Andrew Dudithius Bishop of five Churches as learned as any in that Council says to Maximilian the Second Emperour That In Epist ad Imp. needy and hungry Bishops came to Trent youths for the most part without Beards given to Riot and Luxury hired only to give their voices as the Pope pleased that the Council did not seem to consist of Bishops but of disguised Maskers not of Men but of Images such as Daedalus made that moved by Nerves which were none of their own Hireling Bishops who as Country Bag-pipes could not speak but as breath was put into them This is the Council the Papalins do so magnifie who flourish with Fathers and Councils and like Puddle-water reflect all the glories of the firmament when they may be fathom'd with a finger But Sir said I the designs of this are as deep as Hell and come from the very bottomless pit They doe so replyed the French man almost drown'd in tears Oh my poor Country which these transubstantiated Devils incarnate have almost ruin'd the Alps are not whiter with Snow than the Vallies are red with Blood What Bloodshed Massacres and irreconcilable Enmities did this Holy Synod procure us by the Holy League which these Holy Fathers contrived What alterations in Council did the Death of the Duke of Guise occasion when the Scheme of their Villanies was broken how easie is it from your History to trace the Causes of all the Civil Wars of France the liberty of the Gallican Church and the Supremacy of the French King were things that troubled the Court of Rome more than the Protestants the Persecution of which was only a Stale and to facilitate their grand design which was to destroy the Royal Family to consume the Nobility to divide the Commonalty so that the Pope might take what remained into his Fatherly Protection Do not you think Sir said he very earnestly that the Speech of de Ferrieres stuck in their Gizards and that particular clause That the Authority of the French King was not founded upon the Pragmatique or Concordates and Privileges given by Popes but upon the Law of Nature Hist Con. Trid. 723. Holy Scriptures Ancient Councils and the Law of Christian Emperours And how was his Holiness moved with the French Protestation for Abrogation of Proponentibus Legatis Did not the Fathers find great fault with the Government of France and how do they mention several things included in the very words of the Holy League what a mystick saying was that of the Pope's to Cardinal Lorain the great Agent in that Rebellion about Reforming France and how oft would he say That the Greatness of that Cardinal was profitable to the ends he had in aiming at some matters of great moment that he must shut up the Council provide Money and afterwards said he that shall happen which shall please God We have heard since Sir said I by Dr. Durel your Country-man that all the methods of that Villany were lay'd at Rome which several Papers have discovered Hold you there Sir said he think you that the Jesuits are such fools as to confess upon such pitifull dumb Evidences as Papers and Writings they that would swear the World out of their senses that can swallow Oaths without fear of splitting and fancy them only a composition of words got together by chance Think you that they fear kissing the out-side of that Book when they have denied the Truths contained in it or value the testimony of any Writings that debase the Authority of Scriptures Alas they are Scepticks as to every thing that shall hinder their designs and that Rule which our Saviour gives in the doing Charity they mis-apply to Actions of Sedition and Treason Let not their left hand know what their right hand does Do you think they believe that there was a Letter ever delivered to Monteagle No they deny all the Powder-Treason and are ready to swear that the Gun-powder was conveighed into the Cellar by those who went to search it I wonder they have not found out that Faux only walk't in his sleep and so 't was all a dream As for the people of France they have reason enough to have their eyes opened and to see and know what a glorious Reformation the Moulinists who are lineally descended from the Trent Fathers may in time produce both Princes and People have reason enough to take warning the same Principles are always qualified for the same Practices and although every Rebellion differs from others because of the change of Persons and Circumstances yet they commonly run Parallel in many material things and occurrences Alas the growing greatness of the King of France is so little an argument of his Posterities security that 't will ruine them he is but the Jesuits Cormorant to catch the Fish which they will eat and when ever they get the Popedom they will soon discover what an insignificant thing it is to be an universal footstool and how easily they will trample upon Monarchy for to the singular advantages they have above any Pope that ever lived they will have this extraordinary one of perpetuating the Popedom in their order therefore 't is that they magnifie and extoll the Council of Trent whose Canons of Doctrine and Discipline whose Decrees of Reformation do so directly tend to this great end and well they may boast of it for I think there never was the like in the world Yes verily by your discourse Sir said I you have rubbed up my memory that I have found out a renowned Gang of Theologues that look as if they were spit out of their mouths and who should these Gentlemen be but the Assembly of Divines sitting at Westminster in the late Rebellion Now although in their Preface to the Annotations upon the Scriptures they call it the Pseudo-Synod of Trent yet I will prove that there were better Protestants in Trent at that time and some more against the essential Points of Popery than this very Assembly of Divines and certainly such they were who declared against the impious and unchristian Stratagems of the Court of Rome from whom this Assembly seems to Copy all their Transactions Let the Devil take it ill if he pleases that I show to the world how pitifully he is put to his Politicks to keep up the custom and credit of Rebellion by vamping up old projects and playing an old game over again with new shapes of Hypocrisie I cannot help it the truth must out and there is nothing certainer than that as the Council of Trent was composed of men either very ignorant or prevailed upon by threats Vid. His Con. Trid. and fears or bigots to the Interests of the Court of Rome So the Assembly of Divines whom the two Houses applyed in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 183. an unwonted way to advise of Church affairs were not legally convened or chosen nor did they act in the name of all the Clergy of England nor with freedom and
Greg. Epist lib. 6. cap. 3. know it he detested it as a Symptome of Antichrist and Phocas who bestowed it upon Pope Boniface did not doe it untill he had an occasion to bestow his Master the Emperour Mauritius in the other World But now said he you may plainly see it with your Eyes look you there there is the Globe of the whole Earth of which the Pope is the Lord and Governour 't is true you Hereticks wander in some little bye Places as in England and in some petty Hans-Towns of Germany but his Authority is extended over all the World all the Indies acknowledge him all Italy France Spain Poland Hungaria Transylvania Gallicia Valentia Granada Andalusia Hold Hold Sir cryed he if you should stumble o'er the Straits Mouth you will beat out your Brains against Hercules's Pillars Pray let us examine this Monster 's Noddle what a grievous bruise has Martin Luther given him with his High Dutch Knuckles he has broken I do not know how many Degrees of Longitude and Latitude all Great Britain is quite beat out and the Low-Countries are so sunck in that I believe he must be trepan'd before he can recover in short the Protestants are almost as numerous as the Papists But suppose we grant him that thumping Appellation why did Pope Paul the 5th in his Bull wherein he excommunicated Queen Elizabeth use that sneaking Title of Servant of Servants your Triple Servant He should have sent a good deep-mouth'd Nuncio that should have stretch'd his Muzzle to the uttermost and have roar'd like a crack of Thunder among the Alpes and have cryed Paolo quinto Papa Monarcha di Regno di Vaticano Segnor del mondo supremo santissimo Vmano magistrato c. This would have conjur'd down all the Protestants and have put them into such a trembling Fit that they would have shak'd all their Heresie out of the Knees of their Breeches this would have better suited him who is the most serene and invincible Sultan of Contradictions the Grand-Seignior of all Mental Reservations and Equivocations the Sophi of Legends and Romances the Great Mogul of Indulgences the Czar of Holy Impostures and Pious Cheats the Great Cham of the Inquisition c. Hold Sir cryed one of the Papists this is Railery and Abuse 't is as true replyed he as that the Pope is Vniversal Bishop let him but keep within his own Diocese and not meddle any more with the Rights of Sovereign Kings and Princes and there is no body that I know of will be so ready to complement him from the Artick to the Antartick Pole for the Future But we hope cryed several of them you will allow our Church to be the Catholick Church For this word Catholick there has been much scrambling these many Years replyed he and you have taken much pains to monopolize it to your See of Rome in order to which for the great number of humane Hereticks whom you excommunicate you take all manner of Beasts Fowles and Fishes into the Pale of your Church St. Francis first converted the Birds and then afterwards he fully convinc'd and satisfied a Wolf that had a very tender Conscience nor was he the onely Apostle to the Brutes but the Bishop Book of Conf. p. 114. of Canaglion managed as difficult a Diocess in the Year 1593 for he Catholickly accused the Fishes so that afterwards they without all doubt believed the Doctrine of Holy Water St. Bernard in a Fit of Popery is reported by * Pet. de Nat. in vit Bern. Petrus de Natalibus to have excommunicated the Flies and therefore several Species of Creatures observing that all Regular Orders had put themseves under the Protection of some considerable Saints have likewise listed themselves the Dogs under St. Hubert a Huntsman the Horses under St. Loys their Ostler-General and because the Geese once preserved the Capitol there was an Order from the Vatican that St. Feriol should take care of them And so said he I hope we are all satisfied as to the Vniversality of the Romish Church pray set forth the Antiquity of it Upon this all the Papists desired that they might save that Argument untill the last fancying that it gathered strength every Moment and desired the Assembly to take into their consideration the Vnity of their Church and the Supremacy of the Pope as for the Protestants cryed one of them they are divided into as many Factions as there are days in the Year and make an Anarchy of the Kingdom of Grace but the Roman Catholicks are all united under one Head the Pope so making the true Hierarchy of the Holy Catholick Church Upon this one of the Church of England stood up and said as for our Church it has no more to doe or answer for the Factions among Protestants than yours nor so much neither when did ever any Minister of the Church of England preach the Doctrines of Fanaticks to promote its Interest when did any of them ever preach that which in their Consciences they knew to be a Lye for the sake of the Truth and if you look into your own you will find those Divisions which never were in our Church as the differences betwixt the Dominicans and Franciscans betwixt the Jansinists and Mollinists which have been continued with the greatest heats imaginable 't is true the Pope hath sometimes interposed his Authority but to no great purpose but where was the Papal Authority in the days of the Anti-Popes or what will become of it if the Jesuits gain their designs will all other Orders acknowledge the Papal Authority if the Jesuits confine it to their own the Church of England can never be subject to such a Fatal Division so long as the King of England is acknowledged to be in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Supreme Governour As for the Pope's Supremacy that has been so sufficiently pelted with good Greek and Latin by many of these Learned Authours that I will onely humbly drop a few Queries concerning it at this time First then We desire to know Whether our Saviour ever granted it to St. Peter Secondly Whether the present Pope be his Successour Thirdly Suppose it was granted to St. Peter Whether there was any need of forging the Donation of Constantine afterwards Fourthly If it was granted to St. Peter because he first confess'd him to be Christ the Son of the living God Whether Pope Leo the 10th had any right to it for saying to Cardinal Bembo * Crispinus Quantum nobis nostrique ea de Christo fabula prosuerit satis est omnibus secuâ— notum Fifthly we desire to know whether any Bishoprick in Christendom remaining can shew a Succession so disordered and corrupted as that of Rome Not to mention their strange Schisms let any Person but consider the Stratagems and impious Intrigues of the Conclave the Factions of the Nepotism contrary to that Solemn Oath they take enough to make Angels tremble and he will conclude
King Edward the Sixth to remove all those devices by which the Popish Clergy had enslaved the Nation and that it might be parallel with the Primitive Doctrine of the Church it suffered a short but violent Persecution under Q. Mary untill her Death set Q. Elizabeth upon the Throne and restored the Reformation to its fullest perfection Never were Church and State more happy whose united Interests seem'd founded upon a Rock never to be separated or removed The first years of her Reign promised a Succession of Halcyon Ages and the Kingdom look't like the World new born from the darksome Womb of the Chaos calm Glories o'respread the happy Isles whose Lands resembled the Virgin Spring after the deluge and successes Crown'd the Seas The Excellency of Paradise were given to the Vallies and the Beauty of Lebanon to the Mountains the Wildernesses blossom'd like a Rose and Gleams of Joy warm'd the Northern World But oh cry'd he at this he seem'd melted into tears the frailty of all immoderate Excellency This Mother Church soon found a generation of Vipers in her own Bowels This Reformation which was advanced by such wise Methods was at once utterly confounded by as strange ones as ever astonish't the World we find in the Chronology of Helvicus Fanaticks of Renown Contemporary with Luther the Devil thought it was time to bestir him when he saw the Intrigues of his Kingdom of Darkness in such manifest danger of discovery and therefore sent his Enthusiastical Agents whose rebellious projects and loud blasphemies were more serviceable to him than the Pope's Nuncio's King Henry the 8th himself in his Preface to the Book of Articles observes That as Superstition and Prophaneness were purged away so a spirit of presumption dissention and carnal liberty were breaking in The German heats and violences bred a Pestilential Sect of Anabaptists in the very Infancy of the Reformation and what in respect of us was more unhappy than the Marian Persecution those who fled to Foreign Plantations of the Gospel brought home with them a Political Discipline utterly inconsistent with the methods of our wise and pious Reformers or with the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom for which they had no Evangelical or Apostolical Precept and although they little foresaw what dismal Schisms such different Schemes of Church-Government would necessarily produce yet they certainly were the first occasions of our Civil Wars and home-bred Factions which has made the Reformation a hissing and scandal to Foreigners who judge of our affairs by the event not knowing the Causes and condemn us in general for the extravagant Villanies which the ambitious Frensies of some particular men have publickly acted Sir I wish it were possible said I that you could appear openly for then those many people who are deluded would be convinc'd of these things you say Hold you there Sir said he that is the way to be called a Malignant Popish Tory Apparition a vagrant Hobgoblin of the Church of England they would swear that I kill'd my self Popishly and crossed my self with my Sword and all true Protestant Conjurers would be binding me to my good behaviour in the bottom of the Red Sea but you can't think Sir how I am troubled that my head should appear for a Sign to a Haberdasher of Sedition upon Ludgate-hill but pray tell the Gentleman who lives there when he is at home that he will never leave till he is lay'd by the heels in order to the having his own exalted upon a Pole untill the Coxcomb looks like a true Protestant Indian Cabbage But as for those people who have such a great fancy for nonsense what sort of Logick will convince them a man must dispute with them with his heels upward but as for a Ghost he will find it a difficult thing to put his face into shapes enough to please them and besides they have forged so many lies about Spirits and Apparitions that they will not believe truths And since they will not believe Moses and the Prophets the Apostles and Evangelists the Fathers and Councils but are utterly against every thing that is Orthodox neither will they be convinc'd though Steven Marshal himself arose from the dead whose last words ought to be more heeded than all his Preaching through the whole course of his life when he so often cry'd out King Charles King Charles and testified so much horrour and regret for the bloody confusions he had promoted nor was he the only man that had those stings of Conscience upon him but I could tell you the name of one of the 104 Godly a great Sequestrator who seem'd a mighty Zealot all along untill he came to dye but then he was not fit to be seen by Malignants because to the astonishment of that party who Reprobate every body else without a Fever or Frensie his Conscience which could digest the bread of so many Orphans and Widows that allowed him to protect the Estates of Papists whilst he plundered the Church under the notion of Popery nay that could dispence with him to rob the good Old Cause it self and keep her Money for her several years now pull'd off her Mask and frighted him as if so many Devils had been about his bed it full sorely convinc'd him but I do not hear that they cared much for his Conscience when it had done getting of money or prove any thing the honester for it Therefore since such serious occasions cannot move them I think it the best way for you to laugh them out of those stubborn and foolish humours which subject the Nation to such real Miseries and deplorable Calamities as it lately felt by a thorow Reformation if you run into such disorders again it will be question'd whether ye be Chronicled for the greater Fools or they for the greater Knaves to prevent which there is variety of means and all lawfull and necessary frowning and laughing are performed by the same sinews and may have both the same ends and I do not reade any one Canon of Scripture against bitter Ingredients in the cure of a desperate disease Go therefore to the Zealous of the Land and tell them who surfeit with Preaching and are sick of the Prayers of the Church who are light-headed with Reformations and want of sleep who would have all the World of their opinions and yet are not of the same mind one hour who pretend to love nothing but God and their Wives that they are desired either to leave off hatching of Disciplines and Governments or multiplying and encreasing for they will certainly doe one of these things either they will people the Nation with Ideots for 't is remarkable that the very genius of this people is much altered since Tobacco and Revelations grew so cheap and there is scarce a Fanatical family of note which has not some one or others of it who have the Cramp very signally upon their Intellectuals or else they will beget a Generation that will breed teeth only to bite
against him and this was a Loyal and Rich Reformation Secondly You turned the most eminent Men for Letters and Honesty out of both Vniversities then filled up their Places with grave Dunces and formal Block-heads and afterwards their whole Revenues had like to have been sold to maintain the Army so that instead of Professours of the several Sciences we should have had a sort of Turkish Timariots who should have held these Lands in Capite of the Rump this was a Learned Reformation Thirdly You were mighty zealous for the Liberty and Property of the Subject insomuch that ye set the People above the King and afterwards an High Court of Justice is mounted above them all taking away the Lives of King Lords and Commons without Law or Reason And if the People may deal thus with their King where he is Supreme why not with all other Supremes whatsoever and consequently by Succession and with success for ought we know why not rise against their Magistrates till the last Resurrection and put them to Death till Death it self shall be swallowed up This was a righteous and peaceable Reformation Fourthly My Friends You declaimed against Popery mightily and yet did whatever the Papists desired or prompted you to doe time will shew that you and your Proselytes were Factours for the Pope and the Devil in every particular of that whole Rebellion all the Aspersions cast upon the King and the Church were of Romish Invention which your Malice knew how to improve the Rebel-Parliament * Parliament's Declaration to the King March 9 1641. entertain'd Advertisements from Rome Venice and Paris of the Pope's Nuncio soliciting France and Spain for 4000 Men a-piece but when came they over And was it not Popish Intelligence which ye greedily catch'd to inflame the People The Irish Rebels bragged that the King would come among them and assist them that they did but maintain his Cause against the Puritans that they had his Commission and those very Scandals you made use of lay'd that Rebellion to his Charge wherein they set up the Pope's Standard in Opposition onely to his Supremacy Cardinal Richlieu fomented all those unhappy Divisions by your means your Solemn League and Covenant proves most Jesuitically Popish The Jesuits had their Spies and Agents in all your Committees and how far they helped you in your Blessed Reformation Dr. * Vindication of the Protestants p. 57. Du Moulin will tell you and although the Person is not known that gave the Fatal Blow yet you brought the King to the Block and he was a Popish Priest and Confessour who then brandish'd his Sword saying Now our greatest Enemy we have in the World is gone And this was your true sober Protestant thorough Reformation Lastly At this they all sneak'd away and the Gentleman taking me by the Hand led me up to the top of an high Hill from whence I might view the Miseries of three Kingdoms raging in an unconquerable War and looking wistly upon the various and innumberable Evils which almost twenty Years Rebellion had brought upon us and wondring with my self when and how these troubles should end I was startled by a Jesuit who flourishing a bloudy Sword in his Hand spake as followeth So the Work 's done those Men are now cut down Which standing did oppose the Triple Crown The silly Hereticks themselves defeat And with their Bloud the Scarlet Whore looks great In Holy Wars the Pope Triumphs alone And as he lost so now regains a Throne Re-conquers now by Reformation THE Fourth VISION OF THE REFORMATION The King's Return The Factions endeavour to bring about their thorough Reformation again The Methods they have used ever since in order to it A Parallel betwixt the Jesuitical Papists and Fanatical Protestants in several new Remarks They Ridiculously inveigh against one another The Church of England vigorously opposes them both A Conference wherein the four main Arguments of the Papists viz. Universality Antiquity Unity and the Pope's Supremacy are exploded A Convocation of Orthodox Divines before whom the Authours of Melius Inquirendum of Julian the Apostate are summoned c. A Prophecy by the famous Ghost of A. A. C. THE Horrour of past Villainies and the endless prospect of future Calamities had so benumb'd my Spirits with drowsie Grief that I fell into a profound Trance for a considerable time untill at length I was awakened with the loud and joyfull Acclamations of vast Multitudes crying God save King Charles the Second At this I look'd and saw a mighty Train of People so splendid and brave as that the very confused Light of infinite Jewels made them resemble a new Milkie-Way in which Charles his Triumphant Wain was then moving Surely said I although I have not taken so long a Nap as the seven Sleepers yet I have snored out more strange Revolutions what gloomy Days were those I first began to nod in What Confusions in Church and State what cruel Animosities what fatal Divisions and what was worst of all Popery big with a whole Ages Revenge like a Polyphemus ready to devour all but now my waking Senses are saluted with the harmonious Triumphs of universal Joy and Concord Very strange indeed replyed my old Guide who carefully attended me and you might still think your self in a Dream were not our present Happiness as real as were our former Miseries I hope Sir said I they will be as lasting I wish so too said he but do not you see what soure Faces yonder grim Fellows make those cloudy Looks still threaten many a Storm to this Nation At this I saw a great number who seem'd somewhat discontented and were earnestly whispering and talking to one another and as soon as I came up to them I found among them several Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers and some Papists who let fall some mystical words which discovered a great deal of secret dissatisfaction but for what I could not tell for the briskest Cavaliers in the Kingdom did not seem more active in solemnizing his Majestie 's happy Restauration than most of them did So that turning to my Friend certainly Sir said I those People are not Breeding of Common-Wealths again so soon after their Delivery I hope they have no democratical Qualms in their Stomachs and have done longing for thorough Reformations for one while I confess said he one would think what you say and besides at the Solemnities of the King's Coronation they hung out as conspicuous Evidences of their Loyalty as any the most Obdurate Malignant for their Garlands were richly loaden with the glittering Confessions of their former Plunder and Sacrilege but their Loyalty was exactly like the Weather at that time very fair for a little Season and very foul both before and after they know how to temporize with present Difficulties in hopes of future Advantages and can be as impudently Loyal as they were boldly Rebellious think they may talk what Treason they please if they do but wipe their