as they by the same computation the Devil tells his Legions found that they were grown so numerous and strong as to make a prevalent Party in every County then they set up their Patriots whom they raise and then admire as Boyes do Paper-Kites These were the men that should Trounce Antichrist that should toss the Pope and all his Cardinals in Blankets that should purge out all superfluities of Popish Idolatry and make the Nation as clean as a peny indeed new Brooms sweep clean but they turned into rods to scourge it at last by their Ordinances as Resolutions viz. Resolved That the Kingdom be put into a posture of defence March 2. 1641. Now I would fain know against whom Against one another said I you know Sir the Spaniards sometimes at an Execution as soon as the person is hang'd do draw all their Swords we can't suppose that 't is to kill the man that is dead and it had been well for this Nation if as the Spaniards put up their Swords again quietly they had put themselves into a posture of Peace No no Sir replyed he Jack Presbyter must have a holy War too and since he fought for the Throne of Christ he may as lawfully kill Malignants as the Pope slew Infidels to regain his Sepulchre Item Resolved that a Committee be appointed to examine St. Paul whether or no it be lawfull to grant the King Tonnage and Poundage Pray Sir said I what do you mean by this I never heard thus much before Why said he Sir Jo. Eliot and Pym would not grant them untill they had first setled Religion touching Arminianism Sir said I do you think that St. Paul will be summon'd before a Rebellious Committee No Sir I will assure you he will appeal unto Caesar and besides do you think that he will satisfie the curiosity of those men about the difficult Points of Predestination and Free-will who care not for damnation upon such plain terms besides he does not know why nor does he believe that the Fundamental Laws of this State are contrary to the Fundamental Government of the Church so as to alter it and therefore he will be tryed by the Bishops for which there is more Greek in his Epistles than for a Burgess in all the Old and New Testament When the Church of England said he was Reformed from the Corruptions of Rome it was done with the advice and consent of all the Estates of the Nation and for the establishing a publick and lasting Settlement but these Ambitious men endeavouring to alter the Government in the State found it a requisite piece of Policy to make a Schism and Division in the Church in order thereunto which was the Reason they were so zealous about those Controversial Points So the Court Prelates in Trent gain'd their Decrees of Reformation whilst they diverted the well-meaning Fryars in sharp disputes about Doctrines so the Jesuits over-reacht the Franciscans and Dominicans by setting them together by the Ears And therefore I am perswaded that as St. Paul would have Condemned those Interlopers who troubled themselves about things they neither understood nor had to doe withall so likewise he would have blamed those men who called themselves either Calvinists or that stiled themselves Arminians as he did those who said I am of Paul I am of Apollo or I am of Cephas for among the many methods those Rebels used to obtain their glorious Reformation there was none of greater consequence First of all it made a great division among the Clergy and that numerous part of them which contrary to their Oaths separated from the Church either ignorantly or wilfully upon the account of Arminianism became the greatest Incendiaries of all and the chief Promoters of that unnatural Rebellion And secondly the People who by them were taught the Discipline of Calvin were taught likewise that Arminianism was down-right Popery which the visible Ceremonies of the Church branded with the same Character confirmed to them who could know no better therefore they must help too to promote the Reformation aforesaid they must carry on the work of the Lord in the land of the living which they did by Tumults and Petitions against Bishops as Popish Nusances and against the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church as Rags of Superstition That the Jesuits had a hand in encouraging that Controversie to enrage the People against the Church is a plain case and nothing is certainer than that they brought up the distinction of Long Cloaks worn in London and elsewhere and now they are playing the same game again with Socinus and his fratres Poloni But to return to those Learned Patriots I before mention'd after they had got the Power into their hands they no more depended upon the Judgment of Calvin or Arminius for what they did than upon the Hypothesis of Tycho Brahoe or of Copernicus for the Sequestring Delinquents Lands only in the mean time it testified their zeal to all the godly of the Land as they were deliciously pleased to stile themselves who are wise Disputants in defence of their several Enthusiasms when they are ignorant of the Catechism and like Ravilliac learned in all the Doctrines of King-killing when he scarce knew his Creed And who did all of them unanimously agree in one Billingsgate Argument against the Bishops and Clergy Railing reviling and calling them by names enough to fright old Nicolas untill he plucks in his horns like a Snail And althô Michael the Arch-Angel Epist Jude v. 9. when contending with the Devil durst not bring against him a railing Accusation yet these meek-hearted were taught by their Preachers in the Language of Sion to say that they were * Wilson to the Commons 1642. Croaking Frogs Spirits of Devils †Vicar's Jehov Jir p. 88. a stinking heap of Atheistical and Roman Rubbish a Rotten Rabble of Scandalous Priests Bastard Sons of Belial * White 's first Century Epist to the Reader persons illiterate and insufficient dumb Dogs Whoremongers and Adulterers who as fed Horses Neigh after their Neighbours Wives Priests of Baal Bacchus and Priapus And therefore says Coleman to the Parliament Aug. 30. 1643 the Hierarchy is become a fretting Gangreen and spreading Leprosie an insupportable Tyranny Up with it up with it to the bottom Root and branch Hip and thigh destroy these Amelekites and let their place be no more found Thus that Order of men who have been instrumental to all the Publick good this Nation ever enjoyed was exposed to the publick scorn and contempt of the insolent Rabble and made as the filth of the world and the off-scowring of all things But 1 Cor. 4. 13. what was their glorious Reformation in the end Truly more infamous than Jeroboam's Rebellious Idolatry he made the lowest of the people Priests to his high Places but here the lowest of the people viz. Triers c. made Priests and Kings too to the most high God as they pretended Truly replyed I
an Elephant's Trunk before the next Morning but I perceive that some of those who are padling in all the ill Humours of the Nation have been tampering with you That Fellow Sir said I that spoke to him is a Jesuit and he has been as busy with all manner of Fanatical Male-Contents Perhaps said he with as much Success for 't is easy for him to draw those People to what Practices he please who are of the same Principles with himself As for that little Gentleman said I that frets like Gum-Taffety If he will change his Religion because he is not successfull he never had any And as for the Fanaticks they have been told that theirs is purely Popish untill their Ears are stretch'd with hearing it and they will by no means believe it But I will believe my Eyes said he And if you had ever been in France Spain Italy or Germany and had seen or heard the Jesuits or preaching Fryers in their Pulpits you might at the same time have seen all our Conventiclers Mimick Voltings their frisking Ecstasies their apish Laughings their sudden Howlings their awry Faces all their Postures are according to the Ceremonies of a Roman Missal their fumbling their Buttons their knocking their Breasts their Hands hanging loose and then again stretch'd as if they were bewitch'd with an hundred other jugling Tricks and all to set off and varnish their Doctrines which are the most modish Popery in the World viz. That the People is the Supreme Power That Kings and Princes may be Deposed and Murthered That Success is a certain Evidence of God's approving whatever comes to pass I have heard Sir said I Instances enough of the two first Positions pray let me have one of this last Jenkins said he in his Conscientious Queries printed 1651. Asks Whether The stupendious Page 2 d. Providence of God manifested among us in the destruction of the late King whether by these Providences God hath not remov'd the Government of Charles Stuart and whether a refusal to yield Obedience to the present Government be not a refusal to acquiesce in the Wise and Righteous pleasure of God and a stat Breach of the Fifth Commandment So Bellarmine uses it for an Argument for Image Worship Iconomachis Bell. lib. de Imag c 12. Argumenâ—um decimum omnia non sine divino quodam Miraculo malè successisse and then instances that Leo Isaurus for his demolishing Images lost the Empire of Italy whereas it was taken from him by the perfidious Rebellion and Perjury of the Roman Bishops Now you talk Sir said I of Image-Worship they object as a reason of their Separation that the Church of England is inclinable to Popish Superstition and Idolatry No but they are replyed he You must know that some kind of Image-Worship sprang from the obsolete Fancies of the Anthropomorphitae and therefore Pope Adrian argues thus God made Man in his own Image therefore Images ought to be worship'd Now one would think that Pope Adrian's Idea had whipt into that Zealot's Noddle by the way of Pythagoras who cryed Oh Lord take a Chair and come and sit among thine Honourable House of Commons But farther another Popish Doctrine they hold is that God sees no Sin in his Children that they cannot fall from Grace So the Jesuits hold that they cannot commit a Mortal Sin Nemo sociorum in Lethale peccatum incidere queat None of our Society can fall into deadly sin thus they vaunted to Cardinal Borromaeus saith Alphonsus de Vargas in his Book * Cap. 14. pag. 39. Edit 1636. De Stratag Jesuit Their Funeral Sermons are as so many Popish Canonizations and the Lives of their Saints wherein they boast of such extraordinary Revelations and Gifts of the Spirit of strange Voices great Lights and heavenly Apparitions seem to out-doe the Enthusiastick Legends of St. Francis St. Dominick Father Xaviere or Ignatius Loyola they both of them interpret many places of Scripture to the very same sense though both very false and the 21st of Ezekiel the 25th Verse hath been frequently quoted by Popish and Presbyterian Expositours to the same ends and purposes and so has the 8th Verse of the 149th Psalm I have often thought that John Owen learnt from the Psalter of Bonaventure to abuse and misapply the Psalms of David He says * Eben Ezer pag. 13. God came from Naseby and the Holy One from the West Selah And that saith Let our Lady arise and let her Enemies be scattered c. The preaching of Women in the Conventicles of Quakers is rank Popery †Bell. lib. 1. de Bapt. cap. 7. Bellarmine saith 'T is not onely permitted but lawfull for Women to teach and * Paludanus saith †In 4. Sent. dist Papa potest clavem Jurisdictionis Laico Foeminae committere And again Papa potest sicut Laico sic Mulieri committere quòd excommunicet The Pope can grant as to a Lay Person so to a Woman the power of Excommunication And the Canonists teach that they may exercise Spiritual Jurisdiction Thus you see that the Spirit of Popery in one shape or other appears among all the several Sectaries of Great Britain and some more of their Practices will plainly shew how injuriously they cast the Charge of their own Guilt upon the truly Reformed Church of England They condemn all but those of their own Persuasion and their Motto in Zion's Plea is aut hoc aut nihil So Campian in his Challenge to Oxford saith aut nostrum est aut nullius Regnum Coelorum The Jesuits did never more industriously corrupt the Writings of the Fathers than the Presbyterians did the last Books of Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Policy The Papists endeavour to impose upon us the Rhemish Testament and the Presbyterians in King James's time were as busie to have the Geneva Notes put upon the Margent of the Bible The Jesuits have their Index Expurgatorius but they never cancell'd any thing with more boldness than the Presbyterians did when they procured that the 20th Article viz. That the Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies c. was by their Malice left out in the printed Articles And lastly whoever shall reade their unsanctified Ribaldry with which they treat the Reverend Prelates of the Church of England will fancy them the very Cronies and Disciples of the famous Cardinal Palavicini who to maintain the new Frame of Papal Government modell'd by the Council of Trent does so ridiculously and maliciously inveigh against the Sacred and Primitive Order of Bishops calling them * In Hist Conc. Tr. Piccioli Vescovi Fanciulli impertinenti insolenti Buffoneschi little Bishops Babies impertinent insolent Buffoons He had no sooner done speaking but we heard a mighty shouting as if some Triumph had been coming along and hastening to see what was the matter I perceived a great Bonfire blazing in the midd'st of the Court and a world of People with many Torches bringing the Pope with his
above those who design mischief when they are awake and dream of nothing that is good when they are asleep above Popish Priests up to the Ears in Legends Fanaticks in Pulpits or Witches upon Bromstaves for his fancies are for the real good of others as well as for to please himself Parables are lively Pictures of significant truths and Morality was excellently described in Fables by a Heathen but it does not a little trouble me that the Beasts in Aesop should shame some men now a days who will not be convinc'd of the Errors and Mischiefs they are engaged in when they have the opportunity of being better taught by the truly ancient and Catholick Doctrine of the Church of England but her Adversaries the Jesuits and Fanaticks who deny the King to be Head of the Church do likewise reject the Reformation by his Authority the Papists Sham it and would make it a ridiculous Schism the Presbyterians though they renounce the Pope yet retain to themselves that Usurpation which was above 500 years a gaining by the Popes finding that such a Discipline was not consistent with the Doctrine of the Church of England Preach't up a Reformation more pure and primitive as they pretended the reasons we shall know afterwards Therefore the Emblem of the Church we saw in the last Vision having vanquish't and discovered the unjust Stratagems both of the Council of Trent and of the Assembly of Divines ordered her own Convocation of Orthodox and Learned Church-men to defend her for the future against both Papists and Presbyterians They were no sooner fat but in came Harding and boldly told them That they were a small obscure meeting of Calvinists that reformed the Church As soon as Bishop Jewel espied him That is very false said he I will tell you the truth and tell you otherwise in the Epistle I wrote concerning the Council of Trent to a Venetian Noble man my words relating to our Reformation are these For our selves we have done nothing but with very good reason nothing but what we saw to be lawfull and to have been practised by the Ancient Fathers without any reprehension at all wherefore we called a full Synod of Bishops and by common consent of all estates purged our Church as it were Augeas 's Stable of all superfluities which either the negligence or malice of men had brought in this was justly in our power to doe and because we could doe it we did it faithfully At this I was so encouraged as to ask Harding whether or no they were Calvinists or a small obscure meeting that signed the Judgment of the Convocation that the Pope cannot call them without the King's consent in the year 1536 there being present the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London 13 Bishops 49 Abbots c. Now the fatal blow was given to the Papal Authority in England and yet these could not be Calvinists nor were they few or contemptible indeed you Popish Writers are great adversaries to National Councils because they will look after the Civil Rights that the Court of Rome do not encroach upon them which a General Council wherein the Pope is what he pleases cannot therefore Cardinal Palavicini profoundly tells Lib. 14. cap. 12. us that Concilio Nazionale sempre abhorrito dà Pontifici That the Pope did always abhor a National Council and good reason because it sometimes stops that Torrent of Money which he says is so necessary to maintain the carnal felicity of the Church therefore we know why you stickle so much against the Methods of our Reformation which Mr. Shaw has well justified and Origo Protest which Dr. Burnet says was advanced with such deliberation in King Henry the Eight and King Edward the Sixth's time as is as great an evidence of the ripeness Part 1. Pag. 289. of their proceedings as can be shewed in any Church in any Age So that we were Reformed without that violence the German Divines were as the Letters between Osiander and Cranmer testifie or without Rebellion which is always the consequence of Popish Reformations At this he march't off and made room for Raynolds a Rhemish Renegado who came Busling up And although said he ye have fob'd off Mr. Harding yet I suppose I shall prove your Reformation to be a wicked Separation from the Roman Communion which the irreconcilable divisions among you testifie for hear what I say to Whitaker Pag. 481. Have you not at this present among you a great murmuring even amongst the Protestants against the Communion-Book and State of Religion which in the beginning of her Majesties Reign was Queen Elizabeth brought in If the Catholicks said nothing have you not the Puritans detesting your Faith and were it not for the Prince's Sword ready to dispossess you of Chairs and Churches I was mightily amazed to hear this for 't is 99 years ago since these words were Printed which a Gentleman observing See you not said he what a scandal these rascally Schismaticks are to our Reformation indeed the man foretold what too certainly came to pass but he must know that we do not acknowledge that any of their Principles had any share or part in it any more than they had in bringing in the King for in the days of Queen Mary Knox that peevish Puritan was as malicious towards the Orthodox in Francfurt as the Papists were to them in England And moreover 't is no wonder that they agree not with us for they disagree among themselves and are not the same they were Those in King Edward's time scrupled only some Ceremonies as Bucer Rogers and Hooper those in Queen Elizabeths time excepted against some Prayers Canons and Articles but now they are for Abolishing Supremacy and Episcopacy they have lay'd the Ax to the root and are gone so far from the Church of England that they are come round about to the Church of Rome and are worse Papists than any before the Reformation We perceive by Raynolds that the Jesuits very well knew this and therefore whilst the Presbyterians were busie to advance their Discipline they thought them fit tools to carry on their Fifth Monarchy their Principles being both alike destructive both of Church and State in order to which they quarrel with our Reformation and as the Pope and the Devil would have it Cry up a thorough one of their own Of which I will give you such a full sight if you will go along with me that you shall never forget it untill you are in heaven Pray Sir said I before you doe that let me know by what methods they brought their Discipline to that perfection in 48. I will not trouble you said he with a long relation of their several Cabals they had all King James his Reign he himself was sufficiently sensible of their restless humour and said What his Son King Charles found by experience that there were not greater thieves and cut-throats among the Highlanders and Borderers for as soon
Mirma Maromah Maroum or a Prophecy of the downfall of Babylon Do not you wonder said my Friend to hear these People threatning the Pope with a whole Volley of Rumbling Gibberish who were but lately ready to run out of their Wits for fear of him when the Pamphlet entituled the Growth of Popery was printed Oh! Sir said I I suppose this is onely to whet the Irascible Appetite of the Saints and to encourage them to knock at Rome Gates as they threatned in the Days of Oliver This is replyed he fitted for an Association to destroy the Government under the Notion of Popery and would be as serviceable to the Jesuits ends in France But on the other hand yonder are a sort of Fellows playing upon the Hypocondria's of the Rabble and telling them sad Stories of a Prophecy found in a Kettle of a strange Monk-Fish taken in the Pyrenaean Sea upon the Coasts of Northampton-shire yonder are others selling your true Protestant Almanacks wherein all the twelve Houses are made Conventicles and many other ridiculous nonsensical and seditious Papers are thrown about with which the fickle Rout first kindle their Zeal and then light their Pipes but these are their Tricks of old And therefore let us try if we can hear what yonder Person whom I know to be a Jesuit in Disguise is saying to the Presbyterians as soon as we came to him Brethren said he since the Church of England hates to be Reformed still maintaining several Popish Ceremonies I think our Separation from it so far from being a Schism that we are bound in Conscience not onely to separate our selves but to carry along with us as many as we can by which means we shall rescue many poor Souls from the Paws of the Beast and from the Clutches of Antichrist and still stick fast to that Solemn League and Covenant which we made with Hands lifted up to the most High God and since it was the Breach of that Covenant which made the good Cause miscarry by the falling away of our Brethren the Independents therefore ought we laying aside the memory of all former Injuries to be reconciled to them who are our Fellow-Sufferers in the present Persecution We ought so replyed one of them even the Common Papist who lives innocently in his way he is to us as other Separatists Well then continued he since you are of my Judgment I hope you will take my advice You see your Congregations dayly encrease insomuch that we are able to vie numbers with the Episcopal-men that a great many Wealthy and rich Persons are our Friends I therefore advise that upon the Death of any of the House of Commons we doe all our utmost endeavour that godly Men and Friends to our Reformation may be chosen into their Places in order to this we must recommend those we design as most worthy Patriots and stigmatize with a brand of Reprobation and Popery those who stand in competition with them Thus shall we again slide insensibly into all the Advantages we have lost He talk'd at the same rate to the Independents Anabaptists Quakers and all other Sectaries who had their several Walks and they all took his advice for a little time after I heard a most horrid noise as if the Tartars had been sacking the Town but coming nearer they proved a vast number of common People carrying the Image of a Gentleman in triumph and in the mean time reviling and abusing several worthy Persons of good Note who stood looking on them I observed but two or three Clergy-men among them and one of them so crooked that his very Corps was uncanonical the other so fat that he had more need of Hoops than of a Girdle whilst he was dancing in his Chair he smiled a 1000 Vtopian Liberties and Privileges and many red-fac'd Politico's nabbled the Heads of their Canes in pious hopes of a happy Reformation at last a General Petition was delivered to him in a large Scroll upon the back of which was a Sentence in Capital Letters which was Multa Petentibus desunt multa I smiled to think what a biting Jest some merry Tory had put upon them but more surprized was I to find my self accosted by the very same Jesuit that had been talking with the Presbyterians for laying his Hands upon my Shoulders with a great deal of Familiarity now you see said he who are the Plotters who those are that would ruine the Government are they not those very Fanaticks that destroyed King Charles the First that are the Pests of all Humane Societies and are mortal Enemies to the Church and State Hark you Sir said I I have some News to tell you that is 1500 years old and more what is that said he what said I Clodius accusat Moechos Catilina Cethegum At this he sneak'd away but I pursu'd him at a convenient distance untill I saw him fall in with a company of People who seemed very moody and discontented as soon as he came to them Gentlemen said he your condition is very hard 't is strange that Men of your Parts should be thus neglected and thrown aside indeed I really pity you you can expect nothing from the Government upon the account of your Merits all Preferments are bought and sold in a scandalous manner that must be said for the Church of Rome they will let nothing of worth starve and the simplest sort of Fanaticks are very liberal to those who will justifie them at any rate but whilst in the Church of England ingenious Men want the Conveniences of Life the dullest Blockheads of the Age are by the help of a Sum of Money crowded into the fattest Benefices of the Nation after the great pain and peril of Ordination At this one of them grew so outragious that I thought he would have run mad so that staring about him I am resolved said he to be reveng'd upon an ungratefull World I 'le rend the Rocks asunder I 'le plunge in the Deep and wake all asleep I 'le settle the Nation as I please Here my Muses and Graces where are you Now for my Mathematicks Well! because the World is round 't is perfect Demonstration that the Succession ought not to go in the Right Line At this a brisk Gentleman hit him such a blow on the Mouth that he made his Teeth break their Ranks calling him ambitious and proud Coxcomb and turning to me surely said he had his Mothers Milk been curdled his Brains had been a Sillabub before now Then turning to him Friend said he rest your self contented such Insects as you ought to take example from the Hedg-hog which travels through the shady Groves and being contented with vulgar Crabs envies not those who enjoy the Golden Apples and after Supper is graciously pleased to wrap himself up within the Limits of his own proper Person and so securely rests and is more at ease than if he should put his Nose out all Night and pretend to have it grow to