The Burnt Child dreads the Fire OR AN EXAMINATION Of the Merits of the PAPISTS Relating to England mostly from their own Pens IN Justification of the late Act of Parliament for preventing dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants And further shewing That whatsoever their Merits have been no thanks to their Religion and therefore ought not to be gratified in their Religion by Toleration thereof Numb 25.16 17 18. The Lord spake unto Moses Vex the Midianites for they trouble you with their Wiles Isaiah 45.20 They have no knowledge that set up the Wood of their graven Image and pray unto a God that cannot save By William Denton M.D.M.Q.R. LONDON Printed for James Magnes and Richard Bentley 〈…〉 Post-Office in Russel-street in Covent-Garden 167◠Omnibus Christi Fidelibus Vt Causae Regis magnae Britanniae Franciae Hiberniae verae Antiquae Apostolicae Fidei Defensoris ejusque Parliamentorum Justicia toti Orbi Christiano Innotesceret THough it hath not been deemed prudent that Legislators should in their Acts and Sanctions render their reasons of them lest by so doing they might haply invite and court contradiction from some ill-affected thereunto which might prove derogatory unto their Supreme Authority by giving occasion to the governed to wrestle with their reasons rendred and alledged and if they should think though erroneously that they have resolved or confuted them they would then also think that they have taken all vertue and efficacy from the very Laws themselves Yet it hath ever been esteemed acceptable and good Service to Government it self that Subjects should defend the just Laws of their Princes and especially those wherein Religion is concerned And Religion being or ought to be the grand concern of every Individual I hope I shall not be thought to wander inconsiderately out of my own Province whilst I endeavour to justifie the late Act of Parliament for preventing dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants I must confess that I dare not adventure my Salvation or Damnation on blind obedience or Implicite Faith or on any Deputies Proxies Popes Priests or Fryars no◠take their bare word without express warranty from Scripture especially being commanded to search them and thereby to try them that say they are Apostles and are not and being pre-cautioned lest by good words and fair speeches the Hearts of the simple be deceived Rom. 16.17 In which kind of Arts the Papalins are most expert I have exposed this Treatise to the consideration of all Christians but more especially of all Kings Princes and Governours not to implore their Countenance or Protection of any error that haply may be found herein that were not only unmannerly but injurious to Majesty it self If what is here written cannot be justified by its own truth and effort of sound reason let it fall to the ground and be obliterate for ever For no error or salshood or any false equivocating reasonings can ever be pleasing to the God of Truth and therefore ought not to be supported or countenanced by any sublunary Majesty whatsoever Justa ratio sapientem non possit offendere The chief aim and great design in this Publication is to justifie to all the Christian World His Majesties great Title of Defender of the Faith truly Antient Catholick and Apostolick by his ready compliance with His great Council his Two Houses of Parliament to put away the evil from this our Israel by this His Act that both this and future Ages perceiving it to have been grounded both on great reasons of State and true grounds of Religion all the World may be the better satisfied and his own Subjects may hear and fear and do no more so presumptuously It is the great duty of every individual Christian for Truth and Conscience sake but more especially of Gods Lieutenants on Earth even for necessity and reason of good government also nay even out of duty to him by whom they reign to maintain and preserve Religion in its purity For this very end God hath ordained Kings and Queens to be his Vicegerents on Earth and conferred greatness and Majesty upon them to make them Defenders nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers of his Holy Church in which Calling the greatest of them can never give a good account of this their Charge and Stewardship except it be by a constant watchful care in matters of Religion As it is not prudent in civil Politicks for any Prince to receive a great succour from a more purissant Empire so it is as imprudent for any temporal Prince or Power to indulge or countenance any Sects that own any dependence on a Foreign Head Ecclesiastical or Civil especially if Sworn to advance that Head and promote his Interest And such a Head is the Pope who claims to be superiour to all Princes to be exempt from all Controll and exempts his Ecclesiasticks from their subjection and obedience unto their natural Princes and whom if you will believe them they cannot chastise though they are rebellious that he hath Power over all and can deprive Kings of their Kingdoms that in any difference between the Ecclesiastical and Secular the judgment appertains to the Ecclesiastical as to the more worthy And as is the Pope so are his Papalins The same Hour they become his Proselytes they also become his sworn Vassals and Advocates Can it be other than an infinite prejudice done to the Authority of Sovereign Princes if they should but supinely permit or be constrained to change or but to suspend their own Laws at the Beck and Pleasure of another State or Interest passing from one Law to another or tacitely by conniving only to acknowledg that he borrows from any other any power of governing in matters Civil or Ecclesiastical and therefore but just and reasonable for Princes to secure their own power by wholsome Laws preventing all Popish influencies that haply by some Wiles or politick Stratagems might oppose them or interfere with them in order to gratifie and support their own interest contrary to the interest of those Princes whose Subjects they are The main Bane of true Church power hath been the great opinion that the Antient and first converted Emperors had of the Abilities piety and devotion of the Antient Fathers Ecclesiasticks which confidence begat in them supiness and negligence of their own power and that gave occasion and encouragement to the Popes and their Ecclesiasticks to usurp and encroach upon their Authority whilst they little regarded their own power which God had fairly stampt upon them consequently neglecting their duty as if they were to render no account to God for themselves or their Subjects as if the care and defence of Religion and Piety were the least of their concerns tolerating for their own interest the people to be deceived by suffering the Pope to set up new Orders and Rites under the umbrello of Religion but in reality for his own Empire and profit without considering that such Orders and Customs by tract of time
Year of Eliz. as is evident by the very Acts of Parliament is not for for Religion but in an acknowledgment of the Popes power which was little regarded here our famous Kings being never afraid of Popes Bulls no not in the very midnight of Popery as Edward the Confessor Henry I. Edward I. Rich. II. Henry IV. Henry V. c. And in the time of Henry VII and in all their times the Popes Legate never passed Callais but staid there and came not to England until he had taken a solemn Oath to do nothing to the detriment of this Crown or State so Jealous were our Kings even in those days A shrewd sign and a plain demonstration what their judgment is concerning the right of the Prince in respect of Regal power and place there being nothing in our Liturgy that a Conscientious Papist might justly except against out of the Word of God but because the Pope had Excommunicated and Accursed therefore forsooth be it lawful of unlawful they must obey the Pope and disobey the Queen their incomparable Liege Lady Now by reason of this Bull the very bringing in whereof by a subject was adjudged Treason in the time of Edward the I. the very foundation of all the ensuing Treasons Rebellions c. And in Edward the Third's time the Abbot of Tavestock was fined at 500 Marks for receiving a Bull from Rome wherein were but aliqua verba regi Coronae suae prejudicialia One main Article in Parliament inforced for the the deprivation of Richard II. was that he had by admitting Bulls from Rome inthralled the Crown of England which was free from the Pope and all other Forrein power In Edward the Third's time there was a seisure of all the Temporalties of the Bishops of Ely and Norwich for the publication of a Bull against Hugh Earl of Chester And the Bishop of Ely was Condemned of Felony by a Jury at the Kings-Bench notwithstanding his bold challenge to be unctus Dominit Frater Papae The state of Romish Recusants became very miserable being thereby ensnared in a lamentable Dilemma for either they must be executed for Treason against the Queen if they did resist or be accursed by their Holy Father if they did obey Her But rather than the Pope and his Crew would loose the Design and Effect of his Bull which for ought I know is in force to this very day for if the Pope will say that it was not directed and intended against the Queen only but that its force and efficacy extends still to her Successors I am sure it must go for good Doctrin with them if they will be true to their Oaths Doctrins and Principles he quickly found out a means to extricate them out of that miserable Condition wherein they were thereby involved viz. A Dispensation from himself which was afterwards reinforced by Gregory the 13th that all Catholicks here might shew their outward Obedience to the Queen Ad redimendam vexationem ad ostendendam externam obedientiam but with these cautions and limitations Rebus sic stantibus things so standing as they did 2. Donec publica Bullae executio sieri possit until they might grow into strength until they were able to give the Queen an unavoidable Check-mate that the publick execution of the said Buil might take place And so much was confessed openly at the Barr by Garner as before he had done under his own hand for the better execution whereof the Pope granted Faculties to Rob. Persons and Edmond Campion then ready to go for England 14 April 1580. which Hart also confessed Perside Gens A strange Generation of perfidious-Men whom no favours can oblige to be quiet and loyal It was observed by Sir Edw. Coke Attorney General at the Tryal of the Powder Traytors that since the Jesuits set foot in this Land there never passed 4 Years without a most pestilent and pernicious Treason 11. b. tending to the subversion of the whole State And was there ever any Prince that would endure or not execute such persons within their Dominions as should deny him to be lawful King or go about to withdravv his Subjects from his Allegiance or incite them to assassinate or to resist or rebel against him and vvithall endeavouring to justifie it by their pens Nay by their deaths vvith strong presumption of meiting thereby What possible hopes can there be of such Men enslaved to such Principles Nay vvhat Prince under Heaven can think his State secure so long as every pettish Pope may vvithout thime or reason pick a quarrel vvith him vvhence a Citation thence a Sentence vvhich either neglected or not satisfied infers Contumacy vvhich deprives the supposed Delinquent of that right vvhich God gave Conscience avovvs and consent of Ages and successive Generations hath fortified and being declared an Heretick the Croysade is published The Words of the Canon strongly bent against the Crovvn Impereal of Hen. 4. are not many but very heavy and very fatal and extensive to all Princes and in English thus We observing the Statutes of our Holy Predecessors do absolve those that are bound by Fidelity and Oath to persons Excommunicated from their Oath and do forbid them to observe or keep their Fealty towards them quousque ipsi ad satisfactionem veniunt till they come to yield satisfaction In this case I appeal to the judgment even of the Priests themselves who confess That in all the Plots against Queen Eliz. none were more forward than many of the Priests were but how many of them were so inclined and addicted the State knew not In which Case fay they there is no King or Prince in the World disguisting the See of Rome and having either force or mettal in hin that would have indured us but rather have utterly rotted us out of his Territories as Traitors and Rebels to him and his Countrey and therefore we may bless God that we live under so merciful a Prince which had she been a Catholick might be accounted the mirror of the World Import Consid fo 16. There were sparks of Ingenuity in these their Acknowledgments but much more saucily writ those Emperor-like Quaker-like say I Jesuits Parsons and Creswel who in one of their Books spake thus to Her Majety In the beginning of Thy Kingdom Thou didst deal something more gently with Catholicks none were then urged by Thee or pressed either to Thy Sect or to the denial of their Faith All things indeed did seem to proceed in a far milder course No great Complaints were heard of There were no extraordinary Contentions or Repugnancies Some there were that to please and gratifie you went to your Churches c. Ibid. f. 6. And yet did Queen Eliz. not only not call into question Thousands that were capitally guilty of the pains of her Laws but favoured many known Papists professing Loyalty and Obedience to Her Majesty None of which sort were for their contrary opinions in Religion prosecuted or charged with
all the Catholicks in General did desire to have the said Bull which is still in force against all her Successors when ever it shall please his Holiness so to declare it to be understood viz. against the Queen but yet to be free themselves which is made more demonstrable by the Confession of Hart one of their own Fellows and Condemned but not Executed with Campion who ult Decemb. 1580. Confessed That the Bull of Plus Quintus for so much as it is against the Queen is holden amongst the English Catholicks for a lawful Sentence and a sufficient discharge of her Subjects fidelity and so remaineth in force but in some points touching the Subjects it is altered by the present Pope Greg. XIII For where in that Bull all her Subjects are commanded not to obey her and she being Excommunicate and Deposed all that do obey her are likewise Innodate and Accursed which point is perilous to the Catholicks for if they obey her they be in the Popes Curse and if they disobey her they are in the Queens danger Therefore the present Pope to relieve them hath altered that part of the Bull and dispensed with them to obey and serve her without peril of Excommunication which dispensation is to endure but till it please the Pope otherwise to determine By the same reason that one Pope may receive and dispense with a former Popes Bull and ratifie one Paragraph thereof and make another void and make what Interpretation thereof he pleaseth pro re nata to serve a turn He may also by the same Reason declare the same Bull to be still in force and may at this very Nick of Time and Juncture of Affairs dispence with all our Catholicks by any ways or Arts to evade this last Act and where are we then and how the more secure § Edmund Campion that Arch-Traytor deeply designing and covertly as well as diligently preparing for the perpetrating of his Treasons against Queen Eliz. most cunningly before he came from Rome procured Tolleration for such other prepared Rebels to keep themselves Covert under pretence of temporary and permissive obedience to her Majesty the State standing then as it did but so soon as there should be sufficient force whereby the Bull of her Majesties deprivation might be publickly Executed they should then joyn altogether with that force upon pain of Damnation ex pede Herculem By this you may guess what kind of Obedience and Allegiance Papists swear to Protestant Princes viz temporary and permissive i. e. during their will and pleasures of their Lord God the Pope or until they shall be strong enough to cut our Throats whose Nails desire to pare § It is likewise observable that her Majesties Ministers in their Examinations of Papists suspected Traitors and those only which were first known and evidently probable by former Detections Confessions c. had a full purpose to follow the Example of the Queens most Gratious Disposition and never tormented any Innocent or extorted Confessions at adventure upon uncertainties nor ever demanded any question of their pretended or supposed Conscience as what they believed in any point of Faith or Doctrin as of the Mass Transubstantiation c. but only with what persons at home or abroad and touching what Plots Practises and Conferences they had dealt about attempts against her Majesties person or to alter the Laws of the Realm for matters of Religion and how they were perswaded themselves and did perswade others touching the Popes Bull and pretence of Authority to depose Kings and namely for deprivation of her Majesty and to discharge Subjects from their Allegiance civily without mentioning or meaning therein any right that the Queen as in right of the Crown had over persons Ecclesiastical being her Subjects In all which Cases Campion and the * Briant Sherwin Kirby Cottam Richardson Fords Shert Lewis Filhee Bosgrave others rest never answered plainly but sophistically deceitfully and traiterously restraining their confession of Allegiance only to the permissive tearm of the Popes Tolleration As for Example If they were asked whether they did adknowledg themselves the Queens Subjects and would obey her they would say Yea for so they have leave for a time to do but being more narrowly interrogated if they would so acknowledg and obey her any longer than the Pope would so permit them or notwithstanding such Commandement as the Pope would or might give to the contrary then they either refused so to obey or denyed to answer or said they would not answer to those Questions without danger which Interpretatively was a plain Acknowledgment that they would be no longer true Subjects nor perswade others to be so than the Pope gave them Licence so to be And yet such was their Impudence that at their very Arraignments they would ad captandum populum cry out that they were to dye not for Treason but for matter Faith and Conscience in Doctrin touching the Service of God without any attempt or purpose against her Majesty and that they were true Subjects and did and would obey and serve her Majesty whereas in truth there was not the least Syllable in their Indictment of Faith or Doctrin and consequently not possible to be Arraigned or be Executed for any such thing And to try whether such their Hypocritical and Sophistical Speeches and Answers did extend to a perpetuity of their obedience or to so long time only as the Pope so permitted or no they were immediately and publickly even in the very place of their Arraignment asked by her Majesties Council whether they would so obey and be true Subjects if the Pope commanded the contrary they plainly discovered themselves in their Answers saying by the mouth of Campion that this place thereby meaning the Court of Her Majesties Bench hath no power to inquire or judg of the Holy Fathers Authority and other Answer they would not make For the better satisfaction of all people and that they may the better and more plainly understand how in what manner and for what all the Papists dyed in Queen Eliz. days who most falsely have since been reported to have dyed for Religion when in truth they dyed for Treason and nothing else Hereof take one Example and Instance for all the Indictment and Arraignment of William Parry that wicked perfidious faithless ungrateful Traytor sworn Her Majesties servant Anno Domini 1570. And as was his Indictment so were all the other Indictments Mutatis Mutandis Superlatively wicked in that he became twice reconciled to Rome and in that he boasted That for 20 Years past he having been a Catholick had never received the Communion and yet before he travelled beyond the Sea at Three several times within those 22. Years he voluntarily take the Oath of Obedience to the Queen made 1. of her Reign Faithless and ungrateful in that after many obligations conferred on him by loan of several Sums of Money and otherwise by Hugh Hare of the Temple he contrived his
have not one and the same Joynt-interest in Religion and State with themselves And that the Governours ought to be very vigilant in care themselves to forbid or at least discountenance all Councils and Things which may in any respect hurt or but disorder a good Government lest the Subjects thereof should be caught with any guile or seduced to embrace any opinions which may be repugnant either to good Government or sound Religion And I hope this Nation will never again be so infatuated as ever to put power into their Hands who have so often given such palpable Demonstration and Testimony how they have used it already and such pregnant presumptions how they would use it again could they obtain it Even they that run may read what the Papists like Jehn drive so furiously at even to make England once more Issachar like to couch and carry the Saddle Vah Papae shall it ever be again the style and reproach of England Glorious England that is scituate among the Rivers whose Rampart is the Sea and whose God is the Lord to carry the Saddle again God forbid But if so unhappy so unfortunate I 'le prophesie that not the Pope only but the Devil will ride her Pardon these Expressions I have encouragement from St. Jerome Neminem volo patientem esse in causa laesae fidei and from Moses the Mirror of meekness who knows no patience in Israels Idolatry Numb 12.3 Exod. 22.19 26 27. Idem manens idem semper facit idem THE REAL MERITS OF THE PAPISTS SUch hath the Confidence of the Papists of these latter times been as to claim a Right unto the Kings Majesties favour for a tolleration of their Religion upon the account of their great Merits as having best deserved of His Majesty because of all they were the most faithful to him and his Father The purport of this hath not only been averred by the generality of them in their ordinary discourses but also set out in print by several of them P. W. R. P. J. S. H. M. and others At which confident Assertion of theirs when I consider how boldly and feircly the contend for meritorious works nay for works of super-errogation even with God himself I do not so much wonder that such Merit-mongers broach it so confidently now as that they have not done it all this while § He that is first in his own Cause seemeth just but his Neighbour cometh and searcheth him Prov. 18.17 Which that we may the better do we will only a little look back into our own Chronicle without cloying the Reader with like Foreign Stories which would fill Volumes and first see how true and trusty Trojans the Papists have been to the Kings of England no Protestants but Papists and if they shall be found to have been neither true nor trusty but Traytors and Rebels to the Kings of their own Religion can it then ever be believed or hoped that they ever will be Loyal and Faithful to Protestant Princes when a neat opportunity offers the contrary and that Maugre all Roman Mandates to the contrary What Prince or other Sovereign soberly considers the new founded Society of Jesuits erected by Pope Paul the 3 d. about 1540 who although at first but 10 in Number yet so wonderfully encreased since that they bragged not a few years ago that they were 1300010. they lived in Colledges and places of residence besides those that trotted up and down that they had 359. Colledges or Schools 18 Domus professae 40 Domus probationis 8 Seminaries 1010 Residentiaries Vide speculum Jesuiticum Runninge Register And what their Principles and Doctrins are and what their practices have been for the destroying of all Princes quacumque Arte that will not become Vassals to the See of Rome and and acknowledg a Spiritual Monarchy in that Roman Chair paramount all temporal Crowns and Scepters and how strict and of what extant their vow of Obedience is to the Roman Bishop and how it is decreed by several Popes that the Institutions and Doctrins of the Jesuits must not be contradicted or disputed by any Ordinary Delegate Judg or Magistrate and how vastly that society is enlarged both in their Clergy and Layety since these great brags of theirs will be sufficiently convinced that neither their persons or their Kingdoms can ever be secure where either one sort or other are suffered to flourish § Let us now see matter of Fact Did not Pope Alexander the 3d. by violence and tyranny force King H. the II. to surrender his Crown Imperial into the hand of his Legate and afterwards b e content with a private Condition for a while to the great regret and Indignation of his Subjects Did not Innocent the 3d. stir up the Nobility and Commonalty of this Kingdom against King John and gave the Inheritance and Possession of all his Dominions unto Ludovicus the French King What were those 52000. but Papists that rebelled against Richard the I. Anno 1196. And all those that rebelled against Edward the II. Anno 1316 1317 1321 1322 1326. Amongst whom was Robert Baldock Bishop of Norwich and Lord Chancellor of England And all those that consented to the Murder of Edward the Third's Father and sought to kill John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Edward the Third's Son Anno 1330. 1372. And those in Richard the Third's time Anno 1381. Annimated by John Ball a Priest who at his Execution refused to ask the King forgiveness and despised him so peremptory was he Jack Straw confessing that when he sent for the King to Black-Heath they purposed to have murdered all Knights Esquires and Gentlemen that should have come with him and when they had got sufficient force they would suddenly then have put to death in every County all Lords and Masters of the Common people in whom might appear to be either Council or Resistance one Argument used by some of the late Protectorians for the death of our Glorious King and Martyr that he was too knowing and too intelligent to be suffered to live and especially they would have killed the Knights of St. John and all Men of any Possessions only Begging Fryars should have lived that might have Administred the Sacraments throughout the Realm and lastly they would have killed the King himself and made Kings in every Shire Thomas Arrundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury traiterously practiced the deposing of the said Richard his lawful Sovereign § It were no very wild conjecture to Divine that our late Generation of Levellers Major Generals Quakers and Phanaticks were spawned from them and that they are still but Badgers plotting and digging Holes for Romish Foxes to lie couchant and covertly in for their more subtile contrivances § What were those but Papists that rebelled against H. the 4th designing to Murder him under the colour of Justinge and other pastimes pretended 1399. And also those who raised Arms against him among whom was John Madelyn a Priest who had been Chaplain to King
Richard and impudently personated the King They were Priests and Friars that suborned a False Richard whereof 8 being Miners were hanged at Tyburne Oswald Bishop of Galloway was the chief Plotter against Richard the 2d in the Year 1403. A Priest of Warwick and also Walter Waldock a Prior of Land in Leicester-Shire and one Richard Freseby a Dr. in Divinity was Executed in his Religious Habit and Weede and not long after 10 Grey Fryars were executed all for Treason In the year 1404. Tho. Percy Earl of Worcester with other Rebelled In the year 1406. Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland R. Scroope Arch-Bishop of York with others Robelled and were Beheaded in the Year 1414. Sir John Beverley an Anointed Priest with others conspired the death of H. the 5th other Conspiracies there were in the Year 1416. and 1417. against the same King by the like Generation of Men. And by such also several other Rebellions were raised against H. the 6th in the Year 1433. 1442. 1447. 1450. 1451. and so against Edward the 4th in the Year 1461. 1472. 1478. his Two Sons were after his death murdered by the contrivance of Sir James Tyrrel by the appointment of the Duke of Gloucester their Uncle who then procured himself to be Crown'd King by the name of Rich. the 3d. but both the Duke of Dloucester Sir James Tyrrel and Miles Forrest one of those that smothered the Innocents came all to untimely and shameful deaths according to Psal 55. The Blood-thirsty and deceitful Men shall not live out half their days King Richard himself Slain in Battle hacked hewed and hurried on Horse-back dead most ignominiously being tugged torn and dragged like a Dog They were Priests and Friars that 1 Ed. 4 conspired with Jasper Earl of Pembrooke for which they were Executed There were likewise several Treasons and Conspiracies against H. the 7th in the Year 1494 1497 1498 1499. Asa a Priest of Ireland was a chief Complotter against the union of the Two Roses So Two Priests Greenwell and Garnet would have destroyed that Blessed Vnion in King James During the Reign of H. the 8. many were executed for several Treasons as 29 April 1536. The Prior of the Charter-house at London the Prior of Bevall the Prior of Exham Reignolds a Brother of Sion and John Haile Vicar of Thissleworth were Condemned and Executed the 4th of May following 18 Junii Three Monks of the Charter-house at London named Exmew Midlemore and Nidigate were Executed for Treason and that without any exclamation in those days that they were executed for Religion a late trick taken up only since the days of Queen Elizabeth though no more reason for that Calumny now than was then § There were also Two Rebellions raised in the North the same Year against the King and one in Lincolnshire 1537 for which Twelve were Executed 29 March whereof Five were Priests one Abbot a Suffragan Dr. Mackerel the Vicar of Louth in Lincolnshire and Two Priests In the Year 1538. There was another rebellious commotion in Somersetshire Lawrence Cooke a Prior of Dancalfe William Horne a Lay-Brother of the Charter-house with six others were Executed for Treason The same Year there was a new Rebellion in Yorkshire Many more such good Works have we done for which of them will you stone us or deny us a tolleration or liberty to do more By this short Survey without travelling beyond Seas which would fill Volumes of like Presidents it s abundantly apparent to all that are not wilfully blind that Papists themselves even before Jesuitism was batched made it their usual practise to Rebel against their Princes though of the same Faith and Relgiion with themselves and can it then be reasonably expected that they will ever be Loyal and Faithful to Protestants in their account Heretick Princes especially now Jesuitisme is founded established nay vastly increased and advanced so that indeed they are the only great Apolloes in the See of Rome whose Doctrin it is to Excommunicate depose nay destroy Princes quacumque arte and that uncontrollably for that several Popes have decreed that the Jesuits are Immediate Subjects only to the See of Rome free and exempt from all other Jurisdictions whatsoever and that the Institutions and Doctrins of the Jesuits must not be oppugned nor contradicted directly or indirectly no not by way of Disputation or otherwise Spec. Jesuit 27. However let us see what have been their practises since Jesuitisme first sprung up which was about the 31. Year of of H. the 8th in whose time several Papists submitted to death rather than they would quit the Popes Supremacy and acknowledg the Kings which yields certain demonstration of the impossibility of such so principled being faithful Subjects to Protestant Caesars that own the Pope to be his and their Superiour In the Reign of King Edward the 6th which was very short and he himself a Minor there were Rebellions and Commotions in Somersetshire and Lincolnshire for which many were Executed then in Cornwall and Devon where above 4000 were Slain and taken Prisoners by John Lod Bussel Lord Privy Seal Then they Rebelled in Norfolk and Suffolk against whom Sir John Dudley Earl of Warwick went with an Army and slew above 5000. and took their Ring Leader About the same time 3090 rose in Rebellion in the North and East-riding of Yorkshire but were suppressed by the Lord President Amongst those Western Rebels Humphrey Arundel was Chief Leader who amongst others with 8 Priests were taken and Executed therefore What were those but Church-men that b y their Doctrin in the Pulpit and subscription of Hands to Traiterous Decrees Embassed the Two Daughters of H. 8. both before and after the death of Ed. 6. for satisfaction to the Pride and Ambition of an aspiring Humour In the days of Queen Mary though there were few Treasons committed yet was there much Innocent Christian Blood shed Concerning which I shall make this Observation and Comparison between the Marian and Elizabethian days § In Queen Elizabeths days the Papists put out many traiterous infamous and lying Libels in sundry Languages and reported in other Princes Courts that she put a multitude of persons to torments and death only for professing the Roman Catholick Religion when in truth none of them were questioned for matters of Religion but justly by order of Laws openly condemned as Traytors for treasonable practises against Her Person and State maintaining and adhering to the Pope the Capital Enemy of Her Majesty Camb. 213 214. and her Crown who was not only the cause of several Rebellions in England and Ireland but in one of Ireland did manifestly maintain at his own charge Commanders and Souldiers under the Banner of Rome against the Queen so as no Enemy could do more and that not by force of new Laws either for Religion or against the Popes Supremacy as the slanderous Libellers would have it seem to bee but by the Ancient Laws of the Realm made in Edward the
Third's time about the Year 1330. above 200. Years before even when the Popes were suffered to have some Authority-Ecclesiastical in this Realm as he had in other Countries They gave out also that they dyed because they would not acknowledg Her the Supreme Head of the Church which was a most appetent untruth visibly to be contradicted by the very Acxts of Parliament For at the beginning of Her Reign that very Title was omitted in Her Style And to make the matter seem more horrible and lamentable they printed the particular names of all the persons which by their own Catalogue did not exceed 60. to the Year 1583 whereof hot above 30 Priests nor above 5 Receivers and Harbourers and for Religion not any one Executed whereof not any one at all till about the 12th Year of Her Reign And J. W. their own Martirologest for Her whole Reign which was above 44 Years doth not reckon above 180. whereas in the short Reign of Queen Mary which was little above Years there were by Imprisonment Torments Famine and Fire almost 400 destroyed besides such as were secretly murdered in Prisons and of that number above 20 that had been Arch-Bishops Bishops and Principal Prelates or Officers in the Church lamentably destroyed and of Women above 60 and of Children above 40 and amongst the Women some great with Child and one out of whose Body the Child by Fire being expelled alive was yet most barbarously thrown into the Fire again and burned Examples Cruel beyond the Cruelty of Heathens § It is further observable that they which suffered in Queen Maries days though they dyed constant unto and professing the Protestant Religion yet were there no traiterous Machinations nor Assassinatious laid to their charge nor did they ever at their deaths deny their lawful Queen or maintain any of Her open and Forrein Enemies or procure any Rebellion or Civil Wars nor did Sow any Sedition in secret Corners nor withdrew any of her Subjects from their obedience as the Papists being sworn Votaries to the Pope did continually do against Queen Elizabeth countenancing and avowing the Pops Excommunications Bulls and other publick Writings denouncing the Queen not to be Queen charging and upon pain of Excommunication commanding all Her Subjects to depart from their Duties and natural Allegiances encouraging also and authorizing all persons of all degrees in both Kingdoms to Rebel and upon this Antichristian Warrant contrary to all the Laws of God and Man and nothing at all agreeable to a pastoral Officer they sought by all ways and means to justifie and to put in Execution that traiterous Warrant of the Popes Bull. And yet of these kind of Offenders as many of them as after their Condemnations on second and better thoughts were contented to renounce their former traiterous Assertions so many were spared from Execution such was Her Majesties clemency and unwillingness to have any Blood spilt without very urgent just and necessary cause proceeding from themseloves I must make this further observation Merits of Papists by their own Confession That in the days of Queen Eliz though the Jesuits and Secular Priests fell strangely foul one upon the other with black Pens and Mouths with Language scarce to be matcht at Pitch-hatch or BVillingsgate yet the Seculars commended highly the Queens clemency and justified her proceedings against the traiterous Jesuits Avowing That they themselves knowing what they did know how under pretence of Religion the life of Her Majesty and subversion of the Kingdom was aimed at if they had beeen of Her Highness Council they would have given their consent for the making of very strict and rigorous Laws to the better suppressing and preventing of such Jesuitical and wicked designments Important Considerations c. f. 57. They did also complain een to the Pope and Cardinals That the Jesuits were the Fire-brands of all Seditions That by right or wrong they did seek simply and absolutely the Monarchy of all England That they were the couses of all the discords in England That Fa. Holt did not only intend but would indeed give wretched England in Conquest to himself and his Favonrites and many other Complaints there were of this nature Extracted out of the Memorials and other Letters dated at Rome 8. Novemb 1597. Relation of the faction at Wisbich 74 Though I say the Seculars were so violent against the Jesuits and such stout Assertors of the Queens moderate dealing with the Papists yet were some of them found guilty of like traiterous practises so little are any of them to be trusted for that though they have Mel in ore yet have they Fel in Corde Call to mind the great and serious Protestations that Watson the Priest made in his Quodlibetical Questions That albeit he differed in Religion from that which was professed in the Church of England yet if either Pope or Spaniard should seek by hostile means to invads his Countrey he would willingly spend his substance nay his dearest Blood against any such as should attempt it Yet he himself with Clark his fellow Seminary were the first that I read of that came to the Gallows for violating it which considered together with what they confessed upon their apprehension viz. That the Jesuits continually negotiated with Spain preparing for a Forrein Aid leavied great Sums of Money bought Horses Powder Shot Artillery c. and conveyed them secretly to their friends wishing not to stir but to be quiet till they heard from them c. These things I say considered do argue that Secular Priests and Jesuits and those that favoured them were all Traytors in Heart though their malice one towards the other made them discover and rayl and libel each other both at home and abroad which Queen Eliz. wisely considering would not confide in them notwithstanding all their books and promises but by her Proclamations banished both one and the other For in truth both Seculars and Jesuits were in this like Sampsons Foxes though they differed in many other things very bitterly yet in this they joyned their Tayles their main Ends to be Fire-brands to kindle dissention and withdraw her Subjects from her obedience and to reconcile them to Rome So as Joab kissed Abuer whilst he stab'd him and as Judas kissed our Saviour whilst he betrayed him to the Pharises So these men pretended Loyalty by their Tongues and Pens and yet acted traiterously by their Plots and Contrivances What could they print more than they did viz. We are fully perswaded in our Consciences and by Experience That if the Catholicks had never sought by indirect means to have vexed Her Majesty with their designs against her Crown If the Pope and the King of Spain had never plotted with the Duke of Norfolk who was to have been the head of a Rebellion if the Rebels in the North had never been heard of if the Bull of Pius Quintus had never been known if the Rebellion had never been justified If neither Stukeley nor the Pope
of God Jeremiah Ezechiel c. to the ruine of the City and Kingdom was the fault of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah And at this day it is the fault and folly of Christian Kings that suffer the grand Seignior of Rome to impose upon them and that the Church of Rome is not either reduced to her primitive truth and purity from which she is degenerated and brought to better confortymity vvith the truly Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church or else demolished as the Jewish Synagogue vvas § Gratian at his first entring finding all places full of Arrians and the Laws of Valence his Unkle making for them fearing some general Tumult if he should presently destroy so many gave leave That every Religion might have Churches and Oratories with Freedom and Immunity But being once settled and joyned with Theodosius he commanded that all Heresies should keep silence for ever as interdicted by the Law of God and Man That none should any longer teach or learn prophance Doctrin Cod. 1. Tit. 5. lege omnes The same prohibition did Arcadius and Honorius continue with great severity Let all Hereticks understand that all places must be taken from them as well Churches as other places and of private Houses also In all which let them be debarr'd from service both by night and by day the Lord Deputy to be fined 100 l if he permit any such thing in sight or in secret Ibid. lege cuncti Theodosius the younger and Valentinian his Cousin comprising a long Bed-roll of sundry sorts of Heresies appointed That no where within the Roman Empire their Assemblies or Prayers be suffered and that all Laws made to probibit their meeting should be revived and stand good everlastingly Ibid. lege Ariani The Papists in the time of Queen Elizabeth wrote divers Books and used many Arguments against the Oath of Supremacy and for a Tolleration of their Religion alledging the Examples of other Countries and admomshing Her Majesty that she must answer to God not only for things done by her command and knowledg but for whatsoever is done unjustly by her Name and Authority though she never knew thereof but Her Majesty respecting her duty and account that she was to make to God of all things done in the flesh whether they were good or evil denied to bear the burden of their wicked abuses and poisoned errors which no civil Magistrate can avoid that permitteth their sinful Masses and licenceth their wicked Rites because the seeing and suffering their Impieties having power to suppress and hinder them is a plain consent and in a manner an open Communion with their unfruitful works of darkness The downfall of Ely a dear Servant of God once a Judg in Israel for Connivence only and foolish Pity where even Bowels of Nature might seem if not to dispence with severeties yet to excuse his lenity Scriptures have Registred for our warning and terror And if Religion be not as meer a Fable as any in Aesop the greatest Governments in the World will one day be called to a most severe Account for their so doing § That other Countries and Kingdoms otherwise affected in Religion than themselves were nevertheless contented to suffer their service vvithin their Dominions prevailed not vvith Queen Eliz. she vvell considering that their doings could be no warrant nor discharge for her who was not to imitate the Vices but the Vertues of Princes Besides that in such tolleration they did well ought first to be proved before their Examples should be urged as they were in her days It being the duty of every Prince to consider and do what every Prince ought to do by Gods Law and not regard what other Princes please to do what seemeth best in their own Eyes And Her Majesty for so refusing to countenance their Religion deserved more countenance and protection with God and praise with Men for that in guiding her people she rather embraced Christian Piety than irreligious policie and chose rather to walk by Gods Precepts than by the ill Example of other Princes Besides Her Majesty well knew that amongst the Germans and Helvetians Examples in their Writings urged many Dukes Landt-graves Marquesses Counts yea Bishops Barons Abbots and Gentlemen had Regal Jurisdiction within their respective precincts And it is no news to see divers Laws under divers Lords and divers Religions under divers Regiments As for any other Countries or Kingdoms as Polonia Hungaria c. not able without Blood and War to reduce their Countries to the profession of the true Faith neither may we reprove them as negligent nor the Papists alledge them as warrantable Examples since not their own sault but other mens fore◠keepeth them from attempting any redress by thei◠Princely power which the Nobles restrain and th◠Commons receive with this Proviso that their accustomed freedom of conscience be no ways prohibited nor interrupted Other Examples of Turks Pagans Arrians and the like are unfit for Christians David Josiah and other Kings of Judah are to be imitated in this not Sarazins Moses and other Holy Writers are very plain and positive against this dawbing with untempered Morter Exod. 23.13 32 33. Deut. 12.2 3. Deut. 13.6 Jor. 15.19 Deut. 12.10 Come out from among them and be ye seperate and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Levit. 36.12 Isa 52. n. Was not the Church of Thyatira otherwise beautified with many Graces highly blamed for suffering the false Prophetess to teach and to seduce I know thy Works and Charity and Service and Faith and Patience all excellent Graces notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that Woman Jezabel which calleth her self a Prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit Fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto Idols Rev. 2.19 20. which fearful Effects made Constantine to decree That all Temples of Hereticks should without any denial be overthrown and in no place publick or private should their Assemblies be suffered Jovinianus resused to govern those that were not sound in Faith Socrat. lib. 5. c. 1. The privateness of the place when the fact is ill acquitteth not the doer from sin nor excuseth the permitter from negligence No corner so secret no Prison so close but their Impieties there suffered do offend God infect others and confirm their own frowardness Private permission of error is unlawful as well as publick if Popish Religion be good Why should it lack Churches If it be naught why should it have Corners St. Patil hath put in a Caviat against that slight of permitting which in truth is consenting Rom. 1. Ely reproved his Sons yet was sharply punished of God for his Indulgence which is all one with Connivance 1 Sam. 2.22 St. John saith He that receiveth into his house or biddeth an Heretick God speed is partaker of his evil deeds Eph. 2 10
11. How then can Kings bear with your Sacrilegious prophaning of the Lords Supper and forbidding Gods own Word to be read and licence the rest of your Impieties and Blasphemies and hope to be free from your plague When Valentinian the younger was requested to wink at the renewing of an Alter for the Pagans in Rome St. Ambrose disswaded him in these words All men serve you that be Prmces and you serve the Mighty God He that serveth this God must bring no dissimulation no Connivance but saithful zeal and devotion be must give no kind of consent to the worship of Idols or other superstitious or prophane Ceremonies for God will not be deceived nor mocked who searcheth all things even the secrets of our Hearts Ambrose lib. 5. Ep. 30. Now what account will God exact for his Name blasphemed his Word exiled and wrested his Decalogue dockt his Sacraments curtal'd and prophaned And what answer must be made for the ruine of Faith harvest of sin murder of Souls consequent always to the publick freedom of Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship and Heresies which ought to be fully considered and wilely prevented by Christian Magistrates who must as well as the meanest of their Vassals give an account of their Stewardships when called thereunto at the day of their Account § When Mary afterwards Queen of England earnestly besought her Brother King Ed. 6. both by her own Letters and by the mediation of the Emperour That she might have the free use of Mass in her Family alledging her Conscience for it that her House was her Flock c. The King by his Council made answer that it was well liked that her Grace should have her House or Flock but not exempt from the Kings Laws and Orders neither may there be a Flock of the Kings Subjects but such as will hear and follow the voice of the King their Shepherd God disalloweth Law and Reason forbiddeth it Policy abhorreth it and her Honour may not require it However at her earnest intreaty and desire made in the Emperors Name thus much was granted and no more that for his sake and hers also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Mass used in her own Closet for a season until she might be better informed whereof was some hope having only with her a few of her own Chamber so that for all the rest of her Houshold the Service of the Realm should be used and no other After this was granted in Words the Emperors Ambassador desired some Testimony of the Promise under the Great Seal which being denied he desired to have it by a Letter which was also denyed but not without shewing sound reasons that he perceiving it to be denyed with Reason wight be the better contented with the answer But when there was ill use made of this Indulgence and Connivance her Chaplain taking too great a liberty by publick Celebration of the Mass out of her Presence was sent for by the Council imprison'd c. for whom though her Grace mediated by many carnest Letters both to the King and his Council yet did his Majesty signifie to her by a Letter dated 24. January 1550. That though he had for a while connived that she might be brought as far towards the Truth by Brotherly love as others were by Duty and in hope of her amendment yet now if there be no hope why should there be sufferance Alledging also That his charge was to have the same care over every mans Estate that every man ought to have over his own And that in her own House as she would be loath openly to suffer one of her Servants being next her most manifestly to break her Orders so must she think in his state it would prejudice him to permit her so great a Subject not to keep his Laws that her nearness to him in Blood her greatness in Estate and the condition of the Time made her fault the greater The Example is unnatural that our Sister should do less for us than our other Subjects the Case standerous for so great a person to forsake our Majesty And therefore 24. Aug. 1551. He sent Commissioners to signifie to her That His Majesty did resolutely determine it just necessary and expedient That her Grace should not in any ways use or maintain the private Mass or any other manner of service than such as by the Law of the Realm was authorized and allowed So resolure was this young Josiab this Noble pious Prince though his dear Sister and the next Heir of the Crown had divers times offered her Body at the Kings Will rather than to change he rconscience § Queen Eliz. as in other things so in Religion was according to her assumed Motto semper endem never suffering the least Innovdtion thereof and therefore as in the first Year of her Reign she took great care that those Protestants which then began to frame a new Eeclesiastical Poliey being transported with a humour of Innovation should be repressed betimes and that but one only Religion was to be tollerated Angli Bello in trepidi nec mottis sensu deterentur lest diversity of Relig ons amongst the English a stout and Warlike Nation might minister continual Fuel to Seditions So in the Second Year of her Reign when the Emperor and Catholick Princes by many Letters made earnest inter cession that the Bishops and other Ecclesiasticks displaced for refusing the Oath of Supremacy which notwithstanding most of them had Sworn unto and taught in their Sermons and writ in defence thereof in the Reign of King H. 8. might be mercifully dealt withall there being as themselves had written and calculated above 9400. Ecclesiastical orefer ments and not above 189. displaced whereof 14 were Bishops that Churches might be allowed to the Papists by themselves in Cities she answered That although those Popish Bishops had insolently and openly repugned against the Laws and Quiet of the Realm and did still obstinately reject that Doctrin which most of them under H. 8. and E. 6. had of their own accord with heart and hand publickly in their Sermons and Writings taught unto others when they themselves were not private Men but publick Magistrates yet would she for so great Princes sakes deal favourably with them though not without some offence to her own Subjects But to grant them churches wherein to celebrate their divine Offices apart by themselves she could not with the safety of the Common-Wealth and without wrong to her ovvn Honour and Conscience neither vvas there any cause vvhy she should grant them seeing England embraced no nevv or strange Doctrin but the same vvhich Christ commanded the Primitive and Catholick Church received and the ancient Fathers vvith one Mind and Voice approved and to allovv Churches with contrary Rites and Ceremonies Besides that it openly repugned the Laws established by Authority of Parliament were nothing else but to sow Religion out of Religion to distract good Mens minds
to cherish factious Mens humours disturb Religion and the Common-Wealth and mingle Divine and Humane things a Thing Evil in Deed but in Example worst of all to her own good Subjects hurtful and unto themselves to whom it is granted neither greatly commodious nor yet at all safe She was therefore determined out of her natural Clemency and especially at their request to be willing to heale the private insolency of a few by much Connivance yet so as she might not encourage their obstinate minds by her Indulgence § When Sussex treated with the Emperor Maximilian on the Articles of Marriage between Arch-Duke Charles his Son and Queen Eliz. both Father and Son did require That a publick Church might be allowed wherein Divince Service might be celebrated to him and his after the Romish manner When this would not be granted then that in some private place in the Court he might peaceably use his Service of Cod as was permitted to Popish Princes Ambassadors in their Houses and that with these Conditions That no English Man should be admitted thereunto and neither he nor his Servants should speak against the Religion received in England or favour those that did speak against it That if any displeasure should arise in respect of Religion he should be present with the Queen at Divine Service to be celebrated after the manner of the Church of England Unto this the Queen answered That if she should grant this she should offend her Conscience and openly break the publick Laws of her Realm not without great peril both of her dignity and safety The same Princely Pious and immovable Resolution she held when in the like Treaty of Marriage between her and the Duke of Anjou where Tolleration of the Roman Religion being much pressed and insisted on both by the Queen his Mother and by Charles the 9th King of France his Brother Queen Eliz. though it were suggested that the Romish Religion was not deeply rooted in the Dukes mind being but young and for that he was Educated under Carnlette a person not averse from the Protestant Religion and that by degrees he might be brought to the Protestant profession and many other and great advantages would thereby accrew to the good of the Reformed Religion answered as well became Gods Vice-gerent in her Dominions That although the outward Exercise of Christian Religion might haply be tollerated with different Rites and Ceremonies amongst the Subjects of one and the same Kingdom yet a different yea a flat contrary Exercise between the Queen who is the Head of her people and her Husband might not only seem perilous but also altogether absurd she prayed them to consider with equal Ballauce on the one side her own hazard and on the other side the Duke of Anjou's Honour By Tollerating his Religion she should break the Laws established give offence to her best Subjects and encouragement to her worst which things would certainly over-weigh the Duke of Anjou's Honour If the Duke would water more plentifully the Seeds of the purer Religion already sown and suffer more to be sown he should soon see that it would be unto him a most high Honour At length it came to this Issue That if so be the Duke would be present with the Queen at the Celebration of Divine Service and not refuse to hear and learn the Institutions of the Protestant Religion she would assent that neither the Duke nor his Family should be constraned to use the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England nor molested for other Divine Rites not openly and manifestly repugnant to Gods Word so as it were done in a certain private place and no occasion given to the English to break the Laws established Foix stuck at the Word the Word of God for whose satisfaction the Queen commanded instead of Gods Word to put in Gods Church which when it liked him worse and for it would have had to be put in the Catholick Church the Queen flatly and stoutly refused it and so by degrees it cooled Her religious care herein was also so great and steady that Walsingham her Ambassador had secret Instructions That if the Duke of Anjou should be content to omit in that Treaty that point concerning Tolleration of Religion yet would the Queen bind him in such sure caution that he should not require is at any time after § Of the same opinion was King James Anno 1596. in the Case of Huntley Angus and Arrol Popish Lords who though they would have betrayed the Kingdom to the Spaniard yet the King being willing afterwards to have them return though Guilt had made them Fugitives and being returned the King writ thus to Huntley viz. My Lord I am sure you consider and do remember how often I have incurred Skaith and hazard for your cause therefore to be short resolve you either to satisfie the Church betwixt that day that is appointed without any more delay or else if your Conscience be so Kittle as it cannot permit you make for another Land betwixt this and that day where you may use freely your own Conscience your Wife and Barnes sholl in that Case enjoy your Living but fo◠your self look never to be a Scottish Man again deceive not your self to think by lingring of time your Wife and your Allys shall ever get you better Conditions And think not that I will suffer any professing a contrary Religion to dwell in this Land Afterwards when His Majesty came to the Crown of England which was May 14. 1602. he declared to his Parliament there 19. May 1603. Li c. p. 1 That the Popish point of Doctrin is that Arrogant and Ambitious Supremacy of their Head the Pope whereby he not only claims to be Spiritual Head of all Christians but also to have an Imperial civil power over all Kings and Emperors dethroning and decrowning Princes with his Foot as pleaseth him and dispensing and disposing of all Kingdoms and Empires at his appetite The other point which they observe in continual practise is the Assassinates and Murders of Kings thinking it no sin but rather a matter of Salvation to do all Actions of Rebellion and Hostility against their natural Sovereign Lord if he be once accursed his Subjects discharged of their fidelity and his Kingdom given a Prey by the Three Crowned Monarch or rather Monster their Head Which Positions of theirs the Gun-powder-traitors within Two Years after made good after which time he was not only willing whilst he lived that we should pray to God as was done in the days of Great Eliz. that he would keep us from all Papistry and that he would preserve us from the Pope as well as from the Turk in as much as the Pope laboured to dethrone Christ as well as the Turk did but he required further of us That we should pray God to strengthen his Hands and the Hands of his Nobles and Magistrates in the Land to out off the Papists In the Prayer to
to pay 16 l. weight in Gold or to be banished God l. 1. Tit. 5. Mamcheos Ibid. 8. Cuncti St. Augustin Ep. 48. When it was expected by reason of the goodness of his Nature that he should mediate for some of these penalties to be released gave this quick and smart answer Nay marry let Princes in Gods Name serve Christ in making Laws for Christ § It was in the days of Queen Eliz. objected That for want of the Exercise of a Religion many sorts want things necessary to Salvation and many are forced to things which Bring Damnation Sol. We do not know what those things necessary to Salvation are which this Realm wanteth Receive with meekness the Word that is grafted in you which is able to save your Souls 1. Jam. 21. So long as we refuse no part of the Gospel which is the power of God for the Salvation of every Believer Rom. 1.16 all other Wants signifie little St. Paul doth warrant us That the Scriptures are able to direct and instruct Salvation by Faith in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.15 16. less we believe not more we need not dream you what you list of Salvation and Damnation The Comfort of the Scriptures shall nourish our Hopes Rom. 15. It is you not we that keep back half the Communion one of the Commandments and the publikc use of the Scripture the very Rule and Guide to Salvation § It grieves you sore As lawful for Protestants as Papists to compel that any of your Tribe should be invited against their Wills to frequent our Sacraments or Service and that any mans Conscience should be forced Then why did you force Numbers with extream violence to recant and forswear the perswasion of their Faith What Reason can you bring that you may compel others and none must compel you Where got you that exemption or if Compulsion be lawful for both sides alike Why storm ye so much at our easie penalties and those seldom or never put in execution when your selves are justly charged with many cruel and unchristian Butcheries and Tragedies your Inquisiting your Burning your Murdering of Thousands without any refpect of Innocent or Ignorant is indeed very lamentable This kind of compelling which Queen Eliz. used and out Laws still prescribe cannot be denyed to be Charitable and to be resembleable to that Co-action which the Seriptures commend in Josiah which the most virtuous Emperours followed in the Primitive Church and which St. Austin upon deep debating the cause found allowed by God himself as the chiefest point of that Service which he requireth of Christian Princes As much as they are troubled with Compulsion when it is used against themselves yet they can glory in it when they use it against others Witness Peter Damesius the French Kings Ambassador to the Council of Trent who in his solemn Oration to that Synod vapoured that the Kings of France had never suffered any Sect in any part of France nor any but Catholicks yea have procured the conversion of Strangers Idolaters and Hereticks and have constrained them with pious Arms to profess the true and sound Religion rectius Heresie He shewed how Childibert compelled the Visigothes who were Arrians to joyn themselves to the Catholick Church and how Charles the Great made Wars 30 Years with the Saxons to reduce them to Christian Religion Cons Tr. 186. Our Sacraments Service and Sermons are reformed according to the Constat of Christs Will and Testament and therefore ought to be used and frequented and persons may be compelled to frequent them To come yet nearer home unto our own days What are the persecutions of the Hugonots Hungarians at this day but Compulsions those contrary to several Edicts Agreements and Sanctions of their Princes which thereby besides their just right derived from God himself become their just due and ought as Inviolably to be kept as well on the Princes as on the Subjects part God never brake his Covenant made with his people and Princes ought as solemnly in this to Imitate their God and their Lord whose Vice-gerents they are and ought not to transgress or go beyond their Commission Nothing of this kind can ever be claimed from or objected justly against our Protestant Kings or Parliaments I will not look far back nor mention those solemn cursed Oaths some of our European Princes have taken to destroy and extirpate Hereticks e. Protestants Root and Branch I shall here only call to mind the Edicts of Nantez made by H. 4. as a particular Irrevocable fundamental Law In pursuance whereof Commissioners were sent into all Provinces to execute the same which being done in due form the Commissioners returned the Execution thereof into the Hands of the King to serve as a Rule and Standard in all future Debates which might happily arise on that Subject Now to tell of all the violations of this Edict at the Instigation of the Jesuitical Clergy would fill a Volume therefore I shall stint it to a few of many New Commissioners since 1660. being Commissioned are commanded to Execute the Acts of Council made in Consequence of that Edict which are no other than so many violations of the same The Council Anno 1662. past an Act that the Protestants shall not be admitted before the Commissioners to prove the right for the Exercise of their Religion by Inquests or Witnesses even although the Witnesses be Roman Catholicks whereby they have lost near Three parts of Four of all their Churches Provence which had 15 or 16. Churches is now reduced to 4. Grex which had 23 Churches hath now but 2. In all Bretaigne remains but 2. High and low Languedock are reduced to half their Number Poictu which had 61 indisputable Churches is now reduced to 13. by an Act of 6. August 1665. and so of divers other Provinces By which means the Protestant Religion suffers more than by any Parisian Vespers the Protestants being necessitated either to live without any publick Exercise of their Religion or through infinite dangers and inconveniencies to wander 50. or 60. Miles distant from them One Act of Council hath robbed them of the liberty of praising God by forbidding singing of Psalms even privately in their Houses May 6. 1659. March 17. 1663. Another Act hath deprived them of the comfort of paying their last duty to their Dead with any conveniency compelling them to bury clandestinely and in the night Inhumanity heyond that of Heathens 7. Aug. 3. Novemb. 1662. Another hath divested Protestant Magistrates what ever be their charge or quality of the priviledge of presiding in their Courts Soct 1663. Another hath taken away all means of Instructing and Educating cheir Children leaving them at most and that only in some places the smaller Schools where is only taught to Write Read Compt as if study of Religion were incompatible with the study of Humane Sciences 26. Eeb. 1663. Another hath restrained the liberty of Printing any Book in favour of the Religion
without obtaining an Imprimatur from the Kings Council and how likely they are to obtain that is not hard to guess 29. Jan. 1663. Another ordaineth Parents to give Pensions to their Children who turn Papists although the Children will not dwell with them Declaration 24. Oct. 1663. and Acts of Council 30. Jan. 1665. As if paternal Authority were nulled by Childrens Apostacy forgetting that Christian Religion doth not absolve Slaves from their Subjection to their Masters yet Dominus Deus vester Papa can discharge Children of their obedience which they owe to their Parents of the Protestant Religion Another prohibits the Exercise of Charity towards their Brethren who have no sufficiency of their own for their livelyhood 5. Oct. 1663. Another dischargeth payment of Debts by those of the Commonalty who shall turn Papists The very Heathens never pretended that those Christians who did but Apostatize to them should be discharged from payment of their Debts Another prohibits Ministers to preach without the place of their residence thereby depriving them of the benefit of Annexation i. e. the priviledge of one Ministers supplying Two Churches which singly are not able to afford a compleat maintenance 22. Feb. 1664. Another giveth liberty to Priests and Fryars to enter their Houses and come unto their Bed-sides when sick or dying to sollicite them to change their Religion 18. Sept. 1664. 12. May 1665. Another maketh it criminal in Ministers to style themselves Pastors or Ministers of the Word of God Nay they have regulated the very Garments of Ministers forbidding them to wear a long Garment that they may have no Character of distinction from the peasants 30. Jan. 1663. In the Declaration of pretended Relapses 1663. ratified in Parliament 7. Jan. 1663. It is ordained that those of the Religion who have once embraced the Popish Religion shall never again return unto it under pain of perpetual Banishment A thing plainly contrary to the Edict Yet they have given it a retrospective and retroactive power to execute it against persons who became of the Religion long before the Declaration was in being and accordingly have proceeded against some whom they have imprisoned compelled to do penance by going Bare-foot and Bare-headed through the streets with a burning Torch to the place of Justice or person offended and there to ask forgiveness and then Banished the Kingdom I could cloy the Readers with like severities usque ad nauseam but I forbear having no other design by this brief Narrative but only to give a tast of the difference of severities which we use here and which are used against us abroad in our Neighbour Nations without going farther into Germany Hungary Poland and other Popish Countries Vide the Memoirs of the King of Sweden to the Emperour Let William Watson the Secular Priest conclude for our Justification viz That all the sufferings brought upon the Papists here in England was the due reward for their own demerits Which Axiome is as compleatly true now as it was in his days Now what hope can we have to speed better than our Neighbours who only want power to do as much for us but I proceed As in the days of Queen Eliz. so now they begin to play their old tricks over again and would fain perswade us that there is a Generation of them that are faithful and dutiful Subjects to this Crown whatsoever others of the same Communion are and therefore plead hard for Indulgence and Tolleration above their Fellows F. 5. As that they disown the Paramount and Omnipotent Powers attributed to the Pope in many particulars and look upon it as a grievance rather than a right belonging to him and complain and wish for remedy that they will stand with the King his Crown and Regality in some Cases by them named and in all others in all points to live and dye with them They farther conceive that it is the right of every National Church to provide for the particular concerns thereof and yet confesses that it is not for her safety to receive those who do not believe as she doth It is there owned F. 7. yet not without a Peradventure that the Church of England hath preserved the face of a continued Mission and un-interrupted Ordination that her moderation in Doctrin is great that her disciple preserves Episcopal Government that she abhors Phanaticisme and the wild Errors of a private Spirit that though she hold the Scripture to be the Rule of Controversie yet holds withall that it is not of private interpretation and that she is for Vincentius Lyrinensis Rule quod ab omnibus quod semper quod ubique that the Papists upon many occasions have been found as faithful to the State as any of their fellow Subjects At last this Diologist P. takes pet F. 15.33 that the seasonable discourse accounts the Protestant Religion excellent and the Popish full of stupidity which though granted yet he argues may we not therefore be permitted to say our Prayers in private which is all the Indulgence allowed us and that sure it is no part of the Protestant Church to hinder others from being as good as they can and the worse our Religion is the more need we have of praying to make us better A great Courtier I must confess and hath complemented us highly to his own ends and advantage yet with little Injury to us which though I cannot so courtly return in its own kind without flattering yet I modestly wish that all the Papists were no worse minded And yet if they were I do not know that this State were the more secure This very Scene was acted in Queen Eliz. days as I have shewed before and their own Books which are very numerous and very full of such acknowledgments and disclamours and yet some of the same Leaven for their unfaithfulness to her and this Crown came with the first unto untimely ends and that deservedly I will hope better of these of this Generation presuming they will take warning by other mens harms However I presume this State will be as wise now as they were in her days and trust to neither for that the more secure we are of the one the less safe we are from the other The Seculars and Regulars in her days confessed much more viz. That though they disliked the severity of her Laws yet could not but acknowledg that the State had great cause to make such except they should have shewed themselves careless and though the Laws were very extreme yet the occasions of them were very outragious and likewise that the Execution of them was not so Tragical as many did write and report Import Consider f. 11. A Letter from a Jesuited Gent. f. 65 66. Dialogue between a Secular Priest and a Lay. Gent. sparing discovery and others sparsim In Queen Eliz. days such of the Papists who though they did not forbear to profess Loyalty and Obedience to Her Majesty and were ready to resist any
Forrein force though Authorized from the Pope himself as this Dialogist pretends now to do None of this sort were for their Religion prosecuted or charged with any crimes or pains of Treason And this I shall demonstrate in point of fact by instancing of some few of very many of the better sort for of the more ordinary sort they were sans nombre not unfit to be taken notice of as by name Dr. Heth that was Arch-Bishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England in Queen Maries days who at the first coming of Queen Eliz. to the Crown shewing himself a faithful and quiet Subject continued in both the said Offices though in Religion then manifestly differing and was not restrained of his liberty nor deprived of his proper Lands and Goods but willingly leaving both his Offices lived in his own House very discreetly and injoyed all his purchased Lands and disposd of them as he pleased at his death An Example of Clemency not to be parallel'd in Queen Maries time The like did Dr. Poole Bishop of Peter-borough Dr. Tunstall Bishop of Duresme Dr. White and Dr. Oglethorpe Bishops the one of Winchester the other of Carlisle who was so inclined to dutifulness to the Queen that he did the Office of Consecration and Coronation of Her Majesty And Dr. Thurleby and Dr. Watson the one of Ely the other of Lincoln Bishops and so Turbervile Bishop of Exeter all which lived at their own liberty without being charged with any Capital peine though they maintained the Popes Authority against the Laws of the Realm Some Abbots did the like as Mr. Fecknam Some Deans as Dr. Boxall Dean of Windsor Dr. Cole Dean of St. Pauls Dr. Reignold Dean of Exeter and many others having born Offices and Dignities in the Church and that had made profession against the Pope which they only began in Queen Maries time to change yet were these never troubled nor deprived of their proper Goods and Livelyhoods but only removed from their Ecclesiastical Offices which they would not Exercise according to the Laws and most of them and many others of their sort for a great time were retained in Bishops Houses very civily and courteously without charge to themselves or their friends untill the time that the Pope Phalaris like sent out his roaring Bull dated 5. Calend. Mart. 1569. 5. Papatus Pij Quint. and his bellowing Messages to trouble this Realm by stirring Rebellion about the same year being about 11 Years after Her Majesties coming to the Crown Besides these Ecclesiasticks there were also very many Lay-men of good Fortunes and Families that were manifestly seduced by their Priests to hold wrong opinions in Religion for the Popes Authority and none of them were ever impeached of Treason or of loss of Life Member or Inheritance for such their opinions in Religion or for the Popes Authority alone as our most impudent Adversaries have often published F. 5. and yet some of them were well known to hold opinion That the Pope ought by Authority of Gods Word to be Supreme and only Head of the Catholick Church over the whole World and only to rule in all Causes Ecclesiastical and that the Queens Majesty ought not to be Governour over any of her Subjects in her Realm being persons Ecclesiastical which opinions are nevertheless in some part by the Laws of this Nation punishable in other Degrees yet for none of these points were any persons prosecuted with the Crime of Treason or brought in danger of life but enjoyed their Religion in private with Connivance though not with Tolleration and Abetting and so they have done ever since even unto the very day this Dialogist writ his Dialogue with as much freedom and liberty Nay with more than have our other dissenting Brethren who differ in Discipline and Ecclesiastical Government only not in Doctrin without having their Consciences raked into by Six bloody Articles or any Oaths And if any thing of more than ordinary severity hath lately befallen them they may thank their own most implacable and restless Spirits for it And if any of the same Communion being of more quiet and moderate Temper and Humour and better principled do suffer thereby they ought in all Justice to do as the Seculars in Queen Eliz. days did and place the blame on the fiery tempers of that Crudele genus of some their own Colleagues that have brought this upon them and not to blame us or our Laws who in all prudence ought to provide for the safety and quiet of our selves and of our own Religion by wholsom Laws be displeased therewith who will Now were Papists in Queen Eliz. days the quieter or better Subjects for those 12 Years Indulgence Connivance Favours and princely Graces or the Queen in any manner the more secure in her person or quiet in her Dominions Let be Judg that Bull of Prius Quintus together with the Popes Commission granted to Dr. Sanders as Legate who before his passing into Ireland openly by writing Impudently avowed that Bull against Her Majesty to be lawful and which for ought I know is in force to this day against all her Successors if any Pope please to have it so and together with the Faculties granted by the Pope unto P. P. Robert Parsons and Edmund Campion at Rome 14. Apr. 1580. then going for England and together with the Confession of Hart who being Condemned with Campion did the last of December 1580. confess That the Bull of Pius Quintus for so much as is against the Queen is held amongst the English Catholicks for a lawful sentence 25. Feb. 1570. and a sufficient discharge of her Subjects fidelity and so remaineth in force but in some points touching her Subjects it is altered by the present Pope For where in that Bull all her Subjects are commanded not to obey her and she being Excommunicate and Deposed all that do obey her are likewise innodate and Accursed which point is perilous to the Catholicks for if they obey her they are within the verge of the Popes Curse if they disobey her they are in the Queens danger therefore the present Pope to relieve them hath altered that part of the Bull and dispensed with them to obey or serve her without peril of Excommunication which Dispensation is to endure but till it please the Pope otherwise to determine We thank his Holiness This Bull did Import 1. That Her Majesty was not the lawful Queen of England the first and highest point of Trason 2. That all her Subjects are discharged of all their Oaths and Obedince another point of high Treason 3. All warranted to disobey her and her Laws This was the proper and natural product of 12 Years Indulgence and Connivance with much moderation and many savours and from this Root sprang all the subsequent Treasons in Queen Eliz. days and since and will be again if not prevented of Northumberland Westmoreland Parsons Parry Throgmorton Somervile Stewkeley Saunders cum multis aliis A
special Argument and Motive I must confess and well becoming P. the Dialogist when he hath no better to perswade King and Parliament to give new and fresh Indulgence to the Papists that they might with the better Grace and more Authority impune peccare As to this pitiful begging Argument of this P. viz. That because many of them deny much of the Popes Authority therefore they should have Tolleration now I shall only apply matter of Fact viz. the chiefest and most of them that I have named had in the times of H. 8. and E. 6. either by preaching writing reading or arguing taught all people to condemn yea to abhor the Authority of the Pope for which purpose they had many times given their Oaths publickly against the Popes Authority and had also yielded to both the said Kings the Title of Supreme Head of the Church of England next under Christ and yet they refused to allow Queen Eliz. the Title of Supreme Governor though to gratifie them she omitted the very Title of Supreme Head at the begin of her Reign and this is demonstrable by many of their Books and Sermons against the Popes Authority printed both in English and Latin to their great shame and reproach to change so often but especially in persecuting such in Queen Maries days whom themselves had taught and established to hold the contrary in H. 8. days a sin bordering on the sin against the Holy Ghost scarce to be forgiven And shall we be gull'd again by such Sophisters Was Queen Eliz. ever the more safe in her person or her Dominions the more secure from Troubles Insurrections or Rebellions because some few protested Loyalty Let all Impartial Histories and their and our own Memories be Judg. Come out of their fellowship and you will not partake of their plagues else they that will ship themselves with the Devil must Sail with him But why trouble I my self or the Readers with this frivolous Argument when it cannot be the least dust in the Ballance to perswade That upon this Dialogist Warrant or only Intimation rather he and his Seculars and who those are we know not and not possible for us to distinguish shall use loyal and peaceable behaviours nay what if they should be as good as their Word deny the Popes Exorbitant powers and swear Allegiance maugre the Popes Mandates to the contrary Is this an Argument prevalent enough to perswade us to nurse and nuzzle up the Popes Imps whose Seeds-men and Legates are both Priests and Jesuits and suffer him that hath already cursed Her Majesties person and in her all her Successors removed her Crown discharged her Subjects invaded her Dominions * In the days of H. 8. the Earl of Desmond profered Ireland to the French King the Instrument whereof yet remains upon Record in the Court at Paris and the Pope afterwards transferred the Title of all our Kingdoms unto Charles the 5th which by new Grents was conâ—iâ—â—tect unto his Son Philip in the days of Queen Eliz. with a resolution to settle this Crown upon the Spanish Infanta Bishop Ushe s Spech at Dublin f. 12. and given them away to others and now to suffer them to steal from our Kings and Queens their peoples Hearts and reonile them to that Mother of Abominations that dares call light darkness and darkness light dock Communions and Decalogues and worship Idols whole Brow is Brass and whose Heart is harder than the neather Mill-stone that hearing will not hear and seeing will not see nor understand charm the Charmer never so wisely never so sweetly and all this under the vizard of Catholick Religion and feigned Devotion which in truth is nothing less but is superstitious Idolatrous and Abominable the Tolleration and Allowance of which cannot possibly be Indulged without manifest breach of Gods Law against which there is no plea or excuse to be allowed joyned with the subversion of the Crown and Royal State For how is it possible that light should agree with darkness God and Belial Christ and Antichrist the same Moment any persons is reconciled to Rome the same Moment he is become a sworn Votary and Vassal to Rome subject to another head Were this humble Petition and desire only for Earthly and not Heavenly things and did it not concern Christs Glory but the Indempnity of our Kings and people what a pittiful toy is it for a few Friars well versed in the Arts of Equivocation to think themselves meet Pledges and Hostages for the security of so great a Prince and people Submission to God and your Prince would be more preswasive and authentique and would better become you It is not enough to renounce the exorbitant powers claim'd by the Pope except withall you renounce the idolatrous Worship of Rome and her Doctrins of Infallibility and of probability of Transubstantiation Demy-Communions praying in an unknown Tongue debarring the people the use of the Bible and a thrave of other false and Heretical Doctrins and practises having only lowd and bawling Impudence for their Justification without either Sense Reason or Scripture The most Honourable and Grave Sages of this Nation understand you so well that I believe you find they will not easily be cheated with kanting words or specious pretences made use of only to obumbrate and shadow the clearness of their long and grounded Experience purchased by clear demonstration and matter of Fact at the dearest rate and expence of Blood and Treasure I do heartily joyn Issue with this Dialogist and believe as he doth That it is not for the safety of our Church to receive those who do not believe as we do In this we are good Friends but I doubt he will be as angry with me as with the seasonable discourser for accounting the Popish Religion to be Superstitious Idolatrous and Absurd and the Protestant to be the True Antient and Apostolick Religion Neither shall I much differ with him in some other of his Concessions viz. That it is the right of every National Church to provide for the particular concerns thereof and and without his Peradventure that the Church of England hath preserved the face of a continued Mission and uninterrupted Ordination which is impossible for the Romanists to do their Doctrin of Intention being allowed for currant that her moderation in Doctrin is great that her Discipline preserves Episcopal Government He concludes may we not therefore because the Popish Religion is accounted stupid be permitted to say our prayers in private which is all the Indulgence allowed us and that sure it is no part of the goodness of the Protestant Church to hinder others from being as good as they can and the worse our Religion is the more need we have of praying to make us better § As it is no part of our Doctrin to hinder prayers and devotions that are in truth so according to Christs Constat or men to be as good as they can so it is no part of our practise and it
Intollerable on a Politick Account neither can any Merits render it tollerable or reasonable Notwithstanding their pretensions of Merit are so high that they are not content with connivance safety which they enjoy without grudging and with more freedom and less trouble than many non-assenting Protestants nor yet with Honours which they have had also in great measure nor yet with power and trust of which they have had their shares also and yet are not contented Lords Paramount they must be or else restless and clamorous they will be Such is their Nature that it must devour or trample down all before it or else it will never rest satisfied Such is the unsatiableness of this Scarlet Lady so often drunk with the Blood of the Saints that no Blood could yet satisfie but that she still cries Give Give In all Histories from Generation to Generation they that run may read prodigious Examples of Exorbitant Papal Claims and pride over Kings Emperours Princes and Free States even against right reason and to the Indignation of all Mankind and these justified by their Popes Councils Decretals Canons and Divines of the first Magnitude ascribing to the Pope power of deposing Kings if Hereticks and they are all so when his Holiness pleaseth so to tearm them by as good Logick as the Foxes Ears are Horns if the Lyon please to call them so And if yet there be any Papists that in Word or Writings do disown such Doctrins as the Seculars did in Queen Eliz. days of whom notwithstanding it is observed That they never discovered any traiterous design until it was first discovered by others and that in several Treasons though many of the Seminary Priests were active and forward yet they are as little to be confided in as those that own and justifie them for that by so doing they contradict and disclaim the very Faith they own and profess and unto which they are sworn thereby forsaking their Popes Councils Canons Divines and Decretals nay their Doctrins of Supremacy of believing as the Church i. e. as the Pope believes of Infallibility and Probability of Equivocation of no Faith to be kept with Hereticks c all Doctrins of the Church of Rome which alone are in their esteem of power sufficient to warrant and justifie their blind obedience and to null all the security that can possibly be given between Prince People whether Oaths or Laws Civil or Ecclesiastical nay Divine And if we may prognosticate of practises to come by practises past let the said Experience of former Ages and of all Countries and of ours in particular rise up in Judgment against them that they never have been never will be Loyal Subjects to our Protestant Princes the Reasons are strong for that they are ever incited to such evil Machinations and practises by the strong impulse and impetuous zeal of their own Doctrins and Superstitions and all proceeding from causes pecular unto Romish Religion and Principles which they have not in the least as yet changed nor disclaimed nor yet their Interest § Besides if the Papists of England have merited any thing from the King and his Father in these late troubles it is no thanks to their Religion and therefore no reason they should be gratified in their Religion for had it proceeded from the undoubted principles of their Religion it would have held as well in Ireland as in England nay it would have held as well in Queen Elizabeth and King James his time as in the time of King Charles Father and Son a Postscript to an Answer to a Jesuited Gent and also in a sparing Discourse It being confessed by themselves that none of them have in all the times of persecution dyed expresly for Religion but all for Treason b Answer to a Letter to a Jesuited Gent. f. 45. And that Irish Papists would have been as little Loyal to Queen Mary as unto Queen Eliz. But the continual Plots against the Life and Crown of that Queen and that horrid Gun-powder Plot against King James and all his Race and Nobles and the late Rebellion in Ireland against King Charles do demonstrate the contrary and their Religion where that and the Pope are concerned teaching the contrary but they thought not their Religion in that case concerned if they had then it would have appeared whether their Loyalty would have born up against it or no more than it hath done in former times Therefore if any such Merits have been they have been only personal and so may be and no doubt so have been and will be requited with personal favours but in no case with such as may tend to the advantage of the Popish and consequently to the disadvantage of the Protestant Religion Power and Interest of our Princes But let us a little examin what in truth have been the Merits of the Papist in the late Wars To say the Papists were the Formal Causes of the late War upon what hath been before written were happily not quite besides the Cushion However the former matter and grounds administers good Reasons to believe and affirm that they were great occasions both of the rise growth and continuance of our late Wars Some and those not a few of the wisest and most sober Cavaliers thought that the Papists did look upon the War as their great Interest and Hahvest either by opening unto them occasions to pretend something in favour of their party in case the King prevailed or otherwise by somenting of the War between Protestant and Protestant they should have gained an Interest through their divisions when they had weakened one another and that by fishing in troubled Waters they should gain some advantage by the confusions which as the Law stood in a setled State of Affairs they could not expect § However if the Papists did not design those divisions and the breaking in pieces of the Antient Government of this Kingdom and that wherein they hoped to find their Interest it is certain they were great occasions thereof for what on the one hand with their Negotiations before the War by Seignior Con and other the Popes Agents and the State tampering with the Pope and King of Spain about the Infanta not yet on t of the Minds and Memories of his Subjects and their boldness upon the favour they might happily expect from the Kings Mother and the Clemency which they found from his Father no way desirous to have the Sanguinary Laws Executed upon them and what by the Rebellion of those of that Religion in Ireland they created so great Jealousies in the minds of the Protestant party in England that it rather weakened the Royal party than fortified it and made the Adverse party so numerous and so successful as a long time it was And it may be truly said there was never a Papist in the Kings Army but it lost him the Hearts of many Protestants and as it cannot be supposed that they brought a Blessing on the Kings Armies
Nayls only that otherwise would crack our Crowns and seek our lives unless we will quantum in nobis sacrifice once more all that is near and dear unto us unto Romish Tyranny § I shall yet further Conclude That if Protestant Princes will but rightly consider that they like Gods own Sabbath were ordained for Kingdoms and not Kingdoms for them and that if they will follow but the very Dictates of right Reason and the very light of Nature they cannot without being felones de se establish or tollerate by Law Popery in their Protestant Dominions For as self-preservation by the very Law and Light of Nature is the Suprema lex of every Individual and consequently of every Prince considered only as a single person So Salus Populi wherein the Prince himself is also included and involved even politically and in respect of Magistracy considered is the Suprema lex also And the first and principal thing Magistrates are to look after is to preserve Magistracy and the Authorty they are intrusted withall for the good of the Governed in its full power and prerogative And for this great reason also it is wonderful absurd to suppose a Magistrate obliged to tollerate any thing destructive to the very being of the persons and Authority of him and his people for whose wellfare he is intrusted And of such a Nature is Popery and is the design of Papists and no pretence of Conscience whatsoever is in such a Case to be hearkned unto or endured it being against the very Light of Nature and in-truth nothing else but to pretend Conscience the better to enable them to destroy not Religion only but even Protestant Mankind For the very Light of Nature abandons all such principles from the least Tolleration they making men cease to be true Subjects to the State or good Common-Walthsmen in relation to others Though I have thus justified the Act of Parliament by the confessions of Papists themselves by matters of Fact Reasons of State and warranty of Scripture yet I can give no Vote or Encouragement for Sanguinary Laws meerly for matters of Religion abstract from treasonable and capital crimes and practises nor yet to imitate our Adversaries in Inquisitions fleaing with Stripes starving with Hunger Cold and Nakedness plunging into loathsom Dungeons full fraught with stinking Nastines and with Toads Serpents and other venomous Creatures nor yet for unnecessary pecuniary Mulcts And I am confident that such true English generous Blood runs in the Veins of English Parliaments that they naturally pity the distressed and abhor cruelties that they will not use Extremities not put in Execution the utmost of the Penal Laws but will mould them a gently as the peace and safety of the Nation will bear and permit And I am verily perswaded That if their over busie and fiery Priests had not been over Active the Review and Revival of any severities against them had never been though of and if any new Acts do ensue it is but what they have brought upon themselves and for which none may be blamed but themselves and their Layety only because they suffer themselves to be led blind-fold by their Noses by them who have no Authority so to do for which they are much very much to be commiserated there being a vast difference between the Seducers and Seduced But if any more severe Laws than other ought to be put in Execution certainly they ought to be inflicted on Idolaters and Blasphemers That the Papists are Idolaters hath been demonstrated by many Pens and that they are Blasphemers is as evident For according to the Notion of Blasphemy even in the New Testament He that assumes and appropriates to himself a property Divine is a Blasphemer and in truth a setter up of more Gods than one and of such a Nature is their Doctrin of Infallibility This is most Evident from Luke 5.20 21. when the Jews Taxed Christ himself for speaking Blasphemy who did not rayl but only said to the Paralitick Man Thy sins are forgiven thee Yet they not acknowledging him to be God did account it Blasphemy in him to take upon him to forgive sins which is a property meerly Divine For who said they can forgive sins but God alone so Rev. 2.9 I know the Blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Much more he that says he is In allible a property Divine when he is not So John 10.33 For a good Work we stone tee not but for Blasphemy because thou being a Man makest thy self God What was this blasphemy even because he said I and my Father are one v. 31. Whereby it is apparent that the Popes assuming to themselves a property Divine make themselves guilty of Blasphemy and indeed of making more Gods than one which is undeniable Idolatry To which if their Luciferian Dogma's be added it will not mince the matter at all viz. Credere Dominum Deum nostrum Papam non potuisse statuere prunt statuit Haereticum censetur Extravag Johan 22. cum inter nonnullos gloss ibid. declaramus Idem est Dominium Dei Papae Augustus Ambonitanus q. 45. 35. Dominus Deus noster Papa Clement in proem in Gloss ibid 121. Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium Extravag de Majoritat obedientia But let these pass In the Church of Rome the Popes were the first Preachers of force and violence and that their St. Dominick was one of the first that I read of that preached the Doctrin of Death and Tortures for opinions in Religion He was the founder of the begging Order of Friars preachers and therefore in Honour of him the Inquisition is intrusted only to the Friars of his Order And if they will believe their own Legends his own Mother the night before he was born dreamed that she was brought to bed of a Mastiff Dog with a Fire-brand in his mouth The Hieroglyphick whereof I leave to every Reader to make Only his deportment towards the Albigenses is storied to be as mad as that of Dogs so that one saith of him That a Hundred Thousand of them were put to flight Aeo quidem ut Centum Haereticorum Millia ab Octo Millibus Catholicorum fusa interferta fuisse perhibeantur and slain by 8000 Catholicks and of those who became Captives 180 were burnt to death the first Example that I find in the Church of Rome of putting dissenting Brethren to death for Religion Though my particular Confession engages me Experimenta per mortes Agere yet I abhor to be of the Colledge of Blood-suckers whose Bellies like those Canes Sepulchroles of the Romans are never satisfied with the Blood of Saints I have learnt better things from Isa 27.4 Fury is not in me And from Psal 11.5 Him that loveth violence his Soul hateth lest God should return Blood upon me in fury and in jealousie Ezek. 16.38 I Conclude with St. Cyprian Quid facit in pectore Christiano Luporum feritas
carry along with them their own warranty and so secretly invite belief which at length become meerly serviceable to the interests of those that manage them viz. the Popes and consequently disserviceable and disadvantageous unto Princes and all temporal Governments And such Orders being received and continued by the present Princes are no small obligations to their Heirs and Successors to continue them by reason of that former Authority engraven upon them by Custom and their Predecessors Now what does this Act do give a stop to the open and publick profession of the true Antient Catholick and Apostolick Faith as the Romanists bespatter and give out Nothing less It only discountenanceth the publick and open Profession of the Romish Tridentine Faith which in those Articles wherein they differ from the Protestants is neither True nor Antient nor Catholick but is an entire Apostasie from it and doubtless is the most Catholick and greatest Heresie in the Christian World A Religion that upon due examination and chioce no Man can embrace without reproaching his Maker and his Redeemer by renouncing his reason nay his very outward senses wherewith God hath endued him A Religion that by the same reason that they endeavour to justifie Transubstantiation I instance in this because I find more do wave the observance of the Act on the account of the Declaration and Subscription than of the Oaths therein a Man may as well believe every Hobby-horse to be a Barbe on Courser of Naples or the picture of every Bruit on a Sign-post to be really the Bruit it self Nay to doubt or deny that ever there was such a person as Jesus Christ upon Earth or that he or any of the Saints which slept did rise from the dead after him or that the Graves did open or that the Vail of the Temple was rent or that there was darkness over the whole Land from the sixth hour to the ninth c. I appeal to all the World if ever God declared either by word or practice that he would make use of artes praestigiariae Jugling Arts by deceptio sensuum or otherwise Nay hath not his practice ever been clearly contrary in all the Miracles that he or his Son ever wrought And the learnedst of the Romanists would infinitly oblige us if they would demonstrate unto us which of Christs Body it is that is Corporally in the Sacrament whether his glorified or not glorified Body and clear it of all the monstrous absurdities that opinion is guilty of The Antient Catholick and Apostolick Faith partakes not of their fopperies nor of their absurdities for their concealments and spunges are no better needs no captious reasonings no equivocations requires no implicit or blind faith or obedience uses no knaveries No no pure Religion and undefiled is of a better Brood of a more Noble Extract of a more Divine Origine The profession thereof joyned with Holiness and Righteousness ennobles every Soul scorns to obscure any Truths needs no prohibition of Gods Word no Indices expurgatorii hath superlative priviledges the greatest ornament any Sublunary Majesty can have scorns to use any indirect Artifices to Create Subtilities or Coyn Evasions to conceal or adulterate any of her Truths from ignorant or learned or to abuse any of our Senses as if we could not distinguish Bread from Stones or Fish from Serpents What have we from without us common to all Mankind so infallible as our Senses to cause Belief that Jesus Christ lived upon the Earth was Crucified Buried and Rose again The only Argument that Christ himself used to convince diffident St. Thomas to Believe was by his own Senses of seeing and feeling John 20.25 27. And if the Senses of all Christians in all Countries have been deceived above these 1600. years since Christs death in one Point why may not we by the same reason question and suspect the Senses of all those that lived contemporary with him in more Points as whether any of these things were so or no. So happy I confess are the Papalins in their Disputes against Protestant Religion that many of their Arguments by retortion only are as strong against their own Religion and indeed as strong against all Religions as against ours Light is come into the World but these men love darkness rather than light And why because their Deeds are evil every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his Deeds should be discovered but he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God 3 John 19.20 21. Take but a short view but of Four of their Opinions that are so Diametrically contrary to Scripture that nothing but lowd and bawling Impudence can deny and in which the meanest capacity cannot be mistaken no not those Lucifugae Scripturarum that are only most blind not because they cannot but because they will not see nor yet understand though as directly opposite to Scripture as light to darkness truth to error God and Scripture GOd in the Second Commandment 20. Exod. forbids the very making of any graven Image or the likeness of any thing 2. Forbids the very Bowing down to them 3. He Commands them to take good heed unto themselves for that they saw no manner of Similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto them in Horeb out of the Fire lest they corrupted themselves and make a graven Image the similitude of any figure the likeness of male or female c. Deut. 4.15 16 17.4 He Cautionates them not to forget the Covenant he made with them viz. that they make not a graven Image or the likeness of any thing which the Lord the God had forbidden 5. He minds them that he was a Jealous God and would not have his Glory imparted to another 6. He was a consuming fire able to revenge all disobediences 23.7 He curseth the very man that maketh any graven or molten Image an Abomination to the Lord Deut. 27.15 Pope and Popish Doctrine NOtwithstanding all these solemn Prohibitions and Reasons delivered so dreadfully on the Mount by God himself in Fire with Thunder and Lightning thick Clouds and Smoak so that the whole Mount quaked greatly Yet so Super-omnipotent is Dominus Deus vester Papa that he doth not only dare to leave this very Commandment out of the Decalogue but Commands even under Anathema's and practises the clean contrary And it is justified and averred to be constans Theologorum c. The constant judgment of Divines that the Image is to be honoured and worshipped with the same Honour and Worship wherewith it is worshiped whereof it is an Image Jo. Azorius the Jesuit Institut mor. tom 1. lib. 9. cap 6. And Tho. Aquin. Concludes that the same reverence is to be given to the Image of Christ and to Christ himself and because Christ is to be Adored with Latria or Divine Worship that his Image is to be Adored with the Adoration of Latria Tho
had attempted any thing against Ireland If Gregory the 13th had not renewed the said Bull and Excommunication If the Jesuits had never come into England If the Pope and King of Spain had not practised with the Duke of Guise for his attempt against Her Majesty If Parsons and the rest of the Jesuits with other our Countrey-men beyond the Seat had never been Agents in those traiterous and bloody designs of Throckmorton Parry Cullen York Williams Squire and others If they had not by their Treatises and Writings endeavoured to defame their Sovereign and their own Countrey labouring to have many of their Books translated into divers Languages whereby to shew their own disloyalty If Cardinal Allen and Parsons had not published the Renovation of the said Bull by Sixtus Quintus If thereunto they had not added their scurrilous and unmanly Admonition or rather most prophane Libel against Her Majesty If they had not sought by false perswasions and unghostly Arguments to have allured the hearts of all Catholicks from their allegiance If the Pope had never been urged by them to have thrust the King of Spain into that barbarous Action against the Realm If they themselves with all the rest of that Generation had not laboured greatly with the said King for the Conquest and Invasion of this Land by the Spaniards who are known to be the cruelest Tyrants that live upon the Earth If the Pope had not ordered Ridolphi to distribute 150000 Crowns to advance the attempt whereof some was sent to Scotland some to the Duke of Norfolk alias And King Philip to send the Duke of Alua and his Forces into England to assâ—st the Duke of Norfolk If in all their whole proceedings they had not from time to time depraved irritated and provoked both Her Majesty and State with those and many other such like their most 〈…〉 ungodly and unchristian practises there had been no Speeches amongst us of Racks and Torments nor any cause to have used thim for none were ever vexed that way simply for that he was either Priest or Catholick but because they were suspected to have had their hands in some of the said most traiterous designs And most assuredly the State would have loved us or at least born with us and we had been in much better condition than now we are Important Considerations c. fo 39 40 41. printed 1601. Furthermore antoher in answer to a Letter of a Jesuited Gent. by A. C. fo 89. complains of the Jesuits averring That Her Majesty is an Heretick an Excommunicated Princess and consequently to be deposed What Jesabelling of her have I heard them use What questioning whether no Jehn have subdued her why yet she prospereth why yet she Reigns why yet she lives what defaming her what throwing Soil at her Picture what avowing her Royal Lyons and Flower-de-luze no better worth than to serve for Signs to Baudy-houses Thus do the Jesuits and Jesuited use Her Majesty to my express knowledg and worse which for good manners I omit fo 90. nay they sent one to me in the nature of an Engineer from beyond the Seas to perswade my assisting his firing the Queens Navy throughout England against the next years coming of another Spanish Armado f. 90. Was it not Fa. Parsons and Fa. Creighton F. 9. That with much vehemency and bitterness contended for the disposing of the Crown of England the one for the Lady Infanta the other to his King of Scotland Were they not Jesuits which plotted with the Duke of Parma for surpriseing or stealing away of the Lady Arabella and sending her into Flanders who imployed the Messenger into England about the affair but Fa. Holt Jesuit who but the same Jesuit was consenting with Sir William Stanley to the sending in of Richard Hesket for soliciting Ferdinando Earl of Darby to rise against Her Majesty and claim the Crown was it not the same Jesuit that entertained York and Young in the Plot of firing Her Majesties Store-houses that set on work Mr. Francis Dickinson and others to perswade Watermen to fly with Ships and all into the service of the Spaniard f. 93. their Conspiracies were not confined to England only but they were extended also to Scotland whereupon were the Three Catholick Earls Angus Arrol and Huntley convicted of High Treason by Act of Parliament about 1593. if not upon certain plots laid by Fa. Creighton Fa. Gourdon and upon hopes given them of succour from Spain Why was the Lord of Fentry Executed but for the same designs imparted to him by Fa. Ro. Abercronii a Jesuit Was it not the principal cause of Fa James Gordons travel to Rome about the same time to solicite the Pope and other Princes to assist the King of Scots if he enterprise any thing either against England or in his own Countrey 93 94. And yet these matters will not be believed at this day by the Papists though it be their own voluntary confession in several of their printed Books yet extant Priests and Jesuits each deservedly accusing other of Treasons and Conspiracies against the Queen Her Person Crown and Dignity with this difference only that the Priests mostly the Jesuits seldom acknowledged the Queers great favours and Jenity towards them the Queen had great reason to believe them both not barely because cause they peached one the other but because thereof she really found the sad effects And indeed because she and her Council did very wisely consider that Papists some Centuries of Years before ever Jesuits were thought of did universally incline unto and side with the Pope against their temporal Princes usurping many great and exorbitant authorities and priviledges over them whereof Histories are full and therefore it was but high time that the Queen should by wholsom Laws inflicting moderate pains and mulcts provide against both one and the other This is no small Bedrall of Treasons Vide Important consider f. 16 17 18. Conspiricies provocations c. and yet as many more they might have urged nay to do the Secular-priests right they have done it particularly sparsim both in this and divers others their Books and also made large very large acknowledgments of the Queens Bounty Moderation and Clemency towards those Papists that were quiet and faithful a gratefulness that I have not found in any of the Jesuits and in so doing they did the Queen but right for from the year 1. Eliz. unto 11. Papists came to our Church and Service without scruple so that for 10 years they made no Conscience nor Doubt to Communicate with us in prayer But when once the Bull of Pius Quintus often called by the Queen Impius Intus was published wherein the Queen was accursed and deposed 16 and Her Subjects discharged of their obedience and Oaths of Fealty yea cursed if they did obey Her Then and not till then they refrained our Churches and Service so that recusancy in them the name of Recusant being never heard of until the 11.