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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	pope_n	year_n	3,225	5	4.9323	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29318	Brethren in iniquity, or, The confederacy of Papists with sectaries, for the destroying of the true religion, as by law establish'd, plainly detected wherein is shewed a farther account of the Romish snares and intrigues for the destroying the true reformed religion, as professed in the Church of England, and established by law, and for the introducing of popery or atheism among us : clearly shewing from very authentick writers and testimonies, that the principal ways and methods whereby the papists have sought the ruine of our religion and church, from the beginning of our Reformation, to the present times, and by which they are still in hopes of compassing it, are by promoting of toleration, or pretended liberty of conscience, and that for above these sixscore years the papists have so craftily influenced our dissenters, as to make them the unhappy instruments of effecting their most pernicious designs, which they contrived for, the subverting our church and state.		1690 (1690)	Wing B4382; ESTC R6507	50,245	71

the Army as the King himself was certified by an Express from thence and wished to provide against it but two days before his removal by the Army from the Isle of Wight to his Execution It were worth the Enquiry upon what Ground the Author of Fair Warning affirmeth pag. 35 36 37. in the Second Part of 120 Prophecies concerning the return of Popery That Father Sibthorp in a Letter to Father Medcalfe acknowledgeth the Jesuits to have contriv'd the Murther of the King and that Sarabras was present and triumphing at the Murther of his sacred Majesty In pursuance of the Order from Rome for the pulling down both the Monarch and Monarchy of England many Jesuits came over who took several Shapes to go about their Work but most of them took party in the Army About Thirty of them or their Disciples were met by a Protestant Gentleman between Roan and Diepe to whom they said taking him for one of the Party That they were going into England and would take Arms in the Independant Army and endeavour to be Agitators This agrees with the Account Bishop Bramhall gave in his Letter to Bishop Vsher In the Year 1640 there was discovered to the Archbishop of Canterbury a design in which the Pope Cardinal Richlieu and many of the English Papists but especially the Jesuits were concerned in stirring up those Divisions that had just before broke out in Scotland for the Ruine of the King and of the Archbishop This may be seen at large in the Histories of those times and the very Papers themselves may be found in Mr. Rushworth's Collections vol. 3. p. 1310. c. Sir William Boswell likewise at the Hague made the like Discovery in his Letter to the Archbishop Father Salmonet declares in his History of our Civil Wars printed in France with the Allowance of the King That after the Engagement at Egdehill several Romish Papists were found among the slain of the Parliament Army And adds That the Parliament had two Companies of Walloons besides others of that Religion in their Army Salmonet Hist des troubles d'Angleterre liv 3. pag. 165. When the Rebellion also broke out in Ireland it was we know bless'd with His Holiness's Letters and assisted by his Nuntio whom he sent on purpose thither for that service And that the Papists had a flying Squadron in the Parliament Army How boldly soever this may be denied by some there is another proof beyond Exception in a Declaration of King Charles I. that he sent to the Kingdom of Scotland dated April 21. 1643. which hath been several times Printed And as an Author that wrote the History of the late Civil Wars has assured us the clean draught of it corrected in some places with the King 's own hand is yet extant so that it cannot be pretended that this was only a bold Assertion of some of the King's Ministers that might be ill affected to their Party In that Declaration the King studied to possess his Subjects of Scotland with the Justice of his Cause and among other things to clear himself of the imputation that he had an Army of Papists about him after many things said on that Head these Words are added Great Numbers of that Religion have been with alacrity entertained in that Rebellious Army against us and others have been seduced to whom we had formerly denied Employments as appears by the Examination of many Prisoners of whom we have taken Twenty or Thirty at a time of that Religion in one Troop or Company The Credit of this Testimony is not to be disputed but no Discoveries how evident soever they may be can effect some sort of Men that have a secret against Blushing This also plainly lets us see how that under the dissembled Disguise of being of their Parties the subtle Priests and Jesuits have crept in and mix'd themselves among our dividing Sectaries and cunningly made them the unhappy Tools and Instruments to effect their most pernitious Designs and Contrivances which otherwise without their aid they would not be able to compass and that the same Method not covertly but openly is still practised is too palpable to be gainsaid God grant the Eyes of our Dissenting Brethren may be timely opened for the seasonable preventing the Miseries and Evils that threaten our Government that they may not only see but follow the things that belong to the Peace and Prosperity of our Church and State before they are hid from their Eyes A Protestant Lady living in Paris in the time of our late Calamities was perswaded by a Jesuit going in Scarlet to turn Roman Catholick and when the dismal News of the King's Murther came to Paris this Lady as all other good English Subjects was most deeply afflicted with it and when this Scarlet Divine came to see her and found her melted in Tears about that heavy and common Disaster he told her with a smiling Countenance That she had no reason to lament but rather to rejoice seeing that the Catholicks were rid of their greatest Enemy and that the Catholick Cause was much furthered by his Death Upon which the Lady put the Man down the Stairs in great Anger saying If that be your Religion I have done with it for ever And God hath given her the Grace to make her Word good hitherto Many Intelligent Travellers can tell of the great Joy among the English Convents and Seminaries for the King's Death as having overcome their Enemy and done their main work for their Settlement in England of which they made themselves so sure that the Benedictines were in great care that the Jesuits should not get their Land and the English Nuns were contending who should be Abbesses in England An understanding Gentleman visiting the Friars of Dunkirk put them upon the Discourse of the King's Death and to pump out their Sence about it said That the Jesuits had laboured very much to compass that great Work to which they answered That the Jesuits would Engross to themselves the Glory of all great and good Works and of this among other Works whereas they had laboured as diligently and effectually for it as they so there was striving for the Glory of that Atchievement and the Friars shew'd themselves as much Jesuited as the Jesuits The same Gentleman who in his Travels hath found them in several places jealous of the Glory which the Jesuits ascribed to their only Order to have promoted the King's Death whereas other Orders had been as active as they in that great Atchievement I cannot leave unobserved that in the height of the late Usurpation and Tyranny two Heads of the Gun-powder Traitors that were set up upon the House of Lords were taken down not by high Winds but by the same Zeal which had plotted that Treason and with the leave of Traytors of another Feather which in time we may hear to be shrined up in Gold as Holy Relicks and working Miracles By this we see what a good Accord and friendly

delivered by my Gentleman 's own Hands unto the Prince Thus craving your Grace's hearty Prayers for my Vndertakings abroad as also for my safe arrival that I may have the Freedom to kiss your Grace's Hands and to tell you more at large of these things I rest Your Grace's most Humble Servant W. B. Hague June 12. 1640. A Letter from the Right Reverend J. Bramhall Bishop of Derry afterwards Primate of Jreland to the most Reverend James Vsher Archbishop of Ardmagh Most Reverend I Thank God I do take my Pilgrimage patiently yet I cannot but condole the Change of the Church and State of England And more in my Pilgrimage than ever because I dare not witness and declare to that straying Flock of our Brethren in England who have misled them and who they are that seed them But that your Lordship may be more sensible of the Churches Calamities and of the dangers she is in of being Ruined if God be not mercifull unto her I have sent you a part of my Discoveries and it from credible hands at this present having so sure a Messenger and so fit an opportunity It plainly appears That in the Year 1646. by Order from Rome above 100 of the Romish Clergy were sent into England consisting of English Scotch and Irish who had been Educated in France Italy Germany and Spain part of these within the several Schools there appointed for their Instruction In each of these Romish Nurseries these Scholars were Taught several Handicrast-Trades and Callings as their Ingenuities were most bending besides their Orders or Functions of that Church They have many yet at Paris a fitting up to be sent over who twice in the Week oppose one the other one pretending Presbytery the other Independency some Anabaptism and other contrary Tenents dangerous and prejudicial to the Church of England and to all the Reformed Churches here abroad But they are wisely preparing to prevent these Designs which I heartily wish were considered in England among the Wise there When the Romish Orders do thus Argue Pro and Con there is appointed one of the Learned of those Convents to take Notes and to Judge and as he finds their Fancies whether for Presbytery Independency Anabaptism Atheism or for any new Tenents so accordingly they be to act and to exercise their Wits Vpon their Permission when they be sent abroad they enter their Names in the Convent Registry also their Licences If a Franciscan if a Dominican or Jesuit or any other Order having several Names there Entered in their Licence in case of a discovery in one place then to fly to another and there to change their Names or Habit. For an assurance of their Constancy to their several Orders they are to give monthly Intelligence to their Fraternities of all Affairs where-ever they be despersed so that the English abroad know News better than ye at home When they return into England they are Taught their Lesson to say if any enquire from whence they come That they were poor Christians formerly that fled beyond-sea for their Religion-sake and are now Returned with glad News to enjoy their Liberty of Conscience The 100 Men that went over 1646. were most of them Soldiers in the Parliament's Army and were daily to correspond with those Romanists in our late King's Army that were lately at Oxford and pretended to Fight for His Sacred Majesty For at that time there were some Roman Catholicks who did not know the design a contriving against our Church and State of England But the Year following 1647. many of those Romish Orders who came over the Year before were in consultation together knowing each other And those of the King's Party asking some why they took with the Parliament's side and asking others whether they were Bewitched to turn Puritans not knowing the Design But at last secret Bulls and Licences being produced by those of the Parliament's side it was declared between them There was no better Design to Confound the Church of England than by pretending Liberty of Conscience It was argued then that England would be a second Holland a Common-wealth and if so what would become of the King it was answered Would to God it were come to that point It was again replyed Your selves have Preached so much against Rome and his Holiness that Rome and her Romanists will be little the better for that Change But it was answered You shall have Mass sufficient for 100000 in a short space and the Governors never the wiser Then some of the mercifullest of the Romanists said This cannot be done unless the King Die Vpon which Argument the Romish Orders thus Licensed and in the Parliament Army wrote unto their several Convents but especially to the Sorbonists whether it may be scrupled to make away our late Godly King and His Majesty His Son our King and Master who Blessed be God hath escaped their Romish Snares laid for him It was returned from the Sorbonists That it was lawful for Roman Catholicks to work Changes in Governments for the Mother-Church's Advancement and chiefly in an Heretical Kingdom and so lawfully make away the King Thus much to my knowledge have I seen and heard since my leaving your Lordship which I thought very requisite to inform your Grace for my self would hardly have credited these things had not mine Eyes seen sure Evidence of the same Let these things Sleep within your Gracious Lordship's Breast and not awake but upon sure Grounds for this Age can trust no Man there being so great Fallacy amongst Men. So the Lord preserve your Lordship in Health for the Nations Good and the benefit of your Friends which shall be the Prayers of Your Humble Servant J. Derensis July 20. 1654 These two Letters were taken out of the Treasury of choice Letters Published by Dr. Parr his Lordship's Chaplain and Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's-Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1686. Agreeable to this last Letter Bishop Bramhall in his excellent Answer to Mr. Litire a French Papist when the Monsieur restected on the Brownists Independents and Presbyterians because of their Divisions saith That he wonder'd he should be so Cholerick against them for certainly they have done you viz. the Papists more service in England than ever you could have done for your selves pag. 43. The like Account of the Papists contriving the Old King's Denth together with their under-hand Dealings and joining with the Phanaticks for the bringing to pass this Execrable Act is given by Peter du Moulin D. D. in his Answer to Philanax Anglicus a Popish Book pag. 58 59 c. which well agrees with Bishop Bramhall's Letter and they mutually confirm each others Testimony Editio quarta Anno Dom. 1679. WHEN the Transactions of the late bad Times saith the Doctor are ripe for History and Time the preserver of Truth hath discovered the Mystery of Iniquity and the Depths of Satan which hath wrought so much Mischief it will be found that the late Rebellion was

Church of Rome unless they could under the same pretence of Purity and Perfection draw off Protestants from the Communion of this Church too To this purpose persons were imploy'd under the disguise of more zealous Protestants to set up the way of more spiritual prayer and greater Purity of worship than was observed in the Church of England that so the people under these pretences might be drawn into separat meetings Of this we have a considerable Evidence lately offer'd to the World in the Examination of a Priest so imploy'd at the Council-Table in the ninth Year of Queen Elizabeth 1567 published from the Lord Burleigh's Papers which were in the hands of Archbishop Vsher and from him came to the hands of Sir James Ware whose Son brought them into England and caused them to be Printed under the Title of Foxes and Fire-brands A. D. 1680. Two Years after the Examination of the said Priest one Heath a Jesuit was summon'd before the Bishop of Rochester on a like account for disparaging the Prayers of the Church and setting up extemporary or spiritual Prayers above them and he declared to the Bishop That he had been six Years in England and that he had labour'd to resine the Protestants and to take off all Smacks of Ceremonies and make the Church purer When he was seized on a Letter was found about him from a Jesuit in Spain wherein he takes notice how much he was admired by his Flock and tells him They looked on this way of dividing Protestants as the most effectual to bring them all back to the Church of Rome and in his Chamber they found a Bull from Pope Pius the fifth to follow the instructions of the Society for the Dividing the Protestants in England as also a Licence from the Fraternity There is one thing in the Jesuits Letter which the late Publisher of it did not understand which is that Hallingham Coleman and Benson are there mentioned as persons employ'd to sow a Faction among the German Hereticks which he takes to be spoken of the Sects in Germany but by the German Hereticks the English Protestants that is Lutherans are meant and these very men are mention'd by our Historians without knowing of this Letter as the most active and busie in the beginning of the Separation Of these saith Fuller Coleman Button Benson and Hallingham were the chief And Heylin saith That Benson Button Hallingham Coleman and others took upon them to be of more ardent Zeal than others c. that time is 1568 which agrees exactly with the date of the Jesuits Letter writ from Madrid October 26,1568 and both these had it from Cambden Who saith that while Harding Saunders and others attack'd our Church on one Side Coleman Button Benson and Hallingham were as busie on the other who under pretence of a purer Reformation opposed the Discipline Liturgy and Calling of our Bishops as approaching too near the Church of Rome and he makes these the beginners of those quarrels which afterwards brake out with great Violence Now that there is no improbability in this account will appear by the suitableness of these pretences about spiritual or extempore Prayer to the Doctrine and Practice of the Jesuits for they are profess'd despisers of the Cathedral service and are excused from their Attendance on it by the Constitutions of their Order And are as great admirers of Spiritual Prayer and an Enthusiastick way of preaching as appears by the History of the first Institution of their Order by Orlandinus and Maffeius This is sufficient to shew there is no Improbability that the Jesuits should be the first Setters up of this way in England And it is observable that it was never known here or in any other reformed Church before this time and therefore the beginning of it is unjustly father'd on Thomas Cartwright but by whomsoever it was begun it met with such great success in the zeal and warmth of Devotion which seemed to appear in it that no charm hath been more effectual to draw injudicious people into a Contempt of our Liturgy and admiring the way of Separation And what is it which the Papists have more envied and maligned than the Church of England What is it they have wished more to see broken in piece as the late Cardinal Barberini said in the bearing of a Gentleman who told it to Dr. Stillingfleet He could be contented there were no Popish Priests in England so there were no Bishops for then he supposed their work would do it self What is it they have used more Arts and Instruments to destroy than the Constitution of the Church of England and its Government Did not Cranmer Ridly Hooper Farrar and Latimer all Bishops of our Church suffer Martyrdom by their means Had not they the same kind of Episcopacy which is now among us and which some are so busie in seeking to destroy as unlawful and inconsistent with the primitive Institution as if it were Popish and Antichristian Is all this done for the honour of our Reformation Is this the way to preserve the Protestant Religion among us to sill mens minds with such prejudices against the first Settlement of it as to go about to make the World believe that the Church-Government then established was repugnant to Christ's Institution and that our Martyr'd Bishops exercised an unlawful authority over Diocesan Churches But whither will not mens indiscreet Zeal and love of their own Fancies carry them If such men are not set on by the Jesuits they do their work as effectually by blasting the credit of the Reformation as if they were In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth that Great and good Man Arch-Bishop Whitgist in his defence of the Answer against Cartwright pag. 605. tells the Puritans That the Papists could not have not with better Proctors than they And Pag. 55. he tells them That only did the Pope very good Service and that he would not miss them for any thing for what is his desire but to have this Church of England which he hath accursed utterly defaced and discredited to have it by any means overthrown if not by foreign means yet by domestical Dissention and what fitter and apter instruments could he have had for the purpose who under pretence of zeal overthrow that which other men have builded under colour of purity seek to bring in Deformity and under the cloak of Equality and Hamility would usurp as great Tyranny and losty Lordliness over their Parishes as ever the Pope did over the whole Church And in another place he saith They were made the Engines of the Roman Conclave whereby they intend to overthrow this Church even by these mens folly which they could not compass by all their policy His worthy Predecessour also Arch-Bishop Grindall express'd in a Letter of his his great fear of two things viz. Atheisin and Popery and both arising out of our needless Divilions and Differences He doubts not by Satan the enemy of mankind and the

Pope the enemy of Christendom by these means c. the enemies of our Religion gain this That nothing can be established by Law in the Protestant Religion whose every part is not opposed by one or other of her own Professours So that things continuing loose and confused the Papists have their opportunity to urge their way which is attended with Order and Government And our Religion continuing thus distracted and divided some vile wretches lay hold on the Argument on one side to confute the other and so hope at last to destroy all See this Letter in Fair Warning second part printed 1663. Dr. Sutcliff Dean of Exon said also long ago that wise men apprehended these unhappy questions about indifferent things to be managed by the subtle Jesuits thereby to disturb the peace and settlement of our Church untill at last they enjoy their long expected opportunity to set up themselves and restore the exploded Tyranny and Idolatry of the Church of Rome Among Mr. Selden's Manuscripts there is mention'd an odd prophecy that Popery should decay about the Year 1500 and be restored about the Year 1700 which is there said to be most likely by means of our Divifions which threaten the Reformation upon the Interest of Religion and open advantages to the enemies of it and nothing is there said more likely to prevent it than a sirm establishment of sound Doctrine Discipline and Worship in this Church And had not some misguided Zealots out of a too great Affection to those models they had seen abroad run into unreasonable Oppositions at home which are still as unreasonably continued by obstinate headstrong People the Church of England would now be the most flourishing as it is the most primitive and pure Church in the World Who was it but a St. Omer's Priest that confessed as we are credibly informed in Foxes and Firebrands part 1. p. 7. That they were Twenty Years in hammering out the Sect of the Quakers And indeed as a very learned and good Man obseryes the principle they go upon to refuse all Oaths is a neat Contrivance for Priests and Jesuits to avoid the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy without a possibility of being discovered King Charles I. in the very first breaking out of the Wars observed rightly that the Fanaticks proceeded upon Popish Principles against him Their Maxims saith he are the same with the Jesuits Their Preachers Sermons have been deliver'd in the very Phrase and Stile of Becanus Scioppius and Eudaemon Johannis Their poor Arguments Printed or Written are taken almost verbatim out of Bellarmine and Suarez and the means which they have used to induce a Credit of their Conclusions with their Proselytes are purely and merely Jesuitical Fables false Reports false Prophecies pretended Inspirations and Divinations of the weaker Sex as if Herod and Pilate were once again reconciled for the Ruine of Christ and of his true Religion and Worship See the King 's large Declaration about the Scotch Troubles p. 3 4. and his Declaration after the Battel of Edgehill in the King's Works Part II. p. 213. And it is as observable that the Arguments which President Bradshaw made use of for the calling to an Account Sovereign Princes and subjecting of them to the People were borrowed from Parsons and other Jesuits who laid down these republican and treasonous Principles Considerable Directions for the Introducing Popery in Protestant Countries taken out of the Jesuit Contzen's Politic lib. 2. cap. 8. §. 6. and out of Campanella 1. THAT it be done under a Pretence of Ease to tender Consciences which will gain a Reputation to the Prince as done out of Kindness to his People 2. That when liberty is granted then the Parties be forbid to contend with or Preach against each other for that will make way the more easily for one side to prevail and the Prince will be commended for his Love of Peace 3. That such as suspect the Design and Preach against it be traduced as Men that Preach very Unseasonable Doctrine that they are Proud Self-opiniators and Enemies to Peace and Union 4. Let no Prince that is willing despait it being an easie thing for him to change Religion for when the Common People are a-while taken with Novelties and Diversities of Religion they will sit down and be weary and give up themselves to their Rulers Wills But the special Advice he gives to a Catholick Prince is 5. To make as much use of the Divisions of the Enemies as of the Agreement of his Friends How much the Popish Party hero hath followed these Counsels will easily appear by reflecting upon their Behaviour these last Twenty-six Years and how far the same Policies have kept up our Divisions and do still promote them is now no longer a Mystery But that which more particularly reaches to our own Case is the Letter of Advice given to Father Young by Seignior Ballarini concerning the best way of managing the Popish Interest in England upon his Majesty's Restauration wherein are several remarkable Things This Letter was found in Father Young's Study after his Death and was translated out of Italian and Printed in the Collection above-mentioned 1. The first Advice is to make the Obstruction of Settlement their great Design especially upon the fundamental Coustitutions of the Kingdom whereunto if things should fall they would be more firm than ever 2. To remove the Jealousies raised by Pryn Baxter c. of their design upon the late Factions and to set up the prosperous way of Fears and Jealousies of the King and Bishops 3. To make it appear underhand how near the Doctrine Worship and discipline of the Church of England comes to us at how little distance their Common Prayer is from our Mass and that the wisest and ablest Men of that way are so moderate that they would willingly come over to us or at least meet us half way Hereby the more staid Men will become more Odious and others will run out of all Religion for fear of Popery 4. Let there be an Indulgence promoted by the Factious and seconded by you 5. That the Trade and Treasure of the Nation may be Engrossed between themselves and other Discontented Parties 6. That the Bishops and Ministers of the Church of England be aspersed as either worldly and careless on the one hand or so factious on the other that it were well they were removed These are some of those excellent Advices then given and how well they have been followed we all know for according to this Counsel when they could not hinder the Settlement then the great thing they aimed at for many Years was the breaking in pieces the Constitution of our Churhc by a General Toleration This Coleman owned at his Trial and after Sentence declared He was of Opinion that Popery might come in if Liberty of Conscience had been granted And in several of his Letters it is to be seen how earnest the Papists were for Liberty of Conscience And the

Jew and gave the Anabaptists the glory of his conversion and rebaptizing who was afterwards discovered at New-castle is published and commonly known and too many others have more neatly play'd their game And though many of the more sober Anabaptists would not be so usefull to the Papists as they have expected Yet multitudes of them too far answered their expectations I shall tell you next of some of those Heresies or Parties among us that are the Papists own spawn or progeny either they laid the egg or hatch'd it or both And it is most certain that Libertinism or Freedom for all Religions was spawned by the Jesuits who hate it in Spain Italy and France but love it in England I have met with the masked Papists my self that have been very zealous and busie to promote this Liberty of Conscience as they deceitfully call it for by this means they may have liberty for themselves and liberty to break us in pieces by Sects and also liberty under the vizour of a Sectary of any tolarated sort to oppose the Ministry and Doctrine of Truth There are also some juggling Papists especially in our Councils Civil and Ecclesiastick that play their game by over-doing and making everything to be Popish and Antichristian to drive us into extreams and into opinions in which we may be easily baffled and it s not a little that they have won of us at this game In this book of Mr. Baxter a great deal more to this purpose may be seen how much the Papists work their designs by the means of our Sectaries whom they decoy And farther Mr. Baxter in 1671. a little before the Indulgence then came forth was so sensible of the mischief of Separation that he saith in his Preface to the defence of the cure of Church Divisions p. 17. That our Divisions gratify the Papists and greatly hazard the Protestant Religion and that more than most of you seemeth to believe or regard where he speaks to the separating people and among other great inconveniences which he mentions this is one That Popery will get by it so great advantage as may hazard us all and we may lose that which the several Parties do contend about And p. 52. c. He saith that two ways Popery will grow out of our divisions First By the odium and scorn of our disagrements in consistency and multiplied Sects they will perswade people that we must come for unity to them or else run mad and crumble into dust and individuals Thousands have been drawn to Popery or confirmed in it by this argument already and I am perswaded that confirmed in it by this argument already and I am perswaded that all the arguments else in Bellarmine and all other books that ever were written have not done so much to make Papists in England as the multitude of Sects among our selves yea some Professours of Religious strictness or great esteem for Godliness have turned Papists themselves when they were giddy and wearied with turnings and when they had run from Sect to Sect and found no consistency in any Secondly Either the Papists by increasing the divisions would make them be accounted seditious rebellious and dangerous to the publick peace or else when so many parties are constrain'd to beg and wait for Liberty the Papists may not be shut out alone but have toleration with the rest And saith he shall they use our hands to doe their works and pull their freedom out of the sire We have already unspeakably served them both in this and in abating the Odium of the Gunpowder-plot and their otehr Treasons Insurrections and Spanish-invasion Thus freely did Mr. Baxter write at that time and even after that Indulgence he hath these remarkable passages concerning the separating and dividing humour of their people in his sacrilegious desertion c. Pag. 103. It shameth and grieveth us to see and hear from England and New-England this common cry We are indangered by Divisions because the self-conceited part of the Religious people will not be ruled by their Pastours but must have their way and will needs be Rulers of the Church and them And soon after he saith to them You have made more Papists than ever you or we are like to recover Nothing is any whit considerable that a Papist hath to say till he cometh to your case and saith Doth not experience tell you that without papal Unity and Force these people will never be ruled or united It is you that tempt them to use Fire and Faggot that will not be ruled nor kept in concord And must you even you that should be our confort become our shame and break our hearts and make men Papists by your Temptation Woe to the World because of offences and woe to some by whom they come To shew yet farther what Insluence the Jesuitical Counsels have had upon some people as to the course of Separation I shall produce the Testimony of a very considerable Man among them who understood these affairs as well as any Man viz. Mr. Philip Nye who not long before his Death foreseeing the mischievous Consequence of these extravagant heats the people were running into wrote a Discourse on purpose to prove it lawful to hear the Conforming Ministers and answers all the Objections against it and towards the Conclusion he wonders how the differing Parties come to be so agreed in thinking it unlawful to hear us preach but he saith He is perswaded it is one constant design of Satan in the v ariety of ways of Religion he hath set on foot by Jesuits among us let us therefore be more aware of whatsoever tends that way Here we have a plain Confession of a very leading Man among the Dissenters that the Jesuits were very busie among them and that they and the Devil joined together in setting them at the greatest distance possible from the Church of England and that those who would countermine the Jesuits must avoid whatever tends to that height of Separation the People were run into And as the Reverend and Learned Doctor Stilling fleet in the Preface to his excellent Book Entituled The unreasonableness of Separation saith If we trace the foot-steps of our Separation we shall sind the Jesuitical Party had a great insluence on the very first beginnings of it for which we must consider that when the Church of England was restored in Queen Elizabeth's Reign there was no open Separation from the Communion of it for several years neither by Papists nor Nonconformists At last the more zealous Party of the Foreign Priests and Jesuits finding this compliance would in the end utterly destroy the Popish interest in England they began to draw off the secret Papists from all Conformity with our Church which the old Queen Mary's Priests allow'd them in This raised some heat among themselves but at last the way of Separation prevail'd as the more pure and perfect way But this was not thought sufficient bu these busie Factors for the

Lord Viscount Stafford That they designed to bring in Popery by Toleration as may be seen in his Trial. And now let any impartial Person judge who did most effectually serve the Papist Designs those who kept to the Communion of the Church of England or those who fell into a course of Separation I will allow what Mr. Baxter saith That they might use their Endeavours to exasperate the several Parties against each other and might sometimes press the more rigorous Execution of Laws against them but then it was to set them at a greater distance from us and to make them more pliable to a General Toleration And they sometimes complained That those who were most averse to this found themselves under the Severity of the Law when more Tractable Men escaped which they have weakly imputed to the Bishops when they might easily understand the true causo of such a Discrimination But from the whole it appears That the grand Design of the Papists for many Years was to break in pieces the Constitution of the Church of England which being done they flattered themselves with the hopes of great Accessions to their Strength and Party and in order to this they inflamed the Differences among us to the utmost height on purpise to make all the dissenting Parties to join with them for a General Toleration which they did not question would destroy this Church and advance their Interest And it is a most unfortunate Condition our Church is in That those who design to bring in Popery and the Dissenters who made so great bustles in the late King's Reign to keep it out should now both conspire towards the Destruction of our Church and use all their Art and Industry to undermine and blow up this strongest Bullwork of the Protestant Religion This Reverend and most Learned Person hath also well observ'd how subtilly the Romanists have managed our indiscreet Dissenters Zeal against the Church of England under a pretence of opposing Popery to be one of the more likely ways to bring it in Many Instruments and Engines they made use of in this Design many ways and times they set about it and although they met with several Disappointments yet they never gave it over And is it not very strange that when they can scarce appear for themselves others out of meer Zeal against Popery should carry on their Work for them This seems to be a great Paradox to unthinking People who are carried away with meer Noise and Pretences and hope those will secure them most against the fears of Popery who talk with most Passion and least Understanding against it whereas no persons do really give them greater Advantages than these do For where they meet with intemperate Railings and gross Understandings of the State of the Controversies between them and us the more subtle Romanists will let such alone to spend their Rage and Fury and when the heat is over they will calmly endeavour to let them see how grosly they have been deceived in some things and so will the more easily make them believe they are as much deceived in all the rest And thus the East and West may meet at last and the most furious Dissenters who would be looked upon as the greatest Adversaries to Popery become the easiest Converts This I do really fear will be the case of many Thousands amongst us who now pass for the most zealous Protestants if ever which God forbid that Religion should come to be uppermost in England It is therefore of mighty Consequence for preventing the return of Popery that people rightly understand what it is for when they are as much afraid of an innocent Ceremony as of real Idolatry and think they can Worship and Adore the Host on the same grounds that they may use the Sign of the Cross or Kneel at the Communion when they are brought to see their mistake in one Case they will suspect themselves deceived in the other also For they who took that to be Popery which is not will be apt to think Popery it self not so bad as it was represented and so for want of right Vnderstanding the Differences between us may be carried from one extream to the other For when they find the undoubted Practices of the Ancient Church condemned as Popish and Antichristian by their Teachers they must conclude Popery to be of much greater Antiquity than really it is and when they can trace it so very near the Apostles times they will soon believe it setled by the Apostles themselves For it will be very hard to perswade any considering Men that the Christian Church should degenerate so soon so universally as it must do if Epsscopal Government and the use of some significant Ceremonies were any parts of that Apostacy Will it not seem strange to them that when some humane Polities have preserved their first Constitution so long without any considerable alteration that the Government instituted by Christ and settled by his Apostles should so soon after be changed into another kind and that so easily so insensibly that all the Christian Churches believed they had still the very same Government which the Apostles left them Which is a matter so incredible that those who can believe such a part of Popery could prevail so soon in the Christian Church may be brought upon the like Grounds to belives that many others did so mighty a prejudice doth the Principles of our Church's Enemies bring upon the Cause of the Reformation And those who forego the Testimony of Antiquity as all the Opposers of the Church of England must do must unavoidably run with the Papists which the Principles of our Church do lead us through For we can justly charge Popery as an unreasonable innovation when we allow the undoubted Practices and Government of the Church for many Ages after Christ And the Excellent Learned and most pious Prelate Bishop Saunderson hath observ'd That those who reject the usages of our Church as Popish and Antichristian when assaulted by Papists will be apt to conclude Popery the old Religion which in the purest and primitive Times was professed in all Christian Churches throughout the World whereas the sober Church of England Protestant is able by the Grace of God with clear Evidence of Truth to justifie the Church of England from all imputation of Heresie or Schism and the Religion thereof as it stood by Law established from the like imputation of Novelty And in this he professes to lay open the inmost thoughts of his Heart in this sad Business before God and the World And he further saith The Dissenting Brethren were great promoters of the Roman Interest among us in the late Times of Usurpation by putting their helping hand to the pulling down of Episcopacy And saith he 't is very well known to many what rejoicing that Vote brought to the Romish Party how even in Rome it self they sung their Io-Paeans upon the tidings thereof and said triumphantly Now the Day

is ours now is the fatal blow given to the Protestant Religion in England See this in Bishop Saunderson's Preface to his first Volume of Sermons A great deal more to this purpose may be seen in Dr. Stillingfleet's Preface to his Excellent Book entitled The Vnreasonableness of Separation And though he Printed this Book in the Year 1681. yet as if he had on him the Spirit of Prophecy when he wrote it he hath fully discovered the Popish Intrigues and exposed to publick View their Designs and ways of proceeding as they are now managed against our Church in Concurrence with the several Dissenting Parties who have been made from the Infancy of the Reformation the Instruments to effect their Contrivings The Advice that the late Earl of Sh ry and the Lord Cl d gave the late King in Company with the Grand Cabal in the Year 1671. which Cabal were Bu m Sh ry Ar ton L dale H is and Cl d taken out of the Dream or Gambol WHilst a confused Chat in the Cabal Had many mov'd none heard but speak did all A little Bobtail'd Lord Vrchin of State A Praise-God-bare-bones Peer whom all Men hate Amphibious Animal half Fool half Knave Begg'd Silence and this pur-blind Counsel gave Blest and best Monarch that e'er Sceptre bore Renown'd for Honour but for Vertue more The Lord spake last hath well and wisely shown That Parliaments nor new nor old nor none Can well be trusted longer for your State And Glory of your Crown hates all Check-mate That Monarchy may from his Child-hood grow To Man's Estate France hath us shown You know Monarchy is Divine Divinity it shows That he goes backward that not forward goes Therefore go on let other Kingdoms see Your Wit 's their Law that absolute Monarchy A mixt hodge-podge will now no longer bear Caesar or nothing you are now brought here Strike then Great Sir for these Debates take Wind Remember that Occasion 's bald behind For Gain is sure in this if wisely play'd And sacred Votes to the Vulgar not betray'd But if the rumour once should get on Wing That we consult to make you absolute King The Plebeians Head the Gentry forsooth Would streightway snore and have an aching tooth Least they I say should your great Secret scent And you expose in nulling Parliament I think it safer and a better skill To obviate than overcome an ill For those that head the Herd are full as rude When the humour takes as th' following Multitude Wherefore be quick in your resolves and when You have resolv'd execute quicker then Remember your Great Father lost the Game By slow procedure mayn't you do the same An unexpected unregarded Blow Wounds more than ten made by an open Foe Delays do danger breed the Sword is your's By Law declar'd what need you other powers We may Impolitick be judg'd or worse If we cann't make the Sword command the purse No Art nor Courtship can your Rule so shape Without a force it must be done by Rape And when 't is done to say they cannot help Will satisfie enough the gentle Whelp Phanaticks they 'll to Providence impute Their Thraldom and immediately grow mute For they poor silly Souls think the Decree From Heaven on them although from Hell it be Wherefore to gull them do their hopes fulfil With Liberty they are halter'd at your Will Give them but Conventicle room and they Will let you steal their English Man away And heedless be till you your Nets have spread And pull'd down Conventicles on their Head Militia then and Parliaments Casheer A formidable standing Army rear To mount you up and up you soon will be They 'll fear who ne'er would love your Monarchy And if they fear no matter for their hate To Rule by Love becomes a sneaking State Lay by all Fears care not what People say Regard to these will your Designs betray When bite they cann't what hurt can barking do And in short time we 'll spoil their barking too Make Coffee-Clubs talk more of humble things Than State Affairs and Interest of Kings Thus spake that ridgling Peer when one more grave That had much less of Fool but more of Knave Cl d. Began Great Sir it gives no small content To hear such Zeal from you ' gainst Parliament Wherefore though I an Enemy no less To Parliaments than they my self profess Yet let me tell you 't is a harder thing Than they suggest to make you absolute King Old Building to pluck down believe it true More danger in it hath than building new And what shall prop your Superstructure till Another you have raised to suit your Will An Army shall say they content but stay From whence shall this new Army have its Pay For easie and gentle Government awhile Appear must to this Kingdom to beguile The Peoples Minds and so to make them free For raising old and making better new For Taxes with new Government all will blame And put the Kingdom sure into a Flame For Tyranny hath no such lovely look To take Men with unless you hide the Hook And no Bait better bides than present Ease Ease but their Taxes and do what you please Wherefore all wild debates laid by from whence Shall Money rise to do this vast Expence Call our first thoughts thus well resolved we In other things much better shall agree Join then with Mother-Church whose Bosom stands Ope to receive you stretching both her Hands Close but this Breach and they will let you see Her Purse as open as her Armes shall be For Sacred Sir by guess I do not speak Of poor she 'll make you rich and strong of weak At Home Abroad no Money no nor Men She 'll let you lack turn but to her agen And let me add Great Sir you know its Season Salts all the Notions that we make in Reason And now a Season is afforded us The best e'er came and most propitious Besides the Summs the Catholicks will advance You know what offers you are made by France And to have Money and no Parliament Most fully Answers your design'd intent And thus without tumultuous bruit or huff Of Parliaments you 'll Money have enough Which if neglected now there 's none knows when Like opportunity may be again For to Extirpate what combined be Both Civil and Religious Liberty There 's Money enough you 'll have to exalt the Crown Not stooping Majesty to the Country Clown The triple League I know will be objected As if that ought to be by us respected But who to Heretick or Rebel pay'th The Truth engag'd by solemn Faith Debaucheth Vertue by those sacred things The Church profaneth and abuseth Kings Faith Justice Truth Plebeian Vertues be Look well in them but not in Majesty For publick Faith is but a publick Thief The greatest Cheat in Nature's vain Belief The Judgment of several eminent Presbyterian Divines concerning the usefulness of an established Vniformity in the Church for the Preservation of the