have to believe the Plot it self a Trick and besides 't is plain the Body of the Catholicks had no hand or inclination to the thing which the wiâ—e K. James at last as I said well knew therefore was gratiously pleased to let the beams of his mercy shine again upon them SECT XXIX APOLOGY But suppose my Lords and Gentlemen which never can be granted that all the Papists of that age were consenting Will you be so severe then to still punish the Children for their Fathers faults Nay such Children that so unanimously joyned with you in that glorious Quarrel wherein you and we underweÌ„t such sufferings that needs we must have all sunk had not our mutual love assisted ANSWER XXIX He says suppose falsly to avoid truth for who says all Papists then were consenting or who can deny there be some in this age of the same Principles with those Traytors and though we be not punisht for our Predecessors actions yet we ought to be restrained that we may not do like them Though I would he says shuffle men of these Principles by the word unanimously among those that served the King yet those good Servants are not so many but the others may be easily distinguisht Concerning those that only suffered with the Royallists the Minister thanks them for their love but not for their assistance for the Protestant Cavaliers could not sink lower but some of us floated like cork and others swam upon the bladders of dispensation and therefore as they received no help from our swimming so they apprehend no assurance of us by our sufferings REP. to ANSW XXIX Pray Reader what is in this Answer that confutes the Apology for what man of our Party did not faithfully serve the King to his power and who of us in his Majesties absence had not estimation among the rest of the Cavaliers according to his ranck and quality was there any Party in England more deprest then we Were not Priests of all Orders hanged were not others imprisoned during life Had not we three times more Estates sold then any people else and were not the Laws put in force so that to those that had something two parts of it were also swept away Cromwel by is Maxims kept us poor because we should not be service able to the King and now our Gratious Monarch being returned this Godly Minister thinks fit to advise our restraint as he calls it which in plain English is to desire we should beused as that Tyrant used us for fear we should do like our predecessors i. e. assist his Majesty for I am sure all of them did so and many confirmed that duty with their Blood Can therefore be on Earth greater wickedness then this not only to be forgetful in prosperity but thus with calumny to asperse those who were faithful fellow-sufferers with the Royall Party in the height of all theire misfortunes Reader the hopes of this pitiless man is that rigour and despair may stagger us in our Loyalty but herin I defie him for nothing can move them to contend whom coÌ„science and Love have obliged to be obedient SECT XXX APOLOGY What have we done that we should now deserve your Anger Has the Indiscretion of some few incenst you 'T is true that is the thing Objected ANSWER XXX Sir our anger is only a necessary care that what you call your indiscretions may not grow up to be such as you lately called your misdemeanours SECT XXXI APOLOGY Do not you know an Enemy may easily mistake a Mass-Bell for that which calls to Dinner ANSWER XXXI We know he may upon a Fast-day for then you use to ring your Vesper-Bell before Dinner And how can a simple Heretick tell whether it call you to pray or to eat Fish But we do not know that ever any of you was brought into trouble about that Question SECT XXXII APOLOGY Or a Sequestrator be glad to be affronted being Constable when 't was the hatred to his person and not present Office which perchance egg'd a rash man to folly ANSWER XXXII Possibly he may be glad of it For 't was the Jesuitical distinction between Person and Office that first helpt him to be a Sequestrator and now he sees the distinction come in play he may hope to have his place again REPLY to ANS XXXII Reader you see he will divide a Paragraph and answer to each division as he hath done in these three last though it be gibbrish and nothing to purpose The ringing of a Mass-Bell in Lancashire the affronting a Constable and some other such things were Accusations brought to London against us But how impudent is the Minister to say we were never in trouble as he knows for this when as every body knows what a do there has been ever since these complaints were alleadged by the known Enemies of the Kingdom SECT XXXIII APOLOGY We dare with submission say let a publick Invitation be put up against any Party what soever nay against the Reverend Bishops them selves and some malicious informer or other will alledge that which may be far better to conceal Yet all mankind by a Manifesto on the House-door are encouraged to accuse us Nor are they upon Oath though your Enemies and ours take all for granted and true ANSWER XXXIII He says here 's an ambush for Bishops to have them esteemed Popish because I reverence them and obnoxious in such matters as I say it may be better far to conceal But he knows my kindness and defies my malice They are Olympia's Bishops need concealment but the Bishops of England are of another make and hold not their credit at any ones courtesie He farther says what could the Parliament do less then invite the People to bring in their grievances to the place of Redress and 't was great hardship he says that the House of Commons did not give Oaths to the Accusers which no House of Commons ever did upon any occasion REPLY XXIII If my respects to the Prelats of England have offended this Minister I am sorry for it We and the whole World know how zealous they are for Monarchy and therefore I wish they had no greater Enemies then Papists But if there be an ambush laid for them Judge Reader whether we or the Cobler of Glocester have done it 'T is an usual phrase among Catholicks when they shew the wickedness of Lyars to say they are so abominable that they will not stick to calumniate the Church it self therefore I think kind expressions ought to have had a better requital For Donna Olympia's Bishops I suppose those of our Kingdom take them selves to be of the same make for hers received their Orders from Rome and from the same Fountain as I have read the Church of England pretends to derive all Ordination whatsoever The Minister needed not to have told me that the Commons cannot administer Oaths for I know the Orders of that House better then his Worship I was not troubled that no
and that Catholicks were never put to death in England for Religion but for Treason REPLY IV. Is not this pretty that no body died in England for Religion but for Treason and yet many hundred of Priests have been executed for no other crime but being Priests Nay Lay-men have been hanged for being converted and others for letting a Priest say Mass in their houses when as to hear Mass on Festivals every Catholique is in Conscience obliged if he can Besides have not many Catholiques also suffered for believing the Pope to be Head of the Church By this Argument then if the Parliament should make it Treason as who knows but they may to hold Episcopal Ordination only valid or that the King cannot give Orders it might then be as well said that they that are executed in pursuance of that Law died for Treason and not for their Religion But lest the Minister that has the boldness in almost every Paragraph to deny apparently known things might to deceive his Acquaintance still say I have not proved what I assert Not to trouble my Reader with many citations take this one example out of John Stow that downright plain Historian He tells us That fourteen Papists were at a clap executed six only for being made Priests beyond Sea and remaining here four Lay-men only for being reconciled and four more only for abetting or relieving the others Now if that be sufficient for the justice of the procedure to say there are Laws to this purpose enacted then most certain it is that the Primitive Christians were all Traytors being banisht by the lawful Magistrate from several places where they taught and knowing also many particular Injunctions against their Preaching and seducing the Emperors Subjects as the Ethnicks were pleased to call it Nay the Great St. Alban our famous Proto-Martyr was executed as may be seen in the Martyrology for being contrary to Dioclesians Laws converted to the Faith and abetting or entertaining in his House the Priest Amphibalus which Priest was his Spiritual Instructor according to Mr. Cambden in his famous Treatise of Brittain SECT IV. APOLOGY These are they that by beginning with us Murthered their Prince and wounded you And shall the same method continue by your approbation We are sure you mean well though their Design be wicked But let it never be recorded in Story that you forgot your often Vows to us in joyning with them that have been the cause of so great calamity to the Nation ANSWER V. He urges that by saying the Kings Murtherers began with us Catholicks we take liberty of bestowing Characters on whom we please so that no body must act against us lest they be thought to continue the Method of the Kings Murtherers For Vows he says we Catholicks are more sure of those of Protestants to us then they of ours to them because they want a Pope to dispence with them REPLY V. Pray Reader upon mature consideration tell me now whether they were not the Kings Murtherers that pursued Papists in the beginning of the War Their design afterward I am sure plainly appeared and pray God those were not of the same Tribe who first promoted our late troubles Let me ask also whether you find not us at home and abroad as strict to our promises as any other you converse with But since this Minister upbraids us with our dispensing with Vows be pleased to consider who has been most busy the Romish or Protestant Pope herein The Papists have from the beninning refused the Oath of Allegeance as 't is now worded but the Reformed took it in all the degrees of preferment viz. when graduated in the Universities when admitted into Orders when Justices of Peace when Parlimament-men and in short when any Dignity either in Church or State is conferred Yet for all the often repetition of it half the Kingdom were in Rebellion against the King even directly contrary to what they had sworn Now on the other side there was no Papist that declared not for the King though all the Party as I said refused the Oath and for this refusal severely suffered both in their Estates and Persons Besides if it were a Doctrine amongst us as the Protestants state it that the Pope can when he pleases absolve us from our Oaths why should we then do you think refuse the taking of this Doubtless a Dispensation if it could be granted might be procured at less charge then two thirds of our Estates omitting all corporal punishments Oaths by our Tenets are not in themselves unlawful nor can it be out of want of zeal for our Prince that we refuse them since 't is plain that we all like one man stood by him in his great affliction and misery You must know Reader this Oath was framed by one Perkins an Apostate Jesuite who knowing what we could take and what not purposely mingled certain truths with uncertain speculative points to make us fall within the Law of refusal T would be tedious to shew all the real exceptions we have to it nor do any of them truly relate to our obedience to the King for as to the Allegeance I would be bound to word an Oath which no Papist shall scruple at and yet it shall be more strong then this But Reader to give you my opinion of Oaths though nevertheless I am not for taking away that laudable Custome of swearing Subjects I think them really useless where without them as in Allegeance we are naturally bound for honest men will be punctual in duty though they never swore when as the wicked can at no time be obliged let the Bond be never so Sacred SECT 6. APOLOGY Of all Calumnies against Catholicks we have admired at none so much as that their Principles are said to be inconsistent with Government and they themselves thought ever prone to Rebellion ANSWER VI. On this short Paragraph he makes a wonderful long Discourse saying That 't is a calumny of ours to call that a calumny which is true for first our Councels secondly our Decretals thirdly our Divines teach that the Pope has Power to depose Kings and to discharge Subjects of their Allegeance which Doctrines are inconsistent with Government But every Papist is bound to beleive their Councels Decretals and Divines Ergo we may well be thought prone to Rebellion REPLY 6. To answer to these things perspicuously I shall treat of them singly Object 1. That our General Councels decree this he proves by the Lateran Councel under Innocent the III. which expresly ordains he says That in case any Prince be a favourer of Hereticks after admonition given the Pope shall discharge his Subjects from their Allegeance and shall give away the Kingdome to some Catholique that may root out these Heretiques I grant that the sense of the words is in the Councel and that in determinations of Faith Councels are infallible But as for other matters we say not that Councels are infallible in every point
Rebellion though many of the Reformed Divines are as I shal shew you of another sentiment Yet even those that do agree with me will nevertheless confess that by reason of carnal passions Grace must be predominant to resist so strong a torrent Was it not strange in the beginning to behold Abbies destroyed Bishopricks gelded Chanteries Hospitals and Colledges turned to profane uses Nay after a change of Liturgies and Rites to see people renounce their pious Vows and out of Godliness grow more licentious and loose These and the like unexpected alterations it being a pitiful thing as Stow says to hear the lamentations in the Country for Religious houses spurred men forward to resist for people saw the Conflagration and none knew in what it would determine or end But now Noble Country-men the Scene is quite altered for now we know the full scope of your designe now we are inured to the gentle Yoak of Protestant Kings and now we are so incorporated by our long acquaintance and joynt sufferings that all humane proneness to contend which our Enemies called Principles of Faith is wholly eradicated and taken away Having thus shew'd you that our Principles are not dangerous to Kings that our actions have been zealous for Kings and moreover that it is impossible we should again fall into those misdemeanours into which natural frailtie and misusage drove the foregoing age I will now with your permission examine the Answer of our Minister to each particular Paragraph and by it shall still farther let you see as well his pernicious ill nature as his detestable Positions and Designes But my Lords and Gentlemen I shall beseech you first throughly to peruse the Apologie it self it being the ground of the whole Dispute and because it hath been mangled by him into many imperfect Sections I have thought fit to print it here entire to the end you might run it over with the more ease and that by the whole connexion and dependance which mutilation spoils you may the better consider the real integritie I had in putting out that true and submissive Vindication TO ALL THE ROYALLISTS that suffered for HIS MAJESTY AND To all the rest of the Good People of ENGLAND The Humble APOLOGIE of the ENGLISH CATHOLICKS My Lords and Gentlemen THe Arms which Christians can use against Lawful Powers in their Severity are only Prayers Tears Now since nothing can equal the infinity of those we have shed but the Cause viz. to see our dearest Friends forsake us we hope it will not offend you if after we have a little wip'd our eyes we sigh out our Complaints to you We had spoken much sooner had we not been silent through consternation to see you so enflam'd whom with reverence we honour and also to shew our submissive patience which used no slights or tricks to divert the debates of Parliament For no body can imagine where so many of the great Nobility and Gentry are concern'd but something might have been done whenas in all ages we see things of Publick advantage by the managers dexterity nipt in the bud even in the very Houses themselves Far be it from Catholicks to perplex Parliaments who have been the Founders of their Priviledges and all Ancient Lawes Nay Mâgna Charta it self had its rise from us which we do the less boast of since it was not at first obtained in so submiss and humble manner We sung our Nunc dimittis when we saw our Master in his Throne and you in your deserved Authority and Rule nor could any thing have ever grieved us more then to have our Loyalty called into Question by you even at the instigation of our greatest Adversaries If we must suffer let it be by you alone for that 's a double death to men of Honour to have their Enemies not onely Accusers but their insulting Judges also These are they that by beginning with us murthered their Prince and wounded you And shall the same Method continue by your approbation We are sure you mean well though their designe be wicked But let it never be recorded in Story that you forgot your often Vows to us in joyning with them that have been the cause of so great calamity to the Nation Of all Calumnies against Catholicks we have admired at none so much as that their Principles are said to be inconsistent with Government and they themselves thought ever prone to Rebellion My Lords and Gentlemen Had this been a new Sect not known before something perchance might have been doubted but to lay this at their doors that have governed the Civilized World is the Miracle of Miracles to us Did Richard the First or Edward Longshanks suspect his Catholicks that served in Palestine and made our Countries Fame big in the Chronicle of all Ages Or did they mistrust in their dangerous absence their Subjects at home because they were of this Profession Could Edward the Third imagine those to be Trayterous in their Doctrine that had that care and duty for their Prince as to make them by Statute guilty of death in the highest degree that had the least thought of ill against the King Be pleased that Henry the Fifth be remembred also who did those Wonders of which the whole World does still resound and certainly all History will agree in this that 't was Old Castle he feared and not those that believed the Bishop of Rome to be Head of the Church We will no longer trouble you with putting you in minde of any more of our mighty Kings who have been feared abroad and as safe at home as any since the Reformation of Religion We shall onely adde this that if Popery be the enslaving of Princes France still believes it self as absolute as Denmark or Sweden nor will ever the House of Austria abjure the Pope to secure themselves of the fidelity of their Subiects We shall always acknowledge to the whole World that there have been as many brave English in this last Century as in any other place whatsoever Yet since the exclusion of the Catholick Faith there has been that committed by those who would be fain called Protestants that the wickedest Papist never dreamt of 'T was never heard of before that an absolute Queen was condemned by Subjects and those stiled her Peers or that a King was publickly tried and executed by his own people and servants My Lords and Gentlemen We know who were the Authors of this last Abomination and how generously you strove against the raging Torrent nor have we any other ends to remember you of it but to shew that all Religions may have a corrupted spawn and that God hath been pleased to permit such a Rebellion which our progenitors never saw to convince you perchance whom for ever may he prosper that Popery is not the only Source of Treason Little did we think when your Prayers and ours were offered up to beg a Blessing on the Kings Affairs ever to see that
the thing Objected Do not you know an Enemy may easily mistake a Mass-Bell for that which calls to Dinner or a Sequestrator glad to be affronted being Constable when 't was the hatred to his person and not present Office which perchance egg'd a rash man to folly We dare with submission say let a publick Invitation be put up against any Party whatsoever nay against the Reverend Bishops themselves and some malicious Informer or other will alledge that which may be far better to conceal Yet all mankind by a Manifesto on the House-door are encouraged to accuse us Nor are they upon Oath though your Enemies and ours take all for granted and true It cannot be imagined where there are so many men of heat and youth overjoy'd with the happy Restauration of their Prince and remembring the Insolencies of the former Grandees that they should all at all times prudently carry themselves for this would be more then men And truly we esteem it as a particular blessing that God has not suffer'd many through vanitie or frailty to fall into greater faults ther are yet as we understand laid to our charge Can we chuse but be dismay'd when all things fail that extravagant Crimes are fathered on us It is we that must be the Authors some say of firing the Citie even we that have lost so vastly by it Yet truly in this our ingenuity is great since we think it no Plot though our Enemie an Hugonot Protestant acknowledged the fact and was iustly executed for his vain Confession Again if a Merchant of the Church of England buy Knives for the business of his Trade this also presently is a Popish contriuance to destroy the well-affected We must a little complain finding it by experience that by reason you discontenance us the people rage and again because they rage we are the more forsaken by you Assured we are that our Conversation is affable and our Houses so many hospitable receipts to our Neighbours Our acquaintance therefore we fear at no time but it is the stranger we dread that taking all on hear say zealously wounds and then examines the business when 't is too late or is perchance confirmed by another that knows no more of us then he himself 'T is to you we must make our applications beseeching you as Subjects tender of our King to intercede for us in the execution and weigh the Dilemma which doubtless he is in either to deny so good a Parliament their request or else run counter to his Royal inclinations when he punishes the weak and harmless Why may not we Noble Country-men hope for favour from you as well as the French Protestants find from theirs A greater duty then ours none could express we are sure Or why should the United Provinces and other Magistrates that are harsh both in mind and manners refrain from violence against our Religion and your tender breasts seem not to harbour the least compassion or pity These neighboring people sequestrer none for their Faith but for transgression against the State Nor is the whole party involved in the crime of a few but every man suffers for his own and proper fault Do you then the like and he that offends let him die without mercy And think always we beseech you of Cromwels injustice who for the actions of some against his pretended Laws drew thousands into Decimation even ignorant of the thing after they had vastlie paid for their securitie and quiet We have no studie but the Glory of our Soveraign and just libertie of the Subjects nor was it a mean argument of our dutie when every Catholique Lord gave his voice for the Restoration of Bishops by which we could pretend no other advantage but that 26. Votes subsisting wholly by the Crown were added to the defence of Kingship and consequently a check to all Anarchy and confusion 'T is morally impossible but that we who approve of Monarhy in the Church must ever be fond of it in the State also Yet this is a misfortune we now plainly feel that the longer the late transgressors live the more forgotten are their crimes whilst distance in time calls the faults of our Fathers to remembrance and buries our own Allegeance in eternal Oblivion and forgetfulness My Lords and Gentlemen Consider we beseech you the sad condition of the Irish Souldiers now in England the worst of which Nation could be but intentionallie so wicked as the acted villanie of many English whom your admired Clemencie pardoned Remember how they left the Spanish service when they heard their King was in France and how they forsook the emploiment of that unnatural Prince after he had committed that never to be forgotten act of banishing his distressed Kinsman out of his Dominions These poor men left all again to bring their Monarch to his home and shall they then he forgotten by You Or shall my Lord Douglas and his brave Scots be left to their shifts who scorn'd to receive Wages of those that have declared War against England How commonly is it said That the Oath of renouncing their Religion is intended for these which will needs bring this loss to the King and you that either you will force all of our Faith to lay down their Arms though by experience of great integrity and worth or else if some few you retain they are such whom Necessity has made to swear against Conscience and who therefore will certainly betray you when a greater advantage shall be offered By this test then you can have none but whom with caution you ought to shun and thus must you drive away those that truly would serve you for had they the least thought of being false they would gladly take the advantage of gain and pay to deceive you We know your wisdom and generosity and therefore cannot imagine such a thing Nor do we doubt when you shew favour to these but you will use mercy to us who are both fellow-Subjects and your owen flesh and blood also If you forsake us we must say the world decays and its final transmutation must needs quickly follow Little do you think the insolencies we shall suffer by Committee-men c. whom chance and lot has put in to petty power Nor will it chuse but grieve you to see them abused whom formerly you loved even by the Common Enemy of us both When they punish how will they triumph and say Take this poor Romanists for your love to King ship and again this for your long doating on the Royal Party all which you shall receive from us Commissioned by your dearest friends and under this cloak we will gladly vent our private spleen and malice We know My Lords and Gentlemen that from your hearts you do deplore our condition yet permit us to tell you your bravery must extend thus far as not to sit still with pity only but each is to labour for the distressed as far as in reality his ablity will reach some
Calvin Earthly Princes do hereave themselves of Authority when they erect themselves against God yea they are unworthy to be accounted in the number of men therefore we must rather spit in their faces then obey them Passing by what Beza did in France Davila often mentions He writ a Book of the Power of Magistrates which Mr. Sutcliffe confesses armed Subjects against their Prince Sundry Englishmen writ wholly of this Argument That the Councellors and rather then fail the very people were bound to reform Religion whether the Queen would or no though it were by putting her to death I shall trouble you Reader with no more Citations of which our Books are full for I content my self with naming these of the greatest eminency and certainly the opinions of these Doctors may be more justly charged upon Protestants in general then the opinions of private Catholicks upon us because Luther Zwinglius Calvin and Beza were the first Reformers and if the Spirit of God taught them so much truth as they are said to preach why should this be more questionable then the rest Therefore the Pope being Pharaoh and Popery Egypt as Ministers daily affirm in their Pulpits we may well say These are thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt These Apostles rested not in the Theory but fell to the Practice also for whereas the Popes since the first rise of the Reformation never gave away evenby word but two Crowns viz. England and France the Reformed have actually deposed the absolute Princes of Scotland Denmark Swedeland and Geneva have ravisht also from their lawful Governours the Low-Countreys Transylvania and many Towns which are now called Free And for Rebellion and Tumults they have been eminent in Poland Boheme Hungary France Germany and in short in all places where this Gospel has been preacht This every Historian can tell you nay blind Mr. Heylin plainly saw it therefore did all he could when these Countries in his Geography were to be handled to purge the Reformed from the Rebellion truly laid to their charge but finding that washing a Blackmore was labour in vain he was forced with his Brother Sleidan to fly for shelter to this abominable and prodigious Argument viz. That Christ foretold that Fathers should be against their sons and brothers against brothers for his sake and that we find not in any Story the true Religion was induc'd or corrupt about to be amended without War and Bloodshed It is true the lawful Protestant Church of England teaches no such Doctrine but this I do not much wonder at for why should men the King being so absolute in Spirituals run the risk to be undone for venting such notions when as their Monarchs have been so strict Professors of their Religion The test of this would be if the Prince and people were different or like to be so in Faith and Worship 〈◊〉 what the English have done herein whâ—â— this has happened I will shew you 〈◊〉 said by and by For my part I look upon the English to be the most well-meaning and most Religious people in the World and it is that which makes them all so violent in what their Conscience tells them is true This made Papists so earnest for their Religion which had governed England so long in glory This made Protestants fierce to root out what they thought Idolatry This made Presbyterians desire to have Prelatick Superstition reformed and this made Independents and their brood cry down every thing standing stiffly as they imagined for the Kingdom of Iesus Christ I say this great sincerity and zeal makes all our Countrymen so violent which good intention wicked people taking advantage of have caused so many disturbances among us nor can Sectaries ever be quiet till they are convinc'd that some Church or other is infallible Thus Reader have I answered to this strange Calumny against us That our Principles are inconsistent with Govenment by shewing that deposing of Kings is no part of the Catholick Faith which Catholique Princes do very well know and also that in Doctrine and Practice the Reformed have been wheresoever they came far more faulty then we SECT VII APOLOGY My Lords and Gentlemen Had this been a new Sect not known before something perchance might have been doubted but to lay this at their doors that have governed the civilized World is the Miracle of Miracles to us ANSWER VII Here he says that they that have read most and have had the most experience can best cure â—s of the wonder and that K. Iames who had reason to know us said in the Parliament That there were some that might be honest of the Party being ignoraÌ„tly seduced but they that truly knew our Doctrines could never be good Subjects Then he asks when it was that we governed the civilized World For he says the Eastern and Southern Churches never were under our Government nor the Western neither but when ignorant and barbarous REPLY VII Now I plainly see the design of this Minister is to the end his flock may believe every thing answered to say something to each Paragragh let it be never so frivolous Who is it Reader that having read History is ignorant of the great power the Bishop of Rome had over the East as the Greek Fathers tell us for wee read in Eusebius that Pope Victor about anno 200. Excomunicated the Eastern Church for not keeping Easter the Roman way and this Grimston also has in his account of Popes Or who knows not of the Appeals from Africk when matters of moment arose even in the most acknowledged Primitive times But I ask your pardon for asserting this because in the Primitive times they say the Popes themselves were Protestants Yet though this were so I wonder the Minister should be so forgetful of the Great Antichrist Boniface the III who is baited by every Shoolboy This arrant Pope lived above 1000. years aago and not only called himself Universal Bishop but was owned so too by Phocas the Universal Emperor as all Protestants declare Might not then a man modestly say that Popery governed the civilized World when it governed the whole World But I d of willingly forgive a man this that has the confidence to say that we did not govern the Western World till it grew ignorant and barbarous It may be he means that those Parts have been so ever since Christs time otherwise till this late Reformation there was never any Government on this side Greece that denied the Popes Jurisdiction and Greece it self owned it in the Councel of Lateran and in Hen. 3. time also as Protestant Sir Richard Baker testifies Ever since Rome made het self Mistress of all Arts and Sciences the West took the name of the only civilized place Therefore had he understood civility he would not have made so simple a cavil and I dare say he is the first ProtestaÌ„t Writer though they have been as
bold as Hectors in their denials that has affirmed the Church of Rome never governed the civilized World But since this Minister mentions here Popish ignorance I must desire the Reader if he knows any of our Profession in the Country to tell me whether generally speaking they are not esteemed more learned then their Neighbours of the same rank and degree I am sure they that live at London are thought by their Protestant Acquaintance as well bred and as greate scholars as any of their condition with whom they usually converse Concerning our Priests consult their Books and tell me then whether they have been out done or no and if any English man would know how they are abroad let them go but to his next Neighbours the French and there in every Diocess he shall find a Clergy not only learned to admiration but so far outgoing the Hugonot-Ministers that one would think they lived not in the same Clime or Region Nay what is yet more there is neither private nor publick Library in this very Island but seven of ten of the choice Books in all Sciences were writ by Catholicks Is not this Good Reader strange ignorance for Protestants to be thus deceived and implicitly led on by their Pastors contrary to what they hear and see This I must say is incredible blindness and exceeds that of the silliest Papists who if they are cozened it must be in things beyond their capacity or by distance far remote from them But now in England nothing is more common then to have wise Protestants run into this and the like fond fancies and at last when they can say no more they are fain to shift it off with this Phanatical evasion That it is true Papists are carnally but not spiritually learned SECT V. APOLOGY Did Richard the first or Edward Longshanks suspect his Catholicks that served in Palestine and made our Countries Fame big in the Chronicles of all ages or did they mistrust in their dangerous absence their Subjects at home because they were of this Profession Could Edward the third imagine those to be Trayterous in their Doctrine that had that care and duty for their Prince as to make them by Statute guilty of death in the highest degree that had the least thought of ill against the King Be pleased that Henry the fifth be remembred also who did those Wonders of which the whole World does still resound and certainly all History will agree in this that 't was Old-Castle he feared and not those that believed the Bishop of Rome to be Head of the Church ANSWER VIII To this he says the Reigns of these Kings were in the dark times of corruption yet that Richard I. bequeathed his Pride and Lechery to the Clergy and Monks That Edward I. outlawed the Clergy for obeying the Pope in not paying Taxes That Edward III and Hen. V. made good Laws against the Popes usurpation and Becket vext Hen. II more then Hen. V feared Oldcastle Moreover that all these Kings did not differ so much from Protestants as the Papists now do and to conclude he asks did not the Pope force K. Iohn to do homage for England wrestle with Edward the first for Scotland and often lay claim to Ireland REPLY 8. Certainly Reader the Minister is besides himself since he can say the English differed not so much from the Protestants then as we do now Has the man railed all this while against the Tyranny of Popes and urged those times as the height of their Authority and then comes to this evasion I would fain know if the Clergy and Religious were since ever more in power then in those days was there ever more of Pilgrimages and all sorts of Devotion which Protestants call Superstitious were not Schoolmen then most in their splendor And lastly could any Publican Lollard Wickliffian or new Sect stir but the whole Kingdom presently detested them Who then will ever believe a word more he says when he is so strangely impudent to no purpose But these are the worthy tricks used to keep the poor people in ignorance and just with as much truth are the Fathers called defenders of the Protestant Religion for the Fathers stiled them always Hereticks that ran out of the visible Church For the Laws that have been made by any of our Kings if they made any against Ecclesiastical usurpations God reward them and to this all Catholicks will say Amen Concerning K. John we have already spoke enough And for the Popes claim to Scotland judge Reader whether any man can be fuller of falsity and malice then this Minister my Adversary For here he would have the World think by his placing this Accusation after King Johns business and by calling it the Popes wrestling with Edward I. for the Soveraignty of Scotland there was some notorious injustice done by the Sea of Rome In short the business was only this as you may find in Hollingshead the most violent English Historian against Papists that ever yet writ The Scots having always an animosity against the English and not knowing how to resist the Victorious Arms of Edward who was again coming with a great Army against them surrendred the Kingdom or so pretended to Boniface 8. He thereupon sent to the King to desist because the Crown belonged to the Church Edward immediately returned an Answer and so did all the Barons of England to manifest the Kings right and the invalidity of the new pretence The Pope says Hollingshead when he deliberately pondered the Kings Answer with the Letter from the English Barons waxt cold in the matter and followed it no farther Thus Reader you see how the case stood and how Catholiques are wronged by ill men nor is there any difference between a false aggravation and a downright lye In the same manner are we used in this Accusation of Ireland for the Pope never medled with Ireland but since the Reformation and so invaded it in the time of Queen Elizabeth of which you shall see farther in the Section of Popish misdemeanors in her Reign The parity between S. Th. Becket and Oldcastle is doubtless very odd the last being a Rebel with Complices in arms against Henry the fifth the other disputing only about Priviledges which he said were grāted to Priests Just as if our Peers should stād upon the freedome of their Persons were there a design to have them imprisoned as other Subjects or tried by a common Jury Besides all Princes of Christendome then owned Becket for a Saint when as no body unless such a man as Fox thought Oldcastle deserved any thing but the Gallows SECT IX APOLOGY We will no longer trouble you with putting you in mind of any more of our mighty Kings who have been feared abroad and as safe at home as any since the Reformation of Religion We shall only add this that if Popery be the enslaving of Princes France still believes it self as absolute as Denmarck or Sweden ANSWER IX He
have viz. a Preist to assist her at her death she was again recomforted when she knew by the Earl of Kent that she died for her Faith for he told her that her life would be the destruction of their Religion Reader I must now here end and cannot but ask this Question If the Reformed have for defence of their Religion effected the death of their Queen or at least undoubted Heir and if they have set up Jane Gray that had no title because their lawful Prince was Catholick who have been I would fain know in England more faulty in this case they or we Pray what advantage has this Minister got by loading us with crimes of which we are innocent And if as he urges in the beginning we obey'd Q. Elizabeth ten years without stir it then shows that Papists can be obedient to a Prince of another Religion though they doubt their right whenas the former Protestants would do any thing rather then permit a Catholick to govern let the Title be never so just Judge now Reader whether it be not superlative injustice to incense the World against us as if our Religion taught nothing but blood and theirs all gentleness imaginable I must invoke both Angels and Men to consider our wrong who are termed trayterous in our Principles even to this day We in our own persons have shewed all the duty that men can fancy and for our Ancestors you have seen what their Plea is if it be bad they have justly suffred if other wise let them then feel your anger who would deceive you thus with lies and remember that 't is not possible a Religion which governed England with glory so many years can teach a Doctrine destructive to Princes or infuse Maxims that will breed commotions among the people SECT XXIII APOLOGY 'T was for the Royal House of Scotland that they suffered in those days and 't is for the same illustrious Family we are ready to hazard all on any occasion ANSWER XXII Sir We have found you notoriously false in that which you affirm Pray God you prove true in that which you promise SECT XXIV APOLOGY Nor can the consequence of the former procedure be but ill if a Henry the Eighth whom Sir Walter Rawleigh and my Lord Cherbury two famous Protestants have so homely characterized should after twenty years co-habitation turn away his wife and this out of scruple of Conscience as he said when as History declares that he never spared woman in his lust nor man in his fury ANSWER XXIV This Character he says agrees better with some Heads of the Church then with King Henry the Eighth of whom better Historians naming Thuanus say better things but if he were such a Monster 't was for want of a better Religion for he was of ours except in the point of Supremacy and therefore I have no reason to flurt at him except having undertaken to colour Treasons I think 't is something towards it to bespatter Kings I use he says the same Art in the next Paragraph to excuse the Powder-Treason calling it a misdemeanour the fifth of November a Conjuration all soft words but deal hardly with the great Minister of State whom I make the Author of it as if the State had conspired against the Traytors not the Traytors against the State Then he tells the old Story of the Gunpowder-Plot and how discovered by my Lord Mounteâ—gles Letter and also how the Jesuites Baldwin Hammond Tesmond and Gerrard were named by the Conspirators as privy with them The Narration is in any Book that treats of King James and well known by every body therefore for brevities sake I have omitted it here REP. to ANSW XXIV Reader If the Character do agree better with many heads of our Church then I say in Gods name let it be given them But I much admire how Thuanus comes to be esteemed a better historian in English affairs then Sir Walter Raleigh or my Lord Cherbury whom we poor English-men think very excellent But why do I trouble you wiâ—â— the extravagancies of this strange man wâ—â— when he finds as he fancies a present expedient cares not though he be forc'd to deny it again in the next page What I have said of Henry the Eighth these two famous men have said it and a thousand times worse though they were Protestants and the first of them the great admirer of his Mrs. the daughter of this very Prince Nay omitting the unexpressable foul Language of the Reformed at home and abroad especially of Luther himself the Bishop of Hereford a Member of the Church of England calls him unsatiable glutted with one and out of variety seeking to enjoy another I shall speak no more to this nor any thing separately to the next four Paragraphs for they all concern the Powder-Treason You shall see what he says to each of them and then my Answer shall follow in one intire discourse SECT XXV APOLOGY Now for the fifth of November with hands lifted up to Heaven we abominate and detest ANSWER XXV Here he asks Whether it be the Festival 〈◊〉 the Treason we abominate and detest If the 〈◊〉 he says he will believe us without lifting 〈◊〉 our hands If the Treason he asks why we do not call it so which while we cannot afford to do lifting up our hands will never perswad 〈◊〉 we abominate and detest it SECT XXVI APOLOGY And from the bottom of our hearts say that may they fall into irrecoverable perdition who propagate that faith by the blood of Kings which is to be planted in truth and meekness only ANSWER XXVI He says I should be cautious of throwing such Curses for fear of hitting our Father the Pope as the Philosopher told the son of a common-woman that threw stones among a multitude SECT XXVII APOLOGY But let it not displease you Men Brethren and Fathers if we ask whether Ulisses be no better known or who has forgot the Plots of Cromwel framed in his Closet not only to destroy many faithful Cavaliers but also to â—ut a lustre upon his Intelligence as if nothing could be done without his knowledge Even so did the then great Minister who drew some few ambitious men into this conjuration and then discovered it by a Miracle ANSWER XXVII Here he calls me Apostle and Poet full of Gravity and Fiction Then he says I would make the World believe they were drawn into this Plot by Cecil yet am so wise as not to offer to prove it but would steal it in by the example of Cromwel Again he says admitting this for true they were Traytors nevertheless in doing what they did had there been no Cecil in the World and therefore the excuse only implies they had not wit to invent it though they wanted not malice to execute it for according to my illustration as the Cavaliers whom Cromwel drew in had their Loyalty abused and were nevertheless faithful still so the Powder-Traytors whom Cecil
been struck at but that the Bishops and Church of EnglaÌ„d felt also the blow and how much Episcopacy is advaÌ„tageous to Monarchy none can be now ignorant Who therefore My Lords and Gentlemen will be so little pitied as you if you should be twice deceived after the same method and maÌ„ner But to conclude no Kingdom I dare say looses-so much as ours by their cry against Catholicks for 't is very certainly true were not this a Bar and he who doubts it will soon be convinc'd let him step but beyond Sea that the Spanish Provinces in the NetherlaÌ„ds and for a small matter with their Kings consent as his case lately stood would joyfully put themselves under the gentle yoak of our easie Government nor are they in Normandy shie to say that had not Papists been so harrassed with us they would not have slipt so many late oportunities of returning to their Lawful Duke and Soveraign FINIS REader I hope this ImpressioÌ„ will be better theÌ„ the last which was very falsely printed For the Printer not only Italicated where he should not and omitted it where he should but also left out some words and changed others as if there had been a private correspondency betweene my Adversary and him for soe I le assure yow I am informed The only alteration I make is putting the Citations out of the Margent into the body of the treatise for I found that it distracted or at least much interupted the Reader in often running from one place to another especially if what I quoted were long I have also added to the list more Catholiques of quality that lost their lives for the King The names I receiv'd from some Ladyes of their Relations who are now become Religious at Paris I have plac't them by themselves after all to put the Readers in mind that they forgett not to insert also those whom hereafter they shall have notice of and had I time to send to friends I doubt not but the increase would be considerable A CATOLOGUE OF THOSE CATHOLICKS THAT DIED AND SVFFERED FOR THEIRE LOYALTY THe Earl of Carnarvan slain at Newbury first Battle Lord Viscount Dunbar at Scarborough and two of his sons much wounded Knights Sir John Smith Banneret who rescued the Kings Standard from the Rebels at Edgâ—il slain at Alresford in Hampshire Sir John Cansfield wounded at Neubury of which he died a lingring death Sir Hen. Gage Governour of Oxford slain at Collumbridge 11. Jan. 1644. Sir J. Digby wounded at Taunton and died at Bridgewater Sir P. Brown wounded at Naseby died at Nortbampton Sir Nich. Fortescue Knight of Malta slain in Lancashire Sir Troylus Turbervil Captain-Lieut of the Kings Life-Guard slain upon his Majesties marching from Newark to Oxford Sir J. Preston wounded at Furnace of which he died a lingring death Sir Arthur Aston Gouvernour of Redâ—ling slain at Tredaugh in cold blood Sir Thomas Tildesly slain at Wiggan Sir HeÌ„ry Slingsby beheaded on Towerhill Colonels Col. Th. Howard son of the Lord William Howard slain at Peirsbridge Col. Tho. Howard son of Sir Francis at Atherton-Moor The gaining which Battle was principally ascrib'd to his Valour Col. Tho. Morgan of Weston in Warwicksh slain at Newb. first battle he raised a Regiment of Horse for the King at his own charge and his Estate was given to Mr. Pyms son Col. Cuthbert Conniers at Malpass Col. Tho. Dalton of Thurnham mortally wounded at Newbury second battle and died at Marlborough Col. Francis Hungate slain at Chester Col. Poor Governour of Berkley-Castle neer Lidney Col. Will. Ewre son to the late Lord Ewre at Marston-Moor Col. Ra. Pudsey at Marston-Moor Col. Cuthert Clifton slain at Manchester Col. Cassey Bental at Stow in the Wolds Col. Trollop slain at Wiggan Col. William Bains at Malpass Col. William Walton at Tredagh Col. Rich. Manning at Alresford Lieut. Colonels Lieut. Col. Thomas Markham of Allerton slain neer Gainsborough L. Col. Lancelot Holtby at Branceford L. Col. Haggerston at Preston L. Col. Pavier at Linc. L. Col. Jordan Metham at Pontefract L. Col John Godfrey at Tewksbury L. Col. George Preston at Bradford L. Col. Will. Houghton at Newbury Lieut. Col. Phil. Howard slain at Chester L. Col. Middleton at Hopton-Heath L. Col. Michael Constable there also L. Col. Sayr at Nasby L. Col. Scot at Alresford L. Col. Thomas Salvin at Alresford L. Col. Richard Brown at Alresford L. Col. Goodridge wounded at Alresford and died at Oxford L. Col. Congrave slain at Dean in Gloucest Serjeant-Majors Major Cusand slain at the taking of Basing in cold blood Major Rich. Harborn wounded at Malpass dy'd at Kendal Major T. Vavasor slain at Marston-Moor Maior Panton wounded at Cover dy'd at Highmeadow Major Hudleston slain at York Maj. Thomas Ewre at Newbury 1. Major Lawrence Clifton at Shelfordhouse Maior Thomas Heskith at Malpass Maj. William Leak at Newbury 1. Maj. Rively wounded at Naseby dy'd prisoner at London Maj. Richard Sherburn at London Maj. Holmby at Henly Major Rich. Norwood slain before Taunton Captains Captain Marmaduke Constable Standardbâ—â—rer to L. Gen. Lindsey slain at Edgehill Capt. Wil. Laborn and Cap. Mat. Anderton at Sheriff-hutton in Yorkshire Capt. Joseph Constable at Newbury Captain Wiburn slain at Basing in oold blood Capt. Burgh slain at Cover Capt. Thurston Anderton wounded at Newbury died at Oxford Cap. Haggarston eldest son of Sir Thomas in Lancashire Cap. Anthony Rigby at Bazing-house Capt. Richard Bradford at Bazing-house Capt. Kenelm Digby eldest son of Sir Kenelm Digby raised a Troop of Horse at his own charge and was slain at St. Neotes Capt. Ratcliff Houghton at Preston Capt. Rob. Molineux of the Wood in Lancashire slain at Newbury 1. Capt. Charl. Thimelby at Worcester Capt. Robert Townsend at Edge-hill Captain Matthew Ratcliff neer Henly Capt. Richard Wolsole at Newbury Capt. Anthony Awd Capt. Thomas Cole at Newark Capt. Partison at Wiggan Capt. Maximil Nelson at Marston-moor Capt. Fran. Godfrey slain at Sherburn Capt. Tho. Meynel at Pontefract Capt. John Clifton at Shelford-house Capt Abraham Lance. Capt. Robert Lance at Rowton in Chesh. Capt. Anth. Hamerton neer Manchester Capt. Will. Symcots Capt. Lieut. to the Lord Piercy slain at Newberry 1. Capt. Tho Singleton at Newberry 1. Captain Francis Errington of Denton in Northumberland at Rotheran Captain George Singleton at Rotheran Capt. Mich. Fitzakerly at Liverpool Capt. Daniel Thorold at Nasby Capt. Franc. Clifton at Newberry 1. Capt. John Lance at Islip Capt. George Cassey at Hereford Capt. Langdale at Greekhovel in Wales Capt. Carver in Monmouthshire Capt. John Lingen Ledbury Capt. Samways at Newberry 2. Captain John Plumton slain at York Capt. Pet. Forcer at York Capt. Thomas WhittinghaÌ„ at Newberry Capt. Winkley at Leverpool Capt. Thomas Anderton at Leverpool Capt. Rich. Walmsly at Ormschurch Capt. John Swinglehurst and Capt. John Butler at Marston-moor Capt. George Holden at Usk. Capt. Richard Latham at Litchfield Capt. Tho. Charnock at Litchfield Capt. Rob. Dent at Newcastle Capt. Thomas Heskith and Capt. John Knipe at