if they had it would have signified nothing to the Compendianist'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 his 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 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 whoever he be though it were Malambruno himself I 'l 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 Kings Restoration about the Deposing Power of the Church 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 Compendianist 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 loved 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 answered in the Bishops 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 Coat they deserve In the next place he tells us 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 expresse 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 only approve but under-hand 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 License of Mutius Vittellescus then General of the Jesuits and by the Order of the Master of the Popes 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 which is generally their way of condemning these 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 Oveâ—lashing as Bishop Montague expresses it in his Preface to King James's Works i. e. for speaking the mind of their Church more plainly than was at that time convenient For Secondly we know well enough that those Principles of Deposing and Killing Kings and Extirpating Hereticks are thought too precious Truths and too high Points to be ordinarily expos'd to the Vulgar and press'd upon all Occasions that they are the Arcana Imperii of their Kingdom of Darknesse and kept like Warrants Dormant among the Cabala of their wicked Mysteries to justifie Rebellions Assassinates and Massacres when the Church has very great need of them and finds it her Interest to own these Doctrines of Devils at 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
A Praefatory DISCOURSE TO A late PAMPHLET Entituled A MEMENTO FOR English PROTESTANTS c. BEING An ANSWER to that Part of the Compendium which reflects upon the Bishop of Lincoln's Book The Second Edition with several Additions and Amendments TOGETHER With some Occasional Reflections on Mr. L'Estrange's Writings LONDON Printed by Tho Dawks for the Author 1681. THIS IS HUMBLY DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD THOMAS LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN 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 only 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 English men 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 great 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 these 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 fear 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 cloathing 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 then 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 bloody Butcheries and inhumane Murders heretofore committed upon the persons of Protestants by Italian French and Irish Papists in cold blood 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 bestow'd 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 Vernish is taken off what a deform d and frightful face this gaudy painted whore With whom the Kings of the earth have committed Fornication this Mother of Abominations made drunk with the blood of the Saints and with the blood 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 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 conclude 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 Compendianist when he pretends to answer the Bp. 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 traiterous and bloody Designs against Kings and Protestants that I cannot but take this occasion to correct that troublesome Impertinent who has made such a sencelesse 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 off has yet expos'd that part of his impudent Pamphlet which concerns this truly Venerable and Excellent Person First then what a foolish Flourish dos he make against the Bishop endeavouring to throw that wicked Principle of Deposing Kings upon Protestants with this grosse Fallacy of Arguing from mens Practices to the Principles of their Religion Is not his Lordships meaning says 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 Swaedland Denmark the Vnited Provinces Transylvania Geneva c. have been actually depos'd by their Protestant Subjects This c. here I guesse to be a Lye of the lowest price in their Book of Rates for Sin t is so pitifull and inconsiderable a trick He puts it down as if there
For the Promise he makes us at last in imitation of the Pishop's That he himself will turn Protestant if the Bishop shews 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 he 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 His little Stroke of Common Place Arguments being now spent he is at last reduc'd to Story telling and the conclusion of his loose Ramble in this Paragraph against the Bishop is an incredible scandalous Tale about a Friend of his and Doctor Taylor by which he represents that late famous and worthy Divine not only as a Papist but a Knave and implicitely throws the same dirt upon the Bishop maliciously insinuating as if neither of them believ'd their own Books His words are these To conclude says He let me once more reminde his Lordship of his Promise and then tell him for I know he is a man of Parts what Dr. Taylor said to a Friend of mine concerning his Dissuâ—sive from Popery viz. That though 't were lik'd yet 't was but turning the Tables and he could write a Book twice as good This Story has the very complexion of a Popish Lye all the Lineaments and Features of 〈◊〉 Jesuitical Slander 't is a known Artifice of the Romish Agents when they cannot deal with their Adversaries Reasons to assault their Reputations by all kind of unjust Calumnies and impudent Forgeries and finding that the absurdness of their Tenets cannot be disguis'd to men who have the use of their Faculties their despaire to proselyte the Living sends them among the Charnel Houses to make Converts of the dead This is a trick they have perpetually put upon us ever since the Reformation all Protestants of any note who dye either in their Acquaintance or Neighbourhood are sure to be of their Faith after their Deaths though all their lives they abhorr'd it the Dead are as constantly reported theirs as if they had been Baptis'd in their Names according to the custome of the Primitive Corinthians or as is they were to be reckon'd natural Escheats to that Church which contrary to the Scripture prays for them and most commonly the dying too when they are no longer able to contradict their whispers are hook'd within the Toyls of their Vniversality no sooner does a man's Reason and his Sence begin to leave him but presently the Catholick Religion lays claim to him and indeed he is then most fit for that Communion and a proper Tool for Priests and Jesuites to work their ends by and Sanctify'd Rogues to make their Markets of Wheresoever the Carcase is there will these Roman Eagles be gathered together for their Prey Protestants cannot dye quietly in their Beds nor so much as rest in their Graves for the unwearied practises of the Popes Emissaries and the endless Persecution of their false Tongues who think it meritorious to Lie for the Propagation of their Faith and a piece of Godly Zeal to defame their Neighbours for the Honour of their Church But this is one of the small Games their ill successe has forc'd them to play at rather than stick out a despicable shift to keep up some little rest of Credit to their baffled Cause and would they observe any sort of Bounds in the Spoyl and Havock they make of mens good Names and their Invasions of the best and most lasting Property of Mankind in their Unchristian Violations of the Honour of the Dead Would these lawlesse Church Corsairs these desperate Picaroons for Popery robbe with modesty and be satisfy'd with making private men their Prize we should perhaps content our selves to despise their little Pyracies and laugh at their feeble Inroades But when they endeavour to sink our strongest Men of War and take our very Admirals in the Port when they will needs have our chief Leaders to be their Followers and our most famous Champions at the Wheels of their Triumphal Chariots when like the Tartar's Scotch Captive they will pretend to hold their Goalers Prisoners and erect their ridiculous Trophies upon the Tombes of their Conquerours When nothing will serve their turns but that Chillingworth himself must be believ'd to dye a Papist and Bishop King to be reconcil'd to their Church in Articulo mortis when Dr. Taylor must now after his Death be thought a Friend to Popery who in his life was both an Honour and a Defence to the Protestant Faith their impudence is intollerable and their Lyes grow mischievous 't is then necessary to expose the folly of their vain Pretences and warne the people of their large Dispensations I shall now appeale to the Judgement of any unprejudic'd man who has read Dr. Taylors Dissuasive from Popery and if he thinks there is the least probability that the Author of that excellent Book should say he could write one twice as good against Protestants or indeed any possibility that either He or any man else though never so willing should be able to do it I will hereafter believe that Jesuites can speak Truth and that Popish Controvertists may be sometimes in the right Dr. Taylors Relations and those who did particularly know him which I had not the happiness to do otherwise than by his Reputation and his Writings are able without doubt to say much more upon this Subject than I can pretend to and I question not but some of them will take care in convenient time to vindicate his Memory from soe foule a scandall as that of being a conceal'd Papist and of Writing what he did not think I shall therefore leave it to them whose proper concern it is not having at present the means to make any enquiry my selfe into the businesse In the mean time let us suppose this Story to be true which according to all appearance is next to impossible what is here pretended to have been said by Dr. Taylor was I perceive a thing said in private conversation and probably in great trust and confidence of the person to whom 't was spoke how to Print this to the World with Design to blast the Reputation of a Divine after his Death is such a piece of