for the Story of the Combination having perceived something of the unhappy issue of her Neighbours Persecutions of the Professors of that Reformed Religion which she happily established and defended I began to perceive something of that DISTINGUISHING PROVIDENCE which is very Observable and Remarkable in the ensuing part of the Discourse to Sect. 61. Wherefore having cursorily run over some of the principal parts of that Story and satisfied my self that it would make good what I undertook I thought it an unworthy piece of laziness or negligence not to add that part also so pertinent so remarkable and necessary but hoped to have done it more briefly than I found I well could when I again set my self to the perusal of the History Having finished this I made some Reflections upon the whole and thereupon added the OBSERVATIONS Inferences and the rest which make up the last part and conclusion And this was the Occasion this the Matter and Method of the Discourse Now for the Manner of writing it when I began I was wholly a stranger to the Story and to all or most of the Books I have made use of had never read two leaves in Thuanus save part of the History of the Powder-Plot had never seen Davila had only occasionally if at all looked into any other of the Books I have made use of Besides being most of it written in the Countrey and my own stock being but short I could not have that assistance from variety of Books which I desired and yet it pleased God many things fell in my way beyond my expectation and the Authors I have generally used are such whose Authority is beyond all exception the incomparable Thuanus Davila Perefix and others of the Roman Communion for I have but rarely followed any Writers of the Reformed Religion and more rarely without the concurrent authority of others But what is most considerable the greatest part being sent away in single sheets by the Post as it was written I could neither my self have the perusal of the entire work together nor have it perused by my friends before it was printed This I mention for my excuse of such mistakes as possibly may occur in it For I did not design to injure the Truth in any particular nor have I to my knowledg done it in any thing material only Sect. 12. you will meet with Lovain in Flanders which perhaps is in Brabant though by Flanders I then meant that part of the Low-Countries which was then under the King of Spain or the Archdukes Obedience and I know the name Flanders is used in as large a sense by many and commonly by the Italians and Sect. 34. pag. 48. 't is said he made them amends for it afterwards whereas that excommunication there mentioned was before which I did not then observe when I wrote it Again Sect. 42. pag. 74. you 'l find the D. of Tuscany Father to the Qu Mother which is a mistake for he was of the same Family and succeeded her Brother but was not her Father and therefore the Reader may either amend it or quite strike it out But these are such mistakes as are rarely escaped by those who write at more leisure and are no prejudice at all to the Story If any other mistake that is material shall come to my knowledge whether by my own observation or the information of any other whether friend or foe I will not fail God willing publickly to acknowledge the same and if this discourse shall be thought worthy of another Edition to reform it For I approve not the use of Piae Fraudes and think Lying and Slandering as always unlawful and unworthy of a Christian so where matters of Religion are concerned to be prophane and sacrilegious The God of Truth is able to defend his own cause the Truth without such wicked shifts and when he pleaseth to suffer it to be oppressed for a time he doth with great wisdom permit it but in the mean time allows not us to vindicate it by such indirect means whereby we do as much as in us lyes oppose the design and course of his Providence Numquid Deus indiget vestro mendacio ut pro illo loquamini dolos Job 13.7 But if my hast hath made me in any thing through mistake to mis-represent any actions of the Papists to their prejudice it is likely it hath made me overlook as much more which might have been said against them Nor have I thereby so much injured them as they have injured themselves and their cause by such indirect and wicked practises as are beyond all contradiction to the great scandal of the most Holy Christian Religion which is that which in some places hath made my expressions more sharp than what otherwise I should have used Nor had it not been for that and for the great danger I apprehend our Country to be in by their restless mysterious practises for the discovery and prevention whereof the discovery of their former Policies and Practices may be of good use should I have delighted in such an undertaking I have otherwise no prejudice against them and could heartily wish that all which I have written had been false but since it is not only too true but we are still in danger from the same principles though the manner and method of their operation and practice may in some respects be altered I cannot but think the undertaking both lawful and necessary Nor is the honour of Religion ever a whit secured by palliating the irreligious practices of spurious Professors but better vindicated by publickly detecting and condemning and where there is a just Authority condignly punishing or correcting them This is more agreeable to the will of God and the course and methods of his Providence who useth not to dissemble the most secret miscarriages of his dearest children but either to detect them and bring them to light to the end they may be punished by the Ministers of his Justice or if they through want of knowledge power or fidelity do fail therein to do it himself by his Divine Judgments upon the offenders unless they prevent the same by timely and seriously judging themselves But still it may be objected but why such haste If it must be published why not upon more mature deliberation Why not the Errata though never so inconsiderable first corrected and perhaps why not the stile first better smoothed and polished and some things removed to their proper places I answer If we must stay till we can be secure against all mistakes we should have very few books ever published but it is sufficient if we can be secure for the main whereof I am very well satisfyed as to this work and for the stile and ornaments which most concern my self they were not tanti with me who neither undertook it nor proceeded in it upon self-respect but besides I was beyond my first intention ingaged in it and the Press was at work and being so engaged I
after the Plot defeated Nor do we find any in Holy Orders except the Pope himself to have had any hand in it or particular knowledge of it but such as were of this Society of the Jesuites For the Secular Priests though two of them in pursuance of the Popes Bulls immediately upon the coming in of the King were ingaged in a Conspiracy of their own if not trapan'd by the Jesuites V. Stowe Fuller Anno 1603. Sect. 14. against him but of a lower and more ordinary nature and by the Actions of the Jesuites perceived something in general that the Jesuites had then some notable Plot in agitation yet we may reasonably believe that they were utterly unacquainted with the Kind and Particulars of this so high and refined a project above the pitch of their imaginations to conceive not onely from what hath been already said out of their Confessions but also by reason of the differences and dissentions which were then and have since continued between the Jesuites and them V. Declarat Motuum Edit 1601. Watsons Quodlibets Edit 1602. 15. 2. Nor were they two or three Jesuites only in a corner and they of the lower rank or of mean or ordinary authority but such as were of greatest reputation place and Authority among them who were concerned in this business as besides Osw Tesmond alias Greenwel who with Robâ—rt Winter was by Garnet Catesby and Tresham Anno 1601. sent into Spain with Letters commendatory to F. Creswel to Negotiate the then intended Spanish Expedition besides Gerrard and Hammond and Hall besides * V. Wilson Hist of King James F. Weston who heretofore Anno 1595. at Wisbich castle by his contention for a Superiority over the other Priests as well as Jesuites began the differences which have since continued between them and in his book de Triplici hominis Officio Printed Anno 1602. foretold of many calamities storms and dangers that were like to ensue upon the Queens death as did also the Author of The ward-Ward-word Printed at Lovane 1599. said to be Parsons as was observed and noted * Answer to the Supplication chap 4. Edit Lond. 16â—4 in Print before this Plot was detected besides all these and many more no doubt not yet discovered the Superiour of the whole Order of English Jesuites even their Provincial himself here in England F. Hen. Garnet who had been eighteen years here in England and a promoter of former conspiracies and held correspondence with divers other of prime note and authority in forrein parts as with F. Creswel in Spain who being many years Vice-praefectus Anglicanae Missionis Sub provincial and Leger there did great matters and by the Authority which he had with the two Philips 11 111. Kings of Spain obtain'd many things of them for the good of the Catholick cause in England as we read in Alegambe and about a month or six weeks * About the time that Banham was sent by Garnet to the Pope before this Plot should have been effected went from Villadolit to Rome to be created a Cardinal saith L. Owen but more probably upon some other negotiation concerning this great business then in hand L. O. of the Engl. Col. in forrein parts pag. 74. Lond. 1626. quar also with F. Baldwin in the Low-countries of like place and Authority there ever since the year 1590. at which time Del Rio read Divinity at Doway as he did afterward at other places in those parts as Leige and Lovane who being so famous as he was in those parts and so great a zealot against hereticks it is not to be doubted that he had frequent converse with F. Baldwin and divers others of the English Fugitives of the better quality Lastly at Rome with the English Assistant there F. Parsons whom we may conclude to have had particular knowledge of this design not only from what he wrote concerning the Journey or Pilgrimage to S. Winefreds-well the mystical prayer which he ordered his Students to use to say nothing of the many projects which his working brain continually devised and his furious zeal as earnestly urged and prosecuted or of his Letter wherein he wrote Anno 1600 that he had then been ten years dealing in such matters but we are moreover given to understand so much from some of his own Religion though not of his Order and that he was highly accessory to it both before and after the discovery as might be proved by great and manifest instances The Jesuites Reasons unreasonable Doubt 1. But for his Correspondence at Rome we need do no more but first remember who Garnet was viz. Provincial of the English Jesuites and then reflect upon the continual weekly or octiduan Intelligences which the Provincials from all parts constantly transmit concerning all matters of moment to their several respective Assistants at Rome who immediately impart the same to the F. General of the whole Society always Resident there and he or they as the matter requires or deserves to the Pope of which the Discourse of the Jesuites Politicks written under Paul v. Printed in the Myst of Jesuit part 2. and other Writers give us an account and then we cannot doubt of his correspondence there not only with the English Assistant Parsons but also at least by means of the Assistant with the F. General Claudius Aquaviva and with the Pope himself and that in this very particular being a matter of so great moment which doth more particularly appear by the Bulls prepared to be sent over hither as soon as the plot had taken effect and other instances not necessary here to be insisted on So that if we consider the Persons and their Correspondences and Intelligences it will not be hard to conceive how easily this Plot wheresoever or by whomsoever invented might be communicated if by Del Rio to our Incendians here if by any of them to him if at Rome both to him and to them or for the more secret conveyance of the notice of it from thence by him to them Which is not unlikely that it was and that it was the contrivance of F. Parsons who at that time Anno 1600 had been ten years dealing in such matters and studying and promoting projects against his Country as we may perceive by his aforesaid letter then written 16. Lastly if from the Actors we come to consider their Actions and Management of the whole business we shall find a wonderful agreement from first to last in all the Circumstances not one crossing or thwarting our conjecture not one sailing not one that doth not afford some matter or ground to confirm it For 1. If we consider the whole Section of Del Rio and with it compare the Actions and carriage of the Conspirators in all there is so punctual an agreement that without further proof it seems to own and bewray its parent being as like him as if according to our proverb it was spat out of his mouth at least to discover that
to govern and not able to conform their minds to their present condition sought all manner of opportunities whereby they might again raise themselves to their former greatness And whereas at the instance of Navarre with the consent of the Regent and the Councel many disliking the effusion of so much blood for no other fault than profession of the Reformed Religion a Decree of Councel passed 28. Jan. for the Release of all Prisoners committed only for matters of Religion and to stop all Inquisition appointed for that cause to prohibit disputations in matters of Religion and particular persons from reviling one another with the names of Heretick Papist commanding all to live together in Peace c. this served them to dissemble the true cause of their grief and therefore they made shew of being moved and offended only at the tacit toleration permitted the Calvinists covering in this manner says Davila with a pious pretence under the vail of Religion the interests of private passion And having by the arts and subtilty of Diana late Mistress to Hen. 2. gained to their party An Momorancy Constable of France who being at that time in the same danger with them and others of being called to refund the large donations which they had obtained of the two last Kings and besides had been very active in the former persecutions against the Protestants was with the less difficulty wrought upon especially in the absence of his son a sober and prudent person who disswaded him all he could they enter into a league for the preservation of the Catholick Religion and mutual defence of their several Estates And when the Protestants Thu. l. 28. after some other Edicts and Decrees partly indulging some kind of liberty to them and partly restraining it were permitted a publick Disputation at Poisey which was first proposed by the Cardinal of Lorain and as was thought to hinder the Convention of a National Synod which he knew would be little pleasing to the Pope but was much desired in France by the most sober and pious of both sides who were studious of the peace and good of the Church there was presently a * V. Thu. in l. 36. a Conspiracy between Guise and the King of Spain qua nulla audacior in regno memoratur which also was in agitation at this time though not discovered till after Guise his death an 1564 secret consultation held by the Grandees of the Popish Faction of France with them of Spain King Philip being wonderfully moved at the news of that Conference and Arturius Desiderius incited by the Sorbon Doctors and as was believed by many not without the privity of the Cardinal of Lorain hastens to King Philip with a Supplication and Private Instructions Complaining of the increase of the Protestants the remisness of the King and his Counsellors in restraining them and imploring his Aid and committing to his Patronage the Honour Lives Fortunes and Estates of the French Nobility with which he was intercepted in his journey at Orleans Not long after this Thesis among others is set up to be disputed publickly That the Pope as the sole Vicar of Christ and Monarch of the Church hath All Christian Princes subject to his Spiritual and Secular Power and that he may turn out of their Kingdoms those that are rebellious to his Commands Wherewith the King being acquainted his Delegates were sent to complain of it to the Parliament which ordered the Sorbon Doctors to deprecate the offence and to recant this errour brought in * About the year 1300. by Pope Boniface 8. and since his death generally condemned The Guises in the mean time dreading a National Synod so much desired as fearing that the Protestants would prevail in it spared no endeavours to keep it off To which end also Philip of Spain sollicited by the Pope sends over his Ambassadour who with threats added to his intreaties daily importunes the Queen R. to Severities against the Sectaries But because the Guises thought that Navarre would be a main obstacle to these endeavours to keep off the Synod they resolve with the Spanish Ambassador and the Popes Legate who was admitted in France but held strictly to the conditions by the Laws appointed to set upon him a man though otherwise of parts yet through indulgence to pleasures and ease grown facile and easie to draw him to their party To which end having first corrupted some of his confidents they first propose to him to divorce his Queen for her heresie and marry their niece the Queen of Scots with whom he should have also the Kingdom of England of which the Pope was about to deprive Elizabeth for her heresie But when this by reason of his love to his Queen a woman of great worth and by whom he enjoyed a good estate though they promised him the continuance of this by the Popes Authority notwithstanding the divorce and to his children he had by her would not take with him they propose that the King of Spain for satisfaction for his Kingdom of Navarre which the Spaniard unjustly held from him should give him the Isle of Sardinia which though a pitiful thing they very much magnified and promised the assistance of Spains Treasures and Forces if he would desert the Lutherans whom by the means of his Queen he was brought to favour and take upon him the Patronage of the Catholicks in France By which abuse for it proved no other they prevailed upon him and so made up the Triumvirate of Navarre the Duke of Guise and Momorancy the Constable and layd the foundation of that Civil war which shortly after ensued and in the compass of about a year after put an end to his hopes and life also Thu. l. 33. when being wounded he became sensible of his abuse and declared that if he recovered he would embrace the Protestant Confession of Augsburg and live and die in it About the same time or not long after the Queen Regent and the Councel upon the complaint of the Protestants of that little liberty Thu. l. 28. which was permitted them by former Edicts being abridged by or under pretence of the Late Edict of Italy which they said was surreptitiously obtained by a fraud in numbering the Votes resolve upon another Assembly at S. Germans where was made that famous and much Celebrated Edict of January Thu. l. 29. whereby the Protestants are permitted to assemble at Sermons so it be out of any City and the Magistrates commanded not to molest but protect and defend them from all injury and the Protestants that they should hold no Synod or Consistories unless the Magistrate first called was present their Pastors should engage to observe the Edict to teach the people the pure word of God and nothing contrary to the Nicene Councel the Creed and the books of the Old and New Testament and that both sides should abstain from all reproachful words speeches and books against one another and