points and Doctrines which I leave to the more learned to discuss That which I shall insist upon here shall be according to my principal purpose to deliver their seditious Paradoxes and shew unto the World how much their new refined doctrine doth derogate from Royalty and that sovereign Authority which belongeth unto aâ—l Kings Princes and States rightly constituted and how much it favoreth the worst of Governments that is Pure Democraty or Popularity And I shall begin with Calvin who goeth more slily and cunningly to work nothing so rudely and bluntly as Luther First therefore for the reputation of his Consistory or Sanhedrim at Genevah he labors to dâ—base Monarchy and to prefer Aristocracy before it Non id quidem per se Instit lib. 4. c. 20. sect 10. Not in it self forsooth as if he had been very tender of the Rights of Kings but by reason of mens natural corruption Quia rarissime contingit Because it is seldom seen saith he that Princes can govern their Passions so well or are so wise and prudent as thâ—y ought to be to uphold good Government So he makes it a rare thing to finde a wise and moderate King and so concludes from a general defect which he supposeth in Kings that it is best fâ—r many joyntly and not one alone absolutely to command For saith he where many govern one supplyâ—th the dâ—fects of another both in point of Counsel and Justice This was his way politick and plausible enough to prepare the hearts of his people at Genevah to the Discipline which he intended for thâ—m For you must know the Genevians had now ejected their Bishop who was also their Sovereign Prince and had been so ever since the time of Frederick the First Bodin de Rep. So that their Monarchy was newly changed into a popular State yet governed Aristocratically which Calvin therefore smooths unto the people by such Reasons as it concerned him to do this change being as the First-fruits of his new Gospel in that City So having given this first blow to Monarchy though therein he seems to forget that himself was born at Noyon and finding himself safe at Genevah he proceeds and to prevent your objection in behalf of Monarchy That Kings have always grave and wise Counsellors to advise them and to supply their defects in case themselves be weak he gives his resolution elsewhere Kings saith he Comment in Dan. 11.26 make choice of such men for their Counsellors as can best fit their humors and accommodate themselves to their appetites in the ways of cruelty and deceit So he makes them little better by having Counsellors and stains the reputation of Counsellors themselves with a scandal intolerable Daniel But Chap. 2. v. 39. he is yet more passionate They are saith he out of their wits quite void of sense and understanding who desire to live under Sovereign Monarchies for it cannot be but order and policy must decay where one man holds such an extent of Government Yea Chap. 5. v. 25. Kings saith he oftentimes forget they are men aâ—d of the same mould with others They are stiled Dei Gratia but to what sense or purpose save onely to shew they acknowledge no Superior oâ— Earth yet under colour of this they will trample upon God with their feet so that it is but an abuse and fallacy when they are so stiled Which is a pretty descant is it not upon Dei Gratiâ and therefore Voila saith he See what the rage and madness of all Kings is with whom it is an ordinary and common thing to exclude God from the Government of the Wâ—rld And this he writ not in quality of a Statesman but of a Divine in that master-peice of his his Institutions and in his Commentaries upon Scripture he delivereth these dangerous Positions as matters of Doctrine and of Discipline to be generally received by all and makes a Nebuchadnezzar of all Kings But rather out of his own spleen then out of his Text by his good leave For to what purpose can such expressions tend but to disgrace Scepters and to scandalize all Governments that are not framed according to his own mould And therefore Chap. 6. v. 25. in Daniel hâ— chargeth them directly Darius saith he will condemn by his example all those that profess themselves at this day Catholike Kings Christian Kings and Defenders of the Faith and yet do not onely deface and bury all true Piety and Religion but corrupt and deprave the whole worship of God This indeed is work for the Cooper not by a Mar-Prelate but a Mar-Prince The most Christian King must be new Catechised he that is Catholike must be taught a new by an Uncatholike that is a private spirit and the Defender of the Faith must have a new Faith given him to defend by this great Prophet Calvin And so by a new Model all the old Religion of the Church and all the Laws of State concerning it must be abolished Thus doth Calvin presume to reform Kings and Government and pretends to build an Ark but it is of his own head to save the World having dreamt that otherwise it must perish by a deluge of Ignorance Impiety and Superstition of whom it may be truly said Plusquam regnare videtur He must be much more then a Prince himself who thus presumes to play the Aristarchus and censurer of Princes And that he may not seem to come short of Luther his Predecessor in any degree of immodesty Les Rois Chap. 6. v. 3 4. sont presque tous These Kings saith he are in a maner all of them a company of Block-heads and brutish persons as wilde and ungoverned as their Horses preferring their Bawds and their Vices above all things whatsoever Yet did he write this in an age when to say but truth the Princes of Christendom were not so extreamly debauched Lewis the Twelfth Francis the First and Henry the Second of France have left a better fame of themselves to Posterities then this So have Maximilian the First and Charls the Fifth Emperors in Germany Henry â—he Eighth of England degenerated onely in his latter times and not till he was corrupted by some principles of this Reforming Liberty In his children Edward the Sixth there was much hope at least and in Queen Mary much vertue In Scotland reigned James the Fifth and two Maries that might be canonized for their merits And for Castile and Portugal their Kings never flourished more for Government Greatness encrease of State Plenty Peace then in those times What could his meaning then be to censure them all so much for stupidity and vice but to breed a contempt of Kings and to induce people that live under Free States to despise and hate them and their own people to cast of their Government and procure their Liberties at all adventures especially under the cloak of Religion for at this he driveth altogether as knowing well That in popular and tumultuary States he
The ones Ambition The others Avarice destroying him Yet of the two the calamity of the Protector must in all humane judgement seem most disastrous For 't is certain through his own weakness and the importune instigations of his Wife he was compelled to serve the designs of his greatest Adversary in the world by putting his own brother to death And after that living to see Bologne lost and the Crown through his Misgovernment engaged in many debts wants and trouble he last of all ended his days fatally and without any shew of repentance for those sins which brought him to that end Whereas in this respect Northumberland was far more happy For having in all humble and penitent maner acknowledged his offences to the Bishop of Worcester Doctor Heath his Ghostly Father and thereby reconciled himself to God and to the Communion of his Church at the place of Execution not out of design or hopes of life as some would malitiously asperse the action but willingly freely of his own accord and out of conscience as himself protesteth at his death he made another most Christian and publike acknowledgment of his Faults especially those which concerned Heresie Sacriledge and Treason in all which he confessed himself to be most guilty And thereupon used much and vehement exhortation to the people to beware of those Preachers of New Doctrine who had fâ— ed the Kingdom with so many false Opinions and much trouble Assuring them plainly and openly concerning himself that whatsoever he had professed or done in that kinde proceeded wholly from Covetousness Ambition and other evil Motives not worthy to be named and not from any perswasion of Judgment or Conscience which he ever had that way And therefore adminished them that they should willingly return to the Communion of Gods Church and keep themselves constant in the Catholike Faith and true Religion Which for Conscience sake saith he I onely tell you and that I may thereby in some sort acquit me of my duty and save my soul and not for any humane or temporal motive expectation or hope whatsoever And so died The Oration it self out of which this is extracted may be seen at large in Schardus Sim. Schard Memor Histor in Maximil 2. a Protestant chronicler of note in his historical collections and elsewhere I suppose without much difficulty Thus lived and thus died as we have said the two grand adversaries of Gods Church and subverters of Catholike Religion in England after so many disorders committed as God was pleased to suffer by their power and procurement and that they had sufficiently scourged and afflicted those whose sins well deserved such punishment they were both of them taken away by the hand of Justice and met with their deserts Temporally and things were restored to some better pass But what did the Catholikes all this while How did they behave themselves What Rebellions did they raise what commotions or tumults of the people did they procure I mean the more civil religious and ingenuous amongst them 'T is true some Risings there were in Devonshire and the Western parts of the rude multitude exasperated especially upon some temporal grievances oppressions and wants which followed the misgovernment of those times Religion was either not at all or least of all pretended by them They were vexed indeed to see the encroachments which the Protector and others made dayly upon the Kings and Peoples Interest They were sensible of the Scarcity and Dearth of all kinde of necessary commodities for life which came suddenly upon them and was far greater then it used to be They could not endure well to be abridged by Inclosures of some other Liberties which they pretended to In brief They were sensible of all such inconveniences in the Government of the State as concerned the Outward Man but for Religion further then it served to ease their Spleen that is to clamor to asperse and rail upon those whom they conceived the Authors of their other and more resented grievances I conceive they minded it not and that there is scarce any good ground why a man should think them in that respect more Catholikes then Protestants And if a Priest or some Ecclesiastical person were found amongst them as it were strange if there should be none considering how many there were then in the kingdom absolutely destitute and discontented yet certainly they were not many nor in any other quality considerable Whereas 't is certain that Kets camp in Norfolk a business of far greater consequence and difficulty were all of them such as were fallen with the State from the profession of Catholike Religion and become Protestants And this I would generally premise desiring the Reader to observe it that where I affirm of Catholikes that they did not conspire against their Princes nor raise any tumults in the kingdom for matter of Religion I mean such only as were Catholikes indeed and stood firm in their Holy Recusancy not complying in any sortwith those alterations which Henry the 8th Edward the 6th or Queen Elizabeth in their several times procured to be made contrary to the integrity of Christian Religion For such as complied were not to be counted Catholikes any longer but Heretikes Schismaticks Hypocrites c. And for such people having corrupted their faith to God I would not be taken to apologize in any other point of duty For 't is very possible they might still retain some notions of Catholike Religion in their minds which afterward and upon other occasions running into terms of disloyalty they might pretend as matter of complaint against their Prince though themselves were neither Catholike nor That nor any other matter purely Spiritual the true original cause of their Disorder but onely those Temporal Grievances by which they smarted as is abovesaid and which they saw well enough to procceed either wholly or in part from the several alterations made There were the like in Lincolnshire which our English Chronicles pass not over in silence But it sufficeth that for the generality of Catholikes I mean still those of more ingenuous civil and better quality notwithstanding so great and violent provocations as were used towards them their patience and submissive demeanor towards the State and civil Government was most exemplary to the World Neither Prelates nor Priests nor Lay-people making any resistance against those unworthy men who so much oppressed them under the Kings usurped Authority and Name making such havock in the Church and spoil of all things consecrate to the Service of God and exercise of their True Ancient Christian-Catholike Religion as this Nation never saw the like since it had â—he happiness to be called Christian It seemed they had been bred in a better School of Vertue then that which Calvin opened at Genevah and had learnt to bear the cross of their Saviour that is to say these temporal afflictions calamities and injuries with more Patience and that the glory of Martyrdom in sufferance was accounted far
proceedings she was not onely left destitute of all her Allies and Confederates and driven as it were to stand solely upon her own guard against France who was already an Enemy and against Spain who was a friend not very well satisfied But she was forced even at first and at the entrance of her Reign to run upon a Rock which might have Shipwrackt her whole State which was to assist the Rebells in Scotland against their lawful Sovereign under a pretence of expelling the French who were brought in thither by Authority of the Queen onely to maintain the Government established This might have taught her own people a bad lesson at home a man would think though it did not as it proved And being thus engaged in Scotland she was obliged in pursuance of her design to succor the Admiral and those Rebellious Hugonots of France by whose perswasion she invaded Normandy took possession of the Towns of Newhaven Diep and some other places delivered to her by the Vidame of Charteres But the disgrace in ill-defending and loosing of them especially of Newhaven was one of the greatest blemishes that ever the English before that time received upon French ground and far greater then it was Honor to have them delivered upon such occasion into the Queens possession For certainly had either the cause been just or prudently managed they might upon that advantage have easily brought home Calice again or lockt up the Gates of Roan and Paris But they did neither nor brought home any thing but a great Plague after them in most mens judgement a scourge to the Realm for that offence After this upon the like necessity of self-preservation and upon the Reason of State which Polybius prescribeth Vicini nimâ—ùm crescentiâ— potentia quâcunque ex causâ deprimenda By all meanes keep thy Neighbor from growing too great she made no scruple to impede and give obstruction to the affairs of King Philip in the Netherlands who was her Neighbor her Ally her Confederate yea upon more occasions then one and in matters of no small exigence the best friend which she had in the world Yet by reason of those pernicious Counsels concerning Religioâ— which she was fallen upon she was as it were compelled to disown his just interest and profess her self Ungrateful in the face of the world Thereupon Orange and the States are assisted against their lawful Sovereign King Philip. I must not deny but even in doing this she pretended respect unto the Kings interest professing in her Declaration concerning that business Stow. That what she did was to preserve the Ancient Amity and Leagues betwixt the Crown of England and the House of Burgundy and to prevent the loss and utter revolt of those Countries from the Kings obedience which she knew otherwise the States and Orange would deliver up to some other Prince more professedly his Enemy So true it is that which Machiavel observed I suppose much about those times viz. That wise Princes seldom or never want pretences for their Actions What a fair colour is here given to a foul Cause But where is Conscience Christianity and Truth in the mean time The world could see well enough through the Vizard and knew at what mark both the Queen and the States aimed But most Sage sure and worthy of so great a Commander and wise man as himself was is that of Thucydides Nullus Princeps a suis subditis justè puniendis arcendus est c No Prince saith he ought to be hindred from punishing his Subjects according to the Laws and whosoever goeth about to do so by his evil example parem in se legem Statuit c. he makes a Law against himself and inables his own Subjects in like case to seek forreign protection against his jusâ—ice And this the Queen with the whole Nation might have found true by sad experience if that either Henry the Second or Francis the Second Kings of France had lived or that her own Subjects I mean those whom she had not a little injured and alienated by her Misgovernment had not been more loyally respective of her dignity and more inclined to obedience and sufferance for a good cause then many other people in the world were But Divine Providence having decreed for our much unworthiness and many sins to remove the Candlestick of this Nation that is to deprive us of the Light of the true saving Faith and of all publike and free exercise of true Christian Religion and to deliver us up to the darkness and many old delusions of Heresie and to follow our own ways in those things wherein it most of all concerned us to have been ruled by good Authority which is the greatest judgement that can befall a Nation or any people in this woâ—ld all things cooperated to the accomplishment of his just displeasure against us And the Queen with heâ— party were permâ—tted to go on with their work without any interruption Even before her Coronation or that any debate or resolution had been taken in Parliament de novo concerning Religion she being her self but a Sheep of the Flock as Constantine Thedosius and many others her Christian Predecessors in Princely Dignity have not blushed to acknowledge yet presumed to put all the Shepheards of the Kingdom to silence commanding that none of the Bishops or other Prelates should preach till her pleasure was further known And after the Parliament all of them that refused the new revived Oath of Supremacy were deprived of all Honors Dignities and Employments which they had in Church or Common-wealth and committed to several Prisons Of this sort there are reckoned no less then Fourteen Bishops of England all Vertuous and Learned Prelates that were instantly deposed and Ten of Ireland Twelve Deans Fifteen Heads or Masters of Colledges Six Abbots besides inferior dignitaries of the clergy viz. Arch-Deacons and other Priests without number together with Master Shelley Prior of Saint Johns of Jerusalem All these as to their demeanor towards the Queen were blameless there was not the least exception taken against them in that respect The Bishops themselves were all sitting in Parliament at the time of Queen Maries death and acknowledged by diverse Proclamations Queen Elizabeths Right and Title to the Crown The Arch-Bishop of York Doctor Heath was then Chancellor of England and labored by all means possible to do her Majestie service and to settle the Hearts of her people in obedience and loyalty towards her as to their natural and lawful Sovereign especially in that grave Oration which he made to the Nobility and Commons of Parliament upon the first report of Queen Maries death The Bishops joyntly did their Homage and Fealty to her in all dutiful maner and though they were not without some suspicion that she intended to change Religion yet did they practise neither Scotizing nor Genevating towards her Never did they incense the people against her though they were generally Catholik and they might probably have
Magia lib. 4. c. 1. of the Devil appearing to an Abbot and perswading him to say Mass he would conclude ad hominem that we especially ought not to hold it alwayes to be evil which the Devil tempteth a man unto nor consequently good because he disswades us from it But the case is so unlike and there are so many mistakes in the report of it that it might well have been spared had it not been that the Doctor would seem to say something more then had been said before him For first it was not an Abbot but a Monk whom the Devil tempted to say Mass Secondly That Monk was not yet Priest and so it was against the Canons yea it had been a grievous sin in him to have said Mass This was fit matter indeed for the Devil to tempt a man unto but it seemes it was not so fit for the Doctors purpose to mention this circumstance and therefore he leaves it out as he useth to do sometimes in other like cases Thirdly neither did Satan enter any disputation with the Monk either to prove or disprove Mass Fourthly nor did the party tempted consent Fifthly and lastly neither did Mass then first begin which is a thing principally to be regarded It was not in the substance of the thing a Novelty which the Devil tempted unto but an office of Religion generally acknowledged professed observed in all Christendom over That which Luther was tempted unto to say the lest of it was a Novelty and therefore ex naturâ rei necessarily and in all reason to have been suspected and which he would have suspected had he not been blinded with self-conceit and preferred his own single opinion and fancy above the sense of the whole Church which to do is an argument of most insolent Madness Epist 118. cap. 5. as Saint Austin speaketh This may suffice to have answered concerning Luthers Vocation or Calling as well that which he pretended as that which was true I should now give you his Character but that he hath done himself to the life in his writings and practises mentioned already Yet if you please for a tast of his modestie I shall adde a word or two not more out of his own writings and first concerning the Fathers Colloque Convival cap. de patrib he rejects them all Saint Hierome hath not a syllable in all his writings of faith or true Religion Chrysostom was a meer babler Basil a Monke all over and otherwise not worth a Button Tertullian was a Dunce a meer Carolstadius among the Doctors Cyprian a poor Divine Austin him self hath nothing singular concerning faith And for Saint Ambrose he wrote most drily and impertinently upon Genesis Saint Bernard indeed is the best Preacher of them all but where he disputes he is all for Free Will And so concludes at last that Melancthons Apology hath more true Divinity in it then all the Doctors of the Church Secondly in respect of the Saints Serm. de Nativit Fol. 442. Mariae We are all Equal to the Mother of God and as great Saints as she In Ep. 1. Pet. 1. When we are once regenerate saith he and made the Children and Heirs of God by Faith we are all Equal in dignity to Saint Peter Saint Paul yea unto the Blessed Virgin her self Mother of God We have the same treasure in us which they have and all the graces of God as largly bestowed upon us as they Which may seem not a little strange considering what he saith of himself elsewhere Nihil singulare in vitâ meâ eminet c. Colloq Fanckford Fol. 445. There is not any thing saith he very singular or extraordinary in the manner of my life I can jest I can play I am a merry companion with men yea to Gods glory be it spoken not seldom I love to take a lusty Cup also c. But by his leave where did the Saints of God thus Elias was no such Boon no such Jovial Companion it was not the Language much less the Exercise of Gods Prophets to Carowse and Quaff in this maner Saint Paul chastized his Body and held it in subjection by Fasting Watching and Pennance did not pamper it nor study to please his Appetite with Drink and Belly-cheer as Luthers fashion was Who both lived and died an Epicure beside all his other crimes and his too much Indulgence towards his Genius in that kind shortned his own days as may be more then probably collected from the reports of good Authors Sur. Chron. Vlember vitâ Luth. not excepting some of his own Justus Jonas Aurifaber and others I should adde here a word or two concerning the Vocation of Calvin to his Ministery but it was much the same with that of Luther For he finding France a Country too hot for him ever since the Iron was set to his Shoulder takes a Voyage first into Germany then afterward into Italy where getting entertainment in the house of the Dutchess of Ferrara a Lady inclined to new opinions in time he creates himself a preacher of the Reformation Extraordinarily too you may be sure For no man living gave him Authority but himself From thence he goeth to Genevah with intent to set up and exercise but as we have said his first attempt falled him and he was constrained to retire for a while to Strasburgh Yet his party at last prevailing at Genevah he returned and setled his Chair of Pestilence there which he held unto his death But I have not obliged my self to write the Character or life of any persons My Task was onely to shew That Catholikes in general were as good Subjects both in respect of their principles and practice as Protestants in general and better then the most And this I conceive is already done And therefore I shall trouble the Reader no further The Jesuites special Vow THe society of the Blessed name of Jesus endureth much prejudice with many men by reason of a certain Special Vow as they call it which they are said to make to his Holiness over and above the Three Common Vows of Chastity Poverty and Obedience It is generally conceived by Protestants that by vertue thereof they stand obliged upon command and at the pleasure of his said Holiness to attempt the life of Kings especially those which he hath declared to be Hereticks or Excommunicated to murther Princes to embroyl and trouble States and in a word to plot and execute any Treasonable design whatsoever that may advance the Popes Interest But that the world may see how much they are wronged herein and know both what the substance of that Special Vow is and what the Intent Matter and End of such Mission or Command from his Hâ—liness ought to be which they promise so presently to obey it is here Transcribed out of the Bull or Constitution of Pope Paul the Third by which their Order was Confirmed in the year 1540. and runnes thus ANd further we judge it expedient for our greater Devotion to the Sea Apostolik and more full Abnegation of our own wills and pleasures That the Professed of this Society beside the Common band of the Three Vows viz. of Chastity Poverty and Obedience be further tied by special Vow So as that whatsoever the Roman Bishop for the time being shall command pertaining to the Salvation of Souls and propagation of the Faith they shall be bound to execute the same without Tergiversation or Excuse whether they shall be sent unto Turks or unto Infidels yea even unto those that are commonly called the Indies or unto any other Hereticks or Schismaticks whatsoever Now what danger can arise unto Princes from such a vow as this further then the Preaching of true Christian Catholike Faith and the advancement of Religion is counted dangerous to their worldly Interest unhappily setled in opposition to it The indifferent Reader may judge FINIS Errata PAg. 7. in margin r. lib. 51. P. 8. in margin l. 2. r. lib. 120. l. 3. 4. ibid. deleatur Thuanus lib. P. 53. deleatur all that is in the margin P. 132. l. 3. r. deny P. 268. l. 18. r. condemned P. 287. l. 5. r. deserve P. 309. l. 4. r. principal 388. l. 20. r. Thirty Thousand P. 435. l. 24. r. seem P. 439. l. 9. r. pulling down P. 440. l. 3. r. did therefore ibid. l. 4. r. amuzed P. 453. l. 26. r. manifold P. 487. l. 9. r whit P. 564. l. 7. r. Catholikes P. 578. l. 24. r. Chacun P. 573. l. 8. r. we P. 606. l. 3. r. not P. 618. l. ult r. inconveniences P. 624. l. 10. r. calls him
Protestants have set it down as a decree against Catholikes and labor to imprint it as an Eternal scandal in the hearts of the people that Catholike Religion and Doctrine is dangerous to the State an Enemy to Sovereignty and therefore neither allowable nor tolerable in a well governed Monarchy Now this being a matter of so great importance as indeed it ought to be esteemed for querelam Ecclesiae quilibet Catholicus facit suam every good Catholike thinks himself injured when the Church is wronged I will endeavor to sift out the truth and shew you what is therein to be holden as matter of infallible vâ—rity as well to justifie them viz. the Catholikes as to inform my self in a point which I know hath made many good men in England to stagger much And that I may not wander in my discourse nor lead you up and down in a Labyrinth I will shew you first the true state of the Quâ—stion to be argued and the method in which it is most regularly propounded First therefore we demand Whether to be a Catholike that is one who professeth due reverence unto the Church of Rome and to be a true Subject to his Prince and Country be incompatible or no Secondly If they be incompatible whether this incompatibility or repugnancy that is betwixt them be general that is as unto all Principalities and States or particular that is to some one or to some few onely Thirdly Whether it be so originally and ever or onely casually that is at some particular time or upon some particular joyncture of affairs in State Fourthly Whether it be so simpliciter loquendo and as malum in se that is whether the being a Catholike be lookt upon as a thing evil intrinsecally and in its own nature or that it be onely accidentally such or made so by particular Statutes and Laws Lastly whether Lutheranism and Calvinism be not more incompatible with Loyalty more opposit and contradictory thereto and that ab origine To judge rightly betwixt Catholikes and Protestants in this grand charge which we have in hand it is necessary that every one of these particulars be cleerly considered and resolved and so I oblige my self to do at least to endeavor before I end my discourse But yet to pay Master Parson some thing in his own coyn I shall make bold to begin with the last Question first and in lieu of his general or rather hyperbolical accusations of our Doctrine to return him double measure both of Doctrine and Practise in each kinde from his own men That is I will examine and declare obsignatis tabulis and by evidence of fact That the Treasons Factions Seditions Tumults which have so troubled all the Kingdoms of Europe and filled Christendom with blood and calamity for these hundred years last past have sprung not so much from any opinions or practises of Catholikes as from the opinions and practises of Protestants and that the egg of this Cockatrice was not laid at Rome nor Rhemes nor Doway as the World must be made to believe but indeed and very truth at Wittemberg at Smalcald at Genevah And this I shall do not Theologically or like a Divine for I will not arrogate so much to my self but Historically sincerely plainly being one that desires to defend the Loyalty of Religions and Innocent men rather then their Opinions and Doctrines which they are best able to maintain themselves and as a faithful relator of what my self have both known and seen and learned the rest from others of whose authority and credit in this kinde no just doubt can be made Neither shall I affect any rhetorical flourishes or elegancy of stile in this discourse Integrity and Truth which I profess appear always most gracious in their own unborrowed beauties they need no paintings no art no colours Come we then by the Will of God to our intended business Titulus Primus LUTHERANISM OR The Troubles in GERMANY IN the year of our Lord 1514. the whole Church of God enjoyed Peace and her ancient Priviledges all Princes with great devotion were Nursing Fathers and Protectors of her no Storm did trouble her no Schism to break her Unity There was an harmony a good correspondence as to matters of Faith and Religion between the Church of Rome and all the Princes and States of Christendom and till then neither in England nor in any other Country of Europe had there been such a Question ever disputed viz. Whether a Catholike might not be a good Subject In the year 1517. Martin Luther an Augustine Fryer a man of a turbulent spirit learned but never counted any famous Clerk was the first that broke this long and happy Peace Surius in Chron. An. 1517. This man unhappily interposing himself in the business of Indulgences which were sent at that time by Pope Leo the Tenth into Germany although it concerned not him further then he made himself the Proctor and Advocate of his Order yet having once begun to inveigh against the injury done to his fraternity as he conceived for as much as the Preaching or publishing of those Pardons was committed unto the Dominicans and not to them viz. the Augustinians as had been usual before he fell afterwards to tax the abuses and covetousness of the Collectors and then to question even the authority of them by whom those Collectors were nominated and such a levy of money required in that nature This was a popular and plausible Introduction fit to win upon the vulgar who can never well endure the pressure of Contributions especially extraordinary and where the covetousness or scandal of Officers gives any occasion of murmur He quickly therefore found many favorers but much more when he began to exclaim against the ambition of Prelates against the ryot and disorders of Religious men taxing some for Tyranny some for Avarice some for Idleness and Ignorance all for corruption and abuses In this maner he stood in arms and as it were a challenger for some years onely against the defects of the Clergy and without much danger For divers good men at first conceived That he onely intended and sought Reformation of disorders and restoring of Ecclesiastical Discipline punishment of irregularities and amendment of life And this they did not without some cause For Saint Hildegardis had foretold a storm to the Church for their sins Savanarola a Dominican had awakned Italy with predictions of terror and Frier Thomas of Guien prophesied a Vae Vae a scourge and desolation to Bourdeaux an inundation of misery to France and the whole World All these not long before Luthers time Who finding thus Populo placere quas fecisset fabulas that the sport which he had begun did take with the people as novelty is ever welcome to the World and that his actions and designs seemed generally to be applauded that many of the best wits especially such as had been bred in Erasmus his School and were any way touched with his humor were
least and necessarily to be understood viz. we shall obey so long as you gâ—vern lawfully and not longer And hence it was that the Prince of Conde protested Anno 1577. that the oath which some Hugonâ—ts had taken not to bear arms or fight against their King anymore c. was factum contra Deum bonos more 's Poplonneir lib. 41. contrary to the law of God and their duty and therefore could not oblige any He had it from Calvin who Lib. 4. Institut c. 13. Sect. 21. teacheth Quibuscunque hujus Evangeliis lux affulget c. When men come once to be Illuminated with the light of his Gospel they are presently absolved from all former Snares and Oaths whatsoever that should entangle their Conscience that is oblige them to the performance of any good work or duty more then they have a minde to Sic dixit Calvinus But I confess there are some few particular or rather personal objections made from some pretended matter of fact against that which hath been said of Catholikes Loyalty wherein t is necessary that the Reader should have some reasonable satisfaction This done the conclusion will be cleer which at first I undertook to declare viz. That there is nothing in Catholike Religion inconsistent with Loyalty and that Catholikes are de facto in the truth of their practice better Subjects generally speaking then Protestants have shewen themselves to be or indeed can well be standing to their principles These objections are but few and therefore I shall dispatch them breifly The first is brought against Doctor Allen for teaching to murther Princes in a certain Apology which he wrote of the Seminaries citing Num. 25. to that purpose I answer The mistake is very great it was not Doctor Allen but Doctor Goodman if we may call him so that citeth that Text of Numbers to that purpose Goodm Obedien His words are these Factum illud quod memoratur Num. 25. perpetuumest exemplum in omnem aeternitatem c. That which is reported saith he in Num. 25. viz. of taking the Heads of the people that had committed Idolatry and hanging them up before the Lord is an example upon record to all posterity and a duty for ever lying upon the people that in the like case they deal with their Governors in like maner that is that they take them and Hang them up against the Sun when they withdraw the people from the true worship of God And although saith he it may seem a great disorder that Common people should take so much Authority upon them yet when the inferior Magistrate neglecteth his office the Common people must be lookt upon as having no Magistrate at all to direct them and in such case God puts the Sword immediately into their handâ— and is their Captain and guide in the work This I say is all Goodmans Doctrine and not Doctor Allens into whâ—se thoughts it never came to conceive much less to publish such Paradoxes of sedition All that he teacheth tends rather to the contrary viz. to keep people in their due bounds and to exhort them not to be transported by any unadvised or evil passions against their governors under a pretence of zeal He confesseth indeed 't is a thing commendable when men are zealous for true Religion but he adviseth that they act modo Tempore in due manner that is no otherwise then lawfully they may and with regard unto all other acknowledged rules of a good conscience and in due season that is not untill they be called thereto by lawful Authority as in the case of the Idolatrous Israelites Num. 25.45 and the place alledged is plain The people acted nothing but by command of Moses who was Supream Magistrate Neither did he command any thing to be done but from the mouth of God and according to the express Law Deut. 13. This is not to put the Sword into the peoples hand and to permit them to execute their fiery zeal upon whom they please under a pretence of punishing Idolatry and rooting out Superstition especially such as no man judgeth to be so but themselves The Second objection is made by Doctor Sutcliff in his Turcopapismus against Father Parsons viz. that he suborned or hired Roderick Lopez a Portughess and some others to kill the Queen Which Treason saith he was discovered by the Earl of Essex I answer it is like the Tale of Peter Panny that was reported to be hired by Mavaraeus a Doctor of Doway and Provincial of the Jesuites to kill Count Maurice which upon examination proved but a Fable and so will this For first was there any person named in that Action but Lopez and his Countrimen that is some Portughesses and Spaniards I have seen and read all the Examinations taken in that business wherein all the circumstances thereof are declared The Ayders Movers Actors all nominated There is not the least mention of Father Parsons in the whole business from first to last Secondly when Master Egerton at Guild-hall so largely and eloquently urged all he could did he so much as once name Father Parsons Or was he a man likely to forget him if he had found or thought him any way Accessory Beside all this F. Parsons himself was known to be a man not of that weakness whatsoever men will think of his honesty as to venture his reputation life interest and all so unadvisedly in a forreign bottom and subject to so many leaks as that was This therefore may pass for a scandalous Fiction and Hear-say but no more A Third objection is made against Parry and sounded aloud in all mens eares as a reproach and stain indelible to Catholike Religion The sum of the charge is that Parry was incited by the Popes Letters to kill the Queen I answer The Acts or process it self of his Examination and Tryal do shew that having conference with Master Wats a Seminary Priest about this business the said Master Wats disliked both his motion and attempt and told him that it was a thing unlawful that he went about As likewise did some other Priests also when they understood the business Secondly at Lyons coming to F. Creighton a Jesuite and after Confession discovering his intention to him out of some Confidence it seems that the good man would bite at such a bait he found himself as much mistaken here as before For the Father resolves him That it was utterly unlawful and useth diverse reasons to diswade him from any further proceeding as Parry himself confesseth to the Queen and Holinshead in his Chronicle doth acknowledge So that already both the Priest and Jesuites are acquitted There remains onely the Letter of Cardinal Como to be considered Touching which we are to know this Parry had lived in Italy as a Spy a long time and being upon his return was desirous to furnish himself with a project that might serve his turn in England both ways that is both to abuse Catholikes as
mischief which he had brought upon Germany and that his Books should be burned In the year 1526. at Machlin he enacted a Penalty against Hereticks and all such as disputed the Controversies of Religion Heretically or that kept prohibited Books viz. for the first offence Forty shillings for the Second Four pound for the Third Eight pound and Banishment as the best remedy he could think of to preserve others from infection In the year 1529. if they repented not of their error he adjudged Viris ignem Mulieribus fossam That men should be burned and women buried alive which was no more then anciently the Laws prescribed nor then what Calvin himself exercised upon Servetus at Genevah In the year 1531. he confirmed these former Acts with something additional against such as pulled down Images or defaced them with any malitious intention viz. that such persons should loose their goods This is the sum of all those Laws of the Emperor Charlâ— the Fifth concerning Religion so much complained of in the Low-Countries and concerning the Execution whereof there were also many exceptions qualifications and limitations procured by the Regent in the year 1555. upon advise of Viglius President of the Counsel at Brussels and to take away all occasions that might poâ—â—â—bly hinder Traffick or be a means of oppression to innocent and quiet people And for King Philip he always professed particularly in his answer to Montigny in Spain that he intended no addition of severity to his Fathers Laws nor to create any new offences but onely to punish those which were of old censured for offences both by the Church and State Let us look then upon England and consider if the penalties upon Catholikes here be not far more in number and much more severe To acknowledge the Popes Supremacy in Spiritualibus is Treason To be reconcilâ—d is Treason To refuse the Oath upon the first offence is a Praemunire the second Treason For Priests to come over into England is Treason if any that were made Priests since Primo Elizab. shall stay Forty days in England after the Parliament 1585. 't is Treason To Harbor a Priest is Felony and Death If yong Students beyond Sea return not and abjure their Religion it is Treason To bring in an Agnus Dei Beads or Crosses is a Praemunire To bring a Bull or any Sentence of Excommunication from Rome that may concern the Queen is Treason To absolve or reconcile a man is Treason Not coming to Church was at first Twelve pence every Sunday and to be liable to further censure afterwards viz. Twenty seven Elizab. it was made Twenty pound a moneth where it could be had otherwise their bodies were to fine for it in prison To depart out of the Realm without License and not to return within Six moneths after the Proclamation is a forfeiture of all Goods and Lands during life To hear Mass is an offence fined at One hundred Marks If a mans Son or Servant not Merchant goeth beyond Sea with his consent he forfeits One hundred pounds I speak nothing of their loss of goods imprisonments reproaches chains fetters which upon many other pretended and feigned occasions they are frequently made subject unto nor of banishment which would be counted many times matter of great favor Nor yet of the rigorous and vexatious Execution of all these Laws which makes the Tower full of such Patients and new prisons to be erected for the entertainment of them nor of the hard usage which they frequently find in those prisons The sad examples of Master Tregion at Launston of Master Rigby of Master Christopher Watson who perished at Yoâ—k with Eighteen persons more in the year 1581. with the very infection of the prison do shew sufficiently what they suffer Adde hereunto the strict examination of the Justices the proceedings of the High-Commission against them that inquisition of England not altogether untruly so called the multitude of Promoters in all the Temporal Courts of the Kingdom informing against them of Pursuivants searching and rifling their houses upon every light suspicion and not seldom without any at all but onely to make them Fine and to purchase their quiet with money Lastly the Racks and Torturings which Father Campian Father Southwel with many others tasted in their times how can they be forgotten concerning whose case I mean of Father Campian and his Associates especially beside that the whole matter of their Accusation seemed upon Tryal rather to be grounded upon words and some verbal discourse then upon any Actual design or attempt really projected against the Queen or the State and beside that at the time of their Tryal as I have been credibly informed there were persons of very Honest Quality who offered to depose that sundry of the Parties accuâ—ed were at the times specified in their several charges many hundreds of miles distant from the places where their supposed Treasons and Conspiracies were said to be I say bâ—side all this the Queens unwillingness to have them dye testifiâ—d by her own Historian is argument sufficient with indifferent mâ—n what great Traytors she conceived them to be For their Arraignment and Tryal having been in November 1581. * Stow. they suffered not till the first of September 1582. and then it was aegrè consentiente Reginâ as Camden himself confâ—sseth They who sought their lives had much ado to procure the Queens consent that the Sentence of death should be executed upon them Surely there is no man so extreamly partial or purblinde but will easily observe how much greater affliction and pressures the Catholikes of England have endured by the Laws of this Realm then the Geuses of Holland ever did or could do by the inquisition among them And how much more their state and condition might be justly commiserated especially when not onely Anabaptists and those other more innocent and harmless Sects but Puritans great and stubborn enemies of the State Arians Socinians yea even Professed Atheists and men of far more violent passions and destructive principles then Catholikes can with any reason be supposed to hold are scarce searched after or punished And yet notwithstanding all this to preserve the Queens reputation for Humanity and fair dealing with her Subjects the Book called the Execution of English Justice will make the world beleeve That no man in England is punished for Religion no mans Conscience is medled withall no man is examined upon matters of Faith But is it possible that such a pretence should be sustâ—ined by man so notoriously contrary to truth so easily so manifestly disprovable even by sight and the evidence of their own dayly proceedings In the year 1581. there was a general Pardon granted by the Queen but with a strict Caution and Proviso That no person in Prison nor Recusant for Religion should have benefit thereby which Malefactors of all sorts had Was this no punishment The Recusants pay Twenty pound a moneth for their Recusancy is this no punishment The Turk himself