had since that its turn to some purpose When Clement V. commanded the Inquisitors every where to enquire into the Crimes and Heresies of the Knight Templars and to destroy them about the year 1314. No mention saith A Paramo is made of their proceedings in the Kingdom of Castile And likely it is that the Bishops jealous of their power had there and elsewhere much abated the credit and authority of the holy Tribunal which for some Ages had not much to do Hereticks being grown less numerous or less known by reason of the severity of the Inquisition at first But about the year 1480. and so forward the Inquisition regained its first vigour and power not only in Spain but every where else The occasion of it is said to be this Alphonsus Hojeda Prior of St. Paul a Dominican house in Sevil being mighty zealous against those Jews who sought to corrupt the Christian Faith was informed by a noble and credible Citizen of the Family of the Gusmans that on Thursday before Easter some Jews and Apostates had met in a certain house and uttered Blasphemies and performed impious Rites of all which the Prior immediately certified their Catholick Majesties Ferdinand and Isabella who much grieved at it appointed him and others to make what inquiries they could into that horrid fact by which means six of the Criminals were found out apprehended and cast into Prisons This being famed throughout that great City awakened the Zeal of Christians and induced many to inform against Apostates and such Jews as were active in persuading Christians to observe the Old Testament Petrus Gonzalez a Mendoza Archbishop of Sevil and and Thomas a Turre-Cremata a Dominican Confessor to their Majesties and Favourite were both most notorious for their zeal and fierceness This last took great pains to persuade their Majesties that to secure Religion the Laws and and Decrees of the Popes should be put in execution against all Hereticks whatever without any difference or mercy and obtained leave and power for himself and the Archbishop to proceed and see what they could do in that weighty matter They shed much bloud and tried many ways and at last did resolve that the restoring and better ordering of the Inquisition was that alone that could preserve the Catholick Faith Upon this therefore they did spend all their Interest and their Industry and with much ado persuaded the King and Queen to assent to it and to obtain of Pope Sixtus Quartus the setting up again of the Inquisition To this his Holiness readily assented and by a gracious Bull impowered their Majesties to make Inquisitors in the Kingdoms of Castile and Leon. But lest Inquisitors made by Royal Authority should not do their business thoroughly he appointed seven Censors of Faith in Sevill elsewhere he himself appointed Dominicans to look to the Sacred Office and in a manner revoked that power he had granted the King and in the year 1484. Innocent VIII constituted Turre Cremata Inquisitor General who should depute others under him as he should think fit and as appears by his Bull subjected the Inquisitions of Arragon Valentia Cathalonia and Sicily to the supreme Inquisitor of Castile and Leon who is now authorized both by Pope and King SECT II. The setling of the Inquisition in Portugal and elsewhere THis Spanish Inquisition hath a power so irresistible and unlimited and is so fierce and rigorous in its proceedings that it is altogether framed according to the Popes liking and is become the Model of a true Papal Inquisition such as his Holiness would establish every where if he could It goeth quite through the Spanish Dominions and was once established even in their Fleets at Sea under the Reign of Philip II. Pope Pius V. made Rodericus a Mendoca Naval Inquisitor because about the year 1571 there were found men of several Religions in those Gallies that assisted the Italian Princes against the Turks This Inquisition thus shipped and got to Sea was soon transported into the Canary Islands and into both the Indies in all the Dominions of Spain and Portugal But into Portugal it self it was resetled by a crafty Knave as is related by some and believed by my Author A Paramo p. 228. who gives a large account of the pranks he plaid to effect by his wits what the earnest desires and endeavours of several Popes had not been able to do His name was Sahabedra an inconsiderable and daring Villain who about the year 1536. came into that Kingdom as being a Cardinal Legat and Inquisitor of Pope Paul III. He had some Money and borrowed more by the help of some Confederates and having gotten a good Retinue and brave Ornaments and forged Bulls and Seals he began to use his power in Spain and to play the Inquisitor This he did so neatly that every body took him to be one indeed And when he came into Portugal well furnished with Moneys he had gotten from Spanish Hereticks he struck a terror into the Country as he passed along and by his Officers had many Jews and Hereticks seized and imprisoned whom he several ways punished as became an Inquisitor King John amazed and astonished at the zeal and courage of this stout undertaker gave way to his proceedings who would have done no doubt most memorable feats had he not unluckily been discovered by some that came from Rome and apprehended and condemned to no severer doom than to the Gallies though by his pretended authority he had maimed and destroyed many persons No death would have been too bad for such a Villain in any other case But this went for a witty cheat as long as it was against Hereticks and proved the happy occasion of restoring the Inquisition Pope Paul III. interceded in his behalf and his bowels yearned over him and his Successor Paul IV. did redeem him from the Gallies As bold an attempt but not so successful the same Author relates of Eight Dominican Friers who went into the Dominions of Presbyter John and erected by degrees an Inquisition among the Christian Ethiopians but were themselves torn to pieces and so could only shew their good will Such is the desperate zeal of Roman Bigots CHAP. VI. Of several Tumults and Oppositions against the Inquisition BY thus setling the Inquisition in so many places we may see what a formidable and lawless power the Popes of Rome had here in the West for some hundreds of years before the Reformation No Yoke could be heavier or more unacceptable to Princes and People than that bloudy Tribunal and yet they were forced to be willing to be slaves to it In Portugal and Spain some Kings have strugled against it but to little purpose Religion in spight of all endeavours to the contrary will ever have a mighty influence on all humane affairs and the Religion of Rome being so contrived as to make its Professors submissive Subjects to that Court the Impositions of it must be submitted to though tyrannical unreasonable and against
account and upbraiding us with our many Sects shews that Rominists are not a little proud of their success in begetting or maintaining of them A man in a Vizard robs his Neighbour and having pulled it off reproacheth him for his beggarliness this is very disingenuous But very strange it is that the same man should yield himself a prey every time the Thief shall put on his mask The mischief is that Faction not Conscience makes the great differences in the Christian Church Opinions are embraced and asserted upon design to promote worldly interests Those Doctrines in the Romish Church we say and prove to be Innovations are such as tend to advance the power and greatness of those that brought them in and now impose them on others And it is not to be denied but that some are enemies to the Tyranny of that Church because they themselves would govern or be under no Government at all Factions like errors and sins may clash and fight one against another but it is not the property of true Religion to multiply Controversies or to be fierce in lesser contentions But then there are some things so bad in themselves so much against Divine Commandments and the duty every man ows to God that there he may not and must not comply Let who will injoyn what is dishonourable to God or forbidden by him the first and greatest Obligation ought to take place God must be obeyed above all though in the discharge of that obedience we expose our selves to great dangers and sufferings Glad should I be that Popery were the true Religion that our Blessed Lord had constituted the Pope his Vicar and made him infallible and commanded us to believe and obey all he should speak from his Chair It would supersede all our enquiries and the paiâ—s we are at to examine whether Papal Decrees agree well with our Masters wâ—ll It would have spared the bloud of Millions of Christians who rather chose to die in flames and tortures than comply with those Injunctions which they judged contrary to their Saviours Laws And it would free all meek good men who would buy peace and submit to any thing that were not sinful from the dread of Massacres and Inquisitions and what else may be feared from the formidable Principles and Persecutions of the See of Rome We are abundantly satisfied that the Bishop of that City hath no just right to that Power and Dominion he claims over all Crowns and Miters nay we clearly see by the Records of ancient times that every where he used very ill means to usurp that Authority Yet I believe most Protestants would easily be brought to recede from their right and for peace sake to give him more than is his due Precedency Honour even Money to maintain his Greatness I could afford him if that engaged me to nothing contrary to the duty I owe my God and Saviour But if yielding so far must oblige me to embrace a new Creed and false and to practice an unlawful Worship then I am bound to assert my liberty und to bear faith and allegiance to God whatever I suffer for it we might if we would part with our freedom but we may not give up Gods truth and honour The Case is this we may not live in the Communion of Rome but as the Popes Subjects and that would make us in many things rebels against God We are not obliged to live in that Communion and we dare not do it for then except we yield in all things we are proceeded against as Hereticks as accursed Traitors to God and the Pope and the greatest severities are inflicted on us So that as we would preserve our Consciences and our lives we must withdraw from Rome and live asunder All Christians are obliged to worship God alone and in all things to obey their Saviour and all men would live and enjoy their own Now I shall make it appear that if we are in the Communion or in the power of the Roman Church we can do neither We must believe and worship otherwise than Gods Word hath commanded or we must live under infamy and persecutions and expire in flames Whilst I give an account of these two things it will appear that there is a very great difference betwixt the case of the Reformation and the case of them that separate from the Church of England That as necessary and Just as that was this is as needless and unjust and that as much as Religion and self-preservation obligeth us to break communion with the Church of Rome so much the same bonds tie all Dissenters to unite with the Church of England and to live quietly like good Christiane and loyal Subjects in its Communion A Prayer to be said by them that are solemnly admitted into the Fraternity of the holy Virgin Mary wherein the devout Officers of the Inquisition are Commonly listed SAncta Maria Mater Dei Virgo ego N. N. te hodie in Dominam patronam advocatam eligo firmiterque statuo atque propono me nunquam te derelicturum neque contra to aliquid unquam dicturum aut facturum neque permissurum ut à meis subditis aliquid contra tuum honorem unquum agatur Obsecro te igitur suscipe me in servum perpetuum adsis mihi in omnibus actionibus meis nec me deseras in hora mortis Amen Holy Mary Mother of God and Virgin I N. N. chuse thee this day for my Lady Patroness and Advocate firmly resolving and engaging my self that I will never forsake thee nor yet ever say or do any thing against thee nor suffer any thing to be done against thine honour by any that are subject to me I beseech thee therefore let me be thy Servant for ever and own me for such assist me in all my actions and forsake me not at the hour of death Amen The Holy Inquisition IF the Church of Rome had kept to the Primitive Creeds and still retained the Ancient purity of Divine Worship and used her strength and policy only to maintain true Christianity it might have been said that too great a Zeal had transported her and made her too fierce against erroneus opinions That might have made some abatement of the censure she lies under of being too cruel but withal it had been a prejudice against that Religion that had occasioned the shedding so much bloud and destroying so many lives and it would have been thought that the Christian Faith had disposed its Professors to be merciless and unnatural Now if in both cases it be quite otherwise if Christianity inspires and recommends nothing but meekness and the greatest charity and if it hath not been to maintain the Doctrines of our Blessed Lord or the Worship of the True God that Rome hath persecuted and slain so many Nay if the Gospel forbids nothing more than to be hard and severe to take away mens lives or the comforts of them And if Rome by flames and tortures
make this sanction Qui absque facultate Episcopi aut Inquisitoris sacra Biblia vulgari lingua habere praesumpserit nisi prius Bibliis ordinario redditis peccatorum absolutionem percipere non poterit That whoever shall presume to have the Holy Bible in the vulgar tongue without he have obtained for it a faculty or licence in Form of the Ordinary or Inquisitor shall never have absolution of sins till he have returned the Bibles into the hands of his Superiours This Licence you may be sure is very sparingly granted and sometimes to prevent danger is recalled as was done by Vrban VIII 1631. and not one of ten thousand in those Countries where the Inquisition reigns dares ask for it be he never so true a Roman Catholick or so desirous to see what that Book can have in it which is so kept from the People because it is sufficient to make a man of the Vulgar suspect of Heresie if he but speaks of that dangerous Book which hath made so many Hereticks As for those Books whereof the subject is judged to be good and useful but that they have here and there things that border too much upon Heresie after the faults are amended by the Inquisitors or their Deputies they may be permitted to be read So saith the Eighth Rule Libri quorum principale argumentum bonum est in quibus tamen obiter quaedam inserta sunt quae ad haeresim spectant à Catholicis Theologis Inquisitionis generalis auctoritate expurgati concedi possunt These Cautions and Edicts of Popes and Inquisitors extend also to them that buy or sell any forbidden Books and where the Roman Tribunal is potent enough the penalties against Transgressors are exacted with great rigour And Bzovius himself tells us of one Casper Tauberus 1524. who was adjudged to be burnt at Vienna because after having forsworn the reading any more of Heretical condemned Books he transgressed again SECT III. Of the Honour of being imployed in the Holy Office and the praises of it WE have seen before what mighty priviledges and immunities are granted to all that belong to the Inquisition The Bull of Pius V. Octob. 13. 1570. confirms them all and all Grants and Indulgences given by his Predecessors to all such Societies as undertook Croisadoes to assist against Hereticks the Inquisitors of Heretical Pravity The Officers of the Inquisition are Heirs at Law of all those spiritual Riches A Paramo saith That were the Holy Office well understood by pious Catholicks they would be so far from being frighted with it that they would mightily rejoyce to see the holy Catholick Faith so stoutly and effectually defended and to see the stray Sheep brought again to the Fold so powerfully p. 268. Sixtus V. as we have seen calls it Firmissimum Fidei Catholicae propugnaculum The strongest shield and support of the Faith And Paul IV. would freely own that it was praecipuum nervum arcanum pontificatus the strongest nerve and deepest mystery of the Papacy Padre Paolo Hist Con. Trent l. 5. And as my Author cites the Acts of the Creation of Pius IV. this Paul breathed out his Soul in commending to the Cardinals about him that holy Tribunal which he thought would do more than a Council Sanctissima Inquisitio unum nunc remedium labenti Religioni The most holy Inquisition is now the only remedy to our staggering Religion A Paramo p. 278. The same giving some account of the burning of several great Spanish Doctors Constantinus Aegidius Cazalla Chaplain to Charles V. and many Lutherans with them declares to the great commendation of the Holy Office that had it not been for the great vigour and diligence of the Inquisitors the Catholick faith had been lost in Sqain as it is in the Northern Kingdoms for lack of an Inquisition p. 272. There he tells us also how much Ignatius Loyola used to commend it which well became him for he had passed through it and know what it was Out of a Sermon of Lewis of Granada he cites these words Sanctae Inquisitionis Officium nurus est Ecclesiae columna veritatis fidei custodia Christiana Religionis Thesaurus arma adversus Haereticos contra omnes daemonum fallacias technas lumen fulgentissimum lapis lydius ad doctrinae veritatem dignoscendam examinandam The Office of the Holy Inquisition is the Nurse of the Church and the Pillar of Truth the Store-house of Christian Religion and the Keeper of the Faith the Touch-stone of true Doctrine the best Armour against Hereticks and the clearest light whereby to discern the illusions and frauds of the Devil Accordingly several Writers about this subject make great brags of the great vertues and sanctity of many Inquisitors and are so enamoured with the incomparable beauty of that most sacred Function of butchering Men and with the exemplary goodness of them that faithfully discharge it that they spend upon it and them the greatest lauds and praises they can find That many of them have been patient Confessors for the Truth that many others have gained the Crown of Martyrdom that many by their Devotions and Charity have obtained the title of Blessed and many been Sainted and Canonized by the Pope Qui nunc in aliquot provinciis summa cum pietate coluntur who now are in some Provinces worshipped with the greatest piety Multis miraculis maximis claruerunt A Par. 108. Many Inquisitors have become famous for working most wonderful Miracles Those of St. Dominic are past number St. Peter the Martyr the first and fiercest Inquisitor at Milan would easily drive away Devils when they came to make a noise and disturb him in his Preaching A Boy that had cut off his foot by kicking at his Mother he with few words in Confession made whole which may be Emblematical of such as had kickt against Holy Church and were by him converted and absolved St. Anton. Tom. 3. is here and there very ample upon this subject But what can be said more for the eternal credit of the Holy Office than what A Paramo relates p. 138 c. that about the year 1500. when many thousands of Hereticks were sent to the Gallies as many immured and many more burnt that this severity just and holy as it was yet having somewhat of a resemblance to what men call cruelty staggered a little some soft-hearted Spaniards even Inquisitors and made them doubt whether that Religion and Office which reduced so many human Creatures to so great miseries and shed so much bloud were acceptable to God and whether such proceedings did please him whereupon having made their humble addresses to the blessed Virgin they demanded a sign of her to be resolved in this matter and behold Miracles appeared of all sides not an Image in Town nor hardly an Officer of the Inquisition but were enabled to do wonders and feats so great and so many that the scruple was quite removed and they became persuaded that the Roman Faith and severe
obedience to â—at Church would easily engage themselves to venture their lives for the extirpation of a Pestilent Northern Heresie as Coleman calls it Whether or no they that are accucused have designed and attempted such things as hath been deposed by persons from amongst them is not mine to determine that belongs to Magistrates and Judges But I am confident it is easie to be made out more demonstrably if what I have said be not sufficient to prove it that for what is laid to their charge they have as ample and full encouragements and authorities as their Church in any case can give And that supposing they had as is said undertaken the Deposition or Murther of his Sacred Majesty and others that stood in their way in order to bring in the Roman Catholick Faith it was only the executing the often repeated Sentences of the Sovereign Tribunal of Rome against such as are guilty of the unpardonable crime of Heretical Pravity Having also the same power as well to forswear and deny as to act any of the Premises I am a Witness against none of them and for ought I know they may be Innocent but it is proved that their Religion is guilty and would countenance and reward the destruction of Hereticks however effected And then it should not be much wondred at that we think it possible some of them may be led by the Principles of their Church and in compliance with the Sacred Sanctions and Decrees of it might consult and contrive how to do justice upon us for so they call in the Roman Language what in ours is Treason Murther and Cruelty The Jesuits are charged with all these and there are commonly loud clamours against them as if they alone were the cause of our miseries and dangers But I say though they may be more zealous for the Papacy and more obsequious to it obliged by their fourth Vow yet the Inquisition was erected and had done great execution long before their Order appeared and most of those Canons Bulls and Decretals that devote us to destruction were enacted published and executed before their name was heard of in the world so that if they out-do others in being more active and more fierce against us this is all can be said that they are most true to their Church and Religion and best deserve the name of down-right Roman Catholicks Lastly Here our Neighbours of the Roman Communion may see why we also of the Church of England are so affraid of them and their Religion They may observe that we joyn not with popular factions that we do not instigate the Vulgar to be violent against them that in our converse with them they find us courteous and kind and that we declared when there was danger on all hands to do it that if God after that most excellent Prince under whom we live should suffer another of their Persuasion to succeed we would own and obey him and whatever dangers and persecutions we might be exposed to be dutiful and loyal as becomes true Christians But then we know that their Religion obligeth them to deal very ill by us that are declared Hereticks and we know not how far they may think themselves bound to comply with those obligations We know that a Prince of their Communion would have the same and stronger ties upon him to endeavour the extirpation of Heresie and we know not how far the pressing importunity of the Roman Court and Clergy or the fear of undergoing the Fate of the two Henries of France might prevail upon him We know that what interest they have had here at Court hath been used for the depressing of our Clergy for the weakening the settlement and Constitution of our Church for the encouraging of the Sectaries against us for bringing our Peace and established Religion into confusion and contempt and that that we are not yet ruined is altogether owing to Gods infinite Mercy and to the Kings Goodness And we are persuaded upon very good grounds that if the change were brought about and their Church had here that Power which it hath whereever their Religion is uppermost that we should be in a most miserable condition forced to abjure what in our Conscience we believe to be the true and saving Religion of our dear Saviour forced to embrace and practise what we believe to be altogether false and superstitious or forced by the prosecution of those Laws against Hereticks which they count Sacred and Divine to be poor despised and persecuted or to lie in Goals and burn at the Stake Some of these things we have had occasion to know and the others we have very just cause to fear and therefore though we would not do any thing unjust or illegal to preserve our selves yet we would be very glad to be more secure and would have been very well satisfied and very thankful if it had pleased the late Parliaments to have made Laws according to his Majesties most gracious offer for the limiting the power of a Popish Successor if ever such a one there should be and putting the administration of the Government into Protestant hands for the preserving the Established Religion without destroying Monarchy I say for this we would have blessed God and the King and our Representatives had they thought fit to have done that for us and we would have thought our selves much safer and happier than we are as they have left us exposed naked to all that may happen Our Consciences and Persuasions oblige us by Reason and Argument and all Christian and Equitable ways to oppose the Papal Religion which we believe to be highly dishonourable to God and prejudicial to the souls of men therefore though we rail not and make not such out-cries as some are apt to do yet by serious Writings and Discourses we think our selves bound to confirm our people in the Protestant Religion We are not apt to start at Bugbears and shadows nor to fill the heads of the People with Pannick and groundless terrours yet we have very sad apprehensions of what we must be if we should come under the Power of Rome and will do what justly we may to preserve our Religion and Freedoms and prevent what to us appears upon all accounts most dreadful and terrible the Roman Catholick Faith and Inquisition As for them that are Protestants I desire them to observe how afflicted hath been the Condition of millions of our Christian Brethren whilst they were exposed to those severe Roman Tribunals of which I have given some account and to think with pity on the great oppressions and sufferings of many who still in many Countries groan under Papal Tyranny And then to pay their hearty thanks and acknowledgments to God for that liberty those immunities and those great blessings we enjoy by living according to the Rules of that pure and holy Reformed Religion which is here established and professed among us by heartily joyning with the Church in offering up with devout