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
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
their Religion Is not his Lordships meaning says * Compend pag. 77. he in truth this that Protestant Principles when really believ'd are destructive to all Kings especially to Catholick ones since we see that the lawful Monarchs of England Scotland Swedeland Denmark the United Provinces Transylvania Geneva c. have been actually depos'd by their Protestant Subjects This c. here I guess to be a Lie of the lowest price in their Book of Rates for Sin 't is so pitiful and inconsiderable a Trick He puts it down as if there were a vast and tiresom number of Countries behind which in kindness to his Reader he forbears to mention where Princes have been depos'd by Protestants when he know in his Conscience be could scarce have named one more if it had been to gain the Popedom if he could I doubt not but we should have had it at full length Well but in those Countries he has nam'd Princes it seems have been actually depos'd by their Protestant Subjects And what then Does it therefore follow that the Protestant Religion teaches the Doctrine of Deposing Kings Or may it not indeed teach the quite contrary for all that Did this wretched Trifler never hear of men who have acted contrary to the Principles of their Religion Where has he liv'd In a Convent without doubt among the most Seraphick Saints of his Church * Dr. Stilling fleet 's Phanaticism of the Church of Rome pag. 276. I me an those mad Phanaticks of the Sect of Abbot Joachim who according to their new Evangelium Aeternum have been in a state of perfection ever since the Year 1260. I wonder when his hand was in and while he was industriously stuffing out his thin Discourse with big and sounding words he did not bring all the Protestant Criminals and other ill men who have been any way famous since the Reformation upon the stage and then charge the Protestant Religion with Felony and Murder and Treason and Adultery and Perjury and what not The Consequence had been altogether as good and the Triumph as just We do not reason at this loose and absurd rate when we accuse the Church of Rome of Principles which justifie the Deposing and Murdering of Princes and the Massacring of millions of innocent people whom with a ridiculous affectation she terms Hereticks But we first prove her as my Lord Bishop of Lincoln has unanswerably done to have such Principles and this not onely from the Books of her most eminent Writers upon those Testimony we always lay the least weight allow'd and commended by her self but from that Law which is the Rule of Justice in her Ecclesiastical Courts from the Authentick Bulls and Decretals of her Popes And lastly which is the greatest Evidence that is possible in the case from the Canons of her General Councils Then we urge matters of fact conformable to them to shew that they are not things of bare speculation and despute among Casuists and Schoolmen but such necessary Rules for the support of her Hierarchy as have been frequently put in practice to the great scandal of the Christian Profession To come to particulars We should not lay to her Charge the Murders of Henry III. and Henry IV. of France because they were committed by Members of her Communion if besides the publick Applause of the one by the then Pope in a set Speech to the College of Cardinals we had not first convinc'd her of holding such Principles as justifie both We should not accuse her of the several Conspiracies of Papists here in England against the Lives of Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles I. and His present Majesty if besides the proving upon her the before mention'd Principles she had not actually and formally as for as it lay in her power Excommunicated and Depos'd them all and Absolv'd their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance We should not accuse her of the Massacres of Paris and Piedmont because her Sons were there the Brethren in iniquity the Sons of Violence that acted unprovok'd those dismal Slaughters if as an additional proof of her holding the foremention'd Principles she had not (a) Thuanus Hist l. 53. p. 837. commended the one giving thanks to God for it and (b) History of the Waldenses commanded the other Lastly we should not place to her account the late Rebellion of Ireland and all those Murders which were the Consequences of it because the Rebels were Papists if besides that the (c) History of the Irish Rebellion in Folio printed 1680. Pope's Nuncio was known to be the chief Guide and Romish Priests the chief Contrivers and Fomenters of that desperate and bloudy Revolt it were not most notorious that she has always ready an Armory of execrable Principles suited to such occasions to satisfie the Consciences and encourage the Madness of her Jewish Zelots This I am confident all impartial men will judge fair Dealing and just Discourse and far different from the Method of the Compendionist the Reader may see we ground not our Charge of Popery upon the bare Actions of Papists but having found this degenerate Church teaching the most disloyal and inhumane Doctrines and then observing her Followers in several famous Instances to be guilty of Facts which directly answer to then We think we have reason to conclude the one to be the cause of the other and that many Papists had not been so bad men if their very Religion had not debauch'd them May we not now justly turn the Compendionist's own words of foolish Triumph upon himself and his Party * Compend pag. 77. What Parity is there between us and our Adversaries either in our Actions or Books of this nature Though the Actions of many Protestants have been too had to be justifi'd yet did they never go to the Church for Sanctuary Though Protestants have been Deposers and Murderers of Princes there are Rogues of all Persuasions yet had they never any Encouragement from their Religion so to do nor did any of them ever so much as pretend it except such Bedlam Phanaticks as Fifth Monarchy Men a Venner or a John of â—eyden and these are properly speaking as far from being right Protestants as Papists are from being right Christians But can he show us where the Protestant Religion allows the Deposing or Murdering of Princes or gives the least intimation of such a Power in the Church Can he shew it us where onely it ought to be look'd after viz. in the Confessions of our Faith or in the Articles of our Communion Or lastly can he shew it us in the Writings of any considerable Protestant Divines though their private Opinions unlicenc'd and unauthoriz'd by the Church of which they are Members cannot properly be a Charge against the Protestant Religion but because we will give him more than he can justly ask in this Controversie I say can he shew it us even bare I know indeed he does affirm That the * Compend