above those who design mischief when they are awake and dream of nothing that is good when they are asleep above Popish Priests up to the Ears in Legends Fanaticks in Pulpits or Witches upon Bromstaves for his fancies are for the real good of others as well as for to please himself Parables are lively Pictures of significant truths and Morality was excellently described in Fables by a Heathen but it does not a little trouble me that the Beasts in Aesop should shame some men now a days who will not be convinc'd of the Errors and Mischiefs they are engaged in when they have the opportunity of being better taught by the truly ancient and Catholick Doctrine of the Church of England but her Adversaries the Jesuits and Fanaticks who deny the King to be Head of the Church do likewise reject the Reformation by his Authority the Papists Sham it and would make it a ridiculous Schism the Presbyterians though they renounce the Pope yet retain to themselves that Usurpation which was above 500 years a gaining by the Popes finding that such a Discipline was not consistent with the Doctrine of the Church of England Preach't up a Reformation more pure and primitive as they pretended the reasons we shall know afterwards Therefore the Emblem of the Church we saw in the last Vision having vanquish't and discovered the unjust Stratagems both of the Council of Trent and of the Assembly of Divines ordered her own Convocation of Orthodox and Learned Church-men to defend her for the future against both Papists and Presbyterians They were no sooner fat but in came Harding and boldly told them That they were a small obscure meeting of Calvinists that reformed the Church As soon as Bishop Jewel espied him That is very false said he I will tell you the truth and tell you otherwise in the Epistle I wrote concerning the Council of Trent to a Venetian Noble man my words relating to our Reformation are these For our selves we have done nothing but with very good reason nothing but what we saw to be lawfull and to have been practised by the Ancient Fathers without any reprehension at all wherefore we called a full Synod of Bishops and by common consent of all estates purged our Church as it were Augeas 's Stable of all superfluities which either the negligence or malice of men had brought in this was justly in our power to doe and because we could doe it we did it faithfully At this I was so encouraged as to ask Harding whether or no they were Calvinists or a small obscure meeting that signed the Judgment of the Convocation that the Pope cannot call them without the King's consent in the year 1536 there being present the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London 13 Bishops 49 Abbots c. Now the fatal blow was given to the Papal Authority in England and yet these could not be Calvinists nor were they few or contemptible indeed you Popish Writers are great adversaries to National Councils because they will look after the Civil Rights that the Court of Rome do not encroach upon them which a General Council wherein the Pope is what he pleases cannot therefore Cardinal Palavicini profoundly tells Lib. 14. cap. 12. us that Concilio Nazionale sempre abhorrito dà Pontifici That the Pope did always abhor a National Council and good reason because it sometimes stops that Torrent of Money which he says is so necessary to maintain the carnal felicity of the Church therefore we know why you stickle so much against the Methods of our Reformation which Mr. Shaw has well justified and Origo Protest which Dr. Burnet says was advanced with such deliberation in King Henry the Eight and King Edward the Sixth's time as is as great an evidence of the ripeness Part 1. Pag. 289. of their proceedings as can be shewed in any Church in any Age So that we were Reformed without that violence the German Divines were as the Letters between Osiander and Cranmer testifie or without Rebellion which is always the consequence of Popish Reformations At this he march't off and made room for Raynolds a Rhemish Renegado who came Busling up And although said he ye have fob'd off Mr. Harding yet I suppose I shall prove your Reformation to be a wicked Separation from the Roman Communion which the irreconcilable divisions among you testifie for hear what I say to Whitaker Pag. 481. Have you not at this present among you a great murmuring even amongst the Protestants against the Communion-Book and State of Religion which in the beginning of her Majesties Reign was Queen Elizabeth brought in If the Catholicks said nothing have you not the Puritans detesting your Faith and were it not for the Prince's Sword ready to dispossess you of Chairs and Churches I was mightily amazed to hear this for 't is 99 years ago since these words were Printed which a Gentleman observing See you not said he what a scandal these rascally Schismaticks are to our Reformation indeed the man foretold what too certainly came to pass but he must know that we do not acknowledge that any of their Principles had any share or part in it any more than they had in bringing in the King for in the days of Queen Mary Knox that peevish Puritan was as malicious towards the Orthodox in Francfurt as the Papists were to them in England And moreover 't is no wonder that they agree not with us for they disagree among themselves and are not the same they were Those in King Edward's time scrupled only some Ceremonies as Bucer Rogers and Hooper those in Queen Elizabeths time excepted against some Prayers Canons and Articles but now they are for Abolishing Supremacy and Episcopacy they have lay'd the Ax to the root and are gone so far from the Church of England that they are come round about to the Church of Rome and are worse Papists than any before the Reformation We perceive by Raynolds that the Jesuits very well knew this and therefore whilst the Presbyterians were busie to advance their Discipline they thought them fit tools to carry on their Fifth Monarchy their Principles being both alike destructive both of Church and State in order to which they quarrel with our Reformation and as the Pope and the Devil would have it Cry up a thorough one of their own Of which I will give you such a full sight if you will go along with me that you shall never forget it untill you are in heaven Pray Sir said I before you doe that let me know by what methods they brought their Discipline to that perfection in 48. I will not trouble you said he with a long relation of their several Cabals they had all King James his Reign he himself was sufficiently sensible of their restless humour and said What his Son King Charles found by experience that there were not greater thieves and cut-throats among the Highlanders and Borderers for as soon
Andrew Dudithius Bishop of five Churches as learned as any in that Council says to Maximilian the Second Emperour That In Epist ad Imp. needy and hungry Bishops came to Trent youths for the most part without Beards given to Riot and Luxury hired only to give their voices as the Pope pleased that the Council did not seem to consist of Bishops but of disguised Maskers not of Men but of Images such as Daedalus made that moved by Nerves which were none of their own Hireling Bishops who as Country Bag-pipes could not speak but as breath was put into them This is the Council the Papalins do so magnifie who flourish with Fathers and Councils and like Puddle-water reflect all the glories of the firmament when they may be fathom'd with a finger But Sir said I the designs of this are as deep as Hell and come from the very bottomless pit They doe so replyed the French man almost drown'd in tears Oh my poor Country which these transubstantiated Devils incarnate have almost ruin'd the Alps are not whiter with Snow than the Vallies are red with Blood What Bloodshed Massacres and irreconcilable Enmities did this Holy Synod procure us by the Holy League which these Holy Fathers contrived What alterations in Council did the Death of the Duke of Guise occasion when the Scheme of their Villanies was broken how easie is it from your History to trace the Causes of all the Civil Wars of France the liberty of the Gallican Church and the Supremacy of the French King were things that troubled the Court of Rome more than the Protestants the Persecution of which was only a Stale and to facilitate their grand design which was to destroy the Royal Family to consume the Nobility to divide the Commonalty so that the Pope might take what remained into his Fatherly Protection Do not you think Sir said he very earnestly that the Speech of de Ferrieres stuck in their Gizards and that particular clause That the Authority of the French King was not founded upon the Pragmatique or Concordates and Privileges given by Popes but upon the Law of Nature Hist Con. Trid. 723. Holy Scriptures Ancient Councils and the Law of Christian Emperours And how was his Holiness moved with the French Protestation for Abrogation of Proponentibus Legatis Did not the Fathers find great fault with the Government of France and how do they mention several things included in the very words of the Holy League what a mystick saying was that of the Pope's to Cardinal Lorain the great Agent in that Rebellion about Reforming France and how oft would he say That the Greatness of that Cardinal was profitable to the ends he had in aiming at some matters of great moment that he must shut up the Council provide Money and afterwards said he that shall happen which shall please God We have heard since Sir said I by Dr. Durel your Country-man that all the methods of that Villany were lay'd at Rome which several Papers have discovered Hold you there Sir said he think you that the Jesuits are such fools as to confess upon such pitifull dumb Evidences as Papers and Writings they that would swear the World out of their senses that can swallow Oaths without fear of splitting and fancy them only a composition of words got together by chance Think you that they fear kissing the out-side of that Book when they have denied the Truths contained in it or value the testimony of any Writings that debase the Authority of Scriptures Alas they are Scepticks as to every thing that shall hinder their designs and that Rule which our Saviour gives in the doing Charity they mis-apply to Actions of Sedition and Treason Let not their left hand know what their right hand does Do you think they believe that there was a Letter ever delivered to Monteagle No they deny all the Powder-Treason and are ready to swear that the Gun-powder was conveighed into the Cellar by those who went to search it I wonder they have not found out that Faux only walk't in his sleep and so 't was all a dream As for the people of France they have reason enough to have their eyes opened and to see and know what a glorious Reformation the Moulinists who are lineally descended from the Trent Fathers may in time produce both Princes and People have reason enough to take warning the same Principles are always qualified for the same Practices and although every Rebellion differs from others because of the change of Persons and Circumstances yet they commonly run Parallel in many material things and occurrences Alas the growing greatness of the King of France is so little an argument of his Posterities security that 't will ruine them he is but the Jesuits Cormorant to catch the Fish which they will eat and when ever they get the Popedom they will soon discover what an insignificant thing it is to be an universal footstool and how easily they will trample upon Monarchy for to the singular advantages they have above any Pope that ever lived they will have this extraordinary one of perpetuating the Popedom in their order therefore 't is that they magnifie and extoll the Council of Trent whose Canons of Doctrine and Discipline whose Decrees of Reformation do so directly tend to this great end and well they may boast of it for I think there never was the like in the world Yes verily by your discourse Sir said I you have rubbed up my memory that I have found out a renowned Gang of Theologues that look as if they were spit out of their mouths and who should these Gentlemen be but the Assembly of Divines sitting at Westminster in the late Rebellion Now although in their Preface to the Annotations upon the Scriptures they call it the Pseudo-Synod of Trent yet I will prove that there were better Protestants in Trent at that time and some more against the essential Points of Popery than this very Assembly of Divines and certainly such they were who declared against the impious and unchristian Stratagems of the Court of Rome from whom this Assembly seems to Copy all their Transactions Let the Devil take it ill if he pleases that I show to the world how pitifully he is put to his Politicks to keep up the custom and credit of Rebellion by vamping up old projects and playing an old game over again with new shapes of Hypocrisie I cannot help it the truth must out and there is nothing certainer than that as the Council of Trent was composed of men either very ignorant or prevailed upon by threats Vid. His Con. Trid. and fears or bigots to the Interests of the Court of Rome So the Assembly of Divines whom the two Houses applyed in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 183. an unwonted way to advise of Church affairs were not legally convened or chosen nor did they act in the name of all the Clergy of England nor with freedom and
as they by the same computation the Devil tells his Legions found that they were grown so numerous and strong as to make a prevalent Party in every County then they set up their Patriots whom they raise and then admire as Boyes do Paper-Kites These were the men that should Trounce Antichrist that should toss the Pope and all his Cardinals in Blankets that should purge out all superfluities of Popish Idolatry and make the Nation as clean as a peny indeed new Brooms sweep clean but they turned into rods to scourge it at last by their Ordinances as Resolutions viz. Resolved That the Kingdom be put into a posture of defence March 2. 1641. Now I would fain know against whom Against one another said I you know Sir the Spaniards sometimes at an Execution as soon as the person is hang'd do draw all their Swords we can't suppose that 't is to kill the man that is dead and it had been well for this Nation if as the Spaniards put up their Swords again quietly they had put themselves into a posture of Peace No no Sir replyed he Jack Presbyter must have a holy War too and since he fought for the Throne of Christ he may as lawfully kill Malignants as the Pope slew Infidels to regain his Sepulchre Item Resolved that a Committee be appointed to examine St. Paul whether or no it be lawfull to grant the King Tonnage and Poundage Pray Sir said I what do you mean by this I never heard thus much before Why said he Sir Jo. Eliot and Pym would not grant them untill they had first setled Religion touching Arminianism Sir said I do you think that St. Paul will be summon'd before a Rebellious Committee No Sir I will assure you he will appeal unto Caesar and besides do you think that he will satisfie the curiosity of those men about the difficult Points of Predestination and Free-will who care not for damnation upon such plain terms besides he does not know why nor does he believe that the Fundamental Laws of this State are contrary to the Fundamental Government of the Church so as to alter it and therefore he will be tryed by the Bishops for which there is more Greek in his Epistles than for a Burgess in all the Old and New Testament When the Church of England said he was Reformed from the Corruptions of Rome it was done with the advice and consent of all the Estates of the Nation and for the establishing a publick and lasting Settlement but these Ambitious men endeavouring to alter the Government in the State found it a requisite piece of Policy to make a Schism and Division in the Church in order thereunto which was the Reason they were so zealous about those Controversial Points So the Court Prelates in Trent gain'd their Decrees of Reformation whilst they diverted the well-meaning Fryars in sharp disputes about Doctrines so the Jesuits over-reacht the Franciscans and Dominicans by setting them together by the Ears And therefore I am perswaded that as St. Paul would have Condemned those Interlopers who troubled themselves about things they neither understood nor had to doe withall so likewise he would have blamed those men who called themselves either Calvinists or that stiled themselves Arminians as he did those who said I am of Paul I am of Apollo or I am of Cephas for among the many methods those Rebels used to obtain their glorious Reformation there was none of greater consequence First of all it made a great division among the Clergy and that numerous part of them which contrary to their Oaths separated from the Church either ignorantly or wilfully upon the account of Arminianism became the greatest Incendiaries of all and the chief Promoters of that unnatural Rebellion And secondly the People who by them were taught the Discipline of Calvin were taught likewise that Arminianism was down-right Popery which the visible Ceremonies of the Church branded with the same Character confirmed to them who could know no better therefore they must help too to promote the Reformation aforesaid they must carry on the work of the Lord in the land of the living which they did by Tumults and Petitions against Bishops as Popish Nusances and against the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church as Rags of Superstition That the Jesuits had a hand in encouraging that Controversie to enrage the People against the Church is a plain case and nothing is certainer than that they brought up the distinction of Long Cloaks worn in London and elsewhere and now they are playing the same game again with Socinus and his fratres Poloni But to return to those Learned Patriots I before mention'd after they had got the Power into their hands they no more depended upon the Judgment of Calvin or Arminius for what they did than upon the Hypothesis of Tycho Brahoe or of Copernicus for the Sequestring Delinquents Lands only in the mean time it testified their zeal to all the godly of the Land as they were deliciously pleased to stile themselves who are wise Disputants in defence of their several Enthusiasms when they are ignorant of the Catechism and like Ravilliac learned in all the Doctrines of King-killing when he scarce knew his Creed And who did all of them unanimously agree in one Billingsgate Argument against the Bishops and Clergy Railing reviling and calling them by names enough to fright old Nicolas untill he plucks in his horns like a Snail And althô Michael the Arch-Angel Epist Jude v. 9. when contending with the Devil durst not bring against him a railing Accusation yet these meek-hearted were taught by their Preachers in the Language of Sion to say that they were * Wilson to the Commons 1642. Croaking Frogs Spirits of Devils †Vicar's Jehov Jir p. 88. a stinking heap of Atheistical and Roman Rubbish a Rotten Rabble of Scandalous Priests Bastard Sons of Belial * White 's first Century Epist to the Reader persons illiterate and insufficient dumb Dogs Whoremongers and Adulterers who as fed Horses Neigh after their Neighbours Wives Priests of Baal Bacchus and Priapus And therefore says Coleman to the Parliament Aug. 30. 1643 the Hierarchy is become a fretting Gangreen and spreading Leprosie an insupportable Tyranny Up with it up with it to the bottom Root and branch Hip and thigh destroy these Amelekites and let their place be no more found Thus that Order of men who have been instrumental to all the Publick good this Nation ever enjoyed was exposed to the publick scorn and contempt of the insolent Rabble and made as the filth of the world and the off-scowring of all things But 1 Cor. 4. 13. what was their glorious Reformation in the end Truly more infamous than Jeroboam's Rebellious Idolatry he made the lowest of the people Priests to his high Places but here the lowest of the people viz. Triers c. made Priests and Kings too to the most high God as they pretended Truly replyed I
Antichristian neither Name or Office one Instance for a thousand and that from the Reformed Churches Oecolampadius who Reformed the Church of Basil is stiled Bishop upon his Tomb which your Reformation had certainly demolish'd That Arch-Bishop Laud had no such Design as you speak of your Brother Fisher that Trent Presbyter can testify although he smiles to think that after you had confuted him with the Axe you should reform Lambeth-House into a Prison and a Dancing-School at once representing a Popish Inquisition and a Carnival too But since your main Argument that moved the People to assist you in your blessed Reformation was that the Liturgy of the Chuch was Popish I will tell you if you 'll keep it to your self that you either knew not what Popery was or else had a mind to bring it in the Fool and the Knave are both in the Case chuse which you will 't is certain that by the great number of Papists that were in the Parliament Army by the long delay of Assistance to be sent to the distressed Protestants in Ireland you were more intent upon the ruine of the Church of England than of Rome But pray what is Popish in the Liturgy All of it replyed they and therefore ought to be reformed * Preface to the Directory All the several burthensome Ceremonies 't was made a mere Idol lip-Labour and a great Hinderer of the preaching the Word Pray Gentlemen said he again since you quote the Publick Faith let me ask you one question Are the Responses in the Liturgy Popish and may not the Church of England enjoyn them No no replyed they they are not of Apostolical Institution How then cryed he came it to pass that the Assembly should order * Of Singing of Psalms Directory pag. 83. the reading the Singing Psalms Line by Line to the People Is that of Apostolical Institution Or are Sternhold and Hopkins of greater Authority than all the Fathers of the Church There is enough written by learned Pens to prove the Significancy Usefulness Innocency and Antiquity of the Ceremonies of the Church to satisfy every Objection and Scruple of yours before-hand but if that cannot doe you might a little reflect upon what followed your Reformation of them You abolish'd all those excellent Prayers for the King and the Church but how did yours you put in the room of them prevail to procure either his Honour or its good Estate You pretended to reform the Sabbath to a Pharisaical Strictness but the first general Battel was fought on the 23 d of October at Edghill on the Sunday wherein with five shot made at the King's Army you bid him Battel and then having abolish'd Holy-days even Christmas day it self which you made a Fast you sanctified your own first Thanksgiving-day with a leud Lie You took away the Order of Christian Burial and indeed there was little occasion for it when you preach'd so many at a time to the Sword that it could be no more used than in a Pestilence and moreover you being to set Christ upon his Throne on Earth could not comply with that Prayer that He would hasten the Kingdom of Glory Item You took away the Cross in Baptism and afterwards sold your Fellow-Christians to Turks and Barbarians among whom they must receive either the Badg of Slavery or Infidelity You altered the Form of Marriage and afterwards 't was solemniz'd by a sort of Bassa's in the very Livery of the Scarlet Whore In short you debauch'd the People with Superstitious Fears which made them fly into a wicked Rebellion and they were afterwards as unjustly hang'd up in Bundles for the Sin of Witchcraft Thus did ye involve the Nation in infinite Guilt and they were punish'd with Judgments shadowing or reflecting their Sins nor did ye your selves escape a retaliating Justice being severely chastised by that very Cromwell whom ye first set up in the House of Commons to be such a Stickler against Dr. Neal for a Defender of Arminianism and Popery At this they all fell a crying Ah Lard Lard 't was Covenant-breaking that brought all these Evils upon us and upon this Nation 'T was so indeed replyed he ye broke the first Covenant with your Prince in the oath of Allegeance by introducing the Solemn League which brought in the Engagement which brought in the Devil and all his Works He had no sooner spoken but there was a Fellow in a Red-Coat got into the Pulpit and playing as many Tricks as a Turkish Dervice upon a Moschite railed against the Presbyterian Reformation calling it * Goodwin 's twelve Cautions pag. 5. Rough Froward Peremptory Imperious c. which †Discovery of Sectaries pag. 26. Edwards observing All sorts of Mechanicks said he take upon them to preach as Smiths Taylors Shoemakers Pedlars Weavers A peculiar People truly replyed he you complained that the Liturgy of the Church of England was a great Hinderer of the preaching the Word I hope you have now enough of it But why should you find fault with a Red-Coat when as your warlike Doctrine could not endure a White one and besides these are but your Journey-men in Divinity your Scribes and Amanuenses whom you have taught all the Tricks of Sanctified Legerdemain and if they have out-done you in your own Trade you know that all Arts improve What and if they have not so much Learning as you yet they are arrived to such a pitch of Mystical Gibberish and Edifying Nonsense that they are more powerfull with the People than your selves although you first taught them to justle out the Prayers in the known Language by your unintelligible Cant and cramp Exorcisms and this was driving away Popery But Gentlemen let me ask you a question Is it not a main Artifice of the Popish Priests to keep the People zealously ignorant Is it not as easy to compose a thing in English of which the common People shall understand every single word and yet not know the meaning or Connexion of any whole Sentence as 't is to make some Lines in Spanish words which put together shall be true Latin the very Language of the Beast 'T is certainly as easy since ye have mix'd and balderdash'd the sacred Style with barbarous Expressions and made every thing ye do not like to be either Antichrist or the Whore of Babylon But moreover 't is very remarkable that ye had a fine way of amusing the Rabble with ends of Hebrew let me tell you that Mr. Herbert Thorndike as learned a Rabbi as any of you observes in his Book of Religious Assemblies from the Commentaries under St. Ambrose's Name that those who would needs speak in strange Languages Pag. 351. in the Church were of the Hebrews and Irenaeus Lib. 1. c. 8. tells that the Marcosians at the Ministration of Baptism used some Hebrew words to astonish the Minds of the Ignorant I cannot say that you directly design'd to bring in flat down right Popery as you call
an Elephant's Trunk before the next Morning but I perceive that some of those who are padling in all the ill Humours of the Nation have been tampering with you That Fellow Sir said I that spoke to him is a Jesuit and he has been as busy with all manner of Fanatical Male-Contents Perhaps said he with as much Success for 't is easy for him to draw those People to what Practices he please who are of the same Principles with himself As for that little Gentleman said I that frets like Gum-Taffety If he will change his Religion because he is not successfull he never had any And as for the Fanaticks they have been told that theirs is purely Popish untill their Ears are stretch'd with hearing it and they will by no means believe it But I will believe my Eyes said he And if you had ever been in France Spain Italy or Germany and had seen or heard the Jesuits or preaching Fryers in their Pulpits you might at the same time have seen all our Conventiclers Mimick Voltings their frisking Ecstasies their apish Laughings their sudden Howlings their awry Faces all their Postures are according to the Ceremonies of a Roman Missal their fumbling their Buttons their knocking their Breasts their Hands hanging loose and then again stretch'd as if they were bewitch'd with an hundred other jugling Tricks and all to set off and varnish their Doctrines which are the most modish Popery in the World viz. That the People is the Supreme Power That Kings and Princes may be Deposed and Murthered That Success is a certain Evidence of God's approving whatever comes to pass I have heard Sir said I Instances enough of the two first Positions pray let me have one of this last Jenkins said he in his Conscientious Queries printed 1651. Asks Whether The stupendious Page 2 d. Providence of God manifested among us in the destruction of the late King whether by these Providences God hath not remov'd the Government of Charles Stuart and whether a refusal to yield Obedience to the present Government be not a refusal to acquiesce in the Wise and Righteous pleasure of God and a stat Breach of the Fifth Commandment So Bellarmine uses it for an Argument for Image Worship Iconomachis Bell. lib. de Imag c 12. Argumenâ—um decimum omnia non sine divino quodam Miraculo malè successisse and then instances that Leo Isaurus for his demolishing Images lost the Empire of Italy whereas it was taken from him by the perfidious Rebellion and Perjury of the Roman Bishops Now you talk Sir said I of Image-Worship they object as a reason of their Separation that the Church of England is inclinable to Popish Superstition and Idolatry No but they are replyed he You must know that some kind of Image-Worship sprang from the obsolete Fancies of the Anthropomorphitae and therefore Pope Adrian argues thus God made Man in his own Image therefore Images ought to be worship'd Now one would think that Pope Adrian's Idea had whipt into that Zealot's Noddle by the way of Pythagoras who cryed Oh Lord take a Chair and come and sit among thine Honourable House of Commons But farther another Popish Doctrine they hold is that God sees no Sin in his Children that they cannot fall from Grace So the Jesuits hold that they cannot commit a Mortal Sin Nemo sociorum in Lethale peccatum incidere queat None of our Society can fall into deadly sin thus they vaunted to Cardinal Borromaeus saith Alphonsus de Vargas in his Book * Cap. 14. pag. 39. Edit 1636. De Stratag Jesuit Their Funeral Sermons are as so many Popish Canonizations and the Lives of their Saints wherein they boast of such extraordinary Revelations and Gifts of the Spirit of strange Voices great Lights and heavenly Apparitions seem to out-doe the Enthusiastick Legends of St. Francis St. Dominick Father Xaviere or Ignatius Loyola they both of them interpret many places of Scripture to the very same sense though both very false and the 21st of Ezekiel the 25th Verse hath been frequently quoted by Popish and Presbyterian Expositours to the same ends and purposes and so has the 8th Verse of the 149th Psalm I have often thought that John Owen learnt from the Psalter of Bonaventure to abuse and misapply the Psalms of David He says * Eben Ezer pag. 13. God came from Naseby and the Holy One from the West Selah And that saith Let our Lady arise and let her Enemies be scattered c. The preaching of Women in the Conventicles of Quakers is rank Popery †Bell. lib. 1. de Bapt. cap. 7. Bellarmine saith 'T is not onely permitted but lawfull for Women to teach and * Paludanus saith †In 4. Sent. dist Papa potest clavem Jurisdictionis Laico Foeminae committere And again Papa potest sicut Laico sic Mulieri committere quòd excommunicet The Pope can grant as to a Lay Person so to a Woman the power of Excommunication And the Canonists teach that they may exercise Spiritual Jurisdiction Thus you see that the Spirit of Popery in one shape or other appears among all the several Sectaries of Great Britain and some more of their Practices will plainly shew how injuriously they cast the Charge of their own Guilt upon the truly Reformed Church of England They condemn all but those of their own Persuasion and their Motto in Zion's Plea is aut hoc aut nihil So Campian in his Challenge to Oxford saith aut nostrum est aut nullius Regnum Coelorum The Jesuits did never more industriously corrupt the Writings of the Fathers than the Presbyterians did the last Books of Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Policy The Papists endeavour to impose upon us the Rhemish Testament and the Presbyterians in King James's time were as busie to have the Geneva Notes put upon the Margent of the Bible The Jesuits have their Index Expurgatorius but they never cancell'd any thing with more boldness than the Presbyterians did when they procured that the 20th Article viz. That the Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies c. was by their Malice left out in the printed Articles And lastly whoever shall reade their unsanctified Ribaldry with which they treat the Reverend Prelates of the Church of England will fancy them the very Cronies and Disciples of the famous Cardinal Palavicini who to maintain the new Frame of Papal Government modell'd by the Council of Trent does so ridiculously and maliciously inveigh against the Sacred and Primitive Order of Bishops calling them * In Hist Conc. Tr. Piccioli Vescovi Fanciulli impertinenti insolenti Buffoneschi little Bishops Babies impertinent insolent Buffoons He had no sooner done speaking but we heard a mighty shouting as if some Triumph had been coming along and hastening to see what was the matter I perceived a great Bonfire blazing in the midd'st of the Court and a world of People with many Torches bringing the Pope with his
Cardinals and Jesuits to burn them in Effigie in remembrance of the execrable Design of the Jesuits on the 5th of November it was very pleasant to hear the Porters out-rail the Factious Preachers and to see the Rabble warming themselves in the flaming Relicts of the Beast fancying the Whore of Babylon a kind of old Witch that was put to pain with the burning her Imps but I was most of all surprized to see a great many Papists in disguise as active and chearfull as any of the Company untill I perceived that although the Pope was burnt in Effigie yet several Protestants of the Church of England were the Persons that were aimed at to be sacrificed in Propriis Personis So that I withdrew as fast as I could but by the way I had a Copy of Verses put into my Hands which because they came from the warm Fancy of some Zealous Mongrel design'd for a Post of a Conventicle I have here set down as a Specimen of his Future Hopes Upon the Gun-Powder Treason Tell me the Man that can divulge the Traitour That under-ground did build this damn'd Theatre Had but this Plot stay'd untill to Morrow We had been like to Sodom and Gomorrah Iron Bars Gun-Powder Faggots and Deal Board They heapt up for to destroy thy People O good Lord. Whilst I was laughing with my Companion and descanting upon these Lines I wondred to see such a sudden and strange Change in the vast Multitude there met together the common People as if weary of idle Tumults began quietly to retire to their Business the Romish Priests sculk'd about and betray'd a world of Despair in their Looks the Fanaticks had put on their Suffering Complexions and look'd as heavy as smoak'd Beef so the People being dispersed some of the Company had unfortunately drop'd a strange new-fashion'd Idol which had a Belt on upon which was embroidered in Letters of Bloud the Association Good Lord what striving their was to keep it from being at first seen as if it had been the Cub of some hopefull Basilisk There was a small Company of the new-instituted Order of St. Ignoramus great Reformers of the third Commandment who proferr'd to wash their Hands in scalding Lead to swallow Fire and Brimstone and to doe harder things than the trial of the Ordeal to testify its Innocency nay its very non Entity But when that would not doe a couple of Foreigners endeavoured to take Possession of two considerable Forts that they might protect it and in order to that they would have accepted of the Votes of their very Country Puppets in Rare-Showes but all in vain for a numerous Company of Loyal and true hearted Englishmen broke in upon them and being made sensible of the several un-christian Artifices both of the Papists and Fanaticks to alter and destroy the establish'd Government lay'd their several Addresses at his Sacred Majestie 's Feet wherein they Religiously vow and promise to defend it At this time there came a Gentleman to me and pulling me by the Sleeve That our Fears and Jealousies said he might for ever vanish and our future Peace and Prosperity be real and lasting not onely the Loyal and true-hearted Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of the Realm but the Learned Clergy too are now doing their utmost endeavours to confute the Principles as well as prevent the Practices both of Papists and Fanaticks and if you will go along with me you shall see them as pleasantly baffled and exposed as your Heart can imagine or desire We went untill we came to a stately Theatre like that at Oxford wherein I was infinitely pleased to see such a number of Learned Writers of the Church of England on one hand of them sate those who had written in defence of the Romish Doctrines on the other sate Smectymnuus with many more late Writers of the Presbyterians The Solemnity began with Consorts of Musick and an Anthem sung by those of the Church of England the Subject of it was the Gun-Powder Treason the Martyrdom of King Charles the First and the Birth and Return of King Charles the Second which because it was in a strein something differing from that of our late Poet I have here set down Novemb. the 5th I. The Law came down and spoke Of Old in Fire and Smoak The terrible Thunder from around it broke Sure those Wretches vow'd To send up one as loud With the Law-giver in a smoakie Cloud Had our meek Moses gone To God and left us here alone Streightway some Calves as God's had sate Calves which Rome's Bulls would have begat How soon should we Have lost our new got Liberty And strangely have slidden back to th' old Idolatry Januar. the 30th II. Oh wondrous strange it was decreed That the Great Charles should bleed Not burn that Trial he Alas Did'scape because he was a worse to pass The Quintessence of Inhumanity Charles Ah! Charles that Sacred Name Our Pride and yet Eternal Shame Had'st thou an Infant Martyr been None had the Glory of thy setting seen Immortal Honour was design'd to Thee A Free-Will Offering to be So the Child Jesus was preserv'd From Herod's Cruelty Sad Bethlehem Massacre And for Mount Calvary reserv'd Chorus Long may we sing God save the King The Royal Martyr's Son By Wonders plac'd upon his Father's Throne Traytours in vain their Plots do lay Traytours do but themselves betray In vain their Treacherous Foes their Malice show His Crown of Light shall ne'er wax old His e'er will flourish that 's of Gold Charles now triumphs above Charles now triumphs below As soon as the Anthem was ended one in long Scarlet Robes stood up and turning to the Papists said Since so many Grave and Reverend Divines of the Church of England have so frequently confuted the Doctrines and Positions of your Church of Rome and yet you still perservere in your perfidious and rebellious Practices We therefore demand that the Fundamental Principles of such fatal Bigottry may be here openly exposed that the World may know what ridiculous Consequences and foolish Absurdities those Opinions are subject to for which you so zealously disturb the Peace of Christendom and give such occasion of Scandal to Turks and Infidels The Papists were so provok'd that they soon accepted the Challenge for immediately a Lane was made among them to give way for a Monster much like a Chinese Hieroglyphick in Kirker with a great many Hands Feet and Eyes and a Head representing the Terrestrial Globe on the top of which stood a Cupola As soon as one of our Church saw it he cryed out it is not lawfull to bring Briareus into a Christian Assembly Briareus said one of the Papists know you not that by this Emblem we represent the Universality of the Church of Rome do not you know that the Bishop of Rome is the Vniversal Bishop of the whole Catholick Church No replyed he I know it no more than the Pope of Rome Gregory the Great did not
that there is more of the Old City than of the Ancient Church in Rome Lastly If the Papal Supremacy be so absolutely necessary to Christ's Kingdom here on Earth Whether the Cardinals be not strange Men that they by their long Janglings and Disputes upon a Vacancy and at an Election should so long debar him from the Administration of that Power by his Vicar And whether it be not more suitable to a Monarchy that suffers no Interregnum And consequently since Rex Angliae non moritur The King of England is said not to dye according to our Law whether the King be not according to the 37th Article the Supreme Governour in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil in all his Dominions and whether the Bishop of Rome hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction in any of them At this a Jesuit stood up and looking earnestly upon some newly proselyted Papists Regard not said he what any prating Heretick of them all says Have we not made you sufficiently sensible that all the Protestant Religion is an Innovation that King Henry the 8th a mere Julian was the first that apostatiz'd from the Holy Catholick Faith the first that arrogated to himself the Pope's incommunicable Dignity of being Head of the Church 'T is false replyed one of the Church of England King Henry the 8th onely reassum'd what some of his Predecessours own'd what none of them ever could or any of his Successours ever can give away from the Crown of England But the Papal Supremacy is an Usurpation and an Innovation too 't was never heard of in the World untill above 600 Years after Christ nay Pope Boniface the 3 d was the first that ever pretended to be the Vniversal Bishop The Christians in * Tertull. ad Scap. cap. 2. Tertullians's time acknowledg'd the Emperour to be Hominem a Deo secundum solo Deo minorem And †Opt. Lib. 3. Optatus has the same Strain Super Imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem What need I mention what Cyril and Chrysostome and Gregory the Great and Pope Agatho have clearly and plainly said and written upon this Point you have been told often enough nay in that Council which you call the Eighth General Council the Emperour Basilius publickly professeth none of the Bishops contradicting him * Epag Basilii in Conc. quod vocat Act. 8. 1. Gubernacula Ecclesiasticae navis sibi a Deo commissa That the Government of the Church was committed to him by God There was no reply made of a long time for a great bustle that was among the Papists at last three or four lusty Fellows came dragging in a mighty tall Statua almost resembling the old Image of St. Christopher in Nostre Dame in Paris he held in his Hand a long Scroll which was a Catalogue of all the Popes and was hung from Head to Foot with all manner of old fashion'd Trumpery Before it march'd an aged Hermit with a Scyth in his Hand and looking upon the Protestants as if he would have mowed them down at once Ye base Innovatours cryed he that have troubled the World with new Doctrines where was your Religion before Luther See here the ancient and undeniable Records of ours see here the infallible Traditions of many Ages by which we clearly know that we profess the same Fundamental Truths the first Martyrs asserted who were so very old that their Beards help'd to burn them and which none but a Company of new fangled Hereticks in the last Century ever denyed Good Father grey-Beard replyed Bishop Montague don 't think to afright us out of our Senses with an old Worm-eaten Idol over-run with Cobwebs you might as well have brought a Tom of Bedlam with the Luggage of the Gibeonites to prove the Antiquity of your Doctrines as this old wither'd Hercules for assure your self we cannot onely prove them the spurious Inventions of your Cabalistical Innovatours but we can tell you the very Time and Occasions of the introducing every one of them into the Christian Church we have not onely the Scriptures Fathers and Councils maintaining all the grounds of the Protestant Religion according to the Reformation of our Church of England but before it even in the darkest days of Popery we meet with many the learned'st Men that those Ages afforded inveighing against the Corruptions both in Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of Rome as Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln William Occham John Gerson Picus Mirandula Hierom Saveranola Hus and Hierom the Followers of Waldo and in the Year 1260 Nicholas Gallique wrote a Book upon that Subject entituled the Fiery Dart But since we cannot convince you of the Antiquity of Protestantism we will be so complemental for this once as to allow Popery to be older than Christianity it self it is no difficult thing to prove several of your Legends out of Livie and Valerius Maximus what a dull Theologue was Lipsius not to remember that several of the fine Stories he tells concerning our * Just â—ips de Virg. Hallu cap 6. Lady at Hall were long before recorded of the †Val. Max. lib. 1. cap 8. Statua of Claudia plac'd in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods the speaking and Miracles of Images are all Ethnick Illusions and the friskings of Monkish Puppets the Artificial Contrivances of Heathenish Oracle-mongers many of your Saints are slipt into places of Trust held by the old Deities but I wonder that since Diana had so noble an Office as to hunt the Stag and the Wild-Bore that St. Gertrude should get no better Preferment in your Legends than that of a paltry Rat-catcher But we will talk no more of the Antiquity of your Religion As for that Jesuit who boasts so much of it although he is the greatest Innovatour amongst you yet rather than fail upon occasion he can learnedly prove his own Order to be the eldest as well as the richest in the World nay contemporary with the very Hivites and Perizzites for Numb 26. 44. we reade Of Jesui the Family of the Jesuits He had a great deal more to say to them but that he was interrupted with a great Crowd and Noise of Clergy-men coming in from all parts of the Kingdom who made great Complaints against the Presbyterians and other Dissenters for that they in a time when the Government both in Church and State was in such danger by reason of the Papists were then more ungovernable restless and insolent than at any other time and indeed so it plainly appeared for those there present began to be troublesome and mutinous pretending great Fears of Popery but levelling all their Invectives against Persons the most remarkable for Loyalty and Conformity and clamouring for a speedy Reformation of I do not know what holding a great many Seditious Pamphlets in their Hands complaining railing petitioning threatning which when the Papists observed they very cunningly slipt away well knowing that they had too much alarm'd
rather chuse to be non-suited than comply with such determinations which may be to your advantage much good may it doe you Moreover it is generally believed by all natural Philosophers that a man may walk into a Church though it stands East and West if all the doors be open though some Hypocondrical people would fancy they could not and that the door is either too little for their Noses or their Noses too big for the Door Now Sir you will say that Conscience though erroneous is not melancholy and that the cases we talk of are not Civil but Ecclesiastical therefore say you 't is certain that Conscience though false obliges but that 't is uncertain whether such Commands do or no. But that your Conscience may not be erroneous we will prove they certainly do oblige Whig If the Commands of a Father or Master of a Family do not in such Circumstantials for many reasons I have given how then can such Commands of a Supreme Magistrate whose Dominions may be so large that they cannot punctually be observed Suppose a strict Law were made at Paris that every particular Church in the Nation should commence their publick Service on the Lord's day precisely at nine a clock it is Mathematically certain that some would have done and got half through their dinners before others would be half way in their devotions they in the farthest Eastern Parts would have come to their Amen before those on the Calabrian Ocean would be at their Oremus Pamph. They would be pretty well out of the hearing and interrupting one another that 's the comfort of it If the Man in the Almanack though pelted with all the Signs of the Zodiack had not brought a better Argument I would sentence him to be stuck in the Pillory that his Noddle might be influenc'd with rotten Eggs and therefore keep your Mathematical Certainty for your Sunday Pudding But Sir though the Clock of a Family may sometimes go wrong it can't go far and therefore I suppose the Master of a Family may determine a time by that clock for family-duty ay and many other Circumstantials too Nay I fancy that he may enjoyn his Family to abstain from Wine all Lent Whig That would be a Breach of Christian Liberty Pamph. Was not that more a Breach of the Jewish Privileges when the Rechabites were commanded to drink no Wine they nor their sons for ever by their Father Jonadab there lay no such obligation from the Law of Moses yet what says the Text Jerem. 35. 18 19. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Because ye have obeyed the Commandment of Jonadab your Father and kept all his Precepts and done according to all that he hath commanded you Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever Whig But the consequence from the power of a Master of a Family to the Civil Magistrate's Power is not very clear and that by reason of the incapacity and unfitness of the Matter the bulkiness of the Aggregate for as c. Pamph. Away with these rumbling Similitudes you draw but foisty Arguments from such swelling words of vanity I say the Supreme Magistrate particularly the King of England is better qualified to govern in all cases Civil and Ecclesiastical in his Dominions than any Master can be for domestick in his Family God has furnish'd him with means suitable to the greatness and variety of his charge for Ecclesiastical affairs Rex Angliae est persona mixta cum Sacerdote in the same sense that Constantine the Great vouch'd himself to be a Bishop and the Church of Christ acknowledged him He is custos utriusque Tabulae And as he can command you to hold up your hand at the Bar of God's Justice whose Vicegerent he is in case you break any one Commandment so can he command you to kneel before the Throne of Grace in token of your Obedience So that indeed I grant you that the power of a Master of a Family may not be compared with that of the Supreme Magistrate indeed if you look into the late Rebellion the Supreme Magistrate was made low enough but if you look into the Present State of England you will find by Common Civil Canonical Apostolical by all manner of Law that our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second is by the grace of God in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Supreme Governour Look into the late Rebellion and you will find that they were such scrupulous Buffoons as your self that broke the Boundaries of Order and Obedience under the pretence of Reformation and Conscience and turned the Nation Topsy-turvy in Blood and Gore I have formerly shewn what was their Reformation As for their Consciences they were not very tender when they made none you are mightily offended that such a Tender Conscience should be thought a melancholy delusion or a superstitious qualm But with what confidence are you so brisk upon that instance of David's heart smiting him when he cut off Saul's skirt when you are Pag. 375. pleading for the Consciences of those Dissenters that cut off King Charles his Head You are merrily prophane when you say pag. 381. that you wonder that among all the Apocryphal Epistles of our Saviour to Agbarus or Paul to Seneca that we meet with none of the Apostles to Nero That whereas their Lord and Master either through the hurry of business had forgotten or the littleness of the things had neglected to settle his Churches c. That therefore they humbly beseech his Imperial Majesty that he would review and revise their Religion and such other mystical Ceremonies significant of Gospel-grace wherewith his well-known Piety could not but be intimately acquainted c. And his Petitioners shall humbly pray c. Sir Had you drawn a Petition according to the strain and humour of those Dissenters you plead for it should have run thus That whereas their Lord and Master whose Kingdom was not of this world had not left them Amunition enough to settle his Churches c. That therefore they humbly beseech his Protectorship to grant them the Militia of the Empire the Pretorian Bands and to add such other things significant of Gospel-power wherewith c. And his Petitioners shall heartily fight c. Whig Hark you Sir have you nothing to say to the Authour of Julian the Apostate Pamph. Yes I suppose he is one of your disciples and has learn'd both his Loyalty and his Modesty from you one would think that you had spit into his mouth that very Complement you by the way of Similitude pass upon the Supreme Magistrate Page 361. It was say you a Malicious Artifice of Julian the Apostate to erect the Images of the Heathen gods in the Forum near his own Statue reducing hereby the Christians to this Dilemma either to seem to worship the Images
the Poor-mans-Box with a Back-Sword lifted up over the Effigies of a Cripple standing upon it I was resolved if possible to hear what he had to say to it when I was got close to him Thou lame Idol quoth he that haltest betwixt two Opinions that hast Feet and walkest not I will hew thee in pieces as Samuel did Agag before the Lord in Gilgal At a few Strokes he cut it down and had so split the Box that out flew several pieces of Brass and Silver which he greedily catching thou art said he like the Image in Aesop's Fables which did the Man no good whilst he worship'd it but now being broken thou sheddest thy Mammon like Bloud I left him to observe a Tribe of Quakers who were got to the Steeple and seemed so mighty Zealous against it that they would have pulled it down about their Ears had they not feared it might have beaten off their Hats but nothing more offended them than the Bells and their great Fault was that they called others to Church although they never came in themselves so that whatever was said to prove them true Protestant Bells that they had never been baptized as Popish * As the great Bell in St. John Lateran Bells used to be though they had neither God-Fathers nor God-Mothers yet down they must because said they The Babylonians had an Idol called Bell. Thus the Reformation was carried on according to the various Frensies and ridiculous Humours of the jangling Rabble who agreed in nothing but Mischief and Desolation not sparing the very Monuments of those first Reformers whom in the * Pag. 6. Preface to the Directory the Presbyterians acknowledged as excellent Instruments raised by God to begin the purging and building of his House and desired they might be had in everlasting Remembrance with Thankfulness and Honour for they pull'd the Brass off their Tombs and defac'd every thing that was curious for Workmanship or Venerable for Antiquity under the pretence of Popery when as indeed their Covetousness which was worse than Idolatry was the chiefest Motive that they scratch'd up the Names of worthy Benefactours for the Brass they were engraven upon that they rak'd up the very Dust of their Ancestours and would have sold the Bones of their Grandsires if any would have bought them but this was not all their brutish Zeal carried them to greater Extravagances as to thrust their Swords through and mangle the Corpses of the deceased a piece of Romish Fury now turn'd into Protestant Piety Whilst I observed these things with Grief and Wonder the Clergy-man pulled me by the Sleeve and look you yonder quoth he is fine work at this I espied a mixt Multitude of the wildest Machines that ever I beheld some tooting with the broken Pipes of Organs others dancing in Hoods Copes and Surplices some Smoaking others Swaggering with lewd and bloudy Oaths and all of them pulling down the King's Arms calling them the Colours of the Dragon and the Ensigns of Antichrist and saying that the Vnicorn was the very White Horse in the Revelations with a blazing Star upon his Forehead Then a great number of Levellers great Enemies to Angels and Arch-angels cutting in pieces the Images of the Apostles After them a Troop of Antinomians fell foul upon the Ten Commandments and carried out the Pictures of Moses and Aaron vowing to make his Incense blaze as well as smoak and so burnt them with the Rails before the Altar Whilst the Rout were thus revelling in their lewd and diabolical Triumphs I wondred to hear on a sudden some howling and mourning very lamentably but was much more astonished to see Greenhill weeping as if he had been sorry for what the People by his Instigation had done and therefore going up to Edwards who wrote the Gangraena Pray good Sir said I What ails Mr. Greenhill what is the Matter What! said he * Edwards Catalogue of Errours pag. 25. an Anabaptist and a great Sectary came to him and said he might as safely Baptize a Dog as a Believer's Child At this I looked towards the Font and espied a Company of Villains †In Lichfield Cath. Sir William Dugdale 's Hist baptizing a Calf wrapt in Linnen Edwards seeing them at the same time cryed out From all these Errours Heresies and Practices of the Sectaries you may see what a great Edward 's Further Discourse p. 195. Evil and Sin Separation is from the Communion of the Reformed Churches and how highly displeasing to God for Men to make a Schism and Rent in the Church of God in time of Reformation God punishing the Schism and Separation of our Times with so many Heresies Blasphemies and wicked Practices Very true replyed the Orthodox Clergy-man Knox and some of your Predecessours made a Schism in the Church of God in the very time of the Reformation and because your Separation from the truly Reformed Church was unreasonable the Pretences frivolous and the Methods of your Super reformation Impious and Ridiculous therefore does God justly punish your Schism and Separation Impious and Ridiculous cryed 40 or 50 of them at once was the visible growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government a frivolous Pretence Yes marry was it replyed he 't was what the Papists themselves suggested and was rather therefore the Invisible Growth of Popery under the Visible Growth of Knavery And since you talk of God's Punishment for Schism surely the World may now trace the Guilt of your pretended Reformation in the Consequences of it 'T was ye set the People above the King and now every Individual usurps a Supreme Equality a nonsensical Confusion not to be found among Cannabals 't was ye abolish'd Episcopacy and now every one makes himself a Priest with as much Authority as one Presbyter makes another 't was ye taught the People to sit irreverently at the Sacrament and now ye may see some of them laying their Tails at the Communion Table ye took away the decent Ceremonies in Baptism and now they prophane that Sacrament with Diabolical ones ye brought the Catechumeni to the Desk and 't is not long e're they are chirping in the Pulpit Thus like so many Judas's have ye betrayed both Christ's Vicegerent and his Church too with glorious Pretences and then left them to the mockery of Men worse than Jews who have now made the Temple of God a Den of Thieves which ye denyed to be the House of Prayer Prayer cryed one of them Was not the whole Book of Common-Prayer Popish and Superstitious Are not Bishops Antichristian And did not that Arch-Prelate Laud design to bring us into right down Popery That you shall know by and by replyed he but in the mean time 't is remarkable that the Arch-Bishop was condemned upon an Indictment of the Scots for obtruding the Book of Common-Prayer and you imposed the * Title Page of the Directory Directory upon them and the Irish too a little after That Bishops are not