ten days if he may by any means for sickness and every Ordinary shall have sufficient Commissaries or Commissary dwelling in every County in a place notable so that if any such person so indicted be taken that the said Commissaries or Commissary may be warned in the notable place where he dwelleth by the Sheriff or his Officers to come to the King's Iayl in the same County there to receive the same persons so indicted by Indentures as before And that in the inquest in this case to be taken the Sheriffs and other Officers to whom it belongeth shall do to be Impannel'd good and sufficient persons not suspected nor procured that is to say that every of them which shall be so Empanell'd in such Inquest have within the Realm of England an hundred Shillings of Lands Tenements or of Rent by the year upon pain to lose to the King's use 10 l. and they which shall be Impannell'd in such Inquests in Wales every of them shall have to the value of 40 s. by year and if any such person be arrested be it by the Ordinary or by the King's Officers or Ministers and escape or break the prison before that he be acquit before the Ordinary the Goods and Chattels which he had the day of such arrest shall be forfeit to the King and his Lands and Tenements which he had the same day seized also in the King's hands the King shall have the profits thereof from the same day until he be yeilden to the prison from which he escaped and that the aforesaid Iustices have full power to enquire of all such Escapes breaking of Prison and also of Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels of such persons so indicted provided also that if any such person indicted do not return to the said prison and dieth not convict it shall be lawful to his Heirs to enter into the Lands and Tenements of their Ancestor without any other pursuit making to the King for this cause and that all they which have Liberties and Franchises Royal in England as in the County of Chester the County and Liberty of Durham and other like and also the Lords which have Iurisdiction and Franchises Royal in Wales where the King's Writs do not run have power to execute and put in due execution these Articles in all points by them or by their Officers in like manner as the Iustices and other the King's Officers before declared should do By which Act it plainly appears that the Professors of the true Religion were not only to suffer in their own persons by being most inhumanly burnt but their very Wives and Children must feel the effects of Popish Cruelty having nothing left by this Law whereby to support their Families CHAP. IV. Hen. VIII THE three Laws in the precedent Chapters mentioned were put in severe Execution during the Reigns of R. 2. H. 4. H. 5. H. 6. E. 4. R. 3. H. 7. and to the twenty fifth year of Henry the 8 th during which time the Whore of Babylon made her self drunk with the Blood of the Saints not only halling them to prison but burning their Persons and ruining their whole Families In which time divers were Martyred purely to please and gratifie the Popish Clergy for whatever they said was Heresie must be so upon which Account they run the Persecution so high that in 25 H. 8. about which time the Professors of the true Religion were first called Protestants the Parliament began to consider That Heresie was no where defined and made an Act of Parliament for the Punishment of Heresie but by it repealed the Statute of 2 H. 4. ca. 15. the preamble of which Act doth declare That the Clergy did upon their suggestions obtain the said Act 25 H. 8. ca. 14. Rast Stat. fo 537. By this Law Protestants were to abjere or be burnt but that the same did not in any part thereof declare what was Heresie and that the word Canonical Sanctions are so general that it was difficult to avoid the Penalties of the Act in case he should be examined upon captious interrogatories as the Ordinaries did then use to persons suspect of Heresies and that all such proceedings were against the antient Laws of the Kingdom and for those reasons did repeal the said Act of 2 H. 4. ca. 15. and for redress of Heresie did establish 5 R. 2.5 and 2 H. 5.7 and did enact that Sheriffs in their Turns and Stewards in their Leets Rapes and Wapentakes should have Authority to enquire of Hereticks and every such Presentment made in any Turn Leet Co. Inst 2.658 Bulst 3.51 c. concerning Hereticks should be certified to the Ordinary and every person presented or indicted of any Heresie or duly accused by two lawful Witnesses might be cited arrested or taken by an Ordinary or other of the King's Subjects and committed to the Ordinary to answer in open Court and being convict should abjure his Heresies and refusing so to do or falling into a relapse should be burnt in an open place for Example of others By this Act indeed some part of the Common Law as to the Tryal of the Parties guilty seems to be restored but they could not yet think of parting with the severity of the Penalties I mean burning their Persons and confiscating their Estates and that the World might at length know who were deemed Hereticks and who not for before it was no where defined what Heresie was in the 31 st of H. 8. ca. 14. 31 H. 8. ca. 14. Rast Stat. fol. 652. By this Law Protestants are made Traytors Felons and guilty of a premunire An Act of Parliament was made called an Act for abolishing of Opinions in certain Articles concerning Christian Religion six Articles were agreed on and consented to viz. 1. That in the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar by the strength and efficacy of Christ's mighty word it being spoken by the Priest is present really under the form of Bread and Wine the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesu Christ Conceived of the Virgin Mary and that after the Consecration there remaineth no substance of Bread or Wine nor any other substance but the substance of Christ God and Man. 2. That the Communion in both kinds is not necessary ad salutem by the Law of God to all persons and that it is to be believed and not doubted of but that in the Flesh under the form of Bread is the very Blood and with the Blood under the form of Wine is the very Flesh as well a part as though they were both together 3. That Priests after the Order of Priesthood received may not marry by the Law of God. 4. That Vows of Chastity Widdowhood by Man or Woman made to God advisedly ought to be deserved by the Law of God and that it exempts them from other Liberties of Christian People which without that they might enjoy 5. That it is meet and necessary that private Masses be continued and
wickedness and resolution of the Jesuites they stuck at nothing to compass their own ends they had attempted to poison him but he had escaped When he had finished this Discourse which lasted about a quarter of an hour I asked him if the Company should not withdraw and he said yes and ordered his Nurses to go out and only his Wife to stay to tend him And thereupon all went out saving Mrs. Bedlow and my self and my Servant William Janes then I told him I thought it convenient that what he should then say unto me should be upon Oath he replyed that it was necessary it should be so and called for a Bible but my Servant having brought a Book with him administred the Oath to him and laying his Paper upon a Chair by the Bed-side writ down his Deposition as he delivered it When Mr. Bedlow had concluded and said That was all he had to inform me of I took the Paper and read it over distinctly to him and he approved it and signed it laying the Paper upon a Pillow I thought it not fit considering his Condition to perplex him with Questions but took his Information as he offered it and held no discourse with him when the Company was withdrawn but concerning the true setting down his Depositions and when he seemed to be weary to mind him of taking Cordials which his Wife reached to him as he desired them The next day Mr. Bedlow's Brother came to me and told me that his Brother desired a Copy of the Deposition he made before me But I told him I had well considered it and could not give him a Copy without the Kings leave But I would move the King in it and if he gave leave I would take care to send one to him And Mr. Bedlow's Brother then told me That it was his Brothers desire that I should represent to his Majesty his Condition and that his Sickness was very chargable and move his Majesty on his behalf for some supply of Money for his Subsistance which I promised to do This is all that I can recollect of what passed upon this Occasion and is in substance true but the very Words or the Order I cannot positively remember Francis North. To the Right Honourable Sir Lyonel Jenkins One of His Majesties Principal Secretaries of State. SIR I Always intended to write from hence to pay my thanks for the whole Circuit which was much more pleasant by your Favour of holding Correspondence with me But now I have business of some Importance for as I soon as I came to this City I received a Message from Mr. Bedlow by Sir John Knight that he being very ill and in the Judgment of Physitians in great danger of Death had some business of great moment to impart to me I knowing the Man and the Season would not refuse the pains to give him a Visit and being satisfied by Physitians that there was no Contagious quality in his Distemper though I did not much fear it I went well accompanied and in the presence of the Company he declared that what he had said relating to the Plot was true and be being a dying Man had nothing lay upon his Conscience upon that score The greatest trouble he had was the danger the King whom he loved above all things was in from the Papists at this time who would attempt his Life as soon as ever he should cease to be kind to them and many other expressions of this kind After this I asked if he had any thing to impart to me in private he told me he had and having made the Company withdraw all but my Clark I took the inclosed Examination upon Oath you may imagine I was not curious to perplex him with Questions I took it just as he delivered it of what signification it will be I leave to wiser Men I think my duty is to send it to you that you may inform his Majesty of the truth I shall wait upon you at Windsor upon Sunday next to receive your further Commands Your most humble and faithful Servant Francis North. And now the Truth of this is thus confirmed by as strong Testimony as can well be given the first part of it premeditated Letters of one of the Conspirators themselves nay the chiefest those Letters owned and acknowledeged by him to be his own Writing and he afterwards fairly tryed legally convicted and condemned and afterwards justly executed for the Treason The other verba morientis which have always weight unless they be dilivered Men who 't is known think it meritorious to dye with a falsehood in their Mouth when 't is to serve the interest of the Church whereof they profess to dye Members I say the Truth of this being thus apparent there certainly needs no other ground or reason to be given for the making the 30. Car. 2. ca. 1. for excluding Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament especially if it be considered how much they by being at Court and sitting in Parliament in the precedent Reigns had interrupted the Protestants in the measures they designed to take for their own preservation which things were examined into upon the discovery of this Plot and therefore it appeared absolutely necessary to exclude them both the Court and the Parliament The Preamble of the Act and the Substance of the Enacting Part take as followeth FOR as much as divers good Laws have been made for preventing the increase and danger of Popery in this Kingdom which have not had the desired effects 30. Car. c. 1. An Act for excluding the Papists the Parliament by reason of the free access which Popish Recusants have had to his Majesties Court and by reason of the Liberty which of late some of the Recusants have had and taken to sit and vote in Parliament Wherefore for the safety of his Majesties Royal Person and Government It was Enacted that from the first day of December 1678. No Member of the House of Peers or Commons should vote or sit in either House after the Speaker was chose till every such Peer or Member had first taken the several Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and made subscribed and credibly repeated the Declaration following I A. B. do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess testifie and declare that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the Consecration thereof by any Person whatsoever and that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint and the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are now used in the Church of Rome are Superstitious and Idolatrous And I do solemnly in the presence of God profess testify and declare that I do make this Declaration and every part thereof in the plain and ordinary sence of the Words read unto me as they are commonly understood by English Protestants
minding the Governance and Order of his most loving Subjects 1 Ed. 6. ca. 1. Rast Stat. f. 902. The Administration of the Lords Supper restored and the punishment inflicted on despisers and neglecters of it more moderate than what the Papists inflicted on the Protestants to be in most perfect unity and concord in all things and in especial in the true Faith and Religion of God and wishing the same to be brought about with all Clemency and Mercy on his Highness part towards them as his most Princely Serenity and Majesty hath already declared by evident proof to the intent that his most loving Subjects provoked by Clemency and Goodness of their Prince and King should study rather for love than fear to do their duties first to Almighty God and then to him and the Commonwealth nourishing concord and love amongst themselves yet considered and perceived that in a Multitude all were not of that sort that Reason and the Knowledge of their Duty could move them from Offences but many had need of some bridle of fear and that same were men most contentious and arrogant for the most part or else most dlind and ignorant by the means of which sort of men many things well and godly instituted and to the Edification of many were perverted and abused and turned to their own and others great loss and hindrance and sometime to extream destruction the which doth appear in nothing more or sooner than in matters of Religion and in the great and high Mysteries thereof and particularly instanceth in the most comfortable Sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour Iesus Christ and sets forth that the same was Instituted by Christ himself the words of the Institution and for what end and then saith that notwithstanding this the said Sacrament had been marvelously abused by such manner of men before rehearsed who of wickedness or else of ignorance and want of learning for certain abuses then-to-fore committed of some in misusing thereof had condemned in their hearts and speech the whole thing and contemptuously depraved despised or reviled the same most holy and blessed Sacrament and not only disputed and reasoned unreverently and ungodly of that most high Mystery but also in their Sermons Preachings Readings Lectures Communications Arguments Talks Songs Plays or Iests name or call it by such vile and unseemly words as Christian Ears do abhor to hear rehearsed From this preamble I gather that the Popish Clergy had been greatly guilty of defaming the administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as used by the Protestants according to our Saviour's Institution and that this Law was made to inhibit such defamations and to effect the same with as much Clemency and Gentleness as the nature of the thing and the circumstances of time would bear as will appear by what was Enacted for Reformation of such abuse which was That whoever was guilty of the like abuse after the time in the Act for that purpose mentioned should be imprisoned and make fine and ransome at the King's Will and Pleasure That three Justices of the Peace at least whereof one to be of the Quorum should have power to take Informations and Accusations by the Oaths and Depositions of two able honest and lawful Persons at the least and then to trye the party accused by a Jury at their Quarter Sessions From which I observe First that the Reformers did not make any Offence relating to the Sacrament high Treason as the Papists had done denying Transubstantiation 2. That they did not leave it to the Clergy to examine in a Summary way and convict and then deliver the Offender over to the Secular power to be burnt but left the Party to be accused by Legal Witnesses and Tryed by a Jury of Honest and Legal Men according to the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Nay 3 dly They were so far from restraining the party accused of his Liberty That it is particularly provided by the said Statute that they might take Bail for his appearance After which it was Enacted by the same Act and which I desire you to take in Doctor Burnet's own words That it being more agreeable to Christ's first Institution and the practice of the Church for five hundred years after Christ Hist Reform pt 2. p. 41. that the Sacrament should be given in both the kinds of Bread and Wine than in one kind only it should be commonly given in both kinds except necessity did otherwise require and it being also more agreeable to the first Institution and the Primitive Practice that the People should receive with the Priest than that the Priest should receive it alone Therefore the day before every Sacrament an Exhortation was to be made to the People to prepare themselves for it in which the benefits and dangers of worthy and unworthy Receiving were to be expressed and the Priests were not without a lawful Cause to deny it to any who humbly asked it From which I observe That this Act was made to restore the Administration of the Lords Supper to its Antient and Primitive usage in both kinds with the Priest and that the Priest had not power to refuse giving it to any without just ground and that however here is no Penalty annexed either Spiritual or Temporal Several other Laws were made in order to carrying on the Reformation which inflicted no Penalty upon the Popish Clergy or Layety but were made for the well governing the Church of England as it stood then Reformed and put it out of the power of the Papists to hurt them Rast Stat. f. 904. as the 1 E. 6.2 for the Election of Bishops 1 Ed. 6.12 for repealing 5 R. 2.6 2 H. 5.7.25 H. 8.14.31 H. 8.14 34 H. 8.1 and 35 H. 8.5 Which were the severe Laws that the Popish Bishops and Prelates had obtained against the Professors of the true Religion whom they had nick-named in derision Lollards Hereticks and Gospellers When the Reformation in Edward the 6 th's time had restored the right Administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper they rested for two years before they reformed the Liturgy to the end they might by degrees and with all Acts of Clemency and Kindness draw the Papists off from their Innovations and Corruptions but finding that would not do in the 3 d. year of Ed. 6. An Act for Vniformity of Service and Administration of the Sacraments throughout the Realm was made and enjoyned upon much milder penalties than any Laws relating to Religion that were made by the Papists for the Excellency of the Preamble of which Act and that the truth of the Penalties may appear I have inserted both 23 E. 6. Ca. 1. Rast Stat. f. 932. An Act for Vniformity upon mild Penaltus injoyned Whereas long time there hath been had in this Realm of England and in Wales divers forms of Common-Prayer commonly called the Service of the Church that is to say the use of Sarum of York of
his submission having most religiously vowed his Fidelity and Obedience to the Queen pardoned He having at the earnest solicitations of Saunders an English Priest and Allen an Irish one both of them Doctors in Divinity gotten a little Money of the Pope the Authority of a Legate granted to Saunders a consecrated Banner and Letters of recommendation to the Spaniard went to Spain and thence into Ireland where he landed the first day of July with those two Romish Priests three Ships and a small body of men who were all soon disperst and Fitz Morris slain There is one story relating to this Rebellion that for the Cruelty of it I can't let pass As soon as the Lord Deputy had certain intelligence of Fitz-Morris his being landed he commanded the Earl of Desmond and his Brothers jointly by Henry Davil an English Gentleman and a stout Souldier and very familiar with the Desmonds that they should forthwith assault the Fort which when they shifted off as a thing full of Danger Davil departed in order to obey the Deputy's Commands and John Desmond followed after him at Trally a small Town he overtook him at his Inn and in the dead of the night having corrupted his Host broke into his Chamber with certain Cut-Throats having their Swords drawn where Davil slept securely with Arthur Carter Lieutenant to the Marshal of Munster a stout old Soldier but being awakened with the noise when he saw John Desmond in the Chamber with his Sword drawn he raised himself up saying what 's the matter my Son for so he was wont familiarly to call him I will no longer be thy Son says he nor shalt thou be my Father thou shalt dye and therewithal they slew both him and Carter that lay with him stabbing them in many places after that Davil's Lackey by interposing his naked body had done the best he could for a while to defend his Master and had receiv'd some wounds then he slew all Davil's Servants one after another who were lodged here and there in several Chambers and so returning all begored with Blood he boasted amongst the Spaniards of the Murther And let this said he be a pledge to you of my faithfulness towards you and the * They were then ingaged in a Conspiracy for the Subversion of the Protestant Religion Desmond carries on the Rebellion Camb. Annals f. 238 239 240. Baker's Chron. f. 355. Cause you are ingaged in This Fact Sounders commended as a sweet Sacrifice in the sight of God. This may be a warning to all Protestants how they enter into any familiar Friendship with Papists or trust them seeing when they butcher them they think they do God good Service and offer up their Blood to him as an acceptable Sacrifice and seeing that 't is their avowed Principle that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks as they esteem Protestants of all perswasions to be This Rebellion ended not with John Fitz-Morris but was after his death carried on by John Desmond and notwithstanding the Earl of Desmond had promised Drury then Lord Deputy his fidelity and obedience to the Queen and bound himself by Oath that both himself in person and his would serve her against the Rebels yet he afterwards pulled off his Vizzard and openly went over to the Rebels and the Lord Deputy dying and the Council of Ireland having made Sir William Pelham Justicer of Ireland he admonished the Earl of Desmond and demanded the delivery up of Saunders the Foreign Souldiers and the Castles of Carigo Foyle and Asketten but he refusing was Proclaimed a Traytor and guilty of High Treason for having dealt with Foreign Princes for the Conquest and Destruction of his Native Country reliev'd Saunders and James Fitz-Morris Rebels harboured the Spaniards which escaped out of the Fort at Smerwick hanged up divers faithful Subjects displayed the Pope's Banner against the Queen and brought Foreigners into the Realm And then the Lord Justicer committed the prosecution of the whole War to Ormond which he prosecuted so vigorously that this Desmond and his Brethren were forced to lurk and hide their heads yet they added so much Popish Impudence to their former base Treachery and Perfidiousness that they signified to the Lord Justicer in a long Letter that they had undertaken the protection of the Catholick Faith i. e. Popery in Ireland and that by Authority from the Bishop of Rome and direction of the Catholick King i. e. the King of Spain and therefore they do kindly advise him to joyn with them in so pious and meritorious a Cause for the Salvation of his own Soul O horrid Impiety To make the committing Treason Rebellion Murder Rapine and all manner of Cruelties to be the direct way to Heaven Camb. Annals f. 241 and 256. Another Conspiracy in Ireland for the destruction of the Protestant Religion Arthur Lord Grey in the year 1580 being made Lord Deputy of Ireland after a great deal of blood spilt happily supprest that Rebellion which he had no sooner done but another dangerous Conspiracy was detected and crusht in the Bud for divers of Noble Families in Lemster most of them descended of English Blood partly out of Affection to the Romish Religion and partly out of hatred against the new English had conspired together to surprize the Lord Deputy with his Houshold to take the Castle of Dublin at unawares where all the Provision for War lay and to put the English in Ireland every man to the Sword And so close they were in carrying on their Conspiracy that they never confer'd or discoursed about it more than two and two together But amongst so many that were privy to it it came at last to light and was by the Execution of a few timely prevented Colledges framed abroad fâ—r breeding up Seminary Priests to be sent hither to alienate the hearts of the Queens Subjects from her Camb. Annals f. 244 245. Baker's Chron. f. 356. These Plots and Conspiracies not answering the Designs of the Papists To the intent that they might the more effectually carry on their Treasons and Conspiracies for the future in order to the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of the Queen's Dominions and the introducing Popery in its room They thought it very necessary to alienate the Hearts of the Queen's Subjects from her by the secret and crafty insinuations of Priests and Jesuits and that they might be furnisht with enough for that end even of the Queens own Subjects certain English Priests who had fled into the Netherlands for their Treasons committed here by the procurement of the Romish Party formed themselves into a Collegiate Form of Government at Doway and to these the Pope allowed a yearly Pension But Tumults arising in the Low Countries and the English Fugitives being commanded by the King of Spain's Deputies to depart from thence other the like Colledges for the training up of the English Youth were erected one at Rheimes by the Guises and another at Rome by Pope
taken by a general Councel free and Lawfully called to pluck up those Roots of Dangers and Jealousies which arise about Religion as well between Prince and Prince as between them and their Subjects and to make it manifest that no States or Potentates either hath or can Challenge power to dispose of Earthly Kingdoms or Monarchies or to dispense with Subjects obedience to their natural Soveraign In which charitable Account there will be no Prince living that will be readier then we shall be to concur even to the utmost of our Power not only out of particular Disposition to live peaceably with all States and Princes of Christendom but because such a settled Amity might by an union in Religion be established amongst Christian Princes as might enable us all to resist the common Enemy Given at our Pallace at Westminster the 22 d. Day of February in the first Year of our Reign c. This Proclamation I thought fit to insert because by it it appears that King James himself was of opinion that the before mentioned Conspiracy was conceived by the Popish Priests however they prevailed upon some of the Protestant Profession to joyn with them in Midwiving it into the World and therefore may truly be called Popish By the Kings issuing out this Proclamation the heat and hopes of the Jesuits and their Correspondents were somewhat allayed but it made way for more dark and secret Contrivances which they afterwards put into Practice and I shall give a full Account of But before I do that I shall give you King James the First his Opinion of the Papists both Laicks and Clericks as he himself delivered it in his first Speech to his first Parliament in 1603. Take it in his own Words as related by Wilson King James his Speech against Papists Wilson f. 19. For the Papists I must put a difference betwixt my own private Profession of my Salvation and my politick Government of the Realm for the weal and quietness thereof As for my own Profession you have me your Head now among You of the same Religion that the Body is of as I am no stranger to you in Blood no more am I a stranger to you in Faith or in Matters concerning the House of God. And altho' this my Profession be according to my Education wherein I thank God I suckt the Milk of Gods truth with the Milk of my Nurse yet I do here protest unto you that I would never for such a Conceit of Constancy or other prejudicate Opinion have so firmly kept my first Profession if I had not found it agreeable to all Reason and to the Rule of my Conscience But I was never violent nor unreasonable in my Profession I acknowledge the Roman Church to be our Mother Church altho defiled with some Infirmities and Corruptions as the Jews were before they Crucified Christ And as I am no Enemy to the Life of a sick Man because I would have his Body purged of ill Humours no more am I an Enemy to their Church because I would have them reform their Errors not wishing the down-throwing of the Temple but that it might be purged and cleaned from Corruption Otherwise how can they wish us to enter if their House be not first made clean But as I would be lother to dispense in the least point of mine own Conscience for any Worldly respect then the foolishest Precisian of them all So would I be as sorry to streighten the politick Government of the Bodies and Minds of all my Subjects to my private Opinions Nay my Mind was ever so free from Persecution or inthralling of my Subjects in Matters of Conscience King James his Mildness to Papists as I hope those of that Profession within this Kingdom have a proof since my Coming that I was so far from increasing their Burthens with Rhehoboam as I have so much as either time occasion or Law could permit lightned them And even now at this time have I been careful to revise and consider deeply upon the Laws made against them that some Overture might be made to the present Parliament for clearing these Laws by reason which is the Soul of the Law in Case they have been in times past further or more rigorously extended by Judges then the meaning of the Law was or might tend to the hurt as well of the innocent as of the guilty Persons And as to the Persons of my Subjects which are of that Profession I must divide them into two ranks Clericks and Laicks for the Laicks I ever thought them far more excuseable then the other sort because their Religion containeth such an ignorant doubtful and implicite kind of Faith grounded upon their Church that except they do generally believe whatsoever their Teachers please to affirm they cannot be thought guilty of these particular points of Heresies and Corruptions which their Teachers so wilfully profess And again I must subdivide the Laick into two Ranks which are either quiet and well minded Men peaceable Subjects who either being old retain their first Drunk in Liquor upon a certain Shamefacedness to be thought Curious or Changeable Or being young Men through evil Education have been Nursed and brought up upon such Venome instead of wholsome Nutriment and this sort of People I would be sorry to punish their Bodies for the Error of their Minds the Reformation whereof must only come of God and the true Spirit But the other Rank of Laicks who either through Curiosity Affectation of Novelty or Discontentment have changed their Coats only to be Factious stirers of Sedition and perturbers of the Common-wealth this giveth a ground to me the Magistrate to take better heed to their Proceedings and to correct their Obstinacy But for the Clericks I must directly say and affirm that as long as they maintain one special point of their Doctrine and another of their Practise they are no way sufferable to remain in this Kingdom the point of Doctrine is that Arrogant and Ambitious Supremacy of their Head the Pope whereby he not only Claims to be spiritual Head of all Christians but also to have an Emperial Civil power over all Kings and Emperors Dethroning and Crowning Princes with his Foot as pleaseth him and dispensing and disposing of all Kingdoms and Empires at his Appetite The other point which they observe in continual Practise is the Assassinates and Murthers of Kings Thinking it no sin but rather a Matter of Salvation to do all Acts of Rebellion and Hostility against their natural Sovereign Lord if he be once Cursed his Subjects discharged of their Fidelity and his Kingdom given a prey by that three Crowned Monarch or rather Monster their Head. And in this point I have no occasion to speak further here saving that I could wish from my Heart It would please God to make me one of the Members of such a general Christian Union in Religion as laying Wilfulness aside on both hands we might meet in the midst which