the manage of publick Affairs which they not only aspired after but stood recommended unto Yet give me leave to say that there are some that have taken these Tests who notwithstanding continue still Votaries to the Church of Rome and are only Protestants in Masquerade For as it was for the Credit of the Roman Church that some should rather resign their employes and places than renounce the Papal Jurisdiction or any part of the Tridentine Faith so it being their interest at least for a while to have it concealed what persons universally were Papists and it being also for their advantage to have some of their Party continued in publick Offices without suspicion of their Religion the better to promote their further designs they have accordingly made provision for the one as well as the other And as the losses which some of the party have appeared willing to undergo upon the Foregoing occasion have served to enhance the reputation of their Church so others being best qualified by their taking the Tests for the enjoying Preferments and Revenues under the present Government are not only Spies upon the Councils of the Nation but Vipers nourished with the profits of the Land to betray and undermine the Government And whereas some may think that no person cordial in any Religion should for Secular accommodations and worldly Advantages offend against God and indanger their own Souls by Renouncing their Faith and forswearing that upon which they superstruct all their hopes for Salvation The Church of Rome hath by more methods than one secured such not only from all fear and hazard of future wrath but from all danger of sinning against God by so doing And as to this purpose the Doctrines of Papal Absolution and Indulgence are admirably suited supposing their should be sin in such a case so the Doctrines of Equivocation Mental Reservation and Authoritative Dispensations are no less calculated for preserving them from all Guilt notwithstanding their taking the Oaths and making the Declarations which the Law requires Having now made these happy proceeds as they thought towards the section XI overthrow of the Protestant Religion and the Established Government there remained only for the Accomplishment of these and all other their Execrable Designs but the destroying the Life of the King And there are these ensuing Reasons which not only justifie such endeavours in all that are furnished with Evidence for the making a further detection but which do indispensably oblige them not to conceal any thing that may serve to unravel and unvail the Conspiracy 1. The vindication of the Justice of the Nation on those Traitors that have suffered doth bespeak and require this at every mans hand For though the utmost Candor imaginable was extended to the Criminals and the stricktest scrutiny by interrogations in favour of the Malefactors exercised towards the Kings Witnesses and the several Juries that were Impannelled for their Tryal were of the most knowing honoured and Impartial Persons that either the City of London or the neighbouring County could afford yet all these have not been sufficient to prevent the arraignment of the Justice of the Kingdom for Condemning those Conspirators For not to mention what their surviving Friends do as falsly as reproachfully give out in favour of their Innocency in all Companies the very Press almost to the Ignominy of the Government that suffereth it hath swarmed with Pamphlets in justification of their having died Guiltless Such Pamphlets are the Letter to both Houses the sober and seasonable Queries in order to the Choice of the New Parliament the second Edition with Additions c. The Jesuits Plea in answer to a Letter entituled Lying allowable with the Papists to deceive Protestants The Plot of the Papists to transform Traitors into Martyrs The Compendium of the late Tryals in relation to the present Plot besides divers other Prints equally scurrilous as well as filled with pernicious Reflections upon the Honour and Justice of the Nation so that every man of Sense is surprised at their impudence and every person of Loyalty roused to a zeal of vindicating the King and Kingdom from the obloquies of Injustice cast upon them And though the Kings Witnesses do intend publickly to vindicate themselves from the Calumnies with which they are aspersed and will I doubt not perform it both to the universal satisfaction of the Nation and the utter confusion of their Adversaries yet let me offer these two or three Remarks upon the foregoing Pamphlets which I judge not only sufficient to baffle them but eternally to expose them to contempt as so many infamous Libels First then what credit ought to be given to him that shall dare publish in the view of all the Nation That not one Person accused in this pretended Conspiracy did either fly or abscond except only the Priests who were obnoxious to the Law for their Priesthood when in the mean time besides many others of all ranks and qualities who upon their being some of them accused and others suspected have withdrawn themselves the four Villains who are charged for conspiring to Assassinate the King do notwithstanding his Royal Proclamation requiring their appearance either by flight or concealment absent themselves Secondly who pretending to be either a good Christian or a faithfull Subject can have any Faith for such a person who is not afraid no more than ashamed openly thus to slander the King himself namely That though he be both most concerned and has had the best opportunities of examining the Discovery of the Plot yet he is so far from believing it that he openly laughs at it Vile Impostor that dares thus accuse the King both to the World and his own People How often hath His Majesty told us in his Royal Proclamations that he is fully convinced of a Hellish and Popish Conspiracy against his own Person the Protestant Religion and the Government And yet this impudent Generation of Romish Votaries do not blush to affirm that He laughs at it as a fabulous and Romantick Story Doth not the King in his Proclamation Octob. 30. 1678. call it a Bloody and Traiterous design of Popish Recusants against his Majesties Person and Government and the Protestant Religion And doth he not by his Proclamation Nov. 20. 1678. declare that the Popish Priests and Jesuits lurking within this Realm have contrived and set on foot divers traiterous Plots and Designs against His Majesty his Government and the Protestant Religion by Law Established And doth he not also by his Proclamation for a Fast March 28. 1679. declare that through the impious and malicious Conspiracies of the Popish Party there is a Plot not only intended to the Destruction of his Royal Person but the total Subversion of the Government and of the true Protestant Religion within the Realm by Law Established And doth not my Lord Chancellor in his Speech to both Houses of Parliament March the 6. 1678 9. assures us That his Majesties Royal Person hath been
Religion and induced to Espouse the Faith of the Church of Rome I was accordingly received with great Ceremony into the said Church by Cardinal Grimaldi Archbishop of Aix in Provence 'T is true they do not think meet to celebrate the reception of every one that goes over to them with so much solemnity but yet it is not without many and considerable reasons that they think meet sometimes to do it For though in effect they have only cause of glorying over the ignorance weakness or lusts of the Party they have Proselited yet they would have it pass for a Triumph over the Religion which he hath forsaken And though all that they can truly boast of be the ensnaring some Person that neither understood the Religion which he relinquished nor that which he espoused but was meerly captivated with the hopes of Pleasure Profit and Preferment Yet Protestancy must be brought upon the stage as weary of it self and the Popish Religion must be recommended to the Ignorant multitude from the Victory it hath obtained over such a thinking learned and conscientious Man Thirdly I would suggest this that being received into the Bosom of the Romish Church I went thereupon to Rome and was entertained in the Jesuits College Where by my continuance four years and running through my whole course of Philosophy and at last taking Orders of Priesthood and through my being sometime Prefect of the Study I injoyed these opportunities of knowing their Sentiments and Doctrines concerning Protestant Princes and of their Designs against these Nations with their hopes of Reenslaving them which I shall now declare Nor will it I hope be reckoned a piece of Immodesty and I do affirm that partly through my success in my Scholastick Exercises and partly through the favour I had with Cardinal Rochi Major Domo to the Pope to whom I had dedicated all my Theses and partly from the familiarity I had with all the principal Fathers of the Jesuits in the English College I had not only the advantage of Hearing what was publickly said either in Schools or Refectory but was allowed Access to private Discourse with the most Eminent Fathers in the College where I had their Opinions concerning the King of England and an account of their Purposes towards Him and the Kingdom inculcated to me These things being briefly premised and intimated That which I have section XV next to offer is that whilest I was at Rome I frequently heard the Jesuits both teach in Schools and preach in Pulpits the Doctrine of the Pope's power to depose Kings So that according to them no King doth Reign but at the pleasure of the Pope And from hence we may learn these two things 1. That it is not only lawfull but necessary in order to the preservation of the peace and safety of the Kingdom that all who have imbib'd these Doctrines should be accounted Traytors and accordingly proceeded against though never convicted to acting up to them The Principle it self is the highest of Treasons and therefore there needs no further Over-act for the condemning such Criminals So far as the Popish Religion hath only an influence upon the future state of men it was never punished with death in England it is only upon the foot of those Doctrines which instruct and countenance them to overthrow the State and Government that Romish Priests are justly made liable to suffer And therefore the Priests who were lately Executed without being Arraigned for any thing save for their being so and their withdrawing His Majesties Subjects from the Religion by Law Established were as reall Traytors as those who were convinced for Conspiracy against the Kings Life 2. I would further infer from the foregoing Doctrine that no security can be had of the Loyalty of any Person that is so possest For so long as he holds that any one hath Authority to depose the Prince under whose Government he lives it is impossible that such a Prince can be secured of the fidelity and allegiance of that Subject And it is very remarkable that whereas some of the Irish Papists since His Majesties Restauration had in a Remonstrance prepared for the persuading the Government of their Loyalty only acknowledged though they had not sworn it that King Charles is their Lawfull King and the Pope hath no power to Depose him how thereupon they are told from Rome that they had renounced the Catholick Faith and that they were fallen under the Condemnation of the Apostolick See For as the Popes Nuncio at Brussels by a Letter dated July 21. 1662. informs them how that their Remonstrance being examined at Rome by Cardinals and Divines was found to contain Propositions condemned by Paul the Fifth and Innocent the Tenth and that the Pope was so far from approving it that he did not so much as permit or connive at it and therefore condemned it in this Form that it could not be kept without breach of Faith according to the Decrees of Paul the Fifth and that it denied the Popes Authority in matters of Faith according to that of Innocent the Tenth I do further declare that during my abode at Rome I heard the Jesuits section XVI often affirm and publish that it was not only lawfull to Kill any Prince or Person Excommunicated and declared a Heretick but that it was meritorious to do so Nor was this the Opinion only of one or two or of such as might be esteemed Rash and Giddy but it was the common Doctrine of all the Jesuits there And I do by all that may obtain credit with Mankind testifie that I have heard it Asserted by Father Anderton Rector of the English College of the Jesuits at Rome Father Campion Minister of the said College Father Robert Southwell Assistant to the General of the Jesuits Father Buckley Pentionary for the Pope Father Green Procurator for the Jesuits at Monto Portio within fifteen Miles of Rome And from this I desire to make these three Remarks 1. That every Protestant Prince is hereby exposed to the mercy of any one that under the encouragement of meriting Heaven will take the boldness to Assassinate Him For all such Princes both by the Decrees of their Councils and the Cannons of their Church as well as by the Bulls of divers Popes are not only pronounced Hereticks but actually Excommunicate Nor are the Jesuits singular in this Opinion that it is lawfull to kill Heretical Princes for the Pope himself by a Decree in their Canon Law hath taught and declared the same We do not esteem them Murderers saith Pope Vrban who shall happen to kill any Excommunicate person out of an ardour and zeal to the Catholick Church their Mother Secondly I would observe from hence what opinion we are to have of all that the five Jesuits declared upon their Salvation in their late dying Speeches God was equally invok'd to be a Witness of all they said and their Salvation was alike pawn'd upon the truth of one
I should suddenly see great Changes for the better both in Church and State in England and that I should receive signal Imployment there So that now from all this these Four things do immediately fall under the view of every Person that is but so much as capable to understand Common Sense First That the Kings Life is judged the only obstruction to the Reenslaving these Nations to Rome and that so long as he lives they do utterly despair of subjugating these Kingdoms to the Papal Tyranny Which as it should make His Majesties Life the more dear to all his Subjects So it should influence Himself from that regard which he hath so often Solemnly profest to bear to the Protestant Religion to be the more carefull of his own Safety Secondly notwithstanding their despair of being ever able to impose their Faith and Worship upon these Nations whilest His Majesty liveth yet they are at the same time confident of seeing this all accomplished Which is in effect as much as if they had told us that they were resolved and prepared to remove Him and that by some horrid Attempt upon His Life Thirdly That the Confederacy against the Protestant Religion and these Kindoms is powerfull and strong For neither any Forreign Combination nor the Encouragement which they can have from so small a Number as the open and avowed Papists in the Land amount to could ever give matter for such Towring hopes nor administer ground for so high a Confidence no less than the Engagement of many of the most Eminent Persons of the Nation to use their own Phrase could be Foundation sufficient to erect so vast Expectations upon And as it is the Interest of the Kingdom to have these hitherto unknown Persons detected so it should be the Prayer of all and the Endeavour of those Chosen to sit in the Great Senate of the Nation that the Kingdom may be secured from their Treacherous Designs Fourthly That understanding the Size of the Persons who have renounced their Allegiance to His Majesty as well as the Religion by Law Established instead of being thereby Intimidate we would grow sensible of the dangers which threaten us and provide Remedies to withstand them And seeing there are some Persons of the foregoing Bulk and Character actually Impeached let us by Prayers and Intreaties sollicit His Majesty that he would not abandon Himself His Government and People to the hazards which a further Procrastination of their Tryals may occasion For if they be Innocent besides the honour of being Vindicated not only from the Suspicions they lie under but the Treasons they are charged withall they will reap the happiness of being restored both to their Liberty and the good Opinion of their Fellow Subjects And if they be Guilty it is both His Majesties Interest as well as the Nations and what his Subjects may expect from the Justice he oweth His People as well as the Grace he hath hitherto exercised towards them that such villanous Conspirators as would subjugate these Kingdoms to Popish Idolatry and Slavery may undergo the severest Punishments which by Law are due unto their Crimes section XIX There is one thing more which I learned from the aforementioned Fathers both at Rome and Paris namely That He being removed who alone stood in the Gap their Religion must needs flourish again in these Nations Forasmuch as the Duke of York and the Queen were of their side Now though this way seem to such as know not how to knit two Thoughts together matter of no great moment yet to Persons accustomed to use their Understandings in a rational train of Discourse it suggests that which may give us a very sad apprehension For besides as I have already observed that the Duk 's being a Papist is the Fountain of all Attempts upon the Kings Life and the alone rise of all the Danger which His Person is daily exposed to There is something further and that of a most Tragical Consideration wrapt up as the sense of those Expressions For supposing the Duke to be a Papist and that he should come to the Crown which God by the Prolongation of His Majesties Life avert yet without a trampling upon all our Laws our Religion being incorporate into them and settled by them Popery cannot flourish again in these Nations Protestancy is not only now the Religion of the Kingdom but it is become a part of the Polity and an Essential Ingredient of the constitution of our Legal Government Nor can any as matters are by Law Established supplant Religion which is our legal Right without Overthrowing all those Laws which secure us of it So that to tell us that through having the Duke on their Side were the King once Dead their Religion should be exalted to its greatest heigth and flourish in these Nations as much as at any time heretofore is in Effect to say that our whole Government shall be Changed and all those Laws subverted which Entitle us to the Protestant Religion and protect us in it What Provision His Majesty and his Two Houses of Parliament may think fit to make to give the Nation security in this matter as it is to be left to their Wisdom so it is our duty quietly to acquiesce in what they Agree about and Enact to this purpose But if there be any Sense in what I have related from the Jesuits Mouths they intend not that Protestants shall enjoy much benefit by any Law that shall be made to such an End They may improve it indeed to facilitate in the minds of short-sighted People the Duke's Accession with quiet to the Crown but they have told us beforehand that our Religion shall be never the more secured unto us by a Law of that kind It is needfull for the Papists at this time to talk of such a Law to promote that which they themselves first aim at but having under the favour of it once compassed that it will be as needfull to destroy it that they may accomplish the rest Having related whatsoever may give light to the Horrid Plot against section XX these Nations and especially His Majesties Life so far as my Informations beyond Sea inable me to do I am in the next place to give an account of the further Knowledge I arrived at concerning it after my Return into England Being then after divers Years absence come into my Native Countrey about December 1676. and being recommended as a Secular Priest to Minister and Officiate in the Family of John Jenison Esquire in the County Palatine of Durham The first thing that I did was to recollect the Disloyal and Traiterous Doctrines which I heard the Jesuits Teach at Rome and elsewhere For as these Principles had given me such a disgust against their Order before that though highly tempted and frequently importuned to be One of that Society I absolutely refused it and chose rather to be a Secular so the reflecting upon them at leasure and with sedateness of
they are bound to exterminate Hereticks as they would be esteemed Christians themselves saith the Decree of the Lateran Councel under Innocent the third Yea by the late Bull of Clement the tenth for any Papist to be Loyal to an Heretical Prince is publickly declared to be a crime and such are solemnly cursed in the view of all the world for that which the principles of Reason and Revelation and without which no Government is safe oblige them unto Bellarmine speaketh intelligibly when he saith That Hereticks are to be destroyed root and branch if it can possibly be done but if it appear that the Catholicks are so few that they cannot conveniently with their own safety attempt such a thing then it is best in such a case to be quiet least upon opposition made by Hereticks the Catholicks should be worsted Hereupon Bannes hath no other Apology to make for the English Papists that they do not forcibly rise against the King and his Protestant Subjects but that they are not powerful enough for such an undertaking and therefore the Attempt would be to their own prejudice and damage So that upon the whole Protestants do only hold their lives at the courtesie of the Papists till they be in a condition by number and strength to destroy and extirpate them Good natur'd people that forbear to kill us forasmuch as one of our lives may cost three of their own And yet though at sometimes they seem to judge it convenient either to conceal the foregoing principles or to suffer them for a season to lye dormant by them yet in reality such hath been their faithfulness to their Doctrines that they have never suffered us to be any considerable while without some testimony of the good will they maintain for Hereticks and how ready they are to do all those meritorious offices of killing and destroying us which their Religion obligeth them to do I shall not mention here the vast numbers of Christians that have been butchered by the sentence of the Roman Inquisition of which it is reported that Paul the 4 th should say that the Authority of the See of Rome depended upon that office and that it was setled in Spain by the inspiration of the holy Ghost But surely he meant not that which came down from Heaven but that which was sent from Rome in a Cloak-bag Nor shall I insist upon the infinite slaughters of such as professed Jesus Christ in sincerity by Crusado's and sanctified Wars though Authentick Authors tell us that in France alone there were slain ten hundred thousand persons in the persecution raised against the Waldenses upon no other account but their dissenting from the Church of Rome Neither shall I dwell upon the Parisian Massacre by which in a few days there were murdered above forty thousand persons and that for no other cause but because the Church of Rome had adjudged them Hereticks but I shall rather call over some of the attempts against these Nations commenced upon and justified by the foregoing principles of the Papal Church in reference to those who differ in Religion from them No sooner was Reformation established in England under Edward the sixth than divers Rebellions in several parts of the Land were by the influence of the aforesaid Doctrines and the instigation of Priests and Friars raised against the King and Government as every one may read in our vulgar Chronicles The number of those Rebels may be guessed at by the lists of the killed and taken at some of the defeats given unto them And if we will believe our Histories there were above five thousand slain and taken Prisoners of those that rebelled in Cornwall and Devon-shire and above five thousand slain of those that rose in Norfolk and Suffolk besides those which were taken Prisoners there and who were cut off and apprehended in suppression of the Rebellion in York-shire Now this excellent Prince being dead and Queen Mary Established on the Throne though she was not of a bloody or of an ill disposition in her self yet her Religion obliged her to those Cruelties which have at once left an indelible stain upon her memory and given us to fear what we may expect if the Government should at any time fall into the hand of one infected with the Papal Doctrine For though her Reign was but short yet there were in the compass of a few years two hundred seventy seven publickly burnt besides near as many more who perished by imprisonment torment and famine And all these meerly for Religion not so much as one of them being chargeable with any traiterous Machination against the Government Upon her removal by a natural death and Queen Elizabeth succeeding on the Throne the Reformed Religion was again re-established in the Kingdom And whereas notwithstanding the severity which had been expressed to her self and the cruelty which had been exercised upon those of the same Faith with her She not only buried all resentments but was willing to suffer the Papists to live quietly both in the injoyment of their Estates and the private exercise of their Religion yet it is not to be expressed by what ways of Assassination Conspiracy Rebellions at home and Invasions from abroad they endeavoured to destroy Her Person overthrow the Government and make the Kingdom a Field of blood In pursuance of what by their Religion they owe to Hereticks Pius the 5 th did not only solemnly Excommunicate and Damn her self and all her Protestant Subjects but likewise cursed all the Papists that should give any Obedience to her or her Laws That whole Bull proceeds upon her being a Heretick and for being so the holy Father deprives her of all Dominion and Dignity absolves all her Subjects from any Obligation of Allegiance and includes them under the same Curse though Papists that should yield any Subjection to her Here was a Paraphrase upon the Principles of the Romish Religion towards Hereticks which the Papists from time to time exemplified by practices sutable to the Doctrines of their Faith and the infallible Commentaries of the Roman Mufti For I may confidently say that the Treasons of one kind and another that were contrived against her and her Protestant Subjects were more for number than the years of her Government But all their Machinations and Attempts being by the infiâ—ite wisdom and goodness of God detected disappointed and defeated and She laid in her Grave accompanied with the Tears of her People The like Conspiracies continued against King James who succeeded her For as they had endeavoured by a Book published under the counterfeit name of Doleman but wrote by Parsons by communication with Cardinal Allen and Sir Francis Inglefield to disprove at least Sully his Title to the Crown so they obtained two Breve's from Clement the 8 th to exclude him unless he would swear to promote the Romish Religion Nor is it any matter of amazement or surprise that the Roman See should act in that manner to King
James forasmuch as Gregory the 14 th had a little before by two Monitory Bulls declared Henry the 4 th uncapable of the Crown of France and that upon no account but because he was a Heretick yea which may be a little more startling to those who are not acquainted with transactions of this nature notwithstanding that Henry the third was both a loyal Son of the Church of Rome and had been a bloody and severe prosecuter of the Hugonots and had more adored the Pope than ever any King of France did yet the Pope did both covenant and agree with the Duke of Guise to depose the said Prince and to transfer the Crown from those to whom by the Laws of France it was to descend and to settle it on the said Duke and his Posterity only with this proviso That he would cause the Estates of France to acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Roman See and without modification or restriction to abolish the Liberties and Priviledges of the Gallican Church But to return King James being in defiance of all Papal contrivances Established in the Throne The first fruits of their Loyalty to an Heretical King and the first Evidence of their Principles to such as renounce the Communion of the Church of Rome was to welcome him with a Plot contrived by Watson and Clarke two secular Priests but wheedled into it by the Jesuits as I have heard themselves often declare and afterwardâ— discovered in revenge for their writing two Books the one stiled Quodlibets and the other Important Considerations I know the Jesuits and their Factors have of late the impudence to say that they were drawn into that Conspiracy by Gray Cobham and Rawleigh Protestants who having been Queen Elizabeths old Favorites disliked King James his succession to the Crown and that Watson acknowledged his infamous death to be a Just Judgment for his Factious Writings and designs against their Order and Society Things as wholly false in themselves so recorded by no authentick Historian of the times when they were transacted But to pass this That Plot miscarrying the Jesuits the great Crafts-masters in all Conspiracies designed another and that such a one as might every way correspond to the Principles of the Roman Religion and bear proportion to the good will which by vertue of those principles they bear to Hereticks And accordingly they contrived the blowing up the King Lords and Commons the whole Kingdom as well in Epitome as in its Representatives And this they did meerly in pursuance of what their Religion obliged them unto being withall quickned to the design by the two Briev's received some years before but hitherto kept dormant to operate upon a convenient occasion and good opportunity But being disappointed in that also through its having been discovered by means that I now enquire not into and the Prodigiousness of the Conspiracy having awakened England to a more signal watchfulness and effectual care for its own preservation as it had astonished the whole world Pagan as well as Christian where the report of it arrived the Kingdom had some reprieve for a few years from the publick workings of the Popish principles in the Catholick Service and office of destroying and murthering Hereticks But even in that interval wherein they seemed to lye most dormant they gave us instances enough how acceptable those Heretick murthering Doctrines are at Rome For while all the world stood amazed at the former attempt and many of the Papists abroad seemed to express their detestation of the Principles which produced it The Pope and Court of Rome took all imaginable care to have the Traytors magnified and honoured For Garnet the Provincial of the Jesuits though by his acknowledgment under his own hand he dyed for Treason yet had his name inserted into the English Martirology and his Bones were reserved for Reliques and his Image erected over Altars and two Jesuits who had been principal Conspirators in that Hellish Plot and had by misfortune escaped the Halter which was the reward due to them for their barbarous Conspiracy were upon their arrival at Rome both of them advanced to be the Popes Penitentiaries And moreover when the King and Parliament for the security of the Kings person and preservation of the Government and the lives of his Subjects were forced to enact and impose on the Papists the Oath of Allegiance Paul the 5 th published divers Bulls against it and both Becanus and Bellarmine besides many more wrote expresly in opposition to the taking of it But the next impression of their Faith in its sutable and proper works made amends for their laziness and barrenness during that interim for through the influence of the same principles and being animated by the Pope they murdered above two hundred and fifty thousand in Ireland without any other inducement to it save that they were Protestants and that in killing of them the Catholick cause was promoted For at no time did the Irish enjoy more liberty as to their Religion and more tranquility as to their Persons and Estates than immediately before they broke out into that horrid Rebellion Nor was that quiet and security they possessed the fruits only of a connivance but the effects of many Acts of Grace which had a little before past in favour of them And as there was no alarm given of this either by foregoing Citations to return into the bosom of the Mother-Church nor by any solemn publication of their being Excommunicated nor by any proclaimed Crusadoes or a holy War least the secure Hereticks being numerous and not willing to part with their lives tamely might have been roused to self-defence so this barbarous massacring of so many thousand persons who had laid innumerable obligations upon their Popish Irish Neighbours can be resolved into nothing but the principles of the Romish Religion and the Obligations that Papists are under by vertue of their very Faith to root out Hereticks when a conveniency offereth And take possession of their Estates which by the Decree of the Lateran Councel under Innocent the third are forfeited to the Roman Catholicks and which not only may but ought to be seized whensoever it comes within the Circle of their Power to accomplish it There are many other instances which might be re-collected of their readiness to be as kind and merciful to Hereticks as their Religion not only instructeth but obligeth them were it not that this damnable and hellish Plot which hath been for some years last past and still is carried on for murthering the King subverting the Government and rooting out the Protestant Religion supercedeth all further need of insisting upon those things To make then a nearer approach to the present Plot the Agents of section 4 the Church of Rome having with the utmost diligence as well as all imaginable craft and art especially since the Restoration of His Majesty projected and pursued the re-introduction of Popery into these Kingdoms and the Extirpation of Heresie
as well as by Power and Force may at once and instruct us what measure and favour his Heretical Neighbours are to expect from him if incited against them by the Pope and invited to the Undertaking by the English Papists If neither the advancing his Granfather Henry the Great to the Crown nor the securing himself in his Royalty when sought to be dethron'd by the Prince of Condy deserve or obtain better measure of Requital that what the Hugonots in France daily meet with what may these of the Protestant Religion in England look for from a Prince that besides his knowing the pretensions of the Kings of England to the Dominion of France and his remembring the Conquests that our Ancestors made upon that Monarchy and his sensing that his present Majesties Council and Arms have hindred the Carrere of his late Successes I say what may we look for from a Prince who besides all this is at once encouraged by the Pope invited by the Roman Catholiques in England and inflamed by his own ambition and pride as well as animated by his zeal to the Catholique Cause to turn his Formidable Preparations against these Lands But to conclude this I do particularly affirm that the success of the French Arms abroad hath emboldned the Papists in England in their designs of Subverting not only Religion but the Government A Third great step they had made to the subjugating these Kingdoms to section IX their Idolatrous Religion and the Tyranous yoke of the Roman Court was their preventing the Presumptive Heir to the Crown For howsoever they can here affirm with all the Asseverations imaginable especially when in conversation with credulous and easie Protestants that the Duke of York is still of the Established Religion only that he is a Prince of more generousness than to comply with the Capricioes of a Parliament in renouncing this or Swearing to that as they shall in an humour Enact Yet they not only know and beleeve the contrary but both make their boasts of it and erect their further hopes upon it Father Anderton Rector of the English College of Jesuits at Rome Father Campion Minister of the same College and Father Green Procurator for their Order at Monto Portio have often told me when I was in Italy that the Duke of York was of their Religion And as the Perversion of his Royal Highness gave them nearer prospects of their Establishing their Superstition and Tyranny once again in these Kingdoms and Dominions so it contributed to too effectually to the bringing over many of all Ranks and Qualities to them For as I have when abroad frequently heard the Jesuits glory both in the acquisition of such a Convert and that many Gentlemen through his example had renounced Protestancy and embraced the Roman Catholique Doctrine so the thing carries a self Evidence in it nothing being more familiar in the observation of Ages than that the influence of a Person of the rank quality and legal hopes of his Royal Highness should sway vast and large numbers of people to espouse the Persuasion that he had taken up There is a great part of mankind that seems to own this or that Religion who yet do it not upon any rational grounds or motives of conviction but with respect of Secular interests wordly advantages and accomodations And persons of this Figure being in truth of no Religion will not publickly avow themselves but vigorously impose that upon others which appears suited and calculated unto their carnal an worldly Ends. And the Atheistical Principles which I am afraid too many have imbib'd from a great pretender to Philosophy and Politicks namely that all the obligations of the Law of God upon the consciences of men may be violated by the Authority of the Sovereign in his own Dominions and that no person is accountable at the Tribunal of the Lord for renouncing Christianity it self and much less for the disclaiming Protestancy providing he hath the command of a Ruler to authorise him in what he doth I say I am justly apprehensive that these and the like abominable Notions which many have suckt in from Mr. Hobbs do not only dispose men to be of the Roman Faith if at any time the Sovereign proves to be so but that not a few under the meer prospect of what is likely to be have judged it most convenient to antidate themselves of that Religion which they foresee that in a little time they must be of Moreover it is not easie to be conceived how the Duke of Yorks being a Papist hath encouraged vast numbers of Romish Emissaries to come over hither afforded them security while here and emboldned them in their addresses to all ranks and degrees of Persons And as the City and Country never swarmed so much with all sort of Romish Ecclesiasticks both Secular and Regular as since the perversion of his Royal Highness so by their accosting the hopes of some and addressing the fears of others from the Duke's being a Papist they have and that upon my own personal knowledge prevailed upon many to conform to his Example For I very well remember that Father Campian being returned from England to Rome where I then was did not only confirm them that were here in the belief of the Duke of Yorks being a Papist and of his having been often at Mass but withall affirmed that through his Example many Gentlemen were not only turned Roman Catholicks but Jesuits Surely it was upon a due knowledge as well as mature deliberation that the Great Senate of the Nation April 27. 1679. Resolved Nemine Contradicente That the Duke of York 's being a Papist and his hopes of Coming to the Crown such hath given the greatest Incouragement to the present Conspiracy and Designs of the Papists against the King and the Protestant Religion section X Nor was this either the only progress they had made to the Reinslaving the Nations to Rome but through the interest of the Duke of York and the universal influence he had both at Sea and Land and likewise at Home and Abroad they obtained divers of these persons who were most zealous for the Papal Jurisdiction and in whom they could best confide to be advanced and preferred into places of Power and Trust. And of this there needs no further Evidence though many more instances might be assigned but the advancement of my Lord Clifford to be Lord High Treasurer and Sr. William Godolphin to be his Majesties Embassador in Spain and my Lord Bellasis to be Governor of Hull 'T is true that by the late Tests which His Majesty and the Parliament have provided for such as were to be Imployed in publick Trusts that Papists might be the better and more effectually known and distinguished from Protestants There are both some removed who had been advanced to places of Trust Authority and profit and some others kept from arriving at those stations in the Commonwealth and in the attaining that place and interest in
in danger by a Conspiracy against his Sacred Life malitiously contrived and industriously carried on by the Seminary Priests and Jesuits and their Adherents who think themselves under some obligation of Conscience to effect it and having vowed the Subversion of the True Religion amongst us find no way so likely to compass it as to wound us in the Head and kill the Defender of the Faith And besides what the last Parliament declared to that purpose did not the House of Commons of the Parliament which was then sitting when the Plot was first discovered with the Approbation of the House of Lords resolve That that House was of Opinion that there hath been and still is a Damnable and Hellish Plot contrived and carried on by Popish Recusants for Assassinating and Murdering the King and for Subverting the Government and rooting out and destroying the Protestant Religion So that now upon the whole matter He that dare assume the boldness to tell us that the King laughs at the Plot as a ridiculous and ill contrived Story doth Brand the King the Lord Chancellor and Two Parliaments for a company of Impostors And if this be not enough to stigmatise such Rascals for the worst of Slanderers and overthrow their credit with all Mankind surely nothing in this World can be alledged more effectual to do it Thirdly need we more to satisfie us that there is any thing to be expected from men of a Papal Complexion by lies and calumnies if we will but consider that after they had inhumanly murdered Sr. Edmund-bury Godfrey fastned divers slanders upon him before he was found and afterwards endeavoured to impose plain impossibilities upon our Faith namely that he had killed thimself when the place where he lay the manner of his laying and many other circumstances uncontroulably demonstrated the contrary so at last one of these scandalous and villainous Scriblers dare now solemnly avouch That he was an entire Friend to the Popish Party and that he had performed the utmost service in their behalf that friendship it self could suggest Can there be any thing said more effectual at once to convince this Fellow of being a Slanderer or to disabuse those men of little understanding that are inclined to believe him in any thing he says than that he should offer to obtrude upon the Faith of Englishmen that Sr. Edmund-bury Godfrey was a Papist or at least a very friend to the Papal Party It were to abase the patience of all who knew that worthy Gentleman and are masters of Sense or Honesty to offer to prove that Sr. Edmund-bury Godfrey was a Protestant or that he was far enough from supposing himself inrolled in the number of the friends of the Popish Faction Alas poor Gentleman as he little dreamed that a professed Member of the Church of England and a liberal Asserter of the Protestant Doctrine and constant Reliever of the necessities of those that were of the Reformed Religion but one as himself frequently related that expected to be the first Martyr under the Popish Rage should be consigned down to Posterity as the Cordial friend to those avow'd Enemies of his own Religion or a principal Confident of those Bontefeus of the Kingdom for whose peace and safety he was a watchfull Magistrate Nothing allyed to truth can be expected from such who after they had barbarously Murdered an innocent Gentleman do by robbing him afterwards of his honour credit and reputation assassinate him a second time It is a great effect of the Divine Wisdom to give up Impostors to the venting some palpable falshoods that the easie and credulous World may be the better fortified against those other reports which they cannot so easily disapprove For they who are found wilfull and evident Slanderers in some things ought not to be credited in any thing unless it be accompanied with better Credentials than the authority of their Testimony These few Remarks are sufficient to take off the credit of those Popish Scriblers that have attacked the Reputation of the Kings Witnesses and slandered the Justice of the Nation so a reply being preparing to all the particular instances in which they are slandered may discharge me from calling those Pamphletters to a further Account Yet forasmuch as I do not think it enough to have these Advocates section XII of the Plot proved meerly to be Slanderers I shall therefore moreover show that the Papists may not only be publick Defamers with a Consistancy to their Religion but that the Doctrines of their chief Casuists instruct and incourage them to be so And this I shall perform in a brief consideration of two Particulars First in that they teach the Members of their Church to be under no obligation to speak Truth either to or of Hereticks but that they may calumniate them without the fear of guilt or Divine wrath It is the common opinion of the Jesuits in all their Scholastick and Casuistical Writings that it is no sin to Calumniate those who speak ill of them or the Roman Church They are under no moral Obligation to Hereticks but may cheat them without dishonesty violate Oaths made unto them without perjury rob them without theft kill them without murder and lie to them or concerning them without the violation of the measures of Truth or Justice Nor is it any ways strange that while they may meritoriously destroy us they should with innocency defame us For by the same Principles that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks no Faith is due to them When we meet with such Maxims as that Servants owe no fidelity to Heretical Masters nor Children obedience to Heretical Parents nor Wives conjugal duty to Heretical Husbands nor Subjects loyalty to Heretical Princes ought we after this to be surprised upon finding it established as a received Doctrine at least of the Jesuits that they may innocently slander and defame Hereticks of whatsoever quality and degree And as by the knowledge of their Principles in this matter I can make a shift to understand Balsec Cocleus Sanders c. in their virulent and slanderous Books against Calvin Luther and other blessed Reformers without finding my self obliged to believe them in any one word they speak to the defamation of those whom they accuse so by the same means I judge my self conducted not to give credit to any Papist speaking to the prejudice of an Heretick unless I be otherwise assured of the Truth of what he declares But secondly if you will add to this that they are countenanced by the maxims of their Divines to defame any one of what Religion soever he be that doth them an injury we may then be fully armed against all Impressions of disbelieving the Plot that the late Scriblers are designed to raise or beget In all the Casuistical Divinity of the Jesuits there is hardly a case wherein they do so unanimously conspire and agree as in this That it is lawfull to invent crimes to ruine their credit who speak
I Do Appoint Robert Boulter to Print this my Narrative Entituled A Further DISCOVERY of the late Horrid and POPISH-PLOT c. and that no others Print the same JOHN SMITH October 12. 1679. THE NARRATIVE OF Mr. John Smith OF Walworth in the County-Palatine of Durham Gent. Containing a further DISCOVERY Of the late Horrid and POPISH-PLOT With an Account of 1 st The inconsistency of the Popish-Principles with the Peace of all States 2 ly Their Destructiveness to all Protestant Kingdoms 3 ly The Incouragements upon which the Papists undertook so Hellish a Design against England 4 ly The Progress they had made in it 5 ly The Reasons of their endeavouring more especially the Death of His present Majesty 6 ly With a Vindication of the Justice of the Nation upon the Traitors already Executed LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Robert Boulter at the Turks-head in Corn-hill 1679. To the KING AS I owe my Allegiance and have Dedicated my Life to Your Majesty so I desire with all Humility in my self and Zeal for Your Happiness to offer up these Papers unto You. Many of Your Subjects are capable to present You with what is more sutable to the Greatness of Your Understanding but nothing can be laid at Your Feet which more nearly concerns the Preservation of Your Sacred Person the Safety of Your Crown and Security of Your Royal Dignity The danger of Conspiracies lies in their being concealed none ever perished by a detected Plot but such as have wilfully abandoned themselves to be destroyed And therefore while some of your Subjects to defeat the Hellish Machinations of the Papists against your Majesty and People are contented to expose themselves not only to secret Assassinations but to the vow'd Revenge of a disloyal and desperate Party It is hoped that you will not at once both desert your Self and de-relinquish the care of three Kingdoms as well as Sacrifice those Loyal Souls to gratifie implacable Enemies Sir 'T is past the Malice and Strength of your Adversaries either to destroy your Life or subvert your Government unless which God avert you joyn in the Conspiracy by some Personal accession And against dangers that you voluntarily expose your self unto there is no promise that the immense Wisdom or Almighty Power should interpose to save you The Conspirators find it convenient to alter the Methods of accomplishing their Treason but they remain unchangeable in their Traiterous Designs But Sir it is in your own Power not only to Reign in defiance of their violent Attempts but to render your People happy while you live and relinquish them safe when you dye For to all this there is no more required but your hearkning to the Advice of your Parliament who as they are best able to Counsel you so their own interest and the welfare of those they represent will always oblige them to it Might your Popish Adversaries but once divide betwixt you and your People and dispossess you out of the hearts of your Subjects the next thing will be having left you none to stand by you to wrest your Crown from you and deject you from your Throne As it is impossible you should miscarry while you and your People agree so no humane means can prevent the Destruction of these Kingdoms and the Unhappiness of your Royal Self and Family in their Ruines if through the Clamours of the Popish Party you should be divided from your People as represented in Parliament and to be withdrawn from hearkning to their Advice Your Majesties Most humble and most loyal Subject JOHN SMITH TO THE READER HAd the many Discoveries of the Plot already communicated to the World served either to dismay the Conspirators from their further proceeds or to awaken the Nation proportionably to its danger The Conveying of this to the knowledge of the Kingdom had been wholly forborn 'T is true that the offering this Information to His Majesty and the Council was an indispensible Duty which could not be superseded without Disloyalty to the Government but the divulging it to the Kingdom is to be resolved into that Lethargy as the motive of it which too many still lye under Shall it be said that our supine folly and unreasonable unbelief promote our ruine beyond what the malice of our Enemies was able to accomplish Shall their Address in impudent Pamphlets wheedle a company of easie and silly Souls to disbelieve what the King the Council and two Parliaments being first assured themselves have both recommended it to the Faith of these Kingdoms and consigned it over to Posterity as an unquestionable certainty It is not without astonishment that I observe how a generation of men whose interest makes it necessary and whose principles makes it lawful to Lye are able by meer impudence to out-face the fullest Evidence and most uncontrollable Convictions of their Guilt Reader Thou wilt therefore find in these following Sheets not only a further Attestation given to prove a Hellish Conspiracy against His Majesty the Protestant Religion and the Government by Law Established but thou wilt meet with some account both of the Advantages which did facilitate them in their designs and of the several steps which they had taken to accomplish them And if after all this the Protestant Inhabitants of these Nations will suffer themselves to be destroyed by continuing their Divisions notwithstanding such fair warning I will only say that they deserve to perish without Compassion and Pity A further DISCOVERY Of the late Horrid and Popish-PLOT WHat disturbances and fatal mischiefs the claim and exercise section 1 of Papal Authority and Jurisdiction have caused even in Kingdoms where both Princes and People were in all things else of the Romish Faith the Histories of foregoing Ages do sufficiently inform us The alone demurring to the Usurpations of the Roman Pontife hath derived from the pretended Infallible Chair the Excommunication of Princes the discharging Subjects from their Allegiance the Alienation of Crowns and Kingdoms the interdicting the performance of all Divine Services in Nations which according to their own stile were in all things else Catholick For besides the manifold instances which all parts of the Western World afford us to this purpose such as Gregory the seventh his Excommunicating Henry the fourth Sylvester the third his Anathematizing Henry the fifth Gregory the ninth his cursing Frederick the second Emperour of Germany And Innocent the third his Excommunicating Philip August and setting his Kingdom under an Interdict Benedict the thirteenth Charles the sixth and Boniface the eighth Philip the Faire Kings of France I say besides these and many other Forraign instances of this nature the Kingdom of England alone hath afforded us too many woful proofs of the Papal Vsurpation and falsly pretended Jurisdiction over Temporal Monarchs and their Dominions So that towards the recommending the Romish Religion and the Authority of the See of Rome to the love of my Country-men I need only put them in mind of the
thereupon arrived at more respect as well as enjoy'd more peace in their Persons and Estates than they were in possession of at any time since the Reformation Nor do I believe that there is any Protestant that would have envied them the security they enjoyed or the favour they had attained to provided they had not abused them to the destruction of His Majesties Person the supplanting of His Government and the extirpating the Religion which was Legally established But alas good and peaceable Souls such an opportunity of promoting the Catholick interest was not to be lost They might now carry on their designs for the Triple-Crown none daring to suggest any thing to bring them under a jealousie who would not be immediately aspersed as maligners of the Kings best friends And it is not to be apprehended what improvement of that little stock of credit which some of the Popish Gentry had gotten by their being on the late Kings side in the last War the Jesuits Priests and Friars made to the furtherance of the subjugating these Nations again to Rome For now were all the principles of the Papal Religion by which those that espouse it are obliged to root out Heresie and Establish the Jurisdiction of the Pope inculcated from day to day upon persons of one quality and another of the Papal Profession A second thing which gave them no less advantage for the carrying on section 5 of their designs was the division among the Protestants themselves And here two things greatly ministred to the sub-serving the design of the Papal Agents 1 The parties divided were come to a more equal ballance as to numbers on each side respectively than at any season heretofore For during the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the first the Dissenters from the Established way of the Church of England were but few in comparison of those who were for Episcopacy and the Rites and Ceremonies required by Law in Divine Worship So that there being then little jealousie of any danger to the Church of England from the Protestant Dissenters how zealous soever they might even in those days be for their way the watchfulness of the Dignitaries of the Church and the labours of the inferiour Clergy were chiefly exercised and laid out in reference to the Papists But those who stile themselves Non-conformists being now multiplied to that degree as that they seem to bear a much nearer proportion to the other party than heretofore they did The main care of the Over seers of the Church hath thereupon much abated towards the Papists and been exerted towards them 2 The Animosities between the Protestants thus divided into two parties were become higher and their mutual exasperations grown fiercer than heretofore For partly through the ill entertainment which the Bishops and the conformable Clergy met with in the late times and partly through the ill entertainment which the Bishops and the conformable Clergy met with in the late times and partly through the retaliation they have measured to Protestant Dissenters since they had the Authority of the Law and assistance of the Government to befriend them they are wonderfully inflamed in mutual heats towards and disgust of one another Of which it is easie to imagine what manifold uses the Factors for the Roman See have made to the furthering of their own designs which tend equally to the ruine of both For as the pretence of these Divisions hath served as a plea to proselyte such who know not that the Divisions of the Church of Rome are more numerous and their feuds more irreconcileable so the subtile Ministers of the Papacy have by winding themselves into all Companies if not the mustering themselves in all parties endeavoured both to heighten the differences and to make their Animosities against each other not only hotter but more immortal And while the one party of Protestants hath been crying out of Schism and the other party of persecution the Papists have to the reproach of both been undermining that common Faith which they equally centre in and carrying on a design of destroying the one as well as the other being in their account both equally Hereticks I would be loath to believe that through the grandure which the Clergy are exalted unto the possession of in the Church of Rome that therefore our Protestant Bishops and other Dignitaries of the English Church should think them the less dangerous but this I know that those vulgarly stiled Phanaticks have judged themselves highly justified in their clamours against the Conformable Clergy in that they are so severely treated while in the mean time no difference in any fundamental Doctrine from the Church of England can be objected unto them And as the Jealousies which the differences betwixt dissenting Protestants have caused have made every overture though for the preservation of Religion in general and the safety of the Nation wherein they are both alike interested if proposed by one party to be suspected by the other so the distrust which these Divisions have caused in one Protestant towards another hath in no small measure emboldned the Papists to hope that in whatsoever they should attempt there could be no confederation among Protestants either to resist or oppose them And though I cannot say it upon my own knowledge yet I have cause to believe it from the reason of the thing as well as upon the Testimony of Mr. Dugdale that they were the more confident in their design privately to Assassinate the King as hoping when they had so done to have Fathered it upon the Phanaticks And as they might very rationably believe that would the Nation have been so possest they would have avenged it upon that party even to the extirpating of them so they assuredly knew that thereby their own design of destroying the Episcopal Protestants would have been rendred much the more facile section 6 A third thing that equally contributed with the former to the introduction of Popery into these Kingdoms was the general prophaneness which hath greatly over-spread these Nations beyond what at any time heretofore hath been observed For besides that every prophane person is truly of no Religion and therefore indifferent to seem to be of any as interest and temptation sways him so no man can care much to be of that Religion which not only condemns all the ways he is resolved upon but the more because he is of such a Religion that doth not allow them And withall there is this further whereby such men are disposed for Popery more than others viz. That it can both allow them in all the sins which they have a mind to and secure them from the fears of Eternal punishments in the practice of them For partly by making many things which Christ hath forbid and men from the power of their Lusts and the influence of their interest have a desire to commit to be no sins and partly by making such things which the Gospel stiles enormous
mutual confidence in one another which is so absolutely necessary to our Preservation When I have told you as I shall anon that the Kings Person is more in danger than any of his People it may serve to promote your confidence in the Government and to unite among your selves in order to His Majesties Preservation For as His Majesty hath most just cause to apprehend the designs of the Papists against his Life so we may not only fear but too groundedly conclude that both our Religion and Civil Liberties with whatsoever else is dear unto us will become a Sacrifice to the lusts of the Romish Party if they succeed in their Conspiracies against his Life Whoever he be that maketh profession of the Protestant Religion and will not seem to believe there is a Plot nor acknowledge the Nation to be in danger he ought to be listed under one of these three Ranks of Men. First he is either of the number of those weak Fools whom God hath given riches to in consideration for having denied them understanding For there are a kind of silly Coxcombs that are first pusled and then missed by Insinuations which none but Knaves would suggest and Idiots be swayed with Or secondly he is reduceable to them whose fears make them both dissemble and ready to deny what they too well know for there are a great many whose dread prescribes to their reason and Conscience Now these apprehending it impossible to prevent the Designs on foot though they were not at first in them and possibly intend not actually to be yet having a mind to preserve themselves they are therefore not only willing to connive at that which they judge impossible to be defeated but to make an interest with the Conspirators in serving them as far as they can without running the hazard of the Halter Or thirdly he may be numbred amongst them who rather than a Company of discountenanced Protestants should be a little indulged they will sacrifice the very Protestant Religion to the pleasure and lusts of the Papists Through an apprehension which they have that should the Plot be believed the Nonconformists may meet with some degree of Favour in order to their better encouragement to ingage among others for the defence of the Government they are resolved so that they may have the pleasure of seeing them destroyed to expose at least as far as in them lies the Nation to be ruined with them Nor can I apprehend why the late House of Commons comes to be aspersed by some publick Scriblers as well as in Coffee-house Twatlers unless it be that they did not think meet whilest they were providing for the security of the Kings Person and safety of the Kingdom from the Conspiracies of the Papists at the same time to Enact new Laws and those written in Blood against persons of the same Religion with themselves and who do only differ from them in some few Rites and Ceremonies nowise essential to the Protestant Religion He can therefore be no friend to the Protestant Religion to the King or to the Government that when our Ruine is conspired by a company of desperate Popish Enemies at home and threatned by a Combin'd Power of Papists from abroad endeavoureth then to disunite and weaken us by groundless Aspersions and Calumnies cast upon men sound in all the Fundamentals of the Protestant Doctrine and ready to venture their Lives and Fortunes as soon as any for the defence of His Majesty and the Government And therefore among other reasons for my contributing all I can to the further Detection of the Plot to the Nation having first discovered what I know of it to His Majesty and the Privy Council I do plainly deliver this to be one that they who question it from principles of Weakness and Simplicity may be more fully informed and they who endeavour to shame it upon base corrupt and perverse Considerations may be taken notice of and esteemed Abetters of the Popish Conspirators in their most Hellish Designs And that the Light I arrived at concerning the Design against His section XIV Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion in these Nations may be conveyed to others with the more Intelligibleness as well as the greater Credibility it is convenient that I should intimate these three things 1. That I was originally a Protestant being both trained up in that Faith whilest a Child here at home and further instructed in the Reformed Doctrine whilest at Geneva abroad But being Travelling in France I was by the art craft and unwearied persuasions of Abbot Mountague and Mr. Thomas Carr perverted from the Protestant Religion and allured into the Communion of the Romish Church And as none are so industrious in Foreign Nations to debauch his Majesties Protestant Subjects whom they occasionally there meet with as the English Scotish and Irish Papists residing in those Parts So the various methods they take to inveigle those whom they have opportunity to meet with and address are not easie to be expressed For by suting their Temptations sometimes to the Necessities and at other times to the lusts and Ambitions of those they accost they prove more successfull in their Attempts for Seducing young Travellers than can readily be imagined For if they be persons of Quality they allure them with hopes of esteem in Foreign Courts the favour of Access to and Correspondence with Princes and Potentates abroad and especially with promises of being Exalted at home upon the Alteration which they give themselves out as prepared to introduce into these Nations And if they be Persons of Scholastick abilities then they assault them with assurances of Preferment and that they shall not only be accomodated and esteemed sutably to their Parts in their Colleges abroad but that they shall be made Dignitaries of the Church here upon the Revolution that is ready to take place in these Kingdoms And if the Persons are indigent then they attack them with offers not only to supply their present wants but to provide for them even to their own wishes and desires for the future Yea if those they meet with chance either to be Malefactors that have fled beyong Sea for their crimes or Bankrupts who have withdrawn thither to escape their Creditors unto such they offer either a Sanctuary in their Monasteries or to recommend them to some Grandee that may imploy them agreeably to their inclination and humour So that what in one way and what in another there are none come within their Circle whom they have not Temptations prepared for and futed unto And I wish that the sad experience of their success upon my Self as well as the many conquests I have seen them make of others might not only influence Parents to be less forward in sending their Sons beyond Sea but awaken the Government to provide if not against the thing yet against the dangers that attend it Secondly I would intimate this that being after manifold persuasions perverted from the Protestant
mind after I became settled at Mr. Jenisons heightned my Abhorrency of them For it is an easier thing to divest a man of the Principles of Supernatural Revelation than to eradicate out of him the Principles of natural Religion We may be sooner brought to Renounce the Doctrines of Faith than the measures of Justice betwixt Man and Man And there are some who would more easily let go all the Articles upon which future Happiness depends then bid farewell to those Dictates of Natural Light upon which the Government of Kingdoms and the peace of Societies hang and bear And to deal freely as I sooner observed the falshood of the Romish Doctrines which relate to Magistrates than of those which concern Jesus Chrìst and Salvation by him so the conviction I was under of the Erroneousness of the former was that which led me first to examin then to doubt of and at last to renounce all the latter For as I plainly perceived that no man can be loyal to his Prince and faithfull to the Government he lives under and withall maintain the Universal Jurisdiction of the Pope viz. his right to Depose Kings and Absolve Subjects from their Allegiance so I suddenly came to understand that no one can be a Papist but he who holds them For to disclaim them is to disclaim both the Infallibility of the Pope and the Authority of General Councils which is in effect to abjure the whole Popish Religion as having no other foundation but the Decrees of Popes and Canons of Councils Being then settled as I intimated at Mr. Jenisons House and having called over all the Traiterous Positions I had heard the Jesuits teach and having found them agreeable unto and justified by their publick Writings I thereupon made it my business to exclude both all Jesuits and all other Priests Jesuitically inclined from coming to the said House or wheresoever else Mr. Jenison had to do For though I was not yet so far enlightned my self as to think of Converting that Family from being Papists yet I was resolved to preserve them from being Traytors and accordingly to hinder all such from coming among them who might infect them with Disloyal Principles section XXI Now during my abode there and my Converse with the Countrey about the first suspition I received of the Plot was an Vniversal Collection of Moneys which I observed to be made among the Papists I was my self sollicited by Mr. William Gascoyne and other Secular Priests to assist in it but I not only declined Cooperating in such a business but diswaded Mr. Jenison and all others I had the Conduct of from contributing Money upon any occasion 'T is true the Pretence was to repair the College of Doway which is penall by the Law should it be granted that the Money was so applyed but I have reason to apprehend that under the Umbrage of repairing a College they were providing for the Ruine of a Kingdom For the Collections were Universall in all the Northern Parts and not only the Gentry but most others of the Popish Religion in those Counties contributed their Proportions some to Five pounds some to Ten pounds and some to Twenty pounds He must be of a very shallow Understanding that can once imagine that so great Treasure as this would come to should be all sacrificed to the Repair of a College No it must have been some greater Design that so large a supply of ready Money was intended for I grant that my own refusing to assist in that Affair together with the Jealousies they had conceived of me for excluding all the Jesuits and such other Priests as were tainted with their Principles from admission into Mr. Jenisons House gave them sufficient reason to conceal the disposal of it from me But this I know that all the Moneys which were collected were either paid or to be paid to Mr. William Stephenson a Priest Though the many foregoing passages which I have truly reported section XX gave me full assurance of a Conspiracy against His Majesties Life and the Protestant Religion as by Law Established in these Nations yet I knew that it would have been morally impossible through the interest which the Papists had in Persons near His Majesty to get the Jesuits and much less the Romish Party Convicted upon this General and withall single Evidence And therefore I found it necessary for a season to conceal these things lest I should not only miscarry my self upon attempts to Detect them but withall enrage the Papists to precipitate their Designs upon the Sacred Life of the King However I resolved to be watchfull over all Opportunities whereby I might attain a more perfect insight into their Hellish and Mysterious Conspiracies And as in this interim the Plot came to be discovered by Mr. Oates so an occasion presented it self in a Conference thereupon betwixt Mr. Robert Jenison and me which not only contributed to my own more perfect satisfaction in reference to their Bloody Designs but hath given rise to Mr. Jenisons own Discovery And as it is convenient that the World should know the sense and tenor of that Discourse which past betwixt Mr. Jenison and me so I think it fittest to deliver it in the words of the Information which I gave in to one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace Middls West ss Part of the Information of John Smith of Walworth in the County Palatine of Durham Gentleman taken upon Oath the 8. day of September 1679. before me Edmund Warcup Esquire one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace in the said County and City THis Informant saith that Mr. Robert Jenison came to his Fathers House in September 1678. where after he had been some days Sr. Edward Smith came to Walworth and produced a Letter signifying a Discovery of a Popish Plot in London and upon enquiry who were in it Ireland and Whitebread were named About three or four days after which Mr. Robert Jenison before his Father Sisters and this Informant said he believed there was something of a Plot for that he had heard Mr. Ireland say 't was an easie matter to take off the King Whereupon this Informant asked him what that Ireland was Who answered he was a Jesuit and his Cousen And Mrs. Katherine Jenison his Sister asked when he saw Mr. Ireland Who answered a little before he came out of Town at his Lodging in Russel-street which was on the Day that himself came from Windsor and the same Day that Mr. Ireland came Post out of Staffordshire and that he then found him pulling off his Boots Mrs. Katherine Jenison then asked him how her Aunt in Staffordshire did Who replied Mr. Ireland said she was well and that he had been with her in Staffordshire at that time This Informant then asked him what a kind of Man Mr. Ireland was Who answered that he was a fine countenanced smiling Man and swore if he be Guilty of this Plot I will never trust a Smiling Man again Thereupon