Boniface the seventh was so wicked that Baronius himself that Grand Pillar of the Papal Cause saith he deserv'd the name of Thief and Murderer of his Countrey rather than of a Pope Hildebrand sainted Liberius the Arrian exercised all sorts of Cruelty cut off the Foot of a Widows Son but at last for the Impieties which he was guilty of many of which are premention'd he was depos'd in a Senate at Brixia and as he lived wretchedly so he died miserably in Exile and left the Keys to Victor the third an Italian thrust in by Matilda who was soon poyson'd by his Subdeacon in the Chalice so that you may see Christ's pretious Blood is no Antidote nor Preservative in these Cases But this is only Slaughter by retail take a view of their Massacres by whole-sail As to the Cruelties of Merindol and Cabriere they were so barbarous and inhumane that when the Advocate Aubery and other Civilians related them in the High Court of Parliament at Paris the Auditory stopt their Ears at the hideousness and horror of them take this single Example for instance among many others John Menier Lord of Oppede Chief President of the Parliament of Provence and the French King's Lieutenant General who tho he made choice of the worst Blood-hounds of the Army could not meet with Soldiers cruel enough to execute his bloody Edicts commanding them to rip up the Bowels of big-bellied Women and to trample their innocent Babes under foot and this was done before his Face to his delight who was then Spectaror and Author of this Inhumanity This was a piece of cruelty beyond that of Pharaoh to the male Children of the Hebrew Women in the old or the other of Herod to the Innocents of Bethlehem in the new Testament and yet promoted and approv'd of by the Holy Man of Rome The Parisian Massacre was so detestable and unparallel'd a Cruelty according to Thuanus that some curious Persons perusing the Annals Thuan. Hist l. 52. 53. of other Nations could not meet with the like in all Antiquity The manner of this hellish and bloody Persecution was as you find it in this ensuing Relation Catharina di Medici the Daughter of Pope Clement's Brother and Mother to Charles the ninth did Govern the Kingdom of France during the King's Minority through the supine negligence of Anthony King of Navarre with whom the said Queen's Mother was joyned in the office of Protectorship contrary to the Salique Law which denies the Inheritance or Administration of the Realm to the Spindle And she persuaded her Son to this Massacre It was very speciously carryed on and veil'd with pretences of the greatest Amity imaginable and that was a Match between the Houses of Valois and Bourbon the King resolving to bestow his Sister Margaret in marriage to Prince Henry Son to Joan Queen of Navarre the former being a Romanist the latter of the Religion But before the Nuptials were Celebrated the Queen of Navarre being then at the Court of Paris providing all things necessary for the wedding-Solemnity was poison'd by Renat an Italian the King's Apothecary with the venomous scent of a pair of persum'd Gloves by whose unnatural death the Kingdom descended to the said Henry precontracted to the King's Sister Shortly after the Marriage was solemniz'd with Royal Pomp and State in the chief Church at Paris to the great joy of his Majesty and all good Men to this wedding the Grandees of the Protestant party were courteously invited viz. Henry Prince of Conde Gasper de Coligni Admiral of France and Cousin to the King Francis de Andelot the Admiral 's Brother Captain of the Infantry and other Princes and Nobles And the Magnificence Jollity and Caresses of Entertainment were so great as are not to be expressed Nothing is seen but Banquets Balls Masques Stage-Plays and such kind of Divertisments all personated in the Night And this was the reason the Admiral had a desire to quit Paris because he could not have accesse to the King who was altogether taken up and delighted with these nocturnal Revels But those of the reformed Religion hearing of his purpose to depart with all speed delivered their Petitions to him for redress of Grievances begging of him not to quit the place till he had presented them to the King which he did on the 22th of August 1572 being the fifth day after the Marriage Returning home about noon a Harquebuzier shot the Admiral with a brace of Bullets through both the Armes out of the Window of a near adjoyning House but the Villain made his escape before they could reach the House The King was then at Tennis with the Duke when one of the Admiral 's Gentlemen acquainted him with the news which he no sooner heard but he with a seemingly violent Transport of Passion threw away his Racket and retir'd to his Castle as young as he was he made good use of the Motto of Lewis the 11th his Predecessor Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare The King swears most desperately severely to revenge this injury grants the Admiral a Guard at his request but such a one as would be sure to ruine rather than secure him and Cossin Captain of the Guards was the Man that commanded them a most Inveterate and Irreconcileable Enemy to the Admiral and his Party and a fast friend to the Guisians The Admiral hear's a noise and ratling of Armour tho altogether undisturb'd having the King 's Royal word for his security Besides he reflected on the Oath for Peace publiquely and frequently sworn by the King his Brethren and Mother the League with Queen Elizabeth the Articles with the Prince of Aurange to that purpose the King's faith ingaged to the German Princes some Towns taken in the low Countries by the King's order his Sisters marriage celebrated but six days before yet her Bridal Robes were stain'd and defil'd with innocent Blood the judgment of foreign Princes succeeding Posterity the honour and Faith of a Prince and the violation of the Law of Nations all these one would think might easily oblige a Man to beleive that it was incredible he could ever assent to so outragious and monstrous a Fact. Well notwithstanding all those Protestations Promises Oaths and Vows the Queen-Mother and the King had resolv'd upon a general Massacre throughout the City of Paris and this bloody Butchery was to be executed on the 24th of August being Sunday no matter for that the better day the better deed and accordingly it was perform'd for Cossin first brake in which the Admiral understanding caus'd those few Servants that were with him to lift him out of his Bed for he could not rise without help being so disabled by his Wounds and put on a Night-gown desiring them to make their escape he himself resolving to dy with an undaunted Courage and Christian-like Resolution These Assassines soon gain'd the Admiral 's Chamber broke open the doors and Benvese a German Miscreant educated in the House
their Priest tells them as Men do Wives for better for worse and must marry their Faith to their Churches infallibility which allows that only to be Gospel which their Church says shall be not what the Apostles write is so for the Papists must obey the Pope though no where commanded in the Gospel but must not read the Gospel though they are commanded there to do it Nay when once the Papist can but touch the small Needle of any ones reason with the great Loadstone of the Harmonious Doctrine of a necessary Obedience to their infallible Church then they make such follow it to every point of the Compass be it good bad or indifferent and so they fail all their life in a Trade-wind of ignorance and superstition and must believe their Priests words before their own senses in the plainest objects of them as in the Miracle of Transubstantiation where you must have eyes and see not and hands and feel not but must believe in a moment real Bread and Wine to be turned into perfect Flesh and Blood though you cannot see the least change whatsoever yet they are bound to believe their Priest before their eyes smell tast nor dare their Priest say that the Consecrated Bread which they esteem the real Body of Christ will be less mouldy or more uncertain of corruption after Consecration than before and the jest of it is that at the same time the Papists believe that Miracle they also believe this Scripture That God will not suffer his Holy One to see corruption And tho for these and many other reasons I cannot believe this Transubstantiation-Miracle yet I cannot but admire this Miracle that belongs to Transubstantiation which is how the Pope can bring so many that have sense and reason to believe it But I shall pass by their adoring this Sacrament their praying to Saints and a multitude of their superstitious observances never used in the Primative Church shall only desire you Madam to observe in general that the Papists follow the Gospel just as they read Hebrew that 's backward for God plainly commands that all should search the Scripture And our Blessed Saviour ordered the Sacrament to be administred in both kinds 1 Cor. 11. 28. And St. Paul forbids publick Prayers in an unknown Language but that which is most for Edification 1 Cor. 14. 15 16. But these plain positive commands do not hinder the Church of Rome from declaring that unlearned men shall not read and search the Scriptures but if we believe St. Paul before the Pope we may read in the 17th of the Acts 11. how he commended the noble Bereans for searching the Scriptures and therefore if searching the Scriptures had not been not only lawful but a commendable act certainly St. Paul would never have commended them for so doing So that the Popish Clergy forbids the reading the Scriptures under pretence that their Laity might not truly understand them Next the Church of Rome allows only their Clergy except free Princes for they are excepters of Persons though God is not to receive the Communion but in one kind tho our Saviour commands that all drink of the Cup and the Papists cannot deny but that the Communion was taken in both kinds in all Christian Churches for above a Thousand Years after Christ And lastly for the poor vulgar sort they shall only hear their publick Prayers in an unknown Tongue viz. Latine which a Tenth part of them do not understand and therefore how that can be most for Edification let the Papists tell if they can I am sure we cannot nor do we believe they can without the help of another Transubstantiation-Miracle and making an unknown Language to most to be chang'd at the same time into a common known Language to all And now Madam I shall humbly desire you to consider in general that tho the Papists do out-noise us as shallow Rivers do still the deepest with the high and mighty Rodomontades of their Churches Infallibility yet such high Rants without true proof are but like School-boys paper-Kites which soar high and lofty but have nothing else worth taking notice of They will have the confidence to tell you that their Popish Church â—…s the Roman Catholick and only true Christian Church â—…n the whole World But the Protestants Answer to this their boasting is that all the Christian Churches in the whole World besides the Popish Churches tho more in number than they declare quite contrary They will ask you where your Protestant Church was before Luther which was wittily answered by one where the Papist Church never was in the Bible The Papists do divert themselves very much at our stiling our King Head of the Church as we do for their doing so for we esteem our King Head only in his own Dominions without the Popes title of infallible and sure 't is more rational that those of a Kingdom should allow their King to be Head of the Church in his own Kingdoms than that a few Cardinals should make the Head of the Church over all Kingdoms And for all their jeasting I am sure we can shew in sober earnest Scripture-presidents for Kings being Heads of Churches in their own Dominions which is more than the Papists can shew for their Pope or his Churches infallibility For sure they cannot object against it as new Doctrine though Doctrine that 's new is their greatest Trade that the Kings of Judah and the first Christian Emperors were Heads of the Jewish Churches and in their own Dominions And Solomon tells us That a Divine Sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth transgresseth not in Judgment which I am sure Popes have not witness Liberius and Solomon gives the reason because the Heart of the King is in the Hand of the Lord. If the Papists will pretend so much Scripture for their Pope I shall only answer 'T is more than ever Protestants read or the Apostles writ The Papists will tell you with a great deal of confidence though we say the Bible is the Religion of Protestants yet there is no Protestant Religion or Church mentioned in the whole Creed which are the Articles of the Christian Faith And they will tell you that their Church is the Catholick Church and to believe the Catholick Church was an Article of the Christian Faith from the very infancy of the Church in the beginning of the Apostles time Now let the Papists tell us if they bring this as an Argument against the Protestant Religion in the Bible or not if not what cause have they to name it or what need have we to answer it but iâ—… it be one we make this reply That the Roman Church iâ—… no more named in the Apostles Creed than the Protestanâ—… Church is for the Apostles Creed was made before thâ—… Roman Church was a Church and this I am sure they cannot deny so that since the Catholick Church waâ—… then in being and the Roman Church not in being
her Foot which cried out so vehemently before Death that a Woman who lay in the Chamber was awakened with the noise and seeing these miserable Spectacles went and acquainted her Mistrisse's Brother therewith who asked her what Villain committed that butcherly Fact she not being able to satisfie him with the Author of it only said she knew of no body that was there but her Master He seeks for him but finds him not which did very much confirm him in the opinion that he was guilty of the Murther He follows him over takes him assaults him with a whole Volley of villanous Names draws upon him so suddenly that his Brother in Law had no time to ask him his Reason so they fought desperately and so long that at last being tir'd out they desisted by consent and then making inquiry into the cause of this furious and unexpected Rencontre he understood the Franciscan occasioned all this Mischief his Brother that pursued him crav'd his Pardon for fighting and wounding him and mounting him on his Horse conducted him to his own Apartment where he died the next Morning freely forgiving his Brother in Law and acknowledging to his Relations that he was the sole cause of his own Death but his Brother to satisfie the Law sued out his Pardon which was granted him by King Francis the First See the pregnant mischiefs and complicated Crimes that did accompany the Furtiva Gaudia the stollen sweets or adulterous action of a Religious Franciscan If this be their Religion and Piety what must their Irreligion and Impiety be and what dangerous effects must attend it It is storied of a Priest that a Catholick coming to holy Shrift shook his head at the thought of his Crimes which he was to Confess but the Priest finding him somewhat disturbed perswaded him to a free Declaration of his Sins in order to his Absolution at last he told him with much adoe that he had deflowr'd a Virgin. Pish said the Priest If that be all Innocentum docuisti Thou hast instructed an innocent Person Oh! but Sir said he I have committed a greater Crime What 's that Why I have bedded my Neighbour's Wife Well then said the Priest Proximam adjuvasti Thou hast helped thy Neighbour Alas Sir said he I have done worse than all this I have had carnal knowledge of a Nun. At which the Confessor's zeal was so great that he could not forbear cursing instead of absolving him Abi apud inferos furcifer hoc est pro nobis Go and be damned you Hang-dog how durst you take the Trade out of our hands that 's our proper work and no Lay-man's business That unnatural sin which was burnâ—… by fire and brimstone from Heaven the ashes whereof were drowned in the dead Sea hath made a shift to revive among Romanists and cries as loud for Vengeance as ever and of all Places Italy abounds most with frequent Examples of Incest and Sodomy It is a common Proverb there among them Siena di quatro cose se vanta Di Torre di Campane Di Bardasse di Putane For these four things Siena far excells All Places Towers Whores Sodomy and Bells In Venice saith Mr Howel all Amorous things are done by Proxy while the Husband is abroad in the Gallies there be others that shoot the Gulph at home At Rome that Holy City Pictures are Printed to provoke Lust and to teach men obscenity by ocular demonstration a thing which the very Heathens detested in Philaenis and Elephantis and Propertius the elegiack Poet inveighs against such filthy Draughts Non istis olim variabant Tecta figuris Cum paries nullo crimine pictus erat Such Pictures n'ere adorn'd in former times Houses when Walls were painted with no crimes Pietro Aloisio Son to Pope Paul the third was a Prince of Sodomy he dealt with a great number of all Persons of what Sex or degree soever and at last courted a young man Casmus Cherius then Bishop of Fano and because he found he was not to be brought to his ends but by violence he caused his Servant to hold him whilst he used him as his Ingle This sort of bestiality Sodomy and Buggery is frequent among the Italians both Clergy and Laiety for 't is well known to any smattering Sciolist in History what beastly work the Italian Souldiers made with the Goats when they beleaguer'd Lions during the Civil Wars now which were the greatest Brutes of the two I leave it to all sober Men to judge And this puts me in mind of a facetious but filthy story of a hot Neopolitan in whose Country Absolutions are as cheap as Whores There was a Calabrian who had buggered a Goat he confest the fact to his ghostly Father and bought an Absolution for it a Friend of his hearing of it said to him Prethee what might it cost thee for it was a heinous Crime he answered but four Pistolets upon my word and added that for the other odd one I think verily I might have had a Dispensation to marry the Brute This verifies the old saying Dulcis odor lucri ex re qualebet The scent of Gain is sweet From Sins tho ne'er so great It is recorded in Pontanus that Sigismund Malatesta Lord of Romagniola got a Child by his own Daughter nay that he designed to make a Pathick of his own Son Robert but that he in detestation of his Fathers wickedness drew his Sword in his own defence and so escaped the fury of his unnatural Lust But this is barbarous and beyond a Parallel which he acted on a virtuous German Lady travelling to Rome through his Territories who seeing that his Courtship and Caresses could no ways move her to condescend to his lustful desires he first cut her throat and then like a barbarous Lecher made use of her dead body The same Pontanus alledgeth That there is to be found among Beasts themselves a certain natural honesty to reprove and convince men of such gross crimes speaking of a Bitch that would not suffer her own Whelp to lime her but would fly at those that endeavour'd to procure it and of a Mare that would not let her own Colt cover her but having at last leapt her disguised in another colour'd Skin and other tricks and devices used to that purpose when she perceiv'd the Cheat forsook her Mate and died for grief soon after The very Brutes may inform men of their Bestiality and shame them out of such immoral and criminal Principles and Practises As for the Gluttony and Drunkenness of the Clergy among many Instances take these few It is grown Proverbial Bishops fare Prelates fare Theological Wine for the best and Chapter bread for the finest He fares like a Church-man he swears like an Abbot as fat as a Friar as frolick as a Friar and the like and the truest of all as fat as a Hog For as one says wittily Friars in puris naturalibus differ very little from Swine nay their good St. Anthony