then Wife to the Dauphin This Hostility and the private designs of Spain hindred all intrigues of the Queen of Scots friends to secure the Succession Things being in this condition our Queen dies nor did the Dauphin make any present claim which together with the natural coolness of Englishmen to all strangers especially the French moved Archbishop Heath to what he did About some six months after this the Dauphin takes upon him the Title and Armes of England and immediately also by the death of his Father the Crown of France fell to him which gave him the name of Francis the Second But by that time Q. Elizabeth was too well setled to be deposed without blows and before things could be ordered for such an enterprize the Hugonots lay so heavy on his shoulders that he was necessitated to the Treaty at Edenburgh by which he was to relinquish his former pretences in relation to England yet before these Articles were sealed the King himself died and so all things stood as they were before The Q. of Scots being now a widow returns with much ado to Scotland which was all in a flame by the seditious preaching of the new Reformists Assoon as she arrived there Q. Elizabeth having often sent to her to ratifie the Treaty with her Husband she after consideration returned answer That she was content to do so upon condition she were by Parliament declared her Heir This Proposition seemed not strange to her English well-willers because our Histories could tell them That Maud the Empress was necessitated to the like by King Stephen But Queen Elizabeth would not harken to those terms whereupon presently Margaret Niece to Henry the Eighth the Earl of Lenox her husband Arthur Pool and his Brother Grandchildren to George Duke of Clarence Fortescue and others were apprehended for intending to set up the Queen of Scots interest The fact they confest but as all malefactors find something to extenuate their crimet hey pitcht upon the weakest excuse that ever was heard of viz That they intended not to depose Queen Elizabeth but to be beforehand in Arms because Conjurers had told them she would dy that year After this the vigilancy of Q. Elizab. was such and the disasters of Scotland so great that the Catholiques were forc'd to sit quiet for a while Instead of Peace with the Rebels the Queen of Scots was necessitated to seek for shelter in England where had she been used as the Honour of the Nation required she would have concluded an inviolable agreement between the Queen and those Catholiques that stood for her Title But when this Royal Guest had once trusted her self among her Enemies she was both denied access to the Court and also refused the liberty of retiring into another Kingdom This inhumanity was quickly noised about the World whereupon Pius V. sent Ridulph a Florentine to consult with the Catholiques about the Interest of their Queen All Arguments were used which could possibly be thought of to persuade her Enemies to let her go and when no fair means would do the Rising in the North happened 'T is true the Declaration of those great Lords that were up mentioned no other motive but Religion because this could not shock either the Queen or People so much as the name of the Queen of Scots would have done for that implied ipso facto the altering both of Religion and Government also Who is ignorant that that Great man our General whose memory all ages shall for ever honor concealed at first what he had long determined well knowing that the once naming of the King would ruine that design which his wit so well laid and his conduct so happily executed Besides this Reader you must know before this Rebellion broke out Leonard Dacres second Son to the Lord Dacres of Gylsland undertook the delivery of the Queen being then in Darbyshire in my Lord Shrewsburie's custody Of this design my Lord Northumberland was complotter therefore 't was plain he being Chief in the Northern Insurrection intended her Title though there was nothing of it in his Delaration Consider therefore how notoriously false this Minister is there having been Claims Plots and endeavours by the greatest of the Land before the rising in the North and when it happened that also was on the Queen of Scots account 'T were tedious Reader to tell you how many attempts followed this Insurrection for there scarce passed a day till the death of the Queen of Scots but something was contrived to prevent the machinations of her unkind Kinswoman By all this you may see that while Queen Elizabeth used her distressed Guest with any kindness the piety of that Princess which moved her rather to be contented with the Succession then put England in a perpetual broyl caused her to command the English Catholiques to lie still whom according to the Ministers own confession the prohibition of their Religion forten years had not exasperated to Commotions But assoon as their Queen was imprisoned without hopes of liberty and they left to the dictates of their own Loyal inclinations they never ceased either at home or abroad to sollicite the destruction of their Enemies Consider also I beseech you the carriage of the Popes who used all fatherly and gentle means imaginable because they saw the Queen of Scots whose right they deemed it was of her self inclining like another Maud to expect till the death of her Cozen should put an end to all pretences These Popes were sufficiently urged by the Duke of Guise and others yet upon the former considerations being desirous of peace they never had practices against Queen Elizabeth till Mary Stuart was in prison nor ever publisht the Excomcommunication till the Queen absolutely refused her liberty even after the intercession of the French and Spanish Embassadours But the Minister says the Popes owned Queen Elizabeths Title and therefore Papists ought not to have disputed it 'T is true he says so and yet confesses that Paul the IV. who governed the Church when she came first to the Crown would not acknowledge her Legitimate But how comes the Gentleman to say that the other cause of his Holiness's not acknowledging her was because she audaciously assumed the Crown without his leave Does he find any such record in our Histories Did Queen Mary ask his consent Did any Pope send in this manner to Edward the Sixth Or lastly which of all our Kings used to entreat his favour to be Crowned Reader this is a pretty capricchio of the Parson as it had been unusuall if the Pope had made such a claim Pius the Fourth succeeding the said Paul for the reasons aforesaid shewed as much prudence and good nature as ever man did in hope to compose things without effusion of blood and certainly after his death as much had been spilt as ever was in any Reign had not Queen Elizabeth been the wisest woman that ever swayed Scepter Pius V.
all was done in the dark nor would they ever own otherwise then that they dyed without violence For t was given out that the death of the first of these Princes came by extreame Griefe That the other Starved himselfe and that the last died of a Naturall sicknesse But the execution of the Queen of Scots was bare-fac'd in the sight of the World and which was more under the cloak of Law My Lord of Leicester was sensible of the dishonour that would accrew to the Nation and therefore sent Walsinhham a godly Divine to satisfie his conscience that it was lawful to poyson her but the Minister could no more convince his penitent then the Saints could Harrison about the clandestine Murther of the Grandchild And doubtless the whole intrigue against Q. Mary gave precedent and boldness to our execrable Parricides openly to do their detestable villany in a formal method and manner This procedure against the Queen contrary as 't was imagined to the Law of Nations she being both a Guest and an absolute Princess drew an universal odium upon the Kingdom for the Reproach was entailed on the whole nation by the apparition of a mimicall and Counterfeit justice as Osborne call's it nor did any Englishman either Papist or Protestant ever misse to be upbraided with it abroad till the greatness of the abomination against King Charles made them leave off a little speaking of the first to remember us more piquantly of the last Is it to excuse the two unheard of 〈◊〉 that he tell me of four or five Kings since the Conquest made away by Papists It may be it is that I should again retort that since Hen. 8. Reign there were but b four Protestestant Monarchs and three of them were said to come to violent deaths But what is Ravillac's murther of Hen. 4. to us in England more then to Saxony the poysoning of Edw. 6. by the Lord Robert Dudly for so Sir Richard Baker conceives he hid I know Clement the Frier destroyed Hen 3. so did Judas his Master and yet neither the Disciples nor Christian Religion were ever thought the worse for it For the Murther of the Protestants in IrelaÌ„d I shew'd you in the beginning how we detested it CoÌ„cerning the Blood spilt in FraÌ„ce I shall speak at large in the Paragraph about that Massacre But I wonder the PiemoÌ„thusiness should be unged by Royallist for I remeÌ„ber when CroÌ„wel made a CollectioÌ„ for theÌ„ in pretence but for himself in reality the Cavaliers ever stiled them Rebels and said the Duke of Savoy was necessitated for his quiet to subdue them thus by Arms. Yet for all their hard usage I wish we had as much freedome as they Now for Queen Maries Reign which this man so often calls the Bloody days I will here speak a little eternally to stop his mouth hereafter First Reformed Historians agree that the Queen her self was a marveillous good woman therefore it was not she but her Bishops that were cruel Again every Englishman knows that no man can be put to death amongst us without Law therefore they were not the Bishops but the Laws that were cruel which Laws still continue and have been made use of since the Reformation by Q. Elez. K. â—ames to burne Hereticks Yet for all these Laws there died of Protestants in the whole but 277. as Baker and other Protestant Writers record Besides were these 277. now alive 200. at least in stead of pity would be thrown into prison and there rot for Non-conformists but all things were called Saints in the dawning of the light even so much as Collins and his dog for Fox in his Act 's and Monuments say's that Collins beeing mad and seeing a Priest hold up the Host to the people tooke a dog and held it up as the Priest did the Host for wch he and the dog were burnt Yet though this Collins be own'd by Fox to be mad never the less he places him as a Martyr on the 10. of Octob. as may be seen in his Calendar In the next place let me know whether a man may be executed for this Tenets in Religion or no If it be lawful why might not Papists put to death men who they thought deserved it as well as Protestants If no man ought to suffer for his Conscience why did Edward 6. and Q. Eliz. condemn so many Hereticks in their time all which were executed but some few that recanted and so saved their lives Or why did K. James put to death Legat and Wightman but because he religiously thought it was unfit they should longer live to blaspheme Over and above these that died for a Religion of their own making I saw a Roll at Doway wherein to the year 1632. there suffered out of that one House 105. Priests since which there died many out of the same Colledge Add to these many out of the Portugal Spanish and Roman Seminaries many of other Orders and many Laymen also who have been executed for owning the Pope in Spirituals or for having a Priest say Mass in their Houses according to the obligation of their Consciences If these were then all numbred I am sure there suffered many more Catholicks omitting the innumerable Confiscations by the Protestant Government then ever there did Protestants by the Catholick Nay if together with Catholicks I should reckon all sorts of people that died for their Conscience though enemyes to Popery which may be found in Fox Stow and others in the Reignes of Hen. 8. Ed. 6. and Queen Elizabeth it is evident there has been more Blood spilt on a Religious account under our Princes that disowned the Pope then by the Papists from St. Augustins Conversion to Luthers time Iudge then if Catholicks be so bloody as they are reported and thought SECT XII APOLOGY 'T was never heard of before that an absolute Queen was condemned by Subjects and those stiled her Peers or that a King was publiquely tried and executed by his own people and servants ANSWER XII Here he says That the Q. of Scots was beheaded under Elizabeth by the same colour of right that Wallis suffered under Edw. 1. whom I call he says a brave Prince namely that of Soveraignty which our Princes challenged over Scotland but that King James and King Charles never imputed this to Q. Elizabeths Religion Concerning King Charles's Murther he says that I would take it ill a Turk should charge the Ministers faults and his Parties upon me but I do worse then a Turk in charging these mens faults upon the Protestants for the Murtherers were neither then nor since of the Ministers Communion He sayes King Charles declared he died for the Protestant Religion and Laws of the Land that also in his Letter to the Prince he says none of the Rebels were Professors or Practicers of the Church of England which gives no such Rules REPLY XII Nay now I have
That some days after there was a solemn Procession to St. Louis and an Inscription set over the Church-door by the Cardinal of Lorrain to congratulate his Holiness and the Colledge in the Kings name for the stupendious effects and incredible events of their Counsels given him and of their assistance sent and of their twelve years wishes and prayers Soon after he says the Pope sent Cardinal Ursini to congratulate the King to commend and bless them that had to do in the Massacre and to perswade the reception of the Councel of Trent by this Argument That the memory of the late glorious action to be magnified in all ages as conducing to the Glory of God and Dignity of the Holy Roman Church might be sealed by the approbation of the Holy Synod for so it would be manifest that the King consented to the destruction of so many not of hatred or revenge but ardent desire to propagate the Glory of God which could not be expected while the Protestants stood through all the Provinces of France The Answerer then concludes this Paragrah with commending the Head of the Church for his judgment in cutting throats not mincing the matter like me whom he is pleased to call an English limb of him who durst not say what I desired for fear of provoking the Protestants nor what the thing deserved for contradicting the Pope REPLY XVIII Can Thuanus or any man else look upon that action with more horrour then I Certainly no yet Reader I must tell you Thuanus is esteemed as malitiously partial a Writer as ever undertook the writing of a History Nay Heylin that other Hanibal that sworn enemy of Rome says That Thuanus savours more of the party then of the Historian Now for his professing to be a Catholick it adds nothing to his Authority because in every Religion there are those that write out of spleen and Faction To a stranger abroad Milton would go for a Protestant because he calls himself so yet in his Books the true matter of Fact is so perverted by his malice that it becomes at last as false as the rest of those damnable lies with which his Papers are stufft But though Thuanus be thus reputed yet this Minister will pervert the Divel himself to do us a mischief He has told us that the Pope ordered a Jubilee through Christendom to give God thanks for destroying in France the Enemies of the Church by which he would have the Reader believe that the Massacre was the cause of this Jubilee when as Thuanus tells us That the Jubilee was to thank God for the Victory at Lepanto against the Turk for the success of Spain against the Rebels in Belgium and to beseech God for the election of a Catholick King in Poland as well as for the business in France But truly I need not complain for such Preachers of Gods word may say any thing so it discredit the Papists let it be never so improbable in it self For my part I can believe not that the Pope and Consistory who are by Protestants reputed dexterous and subtle would make publike Procession and Triumph for Murther in cold blood which could bring them no farther good for the advantages were already obtained but might occasion much scandal which by reason it was the cause of Luthers revolt was the more carefully to be avoided for the future It may be they were not sorry in their hearts For what men are so at the death of their Enemies Yet we see often that those which have a titillation the thing being done would nevertheless loose rather their own lives then give the least consent to the fact Davila tells us in one place of his Fifth Book That the King and Queen-Mother contrived the destruction of the Rebels and communicated their design only to the Duke of Anjou the Guises and the Count of Rhetz and this resolution to Massacre we see there was a pretty while before Pius V. died In another place of this Book I find this Pope died some three months before the execution In another place of this Book I find that this Pope would never consent to the marriage of Margaret to the King of Navar by reason of his Religion and yet in the time of this Marriage Ch. 9. had determined this Butchery Therefore putting all this together it was plain the Pope had no hand in the wicked contrivance Gregory 13. who succeeded and before whose Election this Massacre was designed was at last brought to dispence with the Match it being made appear to him how dangerous it might be in those Schismatical times if the King should in anger solemnize the Marriage without leave for so this King had threatned the aforesaid Pius V. and daily gave more symptoms of his resolution in the Wedding and anger for being contradicted in it at Rome Reader We have no other way to discover the errors of Historians but by conjectures after we have compared times and circumstances The reasons that I have therefore last mentioned assure me that the Pope had no hand in the design yet suppose he had been of the Plot with the King as 't is plain he was not I am sure that can be no excuse to the Hugonots for their former Rebellion and unspeakable abominations as you shall presently see But let the Pope have what design he would 't is still evident according to the Apology that the King and Queen-Mother who could only perform this Murther were moved to this Massacre for Interest of State and not Religion For the King was not such a Bigot or Pious man upon a Spiritual account to draw such a hazard or at least a scandal on his own person and for the Queen-Mother that great intriguer she valued Religion little for sometimes she favoured Protestants sometimes again persecuted them Nay when it was for her advantage she gave great and suspitious signs that she would be of the Reformed Religion also as may be seen in Davila in the second Book My Minister will not perchance be yet satisfied that I call it a Cabinet-Plot but says they died for their Religion and that the King had not better Subjects then those that were massacred Brave Coligni being the first that fell Now Reader that you may see what kind of Subject our Minister is and such a one I always doubted him I will briefly shew you how these Hugonots behaved themselves among whom Coligni was a Principal and who is honoured with the title of Brave by this most Loyal Parson In the time of Francis the First Calvin appeared and dedicated his Institutions to him The preaching of this man pleased the changeable humor of many French but the Sect was kept under by the King and especially by his Son Hen. 2. who like wise Governours were unwilling to let an unheard-of Religion get root in their Country well knowing that Rebellion would follow as afterwards it happened to the purpose Francis the 2. succeeded Hen.
who was althogether governed by the House of Guise by reason of the great power they had in the late Kings Reign and more especially now because the Queen-Consort was the glorious Mary of Scotland daughter to the Sister of this ambitious Duke The House of Burbon being the first Princes of the Blood were greatly troubled they had no interest in affairs and tried all manner of ways to get into play The Prince of Conde a hot-headed man seeing he could not ruine the Guises by ordinary means calls all his partizās together `among whom Coligni was the Chief to la Ferte an Apennage of his and there he told them they must take Arms to free themselves from the slavery they were in by the ruling Party The fiery youth were all of the Princes opinion to begin the War without delay But Brave Coligni as the Minister calls him replied That this were to ruine them all seeing that though their pretences were fair yet few of the Nation would follow them and on the other side all forreign Princes were in amity with France by the late agreement of the Kings Father If they had a mind he said to do their business home the sole way were to pretend Religion which in it self had an honourable appearance and besides the Calvinists in France were many hating the Guises and wanting only a Head nor would the Princes of Germany or Q. Elizabeth fail to assist them on this score which otherwise could not be done on any account Thus the Brave man not only consented to Rebellion but put them in a holy method effectually to perform it All the Assembly applauded the Counsel of this Achitophel and there-upon Andelot his Brother a most turbulent man and the Vicedame of Chartres rich and debauch were apponted to execute their determinations The manner of the Plot was this To get a great company of unarmed Hugonots to go to Court and there clamour for Liberty of Conscience and free Temples these poor men they imagined should presently be ill treated by the Duke of Guise whereupon the Protestant Souldiers which for that purpose they were to provide would immediately come to their assistance and under pretence that the Hugonots were abused they might fall on the Court and wholly destroy their Enemies Besides this 't was reported that in the disorder the King and his three Brethren were to be made away and God knows whether this last part were not as true as the first seeing after the death of these Children the House of Bourbon Heads of the design should succeed in the Throne But now see how far the Conspiracy succeeded The Provinces were divided to several of the most considerable in each division who were to make ready their Levies against the 15. of March 1560. at Blois a Town unfortified where then the Court resided Godfry de la Barre a Gentleman of Perigort who had left his Country by reason of forgery in a Law-suit and turned Calvinist was made Commander in Chief and according to their success the Prince Admiral and the rest would order affairs The Kings Councel having at last notice of this carries the King without noise to Amboise the better to secure him on a sudden with the present little force they had in readiness On the day appointed the Conspirators come and finding the King gone follow him to Amboise and assault the Castle which being too strong to be presently their's they were by the Mareschal of St. Andrew and others wholly defeated and taken Upon this trayterous attempt the King summons an Assembly of the Nobles at Fountain-Bleau where the brave Coligni grave the King a Paper and said That the Protestants hearing by his Majesties Edict that every Subject might make known his Grievance in this Assembly did present that Petition to him though it were not signed yet when his Majesty pleased it should be by 150000. hands The Assembly for all this arrogance advised against a Toleration but the Hugonots encouraged by these proceedings rose in Arms in several places and filled the Court with complaints of their many insolencies and on the other side the Prince with his Complices set upon Lyons After this the three Estates met at Orleans where the Prince was condemned to be executed and in this disorder the King died Charles the 9 was about eleven years old when he began his Reign so that in his minority the faction of the Protestants being so great the Prince was acquitted and liberty granted for publike preaching Then the Hugonots became so insolent that they massacred many people in Paris burnt the Church of St. Medard rifled Monasteries and committed many such exorbitances The Prince would have seised on the Kings Person at Fountain-Bleau but the Duke of Guise got the King of Navar first Prince of the Blood and prime Commander of State to bring him and the Queen-Regent to Paris which when the Prince of Conde understood and saw himself defeated of his design he told brave Coligni that he had plunged himself so deep that now he must drink or drown and thereupon attackt Orleans and took it using all the inhumane barbarities that can be thought of After this as Rebels are accustomed a Manifesto is set out That he took up Arms to free the Kings Person from the slavery in which the Catholick Lords held him This was directed to the Parliament who again answered That they wondered how it could be said the King was prisoner being in his own Capital City of which Charles of Bourbon the Princes own Brother was Governour where was present the King of Navar Chief Administrator of the Kingdom where the Parliament sat and in fine where all the great Officers of the Crown resided But why do I go to the particulars of this notorious Rebellion To be short Coligni's own words a little before his death will sufficiently declare how great a Traytor he was for just before the Marriage like another Nebuchadnezzar in his pride he said to some of his confidents That neither Alexander nor Caesar could be compared to him because Fortune was their friend but that he dad lost four Battles yet by his wit he stil became more formidable to his Enemies If then this brave man that began the Rebellion as you have heard that lost four Battels against his Prince that seised on so many Towns that disswaded Peace so often when desired and that did so many infamous actions all along shall pass and not be thought a Rebel then I will aver there was never Rebel since the Creation of the World The things Reader which I have here laid down you many find disperst in the first five Books of Davila's History who is an Author thought by Protestants so Authentick and so impartial sparing no body of what Rank or Faction soever that among Historians none hath a clearer fame Having given you a short occount how these Potent Hugonots plagued these two Kings be pleased now to tell me whether it was
followed the method of his Predecessors and would have continued it had not the barbarous usage of the Queen of Scots provok'd him to an Excommunication and all hostile endeavours His Bull I know speaks not of Bastardy in plain terms yet with our Ministers good leave the Pope in that very Bull calls our late Queen Mary Legitimate which saying was as much against Q. Elizabeth as if he had spoken in a bolder phrase For as I urged before my Lord Bacon says That the Legitimations of Q. Mary and Queen Elizabeth were incompatible In this manner the Popes acknowledged her and for the Marriages which were offered her to very much purpose forsooth urged by the Minister from forreign Monarchs it proves no more right then that Mrs. Cleypole had been truly our Queen if France Spain or the Emperor had made love to her and I believe no body doubts but Suiters would have flockt had she been unmarried and sole Heir to her Father Though Gregory XIII sent to invade Ireland and Sixtus V. gave England to the Spaniards yet I do not see that this can touch us Catholicks in the least though the Minister thinks it a mighty Argument For if the French King may invade St. Christophers or any part of our Dominions without drawing the Name of Villain on him or his people Why may not the Pope being a Temporal Prince send forces to subdue what Country he pleases The Bishop of Munster for his smart endeavours against the Hollanders was never blamed but on the contrary commended by us and certainly the Pope is as absolute and as good a man as he Kings you see may fall upon their Neigbours themselves and without breach of Morality incite others to do the like and while Popes are free Princes they cannot be reproach'd for using that liberty without great partiality and malice This Minister foolishly handles all things and you may see his intent is only to make a noise for 't is no advantage in our present Dispute to him to shew what Kingdoms Popes over-run or give away That which he ought to prove was That it is Article of Faith amongst us to assist the Pope in every such invasion or Gift That this is not so you may plainly see for one fifth of the Turks Army are of his Christian Subjects and yet none of them are ever blamed as heritiques for defending the grād Seigniors Territories In the next place whē was it heard that any English Catholick was fain to do pennance like an accurst persō for assisting the Queen against the Spanish Invasion for there was no◠Papist then in England for the Spaniard Or who in Ireland in her Reign thought himself given to the Divel for fighting against San Joseph who came for the Kingdom upon his Holiness account For the Bishop of Armath confesses The English Papists in Ireland were faithfull in all the invasions by Spaine or Pope Now whether Pope or Spaniard intended after Conquest to restore the Kingdom to the Queen of Scots or her Heirs I know not but this I am sure of that 't was as probable as that the Hollanders who were assisted by the Arms of some Caualiers and the good wishes of us all would have given King Charles the Second possession of England had they got it from the Rump If Clement the Eighth earnestly strove that Queen Elizabeths Successours should be Catholiques I suppose no body can blame him for it but I would fain have it shewed me that King James's admission to the Crown a Protestant from his Childhood was opposed by the Catholiks of this Kingdom If they stickled not after his Mothers death for him as they did for her this answer is sufficient That he was not used like her nor did he for fear of prejudicing his future admittance ever desire any body to stir in his behalf I suppose Reader you wonder why I should challenge any man to shew me how the English Catholicks opposed King James his Succession when as this Minister tells us out of Cambden That the Papists negotiated the Spanish Invasion That afterwards they perswaded the Earl of Darby to pretend to the Crown That Doleman alias Parsons writ in the behalf of the Infanta's Title and to conclude his Accusation de declares That the Catholicks of Scotland Huntly and others raised a powerful Rebellion against this Prince First Concerning the Invasion the Minister says more then the Author himself whom he quotes for Cambden only says that some English Fugitives did promote it and who knows not that Fugitives in all ages and in all Religions machinate against those whom they call their Oppressors and on the other side who is ignorant that many Papists more considerable far then a few fugitive Priests for most of the chiefest were so assisted the Kingdom in that War and in all its other contests abroad Secondly If some of these Fugitives did perswade my Lord of Darby it was I say again done like Fugitives nor had they ever the consent of the Catholiques for it It was certainly a very rediculous Plot in them to make a Protestant Nobleman that had so poor a Title their Soveraign and if it were really designed It must I am sure have been performed by the Protestants themselves for the Papists had no power not being able so much as to set up the Qu. of Scots who had so plausible a right though they wanted not the assistance of the Pope Spaniard and all the Guisard Faction And by the way this Earle was not poison'd as the Minister would have it for Stow has a Diary and the Particulars of his sicknesse and say's The causes of all his deseases were thought by Phisitians partly a surfet and partly distempering himselfe with vehement excercise 4. days togeather in Easter weeke Thirdly For Dolemans Book who writ it God knows Parsons denied it at his death and I believe he was not the Authour because in some of his works he speaks so much to the advantage of K. James Moreover he was a man of far more wit then to write so foolish a thing for was not that man strangely simple that would dedicate his Book to my L. of Essex as the Minister would have it to prick forward an ambitious man and yet the whole matter of the Treatise is to prefer the Infanta's Title before all persons whatsoever But Reader if this kind of arguing be lawful that the errours of some unknown men must be laid to a whole Party how miserable would the Protestants themselves be when we come to try them by the same Touchstone I will not stoop to so mean and insignificant a Topick but tell you what Protestants still alive can testifie viz That in the latter end of the Queens Reing My Lord of Hertfords Title was often cried up to Tumult in the streets Nor had that a slight impression he being esteemed next to the Stuarts in blood on many a wellmeaning man
because the English have a reluctancy at first to the thoughts of a stranger Nay some Members of Parliament after his admission said openly in the House Thâ—t no people endued with Natural desire of Preservation would admit a Prince of a beggerly Nation to Reign over them how just soever his claim were for fear of loosing their propriety as dear as life it self and as vigorously to be defended By this therefore Reader may be seen the rancour of the Reformed against the Kings coming in since they durst say such things even after his reception and had not the last Earl of Pembrook wisely pocketted up Ramsey's switching at Newmarket when the people cried Let us break-fast with the Scots here and dine with the rest at London 't was feared that day would have been as fatal to the King as the fifth of November might have proved Papists therefore it seems were not his only Enemies Concerning Huntly's Rebellion I am sure the man is doubly mad in mentioning it for first according to Cambden whom he cites The rising was to help the Spaniards against Queen Elizabeth who had put to death their Queen nor was there ever a formed insurrectioÌ„ so gently punisht by a King which argues they had no malice against him Nay his Majesty is pleased to say in his Basilicon Doron That the Puritans had put out many Libellous Invectives against all Christian Princes and that no body answered them but the Papists by which he said the scandal was doubled for they were the Reformed who calumniated and the Catholiques were the only Vindicators Secondly If the Rebellion suppose it as bad as may be of these Lords of another Country of another age must touch us the present Catholicks of England what a blow would this be to the Reformed Religion should I repeat the Scots unparallel'd actions against their Queen The protecting of Bothwel who would have destroy'd King James by the English And lastly omitting the continual slavery he was in the downright Conspiracie of the Gowries against his life Having thus gone through the Paragraph I must come to the nicest Question of all and nice I may call it because it is conjectural only The proposal by the Minister is this Whether if the Queen of Scots had been a Protestant we should have stickled for her and if Queen Elizabeth had not been thought illegitimate whether nevertheless we had not rebelled against her To the first I say viz. We had sided with the Q. of Scots had she been Protestant To the second No That the Papists would not have opposed Queen Elizabeth had they thought her legitimate and of the Ministers own assertions I will make this plainly appear For if according to him the Papists would have set up two Protestants the Lords Darby and Essex who in reality had no right then I say 't is certain they would willingly have embraced the Title of the Stuarts that carried so fair a shew To the second I answer That they would never have opposed Queen Elizabeth had she been thought Legitimate For if as the Minister urged in the beginning they obeyed her whom they thought an Usurper for ten years though she had utterly destroyed their Religion 't is then more then probable had her Title been good in their opinion they had submitted let her Faith have been what it would These doubts being thus resolved by the very Gentleman that proposed them who cares not if he can wound us for the present into what contradictions at last he runs himself I may I hope since he hath shewed me the example propose a Query also and I shall thank him if out of my Reply he gives the Solution I will not urge my Question so far as to suppose the Queen of Scots had been a Protestant but my demand shall be singly this Whether the Reformed in those days would have quietly obeyed Queen Elizabeth had she stood up for the Catholick Religion Reader because the Parson is not ready to give his determination I will tell you my opinion which is that I think they would not and doubtless this coÌ„jecture is not rash when we consider what has been done here and recorded by our Protestant Historians themselves Have we not seen that for the safety of Religion Edward the Sixth gave away by the advice of his Councel the Kingdom to Jane Gray and what Bees could be so busie as Cranmer and Ridley with many thousands more to set up against their lawful Queen Mary that poor Lady who had not right enough by blood and much less if she depended wholly upon the Will for that was void from the beginning according to the known Laws of the Land How many treasonable Books were written against this Queen after she came to the Crown by Mr. Goodman and others asserting That she ought to be put to death as a Tyrant Monster and cruel Beast Will Thomas also conspired to murther her and when he was to be hanged for his Treason he said he died for his Countrey By all which may be gathered the Duke of Suffolke also with many more protestants being ready and Wiat actually in an open and dangerous rebellion how dangerous it was then in England for a Prince to be a Papist though to that day there had never sat but one through Protestant upon the Throne and he a Child about sixteen when he died But now I must descend to a far more tragical example even to the death of the so often mentioned Qu. of Scots who lost her life barely upon the account of her Religion 'T is true Queen Elizabeth considered her own safety but the fury of the Nobility and people without whose incitement she durst not have been beheaded was purely for fear she might have survived Queen Elizabeth and being then the undoubted Successour might have changed Religion as the former Queen Mary had done before If I should urge this barely upon my own word I might be mistrusted therefore what I say shall be out of Cambden who was not only a Protestant but the acknowledged true Annalist of those times He will tell you that after Babingtons Conspiracy in the consultation what should be done with the Royal Prisoner some were for holding her in safe custody but others out of care of Religion would have her tried and exexecuted In pursuance then of this advice she was condemned and the next Parliament the House petitioned for the execution of her Sentence The first reason in their supplicate was for the preservation of the true Religion of Christ and after they had told Queen Elizabeth also of her own danger they harpt again upoÌ„ the former string desiring her to remeÌ„ber Gods fearful judgments upon Saul and Ahab for their sparing Benhadad and Agag two wicked and profane Idolaters In fine when the fatal day came though they were so very severe as to deny her being a Guest and a free Princess what all Embassadours
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