then cutting it off they threw his Body into a River I want both time and paper to mention any more particular Acts committed by Popish Miscreants in these Valleys onely I shall observe that having barbarously butcher'd divers Protestants they did Canibal-like cause the Brains and several parts of the Bodies of these poor Martyrs to be fried or otherwise dress'd and did then eat the same By what hath been said it is evident that though the Irish and French Massacres might exceed this in respect of the Numbers that were kill'd outright yet in respect of the variety of savage Cruelties it is as evident that this Massacre is without parallel If you desire a large and full account of the Antiquity of these Churches and of their many Sufferings under the Papacy I refer you to that excellent History entituled The History of the Evangelical Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont published by Sir Samuel Morland in the Year 1658. FINIS A RELATION Of the Barbarous and Bloody MASSACRE OF ABOUT An Hundred Thousand Protestants begun at Paris and carried on over all France in the year 1572. I Am confined to a Sheet of Paper and therefore shall be obliged to relate only the most remarkable Passages that occur in the best French Historians concerning that Hellish Butchery which take as follows The French King Charles the Ninth being a sworn Enemy to the Protestant Interest was exceedingly troubled to find that notwithstanding all the endeavours he had used to destroy his Protestant Subjects by force of Arms yet their number instead of being diminished did still increase and having likewise found all his politick artifices vain and unsuccessful he at last resolved to accomplish his wicked design against them by Treachery Perjury and breach of Faith Which he effected thus After 12 years Civil Wars the King concluded a Peace with the Protestants by which he granted them the free exercise of their Religion and to make them the more secure he proposed a Marriage between his Sister and the King of Navar foreseeing that if this Proposal should take effect great numbers of Protestants would resort to Paris to attend the Nobility and Gentry of their Party especially to attend the Queen of Navar the Prince of Condé her Son the Admiral of France with others of the highest Rank all which the said Marriage beeing soon after concluded were invited to the Wedding The Queen of Navar came to Court in confidence of the King 's sincere Intentions towards the Protestants according to his often repeated Oaths and Protestations to that purpose and was received with all the outward expressions of kindness and affection that could be as the Admiral had been who came to Court a little before her but in a few dayes she fell sick and dyed having as is said been Poisoned by a pair of perfum'd Gloves Also the Cardinal de Chastillon Brother to the Admiral who had newly before lest his Red Hat and turned Protestant was Poisoned at the same time Though these Poisonings were then only suspected yet some of the Admiral 's Friends gave him divers reasons why they doubted the King had some evil design against the Protestants but the good Man would not believe if because of the King 's reiterated Oaths that he had a Kindness for the Protestants in general and above all for the Admiral in particular On the 17th of August 1572. the King of Navar was Married and the 24th was the fatal Day of that Horrid Massacre which cannot be parallel'd in History unless by that of Ireland which afterwards happened Anno 1642. The Duke of Guise with a great crew of his Hell-hounds went to the Admirals Lodgings early in the Morning to dispatch him first when they had broken open his Gates he rose out of his Bed and as soon as he had put on his Night-Gown he commended his Soul to God and bâ—d his Friends and Servants that were about him to shift for themselves for that they could do him no good by staying any longer with him Which words he had no sooner uttered but some of the Murtherers were come up to his Chamber to the foremost of whom he said Young man you ought to reverence my gray Hairs but you cannot shorten my life much They all stood a while amazed at such undaunted Courage and so composed a behaviour which one of them said was the most extraordinary thing that ever he saw in his whole life But they soon dispatch'd him and the Duke of Guise being below called to them to throw him out at the Window which was done and his Head being out off was presented to the Queen Mother and then Embalmed and sent to Rome Then all manner of Popish barbarity was exercised on the dead Corps viz. his Fingers and Hands were cut off his Body dragg'd about the Streets three days then thrown into the River of Seine and taken out again and hanged in Chains by the Feet c. But the King not content with the Murther of this noble Admiral 's body for to cover the infamy of so foul and damnable a fact he resolves to murther his reputation also and therefore he pretends that the Admiral had conspired against his Life and Crown Also the Parliament of Paris did by the King's Order adjudge the Admiral guilty of the said Conspiracy though they had no Proofs at all of it and thereupon ordained his Body to be hanged if it could be found or if not that he should be hanged in Effigie his House to be razed and a Pillar set up with an Inscription to defame his Memory his Blood was also attainted and his Children declared ignoble and incapable of any Privileges in France This Sentence concluded with an Order for celebrating St. Bartholomew's day in all time coming with Processions and public Thanksgivings for the discovery and punishment of this Conspiracy Two other Persons of Quality were also condemned for this pretended Conspiracy and for refusing to accuse the Admiral of being guilty thereof They were drawn in Hurdles to the place of Execution and having by the way endured with admirable patience the reproaches and dirt cast on them by the rabble they were Hanged together with the Noble Admiral in Effigie having asserted both his Innocency and their own to their last breath After their death their Bodies were barbarously mangled by the accursed multitude and the King who delighted in such bloody spectacles did not only behold it himself with the Queen Mother and the Court but forced the King of Navar to be present likewise The King who had drawn the chief of the Protestants to Paris as aforesaid upon the occasion of the Wedding telling them that he did not so properly give his Sister to the King of Navar as to their whole Party c. and had caused them and all the other Protestants of what rank or condition soever that could be found in that City to be murder'd he sends immediately secret Orders to his
Governours and other principal Officers throughout his Dominions to cause the like Massacres to be committed upon the Protestants in all Places without exception of which I shall forbear to give you a particular account here because I intend to mention the several sorts of barbarous Murthers invented by Papists and by them exercised upon the poor Protestants in Ireland for there was no kind of Butchery practised in France but was repeated with additions in Ireland Anno 1642. to which Story I refer you and shall proceed to acquaint you that together with the King 's secret Orders for the Massacres were sent his Letters to be Published in all Places signifying that his Majesty intended strictly and inviolably to observe the Treaty of Peace conoluded with the Protestants whereby the free exercise of their Religion was granted for by this means he design'd to surprise them by rendring them secure and fearless of danger which accordingly fell out for they depending on the King's Faith Honour and Justice had not the least suspicion of any Treachery intended against them otherwise a great many of them might have escaped that general destruction in which they were involved The French Popish Historians differ much about the number of those that were Massacred but the most Famous of them tell us that there were no less than 100000 Men Women and Children which is likewise asserted by the Bishop of Rhodes who was Tutor to the present French King in his Book lately publish'd of the Civil Wars of France I will give you but two Instances more of this King's Perfidiousness toward the Protestants one of which is That although he had Sworn to the King of Navar and Prince of Condé that they should not only enjoy their Lives and Liberties but their Religion too yet as soon as the Massacre in Paris was over he sent for them and told them that they must turn Roman-Catholicks or they should be Massacred as their fellow Hereticks had been Whereupon after some resistance they went to Mass and wrote Letters full of submission and obedience to the Pope though they were no sooner out of that snare but they renounced their new Religion saying that what had been obtained of them was extorted by force The other instance is that while he was making the deepest Protestations seconded with many dreadful Oaths that he would in all points exactly observe the Peace he had made with the Protestants he did at the very same time privately assure the Pope's Legate that notwithstanding the Peace and Marriage all he was doing was for the Interest of the Catholic Religion And one day taking him by the hand he desir'd him to assure the Pope that his design in this Marriage was that he might be revenged on those that were Enemies to God and Rebels against himself and that he would either cut them in pieces or lose his Crown All which he would do in complyance with the Advices he had received from the Pope who had as he said continually set him on to destroy them and that he saw no way of doing it so securely as by getting them once to trust him having tried all other Methods in vain c. But though this wicked Prince was scarce inferiour to any one recorded in History for Treachery Dissimulation Perjury breach of Faith Cruelty and Blood thirstiness and though he was successful in his wickedness yet he failed in his last design of fathering a Plot against him upon the Admiral and the Protestants for the Popish Writers of that time in France do confess that there was not the least colour to oblidge a Man to believe the said Plot and that it was invented to take away the Scandal of so black and hellish a Massacre as has been already said A certain Historian writing of this Massacre ends with these words Thus were the Protestants destroyed in Paris with a Treachery and Cruelty that the uncivilized Nations had never shewed to one another nor had the Heathens been ever guilty of any thing like it towards the Christians The Precedent which the Church of Rome had formerly given in the Massacre of the Albigenses was the likest thing in History to it for Barbarity but never had Treachery and Cruelty met together in such a manner before this execrable day And one of the French Writers adds that besides 100000 Protestants Slain there were as many sent a Begging But there is no Crime or Villany so execrable which his Holiness cannot Consecrate and therefore his Legate grants a Jubilee to all that had been employed in that Butchery and they were commanded to go every where to Church and bless God for the success of that action And so great was the Blasphemy that the Murtherers presumed to address to that merciful Being who abhors cruel and blood-thirsty men and that with hands defiled with Blood and also boasted of it as a Sacrifice to God which had been a sitter Oblation to him who was a I yer and Murtherer from the beginning than to the God of Truth and Father of Mercies The King also Gloried so much in this Massacre that he caused Medals to be made to represent the Memory of it but this was only a false shew of joy and triumph for he was inwardly tormented with the horrour of a guilty Conscience which the effusion of so much Blood did justly raise in him so that being often troubled with Visions he was frequently heard say Ah my poor Subjects What had you done But I was forc'd to it The strange manner of his death seems a signal Judgment from Heaven for that Bloody day for after a long Sickness Blood not only came out through all the passages of his Head and Body but through the very Pores of his Skin so that he was somtimes found all bath'd in Blood and he that had made his Kingdom swim with Blood at last died wallowing in his own An Instance scarcely to be parallel'd You have seen the Cruel Perfidious Tyrannical and Barbarous Practices of the French King Charles the Ninth against his innocent Protestant Subjects being the effects of his execrable and bloody Principles and those Principles founded on the abominable and hellish Doctrines and Maxims taught by his Holy Mother the Apostate Romish Synagogue as will appear by the following instance viz As soon as the tydings of this Massacre was brought to Rome being Sept. 6. 1572. a Consistory of the Cardinals was presently called and the Legate's Letter that contained a Relation of the Massacre being tend they strait went in Procession to St. Mark 's Church where they offered up their solemn Thanks to God for this great Blessing to the See of Rome and the Catholick Church Two days after another Procession was made by the Pope and Cardinals to the Minerva where they had High Mass and then the Pope granted a Jubilee to all Christendome and one of the reasons was That they should thank God for the slaughter of the Enemies of the
A MEMENTO FOR English Protestants Containing the following Particulars viz. An Epitome of the Massacre in Piedmont An Epitome of the French Massacre An Epitome of the Irish Massacre A Speech of Pope Sixtus Quintus A Collection of the most Remarkable Passages of Queen Maries Reign Together with A PREFACE by way of Answer to that part of the Compendium which reflects on the Bishop of Lincoln's late Book Rev. 6.9 10 11. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God c. And they cried with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud c. And it was said unto them That they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled LONDON Printed for Jacob Sampson next to the Wonder Tavern within Ludgate 1680. THE PREFACE THE Papists have of late given us such fresh Occasions by their horrid and damnable Conspiracies against the Person of our King our Government and our Religion to renounce and detest the Communion of that Church which does not onely allow men but teaches them to be Murderers and Traytors And we have yet so great reason to apprehend the dismal Consequences of their secret and hellish Machinations that I am confident no Discourse which tends to heighten and improve the just Prejudices of Englishmen against that impious and absurd Religion will be thought at this time unnecessary by any good Protestant I shall not therefore make any Apology for the Collecting and Printing this Epitome of the three grand Massacres in Piedmont France and Ireland which is intended chiefly for the Instruction of ignorant and unlearned People for we fear not that Scholars and men of Sence should be made Papists except such whose Morals are so wretchedly debauch'd that they are ready at all times to sacrifice their Consciences to their Civil Interests and I hope there are not so many of those desperate Prostitutes as the Papists are apt to imagine and as the Manners of the Age we live in may I confess give us just cause to apprehend No 't is the ordinary Rank of men who have not had the advantage of Learning and a generous Education to defend themselves against the studied Fallacies and specious Pretences of the Romish Agents who commonly become the prey of those Wolves in Sheeps clothing To provide therefore for their Security that they may not fall into the snares that are laid for them ought to be our chiefest care since as 't is more charity to strengthen the hands of the weak than to add force to the strong so in this case 't is more prudent too in order to the support of the common cause of Protestant Religion the ignorant being by far the greater number Nor is this to be done a better way than by furnishing them with such plain Arguments as they are able to apprehend and manage themselves to the confusion of the common Enemy And these can be no other than such as are drawn from matters of fact they being easiest to be understood and hardest to be answer'd For this reason it was that this short Narrative of the bloudy Butcheries and inhuman Murders heretofore committed upon the persons of Protestants by Italian French and Irish Papists in cold bloud and by the instigation of their Church was prepared for the Press at the desire of a worthy Gentleman whose Zeal for the Interest of his Country and the Protestant Religion deserves a publick mention would his Modesty permit it in order to the being by him bestowed among his Country Neighbours who some of them perhaps have never heard of and others may have forgot the story of these holy Popish Cruelties these Religious Villanies the design being to let such sort of people see what a horrid thing Popery is when her Varnish is taken off what a deform'd and frightful Face this gawdy painted Whore * Rev. 17.2 9 6. With whom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication this mother of abominations made drunk with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus I say what a deform'd and frightful Face she has when her Paint is laid by and she appears by true Lights in her proper Colours what monstrous and abominable Actions Papists are capable of when the Interest of that Idol of theirs their Church requires them By which as well as by their late Plots here in England 't is not hard for men of the meanest Capacities to perceive that their Religion cannot be the Religion of Christ while it justifies them in the grossest Immoralities and engages them in the most unchristian practices That those detestable Doctrines of Deposing and Killing Kings and extirpating Hereticks which have been so often objected to the Church of Rome by Protestant Divines are not Speculative Notions and Propositions Problematical as some of the Popish Writers and particularly the Author of that Lying Libel called * Compend pag. 77. The Compendium would make us believe but such settled Maxims of their barbarous Ecclesiastical Policy as too often have been and again will be put in practice whenever that proud uncharitable Church has a safe occasion to do it though at other times they must be disown'd with the usual Popish Impudence especially to such Protestants as have so little wit to take what they say on trust or so little reading not to be able to disprove them I hope no man will understand me here as if from the bare Actions of Papists and nothing else I argued to the Principles of Popery and concluded the one from the other this were bad Charity and worse Logick and one of their own constant Topicks in their Writings against Protestants 't were to say the worst that can be of it to fall directly into the ridiculous way of reasoning used by the Compendionist when he pretends to answer the Bishop of Lincoln's Book that admirable and learned Discourse a Discourse of so great use at this time and which does with such undeniable Evidence convince the Religion of Papists to be guilty of all their traitorous and bloudy Designs against Kings and Protestants that I cannot but take this occasion to correct that troublesom Impertinent who has made such a sensless Buzze and rais'd such a dust about it with design to puzzle and darken those Truths which the Bishop has there made so plain and clear especially since the Bishop himself has not thought him as indeed he is not worthy of his notice and no body else that I know of has yet expos'd that part of his impudent Pamphlet which concerns this truly Venerable and Excellent Person First then what a foolish Flourish does he make against the Bishop endeavouring to throw that wicked Principle of Deposing Kings upon Protestants with this gross Fallacy of Arguing from mens Practices to the Principles of
their Religion Is not his Lordships meaning says * Compend pag. 77. he in truth this that Protestant Principles when really believ'd are destructive to all Kings especially to Catholick ones since we see that the lawful Monarchs of England Scotland Swedeland Denmark the United Provinces Transylvania Geneva c. have been actually depos'd by their Protestant Subjects This c. here I guess to be a Lie of the lowest price in their Book of Rates for Sin 't is so pitiful and inconsiderable a Trick He puts it down as if there were a vast and tiresom number of Countries behind which in kindness to his Reader he forbears to mention where Princes have been depos'd by Protestants when he know in his Conscience be could scarce have named one more if it had been to gain the Popedom if he could I doubt not but we should have had it at full length Well but in those Countries he has nam'd Princes it seems have been actually depos'd by their Protestant Subjects And what then Does it therefore follow that the Protestant Religion teaches the Doctrine of Deposing Kings Or may it not indeed teach the quite contrary for all that Did this wretched Trifler never hear of men who have acted contrary to the Principles of their Religion Where has he liv'd In a Convent without doubt among the most Seraphick Saints of his Church * Dr. Stilling fleet 's Phanaticism of the Church of Rome pag. 276. I me an those mad Phanaticks of the Sect of Abbot Joachim who according to their new Evangelium Aeternum have been in a state of perfection ever since the Year 1260. I wonder when his hand was in and while he was industriously stuffing out his thin Discourse with big and sounding words he did not bring all the Protestant Criminals and other ill men who have been any way famous since the Reformation upon the stage and then charge the Protestant Religion with Felony and Murder and Treason and Adultery and Perjury and what not The Consequence had been altogether as good and the Triumph as just We do not reason at this loose and absurd rate when we accuse the Church of Rome of Principles which justifie the Deposing and Murdering of Princes and the Massacring of millions of innocent people whom with a ridiculous affectation she terms Hereticks But we first prove her as my Lord Bishop of Lincoln has unanswerably done to have such Principles and this not onely from the Books of her most eminent Writers upon those Testimony we always lay the least weight allow'd and commended by her self but from that Law which is the Rule of Justice in her Ecclesiastical Courts from the Authentick Bulls and Decretals of her Popes And lastly which is the greatest Evidence that is possible in the case from the Canons of her General Councils Then we urge matters of fact conformable to them to shew that they are not things of bare speculation and despute among Casuists and Schoolmen but such necessary Rules for the support of her Hierarchy as have been frequently put in practice to the great scandal of the Christian Profession To come to particulars We should not lay to her Charge the Murders of Henry III. and Henry IV. of France because they were committed by Members of her Communion if besides the publick Applause of the one by the then Pope in a set Speech to the College of Cardinals we had not first convinc'd her of holding such Principles as justifie both We should not accuse her of the several Conspiracies of Papists here in England against the Lives of Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles I. and His present Majesty if besides the proving upon her the before mention'd Principles she had not actually and formally as for as it lay in her power Excommunicated and Depos'd them all and Absolv'd their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance We should not accuse her of the Massacres of Paris and Piedmont because her Sons were there the Brethren in iniquity the Sons of Violence that acted unprovok'd those dismal Slaughters if as an additional proof of her holding the foremention'd Principles she had not (a) Thuanus Hist l. 53. p. 837. commended the one giving thanks to God for it and (b) History of the Waldenses commanded the other Lastly we should not place to her account the late Rebellion of Ireland and all those Murders which were the Consequences of it because the Rebels were Papists if besides that the (c) History of the Irish Rebellion in Folio printed 1680. Pope's Nuncio was known to be the chief Guide and Romish Priests the chief Contrivers and Fomenters of that desperate and bloudy Revolt it were not most notorious that she has always ready an Armory of execrable Principles suited to such occasions to satisfie the Consciences and encourage the Madness of her Jewish Zelots This I am confident all impartial men will judge fair Dealing and just Discourse and far different from the Method of the Compendionist the Reader may see we ground not our Charge of Popery upon the bare Actions of Papists but having found this degenerate Church teaching the most disloyal and inhumane Doctrines and then observing her Followers in several famous Instances to be guilty of Facts which directly answer to then We think we have reason to conclude the one to be the cause of the other and that many Papists had not been so bad men if their very Religion had not debauch'd them May we not now justly turn the Compendionist's own words of foolish Triumph upon himself and his Party * Compend pag. 77. What Parity is there between us and our Adversaries either in our Actions or Books of this nature Though the Actions of many Protestants have been too had to be justifi'd yet did they never go to the Church for Sanctuary Though Protestants have been Deposers and Murderers of Princes there are Rogues of all Persuasions yet had they never any Encouragement from their Religion so to do nor did any of them ever so much as pretend it except such Bedlam Phanaticks as Fifth Monarchy Men a Venner or a John of â—eyden and these are properly speaking as far from being right Protestants as Papists are from being right Christians But can he show us where the Protestant Religion allows the Deposing or Murdering of Princes or gives the least intimation of such a Power in the Church Can he shew it us where onely it ought to be look'd after viz. in the Confessions of our Faith or in the Articles of our Communion Or lastly can he shew it us in the Writings of any considerable Protestant Divines though their private Opinions unlicenc'd and unauthoriz'd by the Church of which they are Members cannot properly be a Charge against the Protestant Religion but because we will give him more than he can justly ask in this Controversie I say can he shew it us even bare I know indeed he does affirm That the * Compend
fit Have not all the Pamphlets that have been writ in Vindi … tion of that Bill argued the Lawfulness of it from the Constitution of the Civil Government and wholly disclaim'd the interesting of Religion at all in the business as to the justifying of it in the least degree endeavouring with great pains to prove that true Religion does not meddle with the Civil Rights of Princes but leaves them to be determin'd by the Laws and Customs of particular Countries By what strange consequence they can he entitle the Church of England or the Protestant Religion to things that are so perfectly of a Civil nature unless he will make them answerable for all the Actions of Protestants of what kind soever and resolve to maintain that childish Sophism I first took notice of as the chief ground of all his extravagant Raving against the Bishop's Book viz. The concluding the Principles of a Religion from the practises of her Professors Which is the very Dregs of Folly the last Running of Impertinence 'T is true the Protestant Religion i.e. the care of preserving it was no doubt the great Motive of doing what was done in every one of these three Cases but that is not here to the purpose for 't is not the Reason for which but the Authority by which a Prince is depos'd and the kind of Principle i. e. whether Civil or Religious 't is justified upon that must condemn or acquit a Church of the Guilt of it though this man endeavour all along to insinuate the contrary by such a fallacious way of representing the Position charg'd on the Church of Rome as makes that seem to be the chief Point in the Controversie between her and the Bishop of Lincoln which is in truth no part of it viz. the Motive or end of deposing Princes But 't is not the Business of this little Pamphlet … to state things fairly and reason clearly but to amuse the Reader◠and puzzle the Question a close way of arguing will not suit either with his Cause or his Understanding a good proof of which he gives us at the very first in these words * See the Compend pag. 76. If on the other-side says he the Bishop means that there have been Popish Doctors of the opinion that Princes might be Depos'd upon the account of Religion what Advantage I would fain know can that be to his Lordship or his Treatise since not only all the prime Leaders of the Reformation c Is it to be imagin'd now that a man should get so far out of his way unless he purposely design'd to ramble or write things so grosly impertinent to the matter he was treating of unless he studied to confound it and render it as little intelligible as was possible Never did any man take more true pains to understand a Discourse difficult in it self than he has done to misunderstand the Bishop's which was plain and easie or a least to make his Reader do so for he cannot be so dull himself in this Point as he would seem 'T is not possible that he or any man who has read the Bishop's Book should think it was the Bishop's meaning only to charge the Popish Doctors with holding indefinitely that Princes might be Depos'd upon the account of Religion when 't is so palpably evident in a hundred places of his Book that he only brings their Opinions as a collateral proof of his Charge of their Church and Religion and that with a quite different Tenet as I have already shew'd And as 't is the Roman Church and not the Doctors only or chiefly which the Bishop charges with holding that Princes may be Depos'd by her Authority not with holding indefinitely that they may be Depos'd upon the account of Religion So 't is the present Popish Canon-Law the Bulls the Decretals of Popes and the Canons of General Councils which are the Testimonies he relies upon for the making good of his Charge and not the private Opinions of Popish Doctors though being cited out of Books licens'd and approv'd by that Church they are of considerable weight in the Argument Now what says the Compendionist to these strong and most convincing Proofs Why in fine as Mr. Bayes says upon another occasion he wont tell us He has not one word not one syllable of Answer to them but passes them over with as deep a silence and as good a grace as if they were like most of his own not at all to the purpose This discreet and necessary Resolution being taken he bends all his little Wit and with a great deal of chearfulness goes about to invalidate what the Bishop urges from the Writings of the Popish Doctors which yet the poor impotent Scribler is by no means able to do as I have made appear in my Answer to his Charge of Luther and Calvin The Attempt however was just as wise and as likely to satisfie reasonable men as if a General who had a great and well disciplin'd Army to fight with should neglect the Main Body and with his whole Strength set upon the Forlorn Hope For his Objections of the Protestant Rebellion in Hungary the late Rising in Scotland the Murther of the Archbishop of S. Andrews and that Home-Blow of his the Gazet Advertisement of The Tryals of Twenty nine Protestant Regicides they are of the same nature and grounded on the same pitiful Falacy with those I have already answer'd and when he can shew us any Principle of the Protestant Religion that justifies Rebellion or Murder especially that of Princes or does but in the remotest degree encourage men to commit these detestable Crimes I shall again consider them In the mean time let him not wast his Paper and tire his Reader with the Repetition of such fulsom Sophistry But perhaps it may not be amiss to give a more particular Answer to his Home-Blow because he has such an opinion of its force and does so triumph with the conceit of his Victory I shall endeavour therefore to take him down in the height of his Rapture and shew his ignorant malice The Reader will remember the Point he should prove is That Protestant Principles are destructive to Kings for those are the very words of the Introduction to his terrible Argument of Instances of Fact Now did the Twenty nine Protestant Regicides ever pretend to justifie their abominable Villany by any Principle of their Religion Nay did they not pretend the quite contrary and ground it wholly upon a Civil Authority Did they not argue the lawfulness and justice of it from a Power they fancied in the People to call the King to an Account for his Actions Though in this they were as absurd Logicians as the Compendionist has all along shew'd himself and reason'd not only against the very first Principle of Civil Policy but point blank contrary to the most fundamental Maxims of the Law of England which says That the King can do no wrong and therefore makes his
the rest of the Beneficed Clergy throughout the Kingdom that were either married or refused to turn Papists 2. On the twenty seventh of the same Moneth the Service began to be sung in Latin in S. Pauls Church 3. The same Year the Pope's Authority was restored in England and the Mass commanded to be used in all Churches 4. The same Year she caused a Synod to assemble which restored the Romish Religion and ordained Mass to be celebrated after the Romish Fashion 5. The fourth of February Mr. John Rogers the first Martyr of those times was burnt at London 6. Presently after her Coronation she pretended to shew Mercy by granting a general Pardon but it was so interlaced as an Author saith with Exceptions of Matters and Persons that very few received benefit by but many were trepann'd by it 7. In October 1554 she caused Ridley Bishop of London and Latimer Bishop of Winchester to be sent from the Tower of London where they were Prisoners to Oxford upon pretence that they were to dispute with the Papists about the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament but when they were brought thither instead of being disputed with they were both burnt 8. The next thing she did was to set up again the Pope's Supremacy in England and to this purpose she sent for Cardinal Pool from Rome who being arrived with the Pope's Authority as Legatus à latere made a Speech to the Parliament exhorting them to return to the Bosom of the Church for he was come as he said to reconcile the People to the Church of Rome And in order to a Reconciliation he required them presently to repeal all Laws that had been made in derogation of the Catholick Religion When the Speech was ended the Parliament begg'd Pardon for their former Errors and told the Queen they would repeal all such Laws whereupon the Cardinal accordingly gave them Absolution And so was all England in one day subjected again to the Romish Yoke by this Popish Queen 9. On the twelveth of March 1555 she restored all the Lands formerly belonging to Abbies and Monasteries that had been invested in the Crown and did leave them to be disposed of as the Pope should think fit 10. It 's thought that she had once resolved to put her Sister Flizabeth to death for divers of the Privy Council had signed a Warrant to that purpose yet when the Lieutenant of the Tower had received the said Warrant he went to the Queen and sollicited her for her Sisters Life she protested she knew nothing of such a Warrant However it 's believed that she would have consented to her Sisters Death had her own Life been continued a little longer 11. In her fourth Year Monasteries began to be rebuilt and restored and no doubt she had in a short time caused all the Abbey Lands in England to be restored had not Death prevented her design 12. To summe up all it is recorded That in less than 4 Years of this Queens Reign 277 Protestants were put to death for their Religion without any regard had to Age Sex or Condition viz. 5 Bishops 21 Divines 8 Gentlemen 84 Artificers 100 Husbandmen Servants and Labourers 26 Wives 20 Widows 19 Virgins 2 Boys and 2 Infants also near as many died in Prisons through Hunger and other Hardships So that Dr. Heylin saith that though many Persecutions lasted longer than this yet none since Dioclesians time raged so terribly You have seen the horrid Actions committed by Charles IX of France and Mary Queen of England and yet History tells us negatively that he was not of a bloudy or cruel disposition and positively that she was of a mild and gentle temper so that we must necessarily conclude that the Doctrines of the Romish Religion do infallibly debauch both the Consciences and Morals of all such as believe them From what hath been said I infer 1. That English Protestants of the meanest capacities may without the help of Prophecy be able to foretell what will become of them if which God forbid Popery should again prevail and be re-establish'd amongst us 2. That it is no less the Interest than the Duty of all true English Protestants to pray for the long and prosperous Reign of our present Protestant Prince in whose Life next under God are bound up our Lives Religion Laws Government Liberties and Properties Lastly That it is our Duty for the good and welfare of Posterity to pray That all His Majesty's Successors in the Government may be Protestants to the end of the World Amen FINIS
pag. 76. prime Leaders as he styles them of the Reformation Luther Calvin Zuinglius Bezâ— c. have in express terms held that Princes might be Depos'd upon the account of Religion But he has not quoted any of their Books to direct us where this scandalous Tenet which he fixes upon them might be found but leaves us to hunt after it at large among the Voluminous Writings of those Authors I do not therefore think my self oblig'd to take any more notice of this Slander of his than if he had never vented it What does he expect to be believ'd upon his bare word sic notus Ulvxes Does he think we know them no better than to trust them But we will not use all the Advantages that we have against so bad a Cause and so weak an Adversary Let us suppose then for once that Luther Calvin and as many more as he has a mind to take into his c. have held That Princes may be depos'd upon the Account of Religion By what new Logick can he make this pertinent to the present Discourse Does he think it the same thing to hold indefinitely That Princes may be depos'd upon the Account of Religion and to hold That the Church has a Right to depose them upon that account to hold that they may be depos'd by an Authority Civil and to hold that they may be depos'd by an Authority Ecclesiastical Let him now speak his Conscience without a Dispensation Does he in good earnest think these two Propositions equivalent or at least equivalent as to the point in controversie between him and the Bishop of Lincoln and that they equally disgrace the profess'd Religion of him who affirms them He cannot fare be so void of the ordinary reason of a Man though he has swallow'd down never so many Roman Catholick Doctrines as not to perceive as palpable difference between them 'T is not but that the former of these Position is a very bad Principle dangerous to Princes and destructive to the Peace and Settlement of a Nation though not so much as the later because it wants the Enforcements of Conscience and Religion to fix it in the Mind and thrust it out upon occasion into Action with that violence which usually accompanies a pretended Zeal for the Honour of God But how bad soever it may be still 't is a Civil not a Religious Principle and though it may be Sedition in the highest degree it can never be Heresie a mans Life and Estate who maintains it is answerable for it not his Religion To make this a little clearer I say 'T is one thing to hold that Princes may be depos'd by the State though upon the account of Religion i. e for being of a Religion different from the establish'd grounding this Opinion upon the Laws and Customs of some particular Civil Constitutions or upon the ends of Government in general and quite another thing to hold that they may be depos'd by the Church grounding this Opinion upon the Laws of Religion and a Power suppos'd to be delegated to her by Christ This last is the Principle we charge and the Bishop of Lincoln has prov'd upon the Church of Rome which makes her Religion it self dangerous to Princes On the other side though Luther Calvin or any other Protestant Divines should hold the first though it be a false and a bad yet as I said before 't is a Civil Principle and their holding it could no more reflect on the Protestant Religion than an Error they might be guilty of in History or Mathematicks The Protestant Religion therefore remains clear from any suspicion of allowing the Doctrine of Deposing Princes the point I undertook to make good though it should be granted the Compendionist that Luther and Calvin c. have had ill Principles in relation to Civil Governments If he could prove indeed that Luther and Calvin or any other Protestant Divines have held The Lawfulness of Deposing Princes as a Principle of their Religion and plac'd the power of doing it in the Church he would say something that were to the purpose and parallel to what we accuse the Church of Rome of but in the Method he has taken he does but beat the Air and fight with Shadows I shall explain this Distinction a little further by some famous Examples in order to meet with the other Cavils of this idle Wrangler and make the Inconsequence of his Arguings if it be possible yet more apparent He may remember then that here in England Edward II. and Richard II. were actually depos'd in times of Popery and by Papists yet did our Writers never charge the Church of Rome though she held then the same Doctrines and had the same pride to trample on Princes that now she has with those two disloyal and unjust Usurpations upon the Sovereignty of the Kings of England And for what imaginable reason but this onely viz. because they were both Acts of the Civil Power and carried on by mon who grounded what they did upon Principles though grosly false and mistaken drawn from the Constitution of the English Government and the Rights of the two Houses of Parliament and the Church of Rome contrary to her Custom upon such occasions was onely a bare Spectator neither her Authority nor her Principles being made use of to further or justifie those Proceedings I would now ask this Collector of Impertinencies this tedious Compendionist whether he thinks this a good reason to clear the Church of Rome from being concern'd in the deposing these two unfortunate Princes If he says 't is as no doubt he will with what face can he pretend to charge the Church of England as he would be understood to do pag 76. lin 38. with the Endeavours that were us'd to keep Queen Mary from the Crown the Death of the Queen of Scots and the Bâ—ll of the late House of Commons against the Duke of York's Successiâ—n since the Cases are directly parallell I mean parallell in all that concerns the present question Were they not every one of them Acts of the Civil Power and carried on by men who grounded what they did on Civil not Religious Principles Was not the setting up of the Lady Jane Grey and the raising an Army to oppose Queen Mary an Act of the Privy Council in pursuance of King Edward's Will and a Law made in the Reign of Henry VIII for the illegitimating of this Princess as the Lords of the Council themselves declare in their Answer to her Letter writ from * Baker's Chron. â—ramingham Castle Was not the Death of the Queen of Scots most notoriously an Act of the State justified by the Laws of the Land Was she not indicted for Treason and known to pretend a better Title to the Crown than Queen Elizabeth Lastly was not the Bill against the Duke of York grounded on a suppos'd Legal Power in the King and the two Houses to alter the course of the Succession when they think
Ministers questionable for the Miscarriages in Government because he himself is in his own Person inviolable and sacred but this concerns not the present Business These men I say as bad as they were had not the Impudence to Interest the Protestant Religion or any Protestant Church whatever in the guilt of their impious Treason by pretending to derive any Warrant or Encouragement for it from them or if they had it would have signified nothing to the Compendionist's purpose since there is no King-deposing or King-killing Principle to be found in any Protestant Confessions of Faith or Articles of Communion which are the only proper Evidences to convince a Protestant Church of any Principle or Doctrine that is laid to her charge and so it would have amounted to no more than their particular mistaking or perverting the Principles of their Religion as grosly and as wilfully as they did the Laws of their Country But this is not the case for they did not so much as pretend any Warrant from the Protestant Religion for what they did How then can He charge Protestant Principles with the Personal Crimes of these men Or what does this Home-Blow and all his other Instances prove except this only viz. That several Protestants have been Rogues very great Rogues Murderers Rebels Traytors c. Does He not know that they are all mortal men too and subject to many other Vices which he might very clearly have prov'd upon them if he had pleas'd by undeniable Examples There 's not a Sin the Pope pardons of what Price soever but 't is too sadly true that Protestants have been guilty of it at some time or other if that will do him any service But now in the name of a little common sense Who or what does this Raver oppose in this strenuous Argument Did ever any of our Writers assert that all the Protestants in the world were good Men and pious Christians Or is there any sort of people among us besides Quakers i. e. mad men who hold a state of Absolute Perfection in this Life He has put himself into an extraordinary Heat and made strange violent Assaults and yet no Enemy appears near him What ayles the man he has sure been combating some Giant in imagination like Don Quixote when he hack'd down the Walls of his Chamber Well who ever he be though it were Malambruno himself I 'll warrant him he 's kill'd outright this La Mancha has so laid about him with Home-Blows Another great quarrel he has to the Bishop is that he does not answer four Books nam'd in the Compendium's margin writ it seems by the Catholicks of England since the King's Restoration about the Deposing Power of the Church * Compend pag. 78. His Lordship says he is so far from answering these Authors that he never so much as cites them to this purpose a great fault indeed so that we must conclude them unanswerable Well argued o' my word I see he deals in nothing but Home-Blows Mr. Bayes and this Compendionist would have made a couple of rare Disputants if they had not been spoil'd by their Tutors and ill grounded at first they have both an admirable natural talent at Reasoning all the difference between them is Bayes lov'd it in Rhime and this man 's altogether for it in Prose But without Raillery does he believe the Bishop of Lincoln oblig'd to take particular notice of every idle Pamphlet of theirs that keeps a Pudder about the deposing Power of the Church with design to make the business intricate and dark and to think them as considerable as his Party always do their own Books No doubt he takes it monstrous ill too that the Bishop has not thought him worth his Answering and perhaps concludes himself unanswerable But I hope I shall hinder him from falling into that mistake and make him sensible what an Impar Congressus Achilli what a poor contemptible thing he is when he appears in the Lists against so great a Scholar as the Bishop of Lincoln For the Pamphlets he mentions they are more than answer'd in the Bishop's Book though it does not particularly name them and when he or any other Factor for Popery gives a tolerable Answer to those clear Testimonies I told him of before and which he never so much as cites to this purpose by which the Bishop does so plainly prove the Doctrine of Deposing Kings upon the Church of Rome I here engage my word to him these Pamphlets shall be made ridiculous by name and their Authors shew'd to the people in the Fools Coats they deserve In the next place be tells us * Compend pag. 78. That the Venetians have openly in their very writings denied this Deposing Power of the Church without Censure And That several Authors have been censur'd in France and elsewhere for writing for it In answer to which First we know very well that the Church of Rome does always accommodate her Allowing and Condemning of Books to the circumstances of her present condition and as Princes are sometimes forc'd by the necessity of their Affairs to disavow the Actions of their Ministers though done by their most express command so is this interested Church frequently reduc'd to connive at Books which she does by no means like and to Censure others which she does not onely approve but underhand directs A good Instance of this we have in the case of Sanctarellus's Book one of those he mentions which though at first printed by the Approbation and special Licence of * See Sanctarellus himself Mutius Vittellescus then General of the Jesuits and by the Order of the Master of the Pope's Palace yet when the Pope found it would not be endur'd in France but that both the Sorbonne had condemn'd it and the Parliament of Paris had order'd it to be burnt he thought fit after it had been out so long that the Copies were almost all bought up to forbid the Sale of it at Rome but without any manner of Censure either upon the Author or Doctrine * See more of this in the Preface to the Jesuits Loyalty which is generally their way of condemning those kind of Books when Civil Considerations at last oblige them to it viz. a bare Prohibition of them after every body has read them that cares for them Such a Condemnation as this did Mariana meet with in Spain and of this gentle nature was Becanus's Correction at Rome not for the Doctrines he maintain'd but for Overlashing as Bishop Montague expresses it in his Preface to King James's Works i. e. for speaking the mind of their Churchmore plainly than was at that time convenient For Secondly we know well enough that these Principles of Deposing and Killing Kings and Extirpating Hereticks are thought too precious Truths and too high Points to be ordinarily expoâ—'d to the â—ulgar and pross'd upon all occasions they are the Arâ—â—na Imperii of their Kingdom of Darkness and kept like Warrants Dormant among