duty of such an injured Prince for the common good to resigne his Government and if he will not the People ought to judge him as made uncapable by Providence and not to seek his restitution to the apparent ruine of the Commonwealth Thes 147. If therefore the rightful Governour be so long dispossessed that the Commonwealth can be no longer without but to the apparent hazard of its ruine we i. e. the people that dispossessed him are to judge that Providence hath dispossessed the former and presently consent to another Thes 149. If a People that by Oath and Duty are obliged to a Soveraign shall sinfully dispossess him and contrary to their Covenants chuse and covenant with another they may be obliged by their later Covenant notwithstanding their former Thes 181. If a Nation injuriously deprive themselves of a worthy Prince the hurt will be their own and they punish themselves but if it â— necessary to their welfare it is no injury to him but a King that by War will seek Reparation from the Body of the People doth put himself into a Hostile state and tells them actually that he looks to his own good more than theirs and bids them take him for their Enemy and defend themselves if they can p. 424. Though a Nation wrong their King and so quoad men tum Cauiae they are on the worse side yet maâ—â— he not lawfully war against the common good oâ—â— that account nor any help him in such a War because propter finem he hath the worse Cause Thes 352. And p. 476. we were to believe the Parliaments Declarations and Professions that the War which they raised was nâ—â— against the King either in respect of his Authority or his Person but onely against Delinquent Subjects And yet they actually fought against the King's Person and Authority And We are to believe saith Mr. Baxter p. 422. That men would kill them whom the fight against Quam bene conveniunt Mr. Baxter never followed any Text that he preached on so closely as he hath done the Text of this Jesuit in the Commentary of his Holy Commonwealth John Milton printed a Book very well like this of Mr. White called The Tenure of King and Magistrates driving on this Maxime That it is lawful for any that have power to call to account depose and put to death wicked Kings and Tyrants after due conviction if the ordinary Magistrate neglect it We have lately had a Fanatical Lawyer following the Divine Mr. Baxter transcribing out of the same Book of Mr. White to the same end I shall observe onely this Note among others in Mr. White p. 158. where he answers some Objections of Divines concerning the Authority of Princes and Non-resistance Vp steps the Divine saith he to preach us out of Scripture the Duty we owe to Kings no less than Death and Damnation being the Guerdons of Disobedience and Rebellion And p. 159. They will speak reason too telling us that God by nature is high Lord and Master of all That whoever is in power receiveth his right from him That Obedience consists in doing the Will of him that commandeth and concludes that his Will ought to be obeyed till God taketh away the obligation i. e. till he who is to be obeyed himself releaseth the right And p. 160. They alleadge that God by his special command transferred the Kingdom from Saul to David from Rehoboam to Jeroboam so that in fine all that is brought out of Scripture falleth short of proving that no time can make void the right of a King once given him by the hand of God Now mark what Mr. White says to overthrow the sence of Scripture The reason saith he 〈◊〉 this weak way of alleadging Scripture is that when they read that God commandeth or doth this they look not into Nature to know what this commanding or doing is but presently imagine God commands it by express and direct words and doth it by an immediate Position of the things said to be done whereas in Nature the commands are nothing but the natural light God hath bestowed on mankind and which is therefore frequently called the Law of Nature Likewise Gods doing a thing is many times onely the course of natural second causes to which because God gives the direction and motion he both doth and is said to do all that is done by them These things are transcribed by Mr. Hunt to the same ends that Mr. White urged them p. 144. of his Postscript The nature of Government and its Original saith he hath been prejudiced by men that understanding nothing but words and Grammar-Divines without contemplating Gods Attributes or the nature of man or the reasonableness of moral Precepts have undertaken to declare the sence of Scripture and infer that Soveraign power is not of humane institution but of divine appointment because they find it there written that by him Kings raign imagining that when the Scripture saith God commands or doth this that God commanded it by express words or doth it by an immediate position of the thing done whereas in Nature his commands are nothing but the natural light God hath bestowed on mankind likewise Gods doing a thing is onely the course of natural and second causes to which because God gives direction and motion he doth both and is said to do all that is done After this Mr. Hunt rails against our Divines in the Jesuits Mr. White 's Language also White calls them Grammar-Divines verbal and wind-blown Divines p. 162. and Mr. Hunt calls them men that understand nothing but words and Grammar-Divines who saith Mr. White without Logick Philosophy or Morality undertake to be Interpreters of the sacred Bible Who saith Mr. Hunt without contemplating Gods Attributes or the nature of man or the reasonableness of moral Precepts have undertaken to declare the sence of Scripture From the Premises we may draw this Conclusion That the Papists and Fanaticks do agree and mutually lend and borrow Arguments to resist Kings elude the Scriptures defame the English Clergie and overthrow the Government in Church and State As 1. That to conclude from the sence of Scripture is a weak way of arguing 2. That Non obstante what the Scripture says of Divine right of Soveraign power it is not of Divine but Humane institution 3. That Providence and the effects of second causes being influenced by God are of equal authority with the Precepts injoyned by the Word of God 4. That the Soveraign power being but of humane institution may be resisted and is alterable 5. That having cast off their Loyalty to the King and his Laws they are in a fair way to cast off God and his Laws 6. That the worst of Papists and their Atheistical Arguments are made use of by some that call themselves true Protestants against the express commands of God for Obedience to the Higher Powers There was printed 1650 an Answer to Dr. Ferne's Exercitation concerning usurped Powers in which the Answerer
most as being Popishly inclined who have given the greatest demonstration of their opposition to it But to return If they wanted any numbers to petition for what they had in designe or any money to begin the Wars Mr. Pym and some other of the five Members were sent into the City who in conjunction with some eminent Preachers such as Mr. Marshal Calamy c. by their long Speeches and fair pretences deceived the hearts and opened the purses of the deluded people From hence came those Tumults that petitioned against the Bishops and Popish Lords and for the bringing the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop to their Tryals The good Lord of Essex said He never knew but one Bishop viz. Bishop Williams who betrayed his Lord and Master that stood for the good of the Commonwealth As for the rest Mr. Nathaniel Fiennes made a large Speech to shew that Episcopacy was an Enemy to Monarchy whereas his Father spoke and printed to the contrary That the Bishops were too much devoted to the King And the young Gentleman was not long after condemed by Martial Law Now that the Papists had a great hand in our Troubles at home as well as in Scotland doth clearly appear from the Testimony of Sir Edward Cooke and other Transactions already mentioned But it will yet more evidently appear that the Popish Party were chief Agents in animating the English Rebels with whom they held correspondence to that end by the discovery made to Sir W. Boswel by one Andreas ab Habernfield and communicated to the Archbishop September 6. 1640. Which Relation Mr. Prynne found among the Archbishops Papers and caused it to be printed by Order of a Committee of the House of Commons Mr. Prynne urgeth many Arguments to evince the truth of that Plot and says That not onely he but the Parliament as well as the King and Archbishop did believe it and that he must be a Monster of incredulity that doth not believe it The particulars of the discovery that are most to our purpose are as follow 1. That the Discoverer was bred a Papist and an Ecclesiastick and judged a fit person to be Coadjutor to Con the Popes Nuntio by Cardinal Barbarino who under the Pope was made President of the Congregation of Jesuits in England for propagation of Religion But the horrour of this Plot which was to destroy the King and the Archbishop and involve three Nations in Bloud so troubled his Conscience that he not onely discovered the Plot but forsook the Religion that allowed of such bloudy practices 2. That from Con he received and dispatched all the intelligence concerning the Plot which was communicated to Con from a Consult of political Jesuits which met privately in the Province of Wales 3. That there were at least fifty Scotish Jesuits at that time in and about London That one Maxwell a Scotish Earl and Papist was sent into Scotland by the Popish Party with whom two other Scotish Earls were Correspondents whose business it was to excite the Scots to a Rebellion by aggravating the Actions of the English Court particularly the punishment of Prynne Burton and Bastwick and the imposing of the English Liturgie on them 4. That a Chaplain of Hamiltons the Kings Commissioner had often secret conference with Con concerning whom the Informer asking merrily whether the Jews also agreed with the Samaritans Con replied I would to God all Ministers were like him 5. That Cardinal Richlieu sent Mr. Tho. Chamberlain his Chaplain and Almoner to whom a Bishoprick was promised into Scotland who tarried there four months and was not to return till he brought good news 6. That Sir Toby Matthews a politick Jesuit did diligently enquire and transmit Intelligence to Rome 7. That in the house of one Capt. Read was a constant meeting of the Jesuits every Post-day where they received Letters from Rome and made returns in feigned names 8. That Mr. Porter and Windebank the Lord Arundel and his Countess the Countess of Buckingham and others were privy to the Plot and betrayed the Kings Counsels Upon the whole Mr. Prynne makes these remarks That the Conspirators have almost brought their designe to maturity to our shame and grief by new-raised Civil Wars both in England and Ireland but he adds not a word of Scotland That Secretary Windebank and Captain Read with some others went secretly into Ireland to raise a Rebellion there who assured them that there would be such Broils in England that no Force could be sent thence But not a word yet of what was done in Scotland where they were in actual Arms against the King and ceased not till they had effected the death of the Archbishop and the King as this discovery had foretold I shall adde an Observation of Hammond L'Estrange The Presbyterian Party saith he were not the onely men in the Conspiracy â— for in case of general disturbances nothing iâ— more familiar than for several Factions of contrary inclinations and interests to unite aiming at their own several ends And a foul blemish it would have been to the Society of Jesus should they have sate still in a work so proper to their Employment as these Scotish Broils Though they did not reach at the external glory of the Enterprize which they rendred to the Presbyterians yet were they as diligent in their Machinations as possibly they could be hoping to be greatest gainers at last But the Jesuits had done their business having set their Journey-men at work both in England and Scotland and they were ready as Auxiliaries to assist them to which end they mix themselves with the Councils and Armies both of England and Scotland obstructing all Overtures and Treaties of Peace It was not for any love to the King or his Cause that some few of them engaged with his Party but to help on the publick Calamity of the two Nations and to keep on the Wars that they might raise themselves on the ruines of both Parties For that there were more Papists engaged with the Parliament-Armies than the King 's appears by his Majesties Declaration after the Fight at Edghill Oct. 1643. All men know the great number of Papists Commanders and others that serve in their Armies the great industry they used to corrupt the Loyalty and affection of Our loving Subjests of that Religion the private promises and undertakings that they made if they would assist them against Vs all the Laws made in their prejudice should be repealed when nothing could prevail with Vs to invite them to Our Succour or recal Our Proclamation which forbad them so to do We know that a far greater number of Papists are in their Army than Our own And one Robert de Salmonet a Popish Priest and Scotish man who wrote a History of our Wars in French saith of this Fight That which most surprised every one was that they found among the dead at Edge-hill several Popish Priests For although in their Declarations they called the Kings Army
to change Government it was lawful for the Catholicks to work that change for the advancing and securing the Catholick Cause in England by making away the King whom there was no hope to turn from his Heresie This was answered affirmatively after which the same persons went to Rome where the same Question being propounded and debated it was concluded by the Pope That it was both lawful and expedient for the Catholicks to promote that alteration of State c. When that horrid Parricide had taken effect the Pope commanded all the Papers about that Question to be gathered and burnt In obedience to which Order a Roman Catholick in Paris was demanded a Copy which he had of these Papers but the Gentleman who had time to consider and detest the wickedness of that Project refused to give it and shewed it to a Protestant friend of his relating to him the whole carriage of this Negotiation with great abhorrency of the Practices of the Jesuits And when these Jesuits returned from Rome they brought many more after them to help on the same Work which at last they effected to their great joy The Roman Priest and Confessor is known who when he saw the fatal stroak given to our holy King and Martyr flourished with his Sword and said Now the greatest Enemy that we had in the world is gone A Protestant Lady living in Paris was perswaded by a Jesuit to turn Catholick when the dismal news of the King's Murther came to Paris this Lady as all other good Subjects was deeply afflicted with it and when this Jesuite came to see her and found her melted in Tears for that Disaster he told her with a smiling countenance That she had no reason to lament but rejoyce rather seeing the Catholicks were rid of their greatest Enemy and that Cause was much furthered by his death Upon which the Lady in great anger put him down the stairs saying If that be your Religion I have done with you for ever and God hath given her grace to make her words good hitherto Many intelligent Travellers can tell of the great joy among the English Convents and Seminaries about the Kings death as having overcome their Enemy and done their main work for their settlement in England of which they made themselves so sure that the Benedictines were in great care that the Jesuits should not get their Land and the English Nuns were contending who should be Abbasses in England An understanding Gentleman visiting the Fryars in Dunkirk put them on the discourse of the King's death and to pump out their sence about it said That the Jesuits had laboured very much to compass that work To which they answered That the Jesuits would ingross to themselves the glory of all great and good works and of this among others whereas they had laboured as diligently and effectually for it as they So that both the Jesuits and Seculars had laboured to bring the King to death and the Army of Fanaticks were their Instruments to put it in execution Monsieur de Bourdeaux the French Embassadour being resident in London when General Monk had gotten the power of the City and the affections of the People earnestly desired to interest the King of France and Cardinal Mazarine in the Revolution of Government and made way for an Address to the General by his Brother-in-law Clergis to whom he imparted that Cardinal Mazarine would be glad to have the honour of his friendship and assist him faithfully in all his Enterprizes and that the General might be more confident of the Cardinal he assured him that Oliver Cromwel kept so strict a League with him that he did not assume the Government without his privity and was directed step by step by him in the progress of that action and therefore if he resolved on that course he should not onely have the Cardinals friendship and counsel in the attempt but a safe Retreat and honourable Support in France if he sailed in it But Mr. Clergis assured him that the General did not intend to take the Government upon him but to submit all to the determination of the next Parliament The King being in the Territories of the King of Spain when the General was minded to declare for him Sir Jo. Greenvil was dispatched by the General to his Majesty to desire him to depart out of the King of Spain's Dominions to Breda or some other place under the Government of the States of the Vnited Provinces for that he had certain intelligence he would be detained by the King of Spain's Ministers if he stayed in his Dominions Upon which Advice within two or three days he went to Breda where he continued till he was invited to his Kingdoms There was found in the Study of Francis Young after his death a Paper containing Advices given to him by Seignior Bellarini concerning the best way of managing the Popish interest in England upon the Kings Restauration The first Advice is to make the obstruction of Settlement their great designe especially upon the fundamental Constitutions of the Kingdom whereunto if things should fall they would be more firm than ever Secondly To remove the Jealousies raised by Prynne Baxter c. of their designe upon the late Factions and to set up the prosperous way of fears and jealousies of the King and Bishops Thirdly To make it appear under-hand how neer the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of the Church of England comes to us at how little distance their Common-prayer is from our Mass and that the wisest and ablest men of that Way are so moderate that they would willingly come over to us or at least meet us half way hereby the most stayed men will become more odious and others will run out of all Religion for fear of Popery Fourthly That there be an Indulgence promoted by the Factious and seconded by You. Fifthly That the Trade and Treasure of the Nation may be engrossed between themselves and other discontented Parties Sixthly That the Bishops and Ministers of the Church of England be aspersed as either worldly and careless on one hand or so factious that it were well they were removed All these Directions will appear to have been followed precisely by both Parties The Grandees of the Committee at Derby-house and the Army sollicite the detaining of the Prince in France and delaying his Journy for England lest he should trouble the yet-unsetled Kingdom of the Saints To negotiate which they have an Agent lying Lieger with Cardinal Mazarine who is so well supplied with Money and so open-handed that it hath been heard from Mazarine's own mouth that all the Money the Queen and Prince had cost the Crown of France came out of the Parliaments Purse with a good advantage It is likewise said Mazarine had an Agent here to drive on the interest of France in England Hist of Independ 2 part p. 112. And it is known that Cromwel's interest with France when the present King fled thither after
Worcester-fight was so great that he prevailed to have the King driven thence to seek his safety in other Countries And it is credibly reported that Cromwel maintained or encouraged a company of Benedictine Monks to betray the Kings Counsels That Manning who was executed beyong the Seas for disclosing the Kings Counsels was a Papist and had Masses sung for him after his death That Lambert who had been suspected as a Papist thirty years with the help of a Popish Priest contrived Cromwels new Government And the Jesuits perceiving that if the Scotish and English Presbyterians should cleerly and entirely grasp the power of the Nation it would be a difficult task to take it out of their hands they abetted the Independent party and other growing Sects they mixed themselves with their Counsels and Armies as Mr. Prynne affirmed And a good Author says that a Protestant Gentleman met with about thirty of them at one time between Roan and Diep who enquiring their design and they taking him for one of their party was informed by them that they were going into England and would take Arms in the Independant Army and endeavour to be Agitators and what work those creatures made is too well known Nor is it less notorious who they were that pleaded so strenuously for Liberty of Conscience Such Tracts as directly urged the Toleration of Popery as well as of other Sects were penned and dispersed by the Jesuits and the Indulgence granted to them by Cromwel who was never known to punish any of them for their Recusancy as long as they served his interest argues his connivance if not his approbation of them By these was that Treatise of Father Parsons concerning the Succession under the Title of Doleman Reprinted and dispersed to keep us in confusion Then it was that White wrote his Jesuitical books and Milton seconded him And the Pamphlets written to justifie the Proceedings of the Army were dictated or written by the Jesuits In the year 1652. William Birchly published a Treatise called The Moderator or Persecution for Religion condemned In a Postscript to which he says that he subscribed his name according to an Order of Parliament yet is not ashamed to say that he had his Arguments from some of the Romish Priests for a Toleration of whom he pleads as passionately as if a whole Consult of them had penned the Pamphlet And a good Author saith he hath been credibly informed that a Jesuit of St. Omers declared that they were Twenty years in hammering out the Sect of the Quakers And whoever considers the Tenets of that Sect will easily see whose off-spring they are They refuse all Oaths which serves the Jesuits to evade the Tests of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy they despite the Scriptures as the Jesuits do they contemn our Sacraments especially the Eucharist as the Papists do vilifie the Ministers and in matters of Doctrine have a great analogie with the Papists Dr. Oates his Narrative and Depositions Paragraph 34. speaks of the Jesuits and one Green with eight other Fifth Monarchy-men who clubbed together for firing the City of London I have told you what White the Jesuit did and that wretched Milton Cromwel's Secretary who had been at Rome and in his writings speaks of great kindness received there and holding correspondence with some Italians could have no other design in printing those books of Divorce against Tythes and Clergy-men and to justifie the Regicides but to bring us to Atheism first and then to Confusion He was by very many suspected to be a Papist and if Dr. Oates may be believed was a known frequenter of the Popish Club though he were Cromwel's Latine Secretary The same Dr. tells us that a Party of the Jesuits at Putney were the Projectors of our troubles and the Kings ruine That they broke up the Treaty at Vxbridge That a Popish Lord brought a Petition to the Regicides signed by above 500 Papists promising That on condition of a Toleration they would exclude the Family of the Stuarts from the Crown Having said so much to prove the agreement of Papists and Fanaticks for the destruction of the Government of Church and State I shall add a few lines to vindicate the Chief Governours from those accusations of Popery which were charged on them In the year 1658. ten years after the death of the Royal Martyr Mr. Baxter prints his Grotian Religion and through Grotius's sides strikes at the heads and members of the Church of England with the same blow One reason of condemning Grotius as a Papist may be the Character which he gives of such men in his Book de Antichristo Circumferamus oculos per omnem Historiam quod unquam seculum vidit tot subditorum in Principes bella sub religionis titulo horum concitatores ubique reperiuntur Ministri Evangelici ut quidam se vocant Quod genus hominum in quae pericula etiam nunc optimos Civitatis Amstelodamensis Magisiratus conjicerit videat si cui libet de Presbyterorum in Reges audacia librum Jacobi Britanniarum Regis cui nomen Donum Regium videbit eum ut erat magni judicii ea praedixisse quae nunc cum dolore horrore conspicimus For the Grotian design i. e. Popery saith he was carrying on in the Church of England and this was the cause of all our Wars and changes p. 105. where he thus talks of the Royal Martyr beyond any thing that his barbarous Judges could accuse him of How far the King was inclined to a reconciliation with the Church of Rome saith Mr. Baxter I onely desire you to judge First by the Articles of the Spanish and French Match sworn to Secondly by his Letter to the Pope written in Spain Thirdly by his choice of Agents in Church and State Fourthly by the residence of the Popes Nuntio here and the Colledge of the Jesuits c. Fifthly by the illegal Innovations in Worship so resolvedly gradatim introduced All which I speak not with the least desire to perswade men that he was a Papist but onely to shew that while he as a moderate Protestant i. e. a Papist in Masquerade as they are now termed took hands with the Queen a moderate Papist the Grotian Design had great advantage in England which he himself boasted of p. 106. Of this indignity to that Religious Prince the learned Bishop Bramhal p. 617. of his Works took notice and vindicated him Of which Mr. B. being informed he says p. 100. of his Defence that he printed the contrary in times of Vsurpation and that the Informer could not prove it and that Bishop Bramhal was a Calumniator The Book he refers to was I suppose dedicated to Richard Cromwell whom he did not call an Vsurper but one who piously prudently and faithfully to his immortal honour exercised the Government 1659. Where p. 327. having accused the Now Episcopal party for following Grotius he says As for the King himself that was their Head
if any conjecture that he was a flat Papist I believe him not but he was the head of the Grotian Papists and he himself boasted of it ubi supra Now if any would know how far Grotius and consequently the King was a Papist he says He i. e. Grotius was a more arrant Papist than Cassander who dyed in that Communion and was one that owned the Council of Trent and such I think are flat Papists But if Mr. B. did not believe the King to be a flat Papist then his iniquity was the greater to give so many though frivolous instances by way of proof that others might believe what Mr. B. did not Did not Mr. B. know that the fear of introducing Popery was made a chief ground of the War against the King And may he not as well make it a ground of another War against the present King because he adheres to his Bishops whom Mr. B. calls Popish Clergie-men And he says that the Parliament whom they were bound to believe made it their great argument and advantage against the King that he favoured the Papists and on this supposition saith he thousands came in to fight for their Cause And they made one Article against the Archbishop of Canterbury that he endeavoured to introduce Popery whose life on that account they took away though he were indeed one of their greatest adversaries which as it appears by the discovery of the Plot of the Jesuits to take away his life mentioned in the relation of Andreas ab Habernfield and printed by Mr. Prynne wherein because of his constancy to the Established Religion from which he could not be tempted by the offer of a Cardinals Cap made to him from the then Pope by Con his Nuncio they plotted his death so it will appear to be a gross slander by that which followeth And first it shall not be denied that his promoting of decent Ceremonies and some Executions on Seditious persons procured him that ill report among the Fanaticks But he refuted it sufficiently by declaring openly at the Council-Table against the great resort of Papists to Denmark-house of which also he complained to the King with passion as a thing of dangerous consequence and particularly against Sir Toby Matthews and Walter Mountague two active Papists mentioned in Habernfields Discovery And before that time he published his Conference with Fisher the Jesuit one of the best discourses yet extant against them After which time though he could not wipe off the aspersion among the Fanaticks yet he was lookt on by the Papists as their greatest enemy He prevailed to banish both Matthews and Mountague from the Court whereat the Queen shewed some displeasure against him but knowing how able and faithful a Minister he was for the Kings service He reconciled the Queen to him again His Conference with Fisher was for the satisfaction of some persons of Quality on whom the Jesuits had practised Sir Edward Deeâ—ing his professed Adversary says That by â— the Bishop had muzled the Jesuit and struck the Papist under the fifth Rib. In his Preface 〈◊〉 King Charles he says God forbid your Majesty should let the Laws and Discipline sleep for feâ—â— of the name of Persecution and suffer Mr. Fisher and his fellows to angle in all parts of your Dominions for your Subjects Let us have 〈◊〉 dissolving of Oaths of Allegiance no deposâ—â—â— of Kings and blowing up of States for 〈◊〉 their Religion were as good as they pretend they cannot compass it by good means I am 〈◊〉 they ought not to attempt it by bad for if theâ— will do evil that good may come of it theâ— damnation is just He complains there thaâ— the Church was between two Factions as between two Milstones wherefore he thought it his duâ—â— to deliver her from both for he tells the King that no one thing did make conscientious men to waver more in their minds and to be drawn from the sincerity of Religion professed in the Church of England than the want of uniform and decent Order the Romanist being apt to say the Houses of God could not be suffered to lye so nastily were the true Worship of God observed in them the external worship of God in his Church being the great witness to the world that our hearts stand right in that Service And to deal clearly with your Majesty these thoughts and no other made me labour so much for decency and an orderly settlement of the external Worship of God To this I add that the Archbishop did no other than what was practised with good success upon the Papists in Queen Elizabeths days of which I have taken notice before to be acknowledged by our present Dissenters This most Reverend Archbishop was not more averse from the Doctrine of the Papists than from any acquaintance or correspondence with them Panzani and Con two of the Popes Nuncio's often endeavoured some Conference with him but he still put them off though some persons of Quality sollicited it He suppressed Socinian and Popish Books especially that called An Introduction to a devout life written by Francis Sales Bishop of Geneva And to omit many other arguments his Protestation at his death of which hereafter is enough to satisfie all but Infidels Bishop Beadle Anno 1633. certifyed Bishop Laud then of London of the dangerous condition of Ireland by the growth of Popery and informed the Earl of Strafford who was newly made Lord Deputy that the Pope had a greater power in that Kingdom than the King governing there by a Congregation de propaganda fide established not long before at Rome That the Popes Clergie there was double in number to the Kings and they were bound by Oath to maintain the Popes power and greatness against all persons That the Pope had erected a Colledge in Dublin to affront the Kings Colledge One Harris Dean of the New Colledge printed a Treatise against Bishop Vshers Sermon at Wansteed and after the dissolving of the new Frieries in Dublin they erected others in the Country where the people flocked in great multitudes to hear Mass forgetting the Principles of Religion That a Synodical meeting of their Clergy had been held in Drogheda in which they decreed That it was not lawful to take the Oath of Allegiance and therefore it was thought necessary to restrain them by a standing Army Whereupon the Lord Deputy was advised to summon a Parliament and so ordered his affairs as to raise an Army of Twenty thousand men which was maintained mostly out of the Estates of the Papists by which means he kept the Irish in awe and had he been continued there that Hellish Massacre on the English Protestants which followed on the withdrawing of that Great man might in all probability have been prevented But these two Great men the one of which made it his business to prevent Rebellion in the State the other to suppress Faction and Confusion in the Church were made the chief marks at which all the Plots
obedience to my most gracious Soveraign Charles King of Great Britain c. affirm testifie and declare by this my solemn Oath That I acknowledge my said Soveraign onely Supreme Governour of this Kingdom over all Persons and in all Causes and that no foreign Prince Power State or Person Civil or Ecclesiastick hath any Jurisdiction Power or Superiority over the same and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign Power Jurisdictions and Authorities and shall to my utmost power defend assist and maintain his Majesties Jurisdiction aforesaid against all mortals and shall never decline his Majesties Power and Jurisdiction as I shall answer to God The form of the Bond. I A. B. underscribing do faithfully bind and oblige me that I my Wife Barnes and Servants respectively shall no ways be present at any Conventicles and disorderly Meetings in time coming but shall live orderly in obedience to the Law under the penalties contained in the Acts of Parliament made there-anent As also I bind and oblige me that my whole Tenants and Cotters respectively their Wives Barnes and Servants shall likewise refrain and abstain from the said Conventicles and other illegal Meetings not authorized by Law and that they shall live orderly in obedience to the Law And further that I nor they shall receipt supply or commune with forfeited persons intercommuned Ministers or vagrant Preachers but shall do our utmost endeavour to apprehend their persons And in case my said Tenants Cotters and their foresaids shall contravene I shall take or apprehend any person or persons guilty thereof and present to the Judge Ordinars that they may be fined or imprisoned therefor as is provided in the Acts of Parliament made there-anent otherwise I shall remove them and their Families from my ground And if I shall fail herein I shall be liable to such penalties as the said Delinquents have incurred by the Laws consenting to the registration hereof in the Books of his Majesties Privy-Council or Books of any other Judges competent that Letters and Executorials may be direct hereupon in form as effairs and constitutes my Procurators The Field-preachers damned this Bond as an Arbitrary Tyrannical and Illegal proceeding and Mr. Welsh a Field-preacher having condemned the people for not coming armed to their Meetings with Swords and Pistols to defend the Gospel said That the subscribing this Bond was a renouncing their Baptism and making a Covenant with the Devil more express and worse than that of Witches And Mr. John Dickson at a Conventicle May 26. 1678. said That those who subscribed it had committed a greater sin than the sin of the Holy Ghost and were already in Hell This Mr. Welsh as Ravilliack Redivivus relates it preaching to about seven thousand people told them That the King the Nobles and Prelates were the Murtherers of Christ And sitting down in his Chair he said O People I will be silent speak O People and tell me what good thing the King hath done since his coming home yea hath he not done all the mischief a Tyrant could do And at another time he said That God would assert the Cause of Pentland-hills in spite of the Curates and their Masters the Prelates and in spite of the Prelates and their Master the King and his Master the Devil It was but a little before the Duke of York's going to Scotland that they were forming their Presbyteries after the Model of Ignatius dividing the Nation into several Provinces each of which was to have a Provincial and over all there was appointed a General who as Ignatius had been a Souldier and was thought fit to lead an Army The Provincials were to take an account of the growth or decay of their Party to mark out their Friends and their Enemies and to renew their Contributions and to give account of all to their General who was to reside at Edinburgh or London If this designe had succeeded no two Factions in the world had been more like whatever they are now than the Jesuit and Fanatick Which was the Incubus and which the Succubus that brought forth the two last hellish Plots or whether they were not Twins or as it is in the Riddle Mater me Genuit eadem mox gignitur ex me may puzzle the Reader to resolve It is certain the same plastick Principles formed them both and the Subjects were equally disposed to receive those Forms which have so affrighted the Nations and there is little difference the name excepted between a Clement and a Melvil a Ravilliack and a Mitchel a Bradshaw and a Cargil or the Jesuitical and a Fanatical Regicide both make the King accountable to the People both are for excommunicating deposing and assassinating of Kings both have been such Fire-brands as have kindled consuming fires where-ever they have fixed their cloven feet It is no great wonder that they are sometimes transformed into Angels of light seeing Satan himself may be so transformed neither of them can do their work if they should appear in their proper colours armed with Pistols and Blunderbusses in flames of fire and an horrible stench of Gunpowder and Brimstone they come clothed with Zeal as with a Cloak and in Sheeps clothing with demure looks and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the Simple but inwardly they are ravening Wolves and by their fruits you may know them It is not a pretence of acting for a Good Old Cause or the Catholick Church that can justifie unnatural Rebellions and Bloudshed they who do such things are of their Father the Devil though they own Rome or Geneva for their Mother It is said of Augustus that meeting with a young man in the Country exactly like him in growth and features he asked him merrily whether his Mother was never at Rome No saith the young man but my Father hath been there meaning it was more likely that Augustus and he had one Father than that he should be the Son of Augustus Though our Fanatick Plots were conceived by those that were never at Rome yet the Principles that begot them most certainly came from thence The Fanatick Zeal embracing Popish Principles hath brought forth many of those Plots and Conspiracies which have so often disturbed our Peace and Government And by this time I hope the vizard and pretence of these men will vanish viz. that such of them as have suffered by the hand of Justice have died as Patriots of their Country for their zeal against Popery and in defence of the Liberties of the People against Tyranny and Arbitrary Government This hath been pleaded a thousand times in behalf of a Noble Peer and persons of the same Principles but of the lowest rank have pleaded it for themselves This designe says Colledge is not onely against me but against all the Protestants in England that have had the courage to oppose the Popish Plot and dies praying that his may be the last Protestants bloud that murdering Church of Rome may shed in Christendom And in
that time divers Petitions from several parts of the Kingdom complained of the great increase of Popery and Superstition and the people call earnestly to have the Laws put in execution When these Petitions were promoted by their own Members and that Decency which was used in the Church the Superstition and Popery which they remonstrated against but not one word of putting the Laws in execution against the Separatists 2. That Priests and Jesuits swarmed in great numbers That of late years about the City of London Priests and Jesuits have been discharged out of prison That the Pope had then a Nuntio in the City The great resort to Mass at Demark-house That on the reprieve of Goodman the City of London refused the advance of Money for supply of his Majesties Army for that reason Therefore they desire that Goodman may be left to Justice To this the King answered Concerning Goodman that he being found guilty onely as being a Priest on which account neither King James nor Queen Elizabeth put any to death be did reprieve him desiring them to consider the inconvenience that may fall on his Subjects and other Protestants abroad by executing of such severity That he will put the Laws in execution against Popery and Superstition the increase whereof was much against his mind That he would speedily issue out a Proclamation for all Priests and Jesuits to depart the Kingdom within one month or to be proceeded against according to Law As for Rosetti the Popes Nuntio that he had no commission but was onely to correspond between the Queen and the Pope which was warranted by Articles of Marriage yet he had perswaded her to dismiss him within a time to take away the offence That he would restrain the resort of Papists to Denmark-house and the Chappels of Embassadours But instead of being satisfied with these Answers four Members of Parliament acquaint the Lords of a monstrous designe of the Papists an Army of fifteen thousand in Lancashire eight thousand Irish Papists under the Earl of Strafford and many thousands in divers other places well armed and payed by the Earl of Worcester Of which Sanderson in the Life of King Charles says p. 360. After-Ages will think these Hyperboles there being no such Armies possible by them nor no such fears in others Yet this Message was carried from the Lower to the Vpper House and gave occasion to a multitude of people to frame Petitions sutable to Plots Fears and Jealousies for the Parliaments purpose And Alderman Pennington with some hundredâ— of the Rabble presents a Petition in the name of fifteen thousand Citizens against Bishops and their Jurisdiction How little they cared for Religion though their actions sufficiently declared yet their expressions were not wanting A Great Creature of theirs said modestly That they haâ— power enough to take the Crown from the King if the Gospel did not hinder them but theâ— did it with a Non Obstante Mr. Hambdeâ— being asked by a Minister in the beginning of the War Why Religion was made a cause 〈◊〉 it answered Because the people would not stâ—â— else But H. Martyn told them in the House They need not lye for a good Cause it was nâ—â— Religion but Liberty they fought for And so little did some of them value their Religion that as Col. Morley and others with hiâ— said They would cast themselves upon any Nation even the Turk rather than let the King subdue them Mr. B.'s Key for Catholicks mentioneth several of the Popish designes which saith he are grounded on this Maxime That their foundation must be Mutation which will cause a Relaxation and serve as so many violent Diseases as Stone or Gout to a speedy Destruction p. 318. Upon which he adds this Consultation of the Jesuits We shall necessitate the Puritan Protestants to keep the King as Prisoner or else to put him to death If they keep him as a Prisoner his diligence and friends and their own divisions will either work his deliverance and give him the day again by our help or at least will keep the State in a perpetual unsetledness and will bring an odium on them or if they cut him off which we will rather promote lest they should make use of his extremities to any advantage then first we shall procure the odium of King killing to fall on them which they are wont to cast upon us and so shall be able to disburthen our selves Secondly And we shall have them all to pieces in Distractions for they will either set up a new King or the Parliament will keep the power changing the Government into a Democracy The first cannot be done without great Concussions and new Wars and we shall have an opportunity to have a hand in all and if it be done it may be much to our advantage The second will apparently by Factions and Distractions give us footing for continual attempts But to make all sure we will have our footing among the Puritans too that we may be sure to maintain our interest which way soever the world goes This was the Frame of the Papists Plot. In the next page he tells us of the Letters of the Agents of the Agitators in France published in the weekly News-books commending the Jesuits for good men and how agreeable they were to them in their Principles for a Democracy and what meet Materials for such a Commonwealth the Jesuits would be The Agencies of particular men with Jesuits he says I purposely omit p. 321. Mr. Baxter doubtless knew more than 〈◊〉 mentions he had an Idea of all their Plots and Principles in 's own brain And p. 329 saith It is opened by many in print how far thâ— Jesuits crept into all Societies under the name of Independents He tells us a story of onâ— that came from Scotland pretending himself a Jew who gave the Anabaptists the glory oâ— his Conversion and was rebaptized at Heâ—ham but was discovered at Newcastle to be â— Jesuit The whole story is in print And p. 321. he acquaints us that Sexby and otherâ— of the Army did confederate with Spain tâ— murther Cromwel when they found that hâ— attempted to make himself a King And hereupon it was that Cromwel took distaste aâ— the Papists and prevailed to make an Acâ— with this Preamble Anno 1656. Forasmuâ—â— as there is a great increase of Popish Recusants within this Commonwealth by reason whereof great danger may follow to the Commonwealth they being persons very active in mischievous Plots and Conspiracies c. This doubtless was well known by Cromwel who had made great use of them to effect his mischievous designes Peter du Moulin in his Answer to Philanax Anglicus p. 59. observes that a year before the Kings death a select number of English Jesuits were sent from their Party in England first to Paris to consult with the Faculty of Sorbone who were then wholly Jesuited about this Question Whether seeing the State of England was in a likely posture