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
pag. 76. prime Leaders as he styles them of the Reformation Luther Calvin Zuinglius Bezâ— c. have in express terms held that Princes might be Depos'd upon the account of Religion But he has not quoted any of their Books to direct us where this scandalous Tenet which he fixes upon them might be found but leaves us to hunt after it at large among the Voluminous Writings of those Authors I do not therefore think my self oblig'd to take any more notice of this Slander of his than if he had never vented it What does he expect to be believ'd upon his bare word sic notus Ulvxes Does he think we know them no better than to trust them But we will not use all the Advantages that we have against so bad a Cause and so weak an Adversary Let us suppose then for once that Luther Calvin and as many more as he has a mind to take into his c. have held That Princes may be depos'd upon the Account of Religion By what new Logick can he make this pertinent to the present Discourse Does he think it the same thing to hold indefinitely That Princes may be depos'd upon the Account of Religion and to hold That the Church has a Right to depose them upon that account to hold that they may be depos'd by an Authority Civil and to hold that they may be depos'd by an Authority Ecclesiastical Let him now speak his Conscience without a Dispensation Does he in good earnest think these two Propositions equivalent or at least equivalent as to the point in controversie between him and the Bishop of Lincoln and that they equally disgrace the profess'd Religion of him who affirms them He cannot fare be so void of the ordinary reason of a Man though he has swallow'd down never so many Roman Catholick Doctrines as not to perceive as palpable difference between them 'T is not but that the former of these Position is a very bad Principle dangerous to Princes and destructive to the Peace and Settlement of a Nation though not so much as the later because it wants the Enforcements of Conscience and Religion to fix it in the Mind and thrust it out upon occasion into Action with that violence which usually accompanies a pretended Zeal for the Honour of God But how bad soever it may be still 't is a Civil not a Religious Principle and though it may be Sedition in the highest degree it can never be Heresie a mans Life and Estate who maintains it is answerable for it not his Religion To make this a little clearer I say 'T is one thing to hold that Princes may be depos'd by the State though upon the account of Religion i. e for being of a Religion different from the establish'd grounding this Opinion upon the Laws and Customs of some particular Civil Constitutions or upon the ends of Government in general and quite another thing to hold that they may be depos'd by the Church grounding this Opinion upon the Laws of Religion and a Power suppos'd to be delegated to her by Christ This last is the Principle we charge and the Bishop of Lincoln has prov'd upon the Church of Rome which makes her Religion it self dangerous to Princes On the other side though Luther Calvin or any other Protestant Divines should hold the first though it be a false and a bad yet as I said before 't is a Civil Principle and their holding it could no more reflect on the Protestant Religion than an Error they might be guilty of in History or Mathematicks The Protestant Religion therefore remains clear from any suspicion of allowing the Doctrine of Deposing Princes the point I undertook to make good though it should be granted the Compendionist that Luther and Calvin c. have had ill Principles in relation to Civil Governments If he could prove indeed that Luther and Calvin or any other Protestant Divines have held The Lawfulness of Deposing Princes as a Principle of their Religion and plac'd the power of doing it in the Church he would say something that were to the purpose and parallel to what we accuse the Church of Rome of but in the Method he has taken he does but beat the Air and fight with Shadows I shall explain this Distinction a little further by some famous Examples in order to meet with the other Cavils of this idle Wrangler and make the Inconsequence of his Arguings if it be possible yet more apparent He may remember then that here in England Edward II. and Richard II. were actually depos'd in times of Popery and by Papists yet did our Writers never charge the Church of Rome though she held then the same Doctrines and had the same pride to trample on Princes that now she has with those two disloyal and unjust Usurpations upon the Sovereignty of the Kings of England And for what imaginable reason but this onely viz. because they were both Acts of the Civil Power and carried on by mon who grounded what they did upon Principles though grosly false and mistaken drawn from the Constitution of the English Government and the Rights of the two Houses of Parliament and the Church of Rome contrary to her Custom upon such occasions was onely a bare Spectator neither her Authority nor her Principles being made use of to further or justifie those Proceedings I would now ask this Collector of Impertinencies this tedious Compendionist whether he thinks this a good reason to clear the Church of Rome from being concern'd in the deposing these two unfortunate Princes If he says 't is as no doubt he will with what face can he pretend to charge the Church of England as he would be understood to do pag 76. lin 38. with the Endeavours that were us'd to keep Queen Mary from the Crown the Death of the Queen of Scots and the Bâ—ll of the late House of Commons against the Duke of York's Successiâ—n since the Cases are directly parallell I mean parallell in all that concerns the present question Were they not every one of them Acts of the Civil Power and carried on by men who grounded what they did on Civil not Religious Principles Was not the setting up of the Lady Jane Grey and the raising an Army to oppose Queen Mary an Act of the Privy Council in pursuance of King Edward's Will and a Law made in the Reign of Henry VIII for the illegitimating of this Princess as the Lords of the Council themselves declare in their Answer to her Letter writ from * Baker's Chron. â—ramingham Castle Was not the Death of the Queen of Scots most notoriously an Act of the State justified by the Laws of the Land Was she not indicted for Treason and known to pretend a better Title to the Crown than Queen Elizabeth Lastly was not the Bill against the Duke of York grounded on a suppos'd Legal Power in the King and the two Houses to alter the course of the Succession when they think
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
Beast and so buried in the midst of his triumph and victory This Man lookt for a certain death and expected nothing but unknown and most cruel torments and did not doubt before but that he should want a Grave to rest within But there be many other things wherein these two Instances can suffer no comparison The famous History of the holy Woman Judith is sufficiently known who determined with her self God no doubt immediately moving her to it that the might deliver the City and the People of God to Kill … phernes the General and Chief Commander of the Enemies 〈◊〉 which she most effect … y accomplished Wherein although appear many and most manifest signs of Heavenly Direction yet far greater Arguments of God's Providence are to be seen in killing of this King and the delivering of the City of Paris far more difficult and harder to be brought to pass than was the Enterprise of Judith For this holy Woman discovered her intention to some of the Governours of the City and passed through in sight and presence of the Elders and Princes of that place and by that means was not subject unto their examination and searching which is always us'd so strictly in time of Siege and War that a Fly can hardly without examination escape them She being come to the Enemy through whose Company and Watches she was to go and oftentimes searched and examined being a Woman and carrying no Letters nor Weapons about her from whence any Suspicion might arise and withall yielding Reasons for her coming thither and abandoning her Relations was easily discharged and not onely upon the forementioned causes but also for her Sex and exquisite Beauty being brought before this lewd and unchast Prince she might perform that which she had determined before This is Judith's Case But this Religious Man undertook and perform'd a matter of greater weight encompassed with so many Impediments Difficulties and Dangers that no Subtilty of Man no humane policy nor any worldly wisdom but onely the clear and visible Providence of God and his special Aid could bring it to pass First Letters Commendatory were to be procured of the contrary party then was he constrained to go through that Gate of the City that led to the Enemy's Camp the which without doubt was so narrowly kept and watched in the Extremity of that Siege that every trifle bred suspicion and none were suffered to go forth without narrow searching before touching their Letters Messages Business and Affairs they â—ad But he a wonderful thing passed through the Watch unexamined yea with Letters Credential unto the Enemy which if they had been intercepted by the Citizens without any delay and further tryal he should have been executed presently And therefore this is a manifest Argument of Gods Providence But this is a far greater Miracle that he without searching went also through the Enemies Camp by divers Watches and Centinels and which is more through the King's Guard du Corps and finally through the whole Army which was made up mostly of Hereticks he being a Religious Man and clad in the Habit of his Order which was so odious a Garb to those men that they either killed or severely treated all those Friers whom they found in those places which not long before they had taken about Paris Judith was a Woman and nothing odious yet examined often she carried nothing that might have turned to her danger and destruction This man a Frier and therefore hated and most suspected having also a Knife prepared for that purpose not in a Scabbard which might have made his Excuse probable but naked and concealed in his Sleeve which if it had been found about him he would questionless have been put to death Immediately All these are such clear Arguments of the particular Providence of God that they cannot be denied neither could it otherwise be but that God blinded the Eyes of the Enemy that they could not see nor know him For as we have said before although some do absurdly ascribe this unto Fortune or Chance yet none can refer the whole matter to no other cause but the will and holy purpose of God And indeed I could not believe this to have been done otherwise unless I should captive or submit my Understanding to the Obedience of Christ who determined by these miraculous means to deliver and set at liberty the City of Paris which as we have heard was in great danger and extremity and to punish the notorious sins of that King and to deprive him of this Life by such an unhappy and infamous kind of Death and we truly not without great inward grief have oft-times foretold that as he was the last of his Name and Family so was he like to have and make some strange and shameful end of his Life And that I have several times said this thing not onely the Cardinals Jâ—iosa Lenocortius and … siensis but also the Orator at that time here resident can sufficiently testifie For we mean not to call the dead to attest our words but the living some whereof at this very present do yet well remember them But whatsoever we have been forc'd to speak against this unfortunate King we would by no means have it thought to be intended against the noble Realm of France which we shall emâ—race and foster hereafter as we have hitherto always done with all Fatherly Love Honour and Affection This therefore which we with grief have spoken concerns the King's Person onely whose unhappy and unlucky End deprives him also of those Honourable Offices and Respects which this Holy Seat the tender Mother of all Faithful but especially of Christian Princes is wont to pay to Emperours and Kings which we most willingly would likewise have bestowed on him if the Holy Scriptures in this case had not altogether forbidden it There is saith S. John a sin unto death I say not that any should pray for it which may be understood either of the Sin it self as if he should say for that Sin or for the remission of that Sin I will that none should pray because it is not pardonable Or else which comes to the same sence for that Man who committeth such a Sin unto death I say not that any should pray for Of which Sin our Saviour himself has spoken in S. Matthew saying That he that sinneth against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come where he setteth down three sorts or kinds of Sins to wit against the Father against the Son and against the Holy Ghost and that the two first are less heinous and pardonable but that the third is altogether unpardonable All which difference proceedeth from the distinction of the Attributes as the Schools teach us out of the holy Scriptures which severally are appropriated to every several Person of the holy Trinity For although as the Essence of all the three Persons is but one so also is their Power