Daneus or any other of those Niblers at Bellarmine as Master Normington of Cambridge once called them in a Sermon at Saint Maries much less with the impudencies of the Minister Crashaw nor with the mistakes of Chark Fenner Beard Burton or any other Triobolary Controvertists at home either of former or present times but as you see onely with faults of their Prime Leaders Classicall men Prelates and Dignitaries of their Church so if it should happen that any private man of our own writing onely by private Authority and judgement should either through oversight or indiligence be found chargeable with some kinde of mistake we would not have it stood upon as if it were the common practise of all to write so negligently or that the defence of Catholike Religion did any wit depend upon such mistakes As we say the defence of Protestancy doth very much upon those mistakes which we are ready to bring in charge against them and without which there were not half the colour for defence of it Concerning the third point viz. That the Priests and Students in the English Seminaries beyond Sea are Practicers against the State and do stir or endeavor to stir the People to Rebellion it is indeed an odious and heavy charge which the Book called The execution of Justice c. layeth roundly upon them and is seconded therein by a Proclamation in the year 1580. which doth directly charge those Priests and others as Accessories and privy to the Counsels of Philip King of Spain the Pope and some other Catholike Princes which as 't is said had combined together about that time to invade England to depose the Queen and subdue the Nation to the Spaniard But for answer I say that jealousie is a kinde of Argus full of eyes and so she is painted but they are all purblinde which is the cause that she mistakes so oft starts at her own shadow and is always trembling and doubting the worst of every body We cannot deny but there were great States-men that governed England in those days under the Queen yet howsoever it happened with all their Opticks they seemed not to have any particular foresight of the dangers which threatned them till they were at their doors yea having by error of Government provoked and drawn them upon themselves yet they took a course more proper to kindle the flame then to quench the fire But this is not a business to be discussed now That which we are to do is to justifie the Priests and other Good men of the Seminaries that they are not Traitors are not Enemies of the State do not practise consult cooperate where they live to any thing prejudicial to their Prince and Country First if any such Confederation had been betwixt his Holiness the King of Spain and other Princes against England as is pretended but was never yet proved and 't is well known that what the Catholike King did afterward as it was upon great provocations given so was it also upon his own score onely and with no other assistance but what was his own and ordinary in such cases Yet I say suppose there had been such Confederation or League betwixt them is it probable that so great and wise Princes as they were would acquaint a few poor Contemplative men Students at Rhemes and Doway with their designs Men so inconsiderable every way in relation to such service so useless and unable in respect of their maner condition and place of living to contribute any thing to the work Is it credible they would manage such high matters and of so great importance so weakly Let no man say That Priests might serve them by preparing a party here and by their reconciling of men to the Pope For it is not the Priests work to reconcile men to the Pope but unto God and to the Communion of the true Catholike Church whereof although the Pope as successor to Saint Peter be Supream and chief Pastor yet Catholikes by returning to the Church and consequently acknowledging that Supremacy of Spiritual Authority in his Holiness are not obliged so much as to take notice of any Temporal designs that he hath no though they were perhaps for advancement of Religion much less to consent concur or cooperate with them contrary to the Law of nature their Duty of Allegience and the interest of their native Country Secondly among so many Priests as by that time there were both in England and beyond the Seas and in so long a time that this pretended Confederacy was in framing when Spies and Intelligencers were many and well paid by the State was there so much as one Priest nominated or accused to have been so corrupted or induced any way by those Princes or their Ministers to practise ought to the prejudice of their Country was there ever any one apprehended or convicted of such a treaâ—on was there ever any Subject of England called in question for entertaining Priests that were sought after upon that account In a word when the Spanish Armado was under Sail for England was there so much as one Priest or Seminary-man found or known to be in it or at any time since discovered to have been used or imployed in that service 'T is confessed the Proclamation spoken of before being framed on purpose to put people into a fright and to make honest men odious doth traduce them sufficiently as persons suborned to prepare the way and procure safe landing for the Navy But Si accusasse sufficit quis erit innocens Such general charges prove nothing but passion or some undue byassed and distempered judgement They that know such men well know it to be a business far out of their way to spie Countries to observe how Ports are garded and what Havens lie upon the Goast However it is evidence of fact and the conviction at least questioning of some one person for such crime that would be given in the case Which seeing there never was Indifferent men cannot but think such Accusations to have been very injurious and that the great fears and jealousies shewen had more of the Chimaera and fiction in them then of real danger It was otherwise with the poor English themselves in Spain not long after both Religious and others For when the English Armado in the year 1589. made an attempt upon Lisbon and invaded some parts of Portugal the King of Spain took them to be so little either his Friends or Enemies to their Prince and Country as they are traduced that he laid them all fast by the Heeles and kept them close prisoners during the whole time that the Action lasted as many of them as were found at Valâ—adolid Burgos and some other places in Spain Nor was there in those many Actual attempts of Treason supposed to be made against Queen Elizabeth so much as one Priest Monk or Friar ever attainted or impeached about them Nor in the whole Five and forty years of her Reign any more then two
establish others new in their stead The heads of these tumults and as it were Tribunes of the people were cheifly Thomas Muncer and Phifer his Comrade with one Christopher Schaplerus Muncer was a most audacious fellow and as some report of a Priest was become an Apostate He had been formerly Scholler to Carolstad Melancth in Hist Ana. yet Melancthon confesseth That he came also to Luthers Lectures which is not improbable seeing he acted some of his doctrines so much to the life In Alsatia he first began to Preach against the Pope yet dissented in many things from his Masters doctrine because as the Popes Laws were too severe so Luthers even in his opinion gave too much liberty There he also first preached against Mass and against the Baptizing of Infants because it was not expresly commanded in the Scriptures There he taught That Christ did not take flesh of the Virgin Mary and that Magistrates did forfeit or loose all Authority so often as they committed Mortal sin and lastly That the people that is Cent. 15. p 445. such a rabble of the people as followed him tumultuously and without any lawful order might correct Princes when they offend This fellow to make his name and practices more reverenced by the people pretended as others did extraordinary vocation from God That what he did was by revelation and warrant of the Holy Ghost that he had received from God the Sword of Gideon cogere universum orbem as the Centurists write of him thereby to compel the whole World to acknowledge and set up the new Kingdom of Jesus Christ to fight for Israel and to depose Idolatrous Magistrates And with such phantastical pretences as these he made shift to draw into the Field infinite numbers of people of Franconia by whose help he won by force the strong Town of Winspurgh slew the Count Lodowick of Helphensâ—ein and either killed or captivated all the Noblemen of the Country whom they could encounter Besides they sacked and destroyed all Châ—rches Monasteries and Religious places where they came Insomuch Surius Chron. as Conradus Wimpin and other Authors affirm That in this onely Circle of the Empire they pillaged and spoiled neer upon Three hundred Monasteries Castles and Forts and yet these wretched people could pretend they took arms for edification Is it not likely they did so At last for want of Victuals and other necessaries as multitude and fury are seldom provident they were forced to divide their Camps so some of them marched towards the Dutchy of Wirtembergh where by Truchses General of the League of Swevia they were all put to the Sword or flight yet very great numbers of them remained still in Franconia Whereupon because their tumults and proceedings tended so manifestly to the dâ—struction of all State Laws and Gâ—vernment whatsoever at last John Frederick Duke of S xony who had before connived at Muâ—â—ers Pâ—eaching in Alstadt his Uncle Duke George of Leipsig together with the other Princes the Emperor himself being then in Spain joyned their forces and at Franckhuisen made a bloody slaughter and execution of those Peasants in their Camp where Muncer and Phâ—fer both were taken prisoners and executed and above a hundred thousand men lost their lives in these Tumults and Rebellion Yet could not such a fearful warning as this absolutely quiet their spirits For in Alsatia they made new uproars and above Twenty thousand of thâ—m were slain by the Count Palatine and Anthony Duke of Lorrain After this an other multitude of them put themselves in Arms at Petersheim in the Territory of Worms but were likewise dâ—feated and put to the Sword To conclude no part of the Empire was perfectly cleer from this plague of Conspiracy For as the Boors in the Country so in the Imperial Towns the common people would needs be reforming of Religion and removing of such Magistrates as did any way support the old At Erford they degraded and committed all the Officers of the Town at Franckford with more fury they spoiled the Churches banished the Clergy and put all the Authority and Government of the City into the hands of Twenty four Commoners they created all inferior Magistrates new made new Laws expelled the old Senators the whole Clergy not without much threatning and terror Surius in Chron. they selected and set forth Forty and seven Articles out of Luthers new doctrine which they decreed should be observed religiously and professed by all men they sent them also to their Brethren at Colen and Mentz who had attempted the like pranks there standing in Arms and being Masters of the several Cities for some days together but in the end failed In the Territory of the Bishop of Triers one Francis Sicking a private Lutheran yet out of his zeal and to comply as some say with the instigations of Bucer and others feared not to take up Arms and to invade in hostile maner the Country of that Bishop took by assault a strong place of the Princes own possession marched with his Army up to the very Walls of Triers with intention to besiedge it But as his cause was wicked and undertaken without any just ground of War so the success was answerable his forces being suddenly compelled to retire himself with many of his complices apprehended and attainted and their Lands confiscate Briefly and to give you the sum of all these mischeifs under one view This Inundation and as it were First fury of these Reformers of Germany was so general and violent that all Church-Goods whatsoever where they came became prey and booty to them Cathedral Churches were broken down and shamefully defaced Monasteries ransacked and robbed Bishops and Bishopricks spoiled as Magdeburgh for example the Seat of the Primate of Germany and a Prince of the Empire Breme Lu â—ck and no less then fourteen more beside So as the Imperial Chamber at Spires was for a long time after much disquieted and troubled with Actions Petitions and Complaints about those spoils the Emperor himself marvellously perplexed how to procure a Cessation of these disorders and to stop the Torrent of these Reformers Neither could he do it effectually till many years after viz. Anno 1544. when by an Edict he appointed Commissioners particularly to enquire in bona Ecclesiae invasa after all Church-Goods purloyned Till that time himself had his hands full and at some time more then enough to do to make resistance against their fury and to pacifie the troubles which continually grew upon him from these beginnings as will hereafter more clearly appear All which things are reported and testified to the World by Jo. Cochlaeus Jo. Cochlaei Acta Scripta Lutheri an Author beyond all exception whose writings out of which most of this hath been taken were published in Luthers life time and never yet challenged by any man of false play They are reported also generally by Pontanus Hortensius Surius Mountford Elorim Raemundus Flor. Raemundus de ortu
to breed some dislike of Monarchs in the mindes of people and to shew how inconvenient it is for such an infinite multitude and variety of people to depend upon the Edicts of one man This being done they know it is then easie and they may much better advance the authority of inferior Magistrates and by them emboldned by such degrees to contest at last and jar with their Superiors under a pretence of Reforming abuses and pulling down Idolatry they become able to pull down Kings themselves and to level the Creators that is to say the cheif Authors and origin of all lawful Power exercised in their respective Kingdoms with the most inferior Creatures themselves upon whom it should be exercised And after this they are sure their Consistories and Elders must rule all be Judges both of Clergy and Law Councel and King They must be henceforward the onely Rabbies and from their onely Sanbedrim or Genevian Consistory must the Oracles of all Government be fetcht both for Church and Kingdom Neither can I forget how irreverently Eusebius Philadelphus viz. Master Theodore Beza disguised used his Sovereign King Charls in his other Book of Reveille Matin where usually he calls the King Tyrant and of his name Charls Valois makes this Anagram Chasseur Desloyal that is neither more nor less Perfidious Hunter or Persecutor chuse you whether Read his rimes and scandalous reproaches of the Queen-Mother himself being a fugitive for more crimes then one deservedly most infamous Peruse the Forty Articles recorded in that Book for the better advancing of seditious Government For example Art 25. All Generals and Commanders in cheif must observe the Ecclesiastical Discipline ordained by their Synods Art 40. They are bound never to disarm so long as their Religion is persecuted as they call it by the King This is the patience of those Saints But what is become of their Preces lachrymae in the mean time That pretending to reform the World are so little masters of their own Passions But in Article fourteen and fifteen their spirits and designs appear in their bravery aiming at no less then the utter overthrow of the King and extirpation of the whole family of Valois as any man may perceive that reads them These were those Holy Articles of Bearn Anno 1574. so much talked of over all France coyned with Beza's own stamp and at Melion dispersed and communicated to their inferior Moschees all the Kingdom over to the intent as they expresly avowed That they might make war more strongly against their Enemies who were no other but the King and whole State of France and â—ill it should please God say they to turn the heart of the Tyrant that is of the French King their Natural and Lawful Sovereign About the same time also was framed and published by their Emissaries that libellous life of Catharine de Medices Queen-Mother Franco-Gallia the Tocsan of Massacreurs together with that fine-piece mentioned bâ—fore called the Legend of Lorrain For this is very observable and it is an honor which the House of Guise hath had a long time that no man ever professed himself an Enemy to the Church of God in France but he was likewise at deadly feud with them All which proceedings were so notorious and unexcusable in those times that even their fellow Protestants here in England those I mean of better note and more moderated judgement do acknowledge them with dislike The Protestants of the French Church saith Doctor Sutcliff Answ to a Lib. suppl for thirty years together taught violent Reformation by the Nobility people and private persons And again Beza saith he in his Book De jure Magistratus doth arm the Subject against the Prince and in effect overthroweth the Authority of Christian Kings and Magistrates And the Book Vindiciae contra Tyrannos gives power saith he not onely to resist but to kill the King if he impugn Gods true Religion The same also is affirmed by the late Archbishop of Canterbury Doctor Bancroft in the Survey of Discipline but most copiously and at large in the Book of Dangerous Positions especially about Pag. 192. seq To these I may adde Francis Baldwin a famous Lawyer of France who lived a long time with Calvin at Genevah and knew all their proceedings very well Mirabar saith he Respons ultim ad Jo. Calvin I wondred a long while whether your fiery Apostle viz. Theodore Beza would tend who in his Sermons here so much extolled that fact of the Levites running up and down the Tents of Israel Exod. 32. and slaying every man his Brother that had committed Idolatry But I hear now that your self are not much satisfied with such Ministers And again Pag. 128. Leviora sunt isia All this is nothing saith he in comparison of that which follows For now men make war even upon the dead The Statues the Sepulchres the very bones and bodies of Martyrs Princes c. scape not their barbarous hands Cities are sacked Churches robbed and spoiled c. Which Beza is so far from excusing that he justifieth them rather and professeth to his Friend Christopher Thretâ—â—s Epist 40. That for his part he hath no thoughts of peace that is that if such outrages and villanies should cease Nisi de ellatis hostâ—bus until the â—nemies so he calls the Kings Army and all the Catholikes of France with them be totally subdued But we ought not to wonder at it It is Morbus innatus to all Sacramentaries a disease bred in their bones that is in the very vitals and entrails of their cause to be seditious and dangerous to their Princes Zuinglius their Patriarch first taught them the Lesson who Tom. 1. of his works Art 2. delivers this for an Oracle viz. That Reges quandò perfidè extra regulam Christi egerint c. When Kings break Faith with their people and do otherwise then the rule of Christ directs them which rule themselves will onely interpret Possunt cum Deo deponi They may be deposed with right good Conscience Doctor Bilson is here again entangled and troubles himself and his Reader not a little to finde som Apology for this Paradox I undertake not saith he first To defend each mans several opinion Wisely spoken Secondly They may be deposed saith he when they advance ungodliness as Saul was May they so where is the Samuel the Prophet extraordinarily and on purpose sent from God that shall do it may the people do it No saith he blushing or afraid to affirm that and therefore seems to leave it as a priviledge or a matter reserved to the judgement of the Elders But Zuinglius himself deals more plainly and tells you Art 42. and 43. who shall do it Cum suffragiis consensu totius aut majoris c. When saith he such a Tyrant is deposed by consent of all or the major part of the people it is well done and as God would have it Therefore in his
Cujus contrarium verum est But let that pass The Clergy of England they count Atheists call them soldiers of Antichrist and a Bastardly Ministery And from the Fountain of this frenzy sprang in late times all those infamous and scandalous Libels of Vdal Penry Brown Greenwood Martin Marprelate Martin junior Hay any work for a Cooper The supplication to the President of Wales and many other to the late Queen and troublesome to the State But the spring-head of all was Calvin himself who Epist 105. declares magis sibi placere c. that he forsooth did rather approve the Scottish Reformation then that of England Gramercy good Sir John You like it better why because it was the issue of your own happy Brain 't is well known Knox fetcht his Coales from your Fire and cast his Engin of Reformation in your Mould and so upon the matter in commending it like a wise man you commend your self So Epist 26. he tells Cranmer relictam esse congeriem That there was a great heap of Popish superstitions yet remaining in the Church of England which did not onely dim but even much darken and corrupt the purity of Gods worship Hence it was that during all Queen Maries Reign The English Church at Genevah as they calld themselves was Antagonist and at defiance with the English Church at Franckfort for they at Franckfort defended the Authority of Bishops and used the Leiturgy and Ceremonies which were commanded by King Edward the sixth notwithstanding Mr. Calvin writing to the Protector by whose Authority they had been established was so modest as to call them scoffingly and by way of contempt Tolerabiles Ineptias certain fooleries but yet such as might be born withal for a time It is therefore we see no Hyperbolical charge or Calumny to say that this Presbyterian Discipline is the Palladium of Calvinists for which they do not onely contend but fight tanquam pro aris focis against all Kings and Princes that oppose it more eagerly and bitterly then for any other thing which no man will deny that knowes what their proceedings have been are in France Scotland Low-countries Bohemia and elsewhere or that hath read Bsialicon Doron written by a Pen that had cause enough to be sensible of their disorders or that Book of Philippus Nicolai De regno Xti which is ful of predictions of what lawless attempts and practises they would serve themselves to advance their consistory above the court which have not all prov'd untrue or lastly that of Joannes Schutz a learned Lutheran Lib. 50. caus who tells them plainly that they trust onely upon their Soecular power That they are seditious people and defend their opinions best with a Sword in their hand But that which King James himself saith of them is most remarkable Ego a Puritanis Prefat monitor c. I saith he have been vexed with these Puritans from my very Birth yea they persecuted me while I was yet in my Mothers Belly and it mist but little that they had not murdered me before I was born Among which Pranks that of the Ministers at Sterling must not be forgotten who appeared themselves in the field under the Command of some of the Nobility of that faction and forced the King to yeeld his person to them and to suffer a new guard to be put upon him and his old removed For which insolent attempt the chief of them viz. Mr. Patrick Galloway Pollard Carmichel and Andrew Melvin were glad afterwards to take covert in England yet James Gibson stood to it and called the King Jeroboam and persecutor Lawson opposed and affronted him to his face Pont and Balcanqual by open Proclamation and in the presence of a publike Notary censur'd him very formally and did what they could to withdraw the peoples Loyalty and affection from him When Philautia and Phantasia that is self-love and self-conceit do meet in Conjunction in the Brain there must needs be a great Eclipse of the understanding and a Heart swollen and blown up with singularity doth so far contemn yea hate whatsoever opposition is made against her that being not able to govern the strong passion and those fervors of a proud spirit which boyl incessantly within her Men run like so many furies upon rash and inconsiderate attempts both against the reverence due to Majestie Justice and all good government A thing manifestly observable in these Zelots And therefore the Zuinglians who are otherwise more then their half Brethren can scarcely approve them in the point of the Consistory For saith Gualter Minister of Zurich Comment in 1 Cor. c. 5. Galli habent sua seniorum Concilia c. The Reformed French saith he have their Consistories of Elders in whose hands all power and authority Ecclesiastical is as it were deposited and in These all counsels and resolutions are taken all Taxes and impositions layd for the maintaining of War against the King Proper work doubtless for the Ministers of Gods word as they will be called and for a Spiritual Court as it pretends to be and to as good a purpose De Offic. Ministror lib. 15. cap. 19.20 22. Musculus also sheweth as little esteem of them in his Loci Commun cap. 10. But above all Schultingius in his Hierarchica Anachresis doth most graphically and to the life discover their exorbitant and absurd practises shewing how all Kings Princes and Governors are made subject to their Excommunications that truly Brutum Fulmen of their elderships How Nobility and Commons both must assemble at the Summons of the Pastor who is more then half Pope in his Parish being attended by Assisting Elders rather to countenance what he will have done then to do any thing contrary to his minde Lastly Calvin at Genevah is the Supream Oracle beyond whom there is no appeal really Papa though out of a dissembled humility he seems not willing to be called Doctor So he And what confusion in the Civil State this Constitution of pretended Discipline may further cause in time Hooker in the Preface to his Books of Ecclesiastical Policy sheweth at large Titulus Quartus GEVXISM OR The Troubles in HOLLAND AND THE United Provinces BY Course we arrive now at the States of Holland Zealand and those other united Provinces that is at an Aceldama a Field of blood where the Principles mentioned so oft already in this Narrative and the Tragical effects of them have been acted with most lamentable fury and rage for many years together I will not be large in the declaration of them to shew you how the Lutheran faction first began and how violently the Calvinists succeeding did prosecute their work for then I should weary you I shall labor to be as breif as I may and rather to Epitomize things then dilate them Of all their Actions That Union of Vtrecht was the most notorious a devise cleerly according to the rules of Junius Brutus and in imitation of the Switz
and liberties which they pretend were violated by the King They would have no Strangers rule or bear Office among them The Spaniards must be dismissed the Country and some new liberties granted viz. Liberty of Conscience and Toleration for Religion Thus were the names of Liberty and Religion made the Standard-bearers as it were to their future Commotions But let us concerning their several grievances As concerning the first that of the Inquisition the name is of greater Terror then the thing It was first devised upon a neceâ—sity against the Moors in Spain and upon experience of the use and benefit thereof continued And though I shall not commend any sign or proceedings that savor of cruelty yet I cannot condemn this because it addeth nothing to the punishment of Heresie which the Law did not inflict before but requires onely a more strict Execution of the Law and a more diligent course of examination to be used by the Inquisitors And certainly under God it hath been the chief Antidote which hath preserved Spain so well and so long free from the infection of heresies and from such dangerous and lasting tumults as do commonly follow them and wherewith the other Kingdoms of Europe have been generally embroyled The Spaniards themselves when they were most discontented never complained of it nor is it in it self a more bloody Law or Execution of Justice then the Consistory it self at Genevah doth maintain and hath executed more then once though unjustly and Tyrannically considering what principles they pretend and what outcries and obtestations they once made for Liberty of Conscience Liberty of Prophesying Liberty of the Spirit which is their onely Judge of Controversies according to the written word alone and not any Consistory or company of men whatsoever Besides as it was at first propounded by the King out of his zeal for the good and quiet of the Country so was it by his wisdom suspended afterwards finding they were not capable of such a remedy For the second viz. the Erecting of the new Bishopricks it was a prudent and necessary resolution to bridle Sectaries and as a Sythe to cut down those Weeds which grew so fast in Gods Church For by appointing in each Province grave and learned men to stand as Watchmen and Sentinels against the Enemies of the Church and State it would be more easie by concurrence of their Authority and by their vigilancy over their Flocks to preserve the people from danger of seducement Neither was it a new design For Philip Duke of Burgundy had long before desired it as a thing very needful because in his time all the Seventeen Provinces except onely the Diocess of Arras were under such Bishops as were strangers to the Country and Subjects of Forreign Princes which could not be convenient for the State And what good their Erection hath wrought experience daily sheweth in those places where they still continue For now every Diocess is carefully visited by a Bishop of the same Country and Language who as he hath more natural compassion so hath he also more knowledge and care to instruct his Countrymen in the way that is right and to weed out disorders And therefore was the Erection allowed and ratified by Bull of Pius Quartus in the year 1559. Concerning the third viz. the Cardinal of Arras Although his wisdom and experience in affairs of government as well Ecclesiastical as Civil was sufficiently known to the King yet because the Prince of Orange with the Counts Egmond and Horn did joyntly write to the King against him His Majestie though to his great disservice was content to remove him for their satisfaction But when this was done neither was the Country any whit the quieter for his calling away nor did they themselves cease from further practising As for their liberties and franchises had not the King confirm'd them all at the joyful entry When did he violat them afterward was it for preferring Spaniards There were very few of them left in the Country and of these fewer cum imperio Was it for the Offices of State See how the governments were distributed among themselves Count Egmond was Governor of Flaunders and Artois The Prince of Orange Governor of Holland Zealand Vtreckt and Burgundy Count Aremberge was Governor of West-Frezeland and Over-Issel Count Barlamont of Namur Count Mansfeld of Luxemberge and Clinay The Marquis of Berghen of Lisle and Doway So as 't is not easie to see how the Nobility could complain justly they were neglected or not honorably imployed And yet for addition and their further assurance of the Kings good affection to them and the Provinces he left his Sister the Dutchess of Parma Governor General with them a Woman of a very peaceable and mild Spirit and one that was like to hold the bridle of Government with a Gentle hand and to be advised by their Counsels In this maner were all things wisely and moderately constituted by the King and might have so continued had the Nobles complied with their duty and not favored so much those spirits of Innovation and Tumult which lurked up and down the Country and had infected no small part of the Common people Howbeit all things remained outwardly quiet for a long while The fire that was lay covered in Ashes The first breaking out was not til Baron Brederode and his Associates presented their Petition to the Dutchess which containing many things neither fit for them to aske nor safe for her to grant was not without reason look't upon as a Prologue to some future Troubles Henceforward the Heads of the Faction plot the advancing of their party and begin to strengthen themselves both at home and abroad These were the Earl of Culembergh who had lately married a Germane Lady of the Lutheran way Horn who was matched with the Sister of Count Harman The Prince of Orange was already by his Mother allied to the Count of Solms and his Wife was Sister to Maurice Duke of Saxony And Grave Scheremberg had married his Sister There was also Count Lodowick the Princes Brother a Soldier and a man of great Spirit Lutheran all over and as fit an instrument as could be desired both to make a party and to back it Besides these Flacius Illiricus a most turbulent Preacher of new Doctrines had been sent for privately out of Germany with some other Ministers and were dispersed in all corners of the Country incensing and corrupting the people with as much industry as was possible These were Lutherans and did mischief enough But when Calvins Quicksilver came to be cast in among them the fire then could be kept in no longer but the flames break out in all places The people in spight of Laws mutiny every where down go the Kings Arms down go Images and all the Ornaments in the Churches The Churches themselves as if they had been the Castles and Forts of some Enemy are Sackd and Pillaged Strad de bell Belgie Monasteries rifled Religious houses robd
violence of his own exorbitant passions without any order or colour of Law and as no just Prince ought to govern how much less would they have thought it lawful and how little would they approve it to be done against such Princes as govern legally and do nothing concerning Religion or otherwise but according as the Laws and and publike Constitutions of their several Kingdoms do direct and inable them to do He that proclaymed the Prerogative of Kings in these terms Vos Estis Dii I have said Yee are Gods surely intended to teach the world rather a lesson of obedience then rebellion And there is no Prince or State in the world Let them countenance what Sect or Profession of Religion soever they please but shall finde it at one time or another a necessary Bulwark for them to retreat unto against the inundations of popular fury Who doth deny but that it is necessary that the governments of all Princes whatsoever should be regulated and moderated by Laws and that all persons in Authority do observe all rules whatsoever that are proper for them or prescribed to them by those to whom that power belongeth We pretend not to enhaunce the Authority of Princes so far as to exempt them from the rule of Law or to make them Arbitrary in their government but this we say Vos Esi is Dii in relation unto Princes and all Persons established in Supream Authority justly that is by the will of Divine Providence and consent of the people is a great exemption of them from any popular Cognizance For what does it intimate but that * Egodixi Allmighty God himself hath made them Gods unto the people that is to say persons of Knowledge Experience Foresight Care Providence and other abilities Intellectual which are the natural and genuine principles of government competent and sufficient for the government of people who are not otherwise generally speaking Et pro majori parte able to govern themselves in civil society and for their preservation in peace and quietness which is the end of Government We think it is most proper for God onely to say Transferam Regna de gente in gentem Revolutions of Governments and Translating of one Kingdom to another are the Extraordinary Dispensations of Divine Providence and for reasons onely known unto his supream and secret wisdom Which although they be acted that is brought to pass by the hands of men yea through their infirmities and many times blamable passions as experience often sheweth and as in the case of King Rehoboam the Son of Solomon 1 Reg. 12.16 may seem plain yet are not the common people licensed hereby to run upon any irregular designs of their own head and to renounce their Governors headily and hastily of themselves for every lght greivance and misgovernment that may seem to afflict them To remove Tyrants and oppression from a people is the work of Divine Mercy as it is of his justice to permit them to oppress and from him only must they expect deliverance abiding in the mean while with patience until his Divine hand shall appear leading them to such means as they may with justice and good order use to the procuring of their liberty The Second Part. JERUSALEM OR The Obedience Loyalty and Conformity OF CATHOLIKES unto Publike Order HItherto we have insisted onely upon the Doctrines and practises of those who call themselves Reformed Churches or Protestants in the charge of Rebellion and Tumult against the Civil Magistrate by which how tolerable and quiet they are in any Kingdom or State whose Religion is not framed according to their Mode the indifferent Reader will judge It remaineth now that we make good the contrary concerning our selves and shew that those vertues which we pretend to be the true and proper Characters of our Religion viz. Humility Devotion Obedience Order Patience c. are more generally and more constantly exercised by Catholikes in times of Tryal then by any other Sect or Sort of people whatsoever This we intend to do but not so much Theoretically or by way of any long and speculative discourse as Practically Historically and by way of instance shewing what the behavior and practise of Catholikes have been in this case upon occasions given Neither shall we range far abroad into the world because that would be less pertinent to our main purpose which is onely to justifie our selves in this point so far as reason and truth will give us leave and enlarge our discourse beyond its intended bounds But we shall content our selves onely with domestick examples and that experience which the Catholikes of this Nation have given of themselves from time to time in this kinde What kinde of people they were anciently in this Land in the time of King Lucius and the Brittons I shall not need to relate but refer you to the Ecclesiasticall Histories of those times the rather because the Centurists of Magdeburgh and Master Fox in his Acts and Monuments will have these Catholikes to be Protestants and of their Church which though it be very false yet I may not ingage for the cleering of that point now Nor shall I insist any longer upon those times of the Saxons after they were converted to Christianity to shew their vertues and singular devotion towards God and how happily by means thereof the Church and Common-wealth did grow up together unto that perfection of Spiritual and Temporal glory which they injoyed under that Blessed Prince and Saint King Edward the Confessor I shall not tell you how highly the good Prelates of the Church were then reverenced by the people nor how much their holy Counsels and Authority did conduce to the happy government of the State It sufficeth Lamb. Archaion Camden Spelm. Concil that many old Saxon Laws and other Monuments yet upon record Venerable Bede and the Stories of those times with other Modern Authors are witnesses of it beyond all exception From King Edward the Confessor downwards to King Henry the Eighth there is no man of judgement will affirm or thinketh that any other Religion was known in England but the Roman-Catholike that is the same that had been long before planted here by Saint Austin and those Good men his followers who were sent hither to convert the English Saxons by Saint Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome for which charity towards our Nation Doctor Whitaker giveth him thanks and professeth it was a great Benefit and for ever most gratefully to be remembred In all which time although the Clergy made Canons and managed all things pertaining to Religion by an Authority of their own that is to say given them by God and derived to them from an other origin then that of the State or Supream Magistrate Temporal yet never did the Kings of this Realm finde them generally otherwise then obedient unto their Government and ready to serve them in such capacity as the Laws and duties of their function permitted and to contribute their
best assistance to the support of the Estate Royal and of the Kingdom wherein they lived It is true through the malice of the Devil and Instigation of some Enemies of the Church some of them for the asserting of their legal Immunities and to preserve the Liberty of their spiritual Jurisdiction entirely Free as it ought they were dirven now and then yet very seldom in comparison of such a long tract of time as we instance in unto some vehement and earnest contestation with their Princes and though much further then was pleasing to them yet I suppose not beyond terms of due respect and the Authority of their Function much less did they endeavor to stir up rebellion or instigate the people to sedition and commotions against their Princes nor did they ever upon their own account solely concur in any thing of that nature The first King that ever gave cause in this Kingdom effectually and in the face of the world to trie the admirable patience obedience and loyalty of Catholikcs was King Henry the Eighth Flagellum Dei that scourge of God to the Church of England and all good Catholikes therein yet outwardly professing the same Religion in most things with Catholikes This he did first by a pretended Accusation of the Clergy to be fallen in a Praemunire because Scil they did that which all their predecessors the Bishops and Clergy of England for many Hundreds of years confessedly had done without any exception taken viz. for acknowledging the power Legantine of Cardinal Wâ—lsey which yet the King himself for his own ends and in his own case had first of all procured 2. upon the Statute of supremacy And 3. by suppression of the Abbies These were his Three first breaches by which the Foundation strength and glory of the Catholike Church in England became afterwards utterly ruinated By the first his way was levelled to the Second and the Second obtained gave him power and authority to compass the Third By the First indeed onely the Clergy smarted in a fine of an Hundred thousand pound The second lay heavy upon the Clergy and Temporalty both But by the Third viz. the suppression of the Abbies and Religious houses if we consider the infinite prejudice which the poor Commonalty suffered thereby both in point of spiritual and temporal interest the whole Kingdom might be said to be worse then conquered by him that is Robbed Spoiled Enslaved to the exorbitancy of his sole Will Prodigality Lust and Tyranny And all this done to be revenged on the Pope who condescended not to humor him in the business of his marriage Therefore and to advance his own power and greatness That Authority and Jurisdiction which had alway been acknowledged as sacred by the English ever since the English were Christians must in a moment be abandoned disclaimed abjured himself by an unheard of and fatal Ambition instead thereof made Head of the Church and all persons who out of scruple of Conscience refused to conform to such grand sudden and sacrilegious Innovations and to swear they knew not what were cut shorter by the head executed at Tyborn imprisoned banished and put into such condition as he was sure they should not oppose him The ground of the Praemunire was at first onely a quarrel which he pick't against the Cardinal Wolsey but afterwards stretched it upon the Tenters and made it reach the whole Clergy who being thereupon Summoned into the Kings Bench the business was so aggravated there by the Lawyers The Kings Learned Counsel that in the Convocation house they presently concluded to submit themselves to the King and offer him no less sum then One hundred thousand pound for their pardon This was look't upon by the Christian world as a Prodigy That so many Shepherds should be afraid of one Wolfe And though it becomes us not hear to censure whether they did as they ought yet certainly this weakness of the Pastors boded no good to the Flock and it is observed that neither themselves nor the Church nor Religion ever prospered in England afterwards However the King accepts of thâ—ir offâ—r and signs their Pardon but with a fetch far worse then the first For undâ—r a prâ—â—eâ—ce of procuring this Pardon to be confirmed to them in Parliament he draws thâ—m in there how willingly or unwillingly let the world judge to acknowledge him Supream Head of the Church It was a course even at that time not thought agreeable to Justice or Honor. For as we said the Cardinal Wolsey had the Kings License for the exercise of his Legantine power both under the Kings hand and the Great Seal of England and was employed by the Kings particular Mandate and pleasure in the quality of Legat to sit with the other Legat Cardinal Campegius and examine the business of his marriage And could the Divorce have been granted according to the Kings minde it is easily conjectured the Cardinal had never been questioned for his Legat-ship Touching the Second of Supremacy All the Subjects of England ever acknowledged that the Crown and State of England quoad Temporalia in Temporal affairs and matters is independent of any other power but of that Transcendent Majestie which saith Per me reges regnant and this to the intent that Kings and all Governors considering who will one day take their Audit may be more careful to rule with Justice and common equity without partiality passion prejudice against any mans person further then his crimes against Publike Order Common Right and the Peace of the State shall make him obnoxious and by so doing may keep their accounts streight against the day of Account And on the other side that Subjects remembring their duty and who it is that layeth this jugum suave the sweet Yoke of good Government upon their Shoulders might be induced to obey with more fidelity and prompt affection But the Question which King Henry the first of all Kings Princes or States of Christendom propounded to his Clergy and People in Parliament concerned matters purely Spiritual and wherein not himself onely and his Subjects at home but all Christian Kings Princes States and people in the world were concerned And therefore required far greater deliberation I say not then was used for in truth that was little or none at all the Kings pleasure and resolution was known and that as the world went then was sufficient but I say then could possâ—bly be used in England which was then but one single Kingdom and a small Province of Christendom And for the suppression of the Abbeys and Religious houses by that Act and this other of Supremacy together the Clergy of England were brought absolutely into Captivity and stood meerly as they have done ever since at the pleasure of the King and of the State Their Possessions the greatest part of them were seized their Goods forfeited their Churches profaned and sacked and upon the spoils thereof together with the sale of the Vestments Chalices Bells and other
such as she thought would oppose themselves viz. the Lord Chancellor Heath Arch-Bishop of York the Lord Paget Lord Privy Seal the Secretary Boxhal Sir Francis Inglefeild and others in whose rooms were placed Sir Nicholas Baecon The new Marquis of Northampton The Earl of Bedford Sir Anthony Cave Sir Francis Knolls Rogers Parry and Secretary Cecil She depoâ—ed many of the old Judges made new Justices of the Peace and lastly concerning the Election of Knights and Burgesses for the Parliament ensuing she took such order by the great diligence and cunning of her Instruments in all the Counties that she wanted not a competent party ready to close with her design in that House Besides this to remove all scruples as much as might be out of the peoples heads and to make them think that the same Religion and Service continued still which was so lately before reestablished by Parliament and that all the alteration made was but onely the turning of the Leiturgy out of Latine into English for their better understanding she provided that in the Common-prayer-book there should be some part of the old frame still upheld some Collects Prayers and Anthemes of the old Missal some of the ancient Ecclesiastical Habits for Divine Service as Copes Surplices c. some Ceremonies as the Sign of the Cross Adoration and Bowing at the name of Jesus The Organs also and ancient manner of Singing their Matins and Even song was retained especially in her own Chappels and in most of the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches of the Kingdom The Title Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops was also preserved with some considerable Grace and Dignity in the State together with most part of the Revenues of which at that present the Cathedral Churches were seized By which dexterous management of affairs the Common people were instantly luld asleep and complyed to every thing and it became not so hard a matter for the Queen to excuse her self even to those forreign Princes who expected otherwise at her hands As she did particularly to the Secretary D' Assonville who was sent by King Philip out of Flanders to Congratulate her advancement to the Crown By this time the Common-Prayer-Book was framed according to the Queens appointment by certain Commiâ—â—â—oners authorised for that purpose The principal whereof were Doctor Matthew Parker after advanced to the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury having been formerly as some say Chaplain to Her Highness Edmund Grindal afterwards Bishop of London Horn of Winchester Whitehead May Bill and Sir Thomas Smith Dr. of the Civil Law The Liturgy was framed according to the Model of that which the English strangers had used at Franckford in the year 1554. and varied not much from that which Northumberland had caused to be published towards the latter end of King Edward the Sixth By the Nobility that were meerly English Protestants as the Marquis of Northampton Earl of Bedford Lord Gray of Pytgo Secretary Cecil and others it was well approved and the estabishing thereof by Parliament very much urged But those who had tasted of Genevah and were more affected with Calvins Model both disliked and opposed it either not knowing or not regarding the Queens reasons of State in the business Sir William Cecil as we said was now Secretary of State a Politick man and one that knew well enough how much this alteration would advance him his industry carried all before him Howbeit his fortunes were yet but low having onely the Parsonage of Wimbledon and some few Lands about Stamford to subsist upon Therefore in his Letter to the Lord Marquis of Northampton who was his Mecaenâ—s in the year 1560. upon the birht of his son Sir Robert Cecil he desires the Marquis being the Lord Treasurer to move the Queen in his behalf for some means and maintenance for his G. C. as he calld them who were so likely to be famous in England afterward Sir Nicholas Bacon was his Brother in Law and another chief Engin of State a man of somewhat a deeper judgement in the knowledge of the Laws and a more plausible Orator I must not forget in this Catalogue of State-Engins the Lord Robori afterwards famously known by the name of Leicester who to possess the Queens favor solely had already discarded Sir William Pickening though formerly viz. in meaner fortune a favorite and no uncourtly Gentleman Nor yet Sir Nicholas Throgmorton nor Sir Francis Walsingham nor Sir Thomas Smith who were all with the rest prime instruments of this Action intimate Counsellors in the business and posseâ— ng wholly the ears and grace of the Queen sate as chief Pilots at the Storâ— guiding the the course both of Church and Common-wealth at their pleasure All of them at this instant big with hopes of Prefermâ—nt Honor and great Offices which they were sure to loose who held them under Queen Mary Though many men wondered how Master Sâ—cretary Cecil could so easily forget his Beads and his Breviary wherewith with he so exquisitely counterfeited a Catholik in Queen Maries time that Cardinal Poole himself was deceived by him so far as to do him many friendly Offices towards her Majestie which as by the event appeared he did not much deserve Their great and indeed onely pretence or reason for the Change was Reason of State The Queens safety Scilicet This they had all of them but especially Secretary Cecil wrought strongly into her Majesties apprehension Camd. in Elizab. Actum esse de eâ si Pontificiam Authoritatem in quâcunque re agnosceret she was but a lost Princess say they if she acknowledged the Popes authority in any thing For Duo Pontifices Two several Popes already had pronounced her Mothers marriage with the King to be unlawfull and Null It may be thought her Mothers Conscience did likewise pronounce the same sentence in her own Brest otherwise why did she being ready to go to the place of Execution so solemnly entreat and charge the Lady Kingst n Speed Chron. to go to the Princess Mary and upon her knees in her name to ask pardon of her for all the wrongs she had done her protesting that until this were done she could not dye in peace But upon this ground the Statesmen of those times conclude it necessary that the Queen should alter Religion Invest her self with the Sovereignty of all Power and banish that Authority out of the Realm which had presumed to declare her Majestie Illegitimate This Counsel how prosperous soever it proved in the event through Gods permission and how speciously politick soever it might be made to seem by the Arguments and Rhetorick of those men who for their own ends and interests desired a change yet Really it could not but be full oâ— dâ—nger both to thâ— Queen and thâ— Realm but espâ—cially to the Queen who if she had pleasâ—d might have secured her self of her own particular fears by some better way For hereby the Sentence of Excomunication in some sort necessarily issuing upon her
they altogether refused by her Majesty They were also generally men of plentiful Fortunes and good Estates and are so still except such as the Lawes and hard times have impoverished Yet because for Conscience sake they refuse to hear Common-prayer and Sermons to receive the Communion according to the new order of the Church of England they stand by Law as it were marked out for destruction and branded with all the Characters of ignominy suspition and prejudice which the people of any State even for the greatest crimes actually commited Sir Edw. Cook can justly suffer It is reported by a great Lawyer of this Nation that from primo Elizab. till the Bull of Pius Quintus was published which was about half a score or a dozen years after No person in England refused to come to Church as if perchance that Bull had beâ—â— the sole occasion which Catholikes took to disobey the Queens Injunctions But it is a great error For not to speak any thing of Puritans many of whom before that time refused the Church-Service how many Bishops and Priests were there in England known and professed Recusants from the first beginning How many Noblemen and Gentlemen of account did openly and absolutely refuse to joyn with their New Church It is true and to be lamented The revolt of the English under Queen Elizabeth from the true Catholike Religion so lately restored was too general and too many there were who suffered themselves to be carried away with the stream of Authority and with the evill example of their Neighbors and especially of Great Ones But what is this but a general infirmity and weakness commonly observed in the people What Form soever of Religious Profession a State sets up it proves an Idol to them and they are apt to fall down before it yea though the Figure which they worship as it happens sometimes hath much more of the Calf then of the Man in it And for this respect it cannot but be matter of much consideration to all wise States-men and States to be well advised how far they proceed in this kinde viz. of establishing or setting up any outward form or profession of Religion whatsoever especially by any compulsory Acts or Penalties lest the bloud of Souls lye upon their account another day As most certainly it shall whensoever people are misled into any corrupt way of Religion meerly upon the Authority and Resolution of the State And yet notwithstanding there were in many places of the Kingdom not a few of worthy and constant Catholikes who never bowed theer knees unto Baal that is never consented nor made profession of Heresie one way or other as Lanhearne Ashby de la Zouch Grafton Dingley Cowdrey and many other places can witness by whose integrity the Catholike Church in England viz. that Remnant according to the election of Grace which God was pleased to preserve here from the general contagion to glorifie his name by suffering and to give Testimony unto Truth have subsisted and stood by the great mercy of God unto this day though indeed suffering grievously for their Conscience as God was pleased from time to time to exercise them by confiscation of their Estates vexations by Pursivants and Promoters restraint and imprisonment of their persons at Wisbich Ely Banbury York Ludlow Bury the Fleet Gatehouse c. Not to speak any thing of the spoil of their Woods leasing their Lands exaction of Fines nor yet of their disarming by Law because this last though it were as unjust and undeserved as the rest yet it had more of disgrace and ignominy in it then of real damage arguing onely suspition or jealousie which the State would seem to have of them and nothing more But the Twenty pounds a moneth was a burden insupportable especially to the meaner sort Although it must be confessed the rigour and extremity thereof was many times moderated by the Lord Treasurer Burleigh Now to compare these men with the Recusant Puritans in England for such we must know there are more then a good many in all Countries All Recusants are not Popish if it were not too odious it might be very necessary and the world could not but see much better and acknowledge the patience humility and obsequious deportment of Catholikes compared with the others insolency and stoutness For t is very well seen already that this growing Sect of Protestant Recusants are not men likely to bear such burdens should the State finde it necessary to impose them They discover a far different Spirit even now while they are but in their shell as we may say and without any visible power or interest within the Nation save that of their number Compare them with the Recusant Fâ—ugonots of France who are Brethren and of the same principles with â—urs in England you would think our Catholike Gentlemen here to be all Priests in respect of their sober humble and Christian carriage of themselves whensoever they fall under question for Religion Their very Ministers there you would take to be all Sword-men Captains Sons of Mars so much fury rage breaths out in every word or action of theirs which relates to the publike Catholikes here are persons of all other most unwilling to offend Recusants there most unwilling to obey These defend their Religion with their Swords and by resistance of the Civil Magistrate ours onely with their Pen and with their prayers Ours endure and à Scio cui credidi with St. Paul is all their comfort These endure nothing wil trust no body with their cause but themselves and their Cautionary towns They have their Bezas Their Marlorates Chamiers and other Boutefeux swarming thick in all parts of the Kingdom ready to incense and set on fire the distempered multitude against their lawful governors they have their Montaubans their Rochels Saumurs Montpelliers places of refuge and retreat strong and well fortified to shelter themselves when they cannot make good their designs in the field Catholikes here have none of all these They have no Preachers but Preachers of Pennance and Mortification They hear no Sermons at any time but such as teach them Obedience Patience Resignation to the will of God and to be willing to suffer whatsoever the will of God is They have no places of security but their own unarmed houses which if they change it is always for the Fleet Gatehouse Newgate or som other prison and place of restraint Much talk there is among Protestants of the Inquisition its severity cruelty partiality and what not to make it odious and terrible to the people but verily if a man do well consider it in comparison of the troubles vexation and manifold danger both for life liberty and estate whereto the Catholikes of England Priests and Religious persons especially are subject it may seem rather a Scare-crow then any thing else Charls the Fifth Emperor in the year 1521. at Worms decreed onely Exile against Luther notwithstanding his obstinacy and all the
continue such so long as they keep under some few fiery zealots that would still be blowing the coals of dissention among them Not to speak of Sweden Denmark c. doth not that famous Kingdom of Poland Tolerate diversity of Religions doth not the great Emperor of Mosko the same and is not the general Unity of their Subiects which ariseth thereupon and would certainly be otherwise if the Government were otherwise is it not a Wall of Brass to both of them against their great enemy the Turk Let Germany also be our example that vast Nation and people no less Magnanimous and Stout is not Toleration judged expedient among them could any thing else cure their troubles Let us consider how peacably and happily Catholikes and Lutherans have conversed and lived there together for no less then an Hundred years and upwards without any dissention without any trouble upon the account of Religion save onely what Ambition and the factious Spiritedness of some particular Princes have bred and brought upon the Country much against the will of the people under that pretence No man doubteth but Charls the Fifth Emperor and Ferdinand his Brother were in their times great and wise Princes yet found they no better means to redress the troubles of State then by commanding Vt utraque pars caveret c. That special care should be had on both sides to compel no man to make profession of Religion otherwise then in his own Conscience he should be perswaded was best As Dresserus a Protestant relates it rejecting with much disdain the contrary opinion of some who as he saith would have but one Religion onely professed in the Empire And for France the case and condition of affairs there is notorious to all the world Nor could that Kingdom ever be brought to quiet till the Calvinists therein were brought upon their knees that is to such pass as to be glad of and to bâ—gge for that favorable Toleration of their profession from the King which themselves in no parts of the world beside will grant to others What reason can be given by indifferent men why the policy of England should be so singular and so differing from that of all other Christian Kingdoms and Nations about her Why should our Government be more severe in this point and more Sanguinary then that of our Neighbors It may seem to reflect something upon the honor of our Nation to mention the Turk in this case Yet certainly it cannot be denied but that Christians live quietly in his Dominions and upon conditions so easie that I am perswaded the Catholikes of England would be well contented with the like If onely it be determined that we must purchase that with our money which all other our fellow-subjects the people of this Nation do enjoy freely and count it their natural right In a word therefore to conclude seeing that both in the judgement of Protestant Divines and in the practice of Protestant Princes and States Toleration of diverse Religions is held neither unlawful nor unexpedient in Government and seeing that for so long a time of afflictions persecution of our Priests and other manifold pressures upon us for matters of Conscience Catholikes have yet through the grace of God demeaned themselves so loyally and obsequiously in all points as they have not done or attempted to do upon their own account or for the interest and advancment of their own profession any thing offensive to the State or prejudicial to the publike peace seeing that nothing can be fastned upon them in that kinde with any colour of truth but onely the business of the Gun-Powder-Treason and seeing that was a devise though acted by the hands of some desperate and wicked Catholikes yet contrived rather by the Devil and some crafty Enemies which we had in the State to make us eternally odious and suspected in the Nation and to disoblige some great person of his promises in favor of us as it may be justly thought considering what kinde of States-men sate at the Helme in those times what knowing men D' Ossat Lettres liur 2. ep 43. Pryns Antip. of Prelat P. 151. strangers abroad have writ and what Protestants themselves at home have discovered since upon that subject Seeing that Catholikes always wished well to his Majesties Title and prayed for his happy succession to these Kingdoms seeing we were not of Counsel with those who sent Beal into forreign parts to promote the Titie of Suffolk nor that set Hales on work at home as he did with law and little art to make it good nor that procured Sir N. B. to make a nest for the Phaenix by such a great volum as he wrote to that purpose Seeing that we were ever Champions to his Majesties just claim Especially Sir Anthony Brown that wise and noble Author of the Book against Leicester and that Aiax of the Law whom no man ever durst encounter in this cause Master Plâ—ydon We hope so long and so try'd fidelity will by the Kings gracious favor procure us at last some liberty and refreshment and that our humble supplication shall be considered wherein casting our selves down at the feet of our Sovereign and of the State we beg onely of them in those words of the Poet. Hanc animam concede mihi Tua caetera sunto Let our souls be left free unto God and as for our Bodies or Estates take them dispose of them freely as Justice requireth and in due proportion with our Neighbors and other the good people of the Nation for the service of the Kingdom and of the publike AN APPENDIX Concerning LUTHERS Mission I Was now going out of the field but behold an Ambush appears which is laid to surprize me it pretends at one charge to rout all the forces of my arguments and to bereave me of my hopes of Victory by eluding rather then disproving of what I have said It is a reply which some men are pleased to make in behalf of Luther whose heat and irregular vehemency which I call sedition was nothing but zeal say they of Gods honor and truth which burning within his own breast happened to kindle some lively sparks also in others They say that Luther was Elias a Prophet sent immediately and extraordinarily by God to reform the errors and corruptions of the world to restore vertue and good life to detect Antichrist who had for so many ages bewitched the whole Church with his impostures and seduced her into Idolatrie and Heresie And that therefore such a Prophet was not to be tedder'd as it were and bound up to the rules of ordinary professors But if he neglected Authority despised the Laws abused and insulted upon the Majestie of Princes disturbed the peace and tranquility of their States we are not to wonder nor lay it to his charge It was no more then a Prophet might do Tune es qui conturbas Israel did not Ahab say to Elias Art not thou he which troublest Israel The
pleasure enjoying the full swinge of their Lust and Lawless Appetites without controule Lastly Erasmus who was a man of intimate acquaintance with them and knew their ways as well as themselves and beside one that never writ partially in favor of Catholikes as the world well knoweth what a Testimony gives he of them in his Spongia advers Hutten Lutheranos video multos c. I meet saith he with many Lutherans abroad but with such as live according to the rule which they pretend very few or none Consider well saith he all this sort of people which call themselves Gospellers and tell me if you can where in the world is there more Luxury Prodigality and Excess used where Lust and Debauchery on the one side or Covetousness on the other rageth more Are those people meaning the Catholikes whom yee have forsaken and seem to detest so much in any respect so blamable as they Give me one example if you can of any one man whom this Doctrine of the Gospel as you call it hath at all bettered in his manners hath made of a drunkard or intemperate person sober and well governed of shameless or licentious modest and chast I can give you many saith he who by turning Lutherans are become Ten times worse then they were What man living ever saw a Lutheran shed a Tear out of any sense or dislike of sin or so much as to breath out a sigh or knock his brest in sign of sorrow and detestation of himself that he had offended God No verily Contrition is not any necessary part of their Pennance it is a thing altogether unknown among them I mean as to the practice and true exercise of it Their opinion or principle of onely Faith viz. That Christ hath done all for them and that they have nothing to do in order to Salvation but to beleeve this is a sufficient Antidote against all such kinde of sadness with which they like not to be troubled Yea it is most lamentable to consider how generally men live and dye without any other sense or feeling of their sins at all save what the shame prejudce or some other Temporal inconvenience which commonly attendeth the doing of evil may perhaps cause in them in relation to God they perswade themselves that nothing is required of them but onely to believe that all is forgiven That Christ hath done all that is to be done by them and suffered all that is necessary to be suffered so they take no further care but dye accordingly that is in a most unhappy security For as concerning that other pretence viz. that Luther should be sent thus Extraordinarily as they say to detect Antichrist unless they mean by giving some example or pattern of him in his own person and practises which in many respects were indeed very Antichristian I know not how it can be understood For if they mean he should discover the Pâ—pe to be Antichrist it is a stale I had almost said an exploded pretence no less vain then any of the rest discovering more inconsideration and spleen in the pretenders then any thing else The Characters which Holy Scripture doth give of that great Antichrist who is to come and make War upon the Church towards the latter end of the world are many and cleer yet so little applyable to the Pope as not any thing can be less The sum of them all is expressed in those Titles which Saint Paul giveth him 2 Thess 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which is understood That Antichrist must be a professed and open Enemy of our Saviour Christ holding and maintaining all things diametrically contrary and in opposition to him He must be the head of a people openly and expresly at defiance with the Kingdom of Christ which is the Church and not onely supposed to be so in the opinion of some few men by interpreâ—ation and some strained consequence of misgovernment in that society which is professedly Christs own Kingdom No the people and followers of Antichrists Kingdom must oppose and persecute the people and followers of Christ to the death He must be an Enemy in all points unto Christs law to Christs Testament to Christs Priesthood All which he must for some short time Universally abolish and put down It is not vice alone nor some supposed superstition nor error in opinion onely which shall erect and constitute that accursed State but it must be a general Apostacy and departure from the Law of Christ as both Melancthon in his Common places Basil 1562. Pag. 34. Tom. 7. P. 875. and Zanchius a famous Protestant in his answer to the Arians do acknowledge it must be an opposition publike and professed to the same Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they say and a persecution of the Professors thereof general all the world over But doth Saint Peters Successor thus are these things applyable to the State of the Church under his government What face of Brass can maintain it without blushing Doth he persecute any man for professing Christ Or doth he punish or censure any but according to his office and as the Canons of the universal Church enacted acknowledged and exercised by all Christian Princes and good Prelates before him do prescribe Doth not Luther himself confess Contra. Anabap. that in the Papacy true Christianity is still retained Doth he not confess that the Popes Church as he calls it is the Church of God That there is true Baptism true Absolution or Remiâ—sion of sins among them the true office of Preaching yea the true Catechism that is the Summary of all Doctrines necessary to be preached Are these things to be maintained by Antichrist Or to be found and professed in that rabble of Miscreants which shall follow him Doth not Whitacre Junius Saravia Zanchius and almost all Protestants generally acknowledge as much that we hold at least the principal Articles of faith That we agree in Fundamentals That the Roman Church is a true Church of God yea our Mother Church in whom is yet remaining and from whom English Protestants at least pretend to have received True Ordination True Calling and Authority to preach Lastly is there any Prince or Person on Earth that professeth greater reverence and observance to the Law of Christ then the Pope doth How then can he be Antichrist is there any Power or Authority known in the world more vigilant active zealous and continually attent to preserve this Law in its full Honor Estimation and Integrity with all men then the Sea Apostolike hath always been and is Nay to speak ingenuously and seriously in what condition think we had Christianity been at this day if that Authority had not been established and acknowledged in the world but that all things had been left to those Arbitrary and dividing Principles on which Protestancy pretendeth to build viz. Sole Scripture and every mans private Interpretation or Reasoning The destructive inconvenience whereof are