done it to her no little trouble No they never attempted any kinde or any shew of violent resistance at all either by Domestick or Forreign help but always from first to last most submissively behaved themselves towards her tendring her safety and the Peace of the Realm far above their own Lives Liberties and Estates 'T is true it was once debated among them whither they ought not to proceed to Excommunication against her both for the preservation of Catholikes and discharge of their Office Yet considering the great trouble and inconveniences that might arise thereby both to her Majestie and the State in case the people should fall into any disorders thereupon or take Arms in defence of Religion They concluded notwithstanding her case and proceedings were very much liable to censure yet for their parts to leave her to Gods Judgement and referred the whole business to his Holiness And herein also the Favor and Interest of King Philip as they had always done did stand her in no small stead For he knowing the practises of France upon this occasion and how much they labored at Rome that sentence of Excommunication might pass against Queen Elizabeth onely out of design and hoping to invest themselves of England thereupon under the Title and pretensions of Queen Mary of Scotland who was the next Heir and at that time married to their King Was the more willing to hinder it least by this means England and Ireland both together with Scotland should come to be Incorporate as it were into the Crown of France and so become an enemy too potent for him to deal with out of which respect also even in Queen Maries time more then once he had kept of proceedings against her which otherwise would have concerned her very neerly Therefore so long as there was any hope that the Queen might be capable of better Counsels he ceased not by his Ministers to do all good Offices here betwixt the Queen and the Clergy and at Rome hindered the passing of the censures for no small time notwithstanding all the indeavors and instances thereunto made by the French But the Prelates all this while as I said chose rather a Durate then Armate ever professing with their mouths and making it good no less with their examples and practises that Preces and Lachrimae indeed Prayers and Tears were the onely weapons which they had to fight against the Queen Though the world knows how little these prevailed with her whose severity towards them continued in the same extremity from first to last not relenting nor affording the least remission in any degree of Liberty or Estate unto their dying day Doctor Scot Bishop of Chester died at Lovain in Exile Goldwel of Asaph died at Rome Pate Bishop of Worcester was indeed at the Councel of Trent and subscribed there for the Clergy of England but never returned Doctor Oglethorpe Bishop of Carlile who had Crowned the Queen was yet deprived with the rest dying suddenly and very shortly after so did also Doctor Tonstal that Learned and Famous Prelate Bishop of Durham while he was Prisoner at Lambeth Yet not before he had personally given the Queen a sound and Godly Admonition concerning her strange proceedings with that liberty and freedom of zeal which became so venerable a Prelate and true Pastor of Gods Church as he was and as some have said Godfather to the Queen Bourn Bishop of Bath and Wells was prisoner to Cary Dean of the Chappel and there dyed Doctor Thirlby Bishop of Ely was first committed to the Tower afterwards He and Secretary Boxhal were sent to Lambeth and there ended their days Bishop Bonner of London Watson of Lincoln with the Abbot of Westminster Fecknam died all prisoners and as some say in the Marshalsey Prior Shelly was banished and died in Exile This was the the very Sad yet as by their Patience Submission and Sufferance appeared very Christian Catastrophe of so many grave religious and good Prelates of England chief Pastors of the Church of God in our nation Thus was a third and the most venerable State of the Realm who like the Cedars of Liâ—â—anus ever since King Etheldreds time for so many years together had stood flourishing in great Dignity and Power in this Land on a sudden cast down disgraced put in prison or banished the Realm The chief and immediate cause of which hard procedings against them was the refusing the Oath of Supremacy for no other crime no other fault could be charged upon them This indeed they refused as a thing which concerned their Conscience very much And although perhaps some of the Prelates now living had either for fear or upon surprizal in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth when it was first enacted given more consent or connivence to it then became Prelates of the Church to do yet they had now better considered themselves and resolved to be constant not onely to the Doctrine of Catholike Faith in that point but also to the judgement of the whole Kingdom which so lately in full Parliament had desired the Abrogation of that Law and acknowledged the Supremacy of Ecclesiastical Authority to be where Christ placed it viz. in the Sea Apostolike Nor did the English Prelates refusing to acknowledge the Queen Head of the Church any thing more then what the Protestants themselves at least no mean ones among them would likewise do For 't is manifest that setting aside some few English at home they do generally abroad dislike the Princes Supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes as much as any Not to mention Gilby who in his Book called Admonitio ad Anglos calls King Henry the Eighth reproachfully Monstrum Libidinosum Aprum qui Christi locum invasit c. A libidinous Monster a Wilde Bore broken into Christs Vineyard and making himself Head of the Church which belongs onely to Christ Calvin himself in his Commentary upon O see is very angry at those who attribute so much to Secular Princes as to give them such absolute power in the affairs of Religion and in plain terms confesseth Qui initio tantoperè extulerunt Henricum Regem Angliae certè fuerunt inconsiderati homines c. They saith he who first advanced the Authority of King Henry of England to such a height did not well consider what they did when they gave him that Supream Power in all Causes it was a matter which always greeved me very much saith he For indeed they did no less then blaspheme when they called him Supream Head of the Church under Christ Sir Thomas Moor Bishop Fisher Abbot Whiteing of Glastenbury and those many other Holy Abbots and Religious men of all sorts who suffeâ—ed in the case of Supremacy under Henry the Eighth never said more And Luther himself saith no less but more scurrilously as his humor was Quid ad nos Mandatum Electoris Saxoniae What hath the Prince Elector of Saxony to do to command me Let him look to his Sword and see
best assistance to the support of the Estate Royal and of the Kingdom wherein they lived It is true through the malice of the Devil and Instigation of some Enemies of the Church some of them for the asserting of their legal Immunities and to preserve the Liberty of their spiritual Jurisdiction entirely Free as it ought they were dirven now and then yet very seldom in comparison of such a long tract of time as we instance in unto some vehement and earnest contestation with their Princes and though much further then was pleasing to them yet I suppose not beyond terms of due respect and the Authority of their Function much less did they endeavor to stir up rebellion or instigate the people to sedition and commotions against their Princes nor did they ever upon their own account solely concur in any thing of that nature The first King that ever gave cause in this Kingdom effectually and in the face of the world to trie the admirable patience obedience and loyalty of Catholikcs was King Henry the Eighth Flagellum Dei that scourge of God to the Church of England and all good Catholikes therein yet outwardly professing the same Religion in most things with Catholikes This he did first by a pretended Accusation of the Clergy to be fallen in a Praemunire because Scil they did that which all their predecessors the Bishops and Clergy of England for many Hundreds of years confessedly had done without any exception taken viz. for acknowledging the power Legantine of Cardinal Wâ—lsey which yet the King himself for his own ends and in his own case had first of all procured 2. upon the Statute of supremacy And 3. by suppression of the Abbies These were his Three first breaches by which the Foundation strength and glory of the Catholike Church in England became afterwards utterly ruinated By the first his way was levelled to the Second and the Second obtained gave him power and authority to compass the Third By the First indeed onely the Clergy smarted in a fine of an Hundred thousand pound The second lay heavy upon the Clergy and Temporalty both But by the Third viz. the suppression of the Abbies and Religious houses if we consider the infinite prejudice which the poor Commonalty suffered thereby both in point of spiritual and temporal interest the whole Kingdom might be said to be worse then conquered by him that is Robbed Spoiled Enslaved to the exorbitancy of his sole Will Prodigality Lust and Tyranny And all this done to be revenged on the Pope who condescended not to humor him in the business of his marriage Therefore and to advance his own power and greatness That Authority and Jurisdiction which had alway been acknowledged as sacred by the English ever since the English were Christians must in a moment be abandoned disclaimed abjured himself by an unheard of and fatal Ambition instead thereof made Head of the Church and all persons who out of scruple of Conscience refused to conform to such grand sudden and sacrilegious Innovations and to swear they knew not what were cut shorter by the head executed at Tyborn imprisoned banished and put into such condition as he was sure they should not oppose him The ground of the Praemunire was at first onely a quarrel which he pick't against the Cardinal Wolsey but afterwards stretched it upon the Tenters and made it reach the whole Clergy who being thereupon Summoned into the Kings Bench the business was so aggravated there by the Lawyers The Kings Learned Counsel that in the Convocation house they presently concluded to submit themselves to the King and offer him no less sum then One hundred thousand pound for their pardon This was look't upon by the Christian world as a Prodigy That so many Shepherds should be afraid of one Wolfe And though it becomes us not hear to censure whether they did as they ought yet certainly this weakness of the Pastors boded no good to the Flock and it is observed that neither themselves nor the Church nor Religion ever prospered in England afterwards However the King accepts of thâ—ir offâ—r and signs their Pardon but with a fetch far worse then the first For undâ—r a prâ—â—eâ—ce of procuring this Pardon to be confirmed to them in Parliament he draws thâ—m in there how willingly or unwillingly let the world judge to acknowledge him Supream Head of the Church It was a course even at that time not thought agreeable to Justice or Honor. For as we said the Cardinal Wolsey had the Kings License for the exercise of his Legantine power both under the Kings hand and the Great Seal of England and was employed by the Kings particular Mandate and pleasure in the quality of Legat to sit with the other Legat Cardinal Campegius and examine the business of his marriage And could the Divorce have been granted according to the Kings minde it is easily conjectured the Cardinal had never been questioned for his Legat-ship Touching the Second of Supremacy All the Subjects of England ever acknowledged that the Crown and State of England quoad Temporalia in Temporal affairs and matters is independent of any other power but of that Transcendent Majestie which saith Per me reges regnant and this to the intent that Kings and all Governors considering who will one day take their Audit may be more careful to rule with Justice and common equity without partiality passion prejudice against any mans person further then his crimes against Publike Order Common Right and the Peace of the State shall make him obnoxious and by so doing may keep their accounts streight against the day of Account And on the other side that Subjects remembring their duty and who it is that layeth this jugum suave the sweet Yoke of good Government upon their Shoulders might be induced to obey with more fidelity and prompt affection But the Question which King Henry the first of all Kings Princes or States of Christendom propounded to his Clergy and People in Parliament concerned matters purely Spiritual and wherein not himself onely and his Subjects at home but all Christian Kings Princes States and people in the world were concerned And therefore required far greater deliberation I say not then was used for in truth that was little or none at all the Kings pleasure and resolution was known and that as the world went then was sufficient but I say then could possâ—bly be used in England which was then but one single Kingdom and a small Province of Christendom And for the suppression of the Abbeys and Religious houses by that Act and this other of Supremacy together the Clergy of England were brought absolutely into Captivity and stood meerly as they have done ever since at the pleasure of the King and of the State Their Possessions the greatest part of them were seized their Goods forfeited their Churches profaned and sacked and upon the spoils thereof together with the sale of the Vestments Chalices Bells and other
Posse Tyrannum a quoquam c. That a Prince though Tyrant can be put to death by any private Authority And at a Councel held at Oxford under Steven Langton Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about the year 1228. Excommunication is decreed against all such as violate the Kings Peace or disturb the State of the Kingdom Yea the Councel of Constance Sess 15. declares it to be an error in Faith to hold otherwise Nuper accepit sancta synodus c. This Holy Synod saie the Fathers of it hath been lately informed that certain erronious opinions are holden contrary to Peace and good Estate of the Common-wealth viz. That a Tyrant may be lawfully and meritoriously taken away and killed by any Subject or Vassal of his c. Non obsâ—ante quocunque juramento c. Notwithstanding whatsoever Oath of Fidelity or Allegiance that he hath made to him Such Doctrine saith the Councel is contrary both to Faith and Manners and whosoever shall hold it pertinaciously are Hereticks and as such to be proceeded against according to the Canons What can be said or desired more upon the Parricide of Henry the Fourth King of France the Parliament of Paris a Court ever most studious of their Princes safety and extreamly vigilant against the encroaching of any forreign power contrary to his just Authority in Temporal causes yet thought it sufficient to publish this decree of the Church against the Assassinates of Princes both to shew the heinousness of the crime as also how much the Catholike Doctrine doth condemn such practises So that hereby as in a Glass the world might see the integrity of Catholike Loyalty if men would judge of them not by the private and perhaps misinterpretâ—table assertions of some particular Doctors but by these publike and avowed principles of their beleef This is the Basis on which they build the rule by which they walk and govern themselves in point of obedience towards their Sovereign Princes Or if they would judge of them by their proceedings and addresses to their Superiors their frequent petitions professions protestations of all just obedience will sufficiently cleer them If by their practice and manner of life their quiet deportment their peaceable manner of living and conversing with all men yea their prayers which they daily make unto Allmighty God in the behalf of their Prince and for the happiness of their Country do shew how innocent they are and how little they deserve those black aspersions and calumnies of Treason Rebellion Disloyalty Et quid non which some men are so diligent to cast upon them Yea to speak with no greater confidence then we justly may they shew how much more secure Princes may be and how much better Tye and assurance they have of Catholikes Loyalty then either of Lutherans or Calvinists For although Protestants do seem sometimes to teach obedience to the Civil Magistrate very freely and that it is sin for private Subjects to resist them as for Example Melancthon in his Epitome of Moral Philosophy makes it Peccatum Mortale No less matter then Mortal Sin I use his own words To violate the Tempâ—ral Laws of the Magistrates Yet is their Doctrine so clogged with exceptions so many limitations and Proviso's as it were are commonly added to it that Princes especially such as differ from them in Religion cannot finde I say not full and plenary but not so much as probable or competent security from them Melancthon in the place before mentioned limiteth himself thus Debet autem haec sententia c. But this which I have delivered saith he concerning obedience to the Civil Magistrates must be rightly understood viz. of such Magistrates as command nothing contrary to the Law of God as all Catholike Princes do in his opinion What security therefore have they from his Doctrine Lib. de Consens Evang. Beside we have shewen before according to his doctrine the people or inferior Magistrates may reform Religion and overthrow Idolatry as they call it without any publike Authority or Commission So that if the Justices of the Peace in some County or but the Petty Constables in Towns do beleeve the Religion professed by the Prince or State to be Idolatrous and not according to Gods word they are discharged of obedience by Melancthon and may fall to reforming solely of themselves And what his Master Luthers opinions were concerning this matter hath been sufficiently shewen already there need be no repetition of them here Danaeus teacheth the same or worse Lib. 6. Polit. c. 3. So doth Peter Martyr on Judges Cap. 11. and in his Common places And Althusius Politic. Cap. 35. P. 37. where among other causes of a Just War maintained by Subjects against their Sovereigns Purae Religionis defensio defence of True Religion hath the Second place Yea it is wel known that Sureau a Protestant Minister in France otherwise called Rosâ—eres wrote a Book expresly on this subject That it was lawful to kill Charls the Ninth Belfor lib. 6. cap. 103. his natural Sovereign and the Queen-Mother if they would not obey the Gospel But to conclude with one instance for all The Hugonots of France having in the Nine and thirtieth Article of their Confession professed That men ought to be obedient to the Laws to pay Tributes and to bear the Yoke of subjection quietly even under unbeleeving Magistrates They adde a limitation which corrupts and nullifies all that they had said viz. Dummodo Dei summum imperium integrum maneat So long onely as Gods Supream Authority is entirely acknowledged which under the Government of an Infidel Magistrate cannot be easily conceived Therefore upon the matter they profess nothing but abuse their Prince and the world with bare words as it is usuall with them to do Which is yet more evident by the Declaration which their Synod at Bearn in the year 1572. purposely made of this Article and of the Limitation of it Dei imperium dicitur manere illibatum Poplon nier lib. 34. cum Rex exterminatâ Catholicâ Religione c. Gods Sovereign Authority say they is then understood to be entirely acknowledged when the King abolishing or rooting out Catholike Religion shall set himself to advance onely the true and pure worship of God that is to say that which is so in their sense and opinion But to do this is it a thing to be supposed of an Infidel Prince to whom they pretend to profess subjection or is it to be expected of a Catholike Therefore I say they contradict themselves apparenly in their profession and do indeed profess nothing really but that they are Impostors and deserve to be branded with Characters of jealousie and distrust by all the Princes States of Christendom The book called Comment de Statu Relig. â—c a Protestant piece is ful of such stuff but especially Pâ— 2. Lib. 12. Cap. 1. where he affirmeth expressly That in all Oaths of Allegiance and Duty there is this condition always implyed at
Protestants have set it down as a decree against Catholikes and labor to imprint it as an Eternal scandal in the hearts of the people that Catholike Religion and Doctrine is dangerous to the State an Enemy to Sovereignty and therefore neither allowable nor tolerable in a well governed Monarchy Now this being a matter of so great importance as indeed it ought to be esteemed for querelam Ecclesiae quilibet Catholicus facit suam every good Catholike thinks himself injured when the Church is wronged I will endeavor to sift out the truth and shew you what is therein to be holden as matter of infallible vâ—rity as well to justifie them viz. the Catholikes as to inform my self in a point which I know hath made many good men in England to stagger much And that I may not wander in my discourse nor lead you up and down in a Labyrinth I will shew you first the true state of the Quâ—stion to be argued and the method in which it is most regularly propounded First therefore we demand Whether to be a Catholike that is one who professeth due reverence unto the Church of Rome and to be a true Subject to his Prince and Country be incompatible or no Secondly If they be incompatible whether this incompatibility or repugnancy that is betwixt them be general that is as unto all Principalities and States or particular that is to some one or to some few onely Thirdly Whether it be so originally and ever or onely casually that is at some particular time or upon some particular joyncture of affairs in State Fourthly Whether it be so simpliciter loquendo and as malum in se that is whether the being a Catholike be lookt upon as a thing evil intrinsecally and in its own nature or that it be onely accidentally such or made so by particular Statutes and Laws Lastly whether Lutheranism and Calvinism be not more incompatible with Loyalty more opposit and contradictory thereto and that ab origine To judge rightly betwixt Catholikes and Protestants in this grand charge which we have in hand it is necessary that every one of these particulars be cleerly considered and resolved and so I oblige my self to do at least to endeavor before I end my discourse But yet to pay Master Parson some thing in his own coyn I shall make bold to begin with the last Question first and in lieu of his general or rather hyperbolical accusations of our Doctrine to return him double measure both of Doctrine and Practise in each kinde from his own men That is I will examine and declare obsignatis tabulis and by evidence of fact That the Treasons Factions Seditions Tumults which have so troubled all the Kingdoms of Europe and filled Christendom with blood and calamity for these hundred years last past have sprung not so much from any opinions or practises of Catholikes as from the opinions and practises of Protestants and that the egg of this Cockatrice was not laid at Rome nor Rhemes nor Doway as the World must be made to believe but indeed and very truth at Wittemberg at Smalcald at Genevah And this I shall do not Theologically or like a Divine for I will not arrogate so much to my self but Historically sincerely plainly being one that desires to defend the Loyalty of Religions and Innocent men rather then their Opinions and Doctrines which they are best able to maintain themselves and as a faithful relator of what my self have both known and seen and learned the rest from others of whose authority and credit in this kinde no just doubt can be made Neither shall I affect any rhetorical flourishes or elegancy of stile in this discourse Integrity and Truth which I profess appear always most gracious in their own unborrowed beauties they need no paintings no art no colours Come we then by the Will of God to our intended business Titulus Primus LUTHERANISM OR The Troubles in GERMANY IN the year of our Lord 1514. the whole Church of God enjoyed Peace and her ancient Priviledges all Princes with great devotion were Nursing Fathers and Protectors of her no Storm did trouble her no Schism to break her Unity There was an harmony a good correspondence as to matters of Faith and Religion between the Church of Rome and all the Princes and States of Christendom and till then neither in England nor in any other Country of Europe had there been such a Question ever disputed viz. Whether a Catholike might not be a good Subject In the year 1517. Martin Luther an Augustine Fryer a man of a turbulent spirit learned but never counted any famous Clerk was the first that broke this long and happy Peace Surius in Chron. An. 1517. This man unhappily interposing himself in the business of Indulgences which were sent at that time by Pope Leo the Tenth into Germany although it concerned not him further then he made himself the Proctor and Advocate of his Order yet having once begun to inveigh against the injury done to his fraternity as he conceived for as much as the Preaching or publishing of those Pardons was committed unto the Dominicans and not to them viz. the Augustinians as had been usual before he fell afterwards to tax the abuses and covetousness of the Collectors and then to question even the authority of them by whom those Collectors were nominated and such a levy of money required in that nature This was a popular and plausible Introduction fit to win upon the vulgar who can never well endure the pressure of Contributions especially extraordinary and where the covetousness or scandal of Officers gives any occasion of murmur He quickly therefore found many favorers but much more when he began to exclaim against the ambition of Prelates against the ryot and disorders of Religious men taxing some for Tyranny some for Avarice some for Idleness and Ignorance all for corruption and abuses In this maner he stood in arms and as it were a challenger for some years onely against the defects of the Clergy and without much danger For divers good men at first conceived That he onely intended and sought Reformation of disorders and restoring of Ecclesiastical Discipline punishment of irregularities and amendment of life And this they did not without some cause For Saint Hildegardis had foretold a storm to the Church for their sins Savanarola a Dominican had awakned Italy with predictions of terror and Frier Thomas of Guien prophesied a Vae Vae a scourge and desolation to Bourdeaux an inundation of misery to France and the whole World All these not long before Luthers time Who finding thus Populo placere quas fecisset fabulas that the sport which he had begun did take with the people as novelty is ever welcome to the World and that his actions and designs seemed generally to be applauded that many of the best wits especially such as had been bred in Erasmus his School and were any way touched with his humor were
the Sword in their hands to compel the King to grant them what Liberty and Terms of Pacification they liked we are first to call again to minde that so famous and indeed furious Battle upon the Plains of Dreux of which Beza formerly boasted That the foundations of Reformed Religion in France were first laid and as it were consecrated therein Let us remember also the Battle of Saint Dennis the Battle of Jarnac the Battle of Coutras the Battle of Moncontour together with the besiedging of Roan and how much and Noble Blood was spilt in all these Actions At Roan the King of Navar lost his life at Saint Dennis the Constable was slain at Jarnaec the Prince of Conde and at Contras the Noble Duke of Joyeuse ended his days Tho Fields are yet stained France was let-blood too prodigally and strangers brought in as Surgeons to launce her wounds who have left behinde them greater cause of Lamentation then Remembrance At Moncentour where the Admiral stood alone as the sole Champion of the Reformed Churches The Missa-pulta testified what their quarrel was which by Beza's devise was advanced as a Basilisk to beat down the Royal Standard of France and the Labarum or Cross of Constantine Now as concerning the outrages assassinations and other mischeifs done and committed by these spirits of Reformation yet pretending nevertheless to be altogether innocent of Blood and Murther Polâ—rot in this Kalender must have the first place for killing the Duke of Guise who was the Kings Lieutenant General at that time so basely and treacherously as he did confessing it afterward before the Queen-Mother and avouching that Beza had both counselled and encouraged him to the Action After him we may remember how the Protestants in Valentia used Signeut de la Motte Gondrin the Kings Lieutenant in Daulphin who had assured them in case they would live peaceably and quietly with the Catholikes he would bring none of the Kings Soldiers upon them yet notwithstanding this they assembled forces of their own privately surprized La Motte and hung him up instantly in cold blood without any provocation save onely of their own malice to shew their contempt of the King and scorn of his Officers among them Which was a villany not sufferable in any Commonwealth especially where such favor and connivence had been offered but immediately before We may remember the Conspiracy of Simon May a man induced by the same spirit and instructed out of the same School to kill the Queen-Mother and Henry the Third But his purpose being discovered he was apprehended and had his desert Neither can the business be excused or shifted off with any colors himself confessed it and accused Seigneur de la Tour and Monsieur d' Avantigny two Gentlemen of good parentage yet birds of a Feather to have been hiâ— Counsellors and Abettors in the Plot Whereupon they were both of them apprehended but afterward released by His Majesty for private reasons not being willing as some thought at that time to search too deep into the wound either for the men engaged in it or the matter it self yet this was not all They proceed much further and seize upon the Kings own Rents and Râ—venues they coyn money and surprize either by fraud or force of Arms the cheif Cities of the Realm Orleans Troyes Poictiers Tours c. putting in Garrisons and Governors of their own party and for their own ends They deliver one of the Keys of France into the custody and command of Forreigners All which were attempts of the Highest Treason that could be and usurpations of the Prerogative Royal being done without colour of Commission or Warrant from the King and contrary to his express Will and the Law Lib. des Financ de France Nicholas Froumenteau a Minister of the new Edition confesseth That in Daulphin onely the Army of the Hugâ—nots killed Two hundred fifty and six Priests and One hundred and twelve Monks and Friers burnt Nine hundred Towns and Villages And yet what a pitiful tale do the Calvinists and others tell of a Massacre at Vassy by the Duke of Guise as if no cruelty had been comparable to that Which yet indeed was nothing at all in comparison of these and was done without the Dukes consent as not onely Monsieur Chasteauneuf in his Commentaries but also Thuanus Thuan. Historian lib. 29. who was a man never suspected to be of the Guisian Faction do expresly avouch Yea the blood that was drawn from the Duke himself laboring to have appeased the fray at the beginning was the cause that some quantity more was drawn from those Hugonots by the Dukes servants then otherwise there needed to have been No it was a toy and a trifle in respect of those outragious excessive carnages of Montbrison of Mornas and many other places acted by the Hugonots But such was the calamity of those times They which most justly deserved and unjustly complained against persecution did persecute their Neighbors most unjustly and tyrannically Let the world and all indifferent men judge by this In these Civil Wars there were no less then Twenty thousand Churches destroyed by Protestants and yet these men were born as they say to edifie the Church Is it not likely Could Mahomet himself edifie better or was his Alchoran and Turkish Superstition set up any other way then by the power of a Tyrants Sword and pulling down of Christian Churches I shall not commend any Act of Cruelty in whomsoever yet let men that are impartial consider how they can justly blame Charls the Ninth King of France for his proceedings against this sort of people at Paris and some other places in the year 1572. The Admiral being the principal Instrument and mover of all those Seditions and Troubles which for a long time had disquieted France and indangered so much the very life and person of the King the Queen Mother and other of the Princes who can wonder if his Majestie at last were compelled to use a mean extraordinary and somewhat rough for the cutting off such a Pestilent Member with his Complices who did nothing but Gangren-like perpetually corrupt and indanger the whole body of his State yea and often threatned the Head it self 'T is well known he was come to such height at this time that he Reigned in France as it were some Petty King in a Common-wealth meerly through the assistance of such people as had by his Means and Sollicitation chiefly revolted from their Lawful and Natural Sovereign he maintained in France an open War against the King and Crown of France he Sollicited and called in strangers to his aid levied Contributions exacted Tributes coyned Mony seized the Kings Revenues invaded his Towns contemned all his Laws yea what actions of Sovereignity did he not usurp exercise in contempt of his Sovereign For which having been first proclaimed Traytor in the year 1569. he afterward met with the punishment which both he and his had most justly deserved
the Lyoness was secur'd sends another Messenger to the Mongrel advising him to make sure of the Lyoness Whelp and then he might securly rule and govern all For saith he Possession is the chief point in Law and when you have him you have all Perhaps out of sullenness and restraint he may die however if he lives he shall be sure to live at your pleasure and disposing if you take him in time so he did accordingly This is the Fable The Moralizing of it I leave to those that expound Riddles though this be such as needeth not an Oedipus to declare it I might here end my discourse of this pretended Church of Scotland and of its irregular and tumultuous Reformation but that I desire to satisfie the Reader a little further in the true cause of this particular distemper or more special abuse and contempt of Civil Magistracy which the Reformers of this Church seem to have shewen all along their work It proceeded without all doubt from the Spirit and humor of Calvin who first devised it and was himself a bitter enemy against all Magistrates in whose Counsels he could not rule In so much as at Genevah it self he was at first expelled for a seditious person by the Magistrates of that City and compelled to go live with Bucer at Strasburgh Yet afterward the party which favored him prevailing at Genevah he was recalled back again but refused to return unless upon condition and promise that his discipline should be received So it was promised by a general consent of the City and at his coming performed His consistory that is to say an Oligarchy of certain pickd Elders was erected as it were the Inquisition of Genevah This by the way was a strain of policy much beyond Luthers dull reach and which madded him all his life long For by this Calvin did not onely set up a Church Independent of him and without consulting at all with him viz. with Luther but became a Dictator general as it were to all the Protestant or reformed Churches abroad and so very much Eclipsed Luthers glory But the seat of his Dominion was at Genevah as we said having setled his discipline in such maner there that by colour and pretence of it he was able not onely to censure offenders at his pleasure but to carry on designs against any opposition whatsoever For indeed through the concurrence of his Eldership who were commonly all at his book he was upon the matter invâ—sted with a kinde of Sovereignety both of their Town and Chuâ—ch He and his Eâ—ders ruled all there And to the end it should be received abroad with due reverence though it were indeed the Idol of his own fancy yet they set it down viz. Calvins Presbyterian Discipline for a mark of the True Church and joyn it in equal rank with the Preaching of the word and Administration of Sacraments So that by means of this Discipline he not onely in a short time became himself the great Soldan of the Lake but sent his Mammalukes also out into all the Provinces of France and planted Reformed Churches there after his Model of Genevah The Sinods or more general Assemblies whereof seating themselves in the principal and chief Towns of the Kingdom are thereby inabled to hold such correspondence with the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation inclined to novelty as that they are sure of a constant and strong support from them upon all occasions yea to engage them perfectly in their way they take them many times very politickly into their Consistories in the quality of Lay-Elders and do questionless nourish in themselves no faint hopes to be able one day by their means to subvert those Pillers of the Catholike Church which so much obstruct their proceedings viz. the Bishops Archbishops and other Prelates of France and to set up Calvinism and their Consistories all the Kingdom over This I say is the Train of their Policy and the reason why they are so implacable in their hatred and incessantly violent and active against all such Princes and States as do oppose the introduction of their Discipline which is the Medium whereby in France Scotland the Palatinate and elsewhere they have made or endeavored to make themselves Supream heads and Masters of misrule over all others as hath been in part declared already and shall be further manifested in the sequel of this narration Hence it is that all commanders Generals and all other Officers whatsoever in their service are so strictly injoyned by the Articles of Bearn Art 25. as hath been said to observe the discipline Ecclesiastical as it shall be from time to time ordained by their Synods And hence that is to say from this Arrogant confidence of theirs it was and indiscreet zeal that they refused when time was at Rochel so much as to speak with Monsieur Byron the Kings Embassador and used Monsieur la Nove with so much and so long incivilities that at last he was constrained to forsake them And out of this fiery zeal for their Diana of the Discipline it proceeds that they oppose prosecute and vilifie with so much bitterness of spirit and ill language where they can or dare all other Ecclesiastical government whatsoever all Order of Divine Service Rites and Ceremonies which are not exactly after their Mode or framed according to their Pattern And in this particular the Protestants church of England hath from the beginning so much tasted of their spleen or madness rather that Mr. Butler of Cambridge may seem to have shewen no less judgement then wit in the definition which he once gave of a Puritan viz. That he was a Protestant frayed out of his Wits which King James in the Conference at Hampton Court disliked not The reason whereof may be this We finde by experience that Ceremonies and Solemnity have ever in the Church of God stirred up and bred a reverence and devotion in the hearts of good people towards the service of God that they help to elevate and awaken their souls in time of prayer and other Divine worship also that the order and gravity of Bishops and other Prelates of the Church were not onely wont to finde but apt to procure estimation and respect with the people Now ask a Puritan his opinion of a Rochet a Surplis cornerd Cap or any other Habit which distinguisheth Ecclesiastical persons from the Laity he tells you presently They are the raggs of Antichrist badges of Superstition The Communion Book he calls the Portess and Breviary of Satan set prayers extinguish zeal with him yea are tantum non flat Idolatry The Ecclesiastical Courts are the Synagogues or Shops of the Devil and but the excrements of a corrupted discipline which they would fain reform As for the Authority and Government of Bishops he subscribs to Doctor Ames Hunc Episcoporum ordinem medio tollendum c. That either this Hierarchy of Bishops must down or Popery will come upon us do what we can
Tenure A certain Hollander in a third defence which he hath written of the united Provinces calls the King Raptorem Hereticum notorium Spoyler and Notorious Heretick and therefore to be set upon and driven out of his Kingdom by a general League and Vnion of all the forces of all Protestant Princes and States of Christendom But hoc tantum defuit this onely was wanting to advance their Calumnies against His Majestie to the height of impudence Never was the King of Spain called Heretick by man since he deserved the title of Catholike and it could not be done now but by one whose Malice and Heresie together had corrupted his judgement unto madness Nor is it to much better purpose that which they say concerning other Princes and States viz. That they have been acknowledged and treated by forreign Princes as Free States above thirty years That time will not serve for Prescription and if it would Prescription always pleadeth some other Title and possession bonâ fide beside neither of which can they pretend without blushing Neither can the opinion of forreign Princes make their bad claym better it may give some reputation indeed to an usurper but not any Title of right And as in a bad quarrel bravely defended not the cause but the success gains the credit so it is their prosperity and not the justice of their cause which doth them honor Beside it is not true that Princes have so reputed them To Negotiate with them under a quality which they will assume is one thing and really to adjudge that quality as due to them is another They offered the Sovereignty of these Provinces to Queen Elizabeth but she refused them The world doth not think it was out of any Favor to King Philip that she did so but because she knew they offered something more then their own and she was not willing to give her own people such a bad President against her self And when for private ends and some reasons of State she was content for a while to take upon her the charge and title of Protectress of the poor distressed States c. it was observed the business was most earnestly promoted by them who were now as willing to be rid of the * E. Leicester Son as when time was the Marquis of Winchester had been to be rid of the * Duke of Northumberland Camden Father This is upon record that Aversata est Regina the Queen could never endure the offer of the Sovereignty of those Provinces Neither was Sir Noel Caron in her time ever acknowledged Embassador but Agent But to joyn issue with them more neerly let us here what Damhouderius Praxis Crimin c. 132. a famous Lawyer and their own Countryman saith Seditiosi sunt qui moliuntur conspirationem c. Seditious persons saith he are such as hatch or foment Conspiracies against the Governors and Lievtenants of the Provinces that procure unlawful meetings or assemblies of the people or cause any Tumults in the Towns What is this but an Endictment drawn against the States considering their practises not onely against the Person of D' Alva but of Don John himself the Duke of Parma c. their many and tumultuous meetings at Breda Osterweal Saint Trudens their encouraging yea incensing the Genses throughout all the Provinces lastly with their defence and holding of Harlem Alemar Leyden and other places by force of Arms Again Chap. 82. he teacheth that to make a War just there must be first a just cause Second honest intention Third Authority of the Prince or Supream Magistrate Sine quâ without which saith he 't is Treason to make War That same Sine quâ of his might make the States tremble if they reflect upon it For in all their Wars they neither had good cause nor good colour Their Religion and Liberties were all secured to them by the pacification at Gaunt by the perpetual Edict by the Articles of the Treaty of Colen which were all quietly enjoyed without disturbance by such of the Provinces as would conform to them Their Sovereign was known to be His Catholike Majestie and for their good intention as no man could judge of it but by their actions so it appeared cleerly to be onely to sow dissention among the people and through factions and discord to arm them by degrees against the supream Magistrate under colour of Religion And the Prince of Orange most disloyal of all other because being a person of Honor and so highly entrusted by the King he betrayed that great trust reposed in him and made a War by his own Authority and that of his faction against the King Although he had neither Office nor any kinde of Command in the Low-Countries but what he had under the Wings of the Eagle and the Authority of the Lyon All his Belgick Lands he held in Fee of the Duke of Burgundy as his Leige-Lord he did Homage and Fealty for them and knew that a Sovereign gives Law as well as offices to his Subjects Besides Claudius le Brun Process Crimin another famous Lawyer addeth this viz. That whosoever surprizeth Towns Castles Forts without order of his Sovereign as the Prince caused Lumay to do in Holland and as Voorst and Barland did Flushing by which the peace of the Country is broken or who attempteth against the life of his Sovereigns Lievtenant it is Treason And these are judgements which all Europe do consent in decrees of reason and principles of Government which must not be called in question if the States of Holland themselves do permitt them to be disputed they must never expect Peace Order or any setled obedience in their Country So that by Law 't is cleer in what case the States do stand for thus breaking the peace of Christendom in those times and being cause of the effusion of so much Christian blood as hath been shed in that quarrel Now concerning any liberty which the Gospel Holy Scriptures or any principles of true Religion may be supposed to give them to use such proceedings against the Sovereign Prince I shall not enter into any Theological dispute with them as being beside my purpose which is onely to shew matter of opinion and matter of Fact in this controversie of obedience due to the Supream Civil Magistrate And therefore because I write onely to English men I shall content my self onely with the judgement of Doctor Bilson against them He was a great Divine and a great Prelate of the Church of England and chosen on purpose to write on this Argument by the greatest Statesman of that time and he wrote cum privilegio of the State and with the general approbation of the English Church Shall a King Christian Subject c. saith he be deposed if he break his promise and Oath at Coronation in any of the Covenants and Points which he promiseth He answers in the Margin No. The breach of Covenants is not deprivation and gives this reason
what spirit reigned in them when they were in a storm or that the State seemed to frown upon them you will finde them much differing from themselves and that they were not always such peaceable men and so calmly spirited towards Authority as now they seem For if Master Fox doth Register his Martyrs aright and that Wicliff and his followers were Protestants as Protestants will have them to be there is cause of exception against them not a little For first their opinion was That no Magistrate in the state of sin had any Authority Which Position alone openeth as wide a gap to Rebellion and Resistance against the Civil Magistrate as Hell it self can desire And that we do not bely them herein Comment in Arist Politic Melancthon himself confesseth Wicleff saith he was the cause of much tumult and trouble in England Qui contendit eos qui non habent Spiritum sanctum amittere Dominium c. Holding that such persons as have not the Holy Spirit dwelling in them or are not in state of Grace do loose all Dominion and Authority De Jure Magist And elswhere Wicleff saith he was so mad as to hold That wicked persons are uncapable of Dominion Cent. 9. Osiander witnesseth the same And therefore though the same Master Fox calleth him Stellam matutinam in medio nebulae The Morning Star in the midst of a Fog and the Full Moon of those times yet surely the mans judgement in this point was it self much befogged and the Moon of his understanding suffered a great Eclipse Secondly It can as little be denied but that in pursuance of this Doctrine and for defence of his person and some other Heterodox opinions which Wicleff taught Sir John Oldcasâ—le alias Lord Cobham Sir Roger Acton and other his followers Stow. levied an Army of Five and twenty thousand men with intention as our own Chronicles relate to suppress the Monasteries of Westminster Pauls St. Albans and to destroy all the Frieries in and about London Which they had also effected but that it hapned the religious and valiant Prince Henry the Fift was at that time in the state of Grace and exercised his Royal Authorâ—ty so happily upon them in Saint Giles his Fields where their Rendevouz was that they were all either killed or scattered and about Seven and thirty of the principal of them executed Sir John Oldcastle and Acton fled but were afterward both of them apprehended and attainted of High Treason for which and for Heresie they suffered according to their merits Master Fox laboreth much to excuse or extenuate these things but to no purpose they being so palpably and undeniably true That our English Chroniclers themselves Stow. Harpsfield Histor Wicliff and other worthy Authors of our Country do expresly avouch them And certain it is that in the first year of Henry the Fifth Schedules were set on Pauls Church door boasting seditiously of no less numbers then One hundred thousand men ready to rise against such as were enemies to their Sect. Sir John Oldcastle being first committed to the Tower for certain points of opinion concerning the Sacraments which the Synod of London had condemned brake out from thence and was harbored by one Bennet who for that fact and for dispersing Seditious Libels against the King was himself executed And Sir John Oldcastle being the second time apprehended was indicted in open Parliament as an enemy to the State but answered most contemptuously and according to the Principles of his Sect That it was a trifle to him to be judged by them and that he had no judge among them c. At his death he spake more like a mad man then otherwise desiring Sir Thomas Arpingham that in case he saw him rise again within three days he would be good to those of his Sect. Yet as it commonly happens that Preachers of Novelty and Sedition do seldom want some Princes or other of the Temporalty and great Personages to countenance them so was it here Wicliff beside some few of both the Universities Oxford especially whom his Doctrines had caught and corrupted found no mean Friends and Patrons even at Court John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster openly favored him so did Sir Henry Peircy Marshal of England insomuch that Wicliff being upon a time summoned to appear before the Bishop of London both those Personages the Duke and Marshal with divers others of the Court bore him company to Pauls on purpose to discountenance the Bishop and to animate Wicleff and his followers in their courses It is confessed the Duke and Wicleff had several ends The first aimed to destroy the Liberties of the Church and the Charter of London both which he found to be great blocks and obstacles in the way of his ambitious designs the other simply to satisfie an envious Malignant humor which possessed him against the Clergy desiring if he could to make himself famous by their infamy But it is observable the designs both of the one and of the other failed them For Wicleff as great a Protestant as they would have him died a simple Parish-Priest at Lutterworth in Leicestershire Doctor Harpsfields History where he said Mass to his death and was never able to obtain the preferment which he desired And John of Gaunt lived to be accused publikely of many evil practises prejudicial to Religion and to the Nation and in particular of aspiring to the Crown but his cheif Accuser viz. John Latimor an Irish Frier was through the power of the Duke committed to the custody of Sir John Holland as they pretended in order to his Tryal Howbeit the poor man the very night before he should come to his Answer to prevent further trouble was found strangled in his bed and that as our own Chronicles report by the same Sir John Holland and one Green But to come neerer the present age and consider how obedient and loyal this sort of men shewed themselves in Queen Maries times A time of Tryal you will say to some of them True but therefore most likely to discover their true Genius and Spirit Now it is manifest That in the short space of Her Reign which was not much above five years she had more open Rebellions and Insurrections made against her from such of her Subjects as were not well affected unto her Religion then Queen Elizabeth had from Catholikes in full Forty and five How plain and sincere her Government was how far from tricks and such strains of policy or rather iniquity as were afterward used is manifest to all the world How great a Justicer was She It will be said Somewhat too severe and it may be as truly answered That severity was necessary not onely by the judgement of Parliament which a little before had Enacted those Laws upon which she proceeded and before which she acted nothing in that kinde But also in respect of her own safety and of the State against both which that sort of men