whom under God and the King we owe the Blessing and Prosperity of all our Studies Nor yet can I choose but hope that my Great Obligations to your Grace's Favour may plead my pardon since it is better that my Gratitude should be bold then my diffidence ingratefull but that this is so farre from expressing the least part of them that it layes a greater bond upon me either for a debt of delinquency in presenting it or of thankfulnesse if your Grace may please to pardon it I humbly crave your Grace's Benediction pardon and acceptance of the humblest duty and observance of Your GRACES most observant and obliged CHAPLAINE IER TAYLOR A SERMON PREACHED VPON THE Anniversary of the GUNPOWDER-TREASON LUK. 9. Cap. vers 54. But when Iames and Iohn saw this they said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come from Heaven and consume them even as Elias did I Shall not need to strain much to bring my Text and the day together Here is fire in the text consuming fire like that whose Antevorta we doe this day commemorate This fire called for by the Disciples of Christ so was ours too by Christs Disciples at least and some of them intitled to our Great Master by the compellation of his holy name of IESUS I would say the paralell holds thus farre but that the persons of my Text however Boanerges sonnes of thunder and of a reproveable spirit yet are no way considerable in the proportion of malice with the persons of the day For if I consider the cause that mov'd Iames and Iohn to so inconsiderate a wrath it beares a fair excuse The men of Samaria turn'd their Lord and Master out of doores denying to give a nights lodging to the Lord of Heaven and Earth It would have disturbed an excellent patience to see him whom but iust before they beheld transfigured and in a glorious Epiphany upon the Mount to be so neglected by a company of hated Samaritans as to be forc'd to keep his vigils where nothing but the welkin should have been his roofe not any thing to shelter his precious head from the descending dew of heaven Quis talia fando Temperet It had been the greater wonder if they had not been angry But now if we should levell our progresse by the same line and guesse that in the present affaire there was an equall cause because a greater fire was intended wee shall too much betray the ingenuity of apparent truth and the blessing of this Anniversary They had not halfe such a case for an excuse to a farre greater malice it will prove they had none at all and therefore their malice was somuch the more malicious because causelesse and totally inexcusable However I shall endeavour to joyne their consideration in as 〈◊〉 a paralell as I can which if it be not exact as certainly it cannot where we have already discovered so much difference in degrees of malice yet by laying them together we may better take their estimate though it be only by seeing their disproportion The words as they lay in their own order point out 1. The persons that ask't the question 2. The cause that mov'd them 3. The person to whom they propounded it 4. The Question it selfe 5. And the precedent they urg'd to move a grant drawn from a very fallible Topick a singular Example in a speciall and different case The persons here were Christs Disciples and so they are in our case design'd to us by that glorious Sir-name of Christianity they will be called Catholiques but if our discovery perhaps rise higher and that the See Apostolique prove sometimes guilty of so reproveable a spirit then we are very neer to a paralell of the persons for they were Disciples of Christ Apostles 2. The cause was the denying of toleration of abode upon the grudge of an old schisme Religion was made the instrument That which should have taught the Apostles to be charitable and the Samaritans hospitable was made a pretence to justify the unhospitablenesse of the one and the uncharitablenesse of the other Thus farre we are right for the malice of this present Treason stood upon the same base 3. Although neither Side much doubted of the lawfulnesse of their proceedings yet S. Iames and S. Iohn were so discreet as not to think themselves infallible therefore they ask'd their Lord so did the persons of the day aske the question too but not of Christ for he was not in all their thoughts but yet they ask'd of Christs Delegates who therefore should have given their answer eodem tripode from the same spirit They were the Fathers Confessors who were ask'd 4. The question is of both sides concerning a consumptive sacrifice the destruction of a Towne there of a whole Kingdome here but differing in the circumstance of place whence they would fetch their fire The Apostles would have had it from Heaven but these men's conversation was not there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things from beneath from an artificiall hell but breath'd from the naturall and proper were in all their thoughts 5. The example which is the last particular I feare I must leave quite out and when you have considered all perhaps you will look for no example First of the persons they were Disciples of Christ and Apostles But when Iames and Iohn saw this When first I considered they were Apostles I wondered they should be so intemperatly angry but when I perceived they were so angry I wondred not that they sinned Not the priviledge of an Apostolicall spirit not the nature of Angels not the condition of immortality can guard from the danger of sinne but if we be overrul'd by passion we almost subject our selves to its necessity It was not therefore without reason altogether that the Stoicks affirm'd wisemen to be void of passions for sure I am the inordination of any passion is the first step to folly And although of them as of waters of a muddy residence wee may make good use and quench our thirst if wee doe not trouble them yet upon any ungentle disturbance we drinke down mud in stead of a cleere streame and the issues of sinne and sorrow certaine consequents of temerarious or inordinate anger And therefore when the Apostle had given us leave to be angry as knowing the condition of human nature hee quickly enters a Caveat that we sinne not hee knew sinne was very likely to be hand-maid where Anger did domineer and this was the reason why S. Iames and S. Iohn are the men here pointed at for the Scripture notes them for Boanerges sonnes of thunder men of an angry temper quid mirum est filios tonitrui fulgurâsse voluisse said S. Ambrose But there was more in it then thus Their spirits of themselves hot enough yet met with their education under the Law whose first tradition was in fire and thunder whose precepts were just but not so mercifull and this inflam'd their distemper to the
became 〈◊〉 saying it was sentenc'd to the fire before it had escaped the presse And good reason Nihil enim tale à Patribus societatis didicit Good men they never taught him any such doctrine as is contained in that pestilent book de iuribus principalibus defendendis moderandis iustè Now if this be heresy or like it to preach such a Doctrine then likely it will be judg'd heresy in Princes to doe so that is to hold their crownes without acknowledgment of subordination to S. Peters chaire And if it be not heresy to doe so it is in their account as bad for so the Iesuits in their Veritas defensa against the Action of Arnald the Advocate affirme in terminis that the actions of some Kings of France against the Pope in defence of their Regalties were but examples of rebellion and spots to disgrace the purity of the French Lillies 5. Put case the Pope should chance to mistake in his sentence against a Prince for the cause of heresy yet for all this mistake he can secure any man to take away the Princes life or Kingdome His Lawyers will be his security for this point For although in this case the deposition of the Prince should be and be acknowledged to be against Gods law the Prince being neither Tyrant nor heretick yet his Holinesse commanding it takes away the unlawfulnesse of it by his dispensation So D. Marta and for this doctrine he quotes Hostiensis Felinus Cratus the Abbat the Arch bishop of Florence Ancharanus Iohannes Andreas Laurentius de Pinu and some others Indeed his Divines deny this sed contrarium 〈◊〉 observatur as it 's very well observed by the same Doctor for he brings the practise example of Pope Martin the fifth Iulius the second Celestine the third Alexander the third and Sixtus quintus all which dispensed in cases acknowledged to be expressely against Gods law 6. Lastly How if the Pope should lay a claime to all the Kingdomes of the world as belonging to S. Peters patrimony by right of spirituall preheminence I know no great security we have to the contrary For first It is known he hath claimed the Kingdome of England as feudatary to the See Apostolike Which when I considered I wondred not at that new and insolent title which Mosconius gives his Holinesse of Desensor fidei He might have added the title of Rex Catholicus Christianisstmus For D. Marta in his treatise of Iurisdiction which he dedicated to Paulus quintus hath that for an argumēt why he dedicated his Book to him because for sooth the Pope is the only Monarch of the World But of greater authority is that of Thomas Aquinas affirming the Pope to be the verticall top of all power Ecclesiasticall and Civill So that now it may be true which the Bishop of Patara told the Emperor in behalfe of Pope Sylverius Multos esse Reges sed nullum talem qualis ille qui est Papa super Ecclesiam Mundi totius For these reasons I think it is true enough that the constituting the Pope the judge of Princes in the matter of deposition is of more danger then the thing it selfe The summe is this However schisme or heresy may be pretended yet it is but during the Popes pleasure that Kings or subjects shall remain firme in their mutuall necessitude For if our Prince bee but excommunicate or declar'd heretick then to be a good subject will be accounted no better then irreligion and Anti-Catholicisme If the conclusion be too hard and intolerable then so are the Premises and yet they passe for good Catholike doctrine among themselves But if truly and ex animo they are otherwise affected they should doe well to unsay what hath been said and declare themselves by publique authority against such doctrines And say whether or no their determinations shall be de fide If they be then all those famous Catholique Doctors Thomas Aquinas Bellarmine Creswell Mariana Emanuel Sà c. are heretiques and their Canons teach heresy and Many of their Popes to be condemn'd as hereticall for practising and teaching deposition of Princes by an authority usurp't against and in prejudice of the Christian faith But if their answers be not de fide then they had as good say nothing for the danger is not at all decreased because if there be Doctors on both sides by their own assertion they may without sinne follow either but yet more safely if they follow the most received and the most authorized and whether this rule will lead them I will be judg'd by any man that hath considered the premises Briefly either this thing must remain in the same state it is and our Princes still expos'd to so extream hazards or else let his Holinesse seat himselfe in his chaire condemne these doctrines vow against their future practise limit his ordo ad spiritualia containe himselfe within the limits of causes directly and meerely Ecclesiasticall disclaime all power so much as indirect over Princes temporalls and all this with an intent to oblige all Christendome Which when I see done I shall be most ready to believe that nothing in Popery doth either directly or by a necessary consequence destroy Loyalty to our lawfull Prince but not till then having so much evidence to the contrary Thus much was occasion'd by consideration of the cause of the Disciples Quaere which was when they saw this that their L. and M. for his difference in Religion was turned forth of doores which when they saw They said Lord It was well they ask'd at all and would not too hastily act what they too suddēly had intended but it was better that they ask'd Christ it had been the best warrant they could have had could they have obtain'd but a Magister dixit But this was not likely it was too strange a Question to aske of such a Mr. A Magistre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crudelitatis Nothing could have come more crosse to his disposition His spirit never was addicted to blood unlesse it were to shed his owne Hee was a Prince of peace and set forth to us by all the Symboles of peace and gentlenesse as of a sheepe a lambe a hen a gentle twining vine the healing 〈◊〉 and is it likely that such a one should give his placet to the utter ruine of a company of poore Villagers for denying him a nights lodging moved thereto by the foregoing scandall of a Schisme Hee knew better what it cost to redeem aman and to save his life from destruction then to bee so hasty for his ruine And if the Fathers Confessors who were to answere the Question of the day had but reflected upon this Gospell they might have informed their penitents better then to have engaged them upon such Antichristian and Treasonable practises as to destroy an assembly of Christians as to depose or kill a King It is the proper cognisance of Mahumetanisme by fire and sword to
unjust in the condemnation of him but if they doe they thus proclaim their approbation of these Doctrines he was hanged for for that he had such was under his own hand by his own confession and of it selfe evident as is to be seen in the Arrest of the Parliament against him Lastly more pertinent to the day is the fact of Garnet who because a Iesuit could have done nothing for which he should not have found an Apologist for even for this his last act of high treason he was Apologiz'd for by Bellarmine Gretser Eudamon Johannes Thus farre we have found out persons fit enough to match any malice Boanerges all and more then a pareil for Iames and Iohn but I shall anon discover the disease to be more Epidemicall and the pest of a more Catholike infection and yet if we summe up our accounts we shall already finde the doctrine to be too Catholike For we have already met with Emanuel Sá a Portugall Mariana Ribadineira Spaniards Bonarscius a bas Almain Gretser a German Eudaemon Iohannes a false Greek Guignard Richeome and the Apologists for Chastell Frenchmen Bellarmine and Baronius Italians Garnet and Sanders English The Doctrine you see they would fain make Catholike now if it prove to be but Apostolique too then we have found out an exact parallel for Iames and Iohn great Disciples and Apostles and whether or no the See Apostolique may not sometime be of a fiery and consuming spirit we have so strange examples even in our own home that wee need seek no farther for resolution of the Quare In the Bull of excommunication put forth by Pius quintus against Q. Elizabeth of blessed memory there is more then a naked incouragement as much as comes to a Volumus Iubemus ut adversus Elizabetham Angliae Reginam subditi arma capessant Bone Iesu in que nos reservasti tempora Here is a command to turne rebels a necessity of being Traitors Quid co infelicius cui iam esse malum necesse est The businesse is put something farther home by Catena and Gabutius who writ the life of Pius quintus were resident at Rome one of them an advocate in the Roman Court their Bookes both printed at Rome con licenza and con privilegio And now hear their testimonies of the whole businesse between the Queen and his Holinesse Pius quintus published a Bull against Q. Elizabeth declared her a Heretique and deprived her of her Kingdome absolv'd her subiects from their oath of Allegeance excommunicated her and gave power to any one to rebell against her c. This was but the first step he therefore thus proceeds He procures a gentleman of Florence to move her subiects to a rebellion against her for her destruction Farther yet he thought this would be such a reall benefit to Christendome to have her destroied that the Pope was ready to aid in person to spend the whole revenew of the See Apostolique all the Chalices and crosses of the Church and even his very cloths to promote so pious a businesse as was the destruction of Q. Elizabeth The witnesses of truth usually agree in one The same story is told by Antonius Gabutius and some more circumstances added First he names the end of the Popes designe it was to take her life away in case she would not turn Roman Catholique To atchieve this because no Legat could come into England nor any publique messenger from the See Apostolique he imployed a Florentine Merchant to 〈◊〉 her subiects to a rebellion for her perdition Nothing but Sollevamento Rebellion Perdition and destruction to the Queen could be thought upon by his Holinesse More yet for when the Duke of Alva had feiz'd upon the English Merchants goods which were at Antwerp the Pope took the occasion instigated the King of Spain to aid the pious attempts of those who conspir'd against the Queen they are the words of Gabatius This rebellion was intended to be under the conduct of the Duke of Norfolk Viro Catholico a Roman Catholique Gabutius notes it for fear some Heretik might be suspected of the designe and so the Catholiques loofe the glory of the action However Pius quintus intended to use the utmost and most extreme remedies to cure her heresy all means to increase and strengthen the rebellion I durst not have thought so much of his Halinesse if his own had not said it but if this be not worse then the fiery spirit which our blessed Saviour reproved in Iames and Iohn I know not what is I have nothing to doe to specify the spirit of Paulus quintus in the Venetian cause this only Baronius propounded the example of Gregory the seaventh to him of which how farre short he came the world is witnesse Our own businesse calls to mind the Bulls of Pope Clemont the eight in which the Catholiques in England were commanded to see that however the right of succession did intitle any man to the Crown of England yet if he were not a Catholique they should have none of him but with all their power they should hinder his coming in This Bull Bellarmine doth extreamly magnify and indeed it was for his purpose for it was if not author yet the main encouragor of Catesby to the Powder Treason For when Garnet would willingly have known the Popes minde in the businesse Catesby eased him of the trouble of sending to Rome since the Popes mind was cleere I doubt not said Catesby at all of the Popes mind but that he who commanded our endeavours to hinder his coming in is willing enough we should throw him out It was but a reasonable collection I shall not need to instance in the effects which this Bull produc'd the Treason of Watson Cleark two English Seminaries are sufficiently known it was as a Praeludium or warning peice to the great Fougade the discharge of the Powder Treason Briefly the case was so that after the Publication of the Bull of Pius quintus these Catholiques in England durst not be good Subjects till F. Parsons and Campian got a dispensation that they might for a while doe it and rebus sic stantibus with a safe conscience professe a generall obedience in causes Temporall and after the Bull of Clement a great many of them were not good subjects and if the rest had not taken to themselves the Priviledge which the Pope sometimes gave to the Arch-bishop of Ravenna either to doe as the Pope bid them or to pretend a reason why they would not we may say as Creswell in defence of Cardinall Allen certainly we might have had more bloudy tragedies in England if the moderation of some more discreetly temperd had not been interposed However it is no thank to his Holinesse his spirit blew high enough But I will open this secret no farther if I may have but leave to
erat illa fidei Corona sed poena 〈◊〉 nec 〈◊〉 virtut is exitus gloriosus sed desperation is 〈◊〉 For if Valentius banish Eusebius from 〈◊〉 and Eusebius obey not the edict if Valentius puts him to death it is not for his being a Christian that he suffers death but for staying at 〈◊〉 against the command of Valentius Such was the case of the Priests whom for just cause as I have proved and too apparent proofe of seditious practices the Queen banished Now if the Queen was their lawfull Soveraigne then were they bound to obey her Decree of exile though it had been unjust as was the case of Eusebius or if they did not obey not to think the Lawes unjust for punishing their disobedience I say again their Disobedience not their Religion for that it was not their Religion that was struck at by the justice of these Lawes but the security of the Queen and State only aim'd at besides what I have already said is apparent to the evidence of sence For when Hart and Bosgrave Iesuits both came into England against the Law they were apprehended and imprison'd for the Lawes without just Execution were of no force for the Queenes safety but when these men had acknowledg'd the Queenes legitimate power and put in their security for their due obedience they obtain'd their pardon and their liberty The same proceedings were in the case of Horton and Rishton all which I hope were not 〈◊〉 from their Order or Religion but so they must have been or not have escap'd death in case that their Religion had been made Capitall Lastly this Statute extended only to such Priests who were made Priests since Primo of Elizabeth were born in England It was not Treason for a French Priest to be in England but yet so it must have been if Religion had been the thing they aim'd at But 't is so foule a Calumny I am asham'd to stand longer to efute it The proceedings of the Church and State of England were just honourable and religious full of mercy and discretion and unlesse it were that as C. Fimbria complain'd of Q. Scaevola we did not open our breasts wide enough to receive the danger there is no cause imaginable I mean on our parts to move them to so damned a conspiracy or indeed to any just complaint Secondly if these were not the causes as they would faine abuse the world into a perswasion that they were what was I shall tell you if you will give me leave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to derive it from its very head and then I will leave it to you to judge whether or no my Augury failes me First I guesse that the Traitors were encouraged and primarily mov'd to this Treason from the preuailing opinion which is most generally receiv'd on that side of the lawfulnesse of deposing Princes that are Hereticall I say generally receiv'd and I shall make my words good or else the blame shall lay on themselves for deceiving me when they declare their own mindes I instance first in the Fathers of the Society Bellarmine teacheth that Kings have no wrong done them if they be deprived of their Kingdomes when they prove Heretiques Creswell in his Philopater goes farther saying that if his Heresy be manifest he is deposed without any explicite judiciall sentence of the Pope the Law it selfe hath passed the sentence of deposition And therefore Bonarscius is very angry at Arnald the French Kings Advocate for affirming that Religion could be no just cause to depose a lawfull Prince If hee had beene brought up in their Schooles hee might have learnt another lesson papa Potest mutare regna uni auferre atque alteri conferre tanquam summus Princeps spiritualis si id necessarium sit ad animarum salutem saith Bellarmine Hee gives his reason too quia alioqui possent mali Principes impunè fovere Haereticos which is a thing not to be suffered by his Holinesse This Doctrine is not the private opinion of these Doctors but est certa definita atque indubitata virorum clarissimorum sententia saith F. Creswell I suppose hee meanes in his owne Order and yet I must take heed what I say for Eudaemon Iohannes is very angry with Sr Edward Cooke for saying it is the Doctrine of the Iesuits Doe they then deny it No surely but Non est Iesuitarum propria it is not theirs alone sed ut Garnettus respondit totius Ecclesiae quidem ab antiquissimis temporibus consensione recepta Doctrina nostra est and there hee reckons up seven and twenty famous Authors of the same opinion Creswell in his Philopater sayes as much if not more Hinc etiam infert Vniversa Theologorum Iuris consultorum Ecclesiasticorum Schola est certum de fide quemconque Principem Christianum si à religione Catbolicá manifestè deflexerit alios avocare voluerit excidere statim omni potestate ac dignitate ex ipsà vi juris tum Humani tum Divini You see how easily they swallow this great camell Adde to this that Bellarmine himselfe prooves that the Popes temporall power or of disposing of Princes Kingdomes is a Catholique Doctrine for hee reckons up of this opinion one and twenty Italians fourteene French 〈◊〉 Germans seven English and Scotch nineteen Spaniards these not è faece plebis but e 〈◊〉 all very famous and very leading Authors You see it is good Divinity amongst them and I have made it good that it is a generall opinion received by all their Side if you will believe themselves and now let us see if it will passe for good Law as well as good Divinity It is not for nothing that the Church of France protests against some of their received Canons if they did not I know not what would become of their Princes Their Lillies may be to day and to morrow be cast into the oven if the Pope either call their Prince 〈◊〉 as he did Henry the fourth or Tyrant as Henry the third or unprofitable for the Church or Kingdome as he did King Childeric whom Pope 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 did depose for the same cause and inserted his act into the body of the Law as a precedent for the future quod etiam ex 〈◊〉 frequenti agit sancta Ecclesia it is impaled in a 〈◊〉 in the body of the Canon least deposition of Princes should be taken for newes The law is cleere for matter of fact the lawfulnesse followes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est auferri 〈◊〉 habent and this not only from a private man but even from Princes nam qui in majore dignitate est plus punitur or take it if you please in more proper termes Dominus Papa Principem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter haeresim so another may be chosen like the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 in Poland just as if the King were dead 〈◊〉 per haeresim 〈◊〉 civiliter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Simancha and
bodily and ghostly or else the Priest must certainly damne himselfe by the sacrilegious breach of the holy Seale of confession Give me leave briefly to consider it and both for the acquittance of our state in its proceedings against these Traytors and for the regulating of the case it selfe to say these two things 1 This present Treason was not revealed to these Fathers Confessors in formall confession 2. If it had it did not bind to secresy in the present case Of the first only a word 1 It was only propounded to them in way of Question or consultation like this in the text as appeared by their owne confessions and the attestation of then Sr Henry Mountague Recorder of London to Garnet himselfe It could not therefore be a formall confession therefore not bind to the seale It is the common opinion of their owne Doctors Non enim inducitur obligatio sigilli in confessione quam quis facit sine ullo animo accipiendi absolutionem sed solum consilij pettendi causâ 2 It was propounded to these Fathers Confessors as a thing not subjicible to their penitentiall judicature because it was a fact not repented of but then in agitation and resolved upon for the future How then could this be a confession whose institution must certainly be in order to absolution and how could this be in any such order when it was a businesse of which they could not expect to be absolved unlesse they hop'd to sinne with a pardon about their necks and on condition God would be mercifull to them in its remission would come and professe that they were resolved to anger him In reason this could be no act of repentance neither could it by confession of their own side It is the doctrine of Hostiensis and Navarre and Cardinall Alban confesse it to be most commonly received 3 It was not only not repented of but by them reputed to be a good action and so could not be a matter of confession I appeal to any of their own Manuals and penitentiary bookes It is culpable say they I am sure it is ridiculous in any man to confesse and shrive himselfe of a good action and that this was such in their opinion it 's plaine by that impious answer of Garnet affirming it a businesse greatly meritorious if any good might thence accrue to the Catholique cause 4 By this their pretended confession they endeavoured to acquire new complices as is evident in the proceedings against the Traitors They were therefore bound to reveale it for it neither was nor could be a proper and formall confession That this is the common opinion of their own Schooles see it affirmed by Aegidius 〈◊〉 The first particular then is plain Here neither was the forme of confession nor yet could this thing be a matter of confession therefore supposing the seale of confession to be sacredly inviolable in all cases yet they were highly blameable for their concealement in the present 2 But the truth of the second particular is more to be inquired of That is that though these things had been only revealed in confession and this confession had been formall and direct yet they were bound in the present case to reveale it because the seale of confession is not so inviolable as that in no case it is to be broken up and if in any especially it may be opened in the case of treason I never knew any thing cryed up with so generall avoyce upon so little ground as is the Over hallowed seale of confession True it is that an ordinary secret committed to a friend in civill commerce is not to be revealed upon every cause nor upon many but upon some it may as they all confesse If thus then much rather is this to be observed in the revelation of the secrets of our consciences not only from the ordinary tye to secrecy but likewise least sinnes should grow more frequent if so great a remedy of them be made so odious as to expose us to a publike infancy or danger of the law The Councell therefore that first introduc'd this obligation was very prudent and reasonable pleads a thousand yeares prescription and relies upon good conveniences This is all that ever could be prov'd of it as may appeare anon but these are too weak a base to build so great a structure on it as to make it sacriledge or any sinne at all to reveale confessions in some cases 1 For first if because it is delivered as a secret and such a secret it is the more closely and religiously to be kept it is true but concludes no more but that it must be a greater cause that must authorize a publication of this then of the secrets of ordinary commerce between friend and friend 2 If the licensing of publicatiō of confession be a way to make confession odious and therefore that it may not be publish'd I say if this concludes then on the contrary it concludes farre more strongly that therefore in some cases it may be published because nothing can make a thing more odious and intolerable then if it be made a cover for grand impieties so as to engage a true subject quietly Knowingly to see his Prince murdred 3 If it be discouragement to the practise of confession that some sinnes revealed in it must be published though with perill to the delinquents same life then it will be a farre greater discouragement to the sinne when that it shall by an universall judgement be so detested that its concealement may not be permitted though it be with the hazard of discouraging the Holy duty of confession and when the being guilty of such a sinne shall reduce men into such streights that either they shall want the benefit of absolution or submit themselves to a publike satisfaction and so even in this particular the benefit is farre greater then the imaginary inconvenience The conveniences of the 〈◊〉 force no more then that it is convenient to be observed not simply and absolutely in all cases necessary And perhaps Suarez the great patron of it perceived it however he laies the burden super communi consensu Ecclesiae 〈◊〉 perpetuâ traditione If then I can shew that there is no such Catholike consent of the present Church nor any universall tradition of the ancient Church for the inviolable Seale but plainly the contrary then our Church in her permission of the Priests to reveale some confessions is as inculpable as those of the present Church who besides her selfe teach and practise it and as the Primitive Church whose example in this as in other things she strictly followes Of the first The Church of England which observes the seale of confession as sacredly as reason or religion it selfe can possibly permit yet forbids not disclosure in case of Murder or Treason but in these particulars leaves us intire in our obedience to the common lawes of England and these