Kings temporall power with some mild interpretations or alterations might be tollerated for his Majesties security Thirdly that the Communion might be administred sub utraque specie Fourthly that the Lyturgie might be officiated in the English tongue These two last articles were for the satisfaction of the people 'T was the great zeale of Canterbury to capitulate for these things to make the entrance of Popery the more smooth at first and this was about the latter end of August or the begining of September 1636. during the residence of Seignior Con and though our Venetian help us not herein yet this is knowne sufficiently and can be averred otherwise neverthelesse we may probably conjecture that what did concerne the King herein should have been really performed so far forth as other Catholike Princes usually injoy and expect as their due and so far as the Bishops were to be independent both from King and Pope which was the maine scope and purpose of the agreement though not mentioned at all in the articles there was no feare of breach on the Popes part but so far as the inferiour Clergie and the people were concerned the after performance it is to be suspected was to be left to the Popes discretion the conditions being onely of temporall advantage rather fit to induce than to confirme Popery This seemes the more likely to be true because of the great facility which was in our Divines to comply with the Papists of their owne accord without any allurements or follicitation at all the Papists were not so backward in walking towards Calvin as the Protestants were hasty in running towards the Pope for even before any Treaty at all or before any Nuntio sent from Rome we had condescended to many popish innovations and alterations both in doctrine and discipline and 't was at our intreaty that any Nuntio was dispatched at all It is not worth while to reckon up here what novelties had been patronized and by whom how far Sparrow had paved the way for auricular confession Watts for penance Heylin for altar-worship Mountague for Saint-worship Laud for the Masse and many others it is not worth while to recite how far the sanctity of the Sabbath was depraved and all strictnesse of life under the scandall of Puritanisme disparaged or how far Arminianisme Socinianisme Atheisme it selfe was countenanced the easier to debosh the Clergie and people and to prepare them for alterations of any kind it having beene observed that to some men irreligion it selfe seemed lesse offensive than the Popish Religion our Venetians owne words are The Vniversities Bishops and Divines of this Realme doe daily imbrace Catholike opinions though they professe it not with open mouth for feare of the Puritanes for example they hold that the Church of Rome is a true Church that the Pope is superiour to all Bishops that to him it appertaines to call generall Councels that it is lawfull to pray for the soules departeds that Altars ought to be erected in summe they believe all that is taught by the Church but not by the Court of Rome In another place he reports the King to be much a favourer of Confession and sayes that by his countenance Catholikes did increase daily At the Councell of Trent all matters concerning the Court of Rome which are of themselves but disputable were determined and enjoyned as points of faith to be believed upon strict paine of damnation but matters of faith indeed concerning the Church of Rome were left disputable and no Anathema annexed to them Now the Court of England having contrary interests in this respect was not so far Popish and therefore Canterbury himselfe would ever professe against these Tridentine Papists whom onely he hated as Papists properly so called Neverthelesse we must not conceive that the English Laytie had been in a condition any whit better or gentler because the King and the Clergie here were so stiffe against the Court of Rome for what the King our great Primate did deny to the Pope it was intended to be reserved in the same rigor to themselves The Papist properly so called in Canterburies sense so much to be abominated was he which maintained a supremacy of the Pope here in England altogether incompatible with the oath of Allegeance and not agreeing with the Archbishops Metropoliticall power Without any Treaty without any difficulty at all all Popery which was not Popery properly so called that is all Popety so far as the people and inferiour Clergie were interessed in it so it did not savour of the Court of Rome nay let it savour of the Court of Rome so it did not derogate any thing from the King in temporalibus or the Archbishops independecy in spiritualibus so far it was acceptable to the Prelates and they would be assisting to recommend or inforce it on all others This was the summe of our reconciliation with Rome 2 Secondly I come now to the two parties which were to be reconciled and they were the Protestants and Papists divided hitherto by the Puritanes our Venetian resolves not onely who are but also what are Protestants and Puritanes both and as for the Papists the third great faction they need no description at all if we desire to know who are Protestants our Venetian tels us They consist of the King the Nobles Titular that is the Court Lords and Gentlemen or such of the Peerage and Gentry as are enobled and raised to more than ordinary favours and honors besides almost all the Prelates and both the Vniversities If we desire to know what it is that denominates them Protestants t is intimated in this that they hate Puritanes more than they hate Papists that they easily combine with Papists to extirpate Puritanes that they are such as have not so ingaged themselves to the Reformed Religion but that they have since set themselves to reduce themselves againe to the old practise of their forefathers that they are only very opinative in excluding the Popes supremacy and by this meanes have occasioned the Catholicks which frequented Protestant Churches for 12 yeares after the Reformation to sequester themselves If we desire to know who are Puritanes He tels us they consist of some Bishops all the Gentry and Communalty and therefore are the most potent of all the three parties If we desire to know what Puritanes are and what is intended in that denomination he tels us They are such as received the discipline of the French and Netherlanders hold not the English Reformation to bee so perfect as that which Calvin instituted at Geneva That they hate Catholick more than they hate Protestants that they would be casily quitted were it not for some great Patrons of theirs at Court who for private ends take them into Protection If this be a true account given as it seemes to me beyond all doubt the greatest part of the Gentry and Communalty of England under the odious terme of Puritanes is to be oppressed and destroyed meerely
because they honour Calvin and are averse from the Pope The name of Protestant also is to be appropriated to the King the Nobilitie the Prelates and Vniversities meerely because they hate the Gentry and Commonalty or the Generality therof more then they hate Papists and lastly the Papist and the Protestant that they may be more fully incorporated both of them shall be gratified and their Vnion solemnized as it were with the ruine of the third and most Potent party of the Kingdom This was that great and godly worke which was so magnified by Doctor Heylin and and other Court Chaplaines of late this was that rare bloudy machination which his Grace of Canterbury and the other Grandees of our Church recommended to us as the pious inclination of the times and as a more beautiful restoration of the Gospel then that which Luther and Calvin labour'd to advance Rome had not such pregnant hopes of regaining England fifty yeares agoe for then as a great Romanist complained opposition was made not onely by a puritan-City and a puritan-Parliament but a puritan-Queene also It should seem the City of London was puritanicall from the beginning and so was the Parliament in which two is comprized all that is noble and worthy in the kingdome of England but who would imagine that so inconsiderable a party as the Papists and semi-Papists were in Queene Elizabeths dayes should dare to asperse not only the whole kingdome but even the Queene her selfe and who can wonder if in these times London and the Parliament have new brands of disgrace worse then that of Puritane fixed upon them The King himselfe now appearing against them if they could not goe unbranded when that unparallell'd Lady professed with them yet we cannot ascribe this so much to the policy of the Clergy as the blockishnesse of the Laity that the Hierarchy prevailes so far for if whole Cities whole Parliaments whole Nations are to be conquered with the meere calumnious words of Puritane Roundhead Anabaptist c. Who is able to stand before them can it be imagined that the same faction should forbeare to call us Round-heads which upbraided Q. Elizabeth as a Puritane especially when by their comming upon the King they have gotten that advantage now Which then they had no hopes to get nor can it be imagined that that party will fall from its preferment and hopes rather then to satisfie so sottish a generation it will take the paines to invent one reviling term of scurrility surely the world for these many ages has had better experience both of the malice and subtilty of Rome 3 Thirdly the meanes used for the effecting of this reconciliation and for the sure transacting and close carrying of it on are now to be considered The King it should seeme thought that without all scandaâ—l he might receive an Embassadour from the Pope as well as from other Catholick Princes and upon the proposition of the same by Panzani himselfe to the Queene and to some others of power about the King by Panzani's friend the thing seemed very reasonable so that the Nuntio to be sent over were no Priest howsoever for more privacies sake it was ordered that the Nuntio should addresse himself to the Queen and not to the King immediately and that the pretended businesse of his addresse should be to mediate a reconciliation betwixt the Regulars and Seculars in England This would better blinde the jealous Puritanes and make the true intent of the negotiation the more involved and the case of Dr. Smith the Bishop of Chalcedon expelled by the persecution of the Iesuites for claiming jurisdiction as Vniversal ordinary in England served well at this time for a specious colour Reason of state none could be alledged for any intercourse betweene England and Rome therfore the Church affairs must be the subject of our Embassie the Iesuites and the Seculars were imbroyled in some contestation t was for the benefit of Rome to appease the heat of it Without all doubt the Romish Councell De propaganda side would not entertaine agents from us to settle union betweene Calvinists and Lutherans or betweene Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants but we that have no such councell nor no such designe instead of nourishing enmity amongst our adversaries allay it and in stead of allaying enmity amongst friends nourish it Nothing can more cleerely shew that the Court of England stands not disaffected to the prosperity of Rome then this endevour of making atonement betwixt the opposite Champions of that religion and yet this was but the shell of the designe the kernell had more mischiefe in it for we may understand by our Venetian that Panzani out of his great circumspection and finenesse having matured the businesse of generall reconciliation so well for the further covering of his true designe he did apply himselfe after to his pretended negotiation And therefore upon the 22 of November 1635 almost a yeare after his arrivall here procured some accord betwixt the Seculars and Regulars though the Iesuites would not come in The truth is the Iesuites were then the principall body of the Regulars governing them as they do still also the best families of England nay the very Court it selfe and so they not submitting to the accord 't was but nugatory and a meere umbrage to all the world except the phlegmaticall dull English Nay it is sufficiently proved by our Venetian that all pacification betwixt the Iesuites Regulars is impossible wherupon if Con comply with the Iesuites it is the same thing as if he did abandon the Seculars and it is to be doubted that the businesse of Religion will be rather hindered than promoted thereby And what greaterinstance need we of the Iesuites predominance in Eng. than this that notwithstanding the distast of Canterb. and his deare confident Chichester they can excite the Popes ordinary here nay without all regard to the Colledge of Sorbona to the Popes own interest they dare inveigh not only against the person of some but against the function of all Bishops Wherefore the accommodation betwixt Seculars and Regulars being so useles to Protestants so hopeles to Papists we must not doubt but some designe of more consequence was obscured under that pretext for when we heare that the Pope and Cardinall Barbarini dispatched so many persons of such quality hither that the King stood bare at their audience and manifested so much grace in their reception and that the Qâ— and all the great Lords and Ladies with extraordinary presents and frequent visits both given and taken studied to do such honor to them the matter in hand cannot seem ordinary T is true the Arch-bishop would not personally treat with Panzani Windebank his creature was to intervene therin neither could Panzani treat with the Archbishop but by Franscis a Sanct Clara his friend on the other side but this was meerely for secrecies sake for we know well what factions soever were in our Court Panzani was
enough In the next place also our Prelates were contented to allow the Pope a priority above all Bishops but a superiority seemed more then due especially in England the Arch Bishop was resolved to be the supream Ordinary himself and yet his holines did not thinke it agreeable to his Vice-Godship to admit of that honour as due to the Arch-Bishop The dispute was not whether the Arch-Bishop should execute that office in his own name and right or by allowance and deputation from the Pope nor was there any clause of salvo jure to either of them as yet thought on these were tender points not to be insisted on too roughly at such a time as this when bothsides were so far resolved of a reconciliation before hand There must be a more mind and easie way of composing things then so for as the Pope had rather we should remaine Protestants and so desperate of salvation then that his supremacy should be too farre impeached so Canterbury had rather we should not turne Papists then that his Primacie should be too farre disabled The bargain therefore at first unqualified was thus The Pope demanded to have a Legate in England that should be a Bishop and not favour the oath of Allegiance on the other side the King here would have the oath of allegiance favoured and the Bishops thought it needlesse for the Pope to have any other agents or deputies here besides themselves This difference could hardly be composed all the time of Seig. Panzani but at last the Bishops durst not wholly neglect the Kings interest and so the oath of allegiance was included in the bargain and the King would not oppose the Bishops interest and so a lay Legate was agreed upon and it was for the Popes honour that a Legate should be for the saving of his authority and therefore because the Pope could not withstand both King and Bishops such a Legate was agreed upon as should favour the oath yet be no Bishop It was pressed home to the Pope that the Archbishop and his party were passionate seekers of this Reconciliation and in order and preparation thereunto had already brought in many Rites Ceremonies and Doctrines nearly approching the Church of Rome and that if the work were not speeded during his life time greater difficulties and re-incounters were likely to interpose after his death and yet for a good space the Pope thought the conditions too unequall So little weight and proportion did the soules of millions hold in comparison of one temporall flower of the popes garland and therefore Panzanies skill and industry for a whole yeare could scarce master these animosities and facilitate the businesse for his next successours neverthelesse the Pope at last grew more a Courtier and stooped a little to a smoothy cōpliance by his more crafty ministers Con Rosetti and now the plot of the agreement is perfected and there wants nothing but the putting of it into execution Without a effected but by their utter subversion the wished reconciliation could not yet be consummated and the Puritanes being the greater part of the Kingdome by farre this taske must needs be very cumbersome Confession as our Venetian heard say was a thing held fit to be urged upon us by violence but fear of commotion hindered it and we may very probably conjecture that some other grosser points of Popery had been obtruded upon us also by the higher powers but that the cursed indisposition of the Puritanes was such that there was great hazzard in the attempt Howsoever our stout Prelates were not out of all hope of carrying their designe either by fraud or force or a mixture of both and therefore seeing things so equally poized in England Scotland and Ireland they were resolved that no meere hazzard should wholly deter them from adventuring the utmost Scotland appeared wholly almost puritanicall but to counterpoise that Ireland appeared as generally Popish and for England though the major part there was puritanicall yet the more potent in place and authority and the more exquisite in subtilti◠or rather treachery was Popish or Protestant that is inclined to combine with Papists and therfore in all this there was little odds to disanimate them neither was their any feare of forraign forces for under the deceitfull pretence of our head-ship and association the Protestants in Germany and France were allready much weakned and betrayed and made jealous of adhering to us they being brought to such a condition that they could not helpe themselves at home much lesse annoy enemies abroad Also the King of Denmarke and Prince of Aurange though Protestants yet were Polititians and therfore the interest of Royalty would questionles prevaile more with them then the interest of Religion It would please them better to see the Prerogative gained in England to the damage of Religion then religion to prosper by the diminution of Prerogative It onely remains then that in England they plotted Reconciliation be first put in execution and advanced by as slow insensible degrees as may be and great art must be used when Churches Altars c. beg in to be decored be made to believe not that popery is to be induced but that a faire reconciliation between both Churches is to be procured and not that Protestantisme is to be at all in any considerable matter changed but that Puritanisme be exterminated Also when not onely faire allurements but the two great Carnificines of the Land The Star-Chamber and High-Commission have by rigor prevailed as far as may be and when by all other meanes the English are inured and familiarized to some popish rites under the faire pretence of conforming to Reverend Antiquity Then the Scots who are not so apt to be inamoured with the splendor and pomp of Church-men as we are must be by all meanes assailed and urged to union and conformity with the Church of England And because it is expected that the Scots should be more jealous of the least incroachments of Poperie and more adventurous to secure themselves in such jealousie and more unanimous in their adventure therefore their countrey is to be made the first Scene of the war And since it would be too grosse to impeach the whole Nation of Puritanisme therefore their crime must be rebellion and the better to imbarque the English in the quarrell that in the Scots they might destroy themselves some new disguise must be put upon the war it must be divulged that in stead of settling Bishops in their Sees and bringing in the English Lyturgie the King has need to be established in his Throne and Scotland to be preserved from Anarchie All the dispute is Whether Subjects may make resistance by force of Arms against a just pious clement Prince the name of Bellum Episcopale is dis-owned the Title of the Lords annoynted will better support the envie of these broyles and it is suggested to the English that both the Lawes and Natives of Scotland are more Antimonarchicall then those