from this evident matter of Fact that they have been as industrious among the English Nonconformists to sow dividing Principles and animate them against the Government and Governors both in Church and State And that this may not pass for a bare supposition without ground I I have heard Mr. Prance affirm that both Gavan and Whitebread used to Preach frequently in Conventicles in Southwark and other places and I am able to prove Whitebread aliàs White the Provincial of the Jesuits who was executed for the Plot did not many months before the Discovery and his Apprehension Preach in a Conventicle as a Nonconformist at Spaldwick within five miles of Huntington and that he had several times done the like before as was attested by several of the Congregation before divers Gentlemen in the County of Huntington and if the shame of Dissenters did not smother the further discovery of this Truth for fear of the just reproach and infamy it would bring upon them among the miss-led people I doubt not but we should find these Friars and Jesuits in disguise of Nonconformists and by false Names as frequent in the Pulpits of Separatists as their ordinary Teachers And indeed nothing is more feasible or easie for it is no more than for a Jesuit to bring a counterfeit Letter of Recommendation from some known Nonconformist either out of the Town if he designs to travel and Preach in the Countreys as an Itinerant or out of the Countrey if he will Preach in the Town or a Certificate that he has Preached in such or such Congregations with their Approbation which he is sure to have if he inveigh against Popery Bishops Ceremonies Common Prayer and for Liberty of Conscience and the business is done and without further Examination he is admitted into their Pulpits and shall pass for a zealous Protestant and an heavenly man in the opinion of the undiscerning Auditors as Father Commin and Father Heth have done and many others before Whereas the Church of England takes care that none be admitted to the Charge of Souls without all the Caution imaginable against Popery they must take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy have Testimonials from Persons that know them of their Ability and foundness of Judgment they must shew their Letters of Ordination before they are admitted to Preach in an unknown Congregation and have a License from the Bishop of the Diocess before they can regularly Preach in a Congregation whereinto they are by Law instituted and inducted The natural Inferences which follow from this unquestionable matter of Fact here faithfully related and offered to the serious consideration of all sober People of what perswasion soever are these First That the Pope and Papists have ever since the Protestant Reformation endeavoured to raise up Sects and Differences in Opinion amongst Protestants by sending their disguised Emissaries among the zealous and well-meaning people to seduce them into Separation and Schism Secondly That they look upon these practices as most effectual means to bring the people back to the Romish Religion and to introduce Popery among us Thirdly That for this purpose they have been all along industrious in this course by depraving the Government of Episcopacy as Tyrannical the Established Prayers as Popish by extolling Extempore Prayers as Spiritual by encouraging an unlicensed Ministry by preaching up Liberty of Conscience and that it is to be obtained and maintained at any rate and it is worth observation that Coleman dates the Aera of all the misfortunes like to happen to Catholicks from the fatal rescinding of the late Toleration therein agreeing exactly with Dissenters who were no less Querulous for the stopping of that door though from him nothing can be more evident than that the Jesuits designed to bring in Popery at it which they could not do being openly excluded from the benefit of it but by pretending to be Dissenters Fourthly It is most manifest that all our late horrid Civil Wars Rapines Bloodshed and the execrable and solemn Murther of his late Majesty and the banishment of our present Sovereign were affected according to the fore-contrivance of the Papists by the assistance which Dissenters gave them and the opportunities they had to preach them into Rebellion under the pretence of a thorough Reformation that all the late Commotions and Rebellions in Scotland sprung from the same Counsel and Conduct and that the Papists will never out of the hopes of effecting our ruine nor without the same opportunities they have hitherto had so long as our Divisions are kept up and maintained which give them the advantage of dashing us one against another Fifthly That therefore obstinate Dissenters are before God and according to the judgment of the strongest Reason built upon plain matter of undeniable Fact guilty of all the real danger of Popery prevailing again in these Nations by the ruine of the Protestant Religion Sixthly That the Church of England in Doctrine and Discipline is the greatest enemy the Papists have according to their own declared sense and judgment and consequently wholly innocent of any such designs and complyances or approaches to the Church of Rome as Father Du Moulin and other Brain-sick or worse people endeavour to fix upon her and that it is impossible to give a clearer demonstration of the innocence of the Bishops and Clergy of England than Dr. Oats has in the 72 Paragraph of his Narrative before recited concerning the Pope's Bull or Breve bestowing all the considerable Promotions and Dignities in England upon Papists there mentioned which could not be done without turning out the present Bishops and Dignitaries of the Church And there cannot be a more demonstrative argument that he esteems them Hereticks and Enemies for there is no doubt but if the Pope had any hopes of their complyance with Popery he would not only have consented to their continuance in those promotions but have promised high Rewards and Encouragements to them Seventhly That therefore it is the joynt Interest both of Prince and People of these Nations to support and defend the Church of England as now by Law established those of her Communion being by a tract of Experience of equal date with the Reformation found to be both in Principles and Practice the most peaceable and Loyal Subjects and foundest Protestants of unshaken Allegiance and unblemished Loyalty the ablest Champions against Popery and the only bulwork of the Protestant Religion as is but too evident by the constant endeavours of the Papists both by their own power and the assistance of Dissenters to undermine and overthrow it To conclude as I have here impartially related matter of Fact and drawn necessary inferences from it without animosity or bitterness of language so I hope good men will without prejudice or partiality weigh it in an equal balance and make that charitable use of it for which it was intended that it may be a means by discovering the source and original of our Divisions and Distractions
Flood of Calumnies with which the Romish Dragon has persecuted our Church and driven her into the wilderness I will prove the truth of my Charge by such undeniable matter of Fact as shall leave no excuse for non-conviction to any persons to whose hands these Papers shall come except such who have resolved not to acknowledge any conviction and who by a resolute persisting in a seeming Infidelity properly called a wilful Obstinacy justly render themselves suspected if not evidently guilty of a confederacy and downright combination with the Papists to introduce Popery and Tyranny upon the ruines both of Church and State I will begin then with a remarkable Narrative of a Dominican Fryer A notable relation of a Dominican Frier who pretended himself a Puritan in Qu. Elizabeth's time being an Extract out of the Memorials of the Lord Cecil an Eminent Statesman in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth from whose Papers it was transmitred to the Reverend Bishop Vsher some time Lord Primate of Ireland whose Name so Venerable even to many Dissenters may possibly influence them to sober considerations of the danger to which they expose the Protestant Religion by their separation whilst thereby they give opportunity to these Ravening Wolves in Sheeps Clothing to enter in among them and scatter those Souls from Christs Fold who otherwise would be one Flock under that one great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls The Papers of the Lord Primate coming to the hands of Sir James Ware Knight late one of his Majesties Privy Council in Ireland Observe how early the Papists began to act Nonconformists who then were called Puritans from their pretending to a purer reformation as presently you will find this Friar do his Son Robert Ware Esq has obliged the Publick by the communication of them In the year 1567 being the ninth year of the Reign of Queen Eliz. one Faithful Commin a Friar of the Order of St. Dominick a person generally reputed a zealous Protestant and much admired and followed by the people for his seeming Piety but more particularly for inveighing in his Pulpit most bitterly against Pius Quintus then Pope was accused by John Clerkson Chaplain to the A. B. of Cant. Nicholas Draper and Mary Dean who being sworn upon the Holy Evangelists before her Majesty and the Lords of the Council deposed that the said Faithful Commin was no true Protestant but a false Impostor a Sower of Sedition among her Majesties Loyal Subjects upon which the fifth of April being Monday the said Faithful Commin was brought before the Queens Majesty and the Honourable Lords of the Privy Council and there examined by his Grace Matthew Parker Lord Archbishop of Canterbury as followeth L. Archbishop Faithful Commin of what Profession art thou Fa. Com. Of Christs Order L. Archbishop What Order is that Fa. Com. * The very same Answer which all unordain'd Speakers who are Preachers at large and run before they are sent made at this day A Preacher of the Holy Gospel L. Archbishop What Gospel is that you call the Holy Gospel Fa. Com. The Gospel of Jesus Christ L. A. B. Under what Power do you own to hold that Gospel Fa. Com. Under Christ and his Saints L. A. B. Do you acknowledge any other Power save Christ to be on Earth Fa. Com. Yes I do L. A. B. What Power is that Fa. Comm. The Holy Catholick Church L. A. B. Do you not acknowledge a Defender of the Holy Catholick Faith Fa. Comm. * Papists and Dissenters both disown Supremacy or equivocate and dissemble about it God is the only Desender Hereupon the Archbishop addressing himself to Her Majesty said Your Gracious Majesty may perceive that either this man hath been instructed what to say or otherwise he must be by his Answers a man of Craft to which the Queen replied I suppose so my Lord. Then Commin was ordered to withdraw and her Majesty and the Council were some time debating how to proceed in this Affair After which John Clerkson the Archbishops Chaplain was called in before the Board the Queen demanded his Name which he told her then she further enquired whether he was acquainted with Faithful Commin to which he answered he was the Queen asked him how long he had known him to which he replied about a year or more Queen What have you to say against Faithful Commin that he is suspected to be an Impostor J. Clerkson Three things Queen What be they J. C. First Let him prove his Ordination since he fell from the Church of Rome Secondly Why he never cometh to the Prayers of the now established Church of England but starteth up and Preacheth to the people †The exact mode of most Dissenters who will come to our Churches not coming into the Church till the Prayers be finished Thirdly Let him prove that ever he received the Sacrament according to the Church of England from any of our Orthodox Clergy-men Her Majesty and the Council having considered of these three Points sent for the said Faithful Commin to come in again who appearing the Archbishop demanded of him A. B. Were you ever ordained Fa. Com. Yes I was ordained A. B. By whom Fa. Com. By the Cardinal meaning Poul A. B. Had you no other Certificate under any of the Bishops hands since the Reformation Fa. Com. Not any A. B. Wherefore would you dare to Preach having not got a * Observe the reason and necessity of all Preachers having License to Preach and of setled Parochial Congregations as also the great care the Church of England takes to keep Papists from creeping in disguised among us and the opportunity Separation gives them to come among Dissenting Congregations License of Permission under some of our Bishops hands How shall we be assured that you are not of the Romish Church Fa. Com. There are several have heard my Prayers and Sermons and can testifie †they that rail most bitterly against Rome and the Pope may be Papists notwithstanding that I have spoken against Rome and her Pope as much as any of the Clergy have since they have fallen from her I wonder therefore why I should be suspected A. B. By your answer Mr. Commin I perceive you would have any one Preach so that he speak but against the Pope in his Sermons F. C. Not every one but he whose Function it is and he who hath the †Look here a Friar in Masquerade of a Dissenting Protestant one of the first Pretenders to this extraordinary gift of the Spirit Spirit A. B. What Spirit is this you mean F. C. The Spirit of Grace and Truth A. B. ** A Question worthy of the most deliberate Consideration of all Pretenders to the Spirit and all those who follow them for if they cannot by the fruits of the Spirit mentioned Gal. 6. prove it the Spirit of Truth or if it produces the fruits of the Flesh there mentioned Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions
our Fears and Apprehensions and thereby give us the opportunity to break the snares of our Enemies to which nothing can so effectually contribute as our uniting in the Protestant Religion of the Church of England God of his infinite mercy who maketh men to be of one mind in an House who is the Author of Peace and the Lover of Concord who breaketh the Snares of the Ungodly turneth their Wise-men backward and their Counsels into Foolishness grant that in this our day we may see and know and follow the things that make for our Peace that so our Divisions may not be our ruine that the Enemies of our Countrey and Religion may not triumph over us but that by our Vnion with the Established Government in Church and State we may defeat the designs of our Enemies and disappoint their expectations God long preserve the Life of our Dread Sovereign and defend this Church the most true Apostolick of any Church upon the face of the Earth The End of the First Part. THE SECOND PART OF FOXES AND FIREBRANDS Or a SPECIMEN Of the Danger and Harmony of POPERY and SEPARATION WHEREIN Is proved from undeniable matter of Fact and Reason that Separation from the Church of England is in the Judgment of Papists and by sad Experience found the most compendious way to introduce Popery and to ruine the Protestant Religion Tantum Religio potuit suadere Malorum DVBLIN Printed by Jos Ray for a Society of Stationers and are to be Sold by the Booksellers of Dublin MDCLXXXII To the Most Reverend the Archbishops The Right Reverend the Bishops and the rest of the Reverend Divines of the Reformed Church of IRELAND Reverend Fathers THe Publisher of these Collections of this Treatise knows none so proper to whom he may dedicate it as your selves for as You are those Venerable Persons that intend the Spiritual Good of this Kingdom and whose Function doth oblige you to watch for the good of Souls so he doubts not but any the meanest Present will be candidly accepted of that tends to the promoting of so glorious a design It hath been the unhappiness of these Kingdoms ever since the Reformation to meet with brisk oppositions in point of Religion not only from professed Enemies but disguised Friends and the Churches of England and Ireland had no sooner shaken off that Idolatry and Superstition that overspread and deformed the face of primitive Apostolical Religion but like the woman in the Revelations Cap. 12. she was persecuted by the Dragon who raised up all his Arts and Stratagems to devour that child of the Reformation which had cost her so many throws and agonies The Papists on one hand and the Puritans on the other did endeavour to sully and bespatter the glory of her Reformation the one taxing it with Innovation and the other with Superstition and too near an approach to those superstitious Rites and Ceremonies which she had reformed what justice there is in either of the accusations the world is sufficiently sensible of by the many learned Volumes that have defended both her Doctrine and her Discipline in opposition to them both and I presume that every unprejudiced Reader will cast the balance on the Churches side and conclude that there is more of spight and malice than truth in the imputation For it cannot be imagined that the Churches of England and Ireland should be guilty of Novelties in point of Doctrine when they did so lowdly tax the Church of Rome with Innovations and pretended them as one great justifiable ground of their separation from it and to symbolize with that Church in superstitious Rites and Ceremonies is in effect to say that they were resolved to maintain what they had abjured and act contrary to all the declarations that they had published to the World in their own defense But it will appear farther from this discourse that these objections were suggested to our dissenters from the Papists who have frequently acted and preached in the habits of dissenters and though they pretend to be more zealous against Popery than others yet they are not ashamed to whet their swords at the forges of the Philistines and make use of their arts and assistance for the ruine of the Church I wish they would but seriously reflect upon these things and consider that by insisting in the paths that the Papists have chalked them out they are advancing the interest of Popery and will in time do their work as succesfully as if they had laid their heads together to subvert the Government both in Church and State That they may not any more be seduced by such kind of artifices is not only the design of these Papers but the hearty Prayers of Your most Humble Servant R. W. Foxes and Firebrands c. The Second Part. THat the Reader may have a clearer insight into the following discourse and understand how little the Doctrine of depriving or resisting Princes was countenanced by the first Reformers it may not be inconvenient to entertain him with the pious and Loyal speech of the great Pillar of the Reformation Archbishop Cranmer whereby it will appear how averse he was either to the Jesuitical Doctrines of deposing Princes for disowning the Popes Authority or the late Phanatical pretences of taking Arms against the King where ho neglects his duty or stands not to the promises and Covenants that he makes at his Coronation The Speech is as followeth MOST DREAD AND ROYAL SOVEREIGN THe promises your Highness hath made here at your Coronation to forsake the Devil and all his works are not to be taken in the Bishop of Rome's sence when you commit any thing distastful to that See to hit your Majesty in the teeth as Pope Paul the Third late Bishop of Rome sent to your Royal Father saying didst thou not promise at our permission of thy Coronation to forsake the Devil and all his works and do'st thou turn to Heresie For the breach of this thy promise knowest thou not that 't is in our power to dispose of the Sword and Scepter to whom we please We your Majesties Clergy do humbly conceive that this promise reacheth not at your Highness Sword spiritual or temporal or in the least at your Highness swaying the Scepter of this your Dominion as you and your Predecessors have had them from God neither could your Ancestors lawfully resign up their Crowns to the Bishops of Rome or to his Legats according to their ancient Oaths then taken upon that Ceremony The Bishops of Canterbury for the most part have Crowned your Predecessors and Anointed them Kings of this Land yet it was not in their power to receive or reject them neither did it give them authority to prescribe them conditions to take or to leave their Crowns although the Bishops of Rome would encroach upon your Predecessors by his Bishops Act and Oil that in the end they might possess those Bishops with an Interest to dispose of their Crowns at their pleasure
was to the Council of Trent in the year 1559. How the Jesuits to ingratiate themselves with the Pope and to mislead the Commonalty make him and his acts above God and the holy Scriptures just at my coming thither that the Pope and the Council were above all that is called God and of greater force than the Scripture was for which opinion one Veratus returned this Society thanks from the Council and so it was upon the Jesuits opinion voted in that Council that their Acts and the Popes were beyond the Law the Prophets and the Scriptures The Messenger between the Council of Trent and the Jesuits of Paris Ludovick de Freake the Council of Trents Messenger between them and the Jesuits of France who brought them these Instructions to destroy the Church of England from Beneventum the Archbishop named Casa was Ludovick de Freake formerly a Priest in England who brought with him up to Paris from the Council several kind of Indulgences and Instructions for that Society to undertake and grant and teach Part of the Instructions were thus to take notice of the confessions of the people of France especially of the Nobles and Gentry and in case they suspect any thing detrimental to the Holy See of Rome then to confer with three or more Confessors of the suspition and so to take memorandums of certain questions to be asked of the party so suspected the next time Also to converse with the Noblest and to discourse variously until they find which way he is inclinable most and to please them accordingly in their discourse and in case any of you be or chance to be any of their Confessors ye are to take memorandums of things doubtful and suspitious and at the next Confession to urge them to those parties then confessing by which any three or more are to consult and give the See of Rome and her Councils intelligence more or less that the Mother-Church might be informed and all evil prevented that is or shall be intended against her You are to associate with all strangers Heretical This Dispensation of the Pope hath beguiled many wise men in England as well as Christian Catholick if Heretical to be civil and not to discover your profession and for the better procurement of these designs designed or to be accomplished ye may with leave of any three of the Society be permitted to wear what dress or habit you think convenient provided the Society hear from the party so dispenced Any of you thus dispenced with may go with the Heretick to any of their heretical Meetings permitted by Acts or Contracts of Peace between Princes by this contrivance ye may both inform the Mother-Church and in case any of you be employed to assist her to go into any of the heretical Villages or Territories you will be the more able to serve the holy See of St. Peter and keep your selves from suspition In case any of ye be thus employed The Popes Dispensation with Impostors to Preach all Doctrines in England to confound that Church ye are dispenced with either to go with Hereticks to their Churches or as you see convenient If you own your selves Clergy-men then to Preach but with caution till ye be well acquainted with those Hereticks you converse with and then by degrees add to your Doctrine by Ceremonies or otherwise as you find them inclinable If ye be known by any of the Lay Catholicks you are to pacify them by saying secret Mass unto them or by acquainting other Priests who are not able to undertake this work with your intentions who doth generally say Mass unto them If the Lay men be of any Parts or of Wit you may dispence with them also reserving the same provisoes and thereby he may acquire an Estate and be the more able to serve the Mother-Church In case they scruple in taking of Oaths you are to dispence with them assuring them that they are to be kept no longer than the Mother-Church sees it convenient The Popes manner of dispensing with Oaths a good memorandum for Protestant Juries to recollect and to consider Or if they scruple to swear on the Evangelist you are to say unto them that the Translation on which they swear his Holiness the Pope hath annull'd and thereby it is become Heretical and all as one as upon an ordinary Story-Book In case in strange Countreys ye be known by Merchants or others trading or travelling thither for to strengthen your designs the more for your intention you are dispenced with to Marry after their manner and then ye safely may make answer that Heretical Marriage is no Marriage for your Dispensation mollifies it so that at the worst it is but a Venial Sin and may be forgiven Ye are not to Preach all after one method The Popes contrivance to demolish the Protestant Church of England but to observe the place wherein you come If Lutheranism be prevalent then Preach Calvanism if Calvanism then Lutheranism if in England then either of these or John Husses opinions Anabaptism or any that are contrary to the Holy See of St. Peter by which your Function will not be suspected and yet you may still act on the interest of the Mother-Church there being as the Council are agreed on no better way to demolish that Church of Heresy but by mixtures of Doctrines and by adding of Ceremonies more than be at present permitted Some of you who undertook to be of this sort of the heretical Episcopal Society This Dispensation shews how the Pope for his purpose dispenceth even with the Protestant Church of England it self for her gain bring it as near to the Mother-Church as you can for then the Lutheran Party the Calvinists the Anabaptists and other Hereticks will be averse thereunto and thereby make that Episcopal Heresie odious to all these and be a means to reduce all in time to the Mother-Church You are further during the time you take these shapes on you to observe thus much of the rules of the Mother-Church This Dispensation shews that the Pope and his Emissaries be the Factions between the King Parliament and Subjects the Mother-Church disowneth the Regal Power to be her Superior especially the Heretical Powers Regal or otherwise Upon this ye are to take these measures You must bemone your Followers and Auditors saying Are not we persecuted for righteousness sake What Flesh and Blood can endure this We be more zealous against the Pope than they and yet we be persecuted By these means your cotrivances will light on those ye lead along and not on your selves This will advantage you much hang you or burn you they dare not but their perpetual acts against the party that follow you will take off the late severities they lay on us in saying We burnt the Hereticks their Ancestors and so at last bring that odium upon that Heretical Church in England which they have thrown on us And as you will
France then coming into the City of Paris I met with several of my Countrey-folks who civily used me At that time I was employed by Ludovic Freake one of the Order of Jesus for to carry over certain papers of Instructions unto Shane ô Neale then stirring in the Province of Ulster which I safely delivered unto him from Father Freake The Contents thereof were to set up his Title which his Ancestors claimed in that Province and not to make any conditions with the English unless it were upon great advantage or in great extremity for France and Scotland should both assist him when he had raised up that Countrey After I had received these Instructions he produced the Bishop of Rome's Bull of Indulgence and liberty unto all those who undertook to succour and assist that Mother-Church of Rome The Contents be as these PIUS the Servant of the Servants of God Pius Quintus his Bull for Anathematizing Protestants that the Undertakers for the advancement of Rome might not scruple any thing when they are indulged c. Whereas we have found and daily find Heresies increasing in several Colonies Principalities Realms and Countreys subject to the sacred See of St. Peter our Predecessor and they falling from and deserting our Jurisdiction with their blasphemous and railing writings against Vs our Ceremonies and Apostolick Jurisdictions and Priviledges granted unto Vs and our Succcessors from God and formerly generally acknowledged by Emperors Kings and Princes to be Ours and our Predecessors due and right We therefore in the Name of the holy Trinity of the Blessed Mother of God the Virgin Mary of St. Peter of St. Paul in the name of the holy Host of Heaven of the Arch-Angels and Angels of the holy Apostles Saints and blessed Martyrs do Anathematize all Hereticks lying trading or travelling in or amongst the same wheresoever dispersed over the face of the whole Earth We further will and authorize the Wise and learned of our Ecclesiasticks expert in divine Science to labour endeavour and devise all manner of devices to be devised to abate asswage and confound those Heresies repugnant to our sacred Laws that thereby these Hereticks might be either recalled to confess their Errors and acknowledge our Jurisdiction of the See of Rome or that a total infamy may be brought upon them and their posterities by a perpetual discord and contention amongst themselves by which means they may either speedily perish by God's wrath or continue in eternal difference to the reproach of Jew Turk Heathen nay to the Devils themselves Given at Rome the 6th I de of May Primo Pontif. Pius Quintus The Copy of this Bull of Indulgence and Commission was translated unto me into English by a learned Pen-man named John Warham Nephew to William Warham some time Archbishop of Canterbury After that I had got a Copy of this Bull Mr. Freake and I discoursed concerning the same because I thought it impossible to overthrow the Protestants unless it were by force of Arms but he replied that it was easy-to do it otherwise Rome's several sorts of Dispensations for to ruine the Church of England by telling me that this Bull dispenced with the Devisor for devising of new Tenents Doctrines and Covenants nay that it dispenced to marry after an Heretical Law provided that the device intended was to promote the advancement of Rome and that Marriage as they performed it was no Marriage but a venial sin Then I made answer In case these men be taken with this kind of life and so totally fall from Rome what will you do then He told me after this manner How Rome gets all her Intelligence and Knowledge secrets of Kings and their Councils to the best of my remembrance that those who undertook to serve the Mother-Church entred their names in the chief Convents of their several Orders and that in their Commissions they have several names three or four in case they be discovered and that when they have intelligence they may fly to another place and still keep correspondence with the Convents I demanded of him which fort had the granting of these Licences He told me that Pope Pius had granted a Commission to the Wisest and most Learned sort of the Orders of St. Dominick St. Francis A demonstration which of these Orders generally be by the Pope Indulged to put false Doctrines amongst us Protestants and of his own Order of the Society of Jesus to keep a general correspondence every quarter at least with the Convents of these Orders which testimonies were to be shewn upon these general Assemblies as signal demonstrations of their fidelity to the Church of Rome I told him that it was worth my journey coming out of Ireland for to travel because I had learned much experience and should be cunning for the future To this he said How Popish Zeal is revenged on the Protestant you see how we be by the Hereticks put to our shifts every day more then other therefore we must try our skill to be even with them I demanded of him what could it avail the Church of Rome to set up so many Heresies seeing that the Devisers dare not openly acknowledge the Church of Rome's Supremacy but be forced to rail at the Pope and at her He replied A pretty Cheat for disguised Papists to rail at Rome and yet be of the Church of Rome when they rail at Rome and their hearts be contrary it is no sin they may mean Rome and name it as it was in the ancient Roman days and also the word Pope for that word in Latin Papa is as much as to say a Bishop so that he may mean one of their Heretick Bishops and that these mental railings advanced the See of Rome and furthered their designs in several respects (a) (a) This shews how Rome by her Phanaticism hindreth uniformity in the Church of England First as it made Heresies and Schisms amongst Hereticks so it hindred uniformity in the Church of England (b) (b) The Papists all plead they can turn Protestants by reason there are so many sorts of them Secondly that it was a great advantage for preventing Roman Catholicks to turn away from their Principles (c) (c) Let Dissenters observe this and how the Papists came to cast the late Plot begun Anno 1678. upon them And lastly when ever the Church of Rome shall have a design to destroy Heresie she will never want intelligence having one or more of these wise men amongst these several sorts of Hereticks Then I asked how shall we be able to know her Majesties secrets and the intents of the Church of England He said A warning for Protestants not to match with Papists or to keep Popish Servants We have also dispenced with that and several of that Church have either a Roman Catholick Wife or the Wife a Roman Catholick Husband or they if both Hereticks perhaps keep Roman Catholick Servants which are
of the Nation which the King with the advice and by the consent of the wisdom of the Nation has judged and therefore established for the publick good So that the Contest of Dissenters appears to be for Empire and Sovereignty and who shall be the Supreme Judge of the Goodness and Expediency of Laws Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Sermon and they do very ill to quarrel at Clergie-mens Coaches and Liveries who themselves are grasping at Crowns and Scepters And if any or many private men shall not judge these Laws so good as those they would have imposed they ought to submit and study to be quiet and not make the greater Duty of Mercy and Peace of the Church submit to the Sacrifice of what may be is but Opinion and still sub Judice I have a Theme before me too copious for an Epistle and shall therefore that I may not transgress the bounds of one dismiss the other I only offer these following discoveries of the Danger to which Protestant Religion and these Nations are exposed by obstinate Separation to your cool and retired thoughts and hope you are too good men and Christians to esteem me Your Enemy because I tell you the Truth Philirenes ERRATA PAge 34. line 24. for her read his p. 39. l. 1. for Cecil read Civil p. 69. l. 6. for Coronensis read Connorensis p. 80. l. 14. for their read you p. 129. l. 26. for Lord read Letter FOXES AND FIRE-BRANDS c. THat the Papists have ever since the Reformation of Religion in Europe The restless design of Papists to regain England to Rome been most invincibly industrious in these Kingdoms to bring the Church of England to ruine and a total subversion there cannot remain the least doubt or scruple For besides apparent matter of undeniable Fact during the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the First and our present Gracious Sovereign whom God long preserve there are these Reasons which have and do animate them in the repeated prosecution of that desperate Enterprize First A vain Enthusiastick Opinion The Reasons moving them vigorously to prosecute their wicked Design which in this last Century they have generally embraced That there shall be a Fifth Monarchy of their Church For the erecting of which they embroil their Brains 1. An Enthusiastick Belief of the Fifth Monarchy of the Church of Rome and the whole Christian World wrest the Prophecies of the Scripture and the pretended Writings of the Sybils to countenance this beloved Chymaera Now they look upon the English Nation become Heretick and revolted from the Faith as too potent and considerable in this part of the World to permit them to hope for any success till that Church and State be either so broken as to be disabled to oppose them or be reduced to the Roman Faith and Obedience Secondly 2. The Church of England the only Bulwork of the Protestant Religion and their most potent Enemy They look upon the Church of England therefore as the only Bastion or Bulwork of the Protestant Religion and Interest from whence there have sprung so many and such a constant succession of able Champions for Truth and so long as that Church continues are like to do as will eternally baffle all the Arguments and Reasons they have hitherto or can produce to support their tottering Cause and in all probability will in time so expose them as to convince the World of the Apostacy of Rome from the ancient Primitive Christianity and induce them to knock off the shackles of blind Obedience which their Ignorance and the Romish Artifice have fastened upon the hands of all Princes and People under the Papal Jurisdiction and whatever some people may imagine * This is apparent because they raise them themselves there is nothing formidable to Rome in these little Sects of Separatists who being by their own Eternally sub-dividing Principles like the Sheaf of Arrows in the Apologue unbound will be broken without any great difficulty but the Church of England being a Body compact firm and well put together and wearing so much of the Primitive Purity and Antiquity both in Doctrine and Discipline is the Gordian knot which till by the Sword of Pope Alexander they can untie they can never hope to conquer the World by that of Peter and therefore that Church is the constant mark of their Hate and Envy and to undermine her Foundations they set themselves and all their Engines to work with all possible Diligence and Application I remember to have heard a pretty odd Relation An Instance of a Pope's Charity to the English Hereticks which came from a Person of Quality of this Nation who was at Rome in the time of our late Troubles This Noble Person having demanded liberty to have an Audience of his Holiness obtained it and was treated with great Civility and Respect After the Formalities of the Visit were over the Pope enquired what News from England to which the Gentleman replied with great testimonies of Compassion and gave him a short recital of the Tragical Adventures of the Civil War at which the Pope fell into such an indecent laughter that the English Gentleman smartly repartee'd Sir Certainly this is a Scene for Pity not for Laughter Well young man said the old Pope having gravely composed himself you say true and I take your reproof in good part but added he I cannot forbear this testimony of Joy when I consider that God is about to convince you of your Errors by these severe Methods and by their own hands to destroy one of the best drest Heresies that ever appeared in the World since that of the Arians Thirdly 3. Secular Interest Ambition and Honour the Romish Clergy look upon themselves to be extreamly injured in point of Interest and that they are unjustly and violently dispossessed of all the Dignities and Revenues of the Bishopricks Cathedrals Abbeys Monasteries and other religious Houses and these Promotions Dignities and Revenues are from time to time conferred by the Pope upon titular Bishops Deans c. who de jure pretend a Right to them and hope de facto to possess them so soon as they can by any Arts or Ways reduce these Nations to the Obedience of the See of Rome Nay the Pope himself has the Vanity or Impudence to be tickled with the sweet imagination of Sovereignty and to pretend from the Resignation of King John to Pandulphus his Legate a Title to the Imperial Crown of these Realms Now ambitious men animated by these Hopes and professing as matter of Faith that they are free from all the Obligations of Duty and Allegiance to Heretical Princes and Vsurpers as they term ours and at least in pretence being inflamed with an ardent Zeal for the conversion or confusion of us poor Hereticks and having always the dazling beams and lustre of Interest and secular Advantage in their eyes together with the hopes of Heaven as the merits
bound to obey the Mother-Church when ever commanded I entreated Mr. Freake to give me a Copy of the Heads of the directions that were given unto those who were licenced to perform what this Bull had permitted which was thus Observe how in Cromwell's days Marriages were altered for this purpose They were permitted to marry upon two accompts First because they might not be suspected Secondly Heretical Marriage is no Marriage if their Matrimonial Ceremonies be contrary to the Romish Orders Several of these so licenced are to take divers Callings according to their inclinations Thus Rome taught Dissention in the late usurped times yet to Preach and Expound and in case they be asked upon what grounds they came by this Science they must reply by the Spirit of God by revelation and by searching of the Scriptures In case they be asked upon what grounds they take upon them to Preach In the usurped days they generally called it Teaching and not Preaching they must reply We Preach not but Teach But in case they ask and say Why do ye then Teach it self Let Statesmen consider of this Jesuitical fetch for Teaching ye must reply because the Sons of the Prophets did Teach so did Jehoshaphat and his Princes likewise did the Disciples before Christ's Resurrection also the Scribes and Pharisees and divers of the Church of Corinth and these were not Church-men If they say by this means every man may Preach that listeth A further Jefuitical fetch to adorn the Schisms of Rome you must reply I could wish we were all Preachers and Prophets because Moses wished all the Lords people were Prophets If we should make but one or two divisions amongst the English Hereticks Jesuitical Policies not to permit the Popish Laity to read Scripture it were all in vain and our labour lost and this the Council of Trent a little before its dissolution left to our Society to handle who from Paris Rome and from several places of Italy corresponded with each other and concluded that Rome her self had not continued in that splendor as she hath done hitherto in case her Popes and Council had not brought in novelties to please peoples fancies by which means it confounded the capacities of the Laity and common sort as they were not permitted to read or search the Scriptures How they have deluded the Protestant Laity by misconstruing the Scripture knowing they be permitred to read them But by reason that the Hereticks of England and other Provinces permitted them to read it was necessary before they were well grounded in their Principles to preach variety unto them to some the Doctrine of Free-will to some that Children should not be baptized till they come to Age to others a Monarchy of earthly happiness after this temporal life to others that the righteousness of man dependeth not upon the Faith of Christ but upon charity and affliction and that any gifted man may either give or receive the Sacrament All these and several such like observations as shall daily spring forth must ye undertake to perform outwardly with great fervency for thereby ye will not be suspected or discovered for that one method being duly observed will absolve ye and hide your designs designed Then receiving these Instructions I lest Paris What he delivered to Shane O Neal from Father Freake whilst he was a Papist and journied and came to Callis from thence I sailed into Scotland and so came for Ireland where I gave the Papers delivered unto me by Father Freake unto Shane O Neale which was in the year of Christ 1564. Judgments falling upon the Head of Shane O Neal for his Treachery and Rebellion against our Sovereign Lady the Queen How he came to be Converted I said within my self God doth not prosper these unjust means yet continuing still in my profession of the Order of Mount Carmel I perceived always the Roman Catholicks projects to fail them which smote my Conscience very often so that I resolved to repent that I might lay my bones in the Grave in peace with hopes of a joyful Resurrection when I and all mankind shall come before our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ before whose Tribunal all must appear and receive according to their works and Faith in him alone Witness my hand this 28th of October Anno Dom. 1584 Malachias Malone The Original of this was sent to her Majesty and Council from Sir John Perrot Knight then Lord Deputy of Ireland and that Council as a signal assurance of this Convert's Reformation to the Protestant Church of England now established Although we should have placed these following Memorials before the Conversion of Mason or Malone yet hapning to cast an eye thereon being entred amongst my Fathers Manuscripts and given unto him from John King some time Dean of Tuum I have here set them forth that the Reader may see how sensible the Lord Cicell was of the Romish Conspiracies against the Church of England and her Majesty Worthy Sir You can assure her Highness of my care and charge which I undertook at my departing from her Grace and the Honourable Privy Council I assure you I do not miss-spend my little time it being so precious as you and others can testify by my former Intelligences sent by the hands of Captain Russel of which I was assured came safe to the Council I intended to have presented this inclosed with my own hands to her Grace but her lost message to me hath been the occasion of sending it sooner upon two accounts it being a matter of sudden prevention and likewise having so sure a hand and the conveniency of Mr. Edward Maxwell's and others of our English Factors here going from hence and guarded by her Graces Ship called the Swallow I shall make all the speed I can possible and with God's help see your Worship as chearful as ever though I am somewhat altered by this last Voyage God preserve your undertakings both at home and abroad for the publick good of her gracious Majesty and welfare of the Nation Your assured Servant E. Dennum Venice April 13th 1564. A list of several consultations amongst the Cardinals Bishops and others of the several Orders of Rome now a contriving and conspiring against her gracious Majesty and the established Church of England Pius having consulted with the Clergy of Italy and assembling them together it was by general consent voted that the immunity of the Romish Church and her Jurisdiction is required to be defended by all her Princes as the principal Church of God And to encourage the same the Council hath voted that Pius should bestow her Graces Realm on that Prince who shall attempt to conquer it There was a Council ordered by way of a Committee who contain three of the Cardinals two of the Archbishops six of the Bishops and as many of the late Order of the Jesuits who daily encrease and come into great favour with the Pope of late These
his wants and how desirous he was to go to his own Countrey in case he could not be preferred in England Mr. Prynne began to take compassion on him and told him that he would procure gatherings for him and for the present gave him five Pounds to buy him Apparel and bid this poor Bohemian Priest not to be a stranger to his House After that he had played this cheat with Mr. Prynne he wrote within few days after a Letter to him to this purpose that he had heard some say that he would give five Pounds to see him nay further that he had given Ramsey himself five Pounds and so wrote according to what we have already mentioned He several times owned how he was in Cromwells days employed by the Pope and by the Jesuits to advance their affairs as well in England as in Ireland also how he had Preached sometimes in an Independent shape other times in an Anabaptist and Quakers shape and had the Pope's Bull for what he did This Doctor about three years since viz. about the year of our Lord 1678 or 1679 died at Derry yet for some months before his death reformed to the Protestant Faith of England It being thought that he was poysoned secretly amongst the Jesuits they envying of him for his reforming to our Church for he being a jovial companion cared not what company he went in Sir William Stewart Knight one of his Majesties Privy-Council can give a further account of this Doctor who as I hear hath some Papers of his Confessions and Reforming which had they come to my hands I had for the publick good here inserted but for want of them what we have already mentioned can be attested by Sir Henry Pierse Baronet his Sons William and Henry Pierse Esquires and Justices of Peace of the County of Westmeath and Mr. Mark Pierse of the same Gent. to whom he told these like Stories of himself and many more he living at Tristernaugh Town in the said County with them near a quarter of a year and being then their Physitian Several of his Majesties Subjects of Ireland being in London upon the death of Oliver Cromwell the Usurper Peter Talbott the late Titular Archbisho of Dublin very intimate with Cromwell who were more desirous to see his Funeral Solemnities than to see him officiate in his Tyrannical Government obtained leave to be at a Friends House at Westminster to behold the Celebration thereof John King then Dean of Tuam a faithful Subject of his Majesties shewed to several of the Spectators saying there goes Peter Talbott amongst the Mourners in deep Mourning which had not these Spectators seen they would scarcely have believed that it had been he At that time it being the fashion for Mourners not to cast off their Mourning Cloaks so soon as they do now a days he was seen by several to walk in the same Habit with his Cloak folded under his arm for some months after this Funeral walking in the Piazza in Covent-Garden and other of the Streets of the City of London Upon General Monk's rising in England to bring in our now Gracious Sovereign King Charles the Second into his Throne this said Peter Talbott went in company with the then General Lambert riding to oppose the Duke of Albemarls designs For these his good seats the Pope made him Titular Archbishop of Dublin Dean King's Wife Mrs. Sarah King can testify this for a true Narrative if examined and is yet living Since his Majesties happy Restauration Hoc factum circa ann 1670 aut 71. there came a certain Peer out of England into Ireland who there bore sway and it is well known to the Inhabitants of the City of Dublin that this mighty Peer lent a Suit of Arras Hangings and the best of his Plate to the above Peter Talbott to adorn that Titular Bishops Mass-House and Altar This Sir F. B. a Knight and Alderman of the said City and several others of the Citizens can testifie Satan begins to transform himself into an Angel of Light to destroy the Church of England if demanded besides the words which the said Peer spoke at the time he lent these Adornments which were thus or to this effect That he hoped to hear high Mass within six months in the Cathedral of Christ-Church in Dublin Doubtless these were signal demonstrations or forerunners of the late Popish Conspiracy anno 1678. Samuel Pullen Doctor of Divinity coming into Ireland before the late Irish Rebellion A notable Story of a Jesuit who pretended to be a Shoomaker and to Preach by Inspiration he became first Chancellor of Cashel and Dean of Clonfert the Irish Rebellion anno 1641 bursting out the Papists about those parts of Ireland murthered several of the Protestants and Protestant Ministers this Samuel being at that time in danger was preserved by Providence by a Jesuit named James Saul alias Sall who before that Rebellion had received from the Dean several favours which caused James Saul to preserve the Dean from being murthered for the space of three months until he could be conducted into English Quarters After this escape the Dean sailed into England where he became Chaplain to the then Earl of Oxford where he tarried for divers years It chanced during the Deans stay there and in the time of Usurpation when several Meetings were permitted that the Earls Countess was disswaded from her Principles for to go to hear those sort of Preachers amongst whom there was a Shoo-maker much admired by his Auditory which occasioned the Countess to extol him unto the Dean for a pious and heavenly gifted man and often urg'd the Dean to go and hear him who upon several intreaties as also to comply with the Countess the Dean went with her to this Meeting At his coming thither he observed the Shoomaker and found by his words that those speeches of his went beyond his Last and that he was a man of Parts Yet although years had changed this Impostors Physiognomy as also being altered by his Beard the Dean recollected with himself that he had seen this Shoomaker before At last the Sermon being ended the Countess his great Admirer invited him home to Dinner after which the Dean and he fell into a Disputation who finding this Shoomaker had skill in the Hebrew Greek and Latin Tongues demanded of him how he came by that Science The Shoomaker replied by the holy Spirit But to conclude the Dean told him he knew to the contrary and that he had reason to know it thereupon gave him thanks for preserving of his life in Ireland and said you are Mr. Sall and as you saved mine I shall save yours The Dean then speaking unto my Lord and to his Countess said this man saved my life in Ireland in the tumultuous days of the Irish Rebellion therefore I shall make bold to engage to this my friend that your Lordship and my Lady shall do him no harm provided that he departed thence from