the Church contained in good nurture and Ecclesiastical censures will much more prevail to muzzle Popery than any fresh devices whatsoever Neither do I think it blame-worthy to affirm that our Cause hath taken harm by relying more on the Temporal than the Spiritual Arms for while we trusted that Capital punishments should strike the stroak we have neglected the means which would for the most part have discharged the need of such severity The Oath of Allegiance is not offered generally to Servants and mean people who if they had taken the Oath by Absolution of a Priest might recoyl from it or change their opinion at leisure without any ready means to discover their Legerdemain That Oath I fear will not be often pressed and to them that shift from place to place how can it be tendered The principal Papists now cover themselves in the crowd of the multitude but if we can discover the affection of the multitude they easily will be unmasked and being singled out rest ashamed of their nakedness which under correction of better judgment may be effected if every new comer to inhabit in a Town and servants newly entertained within a week or fourteen days be caused to repair to the Minister there in presence of the Churchwardens and other honest men to subscribe unto such brief and substantial Articles concerning Faith and Allegiance as shall be according to Gods Word and Justice ordained to distinguish the Sheep from the Goats In Forreign Countries every Host is bound to bring his Guest before an Officer there to certifie his name with the occasion of his coming and intended time of his abode in those parts and in case he stay longer he must again renew his Licence So curious and vigilant also are they to keep their Cities from Infection that without a Certificate witnessing their coming from wholsome places they may not escape the Lazeretto No less ought we to be watchful to prevent the contagion of our Souls than other Nations are of their Bodies Every thing is hard and scarcely pleasing in the beginning but with time some such course may be readily put in execution which I propound rather as matter for better heads to work on than peremptorily to be insisted on in the same Terms But lest any charge me with temerity that when I desire to know the multitudes inclination by the means aforesaid I satisfie my self with their Parrots Language pronouncing it knows not what I think it not impertinent to put them in mind that heretofore I have required instructions both precedent and subsequent and am ever of the mind That although all this cannot be done at once yet it is necessary always to be doing our best knowing that not to go forwards in Religion is the ready way to go backwards It is not the outward obedience of coming to Church that discovers the inward thought of the Heart it is the confession of the Tongue that must utter these secrets And where the Curates are insufficient or the Parish great I wish they had Catechists to assist them maintained by the Purses of the Recusants which Pension being collected for Gods Cause will free us of scandal though it grieve them to pay the Spiritual Army waged against their own Stratagems Surely by giving them way in petty matters they are grown to be very masterful in their Party Plato affirmeth That the Popular State proceeded from the Licence which the people took to make immoderate applauses in the Theaters when as by arrogating that immunity without controlement in place of their Governours and perceiving the Nobility to joyn with them in the same passions they thought their Heads as worthy to Govern as any of those that were made out of the self-same mould In like manner while we suffer ignorance openly to maintain such petty glimpses of Popery as are thought to be scarce worthy to be look't at and in small matters run an indifferent course which neither make sure Friends nor feeble Foes unawares they take the bridle from us and eat out Religion as it were by an insensible Gangrena Principiis obsta serò medicina paratur Cum mala per longas convaluere moras For by sufferance of breaking smaller Laws People are emboldned to set the greater at nought To comprehend all things in a Law which are necessary to the Reformation I neither hold it profitable nor expedient yet it is discretion to provide for the most important smaller matters whereof the Laws speak not are to be commended to the discretion of Parents Masters and other reverend persons who by example and advice may prepare younglings by Education and Custom to obey the Laws especially such as are in high place ought in this behalf to be like Caesars Wife Non solum crimine sed etiam criminis suspitione vacare and with circumspection to behave themselves that the world may conceive in requiring obedience to God and their Soveraign that they hold the multitude rather for companions than slaves if great men take another way they may seduce many by example though by words they express not their concealed opinions Tace loquere said God to Moses it is the speech of the heart that utters more than words and syllables and in our Common Laws it is held Maintenance when a great Personage onely by his presence countenanceth a Cause Neither let us secure our selves with this Argument The Papists are plyable in small matters ergo they will yield in greater and because they took no Arms in 88. therefore it were needless curiosity to suspect them now for who knows not that small baits are used to take the greatest Fish Vt cum esca una etiam hamus devoretur Wariness is the sinews of wisdom and nothing is more dangerous than to be secure in matters of State therefore for the Laws already made I wish that the most effectual of them which least concerns life may be executed for better it were not to make them than by neglect to set them at liberty seeing many offences there are which men would abstain from if they were forbidden but when a strict commandment is avoided without punishment thereout springs an unbridled Licence hardly to be reformed by any rigour To conclude I say freely that whoso endeth his days by a natural death he shall be subject to receive many mens dooms for every particular offence but when for Religions sake a man triumpheth over the sword that one eminent vertue razeth out the memory of other errours and placeth him that so dyeth in Paradice if common opinion may be lawfully vouched which glory having many followers and admirers awaketh even dull spirits to affect their footsteps and to sell their lives for the maintainance of the same Cause I need not envy the name of a Martyr to the Jesuit for his Cause if it be rightly weighed will blanch that Title but I desire to have all those lineaments defaced which may compound that counterfeit Image in prosecuting of which purpose if I have failed in my advice and by confused handling intricated the question I humbly request that a wise mans verdict may mitigate the heaviness of that censure It is neither good to praise bad Counsels because of their good success nor to condemn good Counsels if the Events prove not fortunate lest many be animated to advise rashly and others disheartned to counsel gravely Illi mors gravis incubat Qui notus nimis omnibus Ignotus moritur sibi Senec. Trag. His death deserveth more than common blame Whom all men knew too well and yet alone Alas he dyes unto himself unknown FINIS
in that course I hold it safer to be ambitious of the Victory which is purchased with less loss of Bloud and to proceed as Tully teacheth his Orator Who when he cannot wholly overthrow his Adversary yet ought he to do it in some part and with all endeavour to confirm his own party in the best manner that may be 4. He that forbeareth to sow his ground in expectance of good Winde or a favourable Moon commonly hath a poor Crop and a lean Purse So shall it fare with this State if private Whisperings of discontented persons that never learnt to speak well be too nicely regarded yet ought they not to be slightly set at nought lest our Credit grow light even in the Ballance of our dearest Friends The Papistical Libels inform against us as if we were desirous to grow fat with sucking of their Bloud the very Walls of their Seminary Colledge at Rome are bedawbed with their lying Phansies and in every corner the Corner-creepers leave some badge of their malicious Spleen against us crying out of Cruelty and Persecution But if the penalty of Death be changed into a simple indurance of Prison what Moat can they finde in our Eyes to pull out or with what Rhetorick can they defend their obstinate Malipertness which with repaying us ill for good deserve to have Coals of Indignation poured upon their heads Visne muliebre consilium said Livia to Augustus let Severity sleep a while and try what alteration the pardoning of Cinna may procure The Emperour hearkened to her Counsel and thereby found his Enemies mouths stopt and the malice abated Some there are perchance that will term this Clemency Innovation and vouch the Precedent of that City who permitted none to propound new Laws that had not a Cord about their neckes ready for Vengeance if it were found improfitable But let such Stoicks know that there is great difference between the penning of a new Law and advice given for the manner of executing it neither by their leaves are all Innovations to be rejected for divine Plato teacheth us That in all Common-wealths upon just grounds there ought to be some changes and that States-men therein must behave themselves like skilful Musicians Qui artem Musices non mutant sed Musices modum 5. That an evil Weed groweth fast by example of the new Catholicks increase is cleerly convinced But he that will ascribe this Generation simply to his Majesties Heroical vertue of Clemency argueth out of the fallacy which is called Ignoratio Elenchi Was not the Zeal of many cooled towards the last end of Queen Elizabeth's Raign hath not the impertinent heat of some of our own side bereft us of part of our strength and the Papacy with tract of Time gotten a hard skin on their Consciences Parva metu primo nux sese attollit in altum But if we will with a better insight behold how this great quantity of Spawn is multiplied we must especially ascribe the cause thereof to their Priests who by their Deaths prepare and assure more to their Sect than by their Lives they could ever perswade It were Incivility to distrust a Friend or one that hath the shew of an honest man if he will frankly give his Word or confirm it with a sacred Oath But when a Protestation is made upon the last gasp of Life it is of great effect and possesseth those that cannot gain-say it upon their own knowledge The number of these Priests which now adays come to make a Tragical Conclusion is not great Yet as with one Seal many Patents are sealed so with the loss of a few Lives numbers of wavering Spirits may be gained Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae And though these Priests having indeed a disadvantageous Cause are in very deed but counterfeit Shadows of Martyrs unto a true understanding yet will they be reputed for such by those that lay their Souls to pawn unto their Doctrine with whom if we list to contend by multitude of Voices we shall be cryed down without all peradventure For the gate of their Church is wide and many there are that enter thereinto 6. By divers Means it is possible to come to one and the self-same End seeing that then the sum of our well-wishings is all one namely That Popish Priests may have no power to do harm it is not impertinent to try sundry paths which may lead us to the perfecting of our Desires Politicians distinguish Inter rempub constitutam rempub constituend according to the several natures whereof Statists are to dispose of their Counsels and Ordinances Were now the Rhemists and Romulists new-hatched out of the shell the former course of Severity might soon bury their Opinions with their Persons But since the Disease is inveterated variety of Medicine is judiciously to to be applied The Romans did not punish all Crimes of one and the self-same nature with extremity of Death For some they condemned to perpetual Prison and others they banished into an Island or some remote Countrey Even in the case of Religion they were very tender to dip their fingers in Blood For when Cato was Consul and it seemed good unto the Senate to suppress with violence the disordered Ceremony of the Bacchanals brought by a strange Priest into the City he withstood that Sentence alledging that there was nothing so apt to deceive men as Religion which always presents a shew of Divinity and for that cause it behoved to be very wary in chastizing the Professors thereof lest any indignation should enter into the Peoples mindes that somewhat was derogated from the Majesty of God Others more freely have not spared to place Religion I mean that Religion which is ignorantly zealous amongst the kinds of Frensie which is not to be cured otherwise than by time given to divert or qualifie the fury of the Conceit Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Howsoever in valuing the power of a City or strength of Arguments quality and worth is to be preferred before number Nevertheless where the uttermost of our force is not known it imports much to have it conceived that the Multitude stands for us for Doubts and Suspicions cast in an Enemies way evermore make things seem greater and more difficult than they are indeed We have by God's Mercy the Sword of Justice drawn on our behalf which upon short warning is able to disunite the secret Underminers of our Quiet we have a King zealous for the House of the Lord who needeth not to fear less Success in shutting up of Priests than Queen Elizabeth had in restraining them in Wisbich-Castle where lest their factious Spirits should grow rusty they converted their Canker to fret upon themselves and vomiting out Gall in Quodlibets shewed that their Disease was chiefly predominant in the Spleen What Tempests they have raised in their Colledge at Rome their own Books and many Travellers can witness the storm whereof was such that Sextus Quintus complained seriously of the vexation
Pageants than of Spiritual Doctrine And what is the cause that after so many years of preaching of the Gospel that the common People still retain a scent of the Roman perfume The Cause is For that the formul Obedience of coming to Church hath been more expected than the Instruction of private Families publique Catechising is of great use but the first elements thereof are to be learnt at home And these which we learn from our Parents stick most surely in our mindes What was the cause why the Spartans continued their Government so many Revolutions of times without mutations Histories record that learning their Country Customs from their Infancy they would not be induced to alter them And in this our Native Soil we perceive that the Common Laws which rely on antient Customes are better observed than late Statutes of what worth soever they be So doth it fare with the poor People who being once seasoned with the old Dregs of Papisme will hurdly be drawn from it till the learning of the true Faith be grown to a Custome I will prescribe no order or affairs to effect this but I suppose that the antient laudable course by the Bishops Confirmation will not be sufficient to fulfil so great a task the Ministers must and ought to be the principal and immediate hands to give assistance to so gracious a work and in case any be defective in their Duty the Reverend Fathers of the Church may take notice thereof in their Vnitations Perhaps it will be thought a hard task to constrain old People to learn the A B C. of their Christian Belief But how hard soever it be I hold it no incivility to prepare people of all Ages for the Kingdome of Heaven It was not the hanging up of the Bull of Plus Quintus on the Bishop of London 's doors or the forbearing to hang up Priests that hath wrought this Apostasie But the Idleness and Insufficiency of many Teachers conspiring with the Peoples cold Zeal that hath been the contriver of this unhappy Web. Until the eleventh year of Queen Elizabeths Reign a Recusants name was scarcely known The reason reason was because that the Zeal begotten in the time of the Marian Persecution was yet fresh in memory And the late Persecutors were so amazed with the sudden alteration of Religion that they could not chuse but say Digitus Dei est hic In those days there was an emulation between the Clergy and the Laity and a strife arose Whether of them should shew themselves most affectionate to the Gospel Ministers naunted the Houses of worthiest Men where Jesuits now build their Tabernacles and poor Country-Churches were frequented with the best in the Shire The Word of God was precious Prayer and Preaching went hand in hand together Until Archbishop Grindal's disgrace and Hatfield's hard conceit of Prophecying brought the flowing of these good Graces to a still water The name of a Papist smelt rank even in their own Nostrils and for pure shame to be accounted such they resorted duely both to our Churches and Exercises But when they saw their great Coryphaeus Sanders had slily pinned the name of Puritans upon the sleeves of Protestants that encountred them with most courage and perceived that the word was pleasing to some of our own side they took heart agrace to set little by the Service of God and Duty to their Soveraign therewith start up from among us some that might have been recommended for their Zeal if it had been tempered with discretion who fore-running the Authority of the Magistrate took upon them in sundry places and publickly to censure whatsoever agreed not with their private conceits with which cross humours vented in Pulpits and Pamphlets most men grieve to be frozen in zeal and in such sort benummed that whosoever as the worthy Lord Keeper Bacon observed in those days pretended a little spark of earnestness he seemed no less than red fire hot in comparison of the other And as some things fare the worse for an ill Neighbours sake dwelling beside them so did it betide the Protestant who seeking to carb the Papist or to reprove an idle Droan was incontinently branded with the ignominious note of a Precisian All which winde brought plenty of Water to the Popes Mill and there will most men grind where they see appearance to be well served 12. If without great inconvenience the Children of Papists could be brought up out of their company it were a happy turn but I find it to be full of difficulty there is provision made to avoid Popish School-masters but there is no ward against Popish School-unstresses that infect the silly infants while they carry them in their Arms which moveth me to suppose that the former proposition to examine how Children and Servants are brought up and truly to certine the List of the Communicants and Recusants will be the readiest means to let His Majesty know the yearly increase or decrease of the Church in every Diocess and whosoever shall send his Children or any of His Majesties Subjects to be placed in Monasteries or Seminary Colledges or Popishly to be brought up in Forraign parts I think that for punishment both the one and the other worthily might be disfranchised of the Priviledges due to natural English-men so far forth as any good by the Laws may descend to them but not to be exempted from the penalties thereof or the Regal Jurisdicton of the Crown I know well that contradiction is odious and makes a man seem ambitious to be thought more understanding than others in which case the Spaniard useth onely to term him presumptuous whom he would call Fool if civility would bear it But in my Defence I hope it shall suffice again to revive my former protestation that I discourse by the way of proposition rather than arrogance of defining any thing with pardon therefore may I be permitted to say That the first easie Law of Twelve pence inflicted on him that could not give a reasonable excuse for his absence from Church on Sundays was one of the best Ordinances that hath hitherto been enacted but while we sought to make new Statutes savouring of more severity we neglected the old and were loath to execute the new for it is a certain Rule that whosoever in policy will give liberty and yet seem to suppress a Crime let him procure sharp Laws to be proclaimed which are only necessary for some times and rare occasions to be put in execution but not to be an ordinary work for every day of the week Daily use likewise teacheth us that it is loss grievous to punish by an old Law than by a new Forasmuch as Truth it self seldom gets credit without proof and it is hard to free the people of suspition that new Laws are not rather invented against the particular persons and purses of men than against the corrupt manners By force of which reason I am induced to conceive that the old use of