to from the necessity of State and the condition of the Church tho' to the loss of her reputation and no little blemish to this Establisht Religion sure she believ'd the King of Spain had some Right to his revolted Subjects when she so wisely refus'd that Dominion they so frankly offer'd And the King of France was somewhat of the same mind when he so generously rejected that rash and rebellious Overture and this French King when some of his Calvinists and Male-contents were running into Flanders to their Assistance pursu'd them and thought it such a justtfiable Action that he cut them all to pieces But to keep only to the Queens Case 't is another of his unlucky Touches to talk of her assisting them it looks as if our Author had a mind to rub up the Memory of their ungrateful Returns the Tricks that the Faction we have mention'd before put upon their Deliverer Leicester the Collusions of their Councils with the good Intentions of Her Majesty the secret Treatys with France and treacherous Aid and the refusing to repay Her and to come homer to the Case it was protested by one of the fam'd Deputies of that time and that upon his Knees to some of his Companions that those Submissions made to the Q. of England was only to draw Her into a War with Spain which when She was asham'd of and would have mediated a Peace a Peace which by the very Articles She was to conduct them to and not to a Republick and by which She was made an Arbitress of That as well as of the War They sent Her a solemn Embassy to disswade Her from it which when it was not likely to prevail She urging that Arbitration to which they had agreed they took upon them to expound solemn Articles for Words of Course and that they had made Her an Umpire only out of Complement Respect Posterity is taught only to remember the Spanish Invasion with an Abhorrence as if it were a Popish Plot and our Author does no service to the Protestant Religion to let them know that Spain was first Invaded by the most Protestant Queen Five Thousand Foot and a Thousand Horse and that three Year before that Formidable Armado came to face our Coast were carryed over there to keep that sinking State from a certain falling into their former Constitution and returning by force to the Obedience of their Lawful Lord. That most impartial Author whom we can't but call so since their own Country-man gives but little Countenance to this Queens good Opinion of this Iustifyable Action for when She was again offer'd the Dominion of these Dutch by some of their Magistrates and the people of Frisia he observes that it was much suspected That if they had tender'd her the Goverment as got into their hands by the Mutiny of the Common People and the Sedition of the Souldiers She might sooner have accepted of it which when offer'd as from the publick Consent She cunningly refus'd She knew that Mutiny had made them what they were and that the same was the surest way to make them Hers whereas an Act of State from those that had made themselves so was of no more Authority than the Revolt by which they were made and that at any time would give to her self as Just a Title So true it is that a Defection from Princes unhinges all Right of Soveraignty and Property it self warrants Sedition from the Constitution of the State and lyes a Land open like those of our Lawyers to be Primi Occupantis But because this Author does give us a Touch of his more modern Politicks as well as of his excellency in antient History which if we