could come of it Harm indeed may come in time by the multiplying of Church-Papists among us that is of such Men as having for their Temporal Ends more than our of any good Faith been secretly reconciled to the Catholick Communion are yet allowed by their Reconcilers to go to Church and carry themselves exteriourly in all points as Protestants From these possibly there may be danger and a just ground of fear lest they should be too apt to serve Designs and Interests not much tending to the Nations good But from such as meerly out of Conscience the better to serve God and save their Souls at least as we verily think and believe become Catholicks and when they are such do make open profession of their Faith in due time and place as every true Christian ought to do what evil can be fear'd especially having also given Legal assurance before some Magistrate of their Loyal mind Proposition XXXI Wherefore to prevent all manner of Inconveniences that might otherwise come from such Persons of our perswasion as do dissemble their Faith and feign themselves Protestants when they are not as likewise the evil practices of any other disguised Instruments which the Consistory or their Partizans may employ and maintain amongst us it is humbly proposed and wished that in the condescension that shall be made to us Roman Catholicks for Liberty of Conscience it be exprestly provided and enacted by Law that all Persons of that Religion not already notoriously known to be such by their professed Recusancy shall in such manner as the Parliament shall prescribe and within a certain time limited under pain of Death before some publick Magistrate profess and declare themselves to be what they are in point of Religion as also what their quality is whether Lay-people or Ecclesiasticks or Religious and if Religious or Church-men that they be bound indispensably by Law to wear the Habit proper to their Calling and Order or at least such an enjoyned Clerical Habit as may sufficiently denote what they are to others and that for any Ecclesiastical or Religious Person of the Roman Communion to be taken publickly that is out of their own house or ordinary dwelling in any other Habit than such as is prescrib'd that it be made Death or perpetual Imprisonment to him But I return to my proper matter Proposition XXXII I say therefore farther that beside Home-bred and Domestick Agents as I may call them which the Roman Consistory uses and has at command in all Countries and Courts of Christendom generally speaking and which under various Forms and Masques do with incessant diligence and industry drive on and promote Consistorial Interests and Designs by Land That Court wants not her like Instruments abroad at Sea to act for her and serve her as occasion offers it self there also no less than at home concerning whom I hold it necessary and a part of my duty so well as I can to caution my dear Country in a few words and to that end to present her These following Remarques Proposition XXXIII It is undoubtedly certain that the Jesuits partly by themselves and partly by their Factours Correspondents and Trustees are the greatest Merchants at this day in the World and the richest Society in Christendom though they Vow and Profess Poverty I mean the richest and wealthiest company of Men that are to be found in Christendom United in one common Body and Partners in one common Stock under one common Purveyour or Administratour who is their General together with his Assistants residing at Rome and that either in their own Persons or by their Factours Confidents and Trustees they do drive a great constant and gainful Trade of Merchandise both by Sea and Land in and to all Parts of the World where they find it commodious for them and more particularly in those Parts from whence rich Commodities come and where other Merchants have least Liberty of Trade as in China and the Countries lying that way the American Indies c. And how much this Society is link'd in common Interests and what Servants the Jesuits are of this Court is not needful to say Proposition XXXIV That therefore by means of them and of their Factors and Dependents it is always morally speaking in the power of the Consistory to procure what Quarrels at Sea they please amongst Merchants and others and in consequence thereof to stir up Wars between Princes and States by Land The truth of which Remarque I make little doubt but would clearly enough have evidenc'd it self if when time was it had been well examin'd what kind of Persons they were Masters Commanders and others who own'd and managed the Ships on either side that were first and most forward in giving occasion of our late Wars and differences with the Dutch and will likewise evidence it self whensoever just enquiry shall be made into the original causes and occasions of the present War betwixt the French and them If the business were well look'd into all would be found probably to be but meer Merchants pretensions one upon another and those too perhaps more than half Jesuited I might mention also their so confident and early giving out that the late Peace concluded betwixt the English and Dutch would not last long A word so rise in the mouths of some of their Partiaries and of such an ominous success as shewed their insight into affairs of that nature was something more than of right belong'd to them or than is safe for the Peace of Christendom Proposition XXXV That the said Jesuits being so rich also at Land as 't is most certain they are and Masters of such Vast Summs of Money besides other Unknown Possessions they are able not only to contrive but also to carry on to foment and abet whatsoever seditious and turbulent designs they see conducible to their ends and to the ends of the Consistory from whom they come Whose Maxim and chief Policy as hath been said is to divide as much as may be that so themselves may more easily rule and make their advantage of the Division Proposition XXXVI That by their said enormous and both unlawfully gotten and unlawfully possess'd Wealth it is not to be thought but the said Jesuits do maintain their Emissaries and Agents also in all parts generally speaking both City and Country and with all Parties where they find opportunity Whose business is under the allowed disguise or liberty of feigning themselves of what profession and party in Religion they please first to insinuate themselves into the affections of those they have to treat withall and then to sow the seeds of Discord further in their minds incensing Parties one against another and All so much as possibly they can against the present Government and chief Governours both in Church and State Proposition XXXVII That by this means that is to say by their Wealth and by such Instruments and Helpers as their Wealth procures them it may not a little be fear'd they
the inviolate Conservation of all his Princely Rights Titles Dignities and Prerogatives to him and his Heirs and for the frustrating of all those desperate and destructive Counsels and Practices which are said to be carried on for the disinheriting of his Royal Highness because of his Religion than which design nothing ever was or can be thought of more Unadvised and tending to the Nations ruine or that doth more evidently proclaim it self to be the very counsel and project of those our deadly enemies here complain'd of who have by some of their hired or brib'd Agents amongst us clancularly and underhand procur'd it to be set on foot on purpose to involve us in endless and inextricable troubles contentions and mischiefs following upon them from which God in mercy deliver Us and cause us to see I say not only the iniquity injustice illegalness of the Project which are apparent to every eye but the manifest impossibility of ever carrying it on and maintaining it against so many and great oppositions both domestick and foreign as will undoubtedly appear against it when the resolution shall be once taken and form'd into an Act of State Which that it may never be nor the traiterous phansie ever be thought worthy of motion but rather be look'd upon with horrour and rejected with deserv'd indignation by all the good Members of our ensuing Great Council the Parliament as also by all Good Patriots Lovers and Well-wishers of their Countries publick and common Good Peace Tranquillity Quiet more than their own Wills private Passions Interests and Concerns is and ever shall be as both Duty and Conscience binds the daily and most earnest Prayer of Good Reader Your loving Country-man and most hearty Well-wisher of the Best Things to You from God August 25th 1679. N. N. A NOTE concerning ERRATA THe PRESS hath done its part so well in this little Thing that unless a diligent perusal deceives me much there is not to be observ'd one fault worth correcting save only in the word Hyocrisy pag. 17. Prop. 26. line 11. for which if thou readest Hypocrisy I have no more to say but Cave Vale Lector The SENTIMENTS of N. N. Touching the ROMAN Consistories DESIGNS and PRACTICES c. The First Proposition THat though the Roman Catholick Religion in the Principals thereof Viz. so much as is grounded upon Christian Tradition the Vniversal practice of the Church or the Authority and Definition of General Councils be in my perswasion undoubtedly the True Christian Religion and in all the parts thereof Good and most Acceptable to God and consequently also most worthy to be embraced and professed by all Christians Yet through the infirmities of Men and the Vicious corruption of Times hugely declining in point of Judgment as well as Manners from primitive and pristine integrity to my extream grief and scandal I find it to be here in England of all others generally speaking an affair or business most Vnfaithfully and Vnworthily managed by Those who in vertue of their respective Callings and Offices in the Church of God have the chief management thereof in their hands Note ☞ The ingenuous Protestant Reader will not I hope be offended that such a Proposition as this is set in the Front of my Sentiments it being neither by way of Challenge nor out of any private confidence or presumption set down but meerly and simply as a profession of my present Belief which being as I said sincerely Roman Catholick I thought it not Vnnecessary to intimate so much briefly in this place as well to prevent Scandal-taking by some who may be too apt to interpret things to the worst as to shew that though in the following Propositions I be to mention with great dislike many Things of private opinion and practice amongst Roman Catholicks yet I do it with a clear conscience and without any the least prejudice to that Faith which I hold in common with them upon the grounds mentioned in the said Proposition Viz. Christian Tradition the Authority of General Councils c. Proposition II. Who are meant by those who have the chief management of Catholick Religion in England is sufficiently known therefore I say in the second place That neither the Consistory of Rome nor their principal Correspondents which as I said are the Jesuits Monks and Friers with some few others of the English and Irish Clergy pension'd by procurement and help of the Jesuits c. and therefore wholly dependent on them do at all seriously desire any general advancement or liberty of Catholick Religion nor any General Conversion of the People of this Nation from the Errours of Protestantism But only make use of that pretence for their reputation sake and the better to carry on their own private and more intended Designs which are Ambition Honour with Ease Emolument Power Authority and the like Proposition III. That if any credit may be given to Persons of their Quality and to their frequent publick and most confident Asseverations it cannot be doubted but at the time of his Sacred Majestie 's most happy and long-wish'd for Restauration Things were at such a pass and the Cause of Catholicks as well as other Dissenters so favourably look'd upon by all forts of People that had Those who pretend to the chief care of Religion as well here at home as abroad seriously and in good earnest desir'd the advancement thereof it might have been procur'd even by an Act of Parliament in such good measure as that it should have been free for them I mean for all Catholicks of Loyal and moderate Principles privately to have exercised their Priestly Function in all the parts of it without danger or molestation though not perhaps to an absolute repeal of all the Statutes against it or them Now what should move both the one and the other of these Parties so deeply and hernously to prevaricate in a cause so worthy of their best endeavours and which they will seem so much to own must be left to private conjecture which yet if we consider things well it will not be hard to make Proposition IV. I say therefore that one principal Reason why Those here in England did not effectually endeavour this liberty of Religion when time was so as they might and ought to have done was without doubt in great part their Vnwillingness to be oblig'd to the duty of Preaching which would then have been generally expected of them and whereto they have so little Affection their Sufficiency I shall not question knowing it by experience in some and not doubting it in others that in all the English Orders Viz. of Jesuits Monks and Friers there were not Three Persons to be found when enquiry was made about it by some that had Authority willing or inclinable to undertake that most necessary charge in any constant manner Not to mention their like Unwillingness to conform to that more strict regularity of life manners habit and conversation which the Gospel
and many holy Canons of the Church require of them and would then if Religion had been made free as well for their own honour as for good example and conscience sake have been no less look'd for at their hands Proposition V. That reason why the Consistory also neglected this opportunity and thereby in effect betrayed that cause which they pretend so much to maintain was really no other than this That they do not indeed care for Religion nor mind or look at the advancement thereof either in England or any where else farther than it serves for the advancement of the private and temporal Interests of the Court and City of Rome Which in relation to England alone is manifest enough even from hence Viz. that though the general Unqualifiedness of their Church-men here were by some sent from the Consistory with particular authority to enquire into that affair so much taken notice of that thereupon and for no other reason not without some resentment they Voted That it was not for the honour of Catholick Religion that the profession thereof should be free in England but rather still to remain under Persecution although I say this matter were so long since sufficiently taken notice of by Those who want not authority to do well if they pleas'd 1660. or 1661. yet neither then nor since has there been any good order taken for the redress of those abuses and supplying those patent and scandalous defects which they found and made shew to be much offended at But on the contrary instead of reforming what is known to be amiss or quickening up that most grievous and scandalous Acedie of Ecclesiasticks to a better performance of duty letting all things remain as they were or rather to run on from bad to worse as time in the revolution of a few years will further shew to the deserved shame both of the one and the other Proposition VI. This therefore may be laid down I think as an indubitable Maxim and matter of Consideration to all Princes and People of Christendom That the Interest of the Roman Court and City and not the advancement of the Religion the advancement of their profit the advancement of their Extravagant Authority and Power and not of the true Catholick Faith and Religion without these is the thing which the Roman Consistory looks at in all their Counsels and Proceedings it is the Cynosura by which they steer all their courses Proposition VII In is likewise evident that in order to this end Viz. of advancing their Temporal Interests and Grandeurs they have wholly laid aside and do totally neglect all ways and means of advancing Religion here in England that are fair open and proper and such as might have been attended unto with permission of the State and had its effect by the free and deliberate consent of the People themselves as it ought to be and think only of the ways of Policy and Power of Policy to surprize us and of Power to compel us when they shall see time In the mean while waiting to this purpose the opportunity of finding or otherwise of making some Foreign Prince or Princes our Enemies into whose hands what by the help of Domestick Factions what by their own evil practices they doubt not but to be able in time to devolve the Sovereignty of these Nations and by that means to promote their Temporal Interests Viz. Profit and Power here more than they can hope to do under the present Government which God preserve and establish ☞ Since the writing hereof which was about Ten or Eleven Years since something has fallen out concerning his Royal Highness the Duke of York which may make it probable that the Consistory will use all their Interest and Power to promote his Rights and Title in Reversion To which I answer it may be so they will if they can see no other way of proceeding more advantageous to themselves But be sure they will do nothing without Stipulation and forcing his Highness for the gaining of their favour to condescend to some conditions or other less worthy of his Highness's Princely Dignity and Honour and no less contrary perhaps to the Liberties and Freedom of These Nations How much better therefore were it that his Highness were called home and that for more security by the Joynt-authority and Votes of Both Houses of Parliament where his Rights first solemnly acknowledg'd Consultation may be afterwards freely had concerning such Laws as shall be judg'd necessary for preserving in time to come the Protestant Religion by Law now established in its full Liberty with all the Rights Priviledges and Immunities by Law belonging to the Ministers thereof against all attempts whatsoever made by what Persons or Powers soever and upon whatsoever pretenses Vnto which Laws with convenient Salvo's and Proviso's for the Liberty of his Highness's Person and Domesticks there 's little doubt to be made but his Royal Highness for the full satisfaction of all the good People of these Nations and for the quieting of mens minds will readily consent and oblige himself as far as can be requir'd of him by the wisdom of Parliament Proposition VIII That it is the Interst and also the avowed Policy of the Roman Court in order to the perpetuating and establishment of their own Domination and quiet to keep all other Princes and People as much as may be in continual trouble and commotion and if not in some actual War and Hostility yet at least in jealousie one with another and more especially such Princes and People as are either her professed Enemies or not so much her Friends as it is pretended they should be Proposition IX That in order to this end Viz. the prudent management of their Interest the Roman Consistory maintains her Instruments and Agents in all the Princes Courts that are of any consideration in Christendom Some publick and commonly known as Nuncioes Internuneioes Legats c. where they will be admitted others secret and not known to be what they are the chief business both of the one and the other respectively being to observe the Inclinations Passions Humours and several Interests of Those who sit at the Helm of Government or are any way considerable in State and accordingly by their dexterous Insinuations and Compliances to work upon them and to dispose and temper them so far as they can to such resolutions as are best agreeable to their own designs and to the designs of the Court from whence they come or otherwise if they cannot yet at least to stave them off and keep them as much as is possible from being Enemies or acting any thing contrary to the Consistories Interest which is as it were their After-game Proposition X. That by means both of the one and the other but chiefly of those of this latter sort Viz. Vnknown conceal'd and disguized Agents it is in the power of this Roman Court more or less and at all times ordinarily speaking to excite and stir up