Ministers questionable for the Miscarriages in Government because he himself is in his own Person inviolable and sacred but this concerns not the present Business These men I say as bad as they were had not the Impudence to Interest the Protestant Religion or any Protestant Church whatever in the guilt of their impious Treason by pretending to derive any Warrant or Encouragement for it from them or if they had it would have signified nothing to the Compendionist's purpose since there is no King-deposing or King-killing Principle to be found in any Protestant Confessions of Faith or Articles of Communion which are the only proper Evidences to convince a Protestant Church of any Principle or Doctrine that is laid to her charge and so it would have amounted to no more than their particular mistaking or perverting the Principles of their Religion as grosly and as wilfully as they did the Laws of their Country But this is not the case for they did not so much as pretend any Warrant from the Protestant Religion for what they did How then can He charge Protestant Principles with the Personal Crimes of these men Or what does this Home-Blow and all his other Instances prove except this only viz. That several Protestants have been Rogues very great Rogues Murderers Rebels Traytors c. Does He not know that they are all mortal men too and subject to many other Vices which he might very clearly have prov'd upon them if he had pleas'd by undeniable Examples There 's not a Sin the Pope pardons of what Price soever but 't is too sadly true that Protestants have been guilty of it at some time or other if that will do him any service But now in the name of a little common sense Who or what does this Raver oppose in this strenuous Argument Did ever any of our Writers assert that all the Protestants in the world were good Men and pious Christians Or is there any sort of people among us besides Quakers i. e. mad men who hold a state of Absolute Perfection in this Life He has put himself into an extraordinary Heat and made strange violent Assaults and yet no Enemy appears near him What ayles the man he has sure been combating some Giant in imagination like Don Quixote when he hack'd down the Walls of his Chamber Well who ever he be though it were Malambruno himself I 'll warrant him he 's kill'd outright this La Mancha has so laid about him with Home-Blows Another great quarrel he has to the Bishop is that he does not answer four Books nam'd in the Compendium's margin writ it seems by the Catholicks of England since the King's Restoration about the Deposing Power of the Church * Compend pag. 78. His Lordship says he is so far from answering these Authors that he never so much as cites them to this purpose a great fault indeed so that we must conclude them unanswerable Well argued o' my word I see he deals in nothing but Home-Blows Mr. Bayes and this Compendionist would have made a couple of rare Disputants if they had not been spoil'd by their Tutors and ill grounded at first they have both an admirable natural talent at Reasoning all the difference between them is Bayes lov'd it in Rhime and this man 's altogether for it in Prose But without Raillery does he believe the Bishop of Lincoln oblig'd to take particular notice of every idle Pamphlet of theirs that keeps a Pudder about the deposing Power of the Church with design to make the business intricate and dark and to think them as considerable as his Party always do their own Books No doubt he takes it monstrous ill too that the Bishop has not thought him worth his Answering and perhaps concludes himself unanswerable But I hope I shall hinder him from falling into that mistake and make him sensible what an Impar Congressus Achilli what a poor contemptible thing he is when he appears in the Lists against so great a Scholar as the Bishop of Lincoln For the Pamphlets he mentions they are more than answer'd in the Bishop's Book though it does not particularly name them and when he or any other Factor for Popery gives a tolerable Answer to those clear Testimonies I told him of before and which he never so much as cites to this purpose by which the Bishop does so plainly prove the Doctrine of Deposing Kings upon the Church of Rome I here engage my word to him these Pamphlets shall be made ridiculous by name and their Authors shew'd to the people in the Fools Coats they deserve In the next place be tells us * Compend pag. 78. That the Venetians have openly in their very writings denied this Deposing Power of the Church without Censure And That several Authors have been censur'd in France and elsewhere for writing for it In answer to which First we know very well that the Church of Rome does always accommodate her Allowing and Condemning of Books to the circumstances of her present condition and as Princes are sometimes forc'd by the necessity of their Affairs to disavow the Actions of their Ministers though done by their most express command so is this interested Church frequently reduc'd to connive at Books which she does by no means like and to Censure others which she does not onely approve but underhand directs A good Instance of this we have in the case of Sanctarellus's Book one of those he mentions which though at first printed by the Approbation and special Licence of * See Sanctarellus himself Mutius Vittellescus then General of the Jesuits and by the Order of the Master of the Pope's Palace yet when the Pope found it would not be endur'd in France but that both the Sorbonne had condemn'd it and the Parliament of Paris had order'd it to be burnt he thought fit after it had been out so long that the Copies were almost all bought up to forbid the Sale of it at Rome but without any manner of Censure either upon the Author or Doctrine * See more of this in the Preface to the Jesuits Loyalty which is generally their way of condemning those kind of Books when Civil Considerations at last oblige them to it viz. a bare Prohibition of them after every body has read them that cares for them Such a Condemnation as this did Mariana meet with in Spain and of this gentle nature was Becanus's Correction at Rome not for the Doctrines he maintain'd but for Overlashing as Bishop Montague expresses it in his Preface to King James's Works i. e. for speaking the mind of their Churchmore plainly than was at that time convenient For Secondly we know well enough that these Principles of Deposing and Killing Kings and Extirpating Hereticks are thought too precious Truths and too high Points to be ordinarily expoâ—'d to the â—ulgar and pross'd upon all occasions they are the Arâ—â—na Imperii of their Kingdom of Darkness and kept like Warrants Dormant among
Neighbours as those Doctrines he charges upon her really and heartily assented to must needs make them He hopes possibly that Humane Nature it self in some may check at their harshness and a particular sweetness of temper of others very much allay the Malignancy of their Poison and hinder them from having their full effect upon the Understanding at least such an effect as is justly to be dreaded from them when they seize upon the minds of melancholy Recluses or sink deep into the affections of her ignorant hot-headed Devoto's those Christian (a) A Sect of Religious Murderers among the Turkâ— See an Account of them in Tav … niâ—r's Six Voyages pag. 199. Faquirs For the Promise he makes us at last in imitation of the Bishop's (b) Compend pag. 79. That he himself will turn Protestant if the Bishop shows him but one single Paragraph in all his Book in relation to their dangerous Principles that he has not fully answer'd c. I will be so civil to him at parting to let him know be need not be in any pain about it for though the Condition of his Obligation be not in the least measure nor is ever likely to be perform'd yet I can assure him there 's no body intends to take any advantage of the Forfeiture Though he has been so far from answering every single Paragraph of the Bishop's Book that he has not in truth answer'd one single word of it to any purpose as I have already show'd him yet we will not be so unmercifully rigorous to require a Person of his Form of Parts to turn Protestant and force him to be a reasonable man and a good Christian against his Conscience no no let him stay where he is we are not at all fond of his Company and the Religion he has will best suit with his Wit I have now done with the Compendianist and shall enlarge this Preface no farther but to joine with all good English-men in offering up my hearty prayers to God Almighty that He would still preserve the Preotestant Religion among us and continue to render fruitless the contrary Endeavours and Contrivances of wicked and unreasonable Men fallacious Writers and Traiterous Plotters that He would keep the most knowing and best civiliz'd Nation in the World from falling again under the Barbarisme of Popery from being opprest by the Tyranny and cumber'd with the Weight of this huge unwieldly Masse of Nonsense and Puppetry This farce of Ceremonies this Counterfeit Christianity this Enemy to true Learning and free Philosophy this Discourager of Trade and useful Industry this Troubler of agreeable Conversation and reasonable Living this Prohibiter of good Sense and this Extinguisher of good Nature in a word this Un-Christian and this Immorall Religion or rather this new Species of Irreligion which by her Doctrines of dispensing with Oaths and absolving from all manner of Crimes upon slight and ridiculous Penances as well as by those the Bishop of Lincoln has convinc'd her of has not only overthrown the Foundations of real Goodness and true Piety but even of necessary Faith and common Honesty loosen the very Bands and Ligaments and undermining the Props of Civil Communities Errata in the Preface Page 1. Line 11. for grand read great Ibid. l. 17. for those r. these p. 3. l. l. 9. r. Compendianist and so in all other places where that word is us'd it being mistaken throughout the whole Preface p. 4. l. 17. after these words Does he expect to be believ'd upon his bare word the sence is left imperfect by omitting these which follow viz. Vpon the honour of a Popish Controvertist which the Reader is desir'd to add p. 10. l. 5. r. and Decretals Ibid. l. 30. for these r. those l. 36. for shew r. shame Many other Errors there are in the Printing which for their too great number I will not trouble the Reader with though in many places the Style is not onely prejudic'd by them but the sence corrupted and debas'd In the French Massacre p. 2. l. 5. for Son r. Cousin In the Irish Massacre p. 2. l. 25. dele not In Q. Maries Reign p. 2. l. 7. for hath r. had Ibid. l. antep dele by l. ult for Winchester r. Worcester AN ACCOUNT Of the Chief Passages of the MASSACRE IN The Valleys of Piedmont in the Year 1655. WHEN the following Sheets had passed the Press and the Preface was ready for it a certain Gentleman who had set me on work to collect and publish them signified his desire that I should add one Sheet concerning this Massacre but because it may be though most proper to conclude with Domestick Occurrences and because the notice of my Friends desire came too late for placing this Sheet next after the Irish Massacre where in reference to Time it should have been plac'd I was oblig'd to put it in the Front Before I come to treat of this Massacre in particular it will be necessary to give you an Account of the Antiquity of the Reformed Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont with the causes of this and other Persecutions which have been raised against them by the Bishops of Rome since the first Apostacy of the Roman Church As for their Antiquity I affirm that the Christian Religion which was planted in Italy by S. Paul has ever since been retained in the Primitive Purity of its Fundamental Doctrines and Divine Worship in the Churches of Piedmont to this day And for the Proof of this Assertion I must acquaint you that though many of their most ancient Records and other Authentick Manuscripts were destroyed by Popish Perseeutors in the years 1559 and 1560 yet a great number no less Authentick divers of which are now to be seen in the University of Cambridge were most wonderfully preserv'd and give as full and clear a Testimony to this Truth Besides we have the concurrent Testimonies of the most eminent Popish Authors who were the bitterest Adversaries of these Churches and yet which is almost miraculous they have by a strange over-ruling Providence unwittingly confess'd in many places of their Writings this Antiquity for the concealing of which and to make the World disbelieve it those very Books were purposely written and design'd To demonstrate these Particulars by some Instances I must inform you that it is a Truth generally received by all those who profess to be vers'd in Ecclesiastical History that before the Year 800 the differences between the Roman and Reformed Christian Churches were not publickly establish'd by any General Councils or Decrees in any part of Italy As for the first 500 years after Christ there cannot so much as one clear Sentence be produc'd out of any one Father or Council for the Papists against the Protestants In the next Century viz. in the Year 600 Boniface the Third of that name Bishop of Rome with the consent and approbation if not instigation of the Usurper Traitor and Murderer Phocas the Emperour took upon him the Title
Governours and other principal Officers throughout his Dominions to cause the like Massacres to be committed upon the Protestants in all Places without exception of which I shall forbear to give you a particular account here because I intend to mention the several sorts of barbarous Murthers invented by Papists and by them exercised upon the poor Protestants in Ireland for there was no kind of Butchery practised in France but was repeated with additions in Ireland Anno 1642. to which Story I refer you and shall proceed to acquaint you that together with the King 's secret Orders for the Massacres were sent his Letters to be Published in all Places signifying that his Majesty intended strictly and inviolably to observe the Treaty of Peace conoluded with the Protestants whereby the free exercise of their Religion was granted for by this means he design'd to surprise them by rendring them secure and fearless of danger which accordingly fell out for they depending on the King's Faith Honour and Justice had not the least suspicion of any Treachery intended against them otherwise a great many of them might have escaped that general destruction in which they were involved The French Popish Historians differ much about the number of those that were Massacred but the most Famous of them tell us that there were no less than 100000 Men Women and Children which is likewise asserted by the Bishop of Rhodes who was Tutor to the present French King in his Book lately publish'd of the Civil Wars of France I will give you but two Instances more of this King's Perfidiousness toward the Protestants one of which is That although he had Sworn to the King of Navar and Prince of Condé that they should not only enjoy their Lives and Liberties but their Religion too yet as soon as the Massacre in Paris was over he sent for them and told them that they must turn Roman-Catholicks or they should be Massacred as their fellow Hereticks had been Whereupon after some resistance they went to Mass and wrote Letters full of submission and obedience to the Pope though they were no sooner out of that snare but they renounced their new Religion saying that what had been obtained of them was extorted by force The other instance is that while he was making the deepest Protestations seconded with many dreadful Oaths that he would in all points exactly observe the Peace he had made with the Protestants he did at the very same time privately assure the Pope's Legate that notwithstanding the Peace and Marriage all he was doing was for the Interest of the Catholic Religion And one day taking him by the hand he desir'd him to assure the Pope that his design in this Marriage was that he might be revenged on those that were Enemies to God and Rebels against himself and that he would either cut them in pieces or lose his Crown All which he would do in complyance with the Advices he had received from the Pope who had as he said continually set him on to destroy them and that he saw no way of doing it so securely as by getting them once to trust him having tried all other Methods in vain c. But though this wicked Prince was scarce inferiour to any one recorded in History for Treachery Dissimulation Perjury breach of Faith Cruelty and Blood thirstiness and though he was successful in his wickedness yet he failed in his last design of fathering a Plot against him upon the Admiral and the Protestants for the Popish Writers of that time in France do confess that there was not the least colour to oblidge a Man to believe the said Plot and that it was invented to take away the Scandal of so black and hellish a Massacre as has been already said A certain Historian writing of this Massacre ends with these words Thus were the Protestants destroyed in Paris with a Treachery and Cruelty that the uncivilized Nations had never shewed to one another nor had the Heathens been ever guilty of any thing like it towards the Christians The Precedent which the Church of Rome had formerly given in the Massacre of the Albigenses was the likest thing in History to it for Barbarity but never had Treachery and Cruelty met together in such a manner before this execrable day And one of the French Writers adds that besides 100000 Protestants Slain there were as many sent a Begging But there is no Crime or Villany so execrable which his Holiness cannot Consecrate and therefore his Legate grants a Jubilee to all that had been employed in that Butchery and they were commanded to go every where to Church and bless God for the success of that action And so great was the Blasphemy that the Murtherers presumed to address to that merciful Being who abhors cruel and blood-thirsty men and that with hands defiled with Blood and also boasted of it as a Sacrifice to God which had been a sitter Oblation to him who was a I yer and Murtherer from the beginning than to the God of Truth and Father of Mercies The King also Gloried so much in this Massacre that he caused Medals to be made to represent the Memory of it but this was only a false shew of joy and triumph for he was inwardly tormented with the horrour of a guilty Conscience which the effusion of so much Blood did justly raise in him so that being often troubled with Visions he was frequently heard say Ah my poor Subjects What had you done But I was forc'd to it The strange manner of his death seems a signal Judgment from Heaven for that Bloody day for after a long Sickness Blood not only came out through all the passages of his Head and Body but through the very Pores of his Skin so that he was somtimes found all bath'd in Blood and he that had made his Kingdom swim with Blood at last died wallowing in his own An Instance scarcely to be parallel'd You have seen the Cruel Perfidious Tyrannical and Barbarous Practices of the French King Charles the Ninth against his innocent Protestant Subjects being the effects of his execrable and bloody Principles and those Principles founded on the abominable and hellish Doctrines and Maxims taught by his Holy Mother the Apostate Romish Synagogue as will appear by the following instance viz As soon as the tydings of this Massacre was brought to Rome being Sept. 6. 1572. a Consistory of the Cardinals was presently called and the Legate's Letter that contained a Relation of the Massacre being tend they strait went in Procession to St. Mark 's Church where they offered up their solemn Thanks to God for this great Blessing to the See of Rome and the Catholick Church Two days after another Procession was made by the Pope and Cardinals to the Minerva where they had High Mass and then the Pope granted a Jubilee to all Christendome and one of the reasons was That they should thank God for the slaughter of the Enemies of the
A MEMENTO FOR English Protestants Containing the following Particulars viz. An Epitome of the Massacre in Piedmont An Epitome of the French Massacre An Epitome of the Irish Massacre A Speech of Pope Sixtus Quintus A Collection of the most Remarkable Passages of Queen Maries Reign Together with A PREFACE by way of Answer to that part of the Compendium which reflects on the Bishop of Lincoln's late Book Rev. 6.9 10 11. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God c. And they cried with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud c. And it was said unto them That they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled LONDON Printed for Jacob Sampson next to the Wonder Tavern within Ludgate 1680. THE PREFACE THE Papists have of late given us such fresh Occasions by their horrid and damnable Conspiracies against the Person of our King our Government and our Religion to renounce and detest the Communion of that Church which does not onely allow men but teaches them to be Murderers and Traytors And we have yet so great reason to apprehend the dismal Consequences of their secret and hellish Machinations that I am confident no Discourse which tends to heighten and improve the just Prejudices of Englishmen against that impious and absurd Religion will be thought at this time unnecessary by any good Protestant I shall not therefore make any Apology for the Collecting and Printing this Epitome of the three grand Massacres in Piedmont France and Ireland which is intended chiefly for the Instruction of ignorant and unlearned People for we fear not that Scholars and men of Sence should be made Papists except such whose Morals are so wretchedly debauch'd that they are ready at all times to sacrifice their Consciences to their Civil Interests and I hope there are not so many of those desperate Prostitutes as the Papists are apt to imagine and as the Manners of the Age we live in may I confess give us just cause to apprehend No 't is the ordinary Rank of men who have not had the advantage of Learning and a generous Education to defend themselves against the studied Fallacies and specious Pretences of the Romish Agents who commonly become the prey of those Wolves in Sheeps clothing To provide therefore for their Security that they may not fall into the snares that are laid for them ought to be our chiefest care since as 't is more charity to strengthen the hands of the weak than to add force to the strong so in this case 't is more prudent too in order to the support of the common cause of Protestant Religion the ignorant being by far the greater number Nor is this to be done a better way than by furnishing them with such plain Arguments as they are able to apprehend and manage themselves to the confusion of the common Enemy And these can be no other than such as are drawn from matters of fact they being easiest to be understood and hardest to be answer'd For this reason it was that this short Narrative of the bloudy Butcheries and inhuman Murders heretofore committed upon the persons of Protestants by Italian French and Irish Papists in cold bloud and by the instigation of their Church was prepared for the Press at the desire of a worthy Gentleman whose Zeal for the Interest of his Country and the Protestant Religion deserves a publick mention would his Modesty permit it in order to the being by him bestowed among his Country Neighbours who some of them perhaps have never heard of and others may have forgot the story of these holy Popish Cruelties these Religious Villanies the design being to let such sort of people see what a horrid thing Popery is when her Varnish is taken off what a deform'd and frightful Face this gawdy painted Whore * Rev. 17.2 9 6. With whom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication this mother of abominations made drunk with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus I say what a deform'd and frightful Face she has when her Paint is laid by and she appears by true Lights in her proper Colours what monstrous and abominable Actions Papists are capable of when the Interest of that Idol of theirs their Church requires them By which as well as by their late Plots here in England 't is not hard for men of the meanest Capacities to perceive that their Religion cannot be the Religion of Christ while it justifies them in the grossest Immoralities and engages them in the most unchristian practices That those detestable Doctrines of Deposing and Killing Kings and extirpating Hereticks which have been so often objected to the Church of Rome by Protestant Divines are not Speculative Notions and Propositions Problematical as some of the Popish Writers and particularly the Author of that Lying Libel called * Compend pag. 77. The Compendium would make us believe but such settled Maxims of their barbarous Ecclesiastical Policy as too often have been and again will be put in practice whenever that proud uncharitable Church has a safe occasion to do it though at other times they must be disown'd with the usual Popish Impudence especially to such Protestants as have so little wit to take what they say on trust or so little reading not to be able to disprove them I hope no man will understand me here as if from the bare Actions of Papists and nothing else I argued to the Principles of Popery and concluded the one from the other this were bad Charity and worse Logick and one of their own constant Topicks in their Writings against Protestants 't were to say the worst that can be of it to fall directly into the ridiculous way of reasoning used by the Compendionist when he pretends to answer the Bishop of Lincoln's Book that admirable and learned Discourse a Discourse of so great use at this time and which does with such undeniable Evidence convince the Religion of Papists to be guilty of all their traitorous and bloudy Designs against Kings and Protestants that I cannot but take this occasion to correct that troublesom Impertinent who has made such a sensless Buzze and rais'd such a dust about it with design to puzzle and darken those Truths which the Bishop has there made so plain and clear especially since the Bishop himself has not thought him as indeed he is not worthy of his notice and no body else that I know of has yet expos'd that part of his impudent Pamphlet which concerns this truly Venerable and Excellent Person First then what a foolish Flourish does he make against the Bishop endeavouring to throw that wicked Principle of Deposing Kings upon Protestants with this gross Fallacy of Arguing from mens Practices to the Principles of
their Religion Is not his Lordships meaning says * Compend pag. 77. he in truth this that Protestant Principles when really believ'd are destructive to all Kings especially to Catholick ones since we see that the lawful Monarchs of England Scotland Swedeland Denmark the United Provinces Transylvania Geneva c. have been actually depos'd by their Protestant Subjects This c. here I guess to be a Lie of the lowest price in their Book of Rates for Sin 't is so pitiful and inconsiderable a Trick He puts it down as if there were a vast and tiresom number of Countries behind which in kindness to his Reader he forbears to mention where Princes have been depos'd by Protestants when he know in his Conscience be could scarce have named one more if it had been to gain the Popedom if he could I doubt not but we should have had it at full length Well but in those Countries he has nam'd Princes it seems have been actually depos'd by their Protestant Subjects And what then Does it therefore follow that the Protestant Religion teaches the Doctrine of Deposing Kings Or may it not indeed teach the quite contrary for all that Did this wretched Trifler never hear of men who have acted contrary to the Principles of their Religion Where has he liv'd In a Convent without doubt among the most Seraphick Saints of his Church * Dr. Stilling fleet 's Phanaticism of the Church of Rome pag. 276. I me an those mad Phanaticks of the Sect of Abbot Joachim who according to their new Evangelium Aeternum have been in a state of perfection ever since the Year 1260. I wonder when his hand was in and while he was industriously stuffing out his thin Discourse with big and sounding words he did not bring all the Protestant Criminals and other ill men who have been any way famous since the Reformation upon the stage and then charge the Protestant Religion with Felony and Murder and Treason and Adultery and Perjury and what not The Consequence had been altogether as good and the Triumph as just We do not reason at this loose and absurd rate when we accuse the Church of Rome of Principles which justifie the Deposing and Murdering of Princes and the Massacring of millions of innocent people whom with a ridiculous affectation she terms Hereticks But we first prove her as my Lord Bishop of Lincoln has unanswerably done to have such Principles and this not onely from the Books of her most eminent Writers upon those Testimony we always lay the least weight allow'd and commended by her self but from that Law which is the Rule of Justice in her Ecclesiastical Courts from the Authentick Bulls and Decretals of her Popes And lastly which is the greatest Evidence that is possible in the case from the Canons of her General Councils Then we urge matters of fact conformable to them to shew that they are not things of bare speculation and despute among Casuists and Schoolmen but such necessary Rules for the support of her Hierarchy as have been frequently put in practice to the great scandal of the Christian Profession To come to particulars We should not lay to her Charge the Murders of Henry III. and Henry IV. of France because they were committed by Members of her Communion if besides the publick Applause of the one by the then Pope in a set Speech to the College of Cardinals we had not first convinc'd her of holding such Principles as justifie both We should not accuse her of the several Conspiracies of Papists here in England against the Lives of Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles I. and His present Majesty if besides the proving upon her the before mention'd Principles she had not actually and formally as for as it lay in her power Excommunicated and Depos'd them all and Absolv'd their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance We should not accuse her of the Massacres of Paris and Piedmont because her Sons were there the Brethren in iniquity the Sons of Violence that acted unprovok'd those dismal Slaughters if as an additional proof of her holding the foremention'd Principles she had not (a) Thuanus Hist l. 53. p. 837. commended the one giving thanks to God for it and (b) History of the Waldenses commanded the other Lastly we should not place to her account the late Rebellion of Ireland and all those Murders which were the Consequences of it because the Rebels were Papists if besides that the (c) History of the Irish Rebellion in Folio printed 1680. Pope's Nuncio was known to be the chief Guide and Romish Priests the chief Contrivers and Fomenters of that desperate and bloudy Revolt it were not most notorious that she has always ready an Armory of execrable Principles suited to such occasions to satisfie the Consciences and encourage the Madness of her Jewish Zelots This I am confident all impartial men will judge fair Dealing and just Discourse and far different from the Method of the Compendionist the Reader may see we ground not our Charge of Popery upon the bare Actions of Papists but having found this degenerate Church teaching the most disloyal and inhumane Doctrines and then observing her Followers in several famous Instances to be guilty of Facts which directly answer to then We think we have reason to conclude the one to be the cause of the other and that many Papists had not been so bad men if their very Religion had not debauch'd them May we not now justly turn the Compendionist's own words of foolish Triumph upon himself and his Party * Compend pag. 77. What Parity is there between us and our Adversaries either in our Actions or Books of this nature Though the Actions of many Protestants have been too had to be justifi'd yet did they never go to the Church for Sanctuary Though Protestants have been Deposers and Murderers of Princes there are Rogues of all Persuasions yet had they never any Encouragement from their Religion so to do nor did any of them ever so much as pretend it except such Bedlam Phanaticks as Fifth Monarchy Men a Venner or a John of â—eyden and these are properly speaking as far from being right Protestants as Papists are from being right Christians But can he show us where the Protestant Religion allows the Deposing or Murdering of Princes or gives the least intimation of such a Power in the Church Can he shew it us where onely it ought to be look'd after viz. in the Confessions of our Faith or in the Articles of our Communion Or lastly can he shew it us in the Writings of any considerable Protestant Divines though their private Opinions unlicenc'd and unauthoriz'd by the Church of which they are Members cannot properly be a Charge against the Protestant Religion but because we will give him more than he can justly ask in this Controversie I say can he shew it us even bare I know indeed he does affirm That the * Compend
fit Have not all the Pamphlets that have been writ in Vindi … tion of that Bill argued the Lawfulness of it from the Constitution of the Civil Government and wholly disclaim'd the interesting of Religion at all in the business as to the justifying of it in the least degree endeavouring with great pains to prove that true Religion does not meddle with the Civil Rights of Princes but leaves them to be determin'd by the Laws and Customs of particular Countries By what strange consequence they can he entitle the Church of England or the Protestant Religion to things that are so perfectly of a Civil nature unless he will make them answerable for all the Actions of Protestants of what kind soever and resolve to maintain that childish Sophism I first took notice of as the chief ground of all his extravagant Raving against the Bishop's Book viz. The concluding the Principles of a Religion from the practises of her Professors Which is the very Dregs of Folly the last Running of Impertinence 'T is true the Protestant Religion i.e. the care of preserving it was no doubt the great Motive of doing what was done in every one of these three Cases but that is not here to the purpose for 't is not the Reason for which but the Authority by which a Prince is depos'd and the kind of Principle i. e. whether Civil or Religious 't is justified upon that must condemn or acquit a Church of the Guilt of it though this man endeavour all along to insinuate the contrary by such a fallacious way of representing the Position charg'd on the Church of Rome as makes that seem to be the chief Point in the Controversie between her and the Bishop of Lincoln which is in truth no part of it viz. the Motive or end of deposing Princes But 't is not the Business of this little Pamphlet … to state things fairly and reason clearly but to amuse the Reader◠and puzzle the Question a close way of arguing will not suit either with his Cause or his Understanding a good proof of which he gives us at the very first in these words * See the Compend pag. 76. If on the other-side says he the Bishop means that there have been Popish Doctors of the opinion that Princes might be Depos'd upon the account of Religion what Advantage I would fain know can that be to his Lordship or his Treatise since not only all the prime Leaders of the Reformation c Is it to be imagin'd now that a man should get so far out of his way unless he purposely design'd to ramble or write things so grosly impertinent to the matter he was treating of unless he studied to confound it and render it as little intelligible as was possible Never did any man take more true pains to understand a Discourse difficult in it self than he has done to misunderstand the Bishop's which was plain and easie or a least to make his Reader do so for he cannot be so dull himself in this Point as he would seem 'T is not possible that he or any man who has read the Bishop's Book should think it was the Bishop's meaning only to charge the Popish Doctors with holding indefinitely that Princes might be Depos'd upon the account of Religion when 't is so palpably evident in a hundred places of his Book that he only brings their Opinions as a collateral proof of his Charge of their Church and Religion and that with a quite different Tenet as I have already shew'd And as 't is the Roman Church and not the Doctors only or chiefly which the Bishop charges with holding that Princes may be Depos'd by her Authority not with holding indefinitely that they may be Depos'd upon the account of Religion So 't is the present Popish Canon-Law the Bulls the Decretals of Popes and the Canons of General Councils which are the Testimonies he relies upon for the making good of his Charge and not the private Opinions of Popish Doctors though being cited out of Books licens'd and approv'd by that Church they are of considerable weight in the Argument Now what says the Compendionist to these strong and most convincing Proofs Why in fine as Mr. Bayes says upon another occasion he wont tell us He has not one word not one syllable of Answer to them but passes them over with as deep a silence and as good a grace as if they were like most of his own not at all to the purpose This discreet and necessary Resolution being taken he bends all his little Wit and with a great deal of chearfulness goes about to invalidate what the Bishop urges from the Writings of the Popish Doctors which yet the poor impotent Scribler is by no means able to do as I have made appear in my Answer to his Charge of Luther and Calvin The Attempt however was just as wise and as likely to satisfie reasonable men as if a General who had a great and well disciplin'd Army to fight with should neglect the Main Body and with his whole Strength set upon the Forlorn Hope For his Objections of the Protestant Rebellion in Hungary the late Rising in Scotland the Murther of the Archbishop of S. Andrews and that Home-Blow of his the Gazet Advertisement of The Tryals of Twenty nine Protestant Regicides they are of the same nature and grounded on the same pitiful Falacy with those I have already answer'd and when he can shew us any Principle of the Protestant Religion that justifies Rebellion or Murder especially that of Princes or does but in the remotest degree encourage men to commit these detestable Crimes I shall again consider them In the mean time let him not wast his Paper and tire his Reader with the Repetition of such fulsom Sophistry But perhaps it may not be amiss to give a more particular Answer to his Home-Blow because he has such an opinion of its force and does so triumph with the conceit of his Victory I shall endeavour therefore to take him down in the height of his Rapture and shew his ignorant malice The Reader will remember the Point he should prove is That Protestant Principles are destructive to Kings for those are the very words of the Introduction to his terrible Argument of Instances of Fact Now did the Twenty nine Protestant Regicides ever pretend to justifie their abominable Villany by any Principle of their Religion Nay did they not pretend the quite contrary and ground it wholly upon a Civil Authority Did they not argue the lawfulness and justice of it from a Power they fancied in the People to call the King to an Account for his Actions Though in this they were as absurd Logicians as the Compendionist has all along shew'd himself and reason'd not only against the very first Principle of Civil Policy but point blank contrary to the most fundamental Maxims of the Law of England which says That the King can do no wrong and therefore makes his
the Cabala of their wicked Mysteries to justâ—fie Rebellions Assassinates and Massacres when the Church has very great need of them and finds it her Interest to own these Doctrines of Devils as other times it may suit better with her Designs to preach up Loyalty and Obedience to Princes and universal Charity to Mankind Lastly we know that the Venetians and the French have been always Opposers of the Pope's Encroachments upon Civil Sovereigns and that they do not submit to these sort of Doctrines which are so directly calculated for his attaining an Absolute Dominion over the Christian World a long projected Fifth Monarchy at least in the same degree that other Countries which are more Jesuited and enslav'd to the Pope are forc'd to do which by the way may serve for good a Argument to convince them of Differences among themselves and overthrow their glorious pretence of Union which they do so magnifie upon all occasions to our reproach but cannot signifie any thing to the purpose for which the Compendionist here intends it viz. to shew the Bishop of Lincoln in Answer to his Challenge at the end of his Book That the Church of Rome has by publick Acts and Declarations disown'd and condemn'd those Principles which His Lordship charges upon her He very confidently indeed affirms that the Censures of those Authors he mentions p. 78. l. 32. are such But what does he hope by Positiveness to face us down that the Venetians and the French are the Roman Church Or that the Universities of France and the Parliament of Paris are her Representatives Is it possible he should believe we have not Logick enough to distinguish between the Parts and Branches of a Church and the Church her self in her publick Authority and Representations Does he indeed imagine that he can at this time of day make the Judgments of particular Universities and Civil Assemblies pass upon us for publick Acts and Declarations of the Church of Rome He must needs pardon us we have been too often told it upon other occasions to be ignorant now that nothing but the Decrees of a Pope or a General Council are the publick Acts and Declarations of the Church of Rome and he has not so much as pretended to shew either of these for the Condemnation of those Principles which the Bishop has prov'd upon his Religion by both What scorn then can be vile enough to throw upon his impudent Claim of the Bishop's conditional promise of turning Papist when the termes upon which that promise was given are so far from being made good And why does he run over such a Bead-role of names The Colledge of the Sorbonne Paris Caen Rheimes c. I say to what end does he stun us with this vast din of insignificant Words and rattle in our Ears with empty â—ounds I thought to have pass'd by this Quibble upon the Bishop's Title 't is so very senceless and thin a conceit but because I find he is apt to think every thing unanswerable that is not particularly taken notice of I shall do him the favour to make the Reader observe this ridiculous Criticism Who could think says * Compend pag. 76. he that His Lordship's Heat against us should force him even to a Title that has confuted his whole Book viz. That Popish Principles and Positions when really believ'd are destructive and dangerous to all Kings especially Protestants for he cannot term them Principles of Faith because they were never thus believ'd c. I suppose by Principles of Faith here he means what is commonly understood by Articles of Faith i. e. Points necessary to Salvation for the words are equivocal and may bear several sences but because this is most favourable to his Objection I shall understand them so Now why cannot the Bishop term these Positions Principles of Faith He has prov'd them to have been decreed both by Popes and Councils and if that be not enough to make any Point a Principle of Faith in their Church I know not where or how we shall find any Principles of Faith among them He says indeed here and in other places would insinuate the same That they were never thus believ'd by any Catholick nor never thus approv'd of by the Church But that 's onely his word against the Bishop's Proof and signifies nothing but to convince the world of the shameless Impudence of Popish Writers who can even in Print and in the face of a learned and inquiring People affirm things contrary to direct Proofs without ever so much as endeavouring to answer those Proofs I see no reason therefore why the Bishop might not have term'd them Principles of Faith if he had pleas'd but that it was not at all material to the design of his Discourse so to do 't was enough for his purpose to prove them Principles of their Religion which he has most clearly done no matter whether they hold them necessary to Salvation or not their very holding them as Principles of their Religion does make that sufficiently dangerous to Princes which was what the Bishop undertook to show But let us suppose now that the Bishop cannot term these Positions Principles of Faith I 'le engage it shall do his Title no more hurt than 't is plain it would his Book indeed neither of them any at all This Title says he That Popish Principles and Positions when really believ'd are destructive c. has confuted his whole Book Why Because he cannot term them pray mark the Reason Principles of Faith c. Can any unprejudic'd man now whose Brains lie in their right place perceive any sort of Consequence in this Argument for my own part I can find none But if there be any little sence at the bottom of this awkard Blunder it must be this viz. a supposal that the real Belief of any Principle of Religion makes it immediately a Principle of Faith i. e. in his sence of those Terms a point necessary to Salvation though it was not so before which is certainly the most extravagant Whimsey that ever got hold of any mans Imagination but our confus'd Compendianists and if this be not his meaning he talks Wild Irish and is utterly unintelligible I think I need not go about to confute such self-evident Foolery as this the very Offer were an affront to the meanest Reader 's Understanding there 's hardly a School-boy but knows that Christian Religion teaches many useful and true Doctrines which are not necessary to Salvation that yet are really believ'd by all those that are really of the Christian Religion The Bishop's Title therefore is very proper and very consistent with the design of his Book and this man's exception to it most assurd and frivolous 'T is indeed not onely proper but charitable and modest it implies the Bishop does not believe that all who live in the external Communion of the Church of Rome are either so disloyal to their Prince or so unmerciful to their Friends and
of Universal Bishop in which he was confirm'd by a Council held at Rome the Year following After this Corruptions and Heresies crept apace into the Church of Rome which were still opposed by some famous Writers of these Churches both in this and the seventh Century about the end of which viz. in the Year 794 the Emperour Charles the Great having called a Council at Franckfurt did with the Western Churches joyntly endeavour to have drawn Pope Adrian and the Church of Rome out of that gulph of Superstition and Idolatry into which it was fallen by persuading them to embrace the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles But this design proving then ineffectual Lewis the Emperour Son and Successor to Charles undertook and prosecuted the same in the eighth Century and in order thereunto amongst other things he preferr'd to the Archbishoprick of Turin of which the Valleys of Piedmont are part one Claudius a chief Counsellour to Charles the Great and one of the most renowned men of his Age as well for Piety as Learning in the Year 815. But this good man finding that he could not resist that mighty torrent of Superstitious and Idolatrous Blasphemies which were taught and practis'd in the Church of Rome endeavour'd to keep his own Dioceses from being infected with them and to this end he told his People That they ought not to run to Rome for the Pardon of their Sins nor have recourse to the Saints or their Reliques that the Church is not founded upon S. Peter much less upon the Pope but upon the Doctrine of the Apostles that they ought not to worship Images nor so much as have them in their Churches c. These words we find in a Book written by a grand Adversary of his Also the same Author and others of the same stamp confess That Claudius and his Disciples and Successors were People of good Lives and Principles and that nothing could be objected against them for says one whereas all other Sects render themselves horrible by reason of their Blasphemies against God this hath a great appearance of Piety in as much as they live justly before men they believe aright concerning God in all things and hold all the Articles of the Creed there is onely one thing against them viz. that they deny the Church of Rome to be the holy Mother Church and will not obey her Traditions Another saith That these men did own the Christian Church in all other points and that he reckon'd and esteem'd them true Members of it I shall quote one Popish Writer more who was very famous in his time he in a Book published in the year 1632 with approbation and privilege saith That the aforesaid Doctrine which he calls Heresie continu'd throughout the ninth and tenth Centuries And afterward in another Book printed at Turin in the year 1649 dedicated to the Duke of Savoy speaking of the Doctrine which the Churches of the Valleys then held he saith It is the same which Claudius Archbishop of Turin and consequently of the Valleys being within that Diocese maintained in the eighth Century And thus you have seen the constant and uninterupted Succession of the Doctrine of these Churches from the times of the Apostles to that of Claudius and so through the ninth and tenth Centuries till the Waldenses came into these Valleys which was in the eleventh Century where they have profess'd and taught the same ever since I need not take the pains to prove the continued Succession of this Doctrine in those Churches from the eleventh Century till now because all Popish Writers do unanimously confess it but seeing divers of them have had the impudence to tell the World that the Waldenses who escaped the Massacre in France in the year 1165 and came from thence into the Valleys of Piedmont were the first Founders of that Religion which the Inhabitants there own and profess at this present I cannot but answer such Writers by telling them that it is not at all probable that the Waldenses who knew that the Seat of their grand Adversary was in Italy could have been so void of all sence and common prudence as to have undertaken so long and tedious a Journey over the Alps had they not been well assured beforehand that tho Natives of those Valleys had professed the same Religion with them and would receive and embrace them as Brethren I shall conclude this subject with a passage mention'd in the Preface of a French Bible which these Inhabitants caused to be printed at their own charge in the year 1535 and dedicate it to God himself where speaking as it were to him they say That they had always fully enjoy'd that Heavenly Truth contained in the Holy Scriptures ever since they were enriched with the same by the Apostles themselves I now come to give you the Causes of the Massacre in the Year 1655 and though many might be assign'd I shall mention two onely viz. the one general and the other particular the general Cause was the implacable Hatred and Malice of the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy against the Reformed Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont and in truth this hath been the Cause of all the other Massacres and Persecutions which have happen'd not onely in those Valleys but in all other parts of Europe ever since the Apostacy of the Romish Church has taken place and her tyrannical and usurped Power prevail'd in the World The particular Cause of this and other Massacres and Persecutions that have happen'd in these Valleys is the yearly allowance of Pensions Prebends Bishopricks Abbeys and Priories by the Court of Rome to the most eminent persons of the Duke of Savoy's Court upon condition of doing their utmost to destroy the Protestants and their Religion The principal means made use of by these Courtiers for effecting their designe were the same which had always prov'd successful formerly viz. they incensed the Duke of Savoy against his Protestant Subjects by many calumnies and false suggestions too tedious to be here inserted in so much that he publish'd an Order dated the 25th of January 1655. by which he commanded all his Protestant Subjects of what age sex or condition soever inhabiting certain Valleys therein mention'd to depart to other Valleys therein also nam'd in three days upon pain of death unless they should turn Papists within twenty days c. And though these poor Christians endeavour'd by their humble Addresses and Supplications to have oblig'd him to revoke this unjust and tyrannical Order yet he utterly refused to do it However he was not able to answer one of those many Arguments urged in their Petitions to induce him to grant their desires I shall name three First They urge the several Concessions made to them and their Ancestours by the Duke and his Predecessours for the free exercise of the reformed Religion in the Valleys of Piedmont and the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of their civil Rights and Priviledges Secondly They urge that