day with as much Indulgence and Favour as he could without Offence or Scandal to the tender Consciences of his own Church which as he ought so he did chiefly regard § Neither were King James his Favours confined to the Papists of Great Britain only but were extended also to those never to be obliged Catholicks in Ireland For he resolved not to take any advantage of great Forfeitures and Confiscations which he was most justly Entitled unto by Tyrones Rebellion but out of his Royal Bounty restored all the Natives to the Intite possession of their own Lands in hope this would for ever have engaged their Obedience to him and his at least if not unto the Crown of England And yet he had not Reigned 6 Years e're the Earl of Tyrone not long before obliged by the Queen with Titles of Honour great store of Lands Commands of Horse and Foot in her pay was designing afresh the raising of another Rebellion into which he easily drew the whole Province of Vlster then entirely at his Devotion But his Design being prevented he with his chief Adherents fled into Spain from whence he never returned which impious and ungrateful Act of his and his Adherents rendred them justly suspected to be Irreconcilable to a Protestant Prince which forced the King to cause their persons to be attainted their Lands to be seized those Six Conntries within the Province of Vlster to be Surveyed c. And the same course to be taken likewise in Lemster where the Irish had made Incursions and violently repelled the Old English And though the King was by due course of Lavv justly Entituled to all their vvhole Estates there yet vvas he gratiously pleased to take but part of their Lands vvhich coming to Brittish undertakers made them to flourish vvith costly Buildings 21. b. and vvith all manner of Improvements so that the very Irish seemed to be very much satisfied with the flourishing and peaceable Condition of the whole Kingdom and yet could not Acquiesce therein but Rebel they must against King Charles the Son who besides many other Favours and Connivances had so far gratified the Natives Anno 1640. that he grants unto the Commissioners then sent unto him out of Ireland the Act of Limitations so vehemently desired by the Natives and the Act for the rilinquishment of His Majesties Right and Title to the Four Counties in Connaught Besides at this time the Papists privately enjoyed the exercise of their Religion throughout the whole Kingdom by the Indulgence and Connivance of the late Governours they having their Titular Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Abbots c. who all lived freely though obscurely yet without controll and exercised a voluntary Jurisdiction Multitudes of Priests Jesuits and Friars returning out of Spain and Italy where the Irish Natives that way devoted were thither sent for Education and now returned lived in the chief Towns and Villages and in the Houses of the Nobility and Gentry exercising their Religious Rites and Ceremonies none of the severer Laws being put in Execution whereby great penalties were to be inflicted on Transgressors in that kind Were they ever the more faithful for these great Indulgencies nothing less For in August 1641. after about forty years peace the Popish party in both House of Parliament then sitting in Dublin grew so insolent as being scarce compatible with the present peaceable Government they were forc'd to adjourn for 3 Months before which time viz 23. Octob. 1641. they brake out into that detestable and desperate Rebellion as is not to be matcht in any Story wherein in less than Two Years they murdered in cold Blood above 200000. English Protestants destroyed some other ways and expelled out of their Habitations nay moreover they threatned to burn Dublin destroy all Records and Monuments of the English Government to make Laws against speaking English and that all names given by English to places should be abolished and the antient names restored And was not this also a great demonstration of their Faithfulness to the King and Crown of England Let every man judg as he sees cause how faithfully they requited King Charles the first for his favours towards them which were many and great which I will not here enumerate it being super-abundantly done already in print in divers Pamphlets though I fear with no good intention towards that glorious Martyr but rather to raise an Odium towards him from some of his weaker Subjects willing happily for other ends to be so seduced many whereof I hope have lived to see and consider that his pious life and death gave a just contradiction to those false Imputations and Jelousies And yet I must not forget one remarkable kindness of his who loved not to punish scrupulous peaceable Consciences sanguinarily towards Papists who being sent unto by both Houses of Parliament Anno 1640. for the Execution of John Goodman a Condemned Priest did in answer to them 3. Febr. 1640. own that he had reprieved him not without giving them great reasons for his so doing viz. For that neither his Father nor yet Queen Eliz. did ever avow that any Priest in their times was Executed meerly for Religion and therefore did remit this particular cause to both the Heresies cautionating them withall That happily his Execution might seem a severity in other States 22. b. and might draw inconveniences on his Subjects in other Countries and therefore held himself discharged from all inconveniences that might ensue upon his Execution And this did he notwithstanding the Popes Directions unto the then Superior of the Catholicks in England Anno 1638. were expresly to command them suddenly to desist from making such offers of Men towards the Northern Expedition then under consideration as we hear they have done little to the Advantage of their Discretion and that they be not more forward with Money than what Law and Duty enjoyns them to pay § Such was the kindness and faithfulness of those Irish Papists to the King and Crown of England that indeed they did rise I must needs say most Catholickly in Rebellion against both from all parts of the Kingdom designing thereby to monopolize the whole Government of that Kingdom into their own hands exclusive of the King if several Oaths are to be credited published by the Kings Warrant to enjoy the publick profession of their Idolatrous Religion and to Expell all the English by whose protection countenance favours and purses that Kingdom was so beautified and inriched as it then was and is at this day though now by them miserably pejorated by that Intestine War raissed by themselves in the midst of their happy enjoyments and that without any provocation ground or colour against the King as himself expressed under his Great Seal To this give Testimony those early instructions privately sent over into England by the Lord Dillon of Costeloe presently after the breaking out of the Rebellion by the Remonstrance of the county of Longford pretended about the same time
consent to the worship of Idols or other superstitious or prophane Ceremonies for God will not be deceived nor mocked who scarcheth all things even the secrets of our Hearts Ambrose lib. 5. Ep. 30. Now what account will God exact for his Name blasphemed his Word exiled and wrested his Decalogue dockt his Sacraments curtal'd and prophaned And what answer must be made for the ruine of Faith harvest of sin murder of Souls consequent always to the publick freedom of Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship and Heresies which ought to be fully considered and wisely prevented by Christian Magistrates who must as well as the meanest of their Vassals give an account of their Stewardships when called thereunto at the day of their Account § When Mary afterwards Queen of England earnestly besought her Brother King Ed. 6. both by her own Letters and by the mediation of the Emperour That she might have the free use of Mass in her Family alledging her Conscience for it that her House was her Flock c. The King by his Council made answer that it was well liked that her Grace should have her House or Flock but not exempt from the Kings Laws and Orders neither may there be a Flock of the Kings Subjects but such as will hear and follow the voice of the King their Shepherd God disalloweth Law and Reason forbiddeth it Policy abborreth it and her Honour may not require it However at her earnest intreaty and desire made in the Emperors Name thus much was granted and no more that for his sake and hers also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Mass used in her own Closet for a season until she might be better informed whereof was some hope having only with her a few of her own Chamber so that for all the rest of her Houshold the Service of the Realm should be used and no other After this was granted in Words the Emperors Ambassador desired some Testimony of the Promise under the Great Seal which being denied he desired to have it by a Letter which was also denyed but not without shewing sound reason that he perceiving it to be denyed with Reason might be the better contented with the answer But when there was ill use made of this Indulgence and Connivance her Chaplian taking too great a liberty by publick Celebration of the Mass out of her Presence was sent for by the Council imprison'd c. for whom though her Grace mediated by many earnest Letters both to the King and his Council yet did his Majesty signifie to her by a Letter dated 24. January 1550. That though he had for a while connived that she might be brought as far towards the Truth by Brotherly love as others were by Duty and in hope of her amendment yet now if there be no hope why should there be sufferance Alledging also That his charge was to have the same care over every mans Estate that every man ought to have over his own And that in her own House as she would be loath openly to suffer one of her Servants being next her most manifestly to break her Orders so must she think in his state it would prejudice him to permit her so great a Subject not to keep his Laws that her nearness to him in Blood her greatness in Estate and the condition of the Time made her fault the greater The Example is unnatural that our Sister should do less for us than our other Subjects the Case slanderous for so great a person to forsake our Majesty And therefore 24. Aug. 1551. He sent Commissioners to signifie to her That His Majesty did resolutely determine it just necessary and expedient That her Grace should not in any ways use or maintain the private Mass or any other manner of service than such as by the Law of the Realm was authorized and allowed So resolute was this young Josiah this Noble pious Prince though his dear Sister and the next Heir of the Crown had divers times offered her Body at the Kings Will rather than to change her Conscience § Queen Eliz. as in other things so in Religion was according to her assumed Motto semper eadem never suffering the least Innovation thereof and therefore as in the first Year of her Reign she took great care that those Protestants which then began to frame a new Ecclesiastical Policy being transported with a humour of Innovation should be repressed betimes and that but one only Religion was to be tollerated lest diversity of Religions amongst the English a stout and Warlike Nation might minister continual Fuel to Seditions Angli Bello in trepidi nec mortis sensu deterentur So in the Second Year of her Reign when the Emperor and Catholick Princes by many Letters made earnest intercession that the Bishops and other Ecclesiasticks displaced for refusing the Oath of Supremacy which notwithstnading most of them had Sworn unto and taught in their Sermons and writ in defence thereof in the Reign of King H. 8. might be mercifully dealt withall there being as themselves had written and calculated above 9400. Ecclesiastical preferments and not above 189. displaced whereof 14 were Bishops that Churches might be allowed to the Papists by themselves in Cities she answered That although those Popish Bishops had insolently and openly repugned against the Laws and Quiet of the Realm and did still obstinately reject that Doctrin which most of them under H. 8. and E. 6. had of their own accord with heart and hand publickly in their Sermons and Writings taught unto others when they themselves were not private Men but publick Magistrates yet would she for so great Princes sakes deal favourably with them though not without some offence to her own Subjects But to grant them Churches wherein to celebrate their divine Offices apart by themselves she could not with the safety of the Common-Wealth and without wrong to her ovvn Honour and Conscience neither vvas there any cause vvhy she should grant them seeing England embraced no nevv or strange Doctrin but the same vvhich Christ commanded the Primitive and Catholick Church received and the ancient Fathers vvith one Mind and Voice approved and to allovv Churches with contrary Rites and Ceremonies Besides that it openly repugned the Lawsestablished by Authority of Parliament were nothing else but to sow Religion out of Religion to distract good Mens minds to cherish factious Mens humours disturb Religion and the Common-Wealth and mingle Divine and Humane things a Thing Evil in Deed but in Example worst of all to her own good Subjects hurtful and unto themselves to whom it is granted neither greatly commodious nor yet at all safe She was therefore determined out of her natural Clemency and especially at their request to be willing to heale the private insolency of a few by much Connivance yet so as she might not encourage their obstinate minds by her Indulgence § When Sussex treated with the Emperor Maximilian on the
a prey to their cruel Jaws and Venom May our King live for ever and may there never want a man of his Race to sit on his Throne Ruling in Righteousness fearing God and hating evil and that there may be a high-way of HOliness throughout his Dominions that wayfaring men though fools may not erre therein Isa 35.8 Surely there is no inchantment against Jacob neither is there any Divination against Israel Numb 23.23 Rara temporum faelicitas sub Nerva Trajano ubi sentires quae velles dicere quae sEntires FINIS A Postscript shewing the purport of Pius Quintus his Bull against Q. Eliz. and also a form of Indictment of such Papists as were Executed for Treasons in her days that all the VVorld may be the better satisfied that not one of them dyed for any point of Religion and this is as a Supplement to what is so particularly set down in Horae subsecivae PIus Quintus Pontifex Maximus de Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine 25. Feb. 1570. declaravit Elizabetham pretenso Regni Jure necnon omni quocunque Dominio Dignitate privilegioque privatam Itemque proceres subditos populos dicti regni ac caeteros omnes qui illi quomodocunque juraverunt a Juramento hujusmodi ac omni fidelitatis debito perpetuo absolutos i. e. Pius Quintus the great Bishop of the fulness of Apostolick power hath declared Elizabeth to be bereaved of her pretended right of her Kingdom and also of all and whatsoever Dominion Dignity and Priviledge and also the Nobles Subjects and people of the said Kingdom and all others which had sworn to her any manner of ways to be absolved for ever from such Oath and from all Debt or Duty of Fealty c. with many threatning cursings to all that durst obey her and her Laws And for the Execution hereof to prove that the Effect of this Bull and Message was flat Rebellion mark what Dr. Sanders the Popes Fire-brand in Ireland writeth in his Book de visibili Monarchia Pius Quintus Pontifex Maximus Anno Domini 1569. Reverendum presbyterum Nicolaum Mortonum Anglum in Angliam misit ut certis illustribus viris Authoritate Apostolica denuntiaret Elizabetham quae tunc rerum potiebatur hereticam esse ob eamque causam omni dominio potestate excidisse impuneque ab illiis velut Ethnicam haberi posse nec cos illos legibus aut man datis deinceps obedire cogi i. e. Pius Quintus the greatest Bishop Anno Domini 1569. sent the Reverend Priest Nicholas Morton an English man into England That he should denounce or declare by the Apostolick Authority to certain Noble Men Elizabeth who then was in possession to be an Heretick and for that cause to have fallen from all Dominion and power and that she may be had or reputed of them as an Ethnick and that they are not to be compelled to obey her Laws or Commandments Thus you see an Ambassade of Rebellion from the Popes Holiness by an old doting Protestant a Fugitive and Conspiriator unto some Noble Men which were the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland Heads of the Rebellion that followed the success whereof he declares viz. Qua denuntiatione multi nobiles viri adducti sunt de fratribus liberandis cogitare auderent ac sperabant illa quidem Catholicos omnes summis viribus affutnros esse Verum etsi aliter quam illi expectabant res evenit quia Catholici omnes nondum probe cognoverant Elizabetham Haereticam esse declaratam tamen laudanda illorum Nobilium consilia erant i. e. By which denuntiation many Noble men were induced or lead that they were emboldened to think of the freeing of their Brethren and they hoped certainly that all the Catholicks would have assisted them with all their strength bu although the matter happened otherwise than they hoped for because all the Catholicks knew not that Elizabeth was declared an Heretick yet the Councils and Intents of those Noble Men were to be praised This want of Information was soon after diligently and cunningly supplyed by sending multitudes of the Seminaries and Jesuits to inform the people as a Supplement to amend the former error Though Dr. Sanders hath thus written yet it may be said by such as favoured those Two Noble Jesuits Ro. Parsons and Ed. Campion that Dr. Sanders Treason is his proper Treason in allowing and justifying of the said Bull and not to be imputed to Parsons and Campion who notwithstanding had by special Authority charge to Execute the Sentence of this Bull which may appear by the subsequent Writings taken about one of their Confederates immediately after Campions death who in his life time would not be known of any such matter whereby may appear what trust is to be given to such Peudo-Martyrs Facultates concessae P. P. Roberto Parsonio Edmundo Campiano pro Anglia die 14. Apr. 1580. Petatur a summo Domino nostro Explicatio Bullae declaratoriae per Pium Quintum contra Elizabetham ei adhaerentes quam Catholici cupiunt intelligi hoc modo ut obliget semper illam haereticos Catholicos vero nullo modo obliget rebus sic stantibus sed tum demum quum publica ejusdem Bulle Executio fieri poterit Then followeth many other Petitions of Faculties for their farther Authorities not needful here to recite in the Close the Pope Answers Has praedictas Gratias concessit Summus Pontifex patri Roberto Parsonio Edm. Campiano in Angliam profecturis die 14. Aprilis 1518. presente Oliverio Monarco assistente Faculties granted to the Two Fathers Robert Parsons and Edmund Campion for England the 14. day of April 1580. by Gregory the XIII Let it be asked or required of our most Holy Lord the Explication or meaning of the Bull declaratory made by Pius Quintus against Elizabeth and such as do adhere or obey her which Bull the Catholicks desire to be understood on this manner that the same Bull shall always bind her and the Hereticks but the Catholicks it shall by no means bind as matters now stand or be but hereafter when the publick Execution of that Bull may be had and made Then in the Close was added The highest Pontiff or Bishop granted the aforesaid Graces or Faculties to Father Robert Parsons and Edmund Campion who are now to take their Journey into England 14. April 1580. being present the Father Oliverius Manark assistant By this it is apparent how all the Catholicks in General did desire to have the said Bull which is still in force against all her Successors when ever it shall please his Holiness so to declare it to be understood viz. against the Queen but yet to be free themselves which is made more demonstrable by the Confession of Hart one of their own Fellows and Condemned but not Executed with Campion who ult Decemb. 1580. Confessed That the Bull of Pius Quintus for so much as it is against the Queen is
do give a stop to the open and publick profession of the true Antient Catholick and Apostolick Faith as the Romanists bespatter and give out Nothing less It only discountenanceth the publick and open Profession of the Romish Tridentine Faith which in those Articles wherein they differ from the Protestants is neither True nor Antient nor Catholick but is an entire Apostasie from it and doubtless is the most Catholick and greatest Heresie in the Christian World A Religion that upon due examination and chioce no Man can embrace without reproaching his Maker and his Redeemer by renouncing his reason nay his very outward senses wherewith God hath endued him A Religion that by the same reason that they endeavour to justifie Transubstantiation I instance in this because I find more do wave the observance of the Act on the account of the Declaration and Subscription than of the Oaths therein a Man may as well believe every Hobby-horse to be a Barbe or Courser of Naples or the picture of every Bruit on a Sign-post to be really the Bruit it self Nay to doubt or deny that ever there was such a person as Jesus Christ upon Earth or that he or any of the Saints which slept did rise from the dead after him or that the Graves did open or that the Vail of the Temple was rent or that there was darkness over the whole Land from the sixth hour to the ninth c. I appeal to all the World if ever God declared either by word or practice that he would make use of artes praestigiariae Jugling Arts by deceptio sensuum or otherwise Nay hath not his practice ever been clearly contrary in all the Miracles that he or his Son ever wrought And the learnedst of the Romanists would infinitly oblige us if they would demonstrate unto us which of Christs Body it is that is Corporally in the Sacrament whether his glorified or not glorified Body and clear it of all the monstrous absurdities that opinion is guilty of The Antient Catholick and Apostolick Faith partakes not of their fopperies nor of their absurdities for their concealments and spunges are no better needs no captious reasonings no equivocations requires no implicit or blind faith or obedience uses no knaveries No no pure Religion and undefiled is of a better Brood of a more Noble Extract of a more Divine Origine The profession thereof joyned with Holiness and Righteousness ennobles every Soul scorns to obscure any Truths needs no prohibition of Gods Word no Indices expurgatorii hath superlative priviledges the greatest ornament any Sublunary Majesty can have scorns to use any indirect Artifices to Create Subtilities or Coyn Evasions to conceal or adulterate any of her Truths from ignorant or learned or to abuse any of our Senses as if we could not distinguish Bread from Stones or Fish from Serpents What have we from without us common to all Mankind so infallible as our Senses to cause Belief that Jesus Christ lived upon the Earth was Crucified Buried and Rose again The only Argument that Christ himself used to convince diffidert St. Thomas to Believe was by his own Senses of seeing and feeling John 20.25 27. And if the Senses of all Christians in all Countries have been deceived above these 1600. years since Christs death in one Point why may not we by the same reason question and suspect the Senses of all those that lived contemporary with him in more Points as whether any of these things were so or no. So happy I confess are the Papalins in their Disputes against Protestant Religion that many of their Arguments by retortion only are as strong against their own Religion and indeed as strong against all Religions as against ours Light is come into the World but these men love darkness rather than light And why because their Deeds are evil every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his Deeds should be discovered but he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God 3 John 19.20 21. Take but a short view but of Four of their Opinions that are so Diametrically contrary to Scripture that nothing but lowd and bawling Impudence can deny and in which the meanest capacity cannot be mistaken no not those Lucifugae Scripturarum that are only most blind not because they cannot but because they will not see nor yet understand though as directly opposite to Scripture as light to darkness truth to error God and Scripture GOd in the Second Commandment 20. Exod. forbids the very making of any graven Image or the likeness of any thing 2. Forbids the very Bowing down to them 3. He Commands them to take good heed unto themselves for that they saw no manner of Similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto them in Horeb out of the Fire lest they corrupted themselves and make a graven Image the similitude of any figure the likeness of male or female c. 4.15 16 17.4 He Cautionates them not to forget the Covenant he made with them viz. that they make not a graven Image or the likeness of any thing which the Lord the God had forbidden 5. He minds them that he was a Jealous God and would nothave his Glory imparted to another 6. He was a consuming fire able to revenge all disobediences 23.7 He curseth the very man that maketh any graven or molten Image an Abomination to the Lord Deut. 27.15 Pope and Popish Doctrine NOtwithstanding all these solemn Prohibitions and Reasons delivered so dreadfully on the Mount by God himself in Fire with Thunder and Lightning thick Clouds and Smoak so that the whole Mount quaked greatly Yet so Super-omnipotent is Dominus Deus vester Papa that he doth not only dare to leave this very Commandment out of the Decalogue but Commands even under Anathema's and practises the clean contrary And it is justified and averred to be constants Theologorum c. The constant judgment of Divines that the Image is to be honoured and worshipped with the same Honour and Worship wherewith it is worshiped whereof it is an Imageâ—â— Jor. Azorâ—â—s the Jesuit Institut mor. tem 1. lib. 9. cap. 6. And Tho. Aquin. Concludes that the same reverence is to be given to the Image of Christ and to Christ himself and because Christ is to be Adored with Latria or Divine Worship that his Image is to be Adored with the Adoration of Latria Tho sum part 3. q. 25. Art 3. And Friar Pedro de Cabrera on that place Concludes 1. That it is simply and absolutely to be said that Images are to be worshipped in Churches and out of Churches and the contrary is an Heretical Doctrine 2. That Images are truly and properly to be Adored and out of an Intention to Adore themselves and not only the Samplers that are represented in them And this he saith is the Doctrine not only of Thomas and of all his Disciples but
infatuated as ever to put power into their Hands who have so often given such palpable Demonstration and Testimony how they have used it already and such pregnant presumptions how they would use it again could they obtain it Even they that run may read what the Papists like Jehu drive so furionsly at even to make England once more Issachar like to couch and carry the Saddle Vah Papae shall it ever be again the style and reproach of England Glorious England that is scituate among the Rivers whose Rampart is the Sea and whose God is the Lord to carry the Saddle again God forbid But if so unhappy so unfortunate I 'le prophesie that not the Pope only but the Devil will ride her Pardon these Expressions I have encouragement from St. Jerome Neminem volo patientem esse in causalaesae fidei and from Moses the Mirror of meekness who knows no patience in Israels Idolatry Numb 12.3 Exod. 22.19 26 27. Idem manens idem semper facit idem THE REAL MERITS OF THE PAPISTS SUch hath the Confidence of the Papists of these latter times been as to claim a Right unto the Kings Majesties favour for a tolleration of their Religion upon the account of their great Merits as having best deserved of His Majesty because of all they were the most faithful to him and his Father The purport of this hath not only been averred by the generality of them in their ordinary discourses but also set out in print by several of them P. W. R. P. J. S. H. M. and others At which confident Assertion of theirs when I consider how boldly and feircly the contend for meritorious works nay for works of super-errogation even with God himself I do not so much wonder that such Merit-mongers broach it so confidently now as that they have not done it all this while § He that is first in his own Cause seemeth just but his Neighbours cometh and searcheth him Prov. 18.17 Which that we may the better do we will only a little look back into our own Chronicle without cloying the Reader with like Foreign Stories which would fill Volumes and first see how true and trusty Trojans the Papists have been to the Kings of England no Protestants but Papists and if they shall be found to have been neither true nor trusty but Traytors and Rebels to the Kings of their own Religion can it then ever be believed or hoped that they ever will be Loyal and Faithful to Protestant Princes when a neat opportunity offers the contrary and that Maugre all Roman Mandates to the contrary what Prince or other Sovereign foberly considers the new founded Society of Jesuits erected by Pope Paul the 3d. about 1540. who although at first but 10 in Number yet so wonderfully encreased since that they bragged not a few years ago that they were 1300010. they lived in Colledges and places of residence besides those that trotted up and down that they had 359. Colledges or Schools 18 Domus professae 40 Domus probationis 8 Seminaries 1010 Residentiaries Vide speculum Jesuiticum Runninge Register And what their Principles and Doctrins are and what their practices have been for the destroying of all Princes quacumque Arte that will not become Vassals to the See of Rome and and acknowledg a Spiritual Monarchy in that Roman Chair paramount all temporal Crowns and Scepters and how strict and of what extant their vow of Obedience is to the Roman Bishop and how it is decreed by several Popes that the Institutions and Doctrins of the Jesuits must not be contradicted or disputed by any Ordinary Delegate Judg or Magistrate and how vastly that society is enlarged both in their Clergy and Layety since these great brags of theirs will be sufficiently convinced that neither their persons or their Kingdoms can ever be secure where either one sort or other are suffered to flourish § Let us now see matter of Fact Did not Pope Alexander the 3d. by violence and tyranny force King H. the II. to surrender his Crown Imperial into the hand of his Legate and afterwards be content with a private Condition for a while to the great regret and Indignation of his Subjects Did not Innocent the 3d. stir up the Nobility and Commonalty of this Kingdom against King John and gave the Inheritance and Possession of all his Dominions unto Ludovicus the French King What were those 52 000. but Papists that rebelled against Richard the I. Anno 1196. And all those that rebelled against Edward the II. Anno 1316 1317 1321 1322 1326. Amongst whom was Robert Baldock Bishop of Norwich and Lord Chancellor of England And all those that consented to the Murder of Edward the Third's Father and fought to kill john of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Edward the Third's Son Anno 1330.1372 And those in Richard the Third's time Anno 1381. Annimated by John Ball a Priest who at his Execution refused to ask the King forgiveness and despised him so peremptory was he Jack Straw confessing that when he sent for the King to Black-Heath they purposed to have murdered all Knights Esquires and Gentlemen that should have come with him and when they had got sufficient force they would suddenly then have put to death in every County and Lords and Masters of the Common people in whom might appear to be either Council or Resistance one Argument used by some of the late Protectorians for the death of our Glorious King and Martyr that he was too knowing and too intelligent to be suffered to live and especially they would have killed the Knights of St. John and all Men of any Possessions only Begging Fryars should have lived that might have Administred the Sacraments throughout the Realm and lastly the would have killed the King himself and made Kings in every Shire Thomas Arrundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury traiterously practiced the deposing of the said Richard his lawful Sovereign § It were no very mild conjecture to Divine that our late Generation of Levellers Major Generals Quakers and Phanaticks were spawned from them and that they are still but Badgers plotting and digging Holes for Romish Foxes to lie couchant and covertly in for their more subtile contrivances § What were those but Papists that rebelled against H. the 4th designing to Murder him under the colour of Justinge and other pastimes pretended 1399. And also those who raised Arms against him among whom was John Madelyn a Priest who had been Chaplain to King Richard and impudently personated the King They were Priests and Friars that suborned a False Richard whereof 8 being Miners were hanged at Tyburne Oswald Bishop of Galloway was the chief Plotter against Richard the 2d in the Year 1403. A Priest of Warwick and also Walter Waldock a Prior of Laud in Leicester-Shire and one Richard Freseby a Dr. in Divinity was Executed in his Religious Habit and Weede and not long after 10 Grey Fryars were executed all for Treason In the year 1404. Tho. Percy
their Dominions § Concerning which I shall say thus in general That though no mortal man hath rightful power to forbid Christs Spiritual Duties the Worshipping of God Preaching his Word and Truth yet I say first that no Indulgence ought to be given by the Magistrate to any Sect whatsoever whose Doctrins and Principles are not known and therefore none to Quakers or Enthusiasts whose Rule is not the Scripture but the Light within them which is darkness to others if not to themselves and it may be Hosanna to day and yet Crucifige to morrow Then the Principles by which other Sects do worship being known the legislative Magistrares whether Monarchs or Free States are the Judges of them how consistent or inconsistent with Gods true Religion and Worship and with the peace and wellfare of their own Dominions and Subjects and accordingly may or may not Indulge or Tollerate their Religion and Worship And therefore Princes ought to use great Caution and to be very wary and circumspect herein for that sins committed by others through our Example Instigation Connivnace or Tolleration become ours by just Imputation In Naboths death the Judges and false Witnesses were the next Agents Jesabel the Plotter only and Instigator 1 King 21.7 13 23. Yet she is punished for shedding Naboths Blood though her hand was not upon him Even in Courts of ordinary Justice it seems just and is so in our Law that not only the Executioner but the Plotter Abettor Instigator and Concealer of Treason be punished with death Yea see how far a less degree of participation brings guilt upon our Souls The Rulers amongst the Jews that but tollerated the breach of the Sabbath are charged to have prophaned the Sabbath Nehem. 13.17.18 Yea the least Countenance given to Idolatry makes culpable of Idolatry 1 Cor. 10.18 21. To this agrees the Prohibition of St. Paul Communicate not with other Mens sins 1 Tim. 5.22 And that command Lev. 16.17 Thou shalt rebuke thy Neighbour plainly and not suffer him to sin It is a Gospel-Principle that Gods Children ought to be careful not only to eschewe evil in their own persons but also to prevent it in othrss A notable Example we have in the people of Israel who well knowing that God was a Jealous God Deut. 4.24 Isa 42.8 and would not have his Glory communicated to others nor his praise unto Graven Images out of their abundant caution minding the concerns of their Brethren as their own when they heard Tidings how the Rubenites Gadites and half Tribe of Manasseh had Erected an Altar not for Worshipping as they truly protested but for Memorial so fearful they grew of Gods Wrath that they presently dispatched an Embassy to their Brethren to prevent their sin And see how pithily they deal with them Is the Iniquity of Peor too little for us from which ye are not cleansed to this day that ye also must depart from following the Lord Josh 22.17 Thus they in a shew only and appearance of evil which we are commanded to abstain from 1 Thes 5.22 and to resist unto Blood striving against sin Qui non vetat peccare quum possit Jubet Heb. 12.4 The Conclusion is strong What sins of others we labour not within our Province Power and Compass to prevent are ours in the guilt as well as those of our own personal Commission The Reasons are many 1. We hazard our selves to infection 1 Cor. 5.6 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump 2. Vnto wrath Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues Apoc. 4.3 We hazard the Delinquents to obstinate impenitency We blemish our own fame and sincerity 5. Quantum in nobis we encourage others to like exorbitancy in sinful Worship even in our common Laws it is held maintenance when a great person only by his presence countenanceth a Cause Saints of old were regularly scrupulous and abstemious in this kind I have not sate with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers I have hated the Congregation of evil doers and will no sit with the wicked Psal 26.4 5. Jer. 15.17 I sat not in the assembly of mockers nor rejoyc'd Did not Elias sharply reprove King Ahab and the Commons of Israel for that error He did not say Why permit you not those that will to serve the Lord and those that list to serve Baal But How halt you between Two Opinions If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him 1 Kings 18.21 Since it is confessed both by Protestants and Papists That there can be no God save the Lord Psal 18.31 and he never meant to surrender any piece of his Glory Isa 48.11 but is so jealous of it that he will be served and only served with all our Heart and with all our Soul Deut. 10.12 I reckon it cannot stand with a Magistrates Duty to reverse this Heavenly Decree Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4.10 Dent. 6.13 with establishing Two Religions in the Realm And the first precept forbiding more Gods than one barreth all other services of the same God save that which himself hath appointed for himself His commands relating to his own Worship are very severe very strict He that is born in the House and bought with thy Money must needs be Circumcised i.e. Observe the whole Law Gen. 17.12 So the charge of keeping the Sabbath is laid upon the Father of the Family for all that are within his Gate Exod. 20.10 The Lord Commandeth That if any person Brother Son Daughter the Wife of thy Bosom or thy Friend which is as thy own Soul shall intice to Idolatry or any City shall set up a new Worship the one shall be killed the other destroyed Deut. 13.6 9 12 15. To this belongeth that precept To seperate the pretious from the vile Jer. 15.19 and this viz. Not to sow the Field with divers Seeds nor to wear a Garment of divers things Lev. 19.10 So Moses Deut. 22.10 Thou shalt plough with an Oxe and an Asse together which St. Paul thus expoundeth 2 Co. 6.14 Be not unequally yoaked with unbelievers All which places are generally and promiscuously applied as well unto Superstitious and Idolatrous Wedlock as to tolleration of Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship which the Apostle demonstrates to be as absurd and monstrous as that righteousness should have fellowship with unrighteousness or light to have communion with darkness or that Christ can have Concord with Belial or that the Temples of God can have agreement with Idols and such Temples are all good Christians whom Legions of Lusts and Devils do not pre-possess Vers 14 15 16 17. Besides it cannot be denied but that they may and will be Snares and Traps if not Scourges in our sides and Thorns in our Eyes John 23.13 God fore-saw it and fore-told it and therefore made such strict commands against such Medly-mungril-mixtures as
of the Protestant Religion Another prohibits the Exercise of Charity towards their Brethren who have no sufficiency of their own for their livelyhood 5. Oct. 1663. Another dischargeth payment of Debts by those of the Commonalty who shall turn Papists The very Heathens never pretended that those Christians who did but Apostatize to them should be discharged from payment of their Debts Another prohibits Ministers to preach without the place of their residence thereby depriving them of the benefit of Annexation i. e. the priviledge of one Ministers supplying Two Churches which singly are not able to afford a compleat maintenance 22. Feb. 1664. Another giveth liberty to Priests and Fryars to enter their Houses and come unto their Bed-sides when sick or dying to sollicite them to change their Religion 18. Sept. 1664. 12. May 1665. Another maketh it criminal in Ministers to style themselves Pastors or Ministers of the Word of God Nay they have regulated the very Garments of Ministers forbidding them to wear a long Garment that they may have no Character of distinction from the peasants 30. Jan. 1663. In the Declaration of pretended Relapses 1663. ratified in Parliament 7. Jan. 1663. It is ordained that those of the Religion who have once embraced the Popish Religion shall never again return unto it under pain of perpetual Banishment A thing plainly contrary to the Edict Yet they have given it a retrospective and retroactive power to execute it against persons who became of the Religion long before the Declaration was in being and accordingly have proceeded against some whom they have imprisoned compelled to do penance by going Bare-foot and Bare-headed through the streets with a burning Torch to the place of Justice or person offended and there to ask forgiveness and then Banished the Kingdom I could cloy the Readers with like severities usque ad nauseam but I forbear having no other design by this brief Narrative but only to give a tast of the difference of severities which we use here and which are used against us abroad in our Neighbour Nations without going farther into Germany Hungary Poland and other Popish Countries Vide the Memoirs of the King of Sweden to the Emperonr Let William Watson the Secular Priest conclude for our Justification viz. That all the sufferings brought upon the Papists here in England was the due reward for their own demerits Which Axiome is as compleatly true now as it was in his days Now what hope can we have to speed better than our Neighbours who only want power to do as much for us but I proceed As in the days of Queen Eliz. so now they begin to play their old tricks over again and would fain perswade us that there is a Generation of them that are faithful and dutiful Subjects to this Crown whatsoever others of the same Communion are and therefore plead hard for Indulgence and Tolleration above their Fellows F. 5. As that they disown the Paramount and Omnipotent Powers attributed to the Pope in many particulars and look upon it as a grievance rather than a right belonging to him and complain and wish for remedy that they will stand with the King his Crown and Regality in some Cases by them named F. 6. and in all others in all points to live and dye with them They farther conceive that it is the right of every National Church to provide for the particular concerns thereof and yet confesses that it is not for her safety to receive those who do not believe as she doth It is there owned F. 7. yet not without a Peradventure that the Church of England hath preserved the face of a continued Mission and un-interrupted Ordination that her moderation in Doctrin is great that her disciple preserves Episcopal Government that she abhors Phanaticisme and the wild Errors of a private Spirit that though she hold the Scripture to be the Rule of Controversie yet holds withall that it is not of private interpretation and that she is for Vincentius Lyrinensis Rule quod ab omnibus quod semper quod ubique that the Papists upon many occasions have been found as faithful to the State as any of their fellow Subjects At last this Diologist P. takes per F. 15.33 that the seasonable discourse accounts the Protestant Religion excellent and the Popish full of stupedity which though granted yet he argues may we not therefore be permitted to say our Prayers in private which is all the Indulgence allowed us and that sure it is no part of the Protestant Church to hinder others from being as good as they can and the worse our Religion is the more need we have of praying to make us better A great Courtier I must confess and hath complemented us highly to his own ends and advantage yet with little Injury to us which though I cannot so courtly return in its own kind without flattering yet I modestly wish that all the Papists were no worse minded And yet if they were I do not know that this State were the more secure This very Scene was acted in Queen Eliz. days as I have shewed before and their own Books which are very numerous and very full of such acknowledgments and disclamours and yet some of the same Leaven for their unfaithfulness to her and this Crown came with the first unto untimely ends and that deservedly I will hope better of these of this Generation presuming they will take warning by other mens harms However I presume this State will be as wise now as they were in her days and trust to neither for that the more secure we are of the one the less safe we are from the other The Seculars and Regulars in her days confessed much more viz. That though they disliked the severity of her Laws yet could not but acknowledg that the State hd great cause to make such except they should have shewed themselves careless and though the Laws were very extreme yet the occasions of them were very outragious and likewise that the Execution of them was not so Tragical as many did write and report Import Consider f. 11. A Letter from a Jesuited Gent. f. 65 66. Dialogue between a Secular Priest and a Lay Gent. sparing discovery and others sparsim In Queen Eliz. days such of the Papists who though they did not forbear to profess Loyalty and Obedience to Her Majesty and were ready to resist any Forrein force though Authorized from the Pope himself as this Dialogist pretends now to do None of this sort were for their Religion prosecuted or charged with any crimes or pains of Treason And this I shall demonstrate in point of fact by instancing of some few of very many of the better sort for of the more ordinary sort they were sans nombre not unfit to be taken notice of as by name Dr. Heth that was Arch-Bishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England in Queen Maries days who at the first coming of Queen Eliz.