Deposing Kings allow'd by so many Decrees I and Practices too of Popes and maintain'd by so many of their chief Authors stands yet uncondemn'd they must still give as leav becaus they will give us caus to doubt of their loyalty I do not I will not say All our Romanists are enclin'd to Rebellion I doubt not but there are many faithful and loyal Subjects among 'um but this I must say As long as they own a forrain Jurisdiction either Spiritual or Temporal which they must do if they are thorow-pac't and as long as the Pope usurps the power to depose and dispose to depose Kings and dispose of their Kingdoms and to absolv Subjects from their Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance so long the Romish Religion must needs have a natural tendency to disloyalty And therefore if Papists be good Subjects no thanks to their Popery and I fear 't will be hard for 'um to be good Catholics at Rome and good Subjects at home for if they be so it must be only durante bene-placito as long as the Pope is well-pleas'd but if once he be angry with Kings and call 'um Heretics then have at 'um Fowlers let 'um look to themselvs And indeed how our Jesuited Papists if they be true to their Principles can be true to their Princes and take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance without mental Reservation or Jesuitical Equivocation or Papal Dispensation first to take it and then to break it upon occasion which is to play fast and loos to play with Oaths as boys do with Cherry-stones I say how they can otherwise do it for my part I confess it passes my understanding And therefore the Case was well stated and determin'd long ago by our Reverend and Learned Bishop Davenant Jesuitici Pontificii non possunt esse boni subditi Ye have hitherto seen what the Jesuits Doctrine is now see what an influence it had upon this day's Treason For I shall not say any thing of the Assassines of the two Henrys of France Clement and Ravailliac one of which was a Novice in the Jesuits College at Clermont but both acted by a Jesuitical spirit and animated and spur'd on to the perpetration of those horrid Villanies by reading such Books as Mariana's and others Nor shall I recount those many attempts made upon the life of our Renowned Queen Elizabeth of blessed Memory those many snares laid for her by those fowlers of Rome especially after that famous or rather infamous Bull of Pius Quintus was published against her declaring her Excommunicate as a Heretic and so depriv'd of her Crown and Dignity and absolving her Subjects from their duty and allegiance What sad effects that Bull produc'd what treasons and conspiracies rais'd against her by her own Subjects by the advice and instigation of Holt and Walpole and other Jesuits commending it as a meritorious act to kill an Heretic Excommunicated and depriv'd by the Pope is a thing notoriously known to the Christian world In the head or title of that Bull I find these words Deinceps obedientes anathemate illaqueantur where I take notice of the word illaqueantur all that would presume to be her obedient Subjects hereafter were intangled in the same snare of the Pope's Anathema However God be thanked those snares were broken and she was delivered But we need not look so far back This days treason will speak enough for all Crimine ab uno Disce omnes we need fetch in no more Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof And first 't is as clear as the Sun at noon-day that the Jesuits Garnet Hall Greenwell Gerard and others were deeply engaged in the Plot and had a main hand in it as being the Principal Authors if not Actors in this horrid Tragedy 2. That the rest of the Conspirators were influenc'd and infected with the traiterous Doctrines and Principles of the Jesuits their Ghostly Fathers and Confessors and also animated abetted and encouraged by their Counsels and instigations this likewise is plain and evident by the Authentic Records of the Proceedings against them 3. And lastly 't is no less evident that it was the Pope's Bull that engendred this hideous Monster that gave the first rise and growth to this unparallel'd Powder-Treason the Pope's Bulls being Tauri ignivomi like those in the Poet Vulcanum naribus efflant they breath gunpowder fire and brimstone About the latter end of Queen Elizabeth Clement the 8th by the procurement no doubt of some here at home sent two Bulls or Breves into England by the aforesaid Garnet the Jesuit and Superiour of that Order here wherein he straitly charged all Roman Catholics not to receiv or admit any to be King how near soever in blood that was not well affected to the Catholic Religion thereby prejudging and precluding what in him lay King James's Right here to the Crown But these were but Bruta fulmina they could not stop nor hinder the King his way and Title were both so clear and open And now his good Catholic Subjects are at a loss and what shu'd they do they could not keep him out and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they will blow him out or rather blow him up and for that they had sufficient warrant and encouragement from the fore-named Clementines for proof whereof when Father Garnet told Catesby 'T were not amiss if the Pope were sent to and made acquainted with the business to know his mind and how well he approv'd it Catesby reply'd That needed not for he knew the Pope's mind well enough he having already declar'd himself for the King's non-admittance and who knows not saith he that Qui admitti nolit expelli velit So you see upon what Grounds he went and what it was that prompted and mov'd him and his Complices to this cursed Conspiracy yea I dare boldly affirm that those two Bulls the one of Pius the fifth against Queen Elizabeth the other of Clement the eighth against King James Pius and Clement indeed with a witness together with the Jesuitical suggestions doctrines and devices as so many Glosses and Comments upon those Texts have given ground and occasion not only to this but even to all the treasons and conspiracies practis'd ever since against this Church and State King and Kingdom not excepting the late grand rebellion and treason which we in this age have liv'd to see For do you think our Roman Catholics at least the Jesuits were idle spectators all the while and had not a hand in the 30th of January as well as in the 5th of November Is it not well known that the train to entangle us in that horrible snare and intrigue of the late confusions was laid by a great Cardinal Minister of State and perhaps the whole Conclave are we not yet convinc'd that the design was hammerd at the Romish forge and fire fetcht from thence to kindle our combustions Is it not yet apparent that the Popish Emissaries and Incendiaries were
long enough for all us Therefore let us take off our eyes a while from beholding o' them and reflect and look a little upon our selves and knock at our own doors to see whether all be well at home Though I hope we had no direct immediate hand nor heart in the Sin of this day yet shu'd we be called to account for it who of us all here present if then alive and of ripe years cu'd now plead not guilty Doubtless they were the Sins of the Nation in general and the Sins of every one of us in particular that sharpen'd the Ax and brought the King to his end It was for our many and great provocations that God did suffer his Anointed to fall this day into the hands of violent and blood-thirsty men as our Church in her Collect for this day devoutly confesses and again We humbly confess that the Sins of this Nation have been the cause which hath brought this heavy judgment upon us Many national Sins I might name which were then rife and common among us and so they are still which then provok'd God's wrath against us and so they do still for truly the world is not much mended since But because St. Stephen had so much to do with Libertines and our Royal Martyr with those that cry'd out so much for Liberty I shall therefore only take notice of that universal Libertinism looseness and licenciousness that seems to overspread the whole body o' the Kingdom Men every where taking Liberty enough whether it be giv'n 'um or no. We ha' need of more Stephens to beat down our Libertines such a general Libertinism possesses the Nation An Atheistical loosness licenciousness and prophaneness in point of Morality as to life and practice a Sceptical loosness latitude and indifferency in Religion as to matter of Opinion and Doctrine an Anarchical loosness what shall I call it remisness and slackness of the reins of rule and government in point of Order and Discipline Every one of which is of dangerous consequence and has a very sad aspect and malignant influence upon a Kingdom and Nation threatning the ruin and dissolution both of Church and State if not timely prevented especially that I last mention'd that general loosness and slackness of the reins of government in point of Discipline that universal neglect and contempt of Autority that Epidemical undutifulness irreverence and disrespect to Superiors a rust and restiveness contracted in the late lawless irregular and rebellious times and yet not rub'd off nor worn away the dregs and reliques of that old leaven not yet purg'd nor wrought out of the minds and spirits of men the seeds of Rebellion and Treason still lurking among us for all undutifulness to Superiors is a kind of petite Treason Lex est copulativa there 's a concatenation o' duties and he that breaks one link o' the chain of Subordination and Subjection to lawful autority endangers all and this is certain He that is undutiful and disobedient and disrespective to his Superior will not stick upon occasion to be disloyal to the Supreme and then beware of hoc peccatum the Sin o' the day Now as for personal Sins I must leav that to every man's Conscience in particular to call himself to account and see how the case stands between God and his own Soul Let us then do so I beseech you every one of us seriously and thorowly search and examin our selves in private for that 's the work of this day and not only to pray and hear a Sermon in public I say let us search our own hearts to find out what Sins we are most guilty of our bosom and beloved Sins for they are the Murderers and Malefactors that must be attach't arraign'd and condemn'd this day at the bar of Conscience they are the Regicides that have had so deep a hand in the Sin of this day they are the Traytors and Rebels that betray'd and murder'd the King Let then every one of us put these and the like interrogatories to our own Souls Was it not by my high-mindedness and self-conceit pride and ambition that God was provok'd to let proud aspiring Tyrants and Traitors climb so high Was it not my uncleanness my lusts which war in my members that contributed to the kindling of that unnatural war between the Head and the members Did not the heat and fire o' my lusts among others incense and provoke God to let fire come out o' the bramble and devour the Cedar of Lebanon Was it not by my envy hatred and malice and uncharitableness and hardness of heart that God was provok'd to harden the hearts of those cruel Regicides against their lawful King and permit 'um to be fill'd brim-full with hatred and malice against his Royal person Was it not my rash swearing and prophaneness my false-swearing and perfidiousness my breach of Oaths and Covenants Promises and engagements made in my Baptism that mov'd God to give up those false perfidious Traitors to a reprobate mind so as to break all those Sacred bonds and obligations and Oaths of Allegiance to their Leige Lord and Soveraign and in stead of them to enter into those two bonds of iniquity the Covenant and Engagement Lastly was it not my intemperance gluttony and drunkeness that provok'd God to suffer such a crew of savage and barbarous Rebels to glut themselves with the flesh of Nobles and to be drunk with Royal blood Thus shu'd we with sorrow of heart reflect upon our selves who were then in being and at years when this horrid Sin was committed But then what shall we say to our Postnati or Puines those of the younger sort Indeed they cannot be said to be guilty o' the Sin o'th is day or any way accessory to it seeing they were not then in rerum natura not so much as enter'd upon the Stage o' the world when this sad Tragedy was acted they were not born when the King was beheaded Yet by way of prevention of future calamities let them take heed o'those Sins which in those times were the meritorious causes of this fearful judgment and provok't God to suffer it In a word let all of us both old and young fear to commit those Sins which as they were then so they may be still the meritorious procuring causes of as heavy and dreadful a judgment upon the Land and Nation Let us I pray take heed of persisting in the perpetration of our old wickednesses and impieties and of acting over those Sins a fresh by which God was provok'd to permit cruel men Sons of Belial this day to imbrew their hands in the blood of his Anointed and thereby to deprive us of so good and gracious a King This then is the proper work o' the day every one of us to say with Pharaoh's Butler I do remember my faults this day and so to humble himself before the Lord not only in public but in secret to lay his hand upon his heart and put his
escaped I know by soul here according to the usual Idiom of the Hebrew tongue is meant nothing els but life or person as much as to say our persons are escaped or we are escaped with our lives her life that 's all the bird looks after Yet I hope I may without forcing the Text take occasion from hence by way of accommodation to put some greater stress or emphasis upon the word soul and to observe from hence that the Deliverance wrought tnis day was a Soul-Deliverance not only a Corporal but a Spiritual Deliverance not only a Deliverance of the body but of the soul too we escaped not only with our lives but with our Religion Our soul is escaped escap'd out of the snares of Popish Idolatry and Superstition laid in our way by those Romish Fowlers snares I say laid in our way for what is their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for instance or worshipping the Host but an Idolatrous snare what are their numerous superfluous superstitious rites and ceremonies but tot Laquei animarum so many snares upon the Souls and Consciences of men especially as us'd and impos'd by them of the Church of Rome who place holiness and religion in them and make them matters of necessity and parts of Divine worship things by the way which our Church in her few her very few ceremonies has ever expresly disclaim'd enough in the judgment of any moderate or sober men to clear her from any suspicious or superstitious symbolizing or syncretizing with the Church of Rome Well these were the snares but by the blasting and defeating this Powder-treason these snares were broken and our soul escaped and we were delivered Again their Auricular confession consisting in an anxious punctual enumeration of all particular sins to the Priest in private once a year Mistake me not I am not against private Confession to a Priest I would it were more practis'd amongst us but that Auricular Sacramental Confession as they call it and as it is practis'd in the Church of Rome besides that it is a kind of a pick-pocket as it is us'd and a picklock of the cabinets and counsels of Princes what a Carnificina Laqueus Conscientiae is it what an intolerable snare upon the soul and conscience I instance in this the rather becaus under this pretended cover of Confession though indeed it was no formal Confession the business being reveal'd to Garnet and others as he himself confess'd at last not in way of Confession but of discours and consultation only but under this cloak and cover of Confession the treason was hid and conceal'd sub sigillo a Seal so sacred and inviolable that 't is not to be broken in any case whatsoever saith Bellarmine no not to avoid the greatest evil that may possibly happen Catholica Doctrina non permittit ad ullum malum vitandum secretum Confessionis detegi and he speaks it in defence of this days treason Not to be broken no not to save the lives of all the Kings in Christendom so said F. Binet the French Jesuit to Casaubon upon this very occasion as that learned man tells us in his excellent Epistle to Fronto Ducaeus Praestaret Reges omnes perire quà m si vel semel sigillum Confessionis violaretur But by the disappointment of this horrid design both this pretended seal and this snare was broken and our soul escaped and we were delivered Once more Their Pope's Pardons Bulls and Breves their Papal Indulgences and Dispensations which gave Luther the first occasion of plucking his foot out of the Romish snare what are they els but pitiful snares to catch Dotrels poor silly souls that will pay so dear for a new-Nothing But by defeating this Devilish plot this snare was broken our soul is escaped and we are delivered What should I speak of their Transubstantiation and Purgatory worshipping of Images and Invocation of Saints and the Rest of Pope Pius the fourth's new Articles of the Tridentine faith equal in number and equal in authority to those of the Apostles Creed snares laid for our souls by the fowlers of Rome especially those subtil Emissaries and cunning fowlers the Jesuites who as they did then so have they done since and still no doubt do go a birding among us though some are so blind and simple they will not see it Had they caught us in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that capacious Catholic snare set this day for King and Kingdom Church and State those other snares would have followed of course for that was on purpose laid to bring these upon us But Benedictum sit Nomen Domini hitherto our soul is escaped out of these snares the snares of their dangerous and pernicious doctrines and principles and the snares of their wicked and cruel designs and practices especially out of the great snare of this day Our soul is escaped and we are delivered And now may not this justly provoke and stir us up to a detestation and hatred of that Church and Religion which brings forth such cursed and bitter fruits whose principles are productive of so sad and direful effects I will not say though it has been said the Romanists Faith is Faction and their Religion Rebellion but this I must say that they teach and broach such Doctrines as are very scandalous to Christian Religion and very dangerous and destructive to Kingdoms and States as having a direct and natural tendency to sedition rebellion and treason And herein I dare boldly impeach and implead the Church of Rome as the mother and nurs of this hideous monster though blessed be God it prov'd but an embryo this monstrous Gunpowder-treason And that herein I do her no wrong I shall make it appear For though our Romanists may wipe their mouths and disclaim the business by laying the blame upon a few rash hot-headed discontented Catholic Gentlemen yet if we examine it well and it has been examin'd pretty well already we shall find it to have been the genuine issue and product of their Popish Principles the natural result and consequence of some doctrines and opinions commonly and openly held and maintained in the Church of Rome I shall instance in one especially which is instar omnium and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ground and foundation of all the rest and that which gave the first birth and breeding to this barbarous and bloody design and that is that beldame doctrine of the Pope's Infallibility or which is all one of his Supremacy for if he be Infallible he must needs be Supreme or if you will his universal temporal Monarchy his Lordship Paramount his absolute Soveraignty and Dominion his unlimited Power and Authority over Kings and Kingdoms his power to depose Kings and to dispose of their Kingdoms That the Pope hath power to depose Kings if they be Tyrants or Heretics and so they must be if he once say the word and pleas to call them so is Communis Doctorum the common
sent hither on purpose under the name of Anabaptists Seekers and Quakers and I know not what to blow the coals and foment the flames of our late dissentions And are we not yet sensible how some factious and seditious Separatists have been and still are acted and carried on by Jesuitical principles in their rebellious practices and so brought to be the Pope's drudges and to do his work for him though the leaders of them are so blinded with partiality and prejudice and others so led with blind obedience to their Teachers a point of Popery too that they will not see nor perceiv it I will name but two or three Doctrines of Bellarmine and his fellows and you shall judg how well they have been followed by some of late who yet would be thought to be the only Antipodes almost and enemies to Rome A Prince saith Lessius that is a Tyrant cannot be put to death by any private men while he continues a Prince but must first be deposed but by whom why A Republica vel Comitiis Regni by the Commonwealth or by the Parliament vel alio habente authoritatem i. e. the Pope And to the same purpose Suarez Post sententiam latam omnino privatur Regno and then ye may do what you pleas with him A quocunque privato poterit interfici any fowler may fetch him in Potestas immediatè est tanquam in subjecto in tota multitudine saith Bellarmine The soveraign Power is in the People Et si causa legitima adsit c. and if there be a lawful caus and who shall judg of that but the Pope or the People the People may turn a Kingdom into an Aristocracy or Democracy And this he stands to in his Recognitions stoutly maintaining Potestatem Politicam non esse immediatè in Regibus That the Civil power is not immediately in the Prince nor immediatè à Deo sed mediante consilio consensu hominum And again elswhere Potestas Regis est à populo quia populus facit Regem whence it follows saith he that if the King prove a Tyrant Licèt sit caput Regni tamen à populo posse deponi eligi alium And what could some among us have said more Sure I am they did no less I shall add but one piece more or rather a master-piece of Bellarmine's Politics In his Book against Barclay he brings in the Pope discoursing with a Prince's subject to cajole and debauch his Loyalty and Allegiance When I absolv you saith he from your Oath and bond of Allegiance be not mistaken I do not give you leav to disobey or resist your King Non permitto ut Regi non pareas no by no means take heed of that that were contrajus divinum against the law of God Very good I but how then Sed facio ut qui tibi Rex erat non sit deinceps tibi Rex but I make appoint and ordain that he who was your King is not now your King any more No King any longer if the Pope saith the word and then take him Fowlers and do what ye pleas with him he lyes open either to your gun or your snare And now tell me were not some among us of late very prompt Scholars of Bellarmine think ye they had so perfectly learnt this distinction they did not oppose nor resist the King but you know whom no gun had they to hit him no snare to take him in his Political capacity but only in his Personal Ye see how thoroughly these Jesuitical lessons were learnt and got by heart by our Regicides and Rebels of late and shall any make me believ that they are Protestants and of the true Reformed Religion that are so apt Disciples of Bellarmine Just such Protestants as this days Traytors Sir Edward Cook then the Kings Atturney General in his Speech upon the Gun-powder-Treason has several Observations of which this is the last That there was never any Protestant Minister found guilty of any conspiracy or treason against the King And no marvel for certainly Rebels and Traytors can never be true Protestants what ere they pretend Disloyalty Rebellion and Treason are so against the grain and strain of our Protestant Profession so directly contrary to the genius and temper and spirit of the Gospel and of the true Reformed Religion Let us then I beseech you stick close to the Principles of our Religion which are Principles of obedience and loyalty Let us hold fast the profession of our faith and Religion without warping or wavering i. e. of the true ancient and Catholic Faith and the true Orthodox Reformed Religion profest and maintain'd in the Church of England And as we bid defiance to the Pope's Bulls so let us take heed of plowing with the Romish Heifer I mean of being acted and led by Popish and Jesuitical principles which have born so great sway and had so strong an influence upon some mens practices of late in this Nation who yet pretended so much zeal for the Reformed Religion But I shall no longer hanc Camerinam movere nor harp any more upon this unpleasant string this is not the day nor the time for it Only let not the Church of Rome nor such as Philanax Anglicus or the Author of Jerusalem and Babel think to choak us with our Rebels and Regicides the Authors of the late horrid Rebellion as a blot scandal and reproach to our Religion For we own them not nor do we look upon them as ours I mean Protestants and true Sons of the Church of England seeing they were wholly acted and sway'd by Jesuitical and Popish principles Our Protestant Religion teaches us another lesson yea and this I must be bold to say further As for those that have any seeds of this Rebellion still lurking and remaining in them if there be any such as I hope there are none here that look asquint at the Government Civil or Ecclesiastical and are disaffected to the present settlement of Church and State as it stands now by Law establisht I cannot see how such men can cordially join with us in keeping this Fifth of November The horrible plot of this day was intended saith our Church in her Collect for the subversion of the Government and Religion establisht among us Now how can they be truly thankful to God for this days deliverance that will not own nor allow the Subject-matter of it viz. the Government and Religion establisht among us This is a day of Thanksgiving to God for the preservation and continuance of our Government Civil and Ecclesiastical the preservation both of the Church and State the Church I say both in her Doctrine and Discipline her Doctrine in the true ancient Catholic and Apostolic Faith her Discipline in her true ancient Catholic and Apostolic Episcopal Government The Church of England had both these then establisht by the Laws of the Land and so both these struck at this day and are any still