cause which persons do also preach divers matters of Slander to engender Discord and Dissention betwixt divers Estatés of the said Realm as well Spiritual as Temporal in exciting of the people to the great peril of the Realm Which Preachers cited or summoned before the Ordinaries of the places there to answer of that whereof they be impeached will not obey to their Summons and Commandments nor care for their Monitions nor Censures of the Holy Church but expresly despise them And moreover by their subtle and ingenious words do draw the people to hear their Sermons and do maintain them in their Errors by strong Hand and great Routs It is ordained and assented in this present Parliament That the King's Edmmissions be made and directed to the Sheriffs and other Miuisters of our Soveraign Lord the King or other sufficient persons Learned and according to the Certifications of the Prelates thereof to be made in Chancery from time to time to arrest all such Preachers and also their Faitors Maintainers and Abettors and to hold them in Arrest and strong Prison 'till they will justifie them according to the Law and Reason of Holy Church And the King wills and commandeth That the Chancellor make such Commissions at all times that he by the Prelates or any of them shall be certified and thereof required as is aforesaid This was the first pretended Statute that ever was in England for imprisoning Christians for Religious opinions and by colour thereof the Bishops committed great Cruelties I call it pretended Statute for tho it be enter'd in the Parliament Rolls yet it was no Legal Act for it never pass'd the Commons And therefore at the next Parliament in Michaelmas Term following the Commons preferr'd a Bill â—eciting the same and constantly affirmed That they never assented thereunto and therefore desired that the said supposed Statute be annull'd and made void for they protested That it was never their intent that either themselves or such as shall succeed them should be farther subject or bound to the Prelates than were their Ancestors in former times And to this the King gave his Royal Assent in these words Il plaist au Roy The King is pleas'd that it be so Cook 3 Instit fo 40. Foxes Acts and Monuments fo 406. But that you may more fully understand the fraud and subtlety of their Reverences in this Affair you must understand That before the invention of Printing the usual way of publishing Acts of Parliament was to engross them in Parchment and send them with the King 's Writ into every County commanding the Sheriff to proclaim them Now John Braibrook Bishop of London being then Lord Chancellor of England he by a Writ dated 26 May Anno Regni Regis R. 2. quinto sent down the before recited Ordinance of the King and Prelates amongst the Statutes that were then lately pass'd But no less knavishly left out in the next Parliamentary Proclamation the said Act of Revocation whereby the said supposed Statute was made void by which means afterwards the other still pass'd as an Act and was printed continually as such but the Act that disannull'd it was by the Interest of the Prelates from time to time kept out of the Prints the better to give colour to their imprisoning of the Laity at their pleasure And farther to make sure work Henry the Fourth having usurp'd the Crown to gratifie the Clergy who had chiefly assisted him therein in the second year of his Raign he at their Instigation procured the following cruel and wicked Law to be Enacted commonly call'd The Statute Ex Officio which that the Reader may the better observe the Spirit of Popery and Persecution and compare the Times and Actings of Men in past and more modern Times I hope it shall neither be thought tedious nor unuseful to recite the same at large Verbatim it not being now extant in Kceble or any of our Common Statute Books ITem Whereas it is shewed to our Soveraign Lord the King on the behalf of the Prelates and Clergy of this Realm of England in this present Parliament That altho the Catholick Faith builded upon Christ and by his Apostles and the holy Church sufficiently determined declared and approved hath been hitherto by good and holy and most noble Progeniâ—ors of our Soveraign Lord the King in the said Realm amongst all the Realms of the World most devoutly observ'd and the Church of England by his said most noble Progenitors and Ancestors to the honour of God and of the whole Realm aforesaid landably endow'd and in her Rights and Liberties sustain'd without that that the same Faith or the said Church was hurt or grievously oppressed or else perturbed by any perverse Doctrine or Wicked Heretical or Erronious Opinions Yet nevertheless divers false and perverse people of a certain new Sect of the Faith of the Sacraments of the Church and the Authority of the same damnably thinking and against the Law of God and of the Church usurping the Office of Preaching do perversly and maliciously in divers places within the said Realm under the colour of dissembled Holiness preach and teach these days openly and privily divers nâ—w Doctrines and wicked Heretical and Erronious Opinions contrary to the same Faith and blessed Determinations of the holy Church And of such Sect and wicked Doctrine and Opinions they make unlawful Conventicles and Confederacies they hold and exercise Schools they make and write Books they do wickedâ—y instruct and inform people and as much as they may excite and stir them to Sedition and Insurrection and maketh great strife and division among the people and other Enormities horribly to be heard daily do perpetrate and commit in subversion of the Catholick Faith and Doctrine of the holy Church in diminution of God's honour and also in destruction of the Estate Rights and Liberties of the said Church of England by which Sect and wicked and false Preachings Doctrine and Opinions of the said false and perverse people not only most great peril of the Souls but also many more other hurts slanders and perils which God prohibit might come to this Realm unless it be the more plentifully and speedily holpen by the King's Majesty in this behalf namely whereas the Diocesans of the said Realm cannot by their Jurisdiction Spiritual without Aid of the said Royal Majesty sufficiently correct the said false and perverse people nor refrain their Malice because the said false and perverse people do go from Diocess to Diocess and will not appear before the said Diocesan but the same Diocesans and their Jurisdiction Spiritual and the Keys of the Church with the Censures of the same do utterly contemn and despise and so their wicked Preachings and Doctrines doth from day to day continue and exercise to the hatred of Right and Reason and utter destruction of Order and good Rule Vpon which Novelties and Excesses above rehearsed the Prelates and Clergy aforesaid and also the Commons of the said Realm being in
Baker in his Chronicle fo 177. says but Twenty eight were Executed for the pretended Treason And to push home the matter in a Parliament held the next Year They obtain an Act of Parliament 2 Hen. 5. Ca. 7. with this frightful Preamble For as much as great Rumours Congregations and Insurrections here in the Realm of England by divers of the Kings Liege-people as well by them which were of the Sect of Heresie commonly call'd 〈◊〉 as by other of their Confedracy Excitation and Abetment now of late were made to the Intent to Annul Destroy and Subvert the Christian Faith and the Lâ—w of God and Holy Church within this same Realm of Eâ—gland and also to destroy the same our Soveraign Lord the King and all other manner of Estates of the same Realm of England as well Spiritual as Temporal and also all manner of Policy and finally the Laws of the Land The same our Soveraign Lord the King to the Honour of God and in Conservation and Forâ—ification of the Christian Faith and also in Salvation of his Royal Estate and of the Estate of all his Realm wâ—â—ling against the Malice of such Hereticks and Lollâ—rds to provide a more open Remedy and Punishment c. hath Ordainâ—d That the Chancellour Treasurer Iustices of each â—ench Iustices of the Peace Sheriffs c. shall take an Oath to Root out and Destroy all manner of Heresies and Errours commonly called Lollardries And that all persons Convict of Hâ—â—esie by the Ordinary shall forfâ—it all their Lanâ—â—s and Tenements Goods and Chattels So that by this Law the poor People were in as bad ease for Heresie as if they had Committed Treason or Murder they must lose both 〈◊〉 and â—state only here was no Corruption of 〈◊〉 and 't is oâ—sâ—rvable that pursuant to this Act there waâ— even since the Reformation this Clause in the Sheriff Oath viz. Ye shall do all your pain and diligence to Destroy and make to Cease all manner of Heresies and Errours â—â—mmonly call'd Lollers within your Bayliffwick See Book of Oathes p. 27. And so it continued to the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the First and then viz. the Fourth of December 1625. it was by direction of the Kings Council Reformed and that Clause omitted But now 't is time to return to speak of Sir John Old-Castle he had now sheltred himself about Four years in Wales and though the King at the Prelates Instigation had set forth A Proclamation Promising a Thousand Marks to any that should bring him in yet says Baker so generally was his Doctrine favour'd that the Kings offer was not much regarded till at last he was taken by the Lord Powis and sent Prisoner up to London and being in the Interim Outlaw'd for the aforesaid pretended Treason he was drawn to the Place since call'd Tyburn and as his Crime was represented double so likewise was his Punishment being both Hang'd and Burnt the first as a Traytor and the last as an Heretick and 't is said several others in those times were serv'd in like manner insomuch That some have deduced the Etymology of Tyburn from those two Words Ty and burn the Necks of Persons being tyed thereunto whose Leggs and lower Parts were Consumed in the Flames Having given this Succinct Relation of this Affair of Sir John Old Castle I am not Ignorant what rubbs have been thrown in the way and Scandals raised upon his Memory by Parsons the Jesuit and others which are reducible unto Two sorts viz. 1 st That he was a Traitor to his Soveraign 2 ly That he was a Drunken Companion or Debâ—uchee As to the First being a very material and heinous Charge we shall refer the Confutation thereof to our next Pacquet But this last being as groundless as Trivial wee 'l dispatch it at present That Sir John Old-Castle was a Man of Valour all Authentick though prejudic'd Histories agree That he was a Gentleman both of goâ—d Sense sober Life and sound Christian Principles is no less apparent by his Confession of Faith delivered under his own hand Extant in Foxe and his Answers to the Prelates But being for his Opinions hated by the Clergy and suffering such an Ignominious Death Nothing was more obliging to the then Domineering Ecclesiastick Grandeeâ— than to have him represented as a Lewd Fellow in Compliance thereof to the Clergy the Wits such as they were in the succeeding Ages brought him in in their Interludes as a Royster Bully or Hector And the Painter borrowing the Fancy from their Cozen Poets have made his Head commonly an Ale house Sign with a Brimmer in his hand and so foolishly it has been Tradition'd to Posterity Nor is this our private Conceit but the Observation of that Learned and Ingenious Divine the Reverend Doctor Fuller who in his Church History of Britain Lib. 4. fol. 168. has these words Stage-Poets have themselves been very bold with and others very merry at the Memory of Sir John Old-Castle whom they have fancied a Boon Companion a Jovial Royster and yet a Coward to boot contrary to the Credit of all Chronicles owning him a Martial Man of Merit The best is Sir John Falstaffe hath relieved the Memory of Sir John Old Castle and of late is substituted Buffoon in his place but it matters as little what petulent Poets as what malicious Papists have Written against him The spightful Calumnies of the Latter we shall wipe off in our next The COURANT. Truman and Tory. Truman THe Business I was about to tell you was this After the Discovery of the late Popish Plot a Gentleman at the desire of an Eminent Bookseller in Fleet-street Wrote a Brief History of all the Papists Bloody Persecutions Plots and Massacres throughout Europe This Manuscript was carryed by the Bookseller to Mr. L' Estrange to License which being unwilling to do he Cavill'd at it after he had kept it some time in his hands that the Author had not Quoted the Authors or Books whence he had taken the Relations and unless that were done he would not License it The Gentleman at the Booksellers desire made all the Quotations punctually and set them in the Margent and the Copy was again carried to L'Estrange who nevertheless Resolving not to License it put off the Bookseller with many delays near Three Months and at last told him in plain termes It was not fit to make the Breach wider betwixt the Papists and Vs and there were too many of such kind of Books already Neither could he get the Copy out of his hand Tory. Perhaps L'Estrange kept it that he might prevent its being Licens'd by any body else Trum. This I 'm sure The Bookseller lost his Season Copy and Charge of Writing it for this Man 's Aâ—britary Pleasure Tory. But what then did the Author of the Book do Trum. The Gentleman followed the business so Close threatning to take his course at Law that at last he got the Copy and without any Alteration
the Rivers or as the Branches of the Frankincense-Tree in the time of Summer Touching Wickliff's Parentage all we can find is That he was born about the farthest part of York-shire and Mr. Birckbek who was Minister of Gilling in those Parts in his Learned Treatise Entituled The Protestants Evidence printed 1632. Centur. 14. assures us That some of the Family remain'd there then and probably may continue to this day his words are these Our Country-man John Wickliff was born in the North where there is near to the place where I live an ancient and worshipful House bearing the name of Wickliff of Wickliff But in what Year he was born is not Recorded only 't is certain that he was liberally Educated and became Learned beyond that Age and flourished about the year of our Lord 1371. in the Reign of King Edward the Third being then Fellow of Merton-Colledge in Oxford A happy Foundation Illustrious for breeding many most famous Men as Friar Bacon Burley Scotus Occham Peccham Bradwardine c. He was afterwards Master of Baliol-Colledge in Oxford where he commenc'd Doctor and was chosen Reader in Divinity In which public Lectures he shew'd himself a deep Schoolman as in his ordinary Sermons a faithful Pastor of the Church for whose Edification he spar'd no pains for he Translated the whole Bible into the vulgar Tongue one Copy whereof written with his own hand is or lately was extant in St. John Baptist Colledge in Oxford He was beloved of all good Men for his holy Life and admired even by his Adversaries for his Learning For we find Walden his profess'd and spiteful Enemy in a certain Letter to Pope Martin the Fifth forc'd to acknowledge That he was wonderfully astonish'd at his most forcible Arguments the various and pertinent Authorities he had gathered with the vehemence and smartness of his Reasonings Nor was he unacquainted with Humanity or polite Civil Learning especially he is observed to have been well read in our English Laws and wrote so many large Volumes as well in Philosophy as Divinity as the same is almost incredible He seem'd to follow in the course of his Studies the method of the Schoolmen and amongst them was a profess'd follower of Occham by reading of whose Works and sundry others who lived about the same time or not long before as Bradwardine Marsilius St. Amore Abelardus Armachanus and that great and godly Learned Man Rob. Grosthead and especially and above all by diligent perusal of the Holy Scriptures God gave him grace and understanding to see the truth of his Gospel and by seeing it to loath all superstition and the ill precepts and practises of the then pretended Rules of the Church In particular by Occham and Marsilius he was informed of the Popes Intrusions and Usurpations upon Kings their Crowns and Dignities Guido de S. Amore and Armachanus shew'd him the sundry abuses of Monks and Friars in upholding this usurped Power By Abelard and others he began to have a right Apprehension touching the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Bradwardine taught him the Nature of a true sole justifying Faith against Meritmongers and Pardoners Finally by Grosthead's Work with which he seem'd most conversant he descried the Popes to be the very Antichrist by hindering the Gospel to be preached and placing unfit and unworthy Men in the Church and in making all Religion subservient to his damnable Policy Being thus enlighten'd 't is no wonder if in his Writings and Preachings he delivered many things against the then corrupted Doctrine of the Church but his Positions were chiefly directed against the several Orders of Begging Friars who were his professed Persecutors and all Foreign usurped Jurisdiction of the Pope By which he purchased some favour or at least connivance at Court and got his other Complaints against them for other matters the more easily heard and regarded for at that time the Friars Orders by their manifold and notorious Disorders were become exceeding odious and the Popes pretences of Jurisdiction by Provisions Reservations and Collations not only grievous but utterly intollerable This made way unto those excellent Acts of Parliament of Praemunire against any that should appeal to Rome or draw the Subjects of England ad aliud Examen To any Foreign Jurisdiction as also against Provisors and the Abuses of Begging Friars which fobridled and restrained the Pope's Authority that he could but little prevail in England during the Raign of King Edward the Third or Richard the Second Towards making which Law Wickliff had no small Interest by disposing several of the Nobility and the Body of the Commons thereunto maintaining no less Loyalty and Magnanimously than Learnedly the King's Jurisdiction Crown and Dignity by the Laws Civil Canon and Common For which reason the Learned Dr. James in Wickliff's Life tells us That he was by one King sent Ambassador into Foreign Parts and by another consulted here at home But amongst all his Arguments he most insisted upon those drawn from the common Municipal Laws of England the best Bull-works for the Prerogative and Imperial Right of our Kings against all the Usurpations and Encroachments of any Exotic Claim for the maintenance of his Opinions and the better to enable him therein he had good Directions and Advice from time to time from the Reverend Judges and Sages in the Law He was not so much hated of the Monks and Clergy out of Self-interest because he opposed their lewd Practises but he was much indulg'd and favour'd by the Temporal State for his Piety Learning and Virtue For not only many of the Nobility but the City of London and the University of Oxford were his Friends which makes Walsingham the Monk angry who upon all occasions vomits out his Gall against poor Wickliff that that famous Academy where as he saith was the very height and top of Wisdom and Learning should so kindly entertain him Nor were they Freshmen or younger Fry of Students there that were his Admirers but even the Heads and Chief of the University for Mr. Robert Rigge Vice-Chancellor and the two Proctors took part with him as also Nicholas Herford John Ashton of Merton Colledge John Ashwarby of Oriel Colledge Minister of St. Maries Church these all being Preachers and Batchelors of Divinity joined with him and were put to Trouble for the same THE COURANT. Tory. NAY now I think you are met with what say you to that ingenious Piece publish'd last week Entituled A Postscript of Advice from Geneva Truem. I shall not say much to it let my Lords the Bishops look after it for as Governours under His Majesty of our Protestant Church I humbly conceive it concerns them abundantly more than me since 't is plain the Libel is the â—pawn of some rank invenom'd Popish Priest and whether Nat. Thompson or Gammer Turner a profest Papist or a masqueraded one Midwif'd it into the World is not much material It pretends indeed to fall soul on the Calvinists which possibly Striplings in
cases of Clergy-cheats were the Gloss yet Interest was the Text for Polydere Virgil one of the Pope's own Publicans or Peter-pence Collectors is not shy to insinuate l. 8. c. 2. tho he refers them to a more ancient Original That the first Rise of them was for the maintenance of the Pope's Grandeur and that this Income was one of the fairest Flowers in the Triple Crown But when once the payment of them had continued some competent time it was politickly done upon any questioning of the Right to refer them to a Divine Original which was sure to satisfie such as used in those times to take the Pope's bare word for far greater matters Yet the payment of these with others so much impoverisht the Kingdom of England for we are willing to sum up all here that we have to say occasionally on this matter that notwithstanding such Allegation of Divine Right the ancient Kings of England made no scruple sometimes to forbid the payment of them as King Edward the Third once discharg'd the Pope's Nuncio from Collecting the first Fruits c. and many Prohibitions were granted against the Pope's Collectors on Complaints made by the aggriev'd Commons in Parliament as appears in my Lord Coke's Jurisdiction of Courts c. 14. and several Statutes where it is termed once an horrible Mischief and damnable Custom and another time 't is call'd a very Novelty see the Acts 2. H. 4. c. 1. and 1. R. 2. But so subtle was the Court of Rome that when sometimes the Kingdom complain'd of these Burthens and withall the Kings in Exigencies press'd for aids from their Subjects they would in a frolic of Bounty yield or assign the First-Fruits c. for a certain time a year or more to the King whereby they both inur'd the People to the payment and the Prince to the continuance of it But in the 26 th of Henry the Eighth they were given to the King and his Heirs and Successors for ever and in the 32 d of his Raign a particular Court was erected for recovering them which being dissolv'd in the first of Queen Mary the thing was reviv'd again by 1. Eliz. c. 4. but the Court not restored only the First-Fruits were order'd to be within the Rule and Adjustment of the Exchequer and a new Officer viz. A Remembrancer erected of the First-Fruits and Tenths of the Clergy who both taketh all Compositions for them and maketh out Process against such as make default in payment So that every Spiritual person must pay or secure by Bond his First-Fruits before his actual possession of his Benefices which Bond is of like force with a Statute-Staple The mode of Composition now is for the Parson with Sureties to enter into four Bonds each condition'd for payment of the fourth part of the First Fruits according to the rate of his Living as it was Taxed anno 26. H. 8. for that 's the Standard which is call'd being so much in the King's Books but yet with a deduction of Tenths the first Bond payable at half a years end the second at a Twelve months end the third at a year and half 's end and the last at the expiration of two years This we thought fit to add out of the Respect we have to the young Clergy that are hankering after Benefices to whom this Discourse at least whatever our other Writings through sinister Informations may be will probably prove not unacceptable The COURANT. Trueman Solus NOw shan't I see my old Correspondent Tory for he was drunk last night at the Queens Head with toping Confusions to the City Charter But no matter here 's Ben. Tooks Goblin Heraclitus will do as well He dashes through thick and thin and flings durt on as good Scarlet as any i' th City Alas poor fool Their Reputations Crystal none of the filth will stick but Reverts to your own face and will one day infallibly sink the pittifull and already Crazy Shipp 't is squirted from However by this the World may take notice what respect the Tories pay to Authority if their Magistrates don't humour them presently they 'l affront them to their faces Hiss Revile slander and Libel them Having been thus sawcy to his Superiors 't is no news if he snarl at the Courantier who he says is much unacquainted with Guinnies poor heart I 'm sorry for 't but the truth is he has no Faction nor party to Bribe or Encourage him nothing but God and the King Truth and a good Conscience to protect and support him and so long he sings as to the Guinnies Nec habeo nec Careo Nec Curo let Pimps and flatterers and L'Estranges boast their hundreds of Guinnies sent 'um from the Divel knows who He has enough in being Honest Yet sure the Milk and Butter and Cheese was the conceit of some Hunger-starv'd Curate of the Club that lives on small Tyths and is fain to make shift with such Commons when every Monday morning he Trudges from near Dartford to London Popish Nat still drudges on but of late more bare fac'd what abundance of little Tricks have his managers been trying to raise some pretence of slâ—r in Dr. Oatses Evidence but I know not whether with more malice or folly Is not yesterdays Sham a rare one Mr. Oats swore He was Informed Parson Elliot was Circumcised yet upon a Commssion of Inspection a nice business I le promise ye It appears Nat says that the man's twigg of Life has all its apurtenances well but does it follow that the Doctor might not be Informed otherwise Away you ridiculous Scoundrels I' th' next place Godfry's Murder O that 's a bone in some peoples throats must be represented uncertain prethee dear Nat tell us if thou darest in thy next the inquisitive Gentleman of Sarum's true name I 'le warrant he 's as good a Protestant as thy self And now Enter Observator who fiddles to the old Tune For in earnest the fellow has not Compos'd above one sheet bating his Translations these 20 years tho he has blurr'd ten thousand Ream of Paper He 's much troubled that Mrs. Joan should be questioned and to bring in the Chat tells two or three notorious Lies in a breath viz. That Care was Cited as he call it to Guild-Hall that Janeway desired Joan might be sent for c. which is all utterly false But above all where is Rogers Wit or Modesty to Revive a sluttish story little to the Credit of the Parties Concern'd But since you now twice together have Rak'd it up I tell thee Roger once for all that the debauch in the Church you mention was favourably told in Janeway's Mercury and there are better men than you or I that are or may be satisfied of the Truth on 't Nor was it first Publisht for any such base end as you maliciously suggest but only to the Intent that the Actors might be brought to just Punishment For not a few good Churchmen think those Swine deserv'd to
most Sacred Ties besides those of Interest and present opportunity are no more than Sampson's Bands Dissolvable whensoever their own Humour or their Ghostly Fathers Conveniency shall require it The COURANT. Tory. HOw Hodge concern'd in the Burning of London and Godfry's Murder Trum. No I never said he was nor do I believe it but this I say such a wild suggestion might be maintain'd by as good Logick as any he uses to make out the Protestant Plot. Tory. As how prethee a touch for Example I 'le engage not to believe the Consequence Truem. I take it for undeniable That London in Sixty six was designedly burnt by Papists the Law hath determined it in the Execution of Hubert who own'd the Fact and that he was hired thereunto by Piedelon a French Papist The Body of the City have Recorded it in the late Inscription of the Monument and that great and sagacious Minister of State the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellour in his Speech before Sentence on the late Lord Stafford makes no doubt on 't Tory. But you may remember that Hodge was a little disgruntled at That Inscription and has endeavoured to persuade the World that they were the Fanaticks caus'd that Fire But what if the Papists did do it and Kill'd Godfry too what 's that to him Trum. Nâ—thing that I know on But this one might infer according to Mr. L'Estranges modes of Arguing If they were Papists and Hedge should happen to be a Papist too then he may altogether as fairly be Charg'd with both these Exploits as all and every the Dâ—ssenters are by him Tax'd with all the Villanies of Forty odd when the greatest part of them were not born Tory. Well but what Colour is there for Hodges being a Papist Truem. As many Colours as there are in the Rain-bow 1. Two of the Kings Evidence have sworn his haunting of Mass and another Gentleman deposes That he own'd himself to be of that Church whereof the Pope is Head Now you that Rail and Ranâ— at Juries if they won't believe any lousie Witnesses though they swear Dâ—ggers and Impossibilitie ought methinks to Credit such unexceptionable Evidence 2 ly The Gentleman has been oft Challeng'd to prove that for Eighteen years after the Restitution of the Liturgy viz. till after the Discovery of the Popish Plot and that he was question'd as a Papist he ever usually frequented his Parish Church or receiv'd the Sacrament Tory. Oh he Answers that in his Preface to his first part of Dissenters Sayings referring people to one Mr. Gatford of St. Dionis Back Church for proof of his Receiving c. Truem. Call you that Sham an Answer 'T is but his nude Averment he produces no Certificate from that Gentleman Besides 't is known Mr. L' liv'd many years in St. Gileses Parish before the Plot why does he not produce some Testimony in all that time from thence can it be imagin'd so intelligent a person had he been so zealous for the Church of England as he now pretends would ever have liv'd Eight or ten years together without her Ordinances and in disobedience and despight to her Laws and Canons Tory. But in particular as to the Fire-Jobb Truem. Mr. L'Estrange some time before the Fire Printed a Pamphlet call'd A Memento wherein Chap. 6. speaking of some people put to death under Cromwel He uses these words London was made the Altar for these Burnt Offerings God grant that City be not at last Purged by Fire I mean before the general Conflagration Now since Roger I think pretends not to be a Prophet and no body takes him for a Conjurer Ill will might on this occasion suggest him to be a Conspirator for it has been prov'd That the mischief was intended long before it was perpetrated and if one would talk of him as he does of the Dissenters one might say his Prayer God grant is only to Cloak his Malice That here 's a plain Prediction It must needs be therefore that he was acquainted with the Design and so bigg with Expectation that he could not forbear Blabbing on 't and warming his fancy with the very Conceit of the Flames just as Del Rio the Jesuit in his Magical Disquisitions could not forbear giving a dark hint of the Gunpowder-Treason several years before it happen'd Tory. These are unjust and inconsequent Descants on such an Innocent Accidental passage Truem. I grant it But yet 't is at this very rate that L'Estrange Treats others wresting the most harmless Passages to odious and horrid meanings Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY March 2. 1681-2 Vmbrâque errabit Thynnus inultâ Of the first pretended Act of Parliament that ever was in England against professors of Religion how it was forg'd by the Prelates and soon after Repeal'd The bloody Statute of 4. Hen. 2. ca. 15. for Burning of Hereticks WE have pursued the Papal History beyond the Seas down to the Council of Constance and burning of Hus and Mr. Jerome that is to about the year of our Lord 1415. which answers to the Third year of the Raign of our King Henry the Fifth 'T will therefore now be necessary to look back and gather what Observables occurr'd in England relating to our Subject not already mention'd during the Raigns of King Richard the Second and Henry the Fourth We gave you before the Relation of Wickliff whose Doctrines spread so fast that the incens'd Prelates finding their Spiritual Thunders unable to repress them bethought themselves to pray in aid of the Secular Arm and to that purpose the King being young and dissolute so extravagant to his Favourites that he always wanted Money the Bishops either by fair words or the Bait of a Benevolence to be given him by the Clergy prevail'd with him in the Fifth year of his Raign to consent to an Ordinance of their framing in these words following For as much as it is openly known that there be divers evil persons within the Realm going from County to County and from Town to Town in certain Habits under dissimulation of great Holiness and without the License of the Ordinaries of the places or other sufficient Authority preaching daily not only in Churches and Church-yards but also in Markets Fairs and other open places where a great Congregation of people is divers Sermons containing Heresies and notorious Errors to the great emblemishing of the Christian Faith and destruction of the Laws and of the Estate of the holy Church to the great peril of the Souls of the people and of all the Realm of England as more plainly is found and sufficiently proved before the Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops and other Prelates Masters of Divinity and Doctors of Canon and Civil Law and a great part of the Clergy of the said Realm especially assembled for this
to detect the Intrigues of five Priests and Jesuits that were his Fellow Prisoners but still you must note the Man owns himself a stanch Catholick Tory. Hey-day Is Satan's Kingdom then divided against it self Do the Brethren in Iniquity squabble Truem. Pish that 's no News did you never read the feuds between the Fathers in Wisbich Castle and Parsons the Jesuit and his gang in Q Elizabeth and King James's time There you may learn the very Quintessence of Railing the Elixir of Billingsgate Tory. But what says this Reverend Father Dowdal Truem. Why it seems being in Gaol in the Gate-house the wily Jesuits c. his Fellow-sufferers Povre Turner Parsons Mackarty c. cheated him of his snack of the Charity as he calls it of abundance of devout Lasses Countesses Ladies and the Devil knows who that had no better use for their Money than to bestow it upon this Hypocritical Tribe of Traiterous Villains Hinc illae Lachrymae Here 's the Root of the Quarrel And p. 2. he affirm That altho they are reputed Sufferers for Jesus Christ's sake yet they have practis'd the greatest Injustice that could be more becoming Heathens than Christians mor suitable to Infidels than Catholicks and much less to reputed Priests and Jesuits p. 60. speaking of the same Holy Fathers his Fellow-sufferers he says Each of them could with Authority nobly treat one young Woman or other of very ill Repute all day long in their Rooms it was not worth taking notice of if one of them sent for more Bottles of Wine and Brandy in one day than I drank Beer or Ale in a whole weeâ— Either of them might lawfully call two or three of their younger â—evotes their Wives and as many more their Misses who used to call them Husbands and Gallants in like manner the rest of the young Women must be their Sisters and such as were elderly their Mothers yea our holy Patriarch Mr. Povre himself took the liberty to lock himself up daily in his Chamber for some hours with a young Woman he pretended to be his Niece altho a condemned Priest in Newgate his own Country-man has openly assur'd there is no such Relation between them A Gentleman of good Credit did assure me That one of the Women this godly Man us'd to have lock'd up in his Chamber bore a Bastard to one of his Acquaintance who kept her for his Miss some years p. 37. In all my Travels in most Kingdoms of Europe I never was Eye-witness to more Tricks and Knavery than I have seen practised by the fore-named Companions of mine in this Prison altho reputed Priests and Jesuits c. This is a Popish Priest's own Testimony of the practises and conversation of his Brethren Priests and Jesuits but the other day in the Gate-house and that too at a time when they pretended to be Confessors and Sufferers forsooth for Religion If the Goats and Foxes are thus rampant and mischievous in the Pound that kind of Creatures must they be abroad in the Common But Tory methinks you are asleep Tory. I am sorry our Loyal Friends the Catholicks should be thus expos'd by a Bird of their own Feather Could you but have told me such a Story tho never so Fictitious of the Presbyterians it had been worth hearing and would have made me as merry as Herâ—â—litus Ridens or Roger's Fiddle Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY March 10. 1681-2 Et Ficta arguunt fidémque faciunt A Letter of Thanks from the Devil to the Bishops and Clergy for their persecuting the old Dissenters WE shew'd you last week by whom and with what Artifices the first Sanguinary Laws or Acts of Parliament in England against Religious Dissenters were obtain'd It remains that we should give you a brief Prospect of the Mischiefs Cruelties and sad Effects which thereupon follow'd But first since both the worth of the Matter and surprizingness of the Form and the series of Time do all invite us to it we think it will not be unacceptable to recite here a certain Congratulatory Epistle then sent abroad and by a bold Prosopopoeia directed from Old Nick himself to his trusty and well-beloved the Prelates and Clergy For tho the Original has no Date yet the Reverend and Laborious Mr. Fox who publisht it verbatim out of the Registry of the Cathedral of Hereford concludes it to have been written about the time of King Richard the Second The words whereof Translated are as follow I LUCIFER Prince of Darkness and profound Horror Emperour of the high Mysteries of Acheron Captain of the Dungâ—oâ— â—â—ebus King of Hell and Lord â—omptroller of the Infernal 〈◊〉 To all 〈◊〉 Child on of Pride and Companions of our Realm and especially to our dear Allies the Princes of the Church of this 〈◊〉 Age of which our Adversary Jesus Christ saith to his Prophâ—t I hate the Church or Congregation of the wicked send Greeting and wish Prosperity to all that obey our Commandments that â—â—serve the Laws of Satan already Enacted and that are industrious to put in Execution our Precepts and Decrees Know ye That in times past certain Vicars of Christ following his steps in Miracles and Vertues living in Humility and a poor mean Life converted in a manner the whole World from the Yoke of our Dominion unto their Doctrine and Course of Conversation to the great Contempt of our Prison house and Kingdom and no small prejudice of our Jurisdiction and Authority they nothing dreading to bid defiance to our Forces and trample upon the Majesty of our Estate for then scarce did we receive any Tribute from the upper World neither did the miserable sort of common people rush in at the Gates of our deep Dungeon as they were wont to do with continual rapping but in those days the easie broad and pleasant way which leadeth to Death was unfrequented and lay wast without the hideous noise of trampling Travellers or being trod by the feet of wretched Souls So that our Courts being without Suiters all 〈◊〉 began to howl and as being robb'd and spoil'd continued in anguish and heaviness All which considered we could not without diminution to our Glory longer suffer it the impatient Rage of our Spleen was moved nor would our Captain General by a shameful negligence endure it any longer and therefore seeking out the Remedy to prevent like exclusion and inconveniencies for the future we provided our selves of a most opportunate Expedient For instead of these Apâ—stles and other their Adheâ—onts who conduct themselves by the same Line and Level as well in Manners as Doctrine and are odious Enemies unto us we have caused You to be their Successors and preferr'd you in their steads who are the present Prelates of the Church whom we have advanced by our great might and subtlety as Christ has said of you They have Raigned but not by me Once we promised
Hundred Authors as any unbiass'd Learned Reader cannot but observâ— Thirdly He notes several Passages in the Two last Pacquets that are in Foxe 'T is very true What then Do not I there Cite Foxe for them where is the Plagiarism I Write to the Common People and Publish it thus in Successive sheets that so it may fall into the more Hands I pretend not to Instruct the Learned but to give the Vulgar such as perhaps never read Foxe and know nothing of the Magdeburgh Centuries a general Prospect of Popery that they may know and Abhor it Those things which in Foxe are tediously told I abridge what is less material I omit Remarkables I Transcribe and fairly tell the Reader where I have them and what Felony and Treason is there in all this Fourthly Why may not I furnish my Matter from Foxe and the Centuriators I doubt the Observator has some particular spite at them The first continues the Memory of many Glorious English Martyrs barbarously Butcher'd even since the Reformation under a Popish Princses of excellent Vertues setting aside her Blind Bloody Zeal which perhaps the Observator would have had forgot And the Second's Learned Labours and Industrious Researches into Antiquity have wrested one of the Church of Romes boasted Weapons out of her hands and taught us to distinguish the real Testimonies of the Fathers from Spurious Suborn'd Knights of the Post though in Gray Perriwiggs and Venerable Names I wonder what Authors the Gentleman would Advise us to perhaps his friend Father Cressy's Church History or the Golden Legend But he that regards every bark of Cerberuâ— may quickly be Deaf Let us proceed in our intended Work and let Mr. Observator be never so angry at it we will again make use of Mr. Foxe and from thence observe to the Reader That though the Church was already over-burthen'd and almost suffocated with a vast Mass of vain Superstitious Ceremonies yet Tho. Arundel Bishop of Canterbury in the days of King Henry the 4 th about the Year 1410. took upon him to encrease them by Commanding That in all Monasteries and Collegiate Churches there should every Morning be Bells Rung in Honour of the Virgin Mary which commonly was call'd Toling of Aves For the promoting of which he sent his Mandate stuft full of Wicked and Blasphemous Expressions to the Bishop of London and towards the Close thereof used these Words We therefore desiring more earnestly to stir up the Minds of all Faithful People to so devoâ—â— an Exercise c. do grant to all and every Person that shall say his Pater Noster and the Angels Salutation Five times at the Morning Peal with a Devout Mind as oft as he shall do it for each time forty days of Pardon by these Presents Given under our Seals in our Manner of Lambeth the 10th of February in the 9th Year of our Translation Now we appeal to the Reader if this were not a Lumping Pennyworth to have Forty days Pardon of all Sin whatsoever Villany a man should in that time Commit meerly for Muttering over Five Pater Nosters and Five Aves what a kind good humour'd pleasant delicate inviting Religion is Popery Yet now I think on 't my Country-men of Wengham did not find it so under his Predecessor William Courtney Archbishop of the same Province when they were forc'd to do a scurvy scandalous Pennance for the horrid Sin of not bringing Litter for his Graces Horses decently and in order The Sentence against whom being very notable I shall here Recite it and to spight the Observator it shall be out of Fox too Erroris Mater Ignorantia c. Ignorance the Mother of Error hath so blinded certain Tenants of the Lord of Wengham viz. Hugh Penny John Forestall John Boy John Wanderton William Hayward and John White That at the coming of the Lord Archbishop to his Pallace at Canterbury on Palm-Sunday-Eve in the Year 1390. being warn'd by the Bailiff to carry Hay Straw and Littor Foenum Stramen sive Literam 't is in the Original which may be noted from an Archi-episcopal Elegancy to the aforesaid Pallace as by the Tenure of their Lands which they hold of the See of Canterbury they are bound refusing and disdaining to do their due Service as they were accustomed brought their Straw not in Waines and Carts publickly and in sufficient quantity but sneakingly in Sacks and hugger-mugger to the undervaluing of the Lord Arch-bishop and derogation of the Rights of his See of Canterbury For which being call'd and personally appearing before the said Lord Arch-bishop on Thursday in Easter week sitting on his Tribunal in his Castle of Statewode they did humbly submit themselves to his Judgment devoutly craving Pardon and Mercy for those Crimes which they had committed in this behalf And then having sworn them to stand to the Commands of Holy Church and to perform the Pennance that should be Enjoyn'd them his Grace did Absolve them imposing on them and each of them a wholsom Pennance after the manner of the Fault viz. That on the Sunday next the said Penitent should leisurely go bare-footed and bare-headed in an Humble and Devout Manner a Procession to the Collegiate Church of Wengham each of them bearing on their shoulders openly a Sack full of Hay and Straw with the mouthes of the Sacks open so as the Hay and Straw may appear hanging out And to perpetuate the Memory of this Foolery the Pictures of these poor men doing this Ridiculous Pennance were entred in his Graces Register a Copy of which taken from the Original you have in Foxe with this Superscription being as 't is probable the Words they were to say in their Procession This Bagful of Straw I bear on my Back Because my Lord's Horse his Litter did Lack If you be not good to my Lord Grace's Horse You are like to go Bare-foot before the Cross In the 11 th Year of King Henry the 4 th The Commons of England in Parliament perceiving how abominably the Clergy Monks Fryars c. abused those vast Revenues which they Enjoyed to all kind of Pride and Licentiousness Preferr'd a Bill to the King to take away their Temporal Lands and to Imploy the same to the better Advantage and Safety of the Kingdom Alledging that the Temporailties then in the Possession of Spiritual Men amounted to Three hundred and twenty three thousand Marks by the Year But as the Clergy had mainly Assisted that Prince to Usurp the Crown so he did not think it safe to disoblige them at that juncture and therefore put off this Bill with a Le Roy S'avisera And about Two Years after the said King Henry dyed viz. the 2 d. of March 1413. in the 46 th Year of his Age to whom succeeded his Son then near 30 years of Age by the name of Henry the Fifth By the Preaching of Wickliff and his Followers the Eyes of great numbers of the People were in some measure enlightned to see the Errors