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
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
to Swear by the Lord and Melchom to hear as Protestants but believe as Papists to cry the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord boasting of the high Priviledges the Gospel hath and doth afford us and yet not to walk by the Rules and Precepts thereof which in plain English is to talk indeed like Saints but in truth to do like Devils Why then should we hazard the Eternal wellfare of our precious immortal Souls upon nice points of Logick upon peradventures and come at last and when it is too late unto an Had I wish'd Remember Nehem. 13.23 26. Did not Solomon King of Israel sin by these things yet amongst many Nations was there no King like him who was beloved of his God and God made him King over all Israel nevertheless even him did strange Women cause to sin § Moreover it hath been the practise of the Church in all Ages to cast out the Leaven of contrary Doctrins and Profession In the time of Enos before the Flood the Servants of God began to worship God by themselves apart from the prophane Generation of Cain Ishmael was cast out of Abrahams House because he was a scorner of Isaack Jacob reformeth his House and putteth away the strange Gods Gen. 35.2 Joshua maketh the Gibionites hewers of Wood and drawers of Water for the House of God Josh 9 13 David expelleth the Idolatrous Jebusites out of Jerusalem 2 Sam. 5 8. Asa put Maacha his Mother from her regiment because she was an Idolatress and brake down her Idols 2 Chron. 15.16 Josias put down the Chemarins a Sect of Idolatrous Priests 2 Kings 23.5 Zerubbabel would not suffer the adversaries of Judah to build the Temple with them but refused their service which they offered Ezech. 4.3 This was the Law Thou shalt make no Covenant with them nor with their Gods they shall not dwell in the Land lest they make thee sin against me Exod. 23.32 33. Deut. 7.2 3 4. The Graven Images of their Gods shall ye burn with fire Thou shalt not desire the Silver and Gold that is on them nor take it unto thee lest thou be snared therein for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house least thou be an accursed thing like it but thou shalt utterly detest it and thou shalt utterly abhor it for it is a cursed thing Deut. 7.25 26. Neither shalt thou set up any Graven Image which the Lord thy God hateth Deut. 16.22 Where Gods Ark is there Dagon shall be thrust out of his place and fall down before it 1 Sam. 5. § One kind of vile and base Idolatry when Men Worship their own Fancies as Papists Quakers and Enthusiasts amongst others now adays do observing that for a Religion which their deceived minds imagine then may not Princes wink at corrupt and vitious Religion which is an inward and ghostly worship of Idols seeing no man and therefore no Prince can serve Two Masters Mat. 6.24 Luke 16.13 And the Service that Princes yield Christ in respect of their Royal vocation consisteth in making Laws for Christ which if they do likewise for Antichrist it cannot be salved but that they serve God and Mammon or rather cease to be Servants of Christ in that they renounce their Master by serving his Adversary And they cannot but know that silence provoketh and sufferance imboldeneth their Subjects to forsake God and his Church Even as in civil Affairs the slacking of Justice doth maintain disorder the life of the Law is penalty when duly executed wherefore the great Law-giver to his own Israel useth such enforcements Every state and Kingdom hath Refractories whom nothing restrains but penalty indeed penalties executed do scarce reform yet is Treacle made up of such Vipers for preserving others All Israel shall hear and fear Deut. 17.13 and do no more presumptuously Servility is much in men of best inclination they are not always led by the Spirit of Ingenuity Psal 51.12 Draco his Laws are yet extant their severity is deemed over rigorous providing death for least offences lenities in some enormities is no less blamable whilst Adultery laughs at the white sheet or secures it self of redeeming that shame with purse or power As offences grow though but in circumstances so ought Penalties Num. 30.32.35 Maxima peccandi Illecibra est impunitatis spes There is no greater encouragement or enticement to sin than hope of Impunity Some wise Men begin to think as that Sage Politician spake by occasion of Nerva's remissness in Government Praestat vivere ubi nulla quam ubi omnia sint licita It 's better to live in that state where nothing than where all things are lawful David was so far from suffering the worship of any strange God within his Realm that he protesteth Their offerings I will not offer neither make mention of their names within my lips Psal 16.4 When would he think you confirm their Honour and Service with his Royal Authority that thus disdained them common civility he had a more Ennobled Spirit more Divine Principle and would shew it by the sublimity of his Actions Quo major suum eo plus laborabo as the Sun Josh 23.7 Deut. 12.3 Num. 32.38 scorned to know wicked persons or to let them tarry in his sight he was engaged to do something more than ordinary being called to be Gods own Anointed and that the observation of Gods Laws was the noblest Ornament of His Majesty and that the Law was express against it Make no mention of the names of other Gods neither let it be heard out of thy mouth Exod. 23.13 The good Kings of Juda were favoured and blessed of God for walking in the Ways of David their Father and purging the Land from all Sacrifices and Ceremonies not prescribed by Moses's Law Contrariwise Solomon was rejected for admitting other Gods to be served within his Dominions besides the God of Israel though this tolleration was granted in respect of his own Wives that were strangers Nehem. 13.36 Jerohoams politick devise to Worship the same God in Dan and Bethel after a new manner turned to the destruction of himself and his Posterity Therefore Jehosaphat reproved by Jehu visited his Kingdom from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and brought his people back unto the Lord God of their Fathers 2 Chron. 19 2 3. That the false Priests and Prophets did so over-bear the true Prophets of God Jeremiah Ezechiel c. to the ruine of the City and Kingdom was the fault of Jehoiakim and Zedebiah And at this day it is the fault and folly of Christian Kings that suffer the grand Seignior of Rome to impose upon them and that the Church of Rome is not either reduced to her primitive truth and purity from which she is degenerated and brought to better conformity vvith the truly Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church or else demolished as the Jewish Synagogue vvas § Gratian at his first entring finding all places
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
Articles of Marriage between Arch-Duke Charles his Son and Queen Eliz. both Father and Son did require That a publick Church might be allowed wherein Divine Service might be celebrated to him and his after the Romish manner When this would not be granted then that in some private place in the Court he might peaceably use his Service of God as was permitted to Popish Princes Ambassadors in their Houses and that with these Conditions That no English Man should be admitted thereunto and neither he nor his Servants should speak against the Religion received in England or favour those that did speak against it That if any displeasure should arise in respect of Religion he should be present with the Queen at Divine Service to be celebrated after the manner of the Church of England Unto this the Queen answered That if she should grant this she should offend her Conscience and openly break the publick Laws of her Realm not without great peril both of her dignity and safety The same Princely Pious and immovable Resolution she held when in the like Treaty of Marriage between her and the Duke of Anjou where Tolleration of the Roman Religion being much pressed and insisted on both by the Queen his Mother and by Charles the 9th King of France his Brother Queen Eliz. though it were suggested that the Romish Religion was not deeply rooted in the Dukes mind being but young and for that he was Educated under Carnlette a person not averse from the Protestant Religion and that by degrees he might be brought to the Protestant profession and many other and great advantages would thereby accrew to the good of the Reformed Religion answered as well became Gods Vice-gerent in her Dominions That although the outward Exercise of Christian Religion might haply be tollerated with different Rites and Ceremonies amongst the Subjects of one and the same Kingdom yet a different yea a flat contrary Exercise between the Queen who is the Head of her people and her Husband might not only seem perilous but also altogether absurd she prayed them to consider with equal Ballance on the one side her own hazard and on the other side the Duke of Anjou's Honour By Tollerating his Religion she should break the Laws established give offence to her best Subjects and encouragement to her worst which things would certainly over-weigh the Duke of Anjou's Honour If the Duke would water more plentifully the Seeds of the purer Religion already sown and suffer more to be sown he should soon see that it would be unto him a most high Honour At length it came to this Issue That if so be the Duke would be present with the Queen at the Celebration of Divine Service and not refuse to hear and learn the Institutions of the Protestant Religion she would assent that neither the Duke nor his Family should be constraned to use the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England nor molested for other Divine Rites not openly and manifestly repugnant to Gods Word so as it were done in a certain private place and no occasion given to the English to break the Laws established Foix stuck at the Word the WOrd of God for whose satisfaction the Queen commanded instead of Gods Word to put in Gods Church which when it liked him worse and for it would have had to be put in the Catholick Church the Queen flatly and stoutly refused it and so by degrees it cooled Her religious care herein was also so great and steady that Walsing ham her Ambassador had secret Instructions That if the Duke of Anjou should be content to omit in that Treaty that point concerning Tolleration of Religion yet would the Queen bind him in such sure caution that he should not require it at any time after § Of the same opinion was King James Anno 1596. in the Case of Huntley Angus and Arrol Popish Lords who though they would have betrayed the Kingdom to the Spaniard yet the King being willing afterwards to have them return though Guilt had made them Fugitives and being returned the King writ thus to Huntley viz. My Lord I am sure you consider and do remember how often I have incurred Skaith and hazard for your cause therefore to be short resolve you either to satisfie the Church betwixt that day that is appointed without any more delay or else if your Conscience be so Kittle as it cannot permit you make for another Land betwixt this and that day where you may use freely your own Conscience your Wife and Barnes shall in that Case enjoy your Living but for your self look never to be a Scottish Man again deceive not your self to think by lingring of time your Wife and your Allys shall ever get you better Conditions And think not that I will suffer any professing a contrary Religion to dwell in this Land Afterwards when His Majesty came to the Crown of England which was May 14. 1602. he declared to his Parliament there 19. May 1603. Li. c. p. 1 That the popish point of Doctrin is that Arrogant and Ambitious Supremacy of their Head the Pope whereby he not only claims to be Spiritual Head of all Christians but also to have an Imperial civil power over all Kings and Emperors dethroning and decrowning Princes with his Foot as pleaseth him and dispensing and disposing of all Kingdoms and Empires at his appetite The other point which they observe in continual practise is the Assassinates and Murders of Kings thinking it no sin but rather a matter of Salvation to do all Actions of Rebellion and Hostility against their natural Sovereign Lord if he be once accursed his Subjects discharged of their fidelity and his Kingdom given a Prey by that Three Crowned Monarch or rather Monster their Head Which Positions of theirs the Gun-powder-traitors within Two Years after made good after which time be was not only willing whilst he lived that we should pray to God as was done in the days of Great Eliz. that he would keep us from all Papistry and that he would preserve us from the Pope as well as from the Turk in as much as the Pope laboured to dethrone Christ as well as the Turk did but he required further of us That we should pray God to strengthen his Hands and the Hands of his Nobles and Magistrates in the Land to cut off the Papists In the Prayer to be made 5. Novemb. for the Gun-powder-treason to root them out of the Confines and Limits of the Kingdom protesting in Parliament that he could not permit the increase and grown of Popery without betraying the liberty both of England and Scotland and of the Crown in his posterity and did declare in his Speech in Parliament 1605. That none of those that truly know and believe the whole Grounds and School-Conclusions of their Doctrins can ever prove good Christians or good Subjects Vide his Works 504. Nay farther in the Second Year of his Reign ter ' tr '